Mali opposition to protest after rejecting mediators' plan

July 19, 2020

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's political opposition has called for more protests in the streets after rejecting a plan put forth Sunday by regional mediators for the creation of a unity government that stopped short of demanding the president's resignation.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who still has three years left in his final term, has faced demonstrations by tens of thousands seeking his resignation since early June in this volatile West African nation. His popularity has fallen amid allegations of corruption and as Mali’s Islamic extremist crisis has deepened under his leadership.

Calls for his resignation intensified after recent protests met a violent response from security forces, leaving at least 12 people dead. Protests were put on hold during talks with mediators from the 15-nation regional bloc known as ECOWAS but the opposition alliance known as the June 5 Movement called for protests to resume Monday after it rejected the mediators' proposals.

Amid signs of an impasse, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara also made plans to arrive Monday in Mali’s capital of Bamako. Opposition leader Choguel Maiga said the ECOWAS plan didn't go far enough when it proposed that the 75-year-old Keita share power by forming a unity government. The proposal does not reflect the goals of a movement “supported by the overwhelming majority of the Malian people," he said.

However, ECOWAS does not see Keita's negotiated exit as a possibility, chair Jean-Claude Kassi Brou said. "The resignation of the Malian president is a red line for us, but everything else is negotiable,” he said Sunday.

Unlike some uprisings in West Africa, the crisis in Mali involves a president who was elected — and then re-elected — in elections deemed fair and transparent. Forcing the president to step down because of growing unpopularity could set a dangerous precedent for other leaders in the region.

Also among the suggestions from the ECOWAS team were some already endorsed by Keita: resolving the dispute over 31 contested legislative races several months after Mali's constitutional court issued official results.

The president has dissolved the controversial court, one of the protesters' key demands. Keita has said he is opening to re-holding the legislative election in those contested areas though no concrete plan has been laid out yet. The mediators, though, said their recommendations should be put into place this month.

The powerful regional bloc has a long history in mediating in Mali. It helped bring about a return to democracy in 2013, a year after a military coup deposed the president of a decade. France led a military operation to oust jihadists from northern Mali not long before Keita took office in 2013. In the years since, those militants have continued to launch attacks on Malian forces and U.N. peacekeepers. Islamic extremists also have gained a foothold in central Mali where their presence has inflamed tensions between ethnic groups.

Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed.

Protesters loot office of Mali president's political party

July 12, 2020

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Protesters ransacked a building belonging to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's political party on Sunday, underscoring the tensions that remain in Mali, even after the president met one of their top demands.

The latest unrest at a neighborhood headquarters for Keita's RPM party came as mourners returned from funerals to bury several of the victims who have died during political demonstrations in recent days, witnesses said.

Only hours earlier, the president had announced in a televised speech that he had dissolved the constitutional court as demanded by the opposition movement and was willing to consider re-doing contested legislative elections.

The movement's leaders are no longer calling for the resignation of Keita, who has three years left in his final term. But Sunday's unrest showed there are still elements deeply dissatisfied with his leadership.

Eleven people were killed in the violent demonstrations held Friday and Saturday, officials said. The police crackdown now threatens to further escalate the crisis, with one political party already criticizing the government for deploying anti-terrorism forces to the streets during the demonstrations.

Dissolving Mali's constitutional court had been a top demand for the protesters because the body had released official results from legislative elections this spring that now are being disputed by several dozen candidates. Keita also told Malians he was willing to consider re-doing the legislative elections in those areas, saying such concessions are needed to save Mali from further violence.

“We must go beyond ourselves and only consider Mali,” the president said in his televised address late Saturday. The president, who was elected in 2013 and won a second term five years later, had promised last week to dissolve the court. Demonstrators, though, have said they also want the National Assembly dissolved, a move Keita has yet to endorse.

On Friday, thousands marched through the streets of the capital, even briefly occupying the state television offices. The unrest in the capital continued Saturday, when police fired tear gas on crowds that were smaller than the day before.

All scenarios are still possible in Mali, where the last democratically elected president was overthrown in a military coup in 2012, said Baba Dakono, a researcher and political analyst. “It is difficult now to say whether President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita can still benefit from the support of the army,” Dakono said.

Even if senior military officers are loyal to Keita's government, lower-ranking officers and army rank-and-file can be unpredictable, he said. When Keita was elected in 2013, a French-led military operation had ousted Islamic extremists from key towns in northern Mali just months earlier. In the seven years since, though, those militants have regrouped and continue to launch deadly attacks on Malian forces despite the presence of U.N. peacekeepers, French troops and regional forces.

The violence wracked by extremists also has greatly expanded into central Mali during Keita's presidency, fueling tensions between ethnic groups seen as allying with the jihadists and those seen as loyal to the Malian government.

Last year was particularly deadly as hundreds of soldiers were killed in the north, forcing the military at one point to close down some of its most remote and vulnerable outposts. It prompted criticism of how Keita's government has handled the crisis. A similar wave of violence targeting Malian soldiers in the north, launched by separatist rebels, precipitated the 2012 coup that overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure.

The coup's leader later handed over power to a transitional civilian government following international pressure, and democratic elections were then organized which Keita won.

Associated Press Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed.

Mali leader promises court changes in bid to quell protests

July 09, 2020

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — In a televised midnight speech, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita promised early Thursday to reform the country's constitutional court in a bid to quell another round of protests calling for his resignation.

The change to the court's makeup is among the demands being sought by Keita's opponents, who already have taken to the streets twice in recent weeks in a show of his mounting unpopularity. Another demonstration was scheduled for Friday.

It was not immediately clear whether the 75-year-old president's overtures would satisfy opposition leaders who also have called for the National Assembly to be dissolved among other demands. “In the hours and days to come, the constitutional court will be reconvened and put into operation as soon as possible,” Keita said in his address.

The court is at the heart of the growing political dispute because it declared official results after legislative elections were held in April. Several dozen candidates maintain the court's official results differed from polling station tallies.

A mission from the regional bloc known as ECOWAS already has suggested the government re-hold elections in the localities where results are contested. The opposition also has been fueled by anger over the Malian government's inability to quell violence in the north more than seven years after a French-led military operation ousted Islamic extremists from power. The army has suffered a wave of deadly attacks over the past year on its outposts.

Keita, who is due to step down in 2023, became president the year after Mali’s president of a decade was overthrown in a coup. That crisis created a power vacuum that allowed the Islamic insurgency to take hold in Mali's north. The coup leader later handed over power to a civilian transitional government but only after international pressure to do so.

Lazarus Chakwera inaugurated as Malawi's new president

June 28, 2020

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Lazarus Chakwera has been sworn in as Malawi's new president Sunday after the announcement the previous night that he had won the southern African country's rerun elections. Chakwera is Malawi's sixth president after winning the historic election held last week, the first time a court-overturned vote in Africa has resulted in the defeat of an incumbent leader.

Following a hard-fought campaign, Chakwera urged national reconciliation in his inaugural speech in the capital, Lilongwe, and spoke directly to supporters of defeated incumbent president Peter Mutharika.

“Perhaps the prospect of my presidency fills you with fear and grief. I want you to remember one thing, that this new Malawi is a home to you, too," said Chakwera. "So long as I am its president it will be a home in which you, too, will prosper.”

Chakwera won with 58.57% of votes cast, beating the incumbent president Peter Mutharika, according to official results announced by the Malawi Electoral Commission Saturday night. There were night-long celebrations in the cities and towns across the country.

Chakwera, 65, said said it was an honor to stand before inaugural crowd as their president. “It’s an honor that feels me with unspeakable joy and immense gratitude. It’s an honor forged in the furnace of your desire and your demand for change,” he said.

Chakwera's election came after months of determined street protests against the results of the election more than a year ago, in May 2019, in which Mutharika had been declared the winner. The Constitutional Court struck down the results, citing widespread irregularities including the use of correction fluid on ballots. It was just the second time in Africa that a court has overturned a presidential election, following a ruling on Kenya’s vote in 2017.

The Malawi Human Right Commission, one of the observers, endorsed the the rerun election as peaceful and transparent. The defeated incumbent Mutharika criticized the rerun election as “the worst in Malawi’s history” but he urged the country to “move on peacefully” speaking to the media in Blantyre on Saturday.

Mutharika’s Democratic Progressive Party issued a statement on Saturday calling on the electoral commission to annul the results of the second vote and declare a third election, but Mutharika did not call for that when he spoke to the press.

Acknowledging the discontent of Mutharika's supporters, Chakwera asked them in his inaugural speech to give him a chance to earn their trust and to make his election a win for all Malawians. “Those of you that celebrate, celebrate with a humanness that all Malawians deserve so that we have the magnanimity of celebrating a victory that is not for one man, not for one woman, not for one party, not for one group, but for all of us together," said Chakwera. "That is how we will fulfill the dream of a new Malawi that will be for everyone.”

Opposition wins historic rerun of Malawi's presidential vote

June 28, 2020

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — The opposition has won Malawi’s historic rerun of the presidential election, the first time a court-overturned vote in Africa has led to the defeat of an incumbent leader. Lazarus Chakwera’s victory late Saturday was a result of months of determined street protests in the southern African nation, and of a unanimous decision by the Constitutional Court that widespread irregularities in the May 2019 election — including the use of correction fluid on ballots —could not stand.

President Peter Mutharika, who had sought a second five-year term, earlier Saturday called the rerun of the election “the worst in Malawi’s history.” He alleged his party’s monitors had been beaten and intimidated during Tuesday’s election, but the Malawi Human Rights Commission, an observer, called the vote peaceful and transparent.

Chakwera won with 58% of the vote, or 2.6 million votes out of 4.4 million cast. Mutharika received 1.7 million. Flag-waving supporters erupted in cheers as the results were read out, and some street celebrations began. Fireworks popped.

“I’m so happy I could dance all night,” Chakwera, former leader of the Malawi Assemblies of God church, told reporters. “This is a win for Malawians, a win for democracy." Malawi’s drama was just the second time in Africa that a court has overturned a presidential election, following a ruling on Kenya’s vote in 2017. In Kenya’s fresh election, the president won while the opposition boycotted.

As Malawi prepared for its new vote, incumbent Vice President Saulos Chilima, who split last year’s results with Chakwera, decided instead to stand as his running mate in a bid to maximize chances of unseating Mutharika.

Some celebrations began Thursday night when Malawi’s state broadcaster reported that Chakwera was well ahead with all votes in. But the electoral commission, revamped since the court’s ruling, indicated it was taking time to meet legal requirements in verifying results.

The commission's new chair, judge Chifundo Kachale, while announcing the results acknowledged that “it has been a very interesting journey.” He said turnout was 64% of 6.8 million registered voters. An attempt by Mutharika’s government to get Malawi’s chief justice to step down just days before the new election had failed amid an outcry. Now the chief justice is expected to swear in Chakwera on Sunday.

Aware that time was running out, the 79-year-old Mutharika on Saturday asked the country to “move on peacefully” and respect the presidency.

Ethiopia's leader hails 1st filling of massive, disputed dam

July 22, 2020

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s prime minister on Wednesday hailed the first filling of a massive dam that has led to tensions with Egypt, saying two turbines will begin generating power next year.

Abiy Ahmed’s statement, read out on state media outlets, came a day after he and the leaders of Egypt and Sudan reported progress on an elusive agreement on the operation of the $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the largest in Africa.

The first filling of the dam’s reservoir, which Ethiopia’s government attributes to heavy rains, “has shown to the rest of the world that our country could stand firm with its two legs from now onwards,” Abiy’s statement said. "We have successfully completed the first dam filling without bothering and hurting anyone else. Now the dam is overflowing downstream.”

The dam will reach full power generating capacity in 2023, the statement said: “Now we have to finish the remaining construction and diplomatic issues.” Ethiopia’s prime minister on Tuesday said the countries had reached a “major common understanding which paves the way for a breakthrough agreement.”

Meanwhile, new satellite images showed the water level in the reservoir at its highest in at least four years, adding fresh urgency to the talks. Ethiopia has said it would begin filling the reservoir this month even without a deal as the rainy season floods the Blue Nile. But the Tuesday statement said leaders agreed to pursue “further technical discussions on the filling ... and proceed to a comprehensive agreement.”

The dispute centers on the use of the storied Nile River, a lifeline for all involved. Ethiopia says the colossal dam offers a critical opportunity to pull millions of its nearly 110 million citizens out of poverty and become a major power exporter. Downstream Egypt, which depends on the Nile to supply its farmers and booming population of 100 million with fresh water, asserts that the dam poses an existential threat. Sudan is in the middle.

Negotiators have said key questions remain about how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs and how the countries will resolve any future disputes. Ethiopia rejects binding arbitration at the final stage.

Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas on Tuesday told reporters that once the agreement has been solidified, Ethiopia will retain the right to amend some figures relating to the dam’s operation during drought periods.

Abbas also said the leaders agreed on Ethiopia’s right to build additional reservoirs and other projects as long as it notifies the downstream countries, in line with international law. “There are other sticking points, but if we agree on this basic principle, the other points will automatically be solved,” he said.

Years of talks with a variety of mediators, including the Trump administration, have failed to produce a solution.

Ethiopia's week of unrest sees 239 dead, 3,500 arrested

July 08, 2020

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — At least 239 people have been killed and 3,500 arrested in more than a week of unrest in Ethiopia that poses the biggest challenge yet to its Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister.

In the Oromia region, the toll includes 215 civilians along with nine police officers and five militia members, regional police commissioner Mustafa Kedir told the ruling party-affiliated Walta TV on Wednesday.

Officials earlier said 10 people were killed in the capital, Addis Ababa, eight of them civilians, amid outrage after a popular singer was shot dead last Monday. Hachalu Hundessa had been a rallying voice in anti-government protests that led to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed taking power in 2018. Abiy swiftly introduced political reforms that also opened the way for long-held ethnic and other grievances in Africa's second most populous country.

The military was deployed during the outrage that followed Hachalu's death. In remarks last week while wearing a military uniform, Abiy said dissidents he recently extended an offer of peace had “taken up arms” in revolt against the government. He hinted there could be links between this unrest and the killing of the army chief last year as well as the grenade thrown at one of his own rallies in 2018.

The 3,500 arrests have included that of a well-known Oromo activist, Jawar Mohammed, and more than 30 supporters. It is not clear what charges they might face. The Oromo make up Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group but had never held the country’s top post until they helped bring Abiy to power.

Local reports have said that in some places ethnic Oromo have attacked ethnic Amhara, and in Shashamane town some people were going home to home checking identity cards and targeting Amhara residents.

Businesses have now begun opening slowly in Oromia after the violence in which several hundred homes in Ethiopia were burned or damaged. But Ethiopia’s internet service remains cut, making it difficult for rights monitor and others to track the scores of killings.

Seoul mayor left note saying 'sorry' as South Korea mourns

July 10, 2020

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Seoul's mayor left a note saying he felt “sorry to all people” before he was found dead early Friday, officials in the South Korean capital said as people began mourning the liberal legal activist seen as a potential presidential candidate.

Mayor Park Won-soon had been found dead in wooded hills in northern Seoul hours after his daughter reported to police he had left her a “will-like” verbal message and disappeared. His body was found after hours of searching near the last location of his phone. Police said there were no signs of foul play at the site but refused to disclose his cause of death.

A mourning station was set up at a hospital to receive mourners for five days. Some politicians and civic activists visited the hospital to pay respects to Park. His funeral is to be held next week. Seoul government officials said Park canceled his scheduled appointments and did not come to work Thursday without explanation.

South Korean media including SBS television network reported Thursday night that one of Park's secretaries had lodged a complaint with police on Wednesday night over alleged sexual harassment for an extend period.

Police later confirmed that a complaint against Park had been filed but cited privacy issues in refusing to elaborate, including on whether the complaint was about sexual behavior. Seoul’s city government said a note left by Park was found at his residence.

“I feel sorry to all people. I thank everyone who has been with me in my life,” the note shown on TV said. It continued with a request his remains be cremated and scattered around his parents' graves.

The U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, Harry Harris, expressed his sadness at Park’s death. “My condolences to his family and to the people of Seoul during this difficult time,” his tweet said. Park, 64, was a longtime civic activist and human rights lawyer before he was elected Seoul mayor in 2011. He became the city’s first mayor to be voted to a third term in June 2018. A member of President Moon Jae-in’s liberal Democratic Party, he had been considered a potential presidential candidate in 2022 elections.

Park led an aggressive campaign to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the city of 10 million people, shutting down thousands of nightspots and banning rallies in major downtown streets. But the capital has become a new center of the outbreak in South Korea since the country eased its rigid social distancing rules in early May. Authorities are struggling to trace contacts of infected people as clusters arise in a variety of places.

Mayor of South Korean capital found dead after 7-hour search

July 10, 2020

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The missing mayor of South Korea’s capital, reportedly embroiled in sexual harassment allegations, was found dead early Friday, more than half a day after giving his daughter a will-like message and then leaving home, police said.

Police said they located Park Won-soon’s body near a traditional restaurant in wooded hills in northern Seoul, more than seven hours after they launched a massive search for him. There were no signs of foul play and no suicide note was found at the site or in Park’s residence, Choi Ik-su, an officer from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, told reporters. He refused to elaborate on the cause of Park’s death.

Choi said rescue dogs found Park’s body, and police had recovered his bag, cellphone and business cards. His daughter called police on Thursday afternoon and said her father had given her “a will-like” verbal message in the morning before leaving home. She didn’t explain the contents of the message, said an officer at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency who was responsible for the search operation.

Police said they mobilized about 600 police and fire officers, drones and tracking dogs to search for Park in the hills where his cellphone signal was last detected. They said the phone was turned off when they tried to call him.

His daughter called police after she couldn’t reach her father on the phone, the Seoul police officer said, requesting anonymity because she was not authorized to speak to the media about the matter. Kim Ji-hyeong, a Seoul Metropolitan Government official, said Park did not come to work on Thursday for unspecified reasons and had canceled all of his schedule, including a meeting with a presidential official at his Seoul City Hall office.

The reason for Park’s disappearance wasn’t clear. The Seoul-based SBS television network reported that one of Park’s secretaries had lodged a complaint with police on Wednesday night over alleged sexual harassment such as unwanted physical contact that began in 2017. The SBS report, which didn’t cite any source, said the secretary told police investigators that an unspecified number of other female employees at Seoul City Hall had suffered similar sexual harassment by Park.

MBC television carried a similar report. Choi, the police officer, confirmed that a complaint was filed with police against Park on Wednesday. He refused to provide further details, citing privacy issues.

Police officer Lee Byeong-seok told reporters that Park was identified by a security camera at 10:53 a.m. at the entrance to the hills, more than six hours before his daughter called police to report him missing.

Fire officer Jeong Jin-hyang told reporters rescuers used dogs to search dangerous areas on the hills. Park, 64, a longtime civic activist and human rights lawyer, was elected Seoul mayor in 2011. He became the city’s first mayor to be voted to a third term in June 2018. A member of President Moon Jae-in’s liberal Democratic Party, he had been considered a potential presidential candidate in 2022 elections.

Park had mostly maintained his activist colors as mayor, criticizing what he described as the country’s growing social and economic inequalities and corrupt ties between large businesses and politicians.

As a lawyer, he was credited with winning the country’s first sexual harassment conviction. He has also been an outspoken critic of Japan’s colonial-era policies toward Korea, including the mobilization of Korean and other women as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers.

Park also established himself as a fierce opponent of former conservative President Park Geun-hye and openly supported the millions of people who flooded the city’s streets in late 2016 and 2017 calling for her ouster over a corruption scandal.

Park Geun-hye, a daughter of late authoritarian leader Park Chung-hee, was formally removed from office in March 2017 and is currently serving a decades-long prison term for convictions on bribery and other charges.

Seoul, a city of 10 million people, has become a new center of the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea since the country eased its rigid social distancing rules in early May. Authorities are struggling to trace contacts amid surges in cases linked to nightclubs, church services, a huge e-commerce warehouse and door-to-door sellers in Seoul.

Park Won-soon led an aggressive anti-virus campaign, shutting down thousands of nightspots and banning rallies in major downtown streets.

Japan will reorient missile defense posture as Aegis Ashore is suspended

London, UK (SPX)
Jul 02, 2020

Japan's announcement on the suspension of the deployment of Aegis Ashore missile defense systems marks a potential shift in the country's security strategy. The turning point depends on the substitute for Aegis Ashore. The country is now considering pre-emptive strike capabilities as a possibility, targeting missile launchers in North Korea first instead of intercepting incoming missiles. Intercepting attacks and proactively neutralizing threats shows a substantial change in Japan's defense posture, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Vera Lin, Associate Aerospace, Defense and Security Analyst at GlobalData, comments: "Pre-emptive strike capabilities is a constitutional option as it is interpreted as an act of defense abiding Article 9, which formally forbids Japan from acts of war. Including first-strike options as possible Aegis Ashore substitutes falls within Japan's shift towards a proactive defense posture to neutralize threats offshore."

GlobalData forecasts a sustained level of spending for missile procurement for 2021-2025. Japan is aiming to strengthen missile defense shields to prepare against immanent security threats such as North Korea's ballistic missile simultaneous launch capability.

According to GlobalData's latest report 'Japan - FY 2020 Defense Budget Analysis, Competitive Landscape and Forecasts', Japan allocated US$105m for the procurement of Vertical Launching systems for land-based Aegis Ashore system. The program's suspension cited technical difficulties, rising costs and concerns of falling booster rockets on residential areas.

Lin continues: "Suspending Aegis Ashore is removing a key part of the interoperable missile defense system which consists of two levels: the sea-based Aegis destroyers used to shoot down incoming missiles and the land-based Aegis Ashore for missile interception. This is a major setback for greater self-sufficiency in missile defense amidst a degrading security environment as North Korea and China increase ballistic missile capabilities. However, replacing Aegis Ashore with a first-strike option would be an opportunity to normalize a more autonomous military force, although it may prove difficult due to political opposition"

The estimated budget for deploying the two Aegis Ashore interceptor batteries amounted to approximately US$1.5bn as part of a wider missile defense strategy between Japan and the US. The two countries are also collaborating on a range of missile development programs, driving Japan's increase in defense expenditures. The soaring costs of Aegis Ashore and eventual suspension reveals a dilemma between reconciling ambitions for pre-emptive missile defense and economic pressures from a contracting post-COVID-19 economy.

Lin concludes: "Cooperation between the two allied countries will continue, as the US is invested in Japan's Aegis Ashore missile shield to combat emerging threats from North Korea and China. Reinforcing Japan's missile defense capabilities will provide better footholds to expend more resources for the US security strategy in the Indo-Pacific."

Source: Space War.
Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Japan_will_reorient_missile_defense_posture_as_Aegis_Ashore_is_suspended_says_GlobalData_999.html.

UK to open citizenship path to Hong Kongers from January

July 22, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government announced Wednesday that it will open a new special pathway to obtaining U.K. citizenship for up to 3 million eligible Hong Kongers as of January, taking another step toward solidifying a policy denounced by China.

In a statement, the Home Office said holders of the British National Overseas passport and their immediate family members can move to the U.K. to work and study. The change to immigration rules was introduced after Beijing imposed a new, sweeping national security law on Hong Kong.

“Today’s announcement shows the U.K. is keeping its word: We will not look the other way on Hong Kong, and we will not duck our historic responsibilities to its people,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.

Britain announced in early July it was extending residency rights for some 2.9 million people eligible for the British National Overseas passport in Hong Kong, stressing that it would uphold its duty to the former British colony after the new law was imposed.

Eligible individuals from Hong Kong currently can come to the U.K. for six months without a visa. With the rule change, they will have the right to live and work in the country for five years. After that, they will be allowed to apply for settled status and then again for citizenship.

Those eligible can access the British job market at any skill level and without a salary threshold, but won’t have access to public funds. The U.K. introduced a special, limited type of British nationality in the 1980s for people who were a “British dependent territories citizen by connection with Hong Kong.” The passports did not confer nationality or the automatic right to live and work in Britain, but entitled holders to consular assistance from U.K. diplomatic posts.

Britain handed over Hong Kong, its former colony, to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997 under a “One Country, Two Systems” framework that was supposed to guarantee the city a high degree of autonomy and Western-style civil liberties not seen on mainland China.

The new national security law, enacted just ahead of the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong becoming a special administrative region of China, criminalizes subversive, secessionist or terrorist activities and collusion with foreign forces to intervene in the city's affairs.

In some cases, mainland China will assume legal jurisdiction and suspects could be sent there for trial. The changes are seen by many as Beijing’s boldest move yet to erase the legal firewall between the semi-autonomous territory and the mainland’s authoritarian Communist Party system.

Beijing has said that Britain's move to offer refuge to Hong Kong residents constitutes interference in internal matters.

UK ratchets up criticism of China over Uighurs, Hong Kong

July 19, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Britain and China issued new salvos of criticism against each other Sunday, with the U.K. foreign secretary hinting that he may suspend the U.K.’s extradition arrangements with Hong Kong over China's moves against the city-state.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also accused Beijing of “gross and egregious” human rights abuses against its Uighur population in China’s western province of Xinjiang. In response, the Chinese ambassador to Britain warned that China will deliver a “resolute response” to any move by Britain to sanction officials over the alleged rights abuses.

The comments were the latest signs of sharply increased tensions between the U.K. and China. Issues include China’s treatment of its Uighur minority and a new, sweeping national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous territory that Britain handed over to China in 1997.

Britain’s recent decision to prohibit Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from being involved in the U.K.’s superfast 5G mobile network has further frayed bilateral relations. Raab said Sunday that Britain’s government has reviewed its extradition arrangements with Hong Kong and that he plans to make a statement Monday in parliament on the topic.

Earlier this month, Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to China’s imposition of security legislation on the semi-autonomous territory. Critics see the new law as a further erosion of the rule of law and freedoms that Hong Kong was promised when it reverted to Chinese rule.

Raab added that while Britain wants good relations with China, it could not stand by amid reports of forced sterilization and mass education camps targeting the Uighur population in Xinjiang. “It is clear that there are gross, egregious human rights abuses going on. We are working with our international partners on this. It is deeply, deeply troubling,” he told the BBC.

Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador, denied there were concentration camps in Xinjiang during an interview with the BBC and insisted there are “no so-called restriction of the population.” When confronted with drone footage that appeared to show Uighurs being blindfolded and led onto trains, Liu claimed there are many “fake accusations” against China.

Beijing was ready to respond in kind should Britain impose sanctions on Chinese officials, Liu added. “If the U.K. goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in China, China will certainly make a resolute response to it,” he said. “You have seen what happened between China (and) the United States … I do not want to see this tit-for-tat between China-U.S. happen in China-U.K. relations.”

Liu also said Britain "should have its own independent foreign policy, rather than dance to the tune of the Americans like what happened to Huawei.” The criticism echoed comments this week by a Chinese government spokeswoman who accused Britain of colluding with Washington to hurt Huawei and “discriminate, suppress and exclude Chinese companies.”

Chinese and US diplomats spar over Hong Kong

July 16, 2020

BEIJING (AP) — China and the U.S. gave differing accounts of a meeting between a senior Chinese official and the U.S. ambassador, as the two countries sparred over Hong Kong. A statement from the Chinese side late Wednesday said that Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang had summoned U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad to protest recent U.S. moves including a law to sanction officials who undermine local autonomy in Hong Kong.

Zheng said that threatened sanctions and the withdrawal of special trading privileges for Hong Kong are not about democracy and freedom in the semi-autonomous territory but an attempt to contain China's development.

“I want to warn the U.S. sternly that any bullying and unfairness imposed on China by the U.S. will meet resolute counter attack from China and the U.S. attempt to obstruct China’s development is doomed to failure," he said, according to an account of Wednesday's meeting carried by state media.

A statement posted on the U.S. Embassy website Thursday said Branstad had met Zheng the previous day to express deep American concern about Chinese decisions that erode fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong.

It said Branstad explained the Trump administration's conclusion that the city of 7.5 million people is no longer sufficiently autonomous from China to merit special treatment on trade, and called on China to restore Hong Kong's liberties.

Trump signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act into law on Tuesday, as well as an executive order affirming an earlier decision to eliminate preferential treatment for Hong Kong. The U.S and other Western democracies have grown increasingly concerned over developments in Hong Kong, and in particular China's imposition of a national security law that is seen as a threat to freedom of speech and the right to protest.

At the same time, the Trump administration has challenged China on multiple fronts, treating it as a strategic competitor, an approach that seems only likely to expand as Trump faces a tough battle for re-election this fall.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week that U.S.-China relations are facing their most severe challenge since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979, asking if bilateral relations will be able to stay the course after a more than four-decade voyage.

“Some in the U.S. with ideological biases are resorting to all possible means to portray China as an adversary, and even an enemy,” he said, according to a text of his speech. “They seek relentlessly to frustrate and contain China’s development.”

Zheng told Branstad that the U.S. has also “interfered with China’s internal affairs and harmed China’s interests on the issues of Xinjiang, Tibet and the South China Sea, further exposing its nature of naked hegemony."

He urged the U.S. not to go “further and further on the wrong path.” Branstad called on China to refrain from any further erosion of the high degree of autonomy guaranteed Hong Kong by a Sino-British Joint Declaration signed before the British colony was returned to China in 1997.

UK-China ties freeze with debate over Huawei, Hong Kong

July 12, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Only five years ago, then-British Prime Minister David Cameron was celebrating a “golden era” in U.K.-China relations, bonding with President Xi Jinping over a pint of beer at the pub and signing off on trade deals worth billions.

Those friendly scenes now seem like a distant memory. Hostile rhetoric has ratcheted up in recent days over Beijing’s new national security law for Hong Kong. Britain’s decision to offer refuge to millions in the former colony was met with a stern telling-off by China. And Chinese officials have threatened “consequences” if Britain treats it as a “hostile country” and decides to cut Chinese technology giant Huawei out of its critical telecoms infrastructure amid growing unease over security risks.

All that is pointing to a much tougher stance against China, with a growing number in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party taking a long, hard look at Britain’s Chinese ties. Many are saying Britain has been far too complacent and naive in thinking it could reap economic benefits from the relationship without political consequences.

“It’s not about wanting to cut ties with China. It’s that China is itself becoming a very unreliable and rather dangerous partner,” said lawmaker and former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. He cited Beijing’s “trashing” of the Sino-British Joint Declaration — the treaty supposed to guarantee Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy when it reverted from British to Chinese rule — and aggressive posturing in the South China Sea as areas of concern.

“This is not a country that is in any way managing itself to be a good and decent partner in anything at the moment. That’s why we need to review our relationship with them,” he added. “Those who think this is a case of separating trade from government … you can’t do that, that’s naïve.”

Duncan Smith has lobbied other Tory lawmakers to cut Huawei out from Britain’s superfast 5G network. Not only that: He says all existing Huawei technology in the U.K. telecoms infrastructure also needs to be eliminated as soon as possible.

The company has been at the center of tensions between China and Britain, as U.K. officials review how the latest U.S. sanctions — imposed over allegations of cyber spying and aimed at cutting off Huawei's access to advanced microchips made with American technology — will affect British telecom networks.

Johnson decided in January that Huawei can be deployed in future 5G networks as long as its share of the market is limited, but officials have since hinted that that decision could be reversed in light of the U.S. sanctions. A new policy is expected within weeks.

Huawei says it is merely caught in the middle of a U.S.-China battle over trade and technology. It has consistently denied allegations it could carry out cyber espionage or electronic sabotage at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.

“We’ve definitely been pushed into the geopolitical competition,” Vice President Victor Zhang said Wednesday. U.S. accusations about security risks are all politically motivated, he said. Nigel Inkster, senior adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and former director of operations and intelligence at Britain’s MI6 intelligence service, said the issue with Huawei was not so much about immediate security threats. Rather, he said, the deeper worry lies in the geopolitical implications of China becoming the world's dominant player in 5G technology.

“It’s less about cyber espionage than generally conceived because, after all, that’s happening in any place,” he said. “This was never something of which the U.K. was lacking awareness.” Still, Inkster said he’s been cautioning for years that Britain needed a more coherent strategy toward China that balances the economic and security factors.

“There was a high degree of complacency” back in the 2000s, he said. “There was always less to the ‘golden era’ than met the eye.” Britain rolled out the red carpet for Xi’s state visit in 2015, with golden carriages and a lavish banquet at Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth II. A cyber security cooperation deal was struck, along with billions in trade and investment projects — including Chinese state investment in a British nuclear power station. Cameron spoke about his ambitions for Britain to become China’s “best partner in the West.”

Enthusiasm has cooled significantly since. The English city of Sheffield, which was promised a billion-pound deal with a Chinese manufacturing firm in 2016, said the investment never materialized. Critics have called it a vanity project and a “candy floss deal.”

Economic and political grumbles about China erupted into sharp rebukes earlier this month when Beijing imposed sweeping new national security laws on Hong Kong. Johnson’s government accused China of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible Hong Kong residents.

That amounts to “gross interference,” Chinese Ambassador Liu Xiaoming said. Liu also warned that a decision to get rid of Huawei could drive away other Chinese investment in the U.K., and derided Britain for succumbing to U.S. pressure over the company.

Rana Mitter, an Oxford history professor specializing in China, said that the security law — combined with broader resentment about Chinese officials’ handling of information about the coronavirus — helped set the stage for a perfect storm of wariness among Britain’s politicians and the public.

Mitter added that Britain has careened from “uncritically accepting everything about China” to a confrontational approach partly because of a lack of understanding about how China operates. Some have cautioned against escalating tensions. Philip Hammond, the former British Treasury chief, warned that weakening links with the world’s second-largest economy was particularly unwise at a time when Britain is severing trade ties with Europe and seeking partners elsewhere. Hammond also said he was concerned about an “alarming” rise of anti-Chinese sentiment within his Conservative Party.

Duncan Smith rejected that, saying concerns about China’s rise are cross-party and multinational. He is part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a newly launched group of lawmakers from more than a dozen countries — from the U.S. to Australia to Japan — that want a coordinated international response to the Chinese challenge.

“We need to recognize that this isn't something one country can deal with,” he said.

Kelvin Chan and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this story.

Putin attends keel-laying of new warships in annexed Crimea

July 20, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's President Vladimir Putin pledged Monday to continue an ambitious program of building new warships on a trip to Crimea, which Russia has annexed from Ukraine. Speaking during the keel-laying of two landing vessels at a shipyard in Kerch, Putin said that Russia needs a strong navy to defend its interests and "help maintain a strategic balance and global stability.”

The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority amid tensions with the West that followed Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea. The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine denounced the move, saying on Twitter that “Russia's unauthorized construction of warships on sovereign Ukrainian territory, which it seized by force, violates international norms once again.”

In sync with the keel-laying ceremony in Crimea, Russia also launched the construction of two frigates in St. Petersburg and of two nuclear-powered submarines at the giant Sevmash shipyard in the northern city of Severodvinsk.

Putin said that the navy has commissioned 200 new ships over the past eight years, adding that the modernization will continue. Seeking to demonstrate its global reach, the Russian navy has increasingly often sent its ships to various parts of the world.

Putin said that the navy currently has 60 vessels on patrol missions. “We will maintain efforts to develop a modern navy and will build ships armed with new weapons,” he said. Russian officials noted that the new frigates and nuclear submarines that were laid Monday will be armed with hypersonic weapons.

The military has said that the new Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles capable of striking targets 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away, traveling at 9 times the speed of sound, have undergone successful tests and will equip future navy ships.

Contact tracing falters in Barcelona amid virus spike

July 21, 2020

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — When Sonia Ramírez was told by her local clinic that she had tested positive for the coronavirus, she expected to be asked about anyone she had come in close contact with recently.

Instead, like an unknown number of Spaniards in the northeast region of Catalonia, she was left on her own to warn family, friends and co-workers that they could have been exposed amid a new surge of infections.

“They didn’t ask me who I had been with,” said Ramírez, a 21-year-old cleaner in the greater Barcelona area. “They didn’t even ask if I had been to work recently, which of course I had.” With the virus rebounding in parts of Spain, it appears Catalonia and other regions are not adequately prepared to trace the new infections in what was supposed to be an early detection system to snuff out any outbreaks and prevent a new cascade of cases.

Spain imposed a three-month lockdown earlier this year and reined in a devastating first wave of infections that left at least 28,000 dead. As conditions improved in May and June, the government in Madrid gave in to pressure by the separatist-minded leaders in Catalonia and the right-wing political opposition to return full control of the health care system to the regions.

Now, Barcelona and an agricultural area in the same Catalonia region have become the two areas hit hardest by a resurgence of the virus. Ramírez believes she got infected from her boyfriend, who had caught the virus a few days earlier. After her positive test, the clinic she visited told her to self-isolate for two weeks, and someone has called every two days to check how she feels.

In over a week since testing positive, no health care worker has asked Ramírez or her boyfriend about their contacts in the two weeks before their symptoms started, as mandated by public health guidelines.

Catalonia leads Spain's 19 regions with 9,600 new reported cases since May 10 and its growth rate has more than doubled in the past three weeks, according to Spain’s National Epidemiological Survey. The survey found that Catalonia on average only traces up to two contacts and detects under one new infection per case, the lowest rates in the country. Experts say that on average, each infected person spreads the virus to three more people.

“We are seeing a rise in cases and community contagion that worries us,” Dr. Jacobo Mendioroz, the epidemiologist in charge of Catalonia’s virus response, told Catalonia Radio on Sunday. “The system of contact tracers can still be improved. Now we have 300 tracers and we are going to add another 600 shortly.”

Catalonia's Health Department did not respond to repeated requests from The Associated Press for Mendioroz or another top official to comment on the contact tracing failures, which also have been reported in local media and have drawn complaints from mayors.

“This is the main problem: The virus is outpacing our control measures," said Dr. Joan Caylà, a retired epidemiologist who set up Barcelona's contact tracing unit in the 1980s. According to Caylà, Catalonia should have boosted its full-time contact tracing force to 1,500 trained professionals over a month ago when the virus was still in remission.

“It would have cost a lot of money, but it would have paid off because the consequences are going to be much more costly,” he said. "This is a race against the clock.” The contact tracers were supposed to be supported by 120 workers of a private call center that the Catalan government contracted for a reported 17 million euros. Faced with criticism from health professionals who said the call center workers were not properly trained, the government has scaled back their role to checking in on patients in self-isolation.

Because of the flare up in Catalonia, authorities have restored restrictions. Catalonia was the first region to make face masks mandatory regardless of the distance between people in public areas. It then closed off a rural area that is home to 210,000 people around the city of Lleida, and prohibited gatherings over 10 people in Barcelona, while also asking them to limit their outings.

Even so, Barcelona's beaches were packed Saturday, and young people appear to be fed up with social distancing guidelines. Wary of privacy concerns over smartphone apps that warn users they could have been exposed to the virus, Spain has focused on manpower to track outbreaks.

England recruited about 25,000 contact tracers, but data shows the number of people reached and asked to self-isolate has been falling since the program began in May. Italy has had no major complaints about its contact tracers, but it has pinned its hopes on a tracing app that few people have downloaded.

Spain's doctors and nurses, who fell sick in world-leading numbers during the spring outbreak, are once again being asked to step in and do their own contact tracing. “We have always been ready to take our place in the front line,” said Dr. Rocío Moreno, who coordinates several clinics in an area of greater Barcelona that has a large virus cluster.

“Our own doctors, nurses, and social workers are making the calls and searching for contacts,” Moreno said, adding that her staff has had to drop almost all other work to concentrate on COVID-19 cases.

Nurse Raúl Martín is tracing contacts from his clinic because he and his colleagues say the contact tracers are overloaded. “I would speak with a patient to see if they had been contacted by tracers to get their contacts, and they would say nobody had called them,” Martín said.

His biggest fear is that another onslaught of infections is coming. “If a second wave like the first one hits, I don’t believe that the system could take it,” Martín said. “Maybe we do have enough protection suits and better protocols now, but as human beings we could not take another period of 12-hour shifts treating COVID patients, one after the other, and seeing people die all alone.”

Associated Press writers Aritz Parra in Madrid, Sylvia Hui in London, and Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed.

Dutch 'Dr. Superstrict' Rutte influential in EU virus deal

July 21, 2020

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte didn’t win many friends with his tough negotiating over the course of a marathon four-day European Union summit in Brussels. That didn’t bother the three-term leader who is a veteran of plenty of past EU negotiations.

“We are not here because we are going to be visitors at each other’s birthday party later,” he told reporters during a brief lull in the grueling series of meetings. “We are here because we do business for our own country. We are all pros.”

As the two-day summit to hammer out an unprecedented 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.1 trillion) budget and coronavirus recovery fund stretched into a third and then a fourth day, the normally affable, smiling Rutte became the grim face of the “frugals,” a group of five nations — Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Finland — demanding fiscal responsibility and reforms even as the 27-nation bloc came to the rescue of member states hardest hit by the pandemic.

It’s hardly a new position for Rutte, 53, whose country is an EU founding member with an export-driven economy that benefits hugely from its single market but has long been critical of administrative overreach and inefficiency from Brussels. A Dutch referendum in 2005 rejected a proposed EU constitution.

The Dutch also have long linked EU money to reforms in member states, arguing that countries in southern Europe need to overhaul their labor markets and pension systems in return for financial help. Even so, it was a tough four days for Rutte, who has in the past been touted as a possible president of the EU’s executive commission. Italian media dubbed Rutte “Mr. No,” and Dr. Superstrict. Hard-line Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wondered out loud why Rutte hated his nation. He compared Rutte’s negotiating stance to the rule of Hungary’s former communist leaders.

Rutte insisted after the summit that the relationships between leaders remain strong. “You can have big differences of opinion, maybe through fatigue somebody will smack their fist on a table or hit the roof, but the personal relationships are so good, they stay good,” Rutte told national broadcaster NOS.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven added: “Negotiations were very tough and conducted sometimes in a rather loud manner but also with the understanding that there is a need to reach a goal of some kind.”

In the end, Rutte — and his fellow EU leaders — hammered out compromises and everybody headed, bleary-eyed, back home claiming a measure of success. EU superpowers France and Germany had wanted the 750-billion-euro coronavirus fund to be made up of 250 billion euros in grants and 500 billion euros in loans. Rutte and his frugal allies initially balked at any grants before eventually agreeing to 390 billion in grants with guarantees on reforms in southern nations like Italy and Spain.

Adriaan Schout, Senior Research Fellow at the Dutch Clingendael think tank and professor of EU integration at Radboud University in the Dutch city of Nijmegen, said Rutte’s influence was clear in the final deal

“This is most definitely a compromise in which we can see his fingerprints all over the place,” Schout said. He called the compromise, “a defendable deal that will go to (Dutch) parliament and I guess there will be a majority.”

Euro-skeptic populists in the Netherlands were quick to criticize, possibly with an eye on Dutch national elections that are due by March next year. Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom is a fierce EU critic, called the deal “Crazy. Billions thrown away that we should have spent in our own country.”

Another reason for Rutte attracting so much criticism during the summit could be that he was not able to shelter behind the even more skeptical British, who since Brexit are no longer part of the EU. But Schout believes the absence of Boris Johnson in Brussels did not affect the Dutch leader.

“Rutte would have always played this role, even with the Brits," Schout said. "He’s fundamentally aware of the need for European cooperation. ... That will ask a price. He’s willing to pay the price.”

Istanbul's Hagia Sophia opens as a mosque for Muslim prayers

July 24, 2020

ISTANBUL (AP) — Thousands of Muslim faithful made their way to Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia on Friday to take part in the first prayers in 86 years at the structure that once was one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to attend the inaugural prayers inside the sixth-century monument along with around 500 dignitaries, as he fulfills what he has described as the “dream of our youth” anchored in Turkey's Islamic movement.

Thousands of men and women, including many who traveled from across Turkey, quickly filled segregated areas outside of Hagia Sophia to be part of the first prayers. Several camped near the structure overnight. Dozens of worshippers broke through one police checkpoint to rush toward Hagia Sophia and social distancing practices, in place due to the coronavirus outbreak, were being ignored, Turkish media reported.

Orthodox church leaders in Greece and the United States, meanwhile, were scheduled to observe “a day of mourning” over the inaugural prayers. Brushing aside international criticism, Erdogan issued a decree restoring the iconic building as a mosque earlier this month, shortly after a Turkish high court ruled that the Hagia Sophia had been illegally made into a museum more than eight decades ago. The structure, listed as UNESCO World Heritage site, has since been renamed “The Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque.”

The move sparked dismay in Greece, the United States and among Christian churches who had called on Erdogan to maintain it as a museum as a nod to Istanbul's multi-religious heritage and the structure's status as a symbol of Christian and Muslim unity. Pope Francis expressed his sadness.

Built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in 537, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque with the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding leader of the secular Turkish republic converted the structure into a museum in 1934.

Although an annex to the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan’s pavilion, has been open to prayers since the 1990s, religious and nationalists group in Turkey have long yearned for the nearly 1,500-year-old edifice, which they regard as the legacy of Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conquerer, to be reverted into a mosque.

“This is Hagia Sophia breaking away from its captivity chains. It was the greatest dream of our youth,” Erdogan said last week. “It was the yearning of our people and it has been accomplished.” Erdogan also described its conversion into a museum by the republic’s founding leaders as a mistake that is being rectified.

In New York, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, called the inaugural prayers a “cultural and spiritual misappropriation and a violation of all standards of religious harmony and mutual respect.” It called on the faithful to observe a day "of mourning and of manifest grief.”

Archbishop Elpidophoros of America held a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in Washington on Thursday to discuss concerns over the reconversion.

Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

Turkey names 3 imams, including professor, for Hagia Sophia

July 23, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Thursday appointed appointed three imams for Hagia Sophia, one of them a professor of religious studies, as the nation prepares for the first Muslim prayers in the Istanbul landmark in 86 years following its conversion back into a mosque.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to join hundreds of worshipers Friday for prayers inside the former Byzantine cathedral that became a mosque with the 1453 Muslim conquest of Istanbul and then a museum in 1934 after Turkey became a secular republic.

Erdogan issued a decree restoring the iconic 6th century building as a mosque this month after a Turkish high court ruled that the Hagia Sophia had been illegally made into a museum more than eight decades ago. The move was met with dismay in Greece and the United States and from Christian church leaders.

The head of Turkey’s religious authority, Ali Erbas, on Thursday announced the appointment of the three imams who will lead prayers at the reconverted mosque: Mehmet Boynukalin, a professor of Islamic law at Istanbul’s Marmara University, and Ferruh Mustuer and Bunjamin Topcuoglu, the imams of two other Istanbul mosques.

Erbas also named five muezzins - the officials who make the Muslim call for prayer — for Hagia Sophia, including two from Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque. Authorities have designated segregated areas outside of the Hagia Sophia for men and women wanting to join Friday's inaugural prayers.

Several roads leading to the building are being blocked. Authorities have said as many as 17,000 security personnel would be on duty.

Greece will do 'whatever necessary' in dispute with Turkey

July 23, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece warned Thursday it will do “whatever is necessary” to defend its sovereign rights in response to plans by neighboring Turkey to proceed with an oil-and-gas research mission south of Greek islands in the eastern Mediterranean.

The dispute over seabed mineral rights has led to increased navy deployments by both NATO members in the region, where a Turkish research vessel, the Oruc Reis, is being prepared for a survey mission.

Turkey has drawn growing criticism from Western allies, with French President Emmanuel Macron joining calls for European Union sanctions against Ankara if the dispute escalates further. Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas described the mission as a direct violation of Greek sovereignty and that of Greek ally Cyprus.

“The government is underlining to all parties that Greece will not accept a violation of its sovereignty and will do whatever is necessary to defend its sovereign rights,” Petsas said. French President Emmanuel Macron said sanctions now appeared necessary.

“It is not acceptable for the maritime space of a Union member state to be violated or threatened. Those responsible must be sanctioned,” Macron said before talks in Paris with Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades at the presidential Elysee Palace

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea boundaries but recent discoveries of natural gas and drilling plans across the East Mediterranean have exacerbated the dispute. Turkey argues Greek islands should not be included in calculating maritime zones of economic interest — a position that Greece says is a clear violation of international law. Greece has around 6,000 islands and smaller islets in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, more than 200 of them inhabited.

The survey ship Oruc Reis remains anchored off the port of Antalya, in southeastern Turkey, but a navigational telex issued by the port says the mission planned through Aug. 2 remains “valid and effective.” In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had full confidence in the capability of his country's military. “Historic successes on different fronts, from Syria to Libya, from the eastern Mediterranean to the fight against terrorism, demonstrate the strength of our country and the capabilities of our armed forces,” Erdogan said ahead of a visit to the country’s Supreme Military Council.

Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said Thursday: “We want all natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean to be shared fairly.” “We will never accept threats or sanctions,” the state-run Anadolu quoted him as saying. “We do not accept Greece’s maximalist position.”

But EU and U.S. officials have become increasingly blunt in their calls on Turkey to halt its survey plans. “I want to echo the clear message from Washington and elsewhere in Europe, urging Turkish authorities to halt operations that raise tensions in the region, such as plans to survey for natural resources in areas where Greece and Cyprus assert jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean,” said Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Greece.

“This is a complex strategic space. We want our friends and allies in the region to approach resource development in the spirit of cooperation ... Unilateral provocative actions were against this aim.” Pyatt spoke in the northeast Greek port of Alexandroupolis, where around 2,000 U.S. service members, dozens of helicopters and hundreds of vehicles disembarked. They were to take part in multinational training exercises and be sent to several NATO countries as part of regular troop rotation.

Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Thomas Adamson in Paris and Menelaos Hadjocostis in Nicosia, Cyprus contributed.

Turkey rejects Greece accusation of Mediterranean violation

July 22, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Wednesday rejected claims by Greece that its oil-and-gas research vessels were encroaching on Greek waters in the eastern Mediterranean and said it would continue to defend its legitimate rights and interests in the region.

A Foreign Ministry statement, however, also renewed a call by Ankara for dialogue to resolve the dispute between the two NATO allies. Turkey announced plans Tuesday to dispatch search vessels into disputed waters in the Mediterranean, raising tensions between the neighbors and ignoring calls from European nations to avoid the action. Turkish authorities said the research vessel Oruc Reis and two support vessels would carry out operations through Aug. 2 in waters south of the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kastelorizo.

State-run television in Greece said the country’s armed forces had been placed on a state of readiness. An overnight statement by the Greek foreign ministry called the Turkish notification “illegal," while authorities there issued a counter-notification declaring the Turkish navy's notice for seismic survey in the area as “invalid."

NATO allies Greece and Turkey are at odds over drilling rights in the region, with the European Union and the United States increasingly critical of Ankara’s plans to expand exploration and drilling operations in the coming weeks into areas Athens claims as its own.

Turkey has accused Greece of trying to exclude it from the benefits of oil and gas finds in the Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, arguing that sea boundaries for commercial exploitation should be divided between the Greek and Turkish mainland and not include the Greek islands on an equal basis.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry denounced what it called a “maximalist continental shelf claim,” insisting that they were “against international law, legal precedent and court decisions.” The ministry statement added that the maritime area where Oruc Reis would conduct research was “within the limits of the continental shelf that our country has notified to the United Nations.” It said an exploration license was given to the Turkish state-run oil company, TPAO, in 2012.

Greece is pressing other EU member states to prepare “crippling sanctions″ against Turkey if it proceeds with the oil-and-gas exploration plans.