Dubai ruler, princess in London court over welfare of kids

July 30, 2019

LONDON (AP) — A dispute between the ruler of Dubai and his estranged wife over the welfare of their two young children will play out over the next two days in a London courtroom amid reports the princess has fled the Gulf emirate.

The case beginning Tuesday in Britain's High Court pits Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum against Princess Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan. The princess is believed to be in Britain, where she owns a gated mansion.

The clash between Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya is the latest sign of trouble in Dubai's ruling family. Last year, a daughter of Sheikh Mohammed tried to flee Dubai after appearing in a 40-minute video saying she had been imprisoned.

Dubai's ruler, estranged wife headed for court clash in UK

July 04, 2019

LONDON (AP) — A legal battle between the powerful, poetry-writing ruler of Dubai and his wealthy estranged wife is leading toward a showdown in a London courtroom later this month. The family division court case scheduled on July 30 pits Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum against Princess Haya, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan and an accomplished Olympic equestrian on friendly terms with horse aficionado Queen Elizabeth II.

The hearing is expected to focus on who will have custody of their two young children now that the princess has left Dubai. She is believed to be in Britain, where she owns a gated mansion on Kensington Palace Gardens, a private street lined with some of the world's most expensive homes and cars.

When The Associated Press asked via intercom for an interview with Princess Haya or one of her representatives, a man emerged to say there would be no comments made on her behalf. He didn't indicate whether she was in the residence.

The clash between Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya is the latest sign of trouble in his extended family. Last year, a daughter of Sheikh Mohammed tried to flee Dubai after appearing in a 40-minute video saying she had been imprisoned on and off for several years and had been abused. Her friends say she was forcibly returned after commandos stormed a boat carrying her off the coast of India when she tried to flee the Emirates.

The sheikh, who is the vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates in addition to being the ruler of Dubai, is among the most influential figures in the Middle East. He also composes poetry, a long tradition among Gulf Arabs, and it was his own words that sparked the initial rumors that Haya had fled Dubai.

The talk started after a verified Emirati Instagram account followed by the Dubai ruler's son posted a poem last week attributed to Sheikh Mohammed. The poem, titled "You Lived and You Died," is about disloyalty, leading to speculation it is about Princess Haya.

"You betrayed the most precious trust, and your game has been revealed," the poem says. "Your time of lying is over and it doesn't matter what we were nor what you are." The harsh words caused reverberations and speculation throughout royal circles in the Middle East and beyond.

The princess, 45, and Sheikh Mohammed, 69, were married in 2004 and have a daughter, 11, and son, 7, together. Both were educated at elite English universities and they share a love for horses. Media reports indicate she took the children with her when she left Dubai. Under Islamic law, a woman can at least nominally retain custody of her children in a divorce. Nonetheless, decisions about schooling, travel and lifestyles of the children often remain with the father in the Middle East. Given the Dubai ruler's power, it is unlikely Princess Haya would have had a say in her children's ability to leave the UAE had she not reportedly fled with them.

Haya's half-brother is Jordan's current monarch, King Abdullah, who was pictured at her side when she wed Dubai's ruler, reportedly becoming his sixth wife. She is a former Olympic athlete who competed in equestrian show jumping in the 2000 Sydney Games, a taboo-breaking feat for women from traditional Muslim countries. Her love of sports and horse riding began early — she was just 13 when she became the first female to represent Jordan internationally in equestrian show jumping.

Haya has long stood out from other wives of Gulf Arab rulers not only because of her Jordanian royal background and Olympic ambitions, but because she was seen and photographed in public. Most rulers' wives in the Gulf are never photographed and their faces and names aren't known to the public. But Princess Haya wasn't only visible at humanitarian events, often seated front row in Dubai by her husband's side, but was a stylish fixture in glossy magazines and at prestigious equestrian events in the U.K,, like the Royal Ascot and Epsom Derby.

In a 2009 Daily Mail interview, the princess said she deliberately postponed marriage until she could meet a man "who doesn't feel he has to mold me." She was quoted as saying, "You have to accept that you're in control of yourself but not your destiny."

The government of Dubai hasn't commented on the media reports about Princess Haya fleeing with her children to Europe.

UK F-35 fighters fly missions from Cyprus over Syria, Iraq

June 25, 2019

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Britain's most advanced military aircraft, the Lightning F-35B, has flown its first missions over Syria and Iraq as part of ongoing operations against remnants of the Islamic State group, the U.K.'s defense secretary said.

Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt said in a statement released Tuesday that that the jets' first operational mission from a British air base in Cyprus was made following a highly successful training period.

"Their first real operational mission is a significant step into the future for the U.K.," Mordaunt said. Six F-35B aircraft from 617 Squadron flown by three British Royal Navy and three Royal Air Force pilots, arrived at RAF Akrotiri on May 21 for a six-week deployment as part of Exercise Lightning Dawn.

British military officials had said there were no plans for the aircraft to conduct combat missions during their stay at RAF Akrotiri. But it was decided that they were ready to make their operational debut as part of Operation Shader — the U.K.'s contribution to the fight against Islamic State group — because of their "exceptional performance."

Officials said the aircraft didn't fire any weapons when flying alongside Typhoon jets during the missions over Syria and Iraq. The F-35 is the first aircraft to combine radar-evading stealth technology with supersonic speeds and the ability to conduct short takeoffs and vertical landings.

The 617 Squadron jets will be deployed this autumn aboard Britain's new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, for a battery of operational tests. The tests will be carried out off the east coast of the U.S. in preparation for the aircrafts' first carrier strike deployment planned for 2021.

The U.K. now owns 17 F-35B aircraft with plans to procure a total 138 jets. According to Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II Website, British industry will build 15% of the more than 3,000 jets that are planned to be built. British officials say the program has already generated orders worth $12.9 billion and at peak production will support thousands of British manufacturing and engineering jobs.

EU, UK leaders to meet as post-Brexit talks stall

June 02, 2020

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's top executive and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet this month for talks that could give new momentum to the stalled post-Brexit negotiations. As a fourth round of talks between teams of negotiators resumed Tuesday with little hope for a breakthrough on a future trade deal, the bloc's executive arm said a meeting is planned between EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Johnson by the end of June.

Daniel Ferrie, the commission spokesperson for EU-U.K. negotiations, said the date and the format of the encounter has yet to be determined. The U.K. left the political institutions of the EU on Jan. 31, but it remains inside the EU’s tariff-free single market and customs union until the end of the year. That so-called transition period can be extended by two years although a deal to do so has to be made by July 1, according to the legal documents accompanying Brexit.

Johnson has repeatedly said he will not extend the transition period beyond Dec. 31. Ahead of this week's round of talks, Britain accused the EU of making unbalanced demands, while EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier warned in an interview with the Sunday Times that there would not be an “agreement at any cost.”

The three previous rounds of discussions have failed to produce much headway, notably around fishing rights. The U.K. wants a fisheries deal to be a standalone agreement whereby the two sides negotiate access and quotas. The EU, for its part, has sought to link fisheries to other trade issues.

Another major roadblock is the so-called level playing field. The EU is concerned that Britain may diverge on rules and regulations to gain a competitive advantage and wants to make sure that EU standards will be kept by London in return for a high degree of access to the single market.

“The U.K. has been taking a step back – two steps back, three steps back – from the original commitments,” Barnier said. “The U.K. negotiators need to be fully in line with what the Prime Minister signed up to with us. Because 27 heads of state and government and the European Parliament do not have a short memory.”

Despite the apparent stalemate, Johnson's spokesman, James Slack, insisted progress could be made. “We hope this latest round is constructive and we hope that it will keep the process on track ahead of the high-level meeting later this month," he said.

Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Nation's streets calmest in days, protests largely peaceful

June 03, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — Protests were largely peaceful and the nation's streets were calmer than they have been in days since the killing of George Floyd set off sometimes violent demonstrations against police brutality and injustice against African Americans.

An earlier curfew and efforts by protesters to contain the violence prevented more widespread damage to businesses in New York City overnight. As of Wednesday morning, arrests grew to more than 9,000 nationwide since the unrest began in response to Floyd's death May 25 in Minneapolis.

There was a marked quiet compared with the unrest of the past few nights, which included fires and shootings in some cities. Many cities intensified their curfews, with authorities in Washington also ordering people off streets before sundown.

A block away from the White House, thousands of demonstrators massed following a crackdown a day earlier when officers on foot and horseback aggressively drove peaceful protesters away from Lafayette Park, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to do a photo op at nearby St. John’s Church. Tuesday's protesters faced law enforcement personnel who stood behind a black chain-link fence put up overnight to block access to the park.

“Last night pushed me way over the edge,” said Jessica DeMaio, 40, of Washington, who attended a Floyd protest Tuesday for the first time. “Being here is better than being at home feeling helpless.” Pastors at the church prayed with demonstrators and handed out water bottles. The crowd remained in place after the city’s 7 p.m. curfew passed, defying warnings that the response from law enforcement could be even more forceful. But the people were peaceful, even polite. At one point, the crowd booed when a protester climbed a light post and took down a street sign. A chant went up: “Peaceful protest!”

Pope Francis called for national reconciliation and peace, saying he has ‘’witnessed with great concern the disturbing social unrest’’ in the United States in recent days. "My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life,’’ the pope said during his weekly Wednesday audience, held in the presence of bishops due to coronavirus restrictions on gatherings.

Trump, meanwhile, amplified his hard-line calls from Monday, when he threatened to send in the military to restore order if governors didn’t do it. “NYC, CALL UP THE NATIONAL GUARD,” he tweeted. “The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart. Act fast!”

Thousands of people remained in the streets of New York City Tuesday night, undeterred by an 8 p.m. curfew, though most streets were clear by early Wednesday. Midtown Manhattan was pocked with battered storefronts after Monday’s protests.

Protests also passed across the U.S., including in Los Angeles, Miami, St. Paul, Minnesota, Columbia, South Carolina and Houston, where the police chief talked to peaceful demonstrators, vowing reforms.

“God as my witness, change is coming,” Art Acevedo said. “And we’re going to do it the right way.” More than 20,000 National Guard members have been called up in 29 states to deal with the violence. Not in New York City, where Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he does not want the Guard, despite an offer from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

On Tuesday, Cuomo called what happened in the city Monday night “a disgrace.” “The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job,” Cuomo said at a briefing in Albany. He said his fellow Democrat underestimated the problem, and the nation’s largest police force was not deployed in sufficient numbers, though the city had said it doubled the usual police presence.

Tuesday marked the eighth straight night of protests that began after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd's neck while the handcuffed black man called out that he couldn't breathe. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and charged with murder.

The mother of George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna, said she wants the world to know that her little girl lost a good father. “I want everybody to know that this is what those officers took,” Roxie Washington said during a Minneapolis news conference, her daughter at her side. “I want justice for him because he was good. No matter what anybody thinks, he was good.”

Some protesters framed the burgeoning movement as a necessity after seemingly incessant killings by police. “It feels like it’s just been an endless cascade of hashtags of black people dying, and it feels like nothing’s really being done by our political leaders to actually enact real change,” said Christine Ohenzuwa, 19, who attended a peaceful protest at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul. “There’s always going to be a breaking point. I think right now, we’re seeing the breaking point around the country.”

“I live in this state. It’s really painful to see what’s going on, but it’s also really important to understand that it’s connected to a system of racial violence,” she said. Meanwhile, governors and mayors, Republicans and Democrats alike, rejected Trump's threat to send in the military, with some saying troops would be unnecessary and others questioning whether the government has such authority and warning that such a step would be dangerous.

Such use of the military would mark a stunning federal intervention rarely seen in modern American history. A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president is not rushing to deploy the military and that his goal was to pressure governors to deploy more National Guard members.

Nine states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries on Tuesday, testing the nation’s ability to run elections while balancing a pandemic and sweeping social unrest. Joe Biden won hundreds more delegates, nearly enough to formally secure the Democratic presidential nomination.

Also Tuesday, Minnesota opened an investigation into whether the Minneapolis Police Department has a pattern of discrimination against minorities.

Sullivan reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press journalists across the U.S. contributed to this report.

'Eyes are on you:' Minneapolis neighbors band to stand guard

June 03, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The two men stepped from the shadows as the car turned off an upscale shopping street into a residential area located on the far edge of the rioting that swept through Minneapolis. It was after midnight. A pair of metal dividers blocked the road, and the men stepped to either side of the car as it stopped. Both carried assault rifles.

“Do you live here?” one of the men asked, politely, but forcefully. His hands rested casually on the rifle slung across his chest, and a pistol was strapped to his belt. “We have lots of old people here,” he continued, satisfied that the driver, an AP reporter, posed no danger. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

A week of civil unrest has led some Minneapolis residents near the epicenter of the violence to take steps to protect their homes and neighborhoods. They’ve stocked up on fire extinguishers and buckets, and formed scores of loose neighborhood watch groups — aided by a cluster of apps and social media — to share what they view as suspicious activity.

Preparing for nightfall in Minneapolis has meant a new routine for many: stashing garbage cans to keep them from being tossed or set on fire, turning on lights and opening blinds. In some neighborhoods near large demonstrations, witnesses say it also includes residents armed with baseball bats, crowbars and the occasional pistol barricading their streets to keep violent protesters away.

Similar scenes have started to emerge across the country as the angry protests have spread, along with a heightened sense of fear and diminished confidence that police will keep the peace. In Chicago’s heavily-Mexican Little Village enclave, neighborhood residents stood watch as shops were vandalized along a busy commercial strip.

For some, it’s all a sign of community pride and rational response when policing has broken down, as it did in most destructive nights in Minneapolis last week. But others see a more troubling undercurrent in the anxiety and mobilization, particularly as it spreads to largely white neighborhoods that have seen little or no damage.

“There’s a sense of state failure and into state failure comes private actions to protect one’s family and one’s community,” said Omar Wasow, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University who writes about race and the politics of protest movements. “You take that and you layer it on the long, deep-rooted racist mythology that says, ‘I should be scared and black people are a threat,’ and you get a kind of circle-the-wagons behavior.”'

Peter Baggenstos has felt the tension in his neighborhood, a largely white, wealthy pocket of Minneapolis about a mile from a stretch of stores that were vandalized. Baggenstos, a doctor who is African American, said he senses a lot of “passive policing" at night, as neighbors keep lights on and trade text messages about cars or people on the street after curfew.

“You’ve got that feeling that eyes are on you,” he said. As a result, his wife alerted the neighbors when Baggenstos came home late recently, driving his Tesla. It does not have a front license plate, something likely to raise suspicions these days.

“People want to take control over what they feel they’re losing control of — in this case, it’s their personal well-being and that of their family members,” Baggenstos said. “But it's gotten to this level where it’s dangerous. It’s causing everyone to be paranoid.”

He said he's particularly worried about the surge of rumors and claims on text chains and apps, technology that has transformed old notions of a neighborhood watch. Since protests first erupted in Minneapolis last week in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody, neighbors across south Minneapolis have rushed for updates on apps like Next Door, GroupMe and Citizen, which are organized by neighborhood.

By Tuesday, one GroupMe neighborhood watch group had swelled to 479 members, organized into seven smaller regions. Members, identified only by their first names and cross streets, posted a steady stream of descriptions of suspicious vehicles, loud popping sounds, worries about outsiders and objects that might be filled with accelerants used to set fires.

“I would guess those are lawn bags,” one poster said. Residents have reason to be on alert. Arson and vandalism have devastated a large stretch of a vital corridor in south Minneapolis, and have spread beyond to pockets of neighboring St. Paul and some suburbs. State law enforcement authorities have said they've found caches of flammable liquids all over the metropolitan area, as well as stolen vehicles without license plates that they believe have been used to move the material.

In the worst-hit neighborhoods, where store after store was sometimes burned to the ground and looting was brazen, groups of neighbors sometimes set up makeshift barricades at their street corners, standing behind them for hours with baseball bats and metal rods.

But most of the tactics are far less confrontational. Michael Grunke, a 35-year-old who lives near where Floyd died, said he and other tenants in his building gathered hoses and buckets for water. The building manager bought up fire extinguishers before they sold out at some local hardware stores. The group stayed up all night, standing watch, he said — his way to show support for the peaceful protests.

“This was a good thing I could do to help the community and make sure things weren’t getting destroyed and tarnishing the memory of George Floyd,” Grunke said. Joy Miciano, 47, lives with her husband and their two teenage children in the South Uptown area, where stores have been damaged but few buildings burned. She said she and her husband stayed up keeping watch Friday because they felt no police or firefighters would respond.

“That’s what was worrisome to us — if this was coming our way, there was no one to call for help,” she said.

Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen contributed from Chicago.

Protests, Louisville police chief fired after fatal shooting

June 02, 2020

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Riot police firing tear gas scattered a protest crowd from a downtown Louisville square Monday night, hours after the firing of the city's police chief in the uproar over the early morning shooting death of a popular restaurant owner by security forces.

David McAtee, the owner of a barbecue spot who was known for offering meals to police officers, died while police and National Guard soldiers were enforcing a curfew early Monday amid waves of protests over a previous police shooting in Kentucky’s largest city. Police said they were responding to gunfire from a crowd.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced the firing of Police Chief Steve Conrad at a news conference Monday. He said officers involved in the shooting failed to activate body cameras at the chaotic scene. Authorities had sought footage for their investigation, after Kentucky’s governor demanded the release of police video.

“This type of institutional failure will not be tolerated,” Fischer said. “Accordingly, I have relieved Steve Conrad of his duties as chief of Louisville Metro Police Department.” Gov. Andy Beshear later called the lack of body camera footage unacceptable.

“This is the entire reason that we have those cameras,” the Democratic governor said at the state Capitol in Frankfort. Beshear authorized state police to independently investigate, promising the probe will be conducted in an “honest and transparent way that will not take months.”

U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman announced that federal authorities will be part of the investigation. The governor said he had counted on body camera footage to help determine “the truth in a way that spoke for itself, at a time when trust is difficult and people deserve to be able to see and evaluate.”

Late Monday afternoon, a huge group stretching several city blocks marched peacefully from downtown Louisville to the spot where McAtee was shot. Some motorists honked horns and raised fists in solidarity.

Hundreds of protesters regrouped later Monday night at downtown Jefferson Square and riot police standing shoulder to shoulder advanced amid burts of fired tear gas, dispersing the crowd. Military-style vehicles could later be seen occupying the emptied-out square.

The shakeup at the top of the city's police department came a month earlier than expected. Conrad had previously announced his resignation, which was to take effect at the end of June. Deputy Chief Robert Schroeder will step in immediately as chief, Fischer said.

The mayor also said the city's curfew was being extended until June 8. Police did retrieve video from crime center cameras that showed how the shooting unfolded, Schroeder said. Two Louisville officers and two Guard soldiers returned fire, he said. The two officers violated policy by not wearing or activating body cameras, Schroeder said, adding they have been placed on administrative leave.

McAtee, whose YaYa's BBQ Shack is near where the shooting occurred, was mourned by hundreds. Christopher 2X, an anti-violence activist and executive director of the group Game Changers, said McAtee was well-liked.

“I’ve never known him to be aggressive in any kind of way,” he said. Schroeder agreed that McAtee was friendly to police officers. “Over the years he’s been a good friend to the police officers ... frequently making sure our officers had a good meal on their shifts," he said.

Before his dismissal, Conrad confirmed the shooting happened around 12:15 a.m. Monday outside a food market on West Broadway, where police and the National Guard had been called to break up a group of curfew violators.

Someone fired a shot at law enforcement officials, and both soldiers and officers returned fire, he said. Several “persons of interest” were being interviewed, he said. News outlets showed video taken by someone in a car parked at a gas station. It recorded the sound of bullets being fired as groups of police and Guard soldiers crouched behind cars.

Kris Smith said he was at a restaurant — “just outside having a good time, having drinks, eating barbecue” — when the soldiers arrived. “As soon as I walk to my car they jump out with the sticks, the police jump out with their sticks and their shields and stuff on," Smith said. “It looked like something out of a movie. It looked like a freaking war zone.”

He said he heard a loud noise, then gunfire minutes later. Smith, who is black, said the group had nothing to do with the protests. Protesters have been demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, a black woman killed in her home in Louisville in March. The 26-year-old EMT was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who knocked down her front door as they attempted to enforce a search warrant. No drugs were found in the home.

After Taylor's death, the mayor said Louisville police would be required to wear body cameras.

Associated Press contributors include Claire Galofaro and Rebecca Reynolds Yonker in Louisville. Tulp reported from Atlanta.