NATO chief says US to consult allies on future troop plans

June 17, 2020

BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States remains committed to its European allies and has pledged to consult them on any future U.S. troop moves in Europe, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday, after President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that he plans to pull thousands of personnel out of Germany.

Trump said Monday that he is ordering a major reduction in troop strength in Germany, from around 34,500 personnel down to 25,000. Members of his own party have criticized the move as a gift to Russia and a threat to U.S. national security. Germany is a hub for U.S. operations in the Middle East and Africa.

Speaking after chairing a video meeting of NATO defense ministers, Stoltenberg said that Defense Secretary Mark Esper “stated very strongly that of course the U.S. stays committed to European security, and the United States will consult with other allies as we move forward.”

“No final decision has been made on how and when to implement the U.S. intention,” Stoltenberg said. Germany wasn't notified of the move, which came after Trump branded its NATO ally “delinquent” for failing to pay enough for its own defense, by falling short of a goal set in 2014 for members to halt budget cuts and move toward spending at least 2% of gross national product on defense by 2024.

A number of NATO diplomats and officials have suggested the pullout — which would be costly and might not even be logistically possible before the U.S. elections in November — probably won’t happen. Stoltenberg said that the United States and Poland, in consultation with NATO, had decided to boost the U.S. troop presence there, but he provided no details.

Asked whether European allies and Canada are concerned that Trump might announce a complete troop withdrawal from Afghanistan as the election approaches, NATO's top civilian official said only that Esper had given the ministers a detailed briefing on U.S. plans.

Stoltenberg said more talks will take place among NATO allies and their partners in the conflict-ravaged country, but that any drawdown would be based on whether the Taliban are complying with their commitments to the peace agreement.

Separately, the ministers endorsed a series of measures they’ve been preparing for more than a year to respond to Russia’s development of nuclear capable medium-range missiles and hypersonic weapons, and what NATO says is Moscow’s intimidation of European allies.

Stoltenberg said a number of allies are buying new air and missile defense systems and some are investing in advanced fighter aircraft. The 30-nation military alliance is also boosting its intelligence gathering and sharing, and plans more war games.

Stoltenberg said the ministers also “decided on additional steps to keep the NATO nuclear deterrent safe, secure and effective,” without elaborating. But he insisted that NATO countries don't plan to “mirror Russia” by deploying new land-based nuclear missiles in Europe.

PM Modi visits military base close to China amid standoff

July 03, 2020

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unannounced visit Friday to a military base in remote Ladakh region bordering China where the soldiers of the two countries have been facing off for nearly two months.

Modi, accompanied by India’s military leadership, interacted with troops as he sat in a camouflage tent at a military base, a photo uploaded on Modi’s Instagram account showed. “Interacting with our brave armed forces personnel,” he wrote.

Modi’s visit comes in the backdrop of massive Indian army build-up in Ladakh region following hand-to-hand combat between Indian and Chinese soldiers on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and dozens injured, the worst military confrontation in over four decades between the Asian giants.

Indian officials say there were casualties on the Chinese side as well, but there has been no confirmation by Beijing. No other details of Modi’s visit were available. Both India and China have provided little information officially, but media in the two countries have given large coverage to the escalating tensions, much of it replayed on television news channels and social media.

His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leader, B.L. Santhosh, tweeted Friday that Modi would also meet injured soldiers and called the visit a “big, big booster to soldiers morale. He leads from front.”

Indian officials say the current standoff began in early May when large contingents of Chinese soldiers entered deep inside Indian-controlled territory at three places in Ladakh, erecting tents. They say the soldiers ignored repeated verbal warnings, triggering a yelling match, stone-throwing and even fistfights in at least one place along Pangong Lake, the site of several such confrontations in the past.

But the situation turned deadly on June 15 when the rival soldiers engaged in a nightly medieval clash in Galwan Valley, where India is building a strategic road connecting the region to an airstrip close to China.

According to Indian officials, Chinese troops atop a ridge at the mouth of the narrow valley threw stones, punched and pushed Indian soldiers down a ridge at around 4,500 meters (15,000 feet.) Since the confrontation, India has sent huge reinforcements of soldiers, military equipment and fighter jets into the already highly militarized region.

The disputed border covers nearly 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) of frontier that the two countries call the Line of Actual Control and that stretches from Ladakh in the north to the Indian state of Sikkim in the northeast.

India and China fought a border war in 1962 that also spilled into Ladakh. The two countries have been trying to settle their border dispute since the early 1990s without success. Since then, soldiers from the two sides have frequently faced off along the contested frontier.

Several rounds of military and diplomatic talks to end the current crisis in Ladakh have been unsuccessful. India unilaterally declared Ladakh a federal territory while separating it from disputed Kashmir in August 2019. China was among the handful of countries to strongly condemn the move, raising it at international forums including the U.N. Security Council.

China claims valley where Indian, Chinese soldiers brawled

June 20, 2020

NEW DELHI (AP) — China said the Galwan Valley high up in Himalayan border region where Chinese and Indian troops engaged in a deadly brawl this week falls entirely within China, boldly laying claim to the disputed area as the Asian giants continued using military and diplomatic channels to reduce tensions.

The confrontation in the Galwan Valley, part of the disputed Ladakh region along the Himalayan frontier, was the deadliest in 45 years. India blames China for instigating the fight by developing infrastructure in the valley, which it said was a breach of the agreement of what area remained in dispute.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement Friday that “the Galwan Valley is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control in the west section of the China-India boundary.”

He blamed incursions by Indian troops in the area from early May for a midnight clash on Monday that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. China has not said whether its side suffered any casualties. Soldiers brawled with clubs, rocks and their fists in the thin air at 4,270 meters (14,000 feet) above sea level, but no shots were fired, Indian officials have said. The soldiers carry firearms but are not allowed to use them under a previous agreement in the border dispute.

Indian security officials have said the fatalities were caused by severe injuries and exposure to subfreezing temperatures. The valley falls within a remote stretch of the 3,380-kilometer (2,100-mile) Line of Actual Control — the border established following a war between India and China in 1962 that resulted in an uneasy truce.

India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Anurag Srivastava declined to comment on China's claim to the valley. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a meeting with political opposition leaders on Friday that “neither anyone has intruded into our territory, nor took over any post.”

Modi said India was “hurt and angry” about the deaths of its troops. He said India wanted peace and friendship, but had the "capability that no one can even dare look towards an inch of our land.” Also on Friday, Zhao said that China was not holding any Indian soldiers, without addressing media reports that China released 10 of them late Thursday.

“My information is that at present there are no Indian personnel detained on the Chinese side,” Zhao said, according to an English version of his daily briefing posted on the ministry website. Indian officials have denied that any soldiers were in Chinese custody.

India cautions China over its claim to area of deadly clash

June 18, 2020

NEW DELHI (AP) — India on Thursday cautioned China against making "exaggerated and untenable claims" to the Galwan Valley area even as both nations tried to end a standoff in the high Himalayan region where their armies engaged in a deadly clash.

Twenty Indian troops were killed in the clash Monday night that was the deadliest conflict between the sides in 45 years. China has not disclosed whether its forces suffered any casualties. Responding to China's claim to the valley, India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said both sides agreed to handle the situation responsibly. "Making exaggerated and untenable claims is contrary to this understanding,” he said in a statement.

Both sides accused each other of instigating the clash between their forces in the valley, part of the disputed Ladakh region along the Himalayan frontier. Meanwhile on Thursday, an Indian confederation of small and midsize companies called for a boycott of 500 Chinese goods including toys and textiles to express “strong criticism” of China's alleged aggression in Ladakh.

The call for a boycott followed protests Wednesday in New Delhi where demonstrators destroyed items they said were made in China while chanting “China get out.” The Himalayan clash has fanned anti-Chinese sentiments already running high due to the coronavirus. India counts more than 366,000 cases and 12,237 deaths.

But a broader boycott could backfire for India if China chose to retaliate by banning exports to India of the raw ingredients used by India's pharmaceutical industry. Media reports said senior army officers of the two sides met Wednesday to defuse the situation, but there was no confirmation from either side.

Indian security forces said neither side fired any shots, instead throwing rocks and trading blows. The Indian soldiers, including a colonel, died of severe injuries and exposure in the area's sub-zero temperatures, the officials said.

The clash escalated a standoff in the disputed region that began in early May, when Indian officials said Chinese soldiers crossed the boundary at three different points, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring warnings to leave. That triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights, much of it replayed on television news channels and social media.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned New Delhi not to underestimate Beijing's determination to safeguard what it considers its sovereign territory. His comments came in a phone call Wednesday with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Wang said China demanded that India conduct a thorough investigation and “harshly punish” those responsible. Jaishankar, in turn, accused China of erecting a structure in the Galwan Valley, which he called a “premeditated and planned action that was directly responsible for the resulting violence and casualties," according to a statement.

He added that the incident would have “serious repercussions” on India's relationship with China, but that both sides were committed to further disengaging on the remote plateau of the Himalayan terrain.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the soldiers killed in the clashes. “Their sacrifices won't go to waste," he said. “For us, the unity and sovereignty of the country is the most important thing. India wants peace, but when provoked, it is capable of giving a fitting reply, be it any kind of situation.”

While experts said the two nations were unlikely to head to war, they also believe easing tensions quickly will be difficult. Josep Borrell, a European Union vice president, urged both sides to show restraint and engage in military deescalation.

“We express our deep regrets for the casualties incurred and offer our condolences to their loved ones,” the statement said. It called India and China both important partners of the EU and “crucial actors for regional and global stability.”

China claims about 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) of territory in India’s northeast, while India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of its territory in the Aksai Chin Plateau in the Himalayas, a contiguous part of the Ladakh region.

India unilaterally declared Ladakh a federal territory while separating it from disputed Kashmir in August 2019. China was among the handful of countries to strongly condemn the move, raising it at international forums including the U.N. Security Council.

Thousands of soldiers on both sides have faced off over a month along a remote stretch of the 3,380-kilometer (2,100-mile) Line of Actual Control, the border established following a war between India and China in 1962 that resulted in an uneasy truce.

Governor shuts bars, dining as virus hits California hard

July 14, 2020

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As the coronavirus swept California with renewed ferocity, the governor once again closed bars, inside dining and, for much of the state, gyms, indoor church services and hair and nail salons in an effort to prevent COVID-19 cases from swamping hospitals.

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a sweeping set of closures on Monday as the state recorded more than 329,000 cases and deaths topped 7,000. Hospitalizations have surged by 28% in the past two weeks, including a 20% increase in patients requiring intensive care.

That was lower than a 50% hike seen about a week ago but Newsom said he was concerned about the future and implored people to maintain social distance, wear masks in public and stay home when possible.

“COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon, until there is a vaccine and or an effective therapy,” Newsom said. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles and San Diego school districts, the two largest in California with a combined K-12 student population of about 720,000, announced Monday they won’t bring students back to classrooms next month because of rising coronavirus hospitalizations and infection rates.

Earlier in the pandemic California closed beaches, campgrounds and state parks as it sought to limit interactions of people from different households. But as data showed the virus was most likely to be transmitted indoors, the Newsom administration began modifying public health orders, including ordering people to wear face coverings and leaving outdoor activities alone.

On Monday, the governor ordered restaurants to stop serving customers indoors and told bars, wineries, movie theaters, zoos, museums, cardrooms and other indoor entertainment venues to shut down. Shutdowns went even further in some of the 30 counties on a state watch list because of worrying rises in disease transmission, especially from people mingling without heeding safety guidelines. The listed counties account for roughly 80% of California’s population.

Those that have been on the list for three days now must restrict indoor operations for hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors, gyms, shopping malls and houses of worship. The affected counties include Los Angeles and virtually all of Southern California.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti immediately implemented the shutdowns and warned that the city was “on the verge” of raising its COVID-19 threat level from orange to red — the highest level — and resorting to shutting down all but essential businesses.

Garcetti noted that Los Angeles County now has more virus cases than Canada. “We have never had as many people infected, or infectious,” he said. “We’ve never had as many people in the hospital as there are tonight.”

Garcetti supported Newsom’s orders but they met with resistance from some churches and fear by small businesses that were struggling to survive after months of being shut down. Salons will be hard-hit because loans and unemployment insurance will soon run out and many may ignore the order, said Fred Jones, attorney for the Professional Beauty Federation of California.

“We’re going to be out there on our own, worse now than ever,” Jones said. “We question how many of those salons that just reopened will comply with this second round of closures.” There is “no evidence that a single contagion has been spread in a salon since we’ve been allowed to reopen,” Jones said.

“What a bummer,” said Connie Allan, who owns Boat Canyon Barbers in Laguna Beach. “How long am I going to do this?” she told the Orange County Register. “I’m 59, and it’s not like I can find a job somewhere. I’ve been a barber for 30-plus years, so I don’t know ... It’s a pretty frightening outlook.”

Since the order only bars indoor activities, she was considering other options, such as putting up a canopy to cut hair outside. Some churches that had cautiously begun holding limited indoor services a month ago were faced with ending them again.

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Palm Desert, near Palm Springs, had been allowing only 100 people or fewer into services to maintain social distancing. Father Howard Lincoln told the Palm Springs Desert Sun that he wasn’t surprised by the new order.

“Our right to worship has to be tempered with our clear, moral responsibility to protect others from a highly contagious and sometimes fatal disease,” Lincoln said. “As a church, we preach, ‘Love thy neighbor.’ It is certainly not too much of a sacrifice to wear a mask and socially distance and try to protect others.”

Newsom’s ban on indoor church services may be unconstitutional, argued Robert Tyler of a nonprofit law group called Advocates for Faith and Freedom, although several judges have upheld earlier restrictions.

“Is a worship service any less protected under the First Amendment than a protest? No,” Tyler said in a statement. “The freedom of worship is of paramount importance and we will support churches who provide services as their faith sincerely dictates so long as they do not provide their services recklessly.”

Newsom’s closure announcements did include a note of hope. The governor said the state had managed to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections in the wake of mid-March orders that shut down most businesses and kept many people at home.

“We were able to suppress the spread of this virus, we were able to knock down the growth of this in the beginning,” Newsom said. “We are going to do that again, there is no doubt in my mind.”

Associated Press reporters Christopher Weber and John Antcazk in Los Angeles and Amy Taxin in Orange County contributed to this report.

In reversal, UK says it will make masks mandatory in shops

July 14, 2020

LONDON (AP) — The British government decided Monday to require people to wear face coverings in shops, joining a long list of countries that have made masks mandatory under some circumstances in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

After weeks of prevarication and days of confused messaging, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government said that masks will be required in stores starting July 24. Johnson’s office said “growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus.”

Those who flout the law can be fined up to 100 pounds ($125) by the police under public health laws. Many European nations, including Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece, already require masks to be worn in enclosed spaces, but Britain had only made masks obligatory on public transit.

Johnson's government until now recommended - but did not require - mask-wearing in stores. The prime minister, who in the spring spent a week in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, was not seen in public in a mask until Friday, when he suggested that the government was considering “stricter” rules for mask use.

Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove suggested Sunday that no government order was required, saying he trusted people to use “common sense.” The opposition Labour Party questioned Monday why the new mask measure would not come into force for 11 days. Labour health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth said the government “has been slow and muddled again over face coverings.”

The new requirement only applies to in England. Scotland already made masks mandatory in stores. Scientific opinion has been divided on the value of face coverings, but a growing body of evidence suggests it brings some benefit in preventing the spread of the virus.

Spain holds 2 regional elections amid small virus outbreaks

July 12, 2020

ORDIZIA, Spain (AP) — Over 4.4 million Spaniards in two northern regions voted in regional elections Sunday amid tight security measures to avoid more outbreaks of the coronavirus. Regional authorities in both the Basque Country and Galicia prohibited over 400 people who had tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 from going to polling stations to vote. They would have to vote by mail or delegate their vote to another person.

The decision was backed by both the national electoral board and the Supreme Court in response to a complaint filed by opposition parties, saying that the restrictions were justified in times of pandemic.

Voters were obliged to wear face masks to vote and remain 1.5 meters apart in polling stations, which were equipped with hand sanitizers. Voters placed their national identity cards in trays so they did not have to be handled by those who man the polling stations.

Amaia Arregi, 23, said that she had concerns about voting in Ordizia, a Basque town of under 10,000 residents that is the most worrying hotspot in the Basque Country after the detection of 69 infections in recent days.

“I was a little afraid when I was coming to vote but seeing the security measures in place calmed my nerves,” she said. “The measures taken seem correct to me.” Mail-in voting increased in both regions, as did the abstention rate from the same election four years ago with over 47% of voters in the Basque Country and over 41% in Galicia not casting ballots.

With over 95% of the votes counted in the Basque Country, the regionalist PNV party remained the most voted party, but will likely need to repeat a coalition government with the Socialists of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The conservative Popular Party in Galicia was on pace to maintain its absolute majority according to preliminary scrutiny with over 90% of the votes counted. The biggest losers of the night were the far-left United We Can party, which forms part of Sánchez's national government of progressives.

The surprise was the apparent entry of the far-right Vox party in the Basque parliament with one seat. Both regional governments originally called elections to be held on April 5 but postponed them due to the rapid rise in infections that Spain could only rein in by locking down the country until June.

These were the first elections in Spain since the start of the pandemic that has claimed at least 28,000 lives in the European country. Problems with testing early in the health crisis means that the true count is probably significantly higher.

Health authorities are watching small outbreaks in both regions, as well as in other parts of Spain. In northeast Catalonia, regional authorities tightened the lockdown of a rural area that had been closed off to non-essential travel for a week. Starting Monday, the 138,000 residents of Lleida and those of seven other smaller towns won’t be able to leave their homes except for work and other essential activities.

Authorities are also concerned about an outbreak in the municipality of Hospitalet, which forms part of the greater Barcelona area and has one of the highest population densities in Spain.

Wilson reported from Barcelona.