Workers raise 1st section of new Chernobyl shelter

November 27, 2012

CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER STATION, Ukraine (AP) — Workers have raised the first section of a colossal arch-shaped structure that eventually will cover the exploded nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power station.

Project officials on Tuesday hailed the raising as a significant step in a complex effort to clean up the consequences of the 1986 explosion, the world's worst nuclear accident. Upon completion, the shelter will be moved on tracks over the building containing the destroyed reactor, allowing work to begin on dismantling the reactor and disposing of radioactive waste.

Suma Chakrabati, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is leading the project, called Tuesday "a very significant milestone, which is a tribute to the ongoing commitment of the international donor community, and an important step towards overcoming the legacy of the accident."

The shelter, shaped like a gargantuan Quonset hut, will be 257 meters by 150 meters (843 feet by 492 feet) when completed and at its apex will be higher than the Statue of Liberty. The April 26, 1986, accident in the then-Soviet republic of Ukraine sent a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe and forced the evacuation of about 115,000 people from the plant's vicinity. A 30-kilometer (19-mile) area directly around the plant remains largely off-limits and the town of Pripyat, where the plant's workers once lived, today is a ghostly ruin of deteriorating apartment towers.

At least 28 people have died of acute radiation sickness from close exposure to the shattered reactor and more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected in people who, as children or adolescents, were exposed to high levels of fallout after the blast.

Officials who showed reporters around the construction site Tuesday were clearly delighted at the colossus taking shape before them, but concerned about the challenges ahead. The shelter is to be moved over the reactor building by the end of 2015 — a deadline that no one wants to miss given that the so-called sarcophagus hastily built over the reactor building after the 1986 explosion has an estimated service life of about 30 years.

The arch now under construction is only one of two segments that will eventually form the shelter, and so far it's only been raised to a height of 22 meters (72 feet). More structural elements have to be added before it reaches its full height of 108 meters (354 feet), and the work so far has taken seven months.

"There's no room for error ... the schedule is very tight," said Vince Novak, director of the EBRD's nuclear safety department, who added that staying within budget is also a concern. The overall shelter project is budgeted at €1.54 billion ($2 billion) — €1 billion ($1.3 billion) of that for the structure itself — and much uncertainty lies ahead. One particular concern is dismantling the plant's chimney, which must be taken down before the shelter is put in place. The chimney is lined with radioactive residue that could break up and enter the atmosphere as it is taken apart. Laurin Dodd, managing director of the shelter project management group, said some sort of fixative will have to be applied to the chimney's interior.

"This is one of the most challenging parts, because it's an unknown," he said. Other possible delays could come if excavations for the shelter's foundation uncover radioactive waste or even buried machinery. Dodd said other excavations unearthed several bulldozers and cranes that had to be decontaminated.

Even when the shelter is in place, the area around the reactor building will remain hazardous. The shelter is aimed only at blocking radioactive material from escaping when the reactor is being dismantled; it won't block radiation itself.

But when the dismantling and cleanup work is complete, the radiation danger will decline. How long that would take is unclear, but officials on Tuesday allowed themselves to envision a happier Chernobyl a century from now, with the plant's director speculating that the huge shelter may even become a tourist attraction.

Plant director Igor Gramotkin drew a parallel between the shelter and the Eiffel Tower. "Originally, that was intended to be destroyed. But I think this (shelter) will be so impressive that even in 100 years people will come to look at it," he said.

Russia's Cossacks start patrolling Moscow streets

November 27, 2012

MOSCOW (AP) — Renowned for their sword-fighting prowess and notorious for their anti-Semitism in czarist Russia, the Cossacks are taking on new foes: beggars, drunks and improperly parked cars.

With the approval of city authorities, eight Cossacks clad in traditional fur hats and uniforms patrolled a Moscow train station on Tuesday looking for signs of minor public disturbances. The Kremlin is seeking to use the once-feared paramilitary squads in its new drive to promote conservative values and appeal to nationalists.

The southern Krasnodar province — which includes Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics — launched Cossack patrols in September to crack down on Muslim migrants from the neighboring Caucasus. Now they've made it to the Russian capital.

Cossacks trace their history in Russia back to the 15th century. Serving in the czarist cavalry, they spearheaded imperial Russia's expansion in exchange for special privileges, including the right to govern their own villages. In the 2010 census, about 650,000 Russians declared themselves Cossacks.

Tuesday's patrol was a test run on whether the group can become an armed and salaried auxiliary police force, with the power of arrest, patrol leader Igor Gulichev said. He compared his forces to the Texas Rangers, the elite law-enforcement body in the U.S. state.

"They are just like Cossacks, and they work for the government, but they're welcomed with open arms. How come this should be allowed in America, but not in Russia, with our rich Cossack traditions? We're like Chuck Norris!" Gulichev said, in reference to the cult karate-kicking star of the television series "Walker, Texas Ranger."

Gulichev's group, which he said numbers up to 85, has patrolled southwestern Moscow with police approval for the past year, and has brought about 35 arrests. They are unpaid but receive free public transport passes and uniforms. Tuesday's patrol was the first in central Moscow.

The conservative Cossacks have increased their political activity in response to an impromptu protest that feminist punk rockers Pussy Riot staged in Moscow's main cathedral in February. Groups of Cossacks recently barred visitors from entering a Moscow art exhibition that daubed Pussy Riot's trademark balaclavas over Orthodox Christian icons, and they led a successful campaign to cancel a staging of Vladimir Nabokov's racy novel "Lolita" in St. Petersburg.

A government-backed Cossack political party held its first congress in Moscow this weekend. Communists have called it a cheap attempt to siphon pensioners' support from their party, which is widely known by the same acronym. Six other groups have applied to form splinter Cossack parties.

Gulichev, whose official title is deputy ataman, a Turkic word meaning commander, said he expected his group's responsibilities would soon expand to fighting drug trafficking and terrorism, mirroring the special relationship Cossacks had with the czars. "Cossacks have always been on the frontiers of the Russian empire, fighting foes and adversaries, illegal immigration — repulsing raids, as people say today," he added.

Tuesday's modest effort lasted barely more than an hour and yielded few rewards. Without the police supervisor that Russian law requires to oversee volunteer deputies, the Cossacks drove away two elderly beggars, an old woman selling dried wild mushrooms and one unlicensed trading stall before piling into a bus. The stall was back selling socks within hours.

City authorities later distanced themselves from the Cossack patrol, even though officials had announced it widely the day before. Moscow's central district administration and the city Cossack committee released a joint statement denying they had authorized the patrol and saying that the Cossacks did not have the authority to crack down on unlicensed traders or badly parked cars.

Gulichev later told the Interfax news agency that the Cossacks had been hampered by the several dozen journalists who arrived to cover the patrol. The Cossacks spent most of their time giving interviews or aimlessly milling around the square, and only began their battle against public disturbances after reporters from Russian state television desperately begged them to do something on camera.

President Vladimir Putin was inducted into what is known as the Cossack host in 2005 and given the rank of Cossack colonel, previously held by imperial czars. Russia plans to restore the functions Cossacks had in the imperial Russian army, where they were instrumental in repelling Napoleon's invading army in 1812 and led pogroms against Jews. A 400,000-strong All-Russia Cossack Host directly subordinate to Putin is scheduled to be launched by the end of the year.

Storms batter England; 2 people killed

November 25, 2012

LONDON (AP) — Heavy rain and strong winds battered areas of Britain over the weekend, killing two people and flooding 800 homes, officials said Sunday.

A 21-year-old woman died and two others were injured when a large spruce tree collapsed in Exeter, near the southwestern coast, late Saturday. The woman was in a small tent to shelter from the storm when the tree fell on it, police said. She later died at a hospital.

The rains caused the most serious problems in southern England. In nearby Cornwall, people had to briefly evacuate their homes as flood waters and torrential rain battered villages. In Cambridgeshire, a man was driving a car when it plunged into a swollen river in a flooded area. The man was pulled from the water, but he died on the way to the hospital.

Hundreds of highways and roads were closed due to the flooding, and several train services were canceled. Officials said the situation was stabilizing in southern England, but weather forecasters said persistent rain would continue in the north of England and Scotland on Sunday.

Prime Minister David Cameron pledged that all flood victims would get the help they needed.

Spain's Catalonia punishes pro-referendum leader

November 25, 2012

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Voters in the economically powerful region of Catalonia on Sunday punished the leader who made a referendum over breaking away from Spain a central plank of his campaign, seeing his party's majority reduced by a dozen seats.

Regional president Artur Mas called the early election as part of a power struggle with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy regarding the size of Catalonia's contribution to national coffers. But what began as a quarrel over money turned into a test of Spain's territorial integrity.

Mas had asked the electorate to give him an absolute majority to lend weight to his Convergence and Union party's center-right policies, including the call for a referendum. Instead, voters have left him 18 votes short and in need to make a coalition to guarantee staying in power.

His party now has 50 seats in the 135-seat regional legislature. The second-most voted party is pro-referendum Republican Left, which has been very critical of Mas' austerity drive. "The vote is fragmented but the message is clear," said Ferran Requejo, political science professor at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University. "Two-thirds of the electorate voted for parties that are in favor of calling an independence referendum, but Mas has been hit hard for his austerity policies."

Mas appeared on television to thank his party for its support and to acknowledge that they could no longer rule alone as a minority government. He also said that those who think the referendum plan had been aborted needed to do the math.

"Those who want to abort the process should take into account that they have to know how to add and subtract because the sum of the political parties in favor of the right to choose form a great majority in parliament."

Two pro-unity parties — Rajoy's Popular Party and the Catalan Ciutadans — did make modest advances, boosting their seats by seven to 28. "For those who want a Catalonia outside Spain, matters have got worse," PP spokeswoman Maria Dolores de Cospedal said.

Catalonia is responsible for around a fifth of Spain's economic output, and many residents feel the central government gives back too little in recognition of the region's contribution. Catalans have said during growing public protests that their industrialized region is being hit harder than most by austerity measures aimed at avoiding a national bailout like those needed by Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.

Madrid has traditionally said that simplifying the state's financial model by excluding overall costs such as defense only creates a distorted image of how taxation and spending are distributed. A rising tide of Catalan separatist sentiment was spurred when Rajoy failed to agree to Mas' proposals to lighten Catalonia's tax load and 1.5 million people turned out in Barcelona on Sept. 11 for the largest nationalist rally in the region since the 1970s.

These growing economic concerns have combined with a longstanding nationalist streak in Catalonia, which has its own cultural traditions that were harshly repressed by the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco from the end of Spain's Civil War in 1939, to Franco's death in 1975.

One of the most potent symbols of the divisions distancing Catalonia and the country's capital city can be seen in the bitter rivalry between the Barcelona and Real Madrid soccer clubs. In recent years grassroots groups have held unofficial referendums on independence in towns throughout the region, while some small villages have gone to the extreme of declaring themselves "free Catalan territories."

Catalans are viewed by most Spaniards as thrifty, hardworking people, and most — not least many Catalans — have been shocked by how their regional debt has swelled to €42 billion ($54.4 billion) of the staggering €140 billion debt ascribed to all of Spain's regional governments.

The economic crisis has highlighted the high cost of running Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions alongside a central government. The Catalan government has had to ask for a €5 billion ($6.5 million) bailout from Spain like other indebted regions.

Mas' government counters that each year it contributes €16 billion ($21 billion) more than it gets back from Spain. It also complains that important infrastructure projects needed to revive Spain's sick economy are being left unfunded.

Even so, many people feel they are both Catalan and Spanish, and are wary of the idea of trying to divide the country. "We are not separatists, we want to remain part of Spain," said retired industrial designer Francisco Palau, 69, who emerged from a polling station alongside his wife. "We defend current plurality," he said, adding that setting up a new state and government "would be very expensive."

Harold Heckle reported from Madrid.

EU endorses Syrian opposition

November 19, 2012

BRUSSELS (AP) — The newly formed Syrian opposition coalition received backing from the European Union on Monday in a significant vote of confidence for a movement struggling to prove its credibility and gain the trust of splintered factions.

The endorsement of the coalition as a legitimate voice for Syria's people represents a major step forward in the West's acceptance of the group, even as fast-moving events and fluid alliances are casting doubts on the direction of the rebellion.

"The EU considers them legitimate representatives of the aspirations of the Syrian people," the bloc's 27 foreign ministers said in a statement at the end of their monthly meeting. They stopped short of offering official diplomatic recognition because that can only be decided by each member country individually.

The international support comes at a difficult time for the new coalition. Late Sunday, a group of extremist Islamist factions in Syria rejected the new opposition coalition, saying in a video statement they have formed an "Islamic state" in the embattled city of Aleppo to underline that they want nothing to do with the Western-backed bloc.

Few outsiders can be sure of exactly who is in the coalition of disparate opposition groups seeking to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and whether offering it support could be a cause for future regret.

"The nature of the opposition is still pretty fragmented," said Malcolm Chalmers, a professor of defense and foreign policy at King's College in London. "There are fears of what the opposition regime would look like. There is a strong wish that we get a regime that is broadly representative rather than sectarian with extreme agendas that the West would not support."

So far, France has been the only Western nation to extend diplomatic recognition to the coalition. The U.K. has indicated it will consider the issue later this week. "I hope this meeting here today will give a boost to that opposition, to the coalition, and will appreciate that they have made a big step forward," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on his way into the meeting. "I will speak about the question of recognition when I talk to the House of Commons later this week."

Some EU members have suggested arming the Syrian opposition, but officials said the idea was likely to get little traction in the meeting Monday. A senior EU official said last week that shipping weapons to the Syrian opposition while keeping an embargo against the Assad regime in place would be very difficult to enforce.

Currently, the EU has an embargo prohibiting the shipment of arms into Syria. An EU official said Monday that embargo is likely to be renewed in full later this week. Meanwhile, the EU joined the chorus of international figures expressing concern about violence elsewhere in the Middle East, deploring the mounting death toll in the Gaza conflict. A ministerial statement called for an urgent de-escalation and cessation of hostilities. It also expressed strong support for the efforts of Egypt and other actors to arrange for a rapid cease-fire.

Israeli forces are attacking Gaza in an effort to stop the militant rocket fire, and scores of Palestinians and three Israeli civilians have been killed in the conflict. Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said the most important thing is to arrange an immediate cease-fire.

"Then, we must look at the wider and deeper issues," he said. "This is the second Gaza war in a few years. We can't wait for the third and fourth." The EU ministers also discussed how to provide assistance to the West African force that is scheduled to help Mali's tenuous government wrest control of the country's vast north that was seized by al-Qaida-linked fighters more than six months ago.

The ministers said they welcomed undertakings by member states to contribute to the training mission and would submit these plans to EU leaders for their approval at a summit next month. Several EU members have expressed their readiness to help train the Malian army so it can retake the north.

The United States is also worried that the Sahel region of northeastern Mali could become a terrorist haven, and is pushing for international action in the region.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Large rally protests Spain's health care austerity

November 18, 2012

MADRID (AP) — Spaniards angered by austerity measures, including budget cuts and plans to partly privatize some of their country's cherished national health service, held a rally Sunday in downtown Madrid.

About 10,000 people, including health workers dressed in clinical white and blue, marched from four large hospitals on the outskirts of Madrid to central Puerta del Sol square behind banners saying, "Our public health service is not for sale, it's to be defended."

Some protesters said they were outraged by Madrid regional government plans to convert a large hospital specializing in rare and infectious diseases into an old people's home and then sell it. "Our hospital, Carlos III, is a medical reference point. We treat highly infectious illnesses. We serve a lot of patients. Yet they still want to get rid of it," said nurse Natalia Fernandez, 34.

Javier Fernandez-Laquetty, Madrid councilor in charge of the region's health care, said the measures being implemented seek to achieve greater efficiency and guarantee that tax-payers survive the crisis with first-class hospitals.

"The measures are to ensure, responsibly, that we continue to have a high quality universal public health service, open to all," he said. Rally organizers, who called the march "a white tide," said Madrid's regional health workers would hold four days of strikes on Nov. 26-27 and Dec. 4-5 to criticize the government's actions.

"We have built hospitals and health centers with public money and the government is handing them over to its friends," said nurse Maria Victoria de Lucas, 52. Health care and education are administered by Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions, rather than the central government, and each sets its own budgets and spending plans. Regions account for almost 40 percent of public spending.

Many regions are struggling as Spain's economy contracts into a double-dip recession triggered by a real estate crash in 2008. Some, having overspent and being unable to borrow on financial markets to repay their huge debts, are cutting budgets.

Spain's regions have a combined debt of €145 billion ($185 billion) and some €36 billion must be refinanced this year. The country is trying to avoid following Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus in having to ask for an international financial bailouts.

In bold move, France welcomes Syria ambassador

November 17, 2012

PARIS (AP) — France on Saturday welcomed a member of the Syrian opposition as the country's ambassador, a bold bid to confer legitimacy on the week-old opposition coalition and encourage other Western nations to follow suit.

The new envoy, Mounzir Makhous, appeared before the press after talks at France's presidential palace between President Francois Hollande and the head of the newly formed Syrian opposition coalition. France has swiftly stepped out ahead of Western allies nearly since the start of the Syrian uprising 20 months ago. Saturday's surprise announcement came even before the brand new coalition has named its provisional government and before a place in Paris to house the envoy has been found.

"There will be an ambassador of Syria in France," Hollande announced. France expelled its Syrian ambassador in May, along with more a half-dozen other countries. Mouaz Al-Khatib, the opposition leader, described Makhous as "one of the first to speak of liberty" in Syria. He holds four doctorate degrees and belongs to the Muslim Alawite sect of President Bashar Assad, demonstrating an effort to reach out to all of Syria's people, al-Khatib said.

France recognized the coalition days after it was formed last Sunday — and so far is the only Western country to do so. France also took the lead in backing the Libyan opposition that ultimately ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi, and flew the first mission of the international coalition providing air support to Libyan rebels.

There is widespread fear that without a legitimate opposition force the civil war in Syria could degenerate into sectarian battles pitting community upon community. But, the United States and other EU nations have said they prefer to wait and see whether the coalition truly represents the variety of people that make up Syria before they recognize it.

Al-Khatib suggested that a provisional government made up of technocrats would come quickly, a move that would allow the ambassador to take up his functions. A military command is also being formed and a coordination center devoted to humanitarian aid will be set up in Cairo.

"I say frankly that we have no hidden agenda. There are no hidden accords, no hidden decisions were made," al-Khatib said in a bid to reassure other nations. "Our role will end as soon as this regime falls. The Syrian people can then decide in all freedom the democratic institutions, the form of constitutional regime that they want," he said. "The people can take their decisions freely."

A Syrian government official dismissed Makhous' appointment, saying it was made at the behest of France. "If France has appointed him, then he is a French ambassador, not a Syrian one," he said. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the subject.

More than 36,000 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011 and the new coalition is pressing for the means to defend Syrian civilians. On Saturday, Syrian rebels took control of the Hamdan airport in the oil-rich province of Deir el-Zour along the border with Iraq after days of heavy fighting with Assad's forces, Rami Abdul-Rahman, the chief of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said.

The airport, near the border town of al-Boukamal, has been turned into a military base during Syria's 20 months of conflict. Rebels had been making advances in al-Boukamal for weeks. On Thursday, they seized control of the military security building and a military checkpoint at the edge of the border town.

Separately, six people were killed and several were wounded when a mortar round hit a Damascus suburb of Jaramana, state-run SANA news agency reported. The agency said blamed the attack on terrorists, a term the regime uses for rebels, fighting to topple Assad.

In Paris, security for the visit of al-Khatib and his delegation was particularly tight, with sharpshooters on the rooftops of buildings facing the Elysee Palace courtyard where Hollande and al-Khatib spoke to reporters.

Hollande also confirmed that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will raise the issue of lifting the EU arms embargo against Syria at a meeting Monday in Brussels among European Union foreign ministers.

Fabius has suggested supplying defensive weapons so Syrian rebels can protect themselves from attacks by Assad's regime. Since May 2011, the EU has imposed a ban on the export of weapons and equipment to Syria that could be used for "internal repression."

Fabius will also press EU partners to recognize the coalition, Hollande said. Hollande said al-Khatib reassured him that the coalition he leads seeks unity of the Syrian people and the French aim in moving quickly is to "assure its legitimacy and credibility."

The coalition replaces the fractious Syrian National Council as the main opposition group — also recognized first by France — although that group makes up about a third of the 60-plus members of the new coalition.

Al-Khatib met Friday in London with British Foreign Secretary William Hague and representatives of France, Germany, the United States and Turkey and Qatar.

Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, Barbara Surk in Beirut and Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.