New drug therapy slows spread of pancreatic cancer, study says

Abstract: CHICAGO - For people diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, the outlook is about as grim as it gets: the average patient won’t live longer than a year. But a new study involving a targeted drug therapy has demonstrated it may be possible to significantly slow its spread, with a third of patients receiving the medication still alive two years into a clinical trial, a researcher reported on Sunday. The trial specifically looked at patients with BRCA gene mutations, which are inherited and are known to increase the chances of getting pancreatic, ovarian, prostate and breast cancer — the reason why actress Angelina Jolie had a preventative double mastectomy. The mutation affects the body’s ability to repair damaged DNA, which can result from a number of factors ranging from excess sunlight to exposure to asbestos. “Normal cells may be able to repair it, but cells that have the mutation cannot repair this damage, and they then start to grow abnormally because they have damage in their DNA,” lead author Hedy Kindler, an oncologist at the University of Chicago Medical Center, told AFP. Enter “PARP inhibitors,” which act somewhat counterintuitively by blocking a protein, PARP, that helps damaged cells repair themselves. Since cancer cells with BRCA gene defects already have a poor repair system, targeting them using a PARP inhibitor worsens the damage and ultimately kills them. The trial screened more than 3,300 people with pancreatic cancer, identifying around 250 with the faulty gene. They then randomly assigned the drug, known as olaparib, to a portion of them and a placebo to another grou. Olaparib, which is sold by Merck as Lynparza,” was found to reduce the risk of disease progression by 47 percent compared to the control group. Those patients who received olaparib had their disease under control for almost twice as long (7.4 months to 3.8 months) as those patients who received the placebo — a measure known as “median progression-free survival.” “Those patients whose tumor shrank with the olaparib, which was about a quarter of them, their tumor shrinkage was maintained for more than two years,” added Kindler, who presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. “The whole idea is … you can transform an otherwise deadly prognosis into a potentially chronic disease, at least for a while, and to keep it under control.” Suzanne Cole, an oncologist at Southwestern Medical Center who was not involved with the study, said it represented a “huge step forward for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.” She added that now the effectiveness of the medication had been identified, it was important for clinicians to screen patients for the mutation to identify those who could benefit from the therapy. Kindler cited the case of a patient who watched his brother die from the disease before learning he himself had the cancer. He was found to have the BRCA mutation and placed on the trial. “Every single time we do a CT scan, his tumor is smaller and smaller,” said Kindler. “He takes a pill twice a day, and two and a half years later, he’s still around. He’s leading a normal life.”

u.s .
medicine
pancreatic cancer
cancer
merck
olaparib
brca
lynparza


Hopefuls for Theresa May's job chime in on Huawei issue

Abstract: LONDON - U.S. President Donald Trump is in Britain this week to urge the government to keep Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. out of the country’s 5G telecoms infrastructure. And in the race to succeed Theresa May, senior ministers in her government are keen to agree. With May about to hand over the reins of power, candidates to succeed her now feel free to speak out on issues such as Huawei’s role. In that contest, there’s no advantage being seen as soft on security. On Sunday both Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt offered strong hints that they want to block the Chinese company. “I would not want any company, whichever country it’s from, that has a high degree of control by a foreign government to have access to our very sensitive telecommunications network,” Javid told the BBC. On the question of security, Hunt told CBS: “We’d never take a decision that affected our intelligence sharing capability with the U.S. And we have to look at the technical issues which are around whether buying products from a specific country could be a back door to espionage.” The foreign secretary went further, arguing that it was a strategic question about China. “They’ve said they want to have an 80% market share of telecoms technology and in other areas like artificial intelligence, they want a 90% market share by 2025,” he said. “And we have to ask as Western countries whether it’s wise to allow one country to have such a commanding monopoly in the technologies that we’re all of us going to be depending on.” May’s government has been debating Huawei’s role for months. The prime minister sacked Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson last month, accusing him of having leaked details of Cabinet discussions on the issue.

u.k .
telecoms
huawei
5g
theresa may
jeremy hunt
sajid javid


Impeachment hangs over Trump as top Democrats seek public support

Abstract: WASHINGTON - The threat of impeachment hangs over the White House, but it also vexes House Democrats wary of taking the next steps against President Donald Trump without broader public support. Leading Democrats provided a snapshot Sunday of the party wrestling with the impeachment questions posed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings in the Russia investigation. One top leader, Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democratic whip, said the president may well face an impeachment inquiry in the House. Another, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, suggested it’s not likely soon, if at all. “We’re not there yet,” Schiff said on ABC’s “This Week.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stopped short of pursuing an impeachment inquiry against Trump despite an increasing number of lawmakers, including some 2020 presidential contenders , clamoring to do so. She’s wary of embarking on a politically divisive debate that she worries would all but drown out the House’s policy agenda and campaign promises. Lawmakers heard mixed views during a recess week back home and Pelosi faced those favoring impeachment during the weekend California Democrats’ party meeting. Instead, six House committees are probing deeply into Trump’s business dealings, his running of the government and whether or not the president obstructed Mueller’s investigation. “What I have said time and time again is, Mueller has developed the grounds for impeachment. The House has to determine the timing for impeachment. There’s a big difference,” Clyburn said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We are trying to take our time and do this right,” Clyburn said. “So I don’t see this as being out of whack with what the people’s aspirations are.” Schiff, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, signaled the House may ultimately decline to pursue impeachment. “I think if it is a close call, close calls go against putting the country through that,” he said. Schiff still wants Mueller to testify, saying he has a “final duty” to appear before Congress, even though the special counsel indicated in a rare public statement last week he would prefer to simply have the report speak for itself. “It’s my hope that he will do so, and it’s my hope that he will do so voluntarily,” Schiff said. He did not indicate whether the House would try to compel Mueller’s testimony with a subpoena. The House is poised to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena for a fully unredacted version of Mueller’s report. Barr has separately been given new authority by Trump to disclose documents and information on the origin of the Russia probe, a top priority of the president and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill. Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the top Republican on the Oversight Committee, said he, too wants Mueller to testify so Republicans can pursue their own line of questioning about the Russia investigation. “I know this, I got questions for him,” Jordan said on ABC. “Why did you wait almost two years before you told the country there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the election?” Trump says the case is closed on the Russia matter, tweeting Sunday, “NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION, NO NOTHING.” Mueller’s report confirmed that Russia did seek to tilt the 2016 election in favor of Trump, but the special counsel could not establish evidence of a criminal conspiracy with the president’s campaign. Mueller said while Justice Department guidelines indicate a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, the special counsel said he could not clear Trump on the question of whether he obstructed justice.

u.s .
congress
robert mueller
democrats
impeachment
donald trump
adam schiff
russia probe
jim clyburn


Illinois man set for trial in case of Chinese scholar missing since 2017 and presumed dead

Abstract: CHICAGO - A former University of Illinois graduate student is set to stand trial in the 2017 disappearance and suspected killing of a visiting scholar from China — a case in which the death penalty is possible and that has been closely watched in the home country of the victim, whose body hasn’t been found. Jury selection in the federal trial of Brendt Christensen begins Monday in Peoria, a central Illinois city about 85 miles (135 km) northwest of Champaign, where 26-year-old Yingying Zhang was studying at the university’s flagship campus and where she was last seen. Because it’s a death penalty case, jury selection is expected to take a week, as among the questions prospective jurors will be asked is whether they oppose capital punishment. If Christensen, 29, is convicted, jurors would decide whether they think he should be executed. Zhang went missing on June 9, 2017, as she was running late to sign a lease for an off-campus apartment in Urbana, which is next to Champaign and about 140 miles (225 km) southwest of Chicago. She had just missed a bus when Christensen tricked or forced her into his car, prosecutors say. Christensen told the FBI he dropped Zhang off after a few blocks. Her disappearance led to a weeklong search, which included help of more than 5,500 Chinese students at the school, which has more Chinese students than any other U.S. university. Christensen, who earned a master’s degree in physics at the university, was arrested that June 30 — his birthday — and was later charged with kidnapping resulting in death. Christensen has pleaded not guilty. In court filings a week before the trial, prosecutors indicated that among the evidence they want to show jurors is carpet with an apparent blood stain from Christensen’s bedroom, a baseball bat that was in the bedroom and a copy of the novel “American Psycho” that they say Christensen gave to an acquaintance. Prosecutors also want to introduce a journal that Zhang kept in Illinois. Her parents told The Associated Press in 2017 that her last entry was: “Life is too short to be ordinary.” A star prosecution witness will be Christensen’s ex-girlfriend, who secretly recorded him for the FBI before his arrest. Complicating the task of prosecutors is that Zhang’s body hasn’t been found. They’ll point to Zhang’s blood in Christensen’s apartment and that a cadaver-sniffing dog indicated a dead body had been there as proof that she’s dead. Zhang’s mother said in 2017 that not having Yingying’s body added to the pain. “I want to ask the mother of the suspect, please talk to her son and ask him what he did to my daughter,” she said. “Where is she now? I want to know the answer.” U.S. District Judge James Shadid said during a Thursday pre-trial hearing that 12 jurors and six alternates will be selected from an initial jury pool of more than 400. Seventy potential jurors will be chosen during the week, and the defense and prosecution can each dismiss any 20 without giving a reason. Others can be dismissed for cause if Shadid agrees. Zhang, described as conscientious and fun-loving by friends, got her master’s in environmental engineering in China. The daughter of a part-time truck driver later used her meager savings to buy her family a cellphone, air conditioner and microwave oven, the family has said. Zhang’s father, mother and brother flew in from China for the trial, which they will watch remotely via closed-circuit video in a courtroom in Champaign.

china
murder
death penalty
illinois
brendt christensen
yingying zhang


Virginia Beach shooter emailed resignation hours before massacre

Abstract: VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA - The gunman who opened fire inside a Virginia Beach government building, killing 12 people, resigned by email hours before the shooting, a city official said Sunday. There was no immediate indication why the man, a civil engineer, had notified a superior of his intention to leave his job in two weeks. The assailant was an employee “in good standing” in his department, said City Manager Dave Hansen, who described the man’s performance as “satisfactory.” Authorities have identified the attacker as 40-year-old DeWayne Craddock. He was killed following a gunbattle with police. Police Chief James Cervera said he had no information to indicate that the shooter targeted anyone specifically. He described how officers who entered the building pursued the man through a tightly packed warren of offices and exchanged gunfire with him. He did not know how many rounds were fired but said it was “well into the double digits.” “In the police world, anything more than three to five shots is a long gunbattle,” he said. At one point, the suspect fired at officers through a door and a wall and hit one officer, who was saved by a bulletproof vest. Then the firing stopped, and police realized the gunman was holed up in an office. When they got into the office, they took the wounded shooter into custody and gave him first aid, Cervera said. Among the dead were four other engineers who worked to maintain streets and protect wetlands and three right-of-way agents who reviewed property lines. Others included an account clerk, a technician, an administrative assistant and a special projects coordinator. In all, they had served the city of Virginia Beach for more than 150 years. Police have declined comment on the gunman’s motive. City officials uttered his name just once and said they would not mention it again. Joseph Scott, an engineering technician with the utilities department, said he had worked with Craddock and had a brief interaction with him Friday, passing him in the men’s restroom about five minutes before the shooting. “He was in there brushing his teeth, which he always did after he ate,” Scott said. “I said ‘Hey, how you doing? What are you doing this weekend?’ It was just a brief conversation.” Scott said he left for the day right after and learned of the shooting when a co-worker and then his son called him asking if he was OK. “I couldn’t believe that it happened,” he said. One of the dead employees had worked for the city for 41 years. Six worked in the same department as the suspect, though authorities have declined to say if anyone was specifically targeted or if the suspect had issued threats before. The victims were found throughout the building, on three floors, police said. The municipal building was open to the public, but security passes were required to enter inner offices, conference rooms and other work areas. As a current employee, Craddock would have had the pass to enter the inner offices, Hansen said. At least three other people who were wounded remained hospitalized Saturday. Craddock appeared to have had no felony record, making him eligible to purchase guns. Government investigators identified two .45-caliber pistols used in the attack, said Ashan Benedict, the regional special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. All indications were that the shooter purchased the weapons legally, one in 2016 and one in 2018, Benedict said. The police chief said at least one had a noise suppressor. Craddock, 40, graduated from Denbigh High School in nearby Newport News in 1996 and joined the Army National Guard, according to a newspaper clip from the time. He received basic military training and advanced individual training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He later graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Scott said he worked in a different division from Craddock, whom he described as quiet, polite and a “nice guy.” Scott said he thought Craddock was in good standing at work and had never heard negative reports about him. A handwritten note was posted Saturday at the suspect’s home expressing condolences to the shooting victims on behalf of his family. Hundreds of people attended Saturday prayer vigils for the dead. Scott said he, his wife and several others prayed for the shooter too. “He was a human too, and his family is hurting too,” Scott said. “He’s not evil … he was just another guy who had problems.” Neighbors described Craddock as a car enthusiast and bodybuilder. Amanda Archer, 22, and Cassetty Howerin, 23, lived in a Virginia Beach townhome beneath Craddock for the past year and only got to know him in passing, exchanging the occasional greeting. “He wasn’t much of a talker,” Archer recalled. “He’s a mystery to us. He’s a mystery to everybody, apparently.”

guns
u.s .
mass shootings
virginia
mass murder
dewayne craddock


Canada suspends operations at embassy in Venezuela amid turmoil

Abstract: TORONTO - Canada suspended operations at its embassy in Venezuela on Sunday, saying the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would not renew visas for its diplomats. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement that Canada had no choice. “The regime has taken steps to limit the ability of foreign embassies to function in Venezuela, particularly those advocating for the restoration of democracy in Venezuela,” Freeland said. “Unfortunately, at the end of this month, Canadian diplomats in Venezuela will no longer be in a position to obtain diplomatic accreditation under the Maduro regime, and their visas will expire. Therefore, we are left with no choice but to temporarily suspend our operations at the Embassy of Canada to Venezuela, effective immediately.” Freeland said Canada is evaluating the status of Venezuelan diplomats appointed by the Maduro regime to Canada. Canada has played a key role within the Lima Group, which is made up of nearly a dozen Latin American nations and Canada. It has led the push to recognize opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s rightful leader and seeks ways to remove Maduro. Freeland said Canada will continue to speak out against the Maduro regime. Freeland is attending a Lima Group meeting in New York on Monday. The U.S. withdrew its remaining embassy staff from Venezuela in March, citing a deteriorating situation. Venezuela is in the throes of a historic political and social crisis marked by shortages of food and medicine that has driven 3 million people to flee the country in recent years. Canada will continue to provide consular assistance to Canadians in Venezuela through its embassy in Colombia. For several months, Canada has advised Canadians to avoid all travel to Venezuela.


Deal or no deal, we leave EU on Oct. 31: U.K. prime minister candidate Boris Johnson

Abstract: LONDON - Boris Johnson, frontrunner to be Britain’s next prime minister, promised Monday to lead the country out of the European Union on Oct. 31 with or without an exit deal, launching his leadership bid in a campaign video. Prime Minister Theresa May is due to resign Friday having failed to deliver Brexit on schedule. She leaves behind a divided nation and Parliament with no consensus on the way ahead for the world’s fifth-largest economy. Johnson, a former foreign minister who resigned in protest at May’s handling of Brexit, is the bookmakers’ favorite to win a crowded contest and take over the running of the country at its most important strategic juncture in decades. “If I get in we’ll come out, deal or no deal, on October the 31st,” he was seen telling a member of the public in a campaign video released on Twitter. The launch coincided with the arrival in Britain of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has thrown his weight behind Johnson by saying he would do a “very good job” as British leader. The race to replace May has so far focused on candidates’ approach to a no-deal exit from the EU, with a clear dividing line between those who would countenance leaving the bloc without a formal transition agreement and those who say it would be too economically dangerous. Leadership rival Jeremy Hunt, one of the staunchest opponents of no deal, told the BBC that it should only be used “in extremis,” but that he believed he could negotiate a better deal before Oct. 31, the country’s current exit date. Johnson is himself a divisive figure. Having led the 2016 campaign to leave the EU he is feted by those who see him as a colorful straight-talker, prepared to speak truth to a political establishment that has betrayed large portions of the electorate. But critics say the former mayor of London, educated at the exclusive Eton College and Oxford University, is an opportunist member of the political elite seeking to get the top job at any cost. He is due to appear in court over claims he lied during the Brexit referendum campaign — something his lawyers have dismissed as a political stunt. Monday’s video, featuring clips of Johnson talking to voters and a monologue delivered straight to camera, is his first real salvo in the leadership battle that so far has 13 contenders and could take two months to determine the winner. In it, he is seen touching on issues known to be important to the 160,000 or so Conservative members who will have the final vote on Britain’s next leader, once the candidate list has been whittled down by Conservative lawmakers. “Cut some taxes and you get more money in,” he tells another member of the public, while also arguing for more investment in education, infrastructure and health care. “Now is the time to unite our society, and unite our country. To build the infrastructure, to invest in education, to improve our environment, and to support our fantastic NHS (National Health Service),” he said. “To lift everyone in our country, and of course, also to make sure that we support our wealth creators and the businesses that make that investment possible.”


Trump heads to Europe at a time of remembrance and turmoil

Abstract: WASHINGTON - Like a bull who keeps returning to the china shop, President Donald Trump is headed back to Europe, where on previous visits he has strained historic friendships and insulted his hosts. This time, he faces an ally in turmoil and a global call to renew democratic pacts. The agenda for Trump’s weeklong journey is both ceremonial and official: a state visit and an audience with Queen Elizabeth II in London, D-Day commemoration ceremonies on both sides of the English Channel and his first presidential visit to Ireland, which will include a stay at his coastal golf club. But the president will arrive at a precarious moment, as he faces a fresh round of impeachment fervor back home and uncertainty on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. British Prime Minister Theresa May will step down days after Trump visits and French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to use the 75th anniversary of the World War II battle that turned the tide in Europe to call for strengthening the multinational ties the U.S. president has frayed. “My greatest hope is this: the president and all the leaders stay focused on the extraordinary heroism of that of D-Day and focusing on what brought allies to that position,” said Heather Conley, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Dark clouds are forming once again in Europe, and rather than encourage those forces we need to find much better tools to defeat them.” Trump is to arrive in London on Monday for a two-day whirlwind of pomp, circumstance and protests, including meetings with the royal family and an extravagant state dinner at Buckingham Palace. He is likely to be shadowed by demonstrators, who during his visit to England last summer flooded the streets and flew an inflatable balloon depicting the president as a baby. A year ago, Trump played the ungracious guest, blasting May in an interview just hours before Air Force One touched down in England. He has done it again, this time sparing May but praising her rival, prime ministerial hopeful Boris Johnson, just before she steps down as head of the Conservative Party on Friday for failing to secure a Brexit deal. “I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent,” Trump told The Sun, the same publication to which he gave an interview last summer. “I like him. I have always liked him. I don’t know that he is going to be chosen, but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.” Trump also used the interview to weigh in on the American-born Duchess of Sussex. The former Meghan Markle, who gave birth in May and will not attend the week’s events, was critical of Trump in the past, prompting the president to tell The Sun, “I didn’t know that she was nasty.” He said later in the interview that he thought Markle would be “very good” as a royal. Trump pushed back Sunday against reports that he had described Markle as “nasty,” tweeting: “I never called Meghan Markle “nasty.” Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold!” The newspaper posted the audio of the interview on its website. Trump will make his first presidential visit to Ireland on Wednesday. But what should have been a routine visit with the prime minister grew complicated due to the president’s unprecedented blending of government duties and business promotion. Trump will spend two nights at his club in Doonbeg, which sits above the Atlantic, and the White House originally insisted that he and his Irish counterpart meet there. After Dublin balked, a deal was struck for Trump to meet Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at Shannon’s airport. The centerpiece of the president’s visit will be two days to mark the D-Day anniversary, likely the last significant commemoration most veterans of the battle will see. The anniversary events will begin in Portsmouth, England, where the invasion was launched, and then move to Normandy, France, where Allied forces began to recapture Western Europe from the Nazis. The day is normally a heartfelt tribute to unity and sacrifice, outweighing any national or political skirmish of the moment. But some on both sides of the Atlantic are nervous about Trump, who has shown a willingness to inject partisanship into such moments. Trump also has been embroiled in simmering disputes over trade and military spending with fellow Western democracies. On a trip to Brussels last summer, he upbraided NATO leaders on their defense budgets and caused near-panic when rumors spread that he was considering pulling out of the alliance formed in the aftermath of World War II. Just days later, in Helsinki, Trump rattled European capitals by publicly siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his own intelligence agencies. On his most recent European visit, last November in France, Trump skipped a ceremony at an American military cemetery to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I when rain grounded his helicopter.

france
wwii
u.s .
u.k .
boris johnson
d-day
donald trump
theresa may
emmanuel macron


Italy blocks Steve Bannon's plans for right-wing political academy in medieval monastery

Abstract: COLLEPARDO, ITALY - Italy’s populist government is blocking plans by former White House adviser Steve Bannon to set up an academy for future populist leaders in a medieval monastery in the mountains outside of Rome. On Friday, Italy’s government said it was revoking the rights to the property, which were given to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, a think-tank affiliated with Bannon. Among other problems, Italy’s culture ministry said the institute has not paid concession fees and failed to do maintenance work on the monastery. The monastery is perched on a mountain near the town of Collepardo in Frosinone province southeast of Rome. “It’s not about political opinions but respect for the law,” Gianluca Vacca, an undersecretary at the ministry, said about kicking the institute out of the monastery. “Thus proceeding with the revocation was a duty.” Benjamin Harnwell, the institute’s founder, rejected the ministry’s claims and said his think-tank will fight to stay in the monastery. He vowed his institute will contest the “illegitimate maneuver with every resource at its disposal no matter how many years it takes.” He claimed that politics was behind the decision to revoke the lease. Bannon is close to right-wing Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who has become Italy’s most prominent politician after his anti-migrant party, the League, formed a coalition government last year with the populist, left-leaning 5-Star Movement. But the relationship between the two ruling parties has become rocky. A member of the 5-Star Movement runs Italy’s culture ministry. Plans to create the school for future populist leaders have been met by protests and local opposition. Opening the academy has been part of Bannon’s plans to further spread his nationalist, populist ring-wing politics across Europe.

italy
donald trump
steve bannon
matteo salvini
dignitatis humanae institute


Virginia pastor asks God to give Trump 'wisdom' to lead U.S.

Abstract: Vienna, VIRGINIA - The pastor of a Virginia church has asked God to give President Donald Trump wisdom to lead the country. Standing with Trump at McLean Bible Church in Vienna, pastor David Platt said Sunday that “fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Trump made an unannounced stop at the church after leaving his private golf club in Sterling, Virginia. The president bowed his head as Platt led the congregation in audible prayer. The president did not address the congregation but mouthed “thank you” as he left the stage. The White House said Trump stopped at the church to visit with the pastor and pray for the victims of Friday’s deadly mass shooting in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Rev. Franklin Graham called for a nationwide day of prayer Sunday for Trump.

guns
u.s .
christianity
mass shootings
virginia
mass murder
donald trump


Leader of Germany's SPD quits in blow to Merkel's loveless coalition

Abstract: BERLIN/FRANKFURT, GERMANY - Andrea Nahles said on Sunday she would resign as the leader of Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD), raising new doubts about the durability of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition with the centre-left party. Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the SPD both bled support in last week’s European elections as voters turned away from mainstream political parties, eroding support for a ruling coalition that already came close to falling apart last year. Nahles, whose SPD is a junior coalition partner in Merkel’s ruling alliance, said she would resign as party leader on Monday and step down as head of the SPD’s parliamentary group on Tuesday. “The discussions within the parliamentary faction and feedback from within the party have shown me that I no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duties,” Nahles said in a statement released by the SPD. The “grand coalition” is due to rule until 2021 but Nahles’ resignation could trigger the SPD’s early exit, forcing Merkel to call snap elections, to lead a minority government, or to seek an alliance with the Greens and liberal Free Democrats. “The election for the party leadership is likely to be a vote on the grand coalition,” said Henrik Enderlein, president of the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. “Whoever runs will have to answer the crucial question of whether to participate in the government. “New elections later this year are not excluded,” Enderlein added. “A minority government at the end of the era Merkel could possibly be an interim solution.” The turmoil within the SPD comes as Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) faces its own struggles. Germany’s Greens have overtaken the conservatives to become the most popular party in Germany, an opinion poll on Saturday showed, with SPD support hitting an all-time low. CDU leader and Merkel’s heir apparent, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, called on the SPD to ensure Germany has a stable and functioning government. “I am assuming that the SPD will make its personnel decisions quickly and that the Grand Coalition’s ability to act will not be impaired,” she said on Sunday. Alexander Dobrindt, a lawmaker from the CSU Bavarian party in Merkel’s coalition, echoed her view. “I expect a clear commitment from the SPD to back the coalition,” Dobrindt said. Nahles was due to face a vote on her leadership position on Tuesday after her decision to stay in the coalition with Merkel’s conservative bloc following the European elections setback was criticised by the SPD’s left. The SPD also failed to win the most votes in the state of Bremen for the first time in 73 years last Sunday. Earlier, German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, told Germany’s Tagesspiegel that he had ruled out entering another grand coalition as the SPD seeks to regroup after losses in the European parliamentary elections. “I am very sure that it would not be justifiable for us to have a fifth grand coalition,” Scholz told the German paper in an interview published on Sunday before Nahles announced she would resign. “Three grand coalitions in a row would not do democracy in Germany any good,” he was quoted as saying. The ruling coalition is due for a midterm review in the autumn, which could be an opportunity for the SPD to pull the plug on the alliance. The SPD is now scrambling to put an end to infighting to stabilize its leadership. Last week, German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported that former SPD leader Martin Schulz wanted to replace Nahles as head of the parliamentary party. Schulz told Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper that he would not stand against Nahles in the leadership vote on Tuesday but declined to answer whether he would seek to be re-elected leader thereafter. “Wow, another earthquake in German politics,” said Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING Germany, referring to the upheaval within the SPD party.

europe
eu
angela merkel
germany
cdu
spd
andrea nahles


'Trump Baby' blimp to fly in London for U.S. president's visit

Abstract: LONDON - The “Trump Baby” inflatable balloon that was the focus of protests when the U.S. president visited London last year will fly again this week when he returns for a state visit, including a lavish banquet hosted by the queen, activists said. The team behind the blimp said on Sunday it would be flown at locations near Donald Trump throughout his visit, after a crowdfunding campaign raised a target of £30,000 ($38,000) for groups backing causes from climate action to women’s rights. This 6-meter-high blimp, which depicts Trump as a snarling, diaper-wearing orange baby, became a rallying symbol for hundreds of thousands of anti-Trump protesters, who packed central London during his previous trip. “Trump will try his best to avoid the public on his trip, but with Trump Baby flying we’re sending a very clear message of solidarity to those affected by his despicable politics,” said Ajuub Faraji, one of the organizers who label themselves Trump blimp “Babysitters. Trump and his wife, Melania, are due in Britain on June 3-5 for a state visit — a pomp-laden affair involving a banquet at Buckingham Palace. The invitation comes from Queen Elizabeth although the decision was taken on her behalf by politicians. It is the most prestigious welcome Britain can offer a dignitary, a step above last year’s official visit. London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who gave approval to demonstrators to fly the blimp last year, strongly criticized the government’s decision to offer such a high honor to Trump this year. It is “un-British to be rolling out the red carpet this week for a formal state visit for a president whose divisive behavior flies in the face of the ideals America was founded upon — equality, liberty and religious freedom,” Khan wrote in the Observer newspaper. Nigel Farage, a Trump ally and one of the leading campaigners to bring Britain out of the European Union, called the decision to allow the blimp last year “the biggest insult to a sitting U.S. president ever. While much of the British public is hostile to Trump, there have been calls to tone down protests against him during this visit, when he will attend observances of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing by U.S. and British forces on the beaches of Nazi-occupied France during World War II. “This is not, then, all about Donald Trump; it is about honoring a crucial offensive that helped bring an end to the war in Europe,” the Evening Standard newspaper wrote in an editorial, noting that for many surviving veterans it was the last major anniversary they would be able to attend. “The U.S. president is right to attend; whatever we think of Mr Trump, we should make him welcome for this important anniversary.”

u.s .
u.k .
queen elizabeth ii
nigel farage
london
donald trump


On eve of U.K. visit, Trump denies his taped remark about 'nasty' Meghan Markle

Abstract: WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump denied on Sunday that he had called Meghan Markle “nasty” just days before heading to Britain to be hosted, and lavishly feted, by other members of the royal family. And yet the remark about the American-born Dutchess of Sussex is heard clearly on a tape of a Trump interview with the British tabloid The Sun. Trump’s tweet Sunday came a day before his three-day state visit is to begin with a pomp-filled ceremony at Buckingham Palace followed by lunch with 93-year-old Queen Elizabeth II. He tweeted: “I never called Meghan Markle ‘nasty.’ Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold! Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize? Doubt it!” On the tape, the interviewer points out that Markle, who married the queen’s grandson, Prince Harry, in 2018, had been critical of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, saying “she’d move to Canada if you got elected; turned out she moved here.” “Well, a lot of people are moving here, so what can I say,” Trump replied. “No, I didn’t know that she was nasty.” And yet he went on to say he thought that as princess “she’ll do excellently, she’ll be very good, she’ll be very good. I hope she does.” An official Trump campaign Twitter account had rather bizarrely called attention to the “nasty” comment on Saturday by linking to a video of the interview and suggesting the president had not used the word; it urged people to “Listen for yourself!” Markle will not be meeting with Trump, though the official reason given is that she remains on maternity leave with her 3-week-old son Archie. Trump further roiled the waters ahead of his visit by weighing in on Britain’s unending Brexit woes, throwing his weight behind former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to succeed Prime Minister Theresa May and suggesting Britain should leave the European Union without a departure deal if better terms can’t be reached. The Sun called Trump’s remarks a “bombshell intervention” and a “major breach of protocol” by a foreign leader. The president said he was not giving an outright endorsement to any candidate to lead Britain’s ruling Conservative Party, but also said that he liked Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Hunt on Sunday played down any awkwardness over Trump’s visit. “I don’t think it’s going to disrupt the welcome at all,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” because the British had learned “from the president that you know regularly we have to agree to disagree… “It doesn’t affect the fact that we have the most important partnership that there is in the world for freedom, democracy, the rule of law.” In addition to Markle’s remark about moving to Canada, she had also called Trump “misogynistic” and “divisive” during the 2016 campaign, feelings that a good number of Britons appear to share. Large anti-Trump protests are expected during his visit, and a huge blimp of Trump as a baby in diapers is being readied to fly over the city if police allow it. Markle’s absence may be conspicuous in one way: Trump is bringing all four of his adult children and their spouses to London and, according to The Sun, said he wants them to hold a “next generation” meeting with Princes William and Harry. “I think my children will be meeting them,” Trump said. “It would be nice.”

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royalty
donald trump
meghan markle
u.k. royalty


Trump family to get red-carpet royal treatment on U.K. visit

Abstract: LONDON - It’s a unique odd couple: A 93-year-old sovereign who has made a point of keeping her opinions to herself during her long reign is hosting a 72-year-old reality TV star-turned-president who tweets his uncensored thoughts daily to 60 million followers. For Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s unflappable monarch, the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump, his family and his armored entourage on Monday means a full day of ceremony and toasts topped by a magnificent banquet at Buckingham Palace. Yet beneath the pomp and ceremony, there are differences aplenty. There will be a formal tea Monday afternoon hosted by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, for Trump and first lady Melania Trump, which brings together a future king who has warned about the perils of climate change for years with a president who is actively dismantling U.S. policies designed to slow global warming. On the political front, Trump meets Tuesday with British Prime Minister Theresa May only days before she steps down Friday as Conservative Party leader, kicking off a race to succeed her as prime minister. Trump professes friendship for May, but he has been harshly critical of her handling of Britain’s tortured Brexit negotiations with the European Union. He has also buddied up to former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a May critic who hopes to follow her into power, and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who accuses May of incompetence and betrayal. Trump ramped up his interference in British politics by telling the Sunday Times that Britain should “walk away” from talks and refuse to pay a £39 billion ($49 billion) divorce bill if it doesn’t get better terms from the EU. He also said Farage should be given a role in the Brexit negotiations. Officials on both sides of the Atlantic say the long-delayed state visit will celebrate the vaunted “special relationship” between Britain and the U.S. It was timed to coincide with solemn ceremonies in Britain on Wednesday and in France on Thursday marking the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Still, the very topic of a Trump visit to Britain has been deeply divisive since May extended the invitation on behalf of the queen in an Oval Office visit in the first week of Trump’s administration. The move prompted street protests in Britain, an online petition signed by more than 1 million opposed to the idea, and a debate in Parliament over whether Trump deserved the highest honor that Britain can bestow on a foreign leader. London Mayor Sadiq Khan wrote in The Observer Sunday that Trump’s presidency is part of a sinister worldwide trend. He said Trump should not get red-carpet treatment during his visit. “President Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat,” said Khan, a frequent Trump target. “The far right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights and freedoms and the values that have defined our liberal, democratic societies for more than 70 years.” Ever before Trump was elected president, there was a highly charged debate in Britain’s Parliament over whether to ban him from coming to the U.K. because of his harsh comments about temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States. His brief working visit to Britain last summer generated huge protests in the streets of London even as Trump stayed — literally — above the fray by relying on a helicopter to get around. That July visit also marked the debut of the “Trump baby balloon,” an inflatable piece of conceptual art that depicts the president as a baby wearing diapers. At the time, Labour Party lawmaker David Lammy tweeted that Trump was a “racist” who hates the fact that Londoners elected Khan as its first Muslim mayor. Lammy said Trump “does not deserve to meet our queen.” Much of this visit will be given over to social events and to the D-Day commemorations, but some serious topics are to be discussed, including the Trump administration’s determined effort to prevent Britain from relying on Chinese tech giant Huawei to build parts of its 5G communications network. National Security Adviser John Bolton told reporters before Trump’s arrival that allowing this could give China’s government a “back door” into Western telecommunications systems. A state visit is a relatively rare honor for a U.S. president: Only Barack Obama in 2011 and George W. Bush in 2003 have received the coveted invitations, which are offered based on advice from British Foreign Office officials, not the whim of the queen. She has, however, met 12 of the 13 U.S. presidents during her 67-year reign, which is now the longest in British history. The only exception was Lyndon Johnson. Some of the traditional trappings of an official state visit are likely being scaled back. Usually a horse-drawn carriage procession brings the visiting dignitary to the grounds of Buckingham Palace, escorted by mounted soldiers from the Household Cavalry as gun salutes are fired from Green Park and the Tower of London. Officials have not said whether that will happen this time, possibly due to security concerns. The president and first lady are not going to stay at Buckingham Palace, where state visitors usually lodge, apparently because of renovations underway at the queen’s 775-room official residence. They are expected to stay at Winfield House, the spacious home of the U.S. ambassador to Britain. The Trumps and their grown children are expected to meet the younger generation of royals, including Prince William, a future king, and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Prince Harry is also set to meet the Trumps, but his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is expected to stay at home with their newborn son Archie. Meghan, an American former actress who has campaigned for increased women’s rights, was critical of Trump and backed his political rival, Hillary Clinton, before she married into Britain’s royal family. She has not resumed her official duties since giving birth four weeks ago.

u.s .
u.k .
queen elizabeth ii
boris johnson
nigel farage
london
donald trump
brexit
theresa may
sadiq khan


Jared Kushner says Palestinians deserve self-determination but he's not sure they can govern themselves

Abstract: WASHINGTON - White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the Palestinians deserve “self-determination,” but stopped short of backing Palestinian statehood and expressed uncertainty over their ability to govern themselves. Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and an architect of the White House’s yet-to-be-released Middle East peace plan, told the “Axios on HBO” television program it would be a “high bar” when asked if the Palestinians could expect freedom from Israeli military and government interference. The Palestinian leadership has boycotted a diplomatic effort that Trump has touted as the “deal of the century.” Although Kushner has been drafting the plan for two years under a veil of secrecy, it is seen by Palestinian and some Arab officials as tilting heavily in Israel’s favor and denying them a state of their own. Kushner again avoided saying explicitly whether the plan would include a two-state solution, the bedrock of U.S. policy for decades, calling for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with its capital in East Jerusalem. But he said: “I do think they should have self-determination. I’m going to leave the details until we come out with the actual plan.” The Palestinian Authority has said it will not attend a U.S.-sponsored investment conference in late June in Bahrain where the economic component is expected to be unveiled. U.S. officials have been vague about the timing for releasing proposals for resolving the thorny political issues at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But experts are skeptical of the Trump administration’s chances for success. With Israel heading for new elections in September after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government, uncertainty is expected to further delay the plan’s rollout. Asked whether he believed the Palestinians were capable of governing themselves without Israeli interference, Kushner said: “That’s a very good question. That’s one that we’ll have to see. The hope is that they, over time, will become capable of governing.” The Palestinians, he said, “need to have a fair judicial system … freedom of press, freedom of expression, tolerance for all religions” before the Palestinian areas can become “investable.” Asked whether he understood why the Palestinians might not trust him, Kushner said: “I’m not here to be trusted” and that he believed the Palestinian people would judge the plan based on whether “they think this will allow them to have a pathway to a better life or not.” The Palestinian leadership has refused to deal with the Trump administration since late 2017 when the president decided to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered his assessment of the plan’s prospects in a closed-door meeting with Jewish leaders last week, saying: “One might argue” that it is “unexecutable” and it might not “gain traction,” according to an audio recording, the Washington Post reported Sunday. He expressed hope, however, that the deal was not simply dismissed out of hand, the Post reported. “We’re doing our best to help the Middle East to get a peace plan,” Trump told reporters when asked about the Pompeo recording. “I understand why (Pompeo) said that. Most people would say it can’t be done. I think it can be done.”

u.s .
israel
middle east
palestinians
donald trump
jared kushner
mike pompeo


Kabul bombings leave at least two dead and dozens wounded, including reporters

Abstract: KABUL - Four explosions struck the Afghan capital on Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding 27 others, officials said. Among the injured were two Afghan journalists, according to a local non-governmental media organization. The first bomb hit a bus carrying university students in a residential area of western Kabul. It was followed 20 minutes later by two further detonations at the same location, said Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the interior ministry. Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the public health ministry, said the three successive attacks injured 24 people, including four women. The first blast killed at least one person. Mayar added it was not immediately clear which explosion had caused the second death. A wave of attacks has rocked the Afghan capital in the last week, where both the Islamic State group and Taliban insurgents are active. Attacks by the Taliban have continued unabated despite peace talks with the United States as well as a fresh round of talks with Afghan notables last week in the Russian capital, Moscow. The Taliban have rejected repeated demands for a cease-fire in the decades-long civil war, demanding a U.S. and NATO troop withdraw from Afghanistan first. However, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for three of Sunday’s attacks in Kabul. In a statement, the Sunni extremist group said it set off an improvised explosive device on a bus allegedly transporting minority Shiite Muslims. After security forces and journalists had gathered at the site, the group detonated two additional devices, it added. The secondary explosions wounded seven people who had arrived after the initial attack, including five members of the security forces, Rahimi said. Also wounded in the secondary explosions were two Afghan journalists, Ahmad Jawed Kargar and Mohammad Faseh Mutawakil, according to Nai, a media organization that supports open media in Afghanistan. Kargar, a photographer for the European Pressphoto Agency, confirmed he was injured in a video he posted to social media while being taken to the hospital. Epa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nai said the second journalist had been lightly wounded. Late in the afternoon Sunday, a fourth blast wounded three people, said Rahimi. He said that a sticky bomb attached to a vehicle had exploded in a southwestern neighborhood in Kabul. No one immediately claimed the last attack. Islamic State group bombings have seemingly targeted journalists before. In April 2018, nine journalists were killed and half a dozen wounded in a double suicide bombing in Kabul. In that attack, it appeared the journalists were intentionally targeted by a bomber who hid among members of the media rushing to cover the first explosion. IS claimed responsibility for the bombings, but didn’t say that journalists were specifically targeted. In a separate attack late Saturday in eastern Ghazni province, a Taliban suicide bomber was able to enter a police compound using a stolen Humvee packed with explosives. The blast killed at least seven police reserve unit personnel and wounded eight others, said Naser Ahmad Faqeri, head of Ghazni’s provincial council. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid took responsibility for the attack in Ghazni. In western Farah province, at least six members of the border security forces were killed Saturday night in an attack on their checkpoint by Taliban insurgents. Abdul Samad Salehi, a provincial council member, said eight other members of the security forces were wounded. The Taliban offered no comment on the attack in Farah.

terrorism
afghanistan
taliban
kabul
islamic state


Thousands of Hungarians protest government plan to overhaul top academic body

Abstract: BUDAPEST - Hungarians took to the streets of central Budapest on Sunday to protest plans to overhaul the country’s leading scientific research body, which they see as part of a wider government attempt to curb academic freedom. Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who took power in 2010, has tightened controls over public life, including the courts, the media, universities and scientific research, putting him on a collision course with the European Union. In its latest move, the government has said it plans to strip the 200-year-old Hungarian Academy of Sciences of its network of research institutions and hand over their buildings and assets to a new governing council. News website Index.hu reported Tuesday that the government is now drawing up draft legislation for the plan. The academy said Wednesday that the government wants “total political control” of vital research. “If it was up to Orban, there would be no free thought in this country, and I can’t let that just happen without raising my voice,” Maria Lantos, a 45 year-old teacher, said as a crowd gathered to march past the main institutions affected by the government’s moves: from several public universities to the academy. There appeared to be several thousand people on the streets, but there were no official or police estimates of the size of the demonstration. The government has said it wants to shake up funding of research institutes to encourage more lucrative and innovative research. “Nationalization is not innovation,” read one banner held up by one of the protesters. “We will not allow government bureaucrats to decide about research, scientific work,” Judit Gardos, a member of the Academic Worker’s Forum, which organized the demonstration, told protesters. “That is unheard of anywhere in the democratic world,” she said. The forum is a group set up by scientists in January to protect their freedoms. The European Commission said Tuesday that it will monitor developments in Hungary’s public research system and urged authorities “to refrain from any decision restricting scientific and academic freedom.” The planned new government council for the academy — to be chaired by Innovation and Technology Minister Laszlo Palkovics — will set out areas of research that would receive funding, Index.hu said on Tuesday. In recent years, Orban’s ruling Fidesz party also changed the law to force Central European University (CEU), a top international graduate school and liberal thought center, to move much of its activity to Vienna. It also centralized the operations and curriculum of lower level education and banned teaching in subjects that are ideologically alien to its perceived Christian nationalist politics, such as gender studies. While popular protests and diplomatic problems accompanied most of those moves, including a massive march of several tens of thousands of people in support of CEU two years ago, the government ultimately has gone ahead with its plans. CEU was one of the main issues that led to the Fidesz party’s suspension in the European People’s Party, a pan-Europe party, which has moved to isolate Orban and Fidesz as they drift further to the nationalist populist fringes of European politics.


B-52 and aircraft carrier in Mideast over Iran tensions conduct exercise

Abstract: DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - The U.S. military says a B-52 bomber and an aircraft carrier dispatched to the Mideast over a perceived threat from Iran have conducted a joint exercise together in the Arabian Sea. The Air Force said in a statement Sunday that the exercise saw F/A-18 Super Hornets, MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters and E-2D Growlers from the USS Abraham Lincoln fly with the B-52 bomber. The Air Force says the aircraft also “simulated strike operations” in the exercise, which took place on Saturday. The White House dispatched the Lincoln and its strike force to the Mideast in May over an Iranian threat it did not describe at the time. The U.S. pulled out of Iran’s nuclear deal a year ago. Since then, relations have grown tense as America imposes ever-tougher sanctions on Tehran.

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middle east
iran
b-52s
uss abraham lincoln


Trump insults London mayor on U.K. state visit

Abstract: LONDON - U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off a state visit to Britain on Monday by branding London’s mayor a “loser” before heading for lunch with Queen Elizabeth II, following delicate comments about Brexit. Trump’s plane had not even touched down when he tweeted that Sadiq Khan, who has been highly critical of the red-carpet welcome laid on for Trump, had done a “terrible job” running London. The president called the mayor a “stone cold loser,” adding: “Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, (Bill) de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job- only half his height. “In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom,” he added. Queen Elizabeth II was scheduled to welcome Trump and his wife, Melania, to Buckingham Palace later Monday, where they will be treated to a guard of honor, a private lunch and a glittering banquet. But beneath the pomp and ceremony, Britain is in turmoil with Prime Minister Theresa May due to step down within weeks over her handling of her country’s exit from the European Union. Trump weighed in on the divisive issue of Brexit, declaring before he arrived that Britain’s former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson would make an “excellent” choice to succeed May. In a round of British newspaper interviews, he also recommended her successor walk away from talks with Brussels, refuse to pay Britain’s agreed divorce bill and leave the EU with no deal. The U.K.-U.S. “special relationship” was already under strain over different approaches to Iran, the use of Chinese technology in 5G networks, climate change and Trump’s personal politics. Labour’s Khan has led opposition to the three-day visit, writing a newspaper article on Sunday in which he compared the U.S. leader to European dictators from the 1930s and 1940s. “Donald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat,” Khan wrote. His spokesman called Trump’s tweets “childish” and “beneath the president of the United States.” Huge protests are being organized in London, with organizers crowdfunding a bright orange “baby Trump” blimp depicting the U.S. leader in a diaper — aiming for an even larger version than the one flown during his visit last year. The leaders of Britain’s main opposition parties and the speaker of Parliament are boycotting the state banquet on Monday night. In an effort to brush past the controversy, May and Trump are expected to emphasize the wider benefits of their old alliance when they hold talks at Downing Street on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they will join other world leaders in the English port of Portsmouth to commemorate 75 years since the D-Day landings, which changed the course of World War II. “Our relationship has underpinned our countries’ security and prosperity for many years, and will continue to do so for generations to come,” May said ahead of the visit. May announced her resignation last month after failing to get her Brexit deal through Parliament and twice delaying Britain’s EU departure. She will formally quit as her Conservative party’s leader on Friday but will stay on as caretaker prime minister while her successor is chosen. Three years after the referendum vote for Brexit, Britain remains divided. Trump recommended the new government make a clean break with the EU if necessary, adding that there was “tremendous potential” for Britain to trade with his country after Brexit. Causing more potential embarrassment for May, Trump said he might also meet with Johnson and pro-Brexit leader Nigel Farage during his U.K. visit. “They want to meet. We’ll see what happens,” he told reporters before he left the United States. May was the first foreign leader welcomed to the White House after Trump’s election victory in November 2016, but their relationship has not always been rosy. They have clashed over Trump’s migration policies, while Britain still backs the Iranian nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord, both of which Trump has abandoned. Washington has also been putting pressure on Britain to exclude Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G network over security concerns, suggesting it might harm intelligence-sharing. Trump’s first official visit to Britain last year was overshadowed by criticism of May’s approach to Brexit, as well as large demonstrations. He is not expected to meet Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan Markle, after saying her previous criticism of him was “nasty.”


YouTube and other services down due to Eastern U.S. congestion

Abstract: NEW YORK - Google is saying users of YouTube and other services are seeing errors or slow performance due to high levels of network congestions in the Eastern United States. YouTube, Google Cloud and G Suite services are affected, but Google said it believes it has identified the cause of the congestion and expects to return to normal service shortly. The company first identified the issue on its Google Cloud status dashboard at 3:25 p.m. Eastern time. The sound of millions of cat videos being suddenly silenced reverberated across the internet, and #YouTubeDOWN was a trending topic on Twitter.

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internet
google
youtube
u.s. east coast


D-Day veterans look forward to Channel crossing

Abstract: DOVER, ENGLAND - It took but a few moments for retired Rear Adm. John Roberts to get back into the swing of military life as he arrived Sunday at the English Channel port of Dover to board a ship bound for Normandy and events marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day. His white beret in place, medals glittering on his chest, he stepped from a bus to find an honor guard and immediately began inspecting the Sea Cadets, one by one. Then the 95-year-old gingerly climbed into a jeep — slowly because his knees are a problem — and cheerfully waved a British flag as photographers jostled to capture the moment. The thought of getting on the boat, though, made him pause. “I haven’t been afloat for 40 years now,” he said, chuckling. “I hope I’m not seasick.” Roberts and about 300 other veterans of the Normandy invasion left Dover on Sunday for a six-day trip that will take them back to the landing beaches on the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The cruise will take the veterans to Dunkirk and Poole before arriving in Portsmouth, where Prime Minister Theresa May and U.S. President Donald Trump will join other world leaders for a commemoration of D-Day on June 5. They will leave Portsmouth Harbor that evening and arrive in Normandy the next morning, retracing the crossing they made in 1944. On D-Day, Roberts was a 20-year-old junior officer aboard a Royal Navy destroyer that bombarded the German defenses. While three U.S. and three British destroyers were sunk that day, Roberts downplayed the danger. “I was in a ringside seat, as it were, watching the coast being bombarded by bombers, battleships; everything was firing at the shore,” he said. “But the fact is that it was a success, and we knew that really almost by the end of that day. We caught the Germans by surprise.” The events of June 6, 1944, when more than 10,000 Allied servicemen were killed or wounded, still mark the lives of the men who fought that day. The emotions are even more pronounced this year, as the dwindling cadre of aging D-Day veterans prepare to honor their lost comrades in what may be the last major commemoration that involves significant numbers of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who took part in the invasion. But here in Dover, as the veterans prepared to set sail, there were bands and veterans from later conflicts to see them off. The Swing-Time Sweethearts — a pair of singers who specialize in period standards such as “The White Cliffs of Dover” and “We’ll Meet Again” — set the mood. “The younger generations don’t realize enough what sacrifices those men and women made for our freedom. The world would have been a much different place if that war was won by Germany,” said Annie Riley, a singer dressed in a World War II-era uniform of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, or WAAFs. “I do sometimes feel they don’t get the recognition they deserve, and then you come to something like this and it is just so humbling to just see how loved they are and how respected they are.” The veterans and the families crowded onto the decks. A few pulled a few pints. The mood is festive. This time, everyone is looking forward to landing in France.

france
wwii
europe
u.k .
dover
d-day
normandy


Car bomb in rebel-held northern Syria kills at least 13 people

Abstract: BEIRUT - Syrian opposition activists are reporting that a car bomb in a northern town held by Turkey-backed fighters has killed at least 13, and wounded dozens of people. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 14 people were killed, and dozens wounded in the Sunday night blast in the center of the town, Azaz. The Azaz Media Center, a local activist collective, said the blast killed at least 13 people and wounded many others. The blast occurred after the “iftar” meal that breaks a daylong fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The town, which was once controlled by rival Kurdish fighters opposed to Turkey, has been hit by similar attacks in the past.

conflict
middle east
terrorism
syria
turkey
azaz


New York's Climate Mobilization Act aims to make power-gobbling skyscrapers more energy efficient

Abstract: NEW YORK - It’s a tall order indeed: How do you make aging, energy-hungry skyscrapers more efficient and less polluting? The city of New York, the historic capital of the skyscraper, is determined to do so by requiring the enormous buildings to drastically curtail their energy consumption. Traditional skyscrapers are an energy-saver’s nightmare, with their vast glass facades, electric lighting everywhere, overly generous use of air conditioning and heating, and elevators by the dozen: they almost seem designed to consume a maximum of energy while emitting copious quantities of greenhouse gases. If a growing number of newer skyscrapers around the world are designed, from the start, to be energy-efficient — the Shard in London and Shanghai Tower in China are two examples — the costs and effort involved in transforming an older building, built decades before the world became conscious of global warming, can be daunting. And yet those are precisely the buildings targeted by the Climate Mobilization Act, passed in late April by the city council of the largest U.S. metropolis as part of its commitment to reduce emissions by 80 percent from now through 2050. The law requires buildings of more than 25,000 square feet (2,300 square meters) to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030 from their 2005 levels. It will affect the approximately 50,000 buildings that emit one-third of the city’s greenhouse gases. In targeting the dense building stock, which in total accounts for 70 percent of all New York emissions, the city has adopted a landmark law, said Nilda Mesa, director of the urban sustainability program at Columbia University. “The Climate Act is really path-breaking,” she said. “It will have a number of positive effects. . . . It will basically create a market and create demand for energy-efficient technologies” which can then be used by other cities, in the U.S. or elsewhere. Although the law provides long-term borrowing facilities to help property owners, it was vigorously opposed by the powerful real-estate sector, worried by some estimates that the costs of renovation could run more than $4 billion. But some older buildings, like the Empire State Building, have already begun to address the problem, “showing other people how it can be done,” Mesa said. That legendary skyscraper, an art deco jewel dating from 1931, launched a vast renovation program in 2009 at a cost of $550 million, allowing it to cut its energy consumption by more than 40 percent. More than 6,500 windows, 3 million light bulbs and 67 elevators were replaced or renovated to improve the building’s insulation and cut its energy consumption, even as it was becoming much more densely occupied. Engineers also installed an ultra-modern energy management system, constantly optimizing consumption according to the needs of the moment. With those changes already made — and paid for in only four years — Anthony Malkin, chairman and CEO of the Empire State Realty Trust which owns the building, is feeling sanguine about the impact of the new law. “But we will have to improve for 2030,” he says. Experts point out, however, that reducing emissions is easier for an older tower like the Empire State Building than it will be for the glass-clad skyscrapers that seemed to sprout everywhere starting in the 1970s. A prime example is Trump Tower, the 58-story skyscraper built by Donald Trump on Fifth Avenue in 1984. It is now one of the most energy-greedy buildings in the city, according to the New York environmental group Align. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to oppose Trump in the 2020 presidential election, has said Trump Tower could face fines of more than $500,000 a year under the new law. The Trump Organization has not responded to queries from AFP as to whether it has begun planning for renovation. But energy updates, even for glass towers, make economic sense when viewed over the long term, said Jacob Corvidae, a building and energy expert with the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental association. The economic pain can be lessened, he said, by timing energy updates to coincide with the major renovation work that big buildings nearly always need every 35 to 40 years, making their cost “marginal.” Another tactic is to adopt a new type of “green lease,” in which building owners and tenants share any energy savings that are achieved — giving tenants incentive to pare back on energy use. In contrast, most building owners in New York today build energy costs into the rent, so tenants have no idea of the true costs. Despite the resistance of building owners to the new law, Mesa is convinced the market will adjust. “New York is a competitive place,” she said. “Buildings want to have the bragging rights, (and) anybody can look it up how efficient buildings are.” In five to 10 years, she added, resistance will fade and the new law will seem like old news.

u.s .
new york
buildings
climate change
environment
skyscrapers
climate mobilization act


'Purged' North Korean No. 2 reappears at event with Kim

Abstract: The apparent right-hand man of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who a report last week said may have been purged and sent to a labor and re-education camp, has appeared alongside Kim during a musical performance, state-run media said in a dispatch Monday. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim Yong Chol, who serves as a vice chairman of the powerful Central Committee of the country’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), attended the performance Sunday with the country’s leader and several other top officials. It was not clear if Kim Yong Chol, a former spymaster, had earlier been sent to a camp and later released. A report Friday in South Korea’s conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper had claimed, citing an unnamed source, that Kim Yong Chol had been sent to a labor and re-education camp in remote Jagang province and that top North Korean nuclear envoy, Kim Hyok Chol, and four other high-level officials had been executed by firing squad. The reported executions and purge, which the newspaper claimed were in response to February’s failed U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi, could not be independently verified. Kim Yong Chol is believed to have been demoted in the aftermath of the Hanoi summit, with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service telling lawmakers in April that he had been replaced as director of the Central Committee’s United Front Department, which oversees relations with Seoul. South Korean media and the government in Seoul have a long history of reporting seemingly outlandish stories that appear to throw back the veil of North Korea — home to one of the world’s most opaque regimes — that turn out to be wrong. In 2013, the Chosun Ilbo reported that Hyon Song Wol, a glamorous North Korean singer the paper had described as Kim’s “ex-girlfriend,” was executed in public along with several other performers over accusations that they had made and sold pornographic films. But Hyon, the leader of Kim Jong Un’s hand-picked all-female Moranbong band, proved to be very much alive and later emerged as a key member of the regime, accompanying the leader during his meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Still, in what could merely be a coincidence, the North had strong words for apparent traitors to the country last week when the WPK’s official Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Thursday called out unspecified “betrayers, turncoats who demonstrate their loyalty to (the supreme leadership) only in words, and, even worse, change their colors by the flow of trends,” adding that they would come under the “stern judgment of the revolution.” “To pretend to serve the suryong while dreaming different dreams when turning around is to commit anti-party and anti-revolutionary actions that abandon the moral loyalty for the suryong,” the newspaper said, referring to a revered title reserved for North Korean leaders. The U.S.-North Korea nuclear talks have been deadlocked since the Hanoi summit in late February collapsed without a deal due to major differences over the scope of Pyongyang’s denuclearization and potential sanctions relief by Washington. Late last month, the North warned that the nuclear talks “will never be resumed” unless Washington halts what Pyongyang said were “hostile acts” and demands of “unilateral disarmament,” warning of a “fiercer” response if this continues. Earlier in May, the North launched what the U.S. military has said were short-range ballistic missiles that ended a more than 500-day pause in the tests that began in late 2017. Trump has been seemingly unaffected by the resumption of tests, denying during a state visit to Japan last week that the weapons were ballistic missiles and saying that he was not “personally bothered” by the launches.

north korea
kim jong un
nuclear weapons
kim yong chol
donald trump


China warns students and academics of risks of studying in U.S.

Abstract: BEIJING - China warned students and academics on Monday about risks involved in studying in the United States, pointing to limits on the duration of visas and visa refusals, amid a bitter trade war and other tension between the two countries. Relations between China and the United States have nose-dived because of their trade conflict, U.S. sanctions on Chinese tech firm Huawei Technologies Co., tension over the disputed South China Sea and U.S. support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan. The Ministry of Education, in a short statement, said that recently some students seeking to study in the United States had encountered problems with the duration of their visas being limited and an increase in visa refusals. “This has affected Chinese students going to study in the United States or smoothly completing their studies,” it added. “The education ministry reminds students and academics of the need to strengthen risk assessment before studying abroad, enhance prevention awareness, and make corresponding preparations.” However, state television cited ministry spokeswoman Xu Mei as saying despite the trade tensions, the “general situation” for Chinese students going to the United States remained stable, and U.S. institutes of higher education welcomed Chinese students and cooperation with China. The ministry declined to offer any other details when contacted by Reuters. At stake is about $14 billion of economic activity, most of it tuition and other fees generated annually from the 360,000 Chinese nationals who study in the United States. Hu Xijin, editor of the widely read Chinese newspaper Global Times, linked the warning to recent discrimination against students and the trade dispute. “This warning is a response to recent series of discriminatory measures the U.S. took against Chinese students and can also be seen as a response to the U.S.-initiated trade war,” Hu wrote on his Twitter account in English. The warning quickly became a top trending topic on China’s Weibo microblogging site, with some people expressing concern about going to the United States and others saying they would just go to other countries. “This is really scary,” wrote one user. “The world is so big, why do you have to go to the United States?” wrote another. Last year, the Chinese Embassy in Washington issued a security advisory to Chinese nationals traveling to the United States, warning tourists to be aware of issues including expensive medical bills, the threat of public shootings and robberies, and searches and seizures by customs agents. A group of U.S. President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress introduced legislation last month intended to prohibit anyone employed or sponsored by the Chinese military from receiving student or research visas to the United States. The bill would require the U.S. government to create a list of scientific and engineering institutions affiliated with China’s People’s Liberation Army, and prohibit anyone employed or sponsored by those institutions from receiving the visas. The bill comes as some U.S. officials have expressed concern about the possibility of the theft of intellectual property or even espionage by Chinese nationals at U.S. universities and other institutions. Many U.S. and university officials also warn about overreacting, however, arguing it is important to acknowledge the important role Chinese scholars and students play at U.S. institutions while being aware of security risks.


Trump's Huawei problem: Asia doesn't want U.S. to kneecap China

Abstract: SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI - Smoking cigarettes at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel, the site of Asia’s most prominent annual defense forum, members of China’s military found themselves surprisingly upbeat this weekend. They expected the event to follow a typical routine: The U.S. and its friends gang up on China, leaving it alone to push back against a host of complaints. But this year, with an escalating trade war threatening global growth, the People’s Liberation Army officers saw other Asian leaders critiquing key aspects of the Trump administration’s attacks on China. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong set the tone in his opening remarks, calling on the U.S. to accommodate China’s rise while downplaying the threat posed by Huawei Technologies Co. A Myanmar minister suggested U.S. warnings about China’s debt-trap diplomacy were overblown. And nearly everyone wanted the trade war to end. “What is at stake is the existing global order, that even if not perfect has ensured peace and progress these last 70 years,” Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen told the Shangri-La Dialogue. “It would be an egregious folly to throw this baby out with the bath water.” Fears are growing throughout Asia that a clash of superpowers will end up hurting smaller nations, many of which rely on exports to fuel the economic growth that provides jobs for millions of people. And while many Asian countries view the U.S. as an essential check on China’s power, they are also wary that U.S. President Donald Trump is going too far in trying to halt its rise. Trump’s decision last month to blacklist Huawei, one of China’s most strategically important companies, has roiled global markets already trying to digest the impact of higher tariffs in a yearlong trade war that risks upending global supply chains. China has threatened to retaliate with a planned list of “unreliable” entities that could potentially affect thousands of foreign firms. On Saturday, Beijing said it opened an investigation into FedEx Corp. after it accused the company of misdirecting packages. The company has apologized. In the middle are nations facing pressure from the U.S. to avoid using Huawei equipment in 5G networks or take China’s cash to fund infrastructure like deep-sea ports and high-speed railways. But that poses a problem: How else will they afford to move up the value-chain and deliver growth in the future? “Some if not all regional countries may harbor concerns about the security ramifications of using Huawei, but there are real pragmatic considerations,” said Collin Koh Swee Lean, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “Cost-wise in particular, Chinese offers for infrastructure development present more attractive propositions.” Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan sought to address funding worries in his speech, mentioning that the U.S. roughly doubled a competing infrastructure fund to $60 billion. He contrasted the American vision of a “free and open” region with one “where power determines place and debt determines destiny.” For many Asian countries, however, U.S. funding isn’t enough to meet their needs and generally comes with too many strings attached. Myanmar, for instance, found that China was the only country willing to finance a deep-sea port and industrial park on its coastline near Bangladesh. “In the end, the decision to accept or not to accept such financing rests with the recipient country and not with Beijing,” Thaung Tun, Myanmar’s national security adviser, told the conference, dismissing the notion that China would indebt the country for strategic gains. “We’re looking for partners so we can take quantum leaps,” he said later in an interview. “And at the moment the funding is not forthcoming from the World Bank and other financial institutions.” The same considerations are at play with Huawei. Nations around the world are looking to build 5G networks that will power the modern economy, from self-driving cars to smart homes to advanced medicine. Andrea L. Thompson, a State Department official who attended the meeting in Singapore, said Sunday it “takes time” to convince nations in the region to avoid using Huawei. “It’s the lowest bidder for a reason — it’s backed by the Chinese government,” she told reporters. “If you want to expose your network — to be a dirty network, an untrusted network — there’s a price to pay with that.” So far, Asia’s not really buying it. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad praised Huawei last week, saying it offers a “tremendous advance over American technology.” A Philippine official said Sunday it was hard to tell if U.S.-based Apple Inc. contained the same security risks as Huawei. “You cannot be sure anymore,” Rufino Lopez Jr., deputy director-general of the Philippine National Security Council, said in an interview. Asian countries are listening to the U.S. on Huawei but drawing different conclusions, according to David Gordon, former vice chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council who is now a senior adviser at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “What they’re taking from the message is ‘We have to watch this, we have to be careful, we have to mitigate,’ ” he said. “Rather than what the U.S. would like them to say, which is ‘We need to stay away.’ ” That’s not to say that Asia is embracing China with open arms. Speakers at the Shangri-La Dialogue challenged China’s actions in contested waters, particularly regarding its assertiveness over territory claimed by other nations and moves that could hinder freedom of navigation. Defense Minister Wei Fenghe, who said Sunday that China has no intention to replace the U.S. as “the boss of this world,” also irked Southeast Asian nations with his defense of construction work on disputed land features in the South China Sea. But overall Asian leaders peppered their comments with nuance, a reflection of the constant need to leverage China’s rise for economic gains without becoming so dependent that Beijing dictates political outcomes. And that balancing act stands in sharp contrast to the aggressive tactics currently employed by the White House. “Countries in the region cannot afford to sign up to an uncompromising U.S. line,” said Lynn Kuok, a visiting scholar at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center. “They are in a region with a powerful neighbor and have always been pragmatic and flexible. Being uncompromising is not in their DNA.”

malaysia
china
u.s .
singapore
huawei
shangri-la dialogue
_asia


Malaysia fights to save centuries-old Portuguese-rooted creole

Abstract: MALACCA, MALAYSIA - Children in colorful outfits sing in a creole of Portuguese and Malay during a class in the historic Malaysian city of Malacca, part of efforts to stem the decline of the centuries-old language Papia Kristang. The youngsters chant, “Bong atardi, mestri” (“Good evening, teacher”) and work their way through songs including “Bunitu Siara Siorus” (“Beautiful Ladies and Gentlemen”) and “Gato do Matu” (“The Jungle Cat”). Sara Santa Maria runs the weekly classes at her home to ensure the younger generation learn Papia Kristang, one of several steps aimed at preserving an endangered language spoken by people of mixed Portuguese and Malaysian ancestry. “I definitely fear Kristang could disappear,” the 50-year-old teacher said as the youngsters dressed in Portuguese-style traditional costumes laughed and danced. “Many Eurasians have moved out of the settlement, and the children only speak Malay and English,” she added, referring to an area of Malacca that has traditionally been home to speakers of the language. Kristang developed after the Portuguese took over the strategic port city on the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s most important shipping routes, about 500 years ago and colonizers married local women. It was an era when tiny Portugal had a global empire and Malacca, a center of the lucrative spice trade, was a key prize for rival powers. After Portuguese rule, the Dutch colonized it; later the British took it over until Malaysian independence. The city on Malaysia’s west coast still has vestiges of colonial rule that have made it popular with tourists, including red-walled Dutch buildings and a gate house that is all that remains of a once-mighty Portuguese fortress. Kristang has a largely Portuguese vocabulary, but its grammatical structure is similar to Malay — the most commonly spoken language in Malaysia — and it is also influenced by Chinese and Indian languages. As well as in Malaysia, it is spoken by tiny communities in Singapore and Australia due to migration. But it has been in decline for years. The language is not part of the school curriculum and the Eurasian community has been steadily assimilated into the broader Malay-speaking community. UNESCO, which lists languages in peril, classifies Kristang as “severely endangered” and says only about 2,000 people speak it. It is just one of many tongues in danger, with the U.N. agency predicting that half of the world’s 6,000 languages will disappear by the end of this century. Despite the dire outlook, Kristang’s melodic tones can still be heard frequently in the small Malacca settlement of Ujong Pasir, where the Portuguese Eurasian community has traditionally lived. Groups of elderly men sit chatting in the language on the waterfront, and are enthusiastic about passing it on to the next generation. “I and my wife speak the language with our five children, 11 grandchildren and our 2-year-old great-grandchild to keep it alive,” said former fisherman Stanley Goonting, 72. But he is all too aware of Kristang’s vulnerability: “There is a danger that Papia Kristang will be spoken less and die out.” As well as Santa Maria’s lessons, other moves are being made to save the language — a Kristang textbook has been produced, as well as a mobile app and a CD of Catholic prayers and hymns. In neighboring Singapore, Kevin Martens Wong, a Eurasian-Chinese teacher, is spearheading efforts to revive Kristang, and has taught the language to hundreds of students since 2016. His grandparents spoke Kristang but he only learned it in recent years before deciding to teach others. “I had never learned it growing up, so there’s a strong passion and investment in learning the language and passing it on to others,” he said. There is also great enthusiasm for the language among Santa Maria’s students, which offers some hope for the future. “Kristang is part of my identity and culture, I want to preserve it,” said Gabriella Amber, a 12-year-old who has been learning the language for five years. “If we stop talking, I fear it will become extinct.”


Chinese warships catch people in Sydney Harbor off-guard

Abstract: SYDNEY - Australians enjoying a sunny winter morning were shocked by the sight Monday of three Chinese warships steaming into Sydney Harbor, forcing the prime minister to reassure jittery residents. Amid heightened concern about Beijing’s growing clout and military muscle-flexing, the appearance of a Chinese-flagged task group and around 700 sailors came as a surprise. It also came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison was away on a visit to the Solomon Islands, a key player in the South Pacific that China is hoping to woo away from its recognition of Taiwan. “It may have been a surprise to others, but it certainly wasn’t a surprise to the government,” Morrison told reporters in the Solomons capital Honiara when asked about the Chinese naval visit. “We have known about that for some time.” Morrison described the port call as a “reciprocal visit, because Australian naval vessels have visited China. They were returning after a counter-drug trafficking operation in the Middle East.” The vessels appeared to be the Kunlun Shan, an amphibious landing ship; the Luoma Lake, a replenishment ship; and the Xuchang, a modern frigate that is believed to be fitted with surface-to-air and anti-submarine missile systems. They are scheduled to stay until Friday. The timing of their visit has been questioned, coinciding with Morrison’s Solomons trip and on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the violent suppression of the Tiananmen demonstrations. On June 4, 1989, the regime gunned down hundreds of its own citizens and jailed thousands more after protesters demanded political change and an end to state corruption. The arrival of the ships also comes just days after it was revealed that a Chinese warship had recently confronted an Australian vessel in the South China Sea, and Australian helicopter pilots had been targeted with lasers. “I think any reading into timing could be subject to a bit of over-analysis,” said Morrison. Since coming to power, President Xi Jinping has invested heavily in the People’s Liberation Army and navy in a bid to project Chinese influence across the Pacific and beyond. “Chinese naval visits to Australia have more typically been a lone frigate, not a task group with an amphibious assault ship and 700 personnel,” tweeted Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at Australian National University. “Sydney is hardly a convenient stopover on their way home from the Gulf of Aden. What’s the story here? This looks like a serious show of presence in the South Pacific.” China’s aim of developing a “blue water navy” has been greeted warily in Canberra, which has worked to counter Beijing’s growing presence at home and in its South Pacific back yard. During Morrison’s trip to the Solomons on Monday he announced $173 million in aid to retain Australian influence on the strategically important island chain.


Hong Kong proposes safeguards to extradition law amendments

Abstract: HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s government said Monday it is willing to raise the threshold for extraditing criminal suspects amid widespread concerns over moves seen as eroding the territory’s independent legal system. The proposals announced in a government news release appear to be an attempt to assuage critics from the business and legal sectors, as well human rights and pro-democracy activists who have long opposed proposed amendments to the extradition law. The amendments have been criticized as making it easier to send criminal suspects to mainland China, where they could face vague national security charges and unfair trials. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been seen as extending his crackdown on civil liberties to Hong Kong, threatening the territory’s promised semi-autonomy. Monday’s news release said additional safeguards in the amendments would include a requirement that extradition be permitted only for offenses punishable with prison sentences of seven years or more, rather than three years as before. Governments requesting extradition would also have to provide assurances that the suspects would receive protections including the presumption of innocence, the right to an open trial, legal representation, the right to cross-examine witnesses, freedom from coerced confessions and the right to appeal. They must also show that the statute of limitations has not expired. Requests for extradition would only be processed if they come from a central authority such as China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate, rather from a provincial or other local authority. The territory should also explore helping sentenced people serve their sentences in Hong Kong and negotiate arrangements for post-surrender visits by consuls or other officials, the government said. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has “reflected the concerns of Hong Kong society to the Central People’s Government (CPG), which expressed understanding and will respect and support the (Hong Kong government’s) various measures to take further measures to enhance protections and allay public concerns,” the news release said. Hong Kong was guaranteed the right to retain its own social, legal and political systems for 50 years following its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997, the so-called “one country, two systems” framework. However, China’s ruling Communist Party has been seen as increasingly reneging on that agreement by forcing through unpopular legal changes. Hong Kong’s Legislative Council intends to vote on the amended Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance on June 12. Another massive march and rally against the amendments is scheduled for Sunday. Hong Kong currently limits such extraditions to jurisdictions with which it has existing extradition agreements or to others on an individual basis under a law passed before 1997. China was excluded because of concerns over its poor record on legal independence and human rights. In recent years, mainland authorities have gone after opponents by accusing them of dubious crimes such as tax evasion, crystalizing worries among critics and others. Lam’s government argued the revisions were needed to close legal loopholes, while opponents say that is merely an excuse to pursue China’s agenda of reducing Hong Kong’s legal independence.


City of Shimabara marks 28 years since Fugen Peak eruption — the Heisei Era's first large-scale natural disaster

Abstract: NAGASAKI - The city of Shimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture, commemorated Monday the 43 victims of a huge pyroclastic flow from Mount Unzen’s Fugen Peak, 28 years after the disaster. Fugen Peak began erupting on Nov. 17, 1990, for the first time in around 200 years. The eruption caused a massive pyroclastic flow, or a fast-moving current of superheated gas, ash and rock, on June 3, 1991, when the lava dome was breached, killing a total of 43 people including locals, reporters and firefighters. It was the first large-scale natural disaster of the Heisei Era. People offered flowers on Monday at a memorial service held at the city’s Nita Danchi Daiichi Park, where a monument to the victims is located. “The Heisei Era was beset with disasters,” said Kanichi Kanegae, 88, who was mayor at the time of the disaster, referring to the imperial era that ended April 30. “I would like the era of Reiwa to be one of peace.” Local farmer Ken Miyazaki, 80, lost a cousin in his 50s in the catastrophe. “His car was engulfed in the pyroclastic flow and his body still hasn’t been found,” Miyazaki said. “I come to pray every year on June 3, but this chapter will never end.” A silent prayer will be held at 4:08 p.m., the time of the disaster. Victims included reporters who continued to monitor pyroclastic flows despite evacuation orders, and local members of the fire brigade who accompanied them. Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko visited the disaster-stricken area about a month after the disaster to console the victims. The occasion was the first of many visits from imperial family members to devastated sites across Japan.