Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.The latest round of U.S.-South Korean military exercises have finished. The top U.S. envoy for North Korea is in Seoul. Everything seems to be in place for the resumption of long-delayed working-level talks with North Korea. Everything, that is, except for North Korea. “We are prepared to engage as soon as we hear from our counterparts in North Korea,” said Stephen Biegun, the U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, who arrived in the South Korean capital Tuesday for a three-day visit.Biegun met senior South Korean officials in Seoul on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. and South Korea wrapped up joint military drills. Although North Korea had hinted it could return to dialogue at the end of the exercises, it has given no fresh signs it is ready to engage Seoul or Washington.U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun, left, pose with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon during their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019.Instead, a commentary in North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper blasted the United States’ “unchanged hostile policy,” saying the U.S.-South Korean military exercises never should have taken place. “We have warned more than twice that such a…scheme as the joint military exercises could prevent improvements in North Korea-U.S. relations and lead us to reconsider important measures that we have taken,” said the North’s ruling party daily.The U.S., it added, is “pushing our country toward taking self-defense countermeasures to get rid of potential and direct threats.”North Korea, which aims to split the U.S.-South Korean alliance, has continued to complain about the military exercises, even though Washington and Seoul scaled back the drills to help preserve the idea of talks.The exercises this month were computer-based, according to reports, meaning there were no bombs dropped on dummy targets or overt, publicized displays of military strength. Instead, the drills mainly tested South Korea’s ability to retake operational control during wartime. According to U.S. President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised “to meet and start negotiations,” as well as stop launching missiles, as soon as the joint exercises finished. North Korea promisesIt wouldn’t be the first time North Korea has dragged its feet on promises to restart talks.Trump and Kim agreed agreed to resume working level negotiations in late June. Since then, U.S. officials have repeatedly said they hope the talks will begin within weeks.“We haven’t gotten back to the table as quickly as we would have hoped,” Pompeo acknowledged in an interview with CBS News on Tuesday. “But we’ve been pretty clear all along: we know there’ll be bumps along the way.”South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, left, talks to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before the East Asia Summit meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 2, 2019.Asked whether he was bothered by North Korea’s repeated testing of short-range ballistic missiles, Pompeo replied: “Yes, I wish that they would not.” North Korea has conducted eight rounds of ballistic missile launches since early May, in what analysts say is an attempt to gain leverage ahead of possible talks. The missiles also demonstrate a crucial military capability: they are apparently designed to evade missile defense systems and can reach all of South Korea. United Nations Security Council resolutions ban North Korea from all ballistic missile activity, but Trump says he has “no problem” with the launches, noting they cannot reach the United States.North Korea has warned it may conduct longer-range missile tests, or even nuclear tests, if the United States does not change its approach to nuclear talks by the end of the year.‘We will get this done’Despite the setbacks, Biegun, the top U.S. envoy for North Korea, remains optimistic, telling reporters “we will get this done.” “I am fully committed to this important mission,” Biegun said. Biegun added that he will not take the position of U.S. ambassador to Russia, as recent reports suggested. Trump on Tuesday indicated he may nominate Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan to the position.Biegun’s visit has fueled speculation in Seoul that talks will resume soon.“I believe it will start in late August or early September. No later than that,” says Kim Dong-yub, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.There is an urgency for talks to resume soon, Professor Kim believes, in part because the U.S. will soon be in the heart of presidential election season.“Mr Trump needs to focus on his campaign,” he says. “He won’t be able to work on this very much for over a year and a half.”Nuclear talks broke down after a February Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam ended without a deal. Neither side could agree on how to pair sanctions relief with steps to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear program. At their first summit in Singapore in June 2018, Trump and Kim agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. But neither side has agreed on what denuclearization means or how to begin working towards it.
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Month: August 2019
Conservationists Push at CITES Conference to Ban Trophy Hunting
A group of activists is trying to persuade an international conservation conference to ban trophy hunting, which outrages some animal lovers but has long been tolerated by some environmentalists as a way of protecting wildlife.More than 50 members of the European Parliament and 50 environmental groups, led by the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, signed a petition to the triannual CITES conference taking place this week in Geneva.The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international treaty granting degrees of protection to over 35,000 species.Agreements passed at the conference are legally binding to 183 signatory states, and although they do not supersede national law, they set standards for global trade and tourism.A trophy hunting ban is not currently on the agenda as resolutions need to be submitted six months ahead. The meeting started Saturday and continues through Aug. 28, with the main decisions usually finalized over the last two days.A CITES spokesman declined to comment on the letter and said CITES decisions are taken by governments, not the secretariat.CITES adopted a resolution at its 2016 conference recognizing the compatibility between well-managed trophy hunting and species conservation.Trophy hunting, while popular with a small group of wealthy big-game hunters, has come under the spotlight in recent years following several high profile cases. The death of a lion called Cecil, shot by an American dentist in Zimbabwe in 2015, sparked global outrage.The World Wildlife Fund, which is not a signatory to the anti-trophy hunting petition, supports a limited amount of hunting provided it helps local communities prioritize wildlife conservation over alternatives such as cattle raising and habitat conversion for farming.Eduardo Goncalves, President of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, rejects this argument.”Trophy hunting is immoral and cruel,” he said, adding that it often goes hand in hand with poaching. He added that trophy hunting brings in pennies compared to ecotourism.International Union for Conservation of Nature spokeswoman Rosie Cooney, who is attending the CITES conference, said ecotourism and trophy hunting are not mutually exclusive and both should be used to protect wildlife.
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US Marines Chief Acknowledges Worries on Japan-Korean Ties
Gen. David Berger, the new U.S. Marines commandant, acknowledged Wednesday that he is concerned about deteriorating relations between Japan and South Korea, both key regional allies, but expressed hopes politicians would work out a resolution.Berger stressed that Japan and Korea have common interests despite their differences, such as the threat posed by China and pursuing stability in Asia. “I’m optimistic it will get worked out,” said Berger, during his first trip to Japan after being appointed to his post.Besides meetings with Japanese government and military officials, his visit also includes going to the southern islands of Okinawa, where most of the U.S. forces here are based. He heads to South Korea later this week. Bilateral relations worsened after Tokyo removed South Korea’s preferential trade status in early July. South Korea has decided to do the same to Japan, with the new rules taking effect in September. Seoul sees Japan’s move as retaliation for South Korean court rulings that Japanese companies compensate South Koreans forced into labor during World War II. Japan says it is a security issue.Berger declined to comment on what might happen if South Korea makes good on the threat to end an agreement with Japan to share military intelligence, called the General Security of Military Information Agreement, or GSOMIA, which went into effect in 2016. He said such sharing was important from a military standpoint, and discussions were ongoing outside the military.”I never said I was not concerned. We are. What I did say is we have a common focus on an assessment of what the near and long-term threats are. But absolutely we should all be concerned when any part of any alliance has some challenges,” said Berger.”I am confident that the right leaders are talking. I am confident that we all share a common view of the threat to stability in this region.” While in Okinawa, Berger will go to Henoko, where a U.S. Marine air base is being built on a coastal landfill. The Henoko base, decades in the making and backed by the Japanese government, would replace a base that’s considered noisy and dangerous and is in a crowded residential area of Okinawa.Many residents want the base moved completely off Okinawa, and its new governor, Denny Tamaki, was elected last year while pushing that demand.Berger played down worries about delays and said construction was going smoothly, while stopping short of giving a detailed timeline.He said he earlier checked out the construction of a Marines facility in U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, where some of the Marines from Japan will be transferred. “I think the progress is solid,” he said, adding that the overall plan to begin the moves in the early 2020s is “on track.”Japan sees the U.S. as its most important ally. Berger said the military of the two nations work closely together.
“This is the most consequential region for us. Our alliance with Japan is an essential part of that,” he said.
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US Aims to Double Financing in Latin America to $12 Billion
The United States has created a new agency to promote development around the globe, with a particular emphasis on Latin America.David Bohigian, acting president and chief executive officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, said an agency known as the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation will start operating on Oct. 1st.In addition to loans, loan guarantees and political risk insurance, DFC will have the authority to make limited equity investments with a $60 billion cap.Specifically, the U.S. expects to double its financing in the Western Hemisphere to $12 billion.A statement on OPIC’s website said: “DFC will help countries sidestep opaque and unsustainable debt traps being laid by Beijing throughout the developing world and help more American businesses invest in emerging markets, including many places that are of key strategic importance to the United States.”Chinese state banks have financed development projects in Latin America for $14 billion since President Donald Trump took office, according to a database jointly run by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Global China Initiative at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center.But Bohigian told reporters it is a mistake to look only at government-to-government money because the United States is the main source of the $237 billion Latin America received in direct foreign investment as recently as 2017.”Private sector investments from the United States far outstrips” the funds provided by the Chinese government, he said.
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Trump Delays Denmark PM Talks Over Lack of Interest in Greenland Sale
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he is postponing a planned meeting with Denmark’s prime minister due to her lack of interest in selling Greenland to the United States.”Based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump tweeted.”The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!” the U.S. president wrote.The Wall Street Journal first reported that Trump had expressed interest in the self-governing part of Denmark — which is mostly covered in ice — asking advisers if it would be possible for the U.S. to acquire the territory.Trump confirmed Sunday that he was indeed interested in buying Greenland, but said it was not a priority for his administration.”It’s something we talked about,” he told reporters.”The concept came up and I said certainly, strategically it’s interesting and we’d be interested, but we’ll talk to (Denmark) a little bit,” he said, stressing that it was “not number one on the burner” for the government.When asked if he would consider trading a U.S. territory for Greenland, Trump replied that “a lot of things could be done.””Essentially, it’s a large real estate deal,” he said.GreenlandDenmark colonized the 2 million-square-kilometer (772,000-square-mile) island in the 18th century. It is home to only about 57,000 people, most of whom belong to the indigenous Inuit community.Greenland’s ministry of foreign affairs insisted Friday the island was ready to talk business, but was not for sale.”#Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism,” it tweeted.”We’re open for business, not for sale,” it added.
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Sudan Forms 11-Member Sovereign Council, Headed by Military Leader
Sudan on Tuesday completed the formation of an 11-member sovereign council that will run the country for a three-year transitional period until elections, a spokesman for the ruling military council told a news conference.The sovereign council will be led by Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is the head of the transitional military council (TMC), which has ruled Sudan since April, when the military deposed veteran leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir.Members of the sovereign council and the prime minister will be sworn in Wednesday.Last week, Sudan’s main opposition alliance nominated economist Abdalla Hamdok to serve as prime minister in the country’s transitional government.A power-sharing agreement signed Saturday paves the way for a transitional government and eventual elections. It provides for a sovereign council as the highest authority in the country but largely delegates executive powers to the cabinet of ministers.According to the agreement, the opposition coalition is allowed to choose five members of the council and the military another five, with the two sides jointly choosing a civilian as an eleventh member.The agreement also provides for a 300-member legislative assembly to serve during the transitional period and a cabinet of technocrats.The main challenge for the new government will be an economic crisis stemming from a shortage of foreign currency, resulting in a cash crunch and long lines for fuel and bread.
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Trump: US ‘Very Far from a Recession’
President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. is “very far from a recession,” even as forecasters point to warning signs that the world’s biggest economy is slowing.The U.S. leader said that the American economy “is doing fantastically.”But as in recent days, Trump contended that the country’s economy would not advance as much as it might unless the independent Federal Reserve Board cuts its benchmark interest rate over time by a full percentage point, on top of last month’s quarter-point cut to 2.25 percent.”We really need a Fed rate cut. I’ve been quite vocal on that,” Trump said as sat alongside Romanian President Klaus Iohannis ahead of their private White House talks.Trump said he is considering tax law changes to put more money in the hands of Americans, perhaps cutting the payroll taxes that all U.S. workers pay to fund pensions for older workers and retirees and the manner in which investors’ capital gains are taxed.The U.S. economy grew by an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the April-to-June period, higher than in some countries around the world, although down a percentage point from the first three months of the year. Some independent economists in the U.S., although not Trump’s White House economic advisers, are predicting a U.S. recession next year or in 2021. A recession is defined as two consecutive three-month periods of a shrinking economy.Trump, speaking of the U.S. economy, said, “The word recession is very inappropriate.”But he allowed that Federal Reserve interest rate decisions are “psychologically important.””We’re set for a tremendous burst of growth if the Fed does its job,” Trump said, adding, “That’s a big if.”U.S. stock markets and farmers have been roiled by Trump’s trade conflict with China, with the two biggest global economies unable, so far, to reach a new agreement. Talks are set to resume again in September.Depending on the day in recent weeks, U.S. stock indexes have sustained huge losses with investor uncertainty about the trade negotiations, but often then rebounded over succeeding days. The U.S. government has sent billions of dollars in aid to American farmers to cover their losses when China stopped buying their crops in retaliation for the tariffs Trump has imposed on Chinese exports sent to the U.S.Now, with a new 10% levy Trump says he plans to impose on Sept. 1 on about $100 billion more of Chinese imports, the giant JPMorgan Chase bank says American consumers will be forced to pay about $1,000 more annually on the Chinese-made products they buy, an amount big enough to erase any benefit some middle-class workers gained from income tax cuts Trump won congressional approval for earlier in his presidency.Trump delayed the same 10% levy on another $200 billion worth of Chinese imports — consumer electronic products, clothing and footwear — until Dec. 15 so as not impact the holiday shopping season in the U.S.Trump defended his handling of the trade dispute with China, saying it has led to China’s “worst year (economically) in 27 years.” Trump said, “I’m not ready to make a deal” with China, unless Beijing agrees to more favorable terms on intellectual property and other disputes.”Somebody had to take China on,” Trump declared. “China has been ripping this country off for 25 years.”Trump said as he blamed former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama for failing to confront China’s trade policies.”They all should have done it,” Trump said. “I’m doing it.”Trump dismissed concerns about the possibility of hardship for American consumers caused by the tariffs he is imposing on Chinese imports they buy.”Whether it’s bad or good for the short term is irrelevant,” Trump said. “I like doing this because someone had to.”
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Official: Southern Somali State Shutters Main City, Airport Ahead of Election
The southern Somali state of Jubbaland has blocked access to the capital city Kismayo and its main airport ahead of Thursday’s vote to elect a president of the semi-autonomous region, a senior regional official said Tuesday.”We have closed all the approaches to Kismayo to prevent the Somali federal government, which is using all possible ways including Ethiopian forces, to disrupt the Jubbaland election,” Mohamud Sayid Aden, vice president of Jubbland, told Reuters.The move underscores escalating tensions between Jubbaland authorities and the federal government in Mogadishu, who have been seeking to exert control over the election process in the last month.On Saturday the Somali government said it would not recognize the result of the election in Jubbaland, a key battleground state for counter-terrorism operations, saying the candidate selection process violated the national constitution.The stand-off risks sparking a dangerous wider conflict.FILE – Ahmed Madobe speaks after being re-elected, in the southern port town of Kismayo, Aug. 15, 2015.Incumbent Jubbaland President Ahmed Mohamed Madobe, who is seeking re-election this week, is a key security partner for Kenya, while Ethiopia has grown closer to the federal government in Mogadishu in the last year.Both Ethiopia and Kenya have significant numbers of peacekeepers in Somalia.A split between them would undermine international counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaida-linked Islamists al-Shabab, security analysts say.
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Dropping Winds Help Crews Battle Canary Islands Wildfire
Firefighters battling Spain’s largest wildfire of the year got a break Tuesday as wind gusts abated. More than 12,000 hectares have burned on Gran Canaria island in Spain’s Canary Islands chain, located in the Atlantic Ocean northwest of Africa. Some 9,000 people have been forced to flee their homes on the island, which is one of Spain’s main tourist destinations.A hydroplane operates on a wildfire in Canary Islands, Spain, Aug. 20, 2019.Firefighters had struggled Monday to contain the fire amid gusting winds and summer temperatures around 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit). The cause of the blaze, which started Saturday, is still being investigated. “I think we may be moving into the final phase of this wildfire,” Gran Canaria emergency chief Federico Grillo told local broadcaster Television Canaria.Gran Canaria is the third-largest island in the Canary Islands archipelago with a population of 850,000.Officials said the diminishing winds had prevented the fire from entering the Inagua national reserve.”There was a miracle last night,” Victor Torres, president of the Canary Islands archipelago, told local reporters.
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Trump Considering Sullivan as Next US Envoy to Russia
U.S. President Donald Trump confirms that Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan “could very well be” his choice to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Russia. Trump answered a question from reporters at the White House Tuesday, after media reports said he intends to nominate Sullivan to be one of the most important and challenging U.S. ambassador positions.Earlier this month, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman submitted a letter of resignation after two years in his post, calling it a “historically difficult period in bilateral relations.” Huntsman leaves the job Oct. 3.Sullivan has been Deputy Secretary of State since May 2017, after the Senate confirmed him by a resounding vote of 94-6. He briefly led the State Department in the period between former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s departure in March 2018 and Mike Pompeo’s swearing-in April 2018. Sullivan is a lawyer with a long history of federal service, dating back to 1991. He was also the chairman of the U.S.-Iraq Business Dialogue during the Obama administration.Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan listens to President Donald Trump speak during a cabinet meeting at the White House, May 9, 2018, in Washington.If nominated and confirmed, he would replace Jon Huntsman. In his resignation letter, Huntsman had some advice for his successor, saying, ‘Going forward, we must continue to hold Russia accountable when its behavior threatens us or our allies.’Huntsman has served his country as an ambassador to Russia, China and Singapore under Democratic and Republican administrations, and as the governor of his home state of Utah. Some reports say he may be considering another run for governor there.His departure comes at a time of a violent crackdown on anti-Kremlin protests, led by supporters of opposition party candidates barred from running for Moscow’s city council.Russian police have detained more than 1,000 people in recent Saturday protests, and images of police beating citizens lying on the ground have captured global attention.FILE – Jon Huntsman, U.S. ambassador to Russia, arrives at the security check point entrance of the White House in Washington, May 30, 2018.In his resignation letter, Huntsman called on Russia to respect the rule of law and human rights. In the Oval Office with the Romanian President Tuesday, Trump said he would like for Russia to re-join the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries, which is now the G7. Trump said:”If somebody would make that motion, I would certainly be disposed to think about it very favorably.”The decision to exclude Russia from the G-8 was made in 2014 by a majority of member countries after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
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Italy Seizes Migrant Ship Stranded at Sea
More than 80 migrants on board a Spanish charity rescue ship exploded with joy at the news that Italy is seizing the boat, allowing them to get off on the island of Lampedusa.The Open Arms rescue ship has been at sea for 19 days, spending much of that time anchored in the Mediterranean within sight of the Italian island.Italy’s hard-line interior minister Matteo Salvini had refused to let the ship dock.Some of the migrants — desperate and said to be suicidal amid the crowded and deteriorating conditions — began jumping into the sea to try to get to shore. Migrants swim after jumping off the Spanish rescue ship Open Arms, close to the Italian shore in Lampedusa, Italy, Aug. 20, 2019.The Open Arms charity that sponsors the rescue ship said people were sleeping side by side on deck and forced to share just two toilets.An Italian prosecutor Tuesday ordered the government to take over the ship as part of what the Italian news agency ANSA said were possible kidnapping charges against Salvini because of his refusal to let the ship dock.”Finally, the nightmare ends, and 83 people on board will receive immediate assistance on land,” Open Arms said. The charity added that the Italian seizure of its ship is a price the charity has to pay to get the migrants the help they need.Spain is reportedly sending a navy ship to Lampedusa to help care for the migrants and escort them and the Open Arms vessel to the Spanish island of Mallorca.Several European nations, including France, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania, have offered to accept the migrants.Spanish rescue ship Open Arms with migrants on board arrives in Lampedusa, Italy, Aug. 20, 2019.Italian Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said he welcomes Spain’s help and that he hopes Spain will take steps in the future to prevent another crisis involving Open Arms.Under international law, a distressed ship is supposed to head to the first safe port, which was Lampedusa. But Salvini has said Italy has done enough in accepting African migrants and demanded that other EU nations do more to help. He also called private charity migrant ships “taxis” for human traffickers.A second ship, the Ocean Viking — operated by French charities Doctors Without Borders and SOS Mediterranean — is also at sea with 356 mainly Sudanese migrants looking for a safe port.Lampedusa is the closest EU port from Libyan shores, where thousands of migrants looking to escape war and poverty try crossing the Mediterranean in search of safety, often aboard rickety vessels and flimsy rafts.Those not rescued by charity ships are left to drown. Migrants picked up by the Libyan coast guard are returned to Libya and housed in migrant detention centers near Tripoli.Some of those centers are caught in the fighting between rival Libyan governments. Two missiles slammed into one detention center last month, killing 53.
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Philippines’ Duterte Warns of ‘Unfriendly’ Greeting for Uninvited Warships
President Rodrigo Duterte warned on Tuesday foreign ships faced “unfriendly” treatment if they ventured into Philippines’ territorial waters without permission, in a swipe at China’s deployment of warships a few miles off the coast.The warning comes as Duterte faces critics at home who accuse him of being passive over Chinese provocations in exchange for business ties with Beijing, though promised investments have been slow in coming.Duterte’s frustration over multiple sightings this year of Chinese warships moving within the country’s 12-mile territorial sea, at various locations in the archipelago, was relayed on Tuesday by his spokesman Salvador Panelo.”All foreign vessels passing our territorial waters must notify and get clearance from the proper government authority well in advance of the actual passage,” Panelo said in a statement, quoting Duterte.”Either we get a compliance in a friendly manner or we enforce it in an unfriendly manner,” he added.Panelo did not refer to China by name, nor elaborate on what that enforcement might entail.Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters an unfriendly response could involve escorting the unwelcome vessel out of the area. “There are so many things that we can do to be unfriendly,” he said.Opinion surveys consistently give Duterte a level of domestic approval never seen at this point in a presidency.The same polls show growing disdain for China over its conduct in the South China Sea and concerns among some Filipinos over an influx of Chinese online gaming workers under Duterte.Duterte is scheduled to visit China next week where he has promised to discuss with counterpart Xi Jinping the Philippines’ 2016 international arbitration victory over China.Duterte has chosen not to push that ruling, which invalidated China’s claim of sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, which is at odds with claims by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan.Beijing did not participate in the arbitration and rejected the award.Manila has lodged several diplomatic protests in recent weeks over the activities of Chinese coast guard, navy and paramilitary fishing vessels in Philippine-controlled areas of the South China Sea and in its territorial waters.The armed forces has released images and cited witness sightings between February and early August of Chinese warships off Palawan and Tawi Tawi islands.Lorenzana said the Chinese activity was concerning.”The frequency has increased also, so it’s very alarming why so many navy ships of the Chinese are passing through,” he said.
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Hong Kong’s Evolving Protests: Voices From the Front Lines
On a recent sweltering Saturday, a day now reserved for protest in Hong Kong, a demonstrator named Wayne stepped past a row of plastic barricades, lifted a pair of binoculars and squinted.Four hundred meters away, a line of riot police stood with full-length shields, batons and tear gas launchers.It was a familiar sight for Wayne after more than two months on the front lines of Hong Kong’s turbulent pro-democracy demonstrations. Along with hard hats and homemade shields, face-offs with police have become part of the 33-year-old philosophy professor’s new normal.The stories of Wayne and three other self-described “front line” protesters interviewed by The Associated Press provide insights into how what started as a largely peaceful movement against proposed changes to the city’s extradition law has morphed into a summer of tear gas and rubber bullets. They spoke on condition they be identified only by partial names because they feared arrest.The movement has reached a moment of reckoning after protesters occupying Hong Kong’s airport last week held two mainland Chinese men captive, beating them because they believed the men were infiltrating their movement.In the aftermath, pro-democracy lawmakers and fellow demonstrators — who have stood by the hard-liners even as they took more extreme steps — questioned whether the operation had gone too far.It was the first crack in what has been astonishing unity across a wide range of protesters that has kept the movement going. It gave pause to the front-liners, who eased off the violence this past weekend, though they still believe their more disruptive tactics are necessary to get the government to answer the broader movement’s demands.The demands grew from opposing legislation that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be extradited for trials in mainland China’s murky judicial system to pressing for democratic elections, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s resignation and an investigation into allegations of police brutality at the demonstrations.The protesters on the front lines are the ones who throw bricks at police and put traffic cones over active tear gas canisters to contain the fumes. They have broken into and trashed the legislature’s chambers, blocked a major tunnel under Hong Kong’s harbor, besieged and pelted police headquarters with eggs and halted rush-hour subways by blocking the train doors from closing.To Lam, these are “violent rioters” bent on destroying the city’s economy. To China’s ruling Communist Party, their actions are “the first signs of terrorism.”To these most die-hard protesters, there’s no turning back.“The situation has evolved into a war in Hong Kong society,” said Tin, a 23-year-old front-line demonstrator. “It’s the protesters versus the police.”When Hong Kong’s youth banded together for this summer’s protests, they established a few rules: They would not have clear leaders, protecting individuals from becoming symbols or scapegoats. And they would stick together, no matter their methods.The peaceful protesters would not disavow the more extreme, sometimes violent tactics of the front-liners, who would distract the police long enough for others to escape arrest.These were lessons learned from 2014, when the Occupy Central pro-democracy movement fizzled after more than two months without winning any concessions. Many involved feel internal divisions partly led to defeat.Chong, a 24-year-old front-liner, said everyone’s opinion is heard and considered, and they decide on the right path together. But no decision is absolute: The demonstrators have pledged to not impede actions they may disagree with.Two massive marches roused Chong and others who had given up on political change after the failure of Occupy Central, also dubbed the Umbrella Revolution.On consecutive weekends in June, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to oppose the extradition bill. It struck at fears that China is eroding civil rights that Hong Kong residents enjoy under the “one country, two systems” framework.“I didn’t think I would ever do this again,” said Chong, who quit his job as an environmental consultant to devote himself to the protests. “But this time, society is waking up.”On June 12, three days after the first march, protesters blocked the legislature and took over nearby streets, preventing the resumption of debate on the extradition bill. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.Lam suspended the bill indefinitely the day before the second march, but it didn’t mollify the protesters, who turned out in even greater numbers.As their demands expanded, Lam offered dialogue but showed no signs of giving ground.That’s when hard-liners like Chong and Wayne became convinced that peaceful protest might not be enough.They blocked roads with makeshift barricades and besieged the Chinese government’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong, defacing the national seal over its entrance. Week after week, they clashed with police, who became an object of their anger. Every round of tear gas only seemed to deepen their conviction that the government did not care.“We’ve had numerous peaceful protests that garnered no response whatsoever from the government,” said J.C., a 27-year-old hairstylist who quit his job in July. “Escalating our actions is both natural and necessary.”Then came the “white shirt” attack. On July 21, dozens of men beat people indiscriminately with wooden poles and steel rods in a commuter rail station as protesters returned home, injuring 44. They wore white clothing in contrast to the protesters’ trademark black.A slow police response led to accusations they colluded with the thugs. Police Commissioner Stephen Lo said resources were stretched because of the protests.Many saw the attack as proof police prioritized catching demonstrators — around 700 have been arrested so far — over more violent criminals. That view has been reinforced by other images, including police firing tear gas at close range and a woman who reportedly lost vision in one eye after being hit by a beanbag round shot by police.Each accusation of police brutality emboldens the hard-core protesters to use greater violence. Gasoline bombs and other flaming objects have become their projectiles of choice, and police stations are now their main target.In this cauldron of growing rage, the protesters set their sights on Hong Kong’s airport.Hundreds of flights were canceled over two consecutive nights last week as protesters packed the main terminal, blocking access to check-in counters and immigration.While the major disruption of one of the world’s busiest airports got global attention, it was the vigilante attacks on two Chinese men that troubled the movement.In a written apology the following day, a group of unidentified protesters said recent events had fueled a “paranoia and rage” that put them on a “hair trigger.” During the prior weekend’s demonstrations, people dressed like protesters had been caught on video making arrests, and police acknowledged use of decoy officers.At the airport, the protesters were looking for undercover agents in their ranks. Twice they thought they found them.The first man ran away from protesters who asked why he was taking photos of them. Protesters descended on him, bound his wrists with plastic ties and interrogated him for at least two hours. His ordeal ended only when medics wrested him away on a stretcher.The second man was wearing a yellow “press” vest used by Hong Kong journalists but refused to show his credentials. In his backpack, protesters found a blue “Safeguard HK” T-shirt worn at rallies to support police.A small group of protesters repeatedly beat him, poured water on his head and called him “mainland trash.” He turned out to be a reporter for China’s state-owned Global Times newspaper.Footage of the mob violence inflamed anti-protester sentiment in China, where the reporter became a martyr. In Hong Kong, pro-democracy lawmakers said it was something that “will not and should not happen again.”Within the movement, some apologized for becoming easily agitated and overreacting. Others questioned whether provocateurs had incited the violence.Through it all, the front liners called for unity. They pointed to the injuries sustained on their side and the rioting charges that could lock them up for 10 years.On the night of the airport beating, Wayne couldn’t get through the crowd to see what was happening, but he understood how the attackers felt.“I would have done the same thing,” he said. “It’s not rational, but I would have kicked him or punched him at least once or twice.”
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Italian PM Conte to Resign After League Party Pulls Backing
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation Tuesday, blaming his decision to end his 14-month-old populist government on his rebellious and politically ambitious deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini.Conte told the Senate that the surprise move earlier this month by Salvini’s right-wing League party to seek a no-confidence vote against the coalition was forcing him to “interrupt” what he contended was a productive government. He said that government reflected the results of Italy’s 2018 election and aimed to “interpret the desires of citizens who in their vote expressed a desire for change.”
The coalition included two rivals, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and Salvini’s euroskeptic, anti-migrant right-wing League party.
Conte said he will go later Tuesday to tender his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella. As head of state, Mattarella could ask Conte to stay on and find an alternative majority in Parliament. That is considered an unlikely scenario, however, given the long-festering acrimony among the coalition’s partners and the deep divisions in the opposition Democrats, who would be a potential partner.
Or, after sounding out party chiefs in consultations expected to start as soon as Wednesday, Mattarella could come to the conclusion that another political leader or a non-partisan figure could cobble together a viable government. That government’s pressing task would be to lead the country at least for the next few months, when Italy must make painful budget cuts to keep in line with European Union financial regulations.
Failing that, Mattarella could immediately dissolve Parliament, 3{ years ahead of schedule, as Salvini has been clamoring for. Pulling the plug on Parliament sets the stage for a general election as early as late October, right smack in the middle of delicate budget maneuvers that will be closely monitored in Brussels.
Conte, a lawyer with no political experience, is nominally non-partisan, although he was the clear choice of the 5-Stars when the government was formed.
The premier scathingly quoted Salvini’s own recent demands for an early election so he could gain “full powers” by grabbing the premiership. Conte blasted Salvini for showing “grave contempt for Parliament” and putting Italy at risk for a “dizzying spiral of political and financial instability” in the months ahead by creating an unnecessary crisis that collapses a working government.
Salvini, who sat next to Conte, smirking at times as the premier spoke, began the Senate debate by saying, defiantly, “I’d do it all again.”
Pressing for a new election as soon as possible, Salvini, who as interior minister has led a crackdown on migrants, said: “I don’t fear Italians’ judgment.”
In the European Parliament election three months ago in Italy, as well as in current opinion polls, Salvini’s League party has soared in popularity to be the No. 1 political force among Italians.
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Israeli, US Militaries Simulate Ship Hijacking Amid Tensions
Israel’s military says it has conducted a joint exercise with U.S. Special Forces simulating the retaking of a hijacked ship.The drill, held last Wednesday, comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran in the Persian Gulf and efforts by the Trump administration to set up a naval security mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.The military said Tuesday that the two militaries “exercised regaining control of a hijacked ship and extracting forces from enemy territory.” The army said the drill had no connection to recent events and was planned as part of its annual training plan.Israeli media this month quoted Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz as telling a parliamentary committee that Israel was taking part in the U.S.-led coalition.
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FBI: Truck Driver Threatened Mass Shooting at Memphis Church
A truck driver has been arrested after saying he would commit a mass shooting at a church in Memphis, Tennessee, authorities say in newly filed court records.Thomas Matthew McVicker was apprehended in Indianapolis before the plan could be carried out, according to court papers filed Monday. It’s the most recent case in a string of men being arrested around the country for threatening to carry out shootings.McVicker, 38, made “credible threats to conduct a mass shooting and suicide” planned for Thursday, an FBI special agent said in a sworn affidavit.The circumstances of his arrest in Indiana weren’t outlined in the affidavit.Earlier this month, a friend of McVicker in the south Alabama town of Fairhope told a Florida FBI officer that McVicker has been considering “shooting a church up” or killing people on the street.Later, in a telephone call, the friend said McVicker told her the church shooting would happen when he was in Memphis on Thursday and that he “intended to take his knife and slit the pastor’s throat.”His mother told the FBI he owned a Ruger P90 handgun and sometimes uses cocaine and methamphetamine. She also said her son is being treated for schizophrenia. McVicker told his Alabama friend “evil entities entered his body and are torturing him,” the affidavit states.The friend asked McVicker why he wanted to kill innocent people, and he said “they put spiritual snakes and spiders in my bed at night,” the FBI agent wrote. “I’ve only seen them a couple of times but they take form and I can feel them crawling on me and under me,” the affidavit states.The FBI says it confirmed with McVicker’s employer that he requested leave time Thursday and that he indicated in the request that he would spend the leave time in Memphis, the affidavit states.The affidavit doesn’t specify a motive, nor does it identify a specific Memphis church. McVicker’s friend did not learn of an exact location from the phone call. However, “McVicker insisted that ‘something’ would happen when he was in Memphis,” the affidavit states.The Memphis Police Department was notified of the threat, which did not mention a specific church, police spokesman Louis Brownlee said Tuesday. Memphis police work regularly with state and federal authorities on these types of threats “to stay ahead of the curve,” Brownlee said.Court records in Alabama show McVicker received a ticket for driving a truck in an improper lane in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, in June 2014. He was working for Swift Transportation of Gary, Indiana, at the time, records show. McVicker failed to pay the fine until 13 months later, after his driver’s license was suspended, records show.Court records list McVicker’s address as Punta Gorda, Florida, but his Alabama friend told the FBI that McVicker lives in his semi. The records don’t list a lawyer who could be reached for comment on McVicker’s behalf.
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Post-Brexit US-UK Trade Deal Under Threat
U.S. Democratic party lawmakers are threatening to kill any free trade deal Britain strikes with the Trump administration, if a post-Brexit border is re-established across the island of Ireland. They argue a so-called “hard border” threatens a peace agreement the U.S.-brokered in the 1990s, which ended three-decades of violence in Northern Ireland.The warnings from senior Democrats come just days after President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, John Bolton, said Britain would be the first in line for a fast-tracked free trade agreement with the United States when Britain leaves the European Union.In a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’d join both Democratic and Republican counterparts in the House of Representatives in “vigorously and vociferously” opposing any free trade deal, if post-Brexit customs checks are re-established on the border separating Northern Ireland from the Irish Republic, which is an EU member state.During a visit last week to London, Bolton said Trump was enthusiastic about a trade deal. Earlier this month, Pompeo told visiting British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab that the Trump administration will be ready, “pen in hand,” to sign “a new free trade agreement at the earliest possible time” after Britain breaks with the EU.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to lead Britain out of the EU without any deal on Oct. 31, come what may, deal or no deal. Irish-American U.S. lawmakers say if that promotes the re-emergence of a border on the island of Ireland, it would prevent him from striking a trade deal with the U.S. — at least one that gets the seal of approval on Capitol Hill.FILE – John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, right, is welcomed at Downing Street by Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid in London, Britain, Aug. 13, 2019.The question of what happens when Britain leaves the EU has been the thorniest issue for British and European politicians to confront. At present, goods and services are traded between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland with few restrictions. The border, which snakes for almost 500 kilometers from Lough Foyle to Carlingford Lough, exists in name only, passing through a bucolic landscape.But that could change on October 31, upending the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, an accord which brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of deadly sectarian strife, known locally as “The Troubles,” between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. More than 3,000 people died in “The Troubles.”Britain agreed also to remove checkpoints and infrastructure along the border under the accord, which was brokered by the Clinton administration and signed by London, Dublin and most political parties and armed factions in Northern Ireland.In an original Brexit withdrawal agreement struck between London and Brussels last year, Britain would have remained in the EU’s customs union for an indefinite period while a free trade agreement was being negotiated in order to a avoid a “hard border” being reimposed across the island of Ireland. And Northern Ireland would have remained closely aligned with EU product regulations.But the Brexit withdrawal agreement negotiated by then-British Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU was rejected three times by the House of Commons. And May’s successor in Downing Street, Johnson, has said the plan to avoid a hard Irish border, known as the backstop, is now dead. On Monday, he wrote to EU negotiators saying the idea of the backstop would have to be scrapped, earning a sharp rebuff from Brussels and Dublin.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during a speech on domestic priorities in Manchester, Britain, July 27, 2019.The border is a matter of great political, security and diplomatic sensitivity on the island of Ireland and the possible reappearance of customs checks and guardhouses is prompting fears of a backlash by violent republicans who want Ireland to be unified.On Monday, those fears were heightened when dissident republicans were blamed for a bomb blast in Northern Ireland near the border in the county of Fermanagh. Northern Ireland’s deputy chief constable, Stephen Martin, said Tuesday that the perpetrators had tried to lure police officers to their deaths by planting a hoax device and then triggering a real bomb.There have been five attempts to murder police officers so far this year, he said, adding there is a sense that the situation in Northern Ireland is becoming “more entrenched.”In his letter Monday, Schumer urged the Trump administration to “stop over-promising an unconditional and unrealistic post-Brexit trade agreement with the United Kingdom.” Trade deals are negotiated by the White House, but they have to be approved both by the House of Representatives, where Democrats have a majority, and the Senate, where Republicans hold a majority.The burgeoning opposition on Capitol Hill to a free trade deal with Britain is being driven, say congressional aides, by the sharp disapproval of Brexit by Irish-American constituents along the east coast of the U.S., where their backing can swing the outcome of congressional elections in some key districts.The Irish-American lobby has shown in the past that it has the ability to out-maneuver the British government in Washington when it comes to congressional politics. During the negotiations over the Good Friday Agreement, the British found themselves put in a difficult position by Dublin and Irish-American lawmakers on some crucial issues.In the run-up to negotiations, the British thought they had managed to block Irish Republican leader Gerry Adams from securing a visa to visit the U.S., only to find the Clinton administration granting him one following the intervention of Irish-American lawmakers. Then-British Ambassador Robin Renwick complained to British reporters that he had been promised that would not happen while playing tennis with one of President Bill Clinton’s top national security advisors.Last week, in the wake of Bolton’s visit to London, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, issued an unequivocal statement, cautioning, “If Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be no chance of a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement passing the Congress.” Her aides say she would block the trade deal from even coming to the floor of the House for a vote, if the border re-emerged.
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Somalia Regional Election Raises National, East African Tensions
Somalia’s regional state of Jubaland will this week elect a new president, but the electoral process has been marred by threats, intimidation, violence and outside interference.Four candidates have expressed their interest to lead the Jubaland federal state of Somalia in the next four years.FILE – Ahmed Mohamed Madobe, leader of the Ras Kamboni militia, speaks during a meeting for the creation of a State of Jubaland in Kismayo, Somalia, Feb. 28, 2013.The incumbent, Ahmed Islam, best known as Madobe, will compete against Anab Dahir, Mohamed Gedi, and Mohamud Omar.The electoral process has been marred by lack of transparency, and critics say the commission is trying to tip the election in Madobe’s favor.Hamza Barre, the head of the Jubaland electoral commission, says he is happy with the process so far.”The electoral process is going on well, we are almost to the end of the process, it was a long journey. Now we are in a situation where we have a parliament with its leadership and today all the candidates spoke to the parliamentarians to seek their vote and Thursday a president will be elected.”However, those opposing Madobe’s rule have formed their own electoral commission and in a statement, they said they will elect their own president.The United Nations political office in Somalia called on the commission to address the concerns about the election process — only to be contradicted by Kenya’s ministry of foreign affairs, which called on the U.N. office to withdraw their statement. Kenya has a strong presence in the port city of Kismayo, the largest city in Jubaland.George Musumali, director of the Center for Risk Management in Africa, says militant group al-Shabab will try to exploit the political divisions.“Definitely al-Shabab will take advantage of this and the Somali national government will focus on fighting and defeating Jubaland,” he said. “This will also prove shaky for the Kenya presence in Somalia and basically it’s also going to expose Kenya to more threats from the al-Shabab, bearing mind now they will be a conflicting side with the Somali national government.”Horn of Africa political commentator Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad says the political rift could push some communities to join al-Shabab.“The clan division within Jubaland is going to benefit Islamist groups and make them strong,” he said. “They will be able to get people who are not happy with what is happening there and to get revenge using such groups.”Somalia has a history of clan rivalries and unstable governments, dating back to the country’s independence in 1960.
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Rohingya Muslims Say They Don’t Want to Return to Myanmar
Few Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have responded to plans for their repatriation to Myanmar, and all who did said they don’t want to go back, officials from the U.N. refugee agency and Bangladesh’s government said Tuesday.Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, Abul Kalam, said only 21 families out of 1,056 selected for repatriation starting Thursday were willing to be interviewed by officials about whether they wish to return. He said all the families said they would not go back.He said the mood in the sprawling camps in Cox’s Bazar where about 1 million Rohingya refugees are sheltered was calm and cordial.“There has been no chaos like in the past. They have gone to the officials for the interviews and talked freely. This is very positive, they now understand the situation better,” he said.“We have tomorrow, I am hopeful that many other families will face the interviews,” he said.Louise Donovan, a spokeswoman for UNHCR, said in an email that a second interview would be conducted with refugees who agree to go back in “intention surveys” like the ones conducted Tuesday.Some Rohingya interviewed Tuesday said they would not return unless Myanmar gives them citizenship. Myanmar has refused to recognize them as citizens, even though many of their families have lived there for generations, and insists on calling them Bengalis.“We want a guarantee of citizenship first and they must call us Rohingya, then we can go,” said Ruhul Amin, head of a nine-member family. “We can’t go without our rights.”Myanmar has verified that the selected families, comprised of 3,450 people, came to Bangladesh following attacks led by Myanmar’s military.On Friday, a Myanmar Cabinet minister said both Myanmar and Bangladesh had agreed to start the repatriation and had sought help from the UNHCR.Last year, a similar attempt by the UNHCR and the two countries failed, with no refugees wanting to return voluntarily, a condition Bangladesh said it would follow under an agreement with Myanmar.Myanmar’s military in August 2017 launched a harsh counterinsurgency campaign in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. The army operation led to an exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh and accusations that security forces committed mass rapes, killings and burned thousands of homes.A U.N.-established Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar last year recommended the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Myanmar has rejected the report and any suggestion its forces did anything wrong.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her administration will not use any force to send the refugees back and the repatriation will only happen if they are willing to return.
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Taiwan’s Tsai Expresses Thanks over Approval of F-16V Sale
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen thanked the United States on Tuesdsay for approving the sale of 66 advanced F-16V fighter jets and urged rival China to respect Taiwan’s right to defend itself.
President Donald Trump announced approval of the $8 billion deal on Sunday. The sale is expected to further inflame U.S. relations with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary.Tsai on Tuesday also applauded previous arm sales already announced by Trump’s administration, saying those reaffirmed the United States’ “long-standing commitment to helping maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”Trump’s announcement begins a period of consultation with Congress, and a formal announcement of the sale could be made as early as next month unless lawmakers object. The State Department, which would ultimately authorize the sale, declined to comment, but members of Congress from both parties welcomed the proposal.China fiercely opposes all arms sales to Taiwan but has specifically objected to advanced fighter jets such as the F-16V, whose Active Electronically Scanned Array, or AESA, radar is compatible with the F-35 stealth fighters operated by the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines. The U.S. is also installing upgraded electronics, including AESA radars, on Taiwan’s existing fleet of 144 older F-16s.
While the U.S. cut formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 in order to recognize Beijing, U.S. law requires Washington to ensure Taiwan has the means to defend itself.Since 2008, U.S. administrations have notified Congress of more than $24 billion in foreign military sales to Taiwan, including in the past two months the sale of 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks and 250 Stinger missiles, valued at $2.2 billion. The Trump administration alone has notified Congress of $4.4 billion in arms sales to Taiwan.Tsai has rejected Chinese pressure to unite Taiwan and China under a “one-country, two-systems” framework and soon after her 2016 inauguration, Beijing cut contacts with her government over her refusal to endorse its claim that Taiwan is part of China.
Beijing has sought to increase Taiwan’s international isolation by reducing its diplomatic allies to just 17 and stepped up military intimidation, including by holding military exercises across the Taiwan Strait and circling the island with bombers and fighters in what are officially termed training missions.On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had made solemn complaints'' to the U.S. over the planned F-16V sale. Geng called on Washington tofully recognize the serious dangers of the arms sale to Taiwan” and cancel it immediately or bear the consequences. “China will take necessary measures to safeguard its own interests according to the development of the situation,” Geng said.
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Lufthansa Boss Sees Only ‘Dozen’ Long-Haul Airlines in Future
Only a dozen airlines will eventually share the aviation market for major international routes, predicts Lufthansa’s CEO, while a possible future economic crisis could “accelerate” a consolidation in air travel.”The sector is evolving towards a dozen companies operating worldwide” on major international routes, in addition to smaller national or regional airlines, Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr told reporters late Monday.Without naming them, Spohr forecast there would be “three in the United States, three in China, three in the Gulf and three in Europe”.The Lufthansa chief executive warned that any future economic crisis could hit European airlines particularly hard, but predicted a downturn could “accelerate” mergers and acquisitions.”If there is one positive aspect to the flattening of the global economy, and certainly also the worsening figures for all airlines — unfortunately also for us — it is that the consolidation process will tend to accelerate,” Spohr added.The recent bankruptcies of German low-cost airlines Air Berlin and Germania have enabled Lufthansa to buy back flight routes and aircraft.The airline industry is “much more cyclical” and at the mercy of economic developments than others, Spohr said, with the sector suffering from international trade tensions.Lufthansa wants to “and will play an active role” in any future consolidation in the sector, said the airline boss, whose company’s net profit dropped by 70 percent in the second quarter.Spohr said Lufthansa faced strong competition from low-cost airlines in a “unique price war”, however “we will not be driven out of our domestic market” by low-cost companies like Ryanair, because the German airline “has the financial strength to resist” competition.
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Silence at Russian Nuclear-Monitoring Stations Fuel Fears Over Extent Of Deadly Blast
Days after a mysterious explosion at a Russian naval test site caused radiation detectors to briefly spike, several monitoring stations have gone silent, raising fears Moscow is hiding the extent of the blast that killed five people.Officials at the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) say that four of the five nuclear monitoring stations in Russia have mysteriously stopped transmitting data.Lassina Zerbo, executive secretary of the CTBTO, said on Twitter that two station operators said they were experiencing “technical problems.””Experts continue to reach out to our collaborators in Russia to resume station operations as expediently as possible,” an unnamed senior CTBTO official added in an interview with CNN on August 19.FILE – A billboard, reading “The State Central Navy Testing Range,” stands near Nyonoksa, Russia, Oct. 7, 2018.The August 8 explosion near Nyonoksa, the village where a military testing site is located on the White Sea, sent intelligence analysts from Washington to Brussels to Oslo scrambling to figure out what happened.In the days after the mishap, civilian and military authorities gave conflicting information as to what exactly occurred, how many casualties there were, and where the recorded spike in radiation came from and whether it was dangerous.Monitoring stations in the nearby shipbuilding port of Severodvinsk recorded the brief spike in radiation levels in the hours after the explosion, but Russian officials have emphasized that there was no danger to public health.Monitors in Norway, hundreds of kilometers to the northwest, detected a small increase in airborne radioactive iodine in the days that followed, but they have not linked it to the Nyonoksa explosion.Several analysts have suggested that the item involved in the explosion may have been a nuclear-powered cruise missile dubbed the Burevestnik in Russian, which President Vladimir Putin boasted was under development last year.French President Emmanuel Macron, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their meeting at the fort of Bregancon in Bormes-les-Mimosas, southern France, Aug. 19, 2019.Speaking at an August 19 meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Putin said there was no risk of increased radiation levels because of the incident, adding that all of those injured and killed in the blast would receive state awards.U.S. President Donald Trump has added to the speculation by posting a Tweet stating outright it was the Burevestnik, known by NATO analysts under the name Skyfall.Other analysts said it might not be a nuclear-propelled, super-fast cruise missile, but a “radioisotope thermoelectric generator” used to generate power for a missile and its components.
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As Rivals Head to California, Biden Chooses New Hampshire
Joe Biden won’t be among the parade of White House hopefuls in California this week, skipping the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting to campaign in New Hampshire instead.The former vice president will have the nation’s first primary state essentially to himself as his top rivals jockey for attention from hundreds of Democratic officials gathered in San Francisco for the party’s last national meeting before presidential voting begins in February.
Biden’s choice is partly a reflection of Democrats’ new rules that strip DNC members of their presidential nominating votes on the first 2020 convention ballot. But it’s just as much an indication of Biden’s deliberate front-runner strategy as he continues to lead national and state primary polls: The 76-year-old candidate is choosing carefully when to appear alongside the candidates who are trying to upend him, and he’s keeping a distance, at least publicly, from the party machinery that ultimately proved an albatross to Hillary Clinton in her 2016 loss to Donald Trump.
“He has a real commitment to be in the early states,” said Biden’s campaign chairman, Cedric Richmond, pointing to Biden’s recent four-day swing through Iowa, the first caucus state, along with upcoming trips to South Carolina and Nevada and a return to Iowa. “I wouldn’t make any more of the scheduling decision than that.”
Indeed, Biden has joined multicandidate “cattle calls” in Iowa; Nevada, the first Western state in the nominating process; and South Carolina, which hosts the South’s first primary.
The Biden campaign also isn’t ignoring the DNC. Campaign manager Greg Schultz will be in San Francisco on his boss’s behalf. Yet the national Democratic gathering is a notable absence for the candidate himself, given Biden’s deep connections across the party as a two-term vice president and six-term senator who’s run for president twice before; and Biden aides have noted quietly that they are keenly aware of the criticism Clinton absorbed in 2016 as progressive activists who backed Bernie Sanders accused the DNC of favoritism. Biden’s team doesn’t want a repeat if he’s the nominee.
With Biden away, DNC members will hear from, among others, Sanders and his fellow senators Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, the hometown favorite who served previously as a local prosecutor and California attorney general. Several candidates have scheduled their own events in California beyond the DNC sessions.
California will be critical to the nomination after moving up its primary to join a Southern-heavy Super Tuesday lineup next March. The state will have 400 pledged delegates at stake, the largest of any state and about a fifth of the total necessary to win the nomination.
Democrats in California criticized Biden’s absence in the spring, but prominent DNC member and Californian Christine Pelosi said it makes sense this time around given the audience.
“We’re not a room of 400 superdelegates anymore,” said Pelosi, a daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “We’re just a room full of activists. … And everyone knows Vice President Biden. This is far more important for candidates who aren’t as well known.”
That said, Pelosi noted that party events in California can sometimes draw boisterous crowds of progressives, like the one at the state party convention that jeered as some party moderates warned against veering too far left. And while Biden certainly wouldn’t face a hostile crowd of DNC delegates, there’s plenty of potential for activists or protesters to make their presence known.
“Some people can crash and scream,” said Pelosi, who says she will not publicly back a candidate during the nomination process. “That might make for good TV, but it’s not really advancing the cause” or ideal for Biden.
There’s also another variable for Biden — and his fellow candidates — to consider: the big money that it takes to compete in California. In New Hampshire and Iowa, voters expect aggressive retail politics and close contact with would-be presidents. That doesn’t work in a state of 40 million residents, with candidates instead forced to spend heavily on traditional television advertising and digital ads to reach voters.
“He will be back to California again,” Richmond said. “And we will have the resources to compete there.”
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Kenya’s First Football Team of People Living with Albinism
Growing up with albinism, 24-year-old Allan Herbert, a Kenyan journalism graduate, knew he was different. While he did not experience the same stigmatism and discrimination of his peers living with albinism, he had to be shielded from the sun by his peers. It is this special treatment and media stories of the brutal attacks suffered against albinos that made Herbert start a football team — his way of helping people with the genetic disorder fight for their space in Kenya. This past weekend, the team won its debut match in what Herbert says he hopes is a first of many. Herbert, founder and team captain of Black Albinism Football Club, Kenya’s first football team made up entirely of young people living with albinism, says the sport brings people together.“Football brings people of different diversity together, and when we decided on a sport, we said football is the easiest, and it is also in the school curriculum so people relate with it easier,” Herbert said.Across East Africa, people with albinism have been targeted in brutal ritual killings for their body parts to be used in witchcraft, mainly due to their white skin — a condition that is caused by lack of pigmentation. Isaac Mwaura, a senator in Kenya, has been campaigning for the rights of people with albinism. He is Kenya’s first and only lawmaker living with albinism.”People with albinism really suffer because they are black but not black enough, white but not white enough, disabled but not disabled enough. So, we are caught in between. And when you are caught in between it, you really don’t belong. So, we have to self-define. These are self-definition activities,” Mwaura said.In their debut match, the 6-month-old team carries the day 4 to 2 in a penalty shootout. “Once we fight the discrimination, once we beat the stigmatization, then we can see the greatness in us. We have won fair and square,” Herbert said.As the match comes to an end, and Herbert celebrates with his teammates, the journalism graduate says there is no turning back on the dream of one day playing in the Kenyan premier league, and hopefully representing his country on the international stage.”We are not different in any way. The only thing is our skin is a bit pale and we have issues with our eyesight. But that does not make us less as people,” Herbert said.
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