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  • Baltics condemn China envoy’s stance on ex-Soviet nations

    Baltics condemn China envoy’s stance on ex-Soviet nations

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    HELSINKI — The three Baltic states have strongly condemned comments by China’s envoy to France, who appeared to suggest in a recent French television interview that former Soviet republics aren’t sovereign nations.

    The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in separate announcements late Saturday deemed statements by Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to France, as unacceptable.

    In a recent interview with the French news channel LCI, he was asked if he thought that the Crimean Peninsula belongs to Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world denounced as illegal.

    “That depends … on how one perceives this problem,” the envoy told the broadcaster. “There’s the history. Crimea was at the beginning Russian, no? It was (Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev who gave Crimea to Ukraine in the era of the Soviet Union.”

    When the channel’s presenter noted that according to international law, Crimea is part of Ukraine, the Chinese ambassador drew a parallel to the former Soviet republics — including the three Baltic nations — that broke free after the USSR collapsed in 1991.

    “With regards to international law, even these ex-Soviet Union countries, they do not, they do not have the status — how to say it? — that’s effective in international law, because there is no international agreement to solidify their status as a sovereign country,” he said.

    Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted that “If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States don’t trust China to ‘broker peace in Ukraine,’ here’s a Chinese ambassador arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries’ borders have no legal basis.”

    His Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, said Chinese ambassador’s comments were “false and a misinterpretation of history,” while Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics said that the statements were “completely unacceptable.”

    Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius would each summon China’s ambassador or representative for an explanation of the envoy’s comments, the three Baltic countries said. European Union and NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania regained their independence in 1991 amid the fall of the Soviet Union after nearly five decades of Moscow’s rule.

    In a separate statement, France’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the ambassador’s comments about ex-Soviet states and said: “It’s for China to say whether these comments reflect its position, which we hope is not the case.”

    The French ministry said these countries gained independence “after decades of oppression” and that in the specific case of Ukraine, “the entirety of the international community, including China,” recognized its borders, including Crimea, when it declared independence in 1991.

    European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday criticized the Chinese ambassador’s “unacceptable remarks” on former Soviet republics’ sovereignty.

    “The EU can only suppose these declarations do not represent China’s official policy,” he tweeted.

    President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which is China’s ally, has said several times that he doesn’t recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine. The Kremlin also has made clear that it perceives the independence of the Baltic states and their active role in NATO and the EU as threats to Russia’s security.

    ___

    John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.

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  • Baltics condemn China envoy’s stance on ex-Soviet nations

    Baltics condemn China envoy’s stance on ex-Soviet nations

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    HELSINKI — The three Baltic states have strongly condemned comments by China’s envoy to France, who appeared to suggest in a recent French television interview that former Soviet republics aren’t sovereign nations.

    The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in separate announcements late Saturday deemed statements by Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to France, as unacceptable.

    In a recent interview with the French news channel LCI, he was asked if he thought that the Crimean Peninsula belongs to Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world denounced as illegal.

    “That depends … on how one perceives this problem,” the envoy told the broadcaster. “There’s the history. Crimea was at the beginning Russian, no? It was (Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev who gave Crimea to Ukraine in the era of the Soviet Union.”

    When the channel’s presenter noted that according to international law, Crimea is part of Ukraine, the Chinese ambassador drew a parallel to the former Soviet republics — including the three Baltic nations — that broke free after the USSR collapsed in 1991.

    “With regards to international law, even these ex-Soviet Union countries, they do not, they do not have the status — how to say it? — that’s effective in international law, because there is no international agreement to solidify their status as a sovereign country,” he said.

    Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted that “If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States don’t trust China to ‘broker peace in Ukraine,’ here’s a Chinese ambassador arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries’ borders have no legal basis.”

    His Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, said Chinese ambassador’s comments were “false and a misinterpretation of history,” while Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics said that the statements were “completely unacceptable.”

    Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius would each summon China’s ambassador or representative for an explanation of the envoy’s comments, the three Baltic countries said. European Union and NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania regained their independence in 1991 amid the fall of the Soviet Union after nearly five decades of Moscow’s rule.

    In a separate statement, France’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the ambassador’s comments about ex-Soviet states and said: “It’s for China to say whether these comments reflect its position, which we hope is not the case.”

    The French ministry said these countries gained independence “after decades of oppression” and that in the specific case of Ukraine, “the entirety of the international community, including China,” recognized its borders, including Crimea, when it declared independence in 1991.

    European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday criticized the Chinese ambassador’s “unacceptable remarks” on former Soviet republics’ sovereignty.

    “The EU can only suppose these declarations do not represent China’s official policy,” he tweeted.

    President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which is China’s ally, has said several times that he doesn’t recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine. The Kremlin also has made clear that it perceives the independence of the Baltic states and their active role in NATO and the EU as threats to Russia’s security.

    ___

    John Leicester contributed to this report from Paris.

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  • Diplomats flee Sudan fighting as citizens struggle to escape

    Diplomats flee Sudan fighting as citizens struggle to escape

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    KHARTOUM, Sudan — Foreign governments evacuated diplomats, staff and others from Sudan on Sunday as rival generals battled for a ninth day with no sign of a truce that had been declared for a major Muslim holiday.

    While world powers like the U.S. and Britain airlifted their diplomats from the capital of Khartoum, Sudanese desperately sought to flee the chaos. Many risked dangerous roads to cross the northern border into Egypt.

    “My family — my mother, my siblings and my nephews — are on the road from Sudan to Cairo through Aswan,” prominent Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abual-Ala wrote on Facebook.

    Fighting raged in Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum, residents said, despite a hoped-for cease-fire to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

    “We did not see such a truce,” Amin al-Tayed said from his home near state TV headquarters in Omdurman, adding that heavy gunfire and thundering explosions rocked the city.

    Over 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded in fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

    The RSF said the armed forces unleashed airstrikes on the upscale neighborhood of Kafouri, north of Khartoum. There was no immediate army comment.

    The ongoing violence has affected operations at the main international airport, destroying civilian planes and damaging at least one runway, and thick, black smoke rose above it. Other airports also have been knocked out of operation.

    European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted he had spoken with the rival commanders, urging an immediate cease-fire to protect civilians and the evacuation of EU citizens.

    In other fighting, a senior military official said it repelled an RSF attack on Kober Prison in Khartoum where Sudan’s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir, and former officials in his movement have been held since his 2019 ouster. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said a number of prisoners fled but al-Bashir and other high-profile inmates were in a “highly secure” area, adding that “a few prisoners” were killed or wounded.

    The RSF claimed the military removed al-Bashir and other prisoners from the facility, although the statement could not be independently confirmed.

    The Arqin border crossing with Egypt was crowded with about 30 passenger buses of at least 55 people each, said Suliman al-Kouni, an Egyptian student who fled northward from Khartoum with dozens of other students.

    “We traveled 15 hours on land at our own risk,” al-Kouni told The Associated Press by phone. “But many of our friends are still trapped in Sudan.”

    Sudan experienced a “near-total collapse” of internet and phone service Sunday, according to the monitoring service NetBlocks.

    “It’s possible that infrastructure has been damaged or sabotaged,” said Netblocks director Alp Toker. “This will have a major effect on residents’ ability to stay safe and will impact the evacuation programs that are ongoing.”

    After a week of battles that hindered rescues, U.S. special forces swiftly evacuated 70 U.S. Embassy staffers from Khartoum to Ethiopia early Sunday. Although American officials said it was too dangerous for a government-coordinated evacuation of thousands of private citizens, other countries scrambled to remove their citizens as well as their diplomats.

    France and Italy said they would accommodate all their citizens who want to leave, as well as those of other countries who could not otherwise join an evacuation operation.

    French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister were given security guarantees by both sides for the evacuation, according to Defense and Foreign Ministry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly. Two French flights took off Sunday from Khartoum to Djibouti, carrying about 200 people from various countries, and more were planned Monday, according to another French military official speaking anonymously under the same rules.

    An Italian air force C-130 that left Khartoum with evacuees landed Sunday night at an air base in Djibouti, the Defense Ministry said. Another flight was planned for Monday.

    Other flights from Sudan were organized by Jordan, Spain, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands.

    Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted that U.K. armed forces evacuated British diplomatic staff and dependents “amid a significant escalation in violence and threats.”

    Overland travel through contested areas was possible but dangerous. Khartoum is about 840 kilometers (520 miles) from Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

    On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said it evacuated 157 people, including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries. Saudi state TV showed a large convoy of cars and buses from Khartoum to Port Sudan, where a navy ship took them to the Saudi port of Jeddah.

    Fighters attacked a U.S. Embassy convoy last week, and stormed the home of the EU ambassador. Violence wounded an Egyptian Embassy employee in Sudan, according to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zaid.

    Egypt, which said it had over 10,000 citizens in Sudan, urged those in cities other than Khartoum to head to consular offices in Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa in the north for evacuation, the state-run MENA news agency reported.

    The power struggle between the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has dealt a harsh blow to Sudan’s hopes for a democratic transition. The rival generals came to power after a pro-democracy uprising led to the ouster of the former strongman, al-Bashir. In 2021, the generals joined forces to seize power in a coup.

    The current violence came after Burhan and Dagalo fell out over a recent internationally brokered deal with democracy activists that was meant to incorporate the RSF into the military and eventually lead to civilian rule.

    Both generals, each craving international legitimacy, have accused the other of obstructing the evacuations. The Sudanese military alleged the RSF opened fire on a French convoy, wounding a French national. The RSF countered it came under attack by warplanes as French citizens and diplomats left the embassy for Omdurman, saying the military’s strikes “endangered the lives of French nationals.”

    Hospitals have struggled as violence rages. Many wounded are stranded by the fighting, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate that monitors casualties, suggesting the death toll is probably higher than what is known.

    The Italian medical group Emergency said 46 of its staff refused to leave, working in hospitals in Khartoum, Nyala and Port Sudan.

    Thousands of Sudanese have fled fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere, U.N. agencies said, but millions are sheltering in their homes amid explosions, gunfire and looting without adequate electricity, food or water.

    In the western region of Darfur, up to 20,000 people left for neighboring Chad. War is not new to Darfur, where ethnically motivated violence has killed up to 300,000 people since 2003. But Sudan is not used to such heavy fighting in its capital, which “has become a ghost city,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya of the Doctors’ Syndicate.

    Khalid Omar, a spokesman for the pro-democracy bloc that seeks to restore civilian rule, urged both generals to resolve their differences. “There is an opportunity to stop this war and put the county on the right path,” he wrote on Facebook. “This is a war fueled by groups from the deposed regime who want it to continue.”

    U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Washington did not have a “deep relationship” with either side in the conflict because Sudan was under “the brutal dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir” for 30 years.

    “These two warring factions have started what may well be a fight to the finish,” Coons told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Michael Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Angela Charlton in Paris, Frances D’Emilio in Rome and Fay Abuelgasim in Beirut contributed.

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  • North Korea lambasts G-7, says its nukes are ‘stark reality’

    North Korea lambasts G-7, says its nukes are ‘stark reality’

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    SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s foreign minister on Friday called the Group of Seven wealthy democracies a “tool for ensuring the U.S. hegemony” as she lambasted the group’s recent call for the North’s denuclearization.

    The top diplomats from G-7 nations, who met recently in Japan, had jointly condemned the North’s recent ballistic missile tests and reiterated their commitment to the goal of North Korea’s complete abandonment of its nuclear weapons. Their communique was prepared as a template for leaders at the G-7 summit next month in Hiroshima, where North Korea’s nuclear program will likely be discussed again.

    North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said her country will take unspecified “strong counteraction” if G-7 countries — the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union — show “any behavioral attempt” to infringe upon the fundamental interests of North Korea.

    “G7, a closed group of a handful of egoistic countries, does not represent the just international community but serves as a political tool for ensuring the U.S. hegemony,” Choe said in a statement carried by North Korean state media.

    Choe said the G-7 communique “malignantly” raised the North’s legitimate exercise of its sovereignty.

    North Korea has steadfastly argued it was forced to develop nuclear weapons because of U.S. nuclear threats against it. It has said the United States’ regular military drills with South Korea are a rehearsal for invasion, though U.S. and South Korean officials have said their drills are defensive and they have no intentions of attacking the North.

    North Korea has test-fired about 100 missiles since the start of last year in the name of responding to U.S. military training with South Korea. But many experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un likely uses his rivals’ military drills as a pretext to advance his weapons programs, cement his domestic leadership and be recognized as a legitimate nuclear state to get international sanctions on the North lifted.

    North Korea has been hit with 11 rounds of U.N. sanctions because of its past nuclear and ballistic missile tests banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions. Kim has previously said those sanctions “stifles” North Korea’s economy.

    The G-7 foreign ministers in their communique Tuesday said North Korea will never have the status of a nuclear-weapons state under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

    The treaty sought to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons beyond the five original armed powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France. It requires non-nuclear signatory nations to not pursue atomic weapons in exchange for a commitment by the five powers to move toward nuclear disarmament and to guarantee non-nuclear states’ access to peaceful nuclear technology for producing energy.

    Choe also said the North’s position as a nuclear weapons state “will remain as an undeniable and stark reality.” She said North Korea is free from any of the treaty’s obligations because it withdrew from the treaty 20 years ago.

    North Korea joined the NPT in 1985 but announced its withdrawal from the treaty in 2003, citing what it called U.S. aggression. Since 2006, North Korea has conducted six nuclear tests and a slew of other weapons tests to develop nuclear-tipped missiles designed to attack the U.S. and South Korea.

    South Korea’s Unification Ministry said later Friday that North Korea must halt its threats against neighbors and pay heed to international concerns about its “reckless” nuclear and missile programs. Deputy spokesperson Lee Hyojung told reporters that North Korea cannot earn what it wants from its nuclear program so it must not insist on “a wrong path.”

    Kim said earlier this week his country has built its first military spy satellite that will be launched at an unspecified date. Last week, North Korea test-launched a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.

    North Korea is expected to perform more weapons tests as the United States and South Korea continue their joint aerial exercise into next week.

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    Find more AP Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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  • Major leagues, broadcasters pledge responsible betting ads

    Major leagues, broadcasters pledge responsible betting ads

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    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Most of the nation’s major professional sports leagues, plus the media companies Fox and NBCUniversal are creating an alliance to ensure that sports betting advertising is done responsibly and does not target minors.

    The Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising was created Wednesday, consisting of the ; Major League Baseball; the men’s and women’s leagues of the National Basketball Association; the National Hockey League; NASCAR, Major League Soccer, Fox and NBCUniversal.

    They described the group as a voluntary alliance to control how sports betting advertising, which is ever-present on the airwaves, in print and online, is presented to consumers.

    It includes a recommendation that “excessive” advertising be avoided.

    Formation of the group follows a move last month by the commercial casino industry through its national trade association, the American Gaming Association, to adopt a new responsible sports betting marketing code.

    Both efforts recognize the proliferation of sports betting advertising in the five years since the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for any state to offer legal sports wagering.

    They also have a clear, if unstated goal: to regulate their own advertising before the government might step in and do it for them. One New York congressman has introduced legislation that would ban all online and digital sports betting advertising, and others have called for government-imposed regulation of sports betting ads.

    “As the legalization of sports betting spreads nationwide, we feel it is critical to establish guardrails around how sports betting should be advertised to consumers across the United States,” the group said in a joint statement. “Each member of the coalition feels a responsibility to ensure sports betting advertising is not only targeted to an appropriate audience, but also that the message is thoughtfully crafted and carefully delivered.”

    David Schwartz, a gambling historian at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, said the prosects for government control of sports betting ads are uncertain.

    “I can see how it would be in the leagues’ and operators’ best interests to avoid formal federal oversight,” he said. “Advertising is an area that touches not just customers, but the public at large. As such, it may have more visibility than even the actual business of taking bets. It is understandable that those involved want to get out in front of this.”

    The group has several core principles, including that sports betting should be marketed only to adults of legal betting age; that the ads should not promote irresponsible or excessive gambling; they should be in good taste and not be misleading; and that publishers of sports betting advertising should have strong internal reviews and should take seriously complaints from consumers about such advertising.

    Kenny Gersh, executive vice president of media and business development for Major League Baseball, called the group “another important step for our industry as legal sports betting continues to grow.”

    Sports betting is currently legal in 33 U.S. states, plus Washington D.C.

    “While providing new fan engagement opportunities to enjoy our sport in more ways, we have to continue to be mindful and deliberate with how these sports betting options are presented and to whom they’re directed,” Gersh said. “Layering this coalition’s work in the advertising arena on top of our efforts to promote responsible gambling and address problem gambling challenges will lead to more thoughtful planning and implementation across the board.”

    David Highhill, general manager of sports betting for the NFL, said the leagues recognize advertising as an important component of responsible conduct.

    “Legalized sports betting offers fans another way to engage with their favorite sports, but just as we must support problem gambling prevention and resourcing, we must also remain mindful of how sports betting is presented and advertised to consumers, and this coalition should greatly aid in that cause,” he said.

    Mike Mulvihill, an executive vice president with Fox Sports, said, “We are committed to providing fans a responsible and ethical engagement with sports betting, keeping the integrity of the games and our broadcasts at the forefront at all times.”

    Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, praised the group for “taking steps to lead the industry in proactive change to protect consumers.”

    ___

    Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WayneParryAC

    ___

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • Fighting rages in Sudan hours after cease-fire was to begin

    Fighting rages in Sudan hours after cease-fire was to begin

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    KHARTOUM, Sudan — Fighting raged in Sudan on Tuesday hours after an internationally brokered truce was supposed to have come into effect, as forces loyal to dueling generals battled for key locations in the capital and accused each other of violating the cease-fire.

    The humanitarian truce came after days of intense efforts by top diplomats on four continents and had raised hopes of sparing Africa’s third largest country from civil war. But each side still appeared determined to vanquish the other, despite the suffering of millions of civilians trapped by the fighting.

    Residents said they still heard gunfire and explosions in different parts of the capital, Khartoum, particularly around the military’s headquarters and the Republican Palace. They said few people had ventured out, though there were crowds outside some bakeries.

    “The fighting remains underway,” Atiya Abdulla Atiya of the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate told The Associated Press. “We are hearing constant gunfire.”

    Millions of Sudanese in the capital and in other cities have been hiding in their homes, caught in the crossfire as rival forces pounded residential areas with artillery and airstrikes and engaged in gunbattles outside. Residents say dead bodies in the streets are unreachable because of clashes, with the toll likely to be far higher than the 185 dead reported by the U.N. since fighting began Saturday.

    The conflict between the armed forces, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has once again derailed Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after decades of dictatorship and civil war.

    Pro-democracy groups and political parties had recently reached an agreement with the two generals — who jointly led a 2021 coup — but it was never signed and is now in tatters.

    The RSF immediately accused the military of violating the cease-fire after it came into effect at 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT). The army said the “rebellious militia” continued its attacks around the military headquarters and launched a failed attack on a military base to the south.

    The U.S. Embassy said late Tuesday that there has been “ongoing” fighting in Khartoum and surrounding areas, and advised Americans in Sudan to shelter in place. It said there were no immediate plans for a government-coordinated evacuation.

    Over the past day, fighters in Khartoum attacked a U.S. Embassy convoy and stormed the home of the EU envoy to Sudan, though neither attack caused casualties. The convoy of clearly marked U.S. Embassy vehicles was attacked Monday, and preliminary reports link the assailants to the RSF, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters.

    Blinken spoke by phone late Monday separately with both generals, seeking a 24-hour halt in fighting as a foundation for a longer truce and return to negotiations. Egypt, which backs the Sudanese military, and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which have close ties to the RSF, have also been calling on all sides to stand down.

    Dagalo said in a series of tweets Tuesday that he had approved a 24-hour humanitarian truce after speaking to Blinken. The military initially said the coming hours would bring the “crushing defeat” of the RSF and only publicly committed to the truce after it began.

    Shortly before the start of the cease-fire, a coalition of political parties and pro-democracy groups said it received “positive positions” from leaders of the military and the RSF on the daylong humanitarian pause. It said in a statement that discussions were underway to “solidify that truce.”

    More tanks and armored vehicles belonging to the military rolled into Khartoum early Tuesday, heading toward the military’s headquarters and the Republican Palace, residents said. During the night, fighter jets swooped overhead and anti-aircraft fire lit up the sky.

    Each side already has tens of thousands of troops distributed around Khartoum and the city of Omdurman on the opposite bank of the Nile River. Terrified residents trapped in their homes for days have hoped for a halt long enough at least to get supplies or move to safer areas. The fighting erupted suddenly at the start of the last week of the Islamic holy month of fasting, Ramadan.

    “We are trying to take advantage of Ramadan to try to continue our faith and prayer,” said Mohammed Al Faki, one of 89 students and staffers trapped in the engineering building at Khartoum University. “We are trying to help each other stay patient until this crisis is over.”

    One student was killed by a sniper, he said, and they buried his body on the campus. The students and staff have had to go out for supplies occasionally, risking harassment by RSF fighters battling troops nearby, he said.

    “They are attacking us on the streets. They are looting. If you are walking, they will take even your phone from you in the street,” the 19-year-old student said of the RSF.

    U.N. figures have put the toll from fighting at more than 185 dead and 1,800 wounded, without providing a breakdown of civilians and combatants. The Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate said Tuesday that at least 144 civilians were killed and more than 1,400 wounded but that many dead could still not be reached to be counted.

    Videos posted online Tuesday showed Souq al-Bahri, a large outdoor market in northern Khartoum, in flames from nearby clashes. Satellite images from Maxar Technologies taken Monday showed damage across Khartoum, including to security service buildings. Tanks stood guard at a bridge over the White Nile River and other locations.

    Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC, also taken Monday, showed some 20 damaged civilian and military aircraft at Khartoum International Airport, which has a military section. Some had been completely destroyed, with one still belching smoke. At the El Obeid and Merowe air bases, north and south of Khartoum, several fighter jets were among the destroyed aircraft.

    The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, tweeted Monday that the EU ambassador to Sudan “was assaulted in his own residency,” without providing further details.

    A Western diplomat in Cairo said the residence was ransacked by armed men in RSF uniforms. No one was hurt but the armed men stole several items, said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

    Early on Sunday, the Norwegian ambassador’s residence was hit by a shell, causing damage but no injuries, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said.

    The fighting is the latest chapter in Sudan’s turmoil since a popular uprising four years ago helped depose long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

    Burhan and Dagalo jointly orchestrated an October 2021 coup, derailing efforts to enshrine a civilian government. Both generals have a long history of human rights abuses, and their forces have cracked down on pro-democracy activists.

    Under international pressure, Burhan and Dagalo recently agreed to a framework agreement with political parties and pro-democracy groups. But the signing was repeatedly delayed as tensions rose over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces and the future chain of command — tensions that exploded into violence Saturday. ___ Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Fay Abuelgasim in Beirut, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Matthew Lee in Karuizawa, Japan, contributed to this report.

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  • Northern Ireland peacemakers urge end to political impasse

    Northern Ireland peacemakers urge end to political impasse

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    BELFAST, Northern Ireland — An American architect of Northern Ireland’s historic 1998 peace accord on Monday urged its feuding politicians to revive the mothballed Belfast government, as a current political crisis clouded celebration of the peacemaking milestone.

    Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell told a conference to mark a quarter century since the Good Friday Agreement that Northern Ireland’s leaders must “act with courage and vision as their predecessors did 25 years ago,” when bitter enemies forged an unlikely peace.

    Mitchell, who chaired two arduous years of negotiations that led to the accord, joined ex-President Bill Clinton and political leaders from the U.K., Ireland and Northern Ireland at a Belfast conference to mark 25 years since the agreement largely ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed — a moment, Mitchell said, “when history opened itself to hope.”

    “The people of Northern Ireland continue to wrestle with their doubts, their differences, their disagreements,” said Mitchell, who is now 89 and being treated for leukemia. But, he added: “The people of Northern Ireland don’t want to return to violence — not now and not ever.”

    “The war is over,” agreed Gerry Adams, former leader of Sinn Fein, the party linked during the conflict to the Irish Republican Army, which killed around 1,800 people. “The conflict’s finished.”

    The Good Friday Agreement has been held up around the world as proof that bitter enemies can make peace. It committed armed groups to stop fighting and set up a Northern Ireland legislature and government with power shared between unionist and nationalist parties.

    Northern Ireland has changed dramatically since then — and some wonder whether the accord that created peace is still capable of sustaining it.

    A young peacetime generation is increasingly shedding the rival identities — British unionist and Irish nationalist — that erupted into three decades of bloodshed that killed 3,600 people. But at the same time, Northern Ireland is locked in a political crisis that threatens to rattle the peace secured by the Good Friday Agreement.

    “You’ve got a transformed society in which (the labels) unionist, nationalist for many young people doesn’t mean anything,” said Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queen’s University Belfast, the conference venue.

    “But on the other hand, society is in a state of quite severe disrepair. We haven’t had a functioning Assembly for four out of the last six years, and our public services are crumbling around our ears.”

    While peace has largely held, politics is deadlocked. Northern Ireland’s 1.9 million people have been without a functioning government since the main unionist party walked out more than a year ago to protest post-Brexit trade rules that – like so much in Northern Ireland – roiled notions of history and identity.

    Participants at the conference — gently or pointedly — urged the Democratic Unionist Party to return to the power-sharing government. Its leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, was one of the few senior Northern Ireland politicians not mingling amid the university’s leafy quadrangles and red-brick buildings.

    Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Queen’s University’s chancellor, urged people in Northern Ireland to show the same “unstoppable grit and resolve” that secured the peace deal.

    “You have always found a way through, and I believe you will again,” she told delegates.

    Sinn Fein’s Adams predicted the political impasse “will be resolved” by the DUP returning to government.

    “As ministers they have a mandate to do that,” he told The Associated Press. “We can disagree on all of these other matters, but we should do it on the basis of the political and institutional office that we are entitled to on behalf of the people who elected us.”

    The three-day conference caps commemorations of the April 10, 1998, peace accord that included a flying visit last week by President Joe Biden, on his way to explore his Irish roots in the neighboring Republic of Ireland. During speeches in Belfast and Dublin, Biden reminded Northern Ireland’s politicians how strongly the U.S. remains invested in peace.

    “I wanted to make clear there’s a lot at stake, a lot at stake,” Biden told reporters as he left Ireland on Friday.

    U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is due to host a gala commemorative dinner in Belfast on Wednesday, hailed “the courage, imagination and perseverance” of the peacemakers.

    But critics say the U.K. government has been, at best, careless with Northern Ireland’s peace — especially by leading Britain out of the European Union following a 2016 referendum.

    Brexit shook the peace settlement by creating friction between Britain, the EU — including member state Ireland — and the U.S. It also destabilized the delicate political balance in Northern Ireland, by reviving the need for a customs border between the EU and now ex-member the U.K. An open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland is one of the foundations of peace, so checks were imposed instead on goods moving from mainland Britain to Northern Ireland.

    That unsettled unionists, who see the economic barrier as undermining Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom, and triggered the DUP’s government walkout. The party has not returned, despite a deal reached by the U.K. and the EU in February to remove many of the border checks.

    Increasing numbers of people argue that power-sharing must be tweaked to reflect the growing importance of forces such as the Alliance Party, which defines itself as neither unionist nor nationalist.

    Meanwhile, violence hasn’t disappeared completely. In February, IRA dissidents opposed to the peace process shot and wounded a senior police officer.

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  • Japan, US agree to cooperate on geothermal energy

    Japan, US agree to cooperate on geothermal energy

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    Japan and the United States have agreed to cooperate on developing geothermal energy, one of the most plentiful resources on this volcanic island chain

    ByELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer

    SAPPORO, Japan — Japan and the United States agreed Saturday to cooperate on developing geothermal energy, one of the most plentiful resources on this volcanic island chain.

    The memorandum of commitment was signed Saturday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Group of Seven energy and environment ministers in the northern city of Hokkaido.

    Japan’s famed hot springs reflect its abundant geothermal activity, but the spas and resorts clustered around them have slowed efforts to use that resource to generate power.

    The pact signed by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Japan‘s minister of economy, trade and industry, Yasutoshi Nishimura, says that geothermal energy is recognized as a “renewable energy technology that the United States and Japan can work together to advance.”

    It calls for collaborating in research and development and exchange of information and in pursuing geothermal projects in the U.S., Japan and other countries. It’s one of an array of areas where the two countries intend to collaborate in reducing reliance on fossil fuels and cutting carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.

    “The prospects of offshore wind are enormous. The prospects of geothermal. We’re very excited about partnering with Japan on these kinds of issues,” Granholm said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday ahead of the G-7 meetings.

    Adding more geothermal power could make it possible for Japan to provide 90% of its power generation from renewable sources, according to an estimate by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. That would amount to a 92% reduction in the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, it said in a recent study.

    So far, Japan’s geothermal capacity has been underutilized: it has dozens of small power plants run on the steaming hot springs dotted across the country, but together they account for less than 1% of its total power generating capacity.

    Both Japan and the U.S. are looking to export geothermal technology.

    Japanese companies are participating in a joint project to build what is expected to be the world’s largest geothermal power station, in Indonesia’s Sumatra, with 320 gigawatts of electricity.

    Biomass and geothermal power also contribute less than 1% of U.S. generating capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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  • Red Cross: Yemen rebels, Saudi coalition begin prisoner swap

    Red Cross: Yemen rebels, Saudi coalition begin prisoner swap

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    SANAA, Yemen — An exchange of more than 800 prisoners linked to Yemen’s long-running war began Friday, the International Committee for the Red Cross said. The United Nations-brokered deal, in the works for months, comes amid concerted diplomatic efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.

    It is most significant prisoner exchange in Yemen since both sides freed more than 1,000 detainees in October 2020. Thousands of people are believed to be held as prisoners of war by all sides since the war erupted.

    In the three-day exchange, flights will transport prisoners between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, long held by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, said Majed Fadail, a deputy minister for human rights for Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

    Other flights will bring prisoners between Sanaa and other Yemeni cities controlled by the internationally recognized government, he said. The Red Cross said that on Friday, there would be two rounds of simultaneous flights between Aden and Sanaa to transfer prisoners.

    Yemen’s conflict began in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of the country’s north. Yemen’s internationally recognized government fled to the south and then into exile in Saudi Arabia.

    The Houthi takeover prompted a Saudi-led coalition to intervene months later. The conflict has in recent years turned into a regional proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with the United States long involved on the periphery, providing intelligence assistance to the kingdom. However, international criticism over Saudi airstrikes killing civilians saw the U.S. pull back its support.

    The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

    The prisoner exchange had been scheduled to start earlier in the week but was delayed because of apparent logistical reasons.

    “With this act of goodwill, hundreds of families torn apart by conflict are being reunited during the holy month of Ramadan, a glimmer of hope amidst great suffering,” Fabrizio Carboni, the Red Cross’ regional director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement. “Our deep desire is that these releases provide momentum for a broader political solution, leading to even more detainees returning to their loved ones.”

    The deal tentatively calls for the Houthis to release more than 180 prisoners, including Saudi and Sudanese troops fighting with the Saudi-led coalition, and four Yemeni journalists. The journalists were detained in recent years and sentenced to death by a Houthi-controlled court in a trial described by Amnesty International as “grossly unfair.”

    The deal also will see the release of top military officials held by the Houthis since the start of the war. Those include Maj. Gen. Mahmoud al-Subaihi, who was the defense minister when the war erupted; Nasser Mansour Hadi, the brother of former Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi; and relatives of late strongman President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

    In return, the Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni government are scheduled to release more than 700 Houthi prisoners, the rebels said.

    Saudi Arabia has already freed 13 Houthi detainees who returned to Sanaa on April 9 ahead of a trip by Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed bin Saeed al-Jaber, to the Yemeni capital. Including those detainees, the deal will see a total of 869 prisoners released, the Red Cross says.

    Al-Jaber visit to Sanaa was part of Oman-brokered talks between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, aiming to revive a nationwide cease-fire that expired in October and relaunch inter-Yemeni peace talks to end the conflict.

    A deal last month between Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore ties has boosted negotiations between the kingdom and the Houthis and invigorated hopes of a negotiated settlement to the Yemeni conflict.

    However, some analysts fear that Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal could see a new version of the conflict erupt between Yemen’s rival governments. Then there are also secessionists who want to restore a separate country of South Yemen, which existed from 1967 to 1990.

    “I see prospects for temporary peace between the Saudis and the Houthis but escalation of violence within Yemen,” said Nadwa Dawsari, a nonresident scholar with the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think-tank.

    She said that the Houthis have not shown themselves to be willing to compromise to reach peace with other Yemeni groups.

    “That is their ideology, they feel they are entitled to rule,” she said.

    Yemen also remains home to al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, viewed by Washington as a dangerous offshoot of the Islamic extremist group.

    ___

    Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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  • UN, others cite new displacement from Ethiopia’s Tigray

    UN, others cite new displacement from Ethiopia’s Tigray

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    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Forces from Ethiopia’s Amhara region have displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans from disputed territory in the north of the country in recent weeks despite a peace deal agreed late last year, according to aid workers and internal agency documents seen by the AP.

    The Mai Tsebri area in northwestern Tigray is close to the regional border with Amhara. It changed hands several times during the war, which erupted in 2020 and ended with a ceasefire in November. The Amhara people claim the area as their own.

    Since early March, some 47,000 people uprooted from Mai Tsebri have gone to Endabaguna, a town roughly 55 kilometers (34 miles) further north, according to United Nations figures seen by the AP on Thursday.

    Another report, prepared by a humanitarian agency, says residents fled Mai Tsebri because of “harassment, ethnic profiling and direct threats” from irregular Amhara forces that also carried out “evictions.”

    That report adds that there have been no aid deliveries to Endabaguna since the displaced people started arriving. As a result, it says, they are “on the brink of starvation.”

    The displaced people at Endabaguna are sheltering in a reception center originally built by the U.N. and Ethiopia’s government for refugees from Eritrea, which borders Tigray. The site was badly damaged during the war.

    An aid worker who recently visited the center said conditions there were “very bad” and the number of people was “increasing day by day.”

    “The roofing and pipelines are damaged, there is no toilet and latrine, the doors and windows of the rooms are looted (or) damaged, and there is no proper water supply,” said the aid worker, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

    It was not immediately possible to get a comment from Amhara authorities.

    A second aid worker, who also requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to a reporter, said many of the people recently uprooted from Mai Tsebri were displaced for a second time, having already been forced from their homes in the western part of Tigray.

    Amhara forces annexed western Tigray in the early stages of the war. They stand accused of “ethnic cleansing” by the U.S. State Department after they forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans from the area.

    Under the recent ceasefire, aid deliveries to Tigray resumed after two years of restrictions. However, aid workers say Amhara forces have continued to block food distribution around Mai Tsebri, and residents have reported killings.

    One Mai Tsebri resident, Teferi Muley, said he fled the area in November after he was threatened by Amhara troops, who accused him of helping the Tigray rebels. He said he returned in March to the nearby village of Haida, where he witnessed the shooting of several artisanal gold miners by Amhara troops.

    Last week Ethiopia’s government said it planned to fold the security forces of the 11 federal regions into the national army or police. This prompted a wave of protest across Amhara, as well as gun battles between the federal military and regional Amhara units who refused to disarm.

    Humanitarian officials believe the upheaval will likely lead to an increase in displacements from Mai Tsebri, which already stand at an average of 150 households every day, according to an assessment by another aid agency.

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  • China warns as US, Philippines stage combat drills

    China warns as US, Philippines stage combat drills

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    MANILA, Philippines — China warned on Wednesday that a deepening security alliance between the United States and the Philippines should not harm its security and territorial interests and interfere in long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

    When asked to comment on the combat exercises between American and Filipino forces that started on Tuesday in the Philippines, the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Wednesday issued a statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, who said that such drills “should not target any third party and should be conducive to regional peace and stability.”

    Wang did not say how China would respond if it concludes that the U.S.-Philippine security cooperation was hurting Beijing’s core interests.

    In Washington, the U.S. and Philippine defense and foreign secretaries met on Tuesday to discuss the development of nine Philippine military camps, where American forces have been allowed to stay indefinitely under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

    “These sites will support combined training exercises and interoperability between our forces to ensure that we’re even better prepared for future crises,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. He added the U.S. was allocating more than $100 million to build infrastructure at the sites, where Americans would be stationed.

    China has strongly opposed that agreement, which would allow American forces to establish military staging grounds and surveillance outposts in the northern Philippines across the sea from the Taiwan Strait and in western Philippine provinces facing the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety on historical grounds. Washington disputes China’s claims.

    Austin said he also discussed with his Philippine counterpart, Carlito Galvez, the U.S. delivery of much-needed defense equipment, including radars, unmanned aerial systems, military transport aircraft and coastal and air defense systems to Philippines over the next five to 10 years under a security assistance roadmap.

    This year’s Balikatan exercises between the treaty allies are the largest since the two sides started joint military combat-readiness exercises in the early 1990s. They will run until April 28 and involve more than 17,600 American and Filipino personnel and a small Australian contingent. About a dozen countries including Japan and India but not China were sending observers, organizers said.

    In a live-fire drill the allies will stage for the first time, U.S. and Filipino forces will sink a ship in Philippine territorial waters off western Zambales province on April 26 in a coordinated coastal artillery bombardment and airstrike, Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine spokesman for Balikatan, told reporters on Tuesday.

    President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been briefed about the live-fire drill and plans to watch it, Logico said.

    In Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, the exercises will involve beach assaults and retaking an island seized by enemy forces, Logico said.

    Marcos, who took office in June last year, has nurtured closer relations with Washington than his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who often lashed out at U.S. security policies while praising China and Russia. Duterte tried to abrogate a key defense pact that would have restrained American forces from entering the Philippines for large-scale war drills but later backpedaled from the effort.

    The drills are the latest display of American firepower in Asia, as the Biden administration strengthens an arc of alliances to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan, an island democracy that Beijing claims as its own.

    That dovetails with efforts by the Philippines under Marcos to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea.

    The ongoing drills, which started in the early 1990s, will showcase U.S. warships, fighter jets, Patriot missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.

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  • China warns as US, Philippines stage combat drills

    China warns as US, Philippines stage combat drills

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    MANILA, Philippines — China warned on Wednesday that a deepening security alliance between the United States and the Philippines should not harm its security and territorial interests and interfere in long-simmering territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

    When asked to comment on the combat exercises between American and Filipino forces that started on Tuesday in the Philippines, the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Wednesday issued a statement by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, who said that such drills “should not target any third party and should be conducive to regional peace and stability.”

    Wang did not say how China would respond if it concludes that the U.S.-Philippine security cooperation was hurting Beijing’s core interests.

    In Washington, the U.S. and Philippine defense and foreign secretaries met on Tuesday to discuss the development of nine Philippine military camps, where American forces have been allowed to stay indefinitely under the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

    “These sites will support combined training exercises and interoperability between our forces to ensure that we’re even better prepared for future crises,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. He added the U.S. was allocating more than $100 million to build infrastructure at the sites, where Americans would be stationed.

    China has strongly opposed that agreement, which would allow American forces to establish military staging grounds and surveillance outposts in the northern Philippines across the sea from the Taiwan Strait and in western Philippine provinces facing the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety on historical grounds. Washington disputes China’s claims.

    Austin said he also discussed with his Philippine counterpart, Carlito Galvez, the U.S. delivery of much-needed defense equipment, including radars, unmanned aerial systems, military transport aircraft and coastal and air defense systems to Philippines over the next five to 10 years under a security assistance roadmap.

    This year’s Balikatan exercises between the treaty allies are the largest since the two sides started joint military combat-readiness exercises in the early 1990s. They will run until April 28 and involve more than 17,600 American and Filipino personnel and a small Australian contingent. About a dozen countries including Japan and India but not China were sending observers, organizers said.

    In a live-fire drill the allies will stage for the first time, U.S. and Filipino forces will sink a ship in Philippine territorial waters off western Zambales province on April 26 in a coordinated coastal artillery bombardment and airstrike, Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine spokesman for Balikatan, told reporters on Tuesday.

    President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been briefed about the live-fire drill and plans to watch it, Logico said.

    In Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, the exercises will involve beach assaults and retaking an island seized by enemy forces, Logico said.

    Marcos, who took office in June last year, has nurtured closer relations with Washington than his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who often lashed out at U.S. security policies while praising China and Russia. Duterte tried to abrogate a key defense pact that would have restrained American forces from entering the Philippines for large-scale war drills but later backpedaled from the effort.

    The drills are the latest display of American firepower in Asia, as the Biden administration strengthens an arc of alliances to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan, an island democracy that Beijing claims as its own.

    That dovetails with efforts by the Philippines under Marcos to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea.

    The ongoing drills, which started in the early 1990s, will showcase U.S. warships, fighter jets, Patriot missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.

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  • Biden to help mark decades of relative peace in N Ireland

    Biden to help mark decades of relative peace in N Ireland

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    BELFAST, Northern Ireland — President Joe Biden is in Northern Ireland to participate in marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to this part of the United Kingdom after the U.S. helped negotiate an end to decades of sectarian violence that killed thousands.

    On his first presidential visit to Northern Ireland, Biden was set to deliver congratulations and encourage the country’s leaders to work on universally beneficial trade and economic policies when he speaks Wednesday at a business development event at Ulster University’s campus in Belfast.

    But Biden was not expected to make any attempt to help resolve a new political crisis that has rattled the Good Friday peace deal and put Northern Ireland’s government on pause.

    Instead, the Democratic president will deliver at least two messages, said White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, who is traveling with Biden.

    “Congratulations on 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement, which has brought unprecedented peace and prosperity,” Kirby said. “And that kind of goes to the second goal, which is to talk about the importance of trying to work on trade and economic policies that benefit all communities, as well as the United States.”

    Biden opens his brief public schedule in Northern Ireland on Wednesday over coffee with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Before speaking at Ulster, he will meet with each of the leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties.

    Northern Ireland is without a functioning government. Stormont, the seat of its assembly, has been suspended since the Democratic Unionist Party, which formed half of a power-sharing government, walked out a year ago over a post-Brexit trade dispute.

    Britain’s departure from the European Union left Northern Ireland poised uneasily between the rest of the U.K. and EU member Ireland, and put the peace agreement under increased strain.

    After much wrangling, Britain and the EU struck a deal in February to address the tensions over trade, an agreement welcomed by the U.S., which had urged London and Brussels to end their post-Brexit feud. The Democratic Unionist Party, though, says the Windsor Framework doesn’t go far enough and has refused to return to government.

    As he set off for Belfast, Biden on Tuesday said a priority of his trip to Northern Ireland was to “keep the peace.”

    After the speech at Ulster University, Biden will travel to the Republic of Ireland for a three-day visit, including an address to the Dublin parliament, attendance at a gala dinner and trips to two ancestral hometowns. He will fly to County Louth, on Ireland’s east coast, on Wednesday to visit a cemetery, tour a castle, walk around downtown Dundalk and attend a community gathering.

    A few Belfast residents said Biden’s visit was important even though it will be short.

    “I think it’s great that he’s coming because of the anniversary of ‘the Troubles,’” Julie McNeill said Monday as she waited in the rain for a bus. She was referring to more than three decades of sectarian violence that left more than 3,600 people dead. “I think it’s important that he does come.”

    Still, McNeill said she was a little disappointed that the Irish American president would spend less than a day in Belfast. But she said she understood.

    “I mean, the man’s a busy man, and he’s 80 years old. I’m sure it’s hard for him,” she said.

    Samuel Olufemia, who is studying for a degree in public health from Ulster University, said he was looking forward to meeting Biden on campus.

    “Having him in Belfast here is a privilege,” said Olufemia, who is from Nigeria. “It’s going to be an historic visit and that’s one of the reasons I’m excited.”

    He said he also understands that Biden is too busy to stay longer. “The president always have other things to do,” Olufemia said.

    A massive security operation was in place for Biden’s stay in Belfast, with a heavy police presence on blocked off streets around the president’s hotel and the Ulster campus.

    Last month, U.K. intelligence services raised the country’s terrorism threat level from “substantial” to “severe.” But Biden said then that not even the heightened risk of an attack would keep him from making the trip.

    Biden last visited Ireland in 2016, when he was U.S. vice president.

    ___

    Lawless reported from London.

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  • US, Philippines hold largest war drills near disputed waters

    US, Philippines hold largest war drills near disputed waters

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    MANILA, Philippines — The United States and the Philippines on Tuesday launch their largest combat exercises in decades that will involve live-fire drills, including a boat-sinking rocket assault in waters across the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait that will likely inflame China.

    The annual drills by the longtime treaty allies called Balikatan — Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder — will run up to April 28 and involve more than 17,600 military personnel. It will be the latest display of American firepower in Asia, where Washington has repeatedly warned China over its increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed sea channel and against Taiwan.

    The Biden administration has been strengthening an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific to better counter China, including in a possible confrontation over Taiwan.

    That dovetails with efforts by the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea by boosting joint military exercises with the U.S. and allowing rotating batches of American forces to stay in more Philippine military camps under a 2014 defense pact.

    About 12,200 U.S military personnel, 5,400 Filipino forces and 111 Australian counterparts are taking part in the exercises, the largest in Balikatan’s three-decade history. America’s warships, fighter jets as well as its Patriot missiles, HIMARS rocket launchers and anti-tank Javelins, would be showcased, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.

    “We are not provoking anybody by simply exercising,” Col. Michael Logico, a Philippine spokesman for Balikatan, told reporters ahead of the start of the maneuvers.

    “This is actually a form of deterrence,” Logico said. “Deterrence is when we are discouraging other parties from invading us.”

    In a live-fire drill the allied forces would stage offshore for the first time, Logico said U.S. and Filipino forces would sink a 200-foot (61-meter) target vessel in Philippine territorial waters off the western province of Zambales this month in a coordinated airstrike and artillery bombardment.

    “We will hit it with all the weapons systems that we have, both ground, navy and air,” Logico said.

    That location facing the South China Sea and across the waters from the Taiwan Strait would likely alarm China, but Philippine military officials said the maneuver was aimed at bolstering the country’s coastal defense and was not aimed at any country.

    Such field scenarios would “test the allies’ capabilities in combined arms live-fire, information and intelligence sharing, communications between maneuver units, logistics operations, amphibious operations,” the U.S. Embassy in Manila said.

    Washington and Beijing have been on a collision course over the long-seething territorial disputes involving China, the Philippines and four other governments and Beijing’s goal of annexing Taiwan, by force if necessary.

    China last week warned against the intensifying U.S. military deployment to the region. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular news briefing in Beijing that it “would only lead to more tensions and less peace and stability in the region.”

    The Balikatan exercises were opening in the Philippines a day after China concluded three days of combat drills that simulated sealing off Taiwan, following Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week in California that infuriated Beijing.

    On Monday, the U.S. 7th Fleet deployed guided-missile destroyer USS Milius within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, a Manila-claimed coral outcrop which China seized in the mid-1990s and turned into one of seven missile-protected island bases in the South China Sea’s hotly contested Spratlys archipelago. The U.S. military has been undertaking such “freedom of navigation” operations for years to challenge China’s expansive territorial claims in the busy seaway.

    “As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all,” the 7th Fleet said. “No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms.”

    ___

    Find more AP coverage of the Asia-Pacific region at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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  • Biden to visit Ireland, mark Good Friday accord anniversary

    Biden to visit Ireland, mark Good Friday accord anniversary

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    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will travel to the United Kingdom and Ireland next week in part to help mark the the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday accord, a U.S.-brokered agreement that helped end decades of deadly sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

    Biden will first visit Belfast, Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., from April 11-12 to mark progress since the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was signed a quarter century ago and to underscore U.S. readiness to support Northern Ireland’s economic potential, the White House said.

    Biden will then spend April 12-14 in the Republic of Ireland, holding engagements in Dublin, County Louth and County Mayo, where he will deliver an address celebrating the “deep, historic ties” between the United States and Ireland, the White House said.

    Signed on April 10, 1998 — which was Good Friday — the landmark accord helped end three decades of sectarian violence over the issue of Northern Ireland uniting with Ireland or remaining in the United Kingdom.

    The anniversary is being marked with celebration that peace has endured, but concern about entrenched divisions and political instability. And the specter of violence has not wholly disappeared — last month U.K. intelligence services raised the terrorism threat level for Northern Ireland from “substantial” to “severe.”

    Asked whether the heightened terrorism threat level would affect his plans to visit, Biden, who is proud of his Irish heritage and has long wanted to visit Ireland, said it would not.

    “No, they can’t keep me out,” he said last month.

    The agreement has come under increasing stress following the U.K.’s exit from the European Union. A recent accord known as the Windsor Framework between the U.K. and the EU addresses some of the issues that arose around commerce and goods that cross the Irish Sea from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

    Biden, who quotes Irish poets quite often, recently praised the Windsor Framework as an important step in maintaining the peace accord, though Northern Ireland’s political leaders have called for changes.

    “It’s a vital, vital step and that’s going to help ensure all the people in Northern Ireland have an opportunity to realize their full potential,” Biden said of the framework during remarks at a Capitol Hill luncheon on St. Patrick’s Day.

    Biden had hosted Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office and at a White House reception on the holiday, a tradition that had been scuttled in recent years by the coronavirus pandemic.

    Varadkar promised Biden a jolly good time when he visits.

    “I promise you that we’re going to roll out the red carpet, and it’s going to be a visit like no other,” Varadkar told Biden in the Oval Office. “Everyone is excited about it already. We’re going to have great crowds who would love to see you.”

    The last U.S. president to visit Belfast was Barack Obama in 2013.

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  • Russia to keep missile test notices under Cold War-era deal

    Russia to keep missile test notices under Cold War-era deal

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    A top Russian diplomat says Russia will continue to give the U.S. advance notice about its missile tests despite suspending the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the two countries

    MOSCOW — Russia will continue to give the U.S. advance notice about its missile tests despite suspending the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the two countries, a top Russian diplomat said Thursday.

    Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov’s statement reversed one he made Wednesday, when he said Moscow had halted all information exchanges with Washington envisioned under the 2011 New START nuclear pact, including missile test warnings.

    But Russia intends to stick by its pledge last month to keep notifying the U.S. about missile tests in line with a 1988 U.S.-Soviet agreement, Ryabkov said.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the country’s participation in the New START treaty last month, saying Russia could not U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Moscow’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal.

    Moscow emphasized at the time that it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether and would continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons the treaty set.

    Earlier this week, the U.S. announced that Moscow and Washington have stopped sharing biannual nuclear weapons data as envisioned by New START. U.S. officials said Washington had offered to continue providing the information after Putin suspended Russia’s participation, but Moscow told Washington it would not share its own data.

    The termination of information exchanges under the pact marked yet another attempt by the Kremlin to discourage the West from ramping up its support for Ukraine by pointing to Russia’s massive nuclear arsenal. Last weekend, Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Moscow’s ally Belarus.

    Along with data about the current state of the countries’ nuclear forces routinely released every six months, the parties to the New START treaty also exchanged advance warnings about test launches and deployments of their nuclear weapons.

    Such notices have been an essential element of strategic stability for decades, allowing Russia and the United States to correctly interpret each other’s moves and make sure that neither country mistakes a test launch for a missile attack.

    Ryabkov wouldn’t say if the 1988 U.S.-Soviet agreement would cover all the missile tests that Russia was obliged to issue notices about under New START.

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  • Russia stops sharing missile test info with US, opens drills

    Russia stops sharing missile test info with US, opens drills

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    MOSCOW — A senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday that Moscow will no longer inform the U.S. about its missile tests, an announcement that came as the Russian military deployed mobile launchers in Siberia in a show of the country’s massive nuclear capability amid the fighting in Ukraine.

    Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Moscow has halted all information exchanges with Washington after previously suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms pact with the U.S.

    Along with the data about the current state of the countries’ nuclear forces, the parties also have exchanged advance warnings about test launches. Such notices have been an essential element of strategic stability for decades, allowing Russia and the United States to correctly interpret each other’s moves and make sure that neither country mistakes a test launch for a missile attack.

    The termination of missile test warnings appears to mark yet another attempt by Moscow to discourage the West from ramping up its support for Ukraine by pointing out at Russia’s massive nuclear arsenals. It comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Moscow’s ally Belarus.

    Last month, Putin suspended the New START treaty, charging that Russia can’t accept U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites under the agreement at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Russia’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal.

    Moscow emphasized that it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether and would continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons the treaty set.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry initially said Moscow would keep notifying the U.S. about planned test launches of its ballistic missiles, but Ryabkov’s statement reflected an abrupt change of course.

    “There will be no notifications at all,” Ryabkov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies when asked if Moscow would also stop issuing notices about planned missile tests. “All notifications, all kinds of notifications, all activities under the treaty. will be suspended and will not be conducted regardless of what position the U.S. may take.”

    Ryabkov’s announcement followed U.S. officials’ statement that Moscow and Washington have stopped sharing biannual nuclear weapons data that were envisaged by the New START treaty. Officials at the White House, Pentagon and State Department said the U.S. had offered to continue providing this information to Russia even after Putin suspended its participation in the treaty, but Moscow informed Washington that it would not be sharing its own data.

    The New START, which then-Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed in 2010, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. The agreement envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance.

    The inspections have been put on hold since 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Discussions on resuming them were supposed to have taken place in November 2022, but Russia abruptly called them off, citing U.S. support for Ukraine.

    As part of the Russian drills that began Wednesday, Yars mobile missile launchers will maneuver across three regions of Siberia, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. The movements will involve measures to conceal the deployment from foreign satellites and other intelligence assets, the ministry said.

    The Defense Ministry didn’t say how long the drills would last or mention plans for any practice launches. The Yars is a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of about 11,000 kilometers (over 6,800 miles). It forms the backbone of Russia’s strategic missile forces.

    The Defense Ministry released a video showing massive trucks carrying the missiles driving out from a base to go on patrol. The maneuvers involve about 300 vehicles and 3,000 troops in eastern Siberia, according to the ministry.

    The massive exercise took place days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, Russia’s neighbor and ally.

    Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for use on the battlefield and have a relatively short range and a much lower yield compared to the long-range strategic missiles fitted with nuclear warheads that are capable of obliterating whole cities.

    Putin’s decision to put the tactical weapons in Belarus followed his repeated warnings that Moscow was ready to use “all available means” — a reference to its nuclear arsenal — to fend off attacks on Russian territory.

    Ryabkov said Wednesday that Putin’s move folllowed the failure by the West to heed previous “serious signals” from Moscow because of what he described as the “fundamental irresponsibility of Western elites before their people and international security.”

    “Now they will have to deal with changing realities,” he said, adding: “We hope that NATO officials will adequately assess the seriousness of the situation.”

    Russian officials have issued a barrage of hawkish statements since their troops entered Ukraine, warning that the continuing Western support for Ukraine raised the threat of a nuclear conflict.

    In remarks published Tuesday, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, which Putin chairs, sternly warned the U.S. and its allies against harboring hopes for Russia’s defeat in Ukraine.

    Patrushev alleged that some American politicians believe the U.S. could launch a preventative missile strike on Russia to which Moscow would be unable to respond, a purported belief that he described as “short-sighted stupidity, which is very dangerous.”

    “Russia is patient and isn’t trying to scare anyone with its military superiority, but it has unique modern weapons capable of destroying any adversary, including the United States, in case of a threat to its existence,” Patrushev said.

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  • Netanyahu fires defense minister for urging halt to overhaul

    Netanyahu fires defense minister for urging halt to overhaul

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    JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly fired his defense minister on Sunday, a day after he called on the Israeli leader to halt a planned judicial overhaul that has fiercely divided the country and prompted growing discontent within the ranks of the military. Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv and other major cities following the announcement.

    The dismissal signaled that Netanyahu will move ahead this week with the overhaul plan, which has sparked mass protests, angered military and business leaders and raised concerns among Israel’s allies. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against the plan.

    In a brief statement, Netanyahu’s office said late Sunday the prime minister had dismissed Gallant. Netanyahu later tweeted “we must all stand strong against refusal.”

    Tens of thousands of Israelis poured into the streets in protest after Netanyahu’s announcement, blocking Tel Aviv’s main artery, transforming the Ayalon highway into a sea of blue-and-white Israeli flags and lighting a large bonfire in the middle of the road.

    Demonstrations took place in Beersheba, Haifa and Jerusalem, where thousands of people gathered outside Netanyahu’s private residence. Police scuffled with protesters and sprayed the crowd with a water cannon.

    The decision came less than a day after Gallant, a former senior general, called for a pause in the controversial legislation until after next month’s Independence Day holidays, citing the turmoil in the ranks of the military over the plan.

    Gallant had voiced concerns that the divisions in society were hurting morale in the military and emboldening Israel’s enemies across the region. “I see how the source of our strength is being eroded,” Gallant said.

    While several other Likud members had indicated they might follow Gallant, the party quickly closed ranks on Sunday, clearing the way for his dismissal.

    Galit Distal Atbaryan, Netanyahu’s public diplomacy minister, said that Netanyahu summoned Gallant to his office and told him “that he doesn’t have any faith in him anymore and therefore he is fired.”

    Gallant tweeted shortly after the announcement that “the security of the state of Israel always was and will always remain my life mission.”

    Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Gallant’s dismissal “harms national security and ignores warnings of all defense officials.”

    “The prime minister of Israel is a threat to the security of the state of Israel,” Lapid wrote on Twitter.

    Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet security agency, is expected to replace him. Dichter had reportedly flirted with joining Gallant but instead announced Sunday he was backing the prime minister.

    Netanyahu’s government is pushing ahead for a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. It also seeks to pass laws that would grant parliament the authority to override Supreme Court decisions with a basic majority and limit judicial review of laws.

    Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.

    But critics say the constellation of laws will remove the checks and balances in Israel’s democratic system and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.

    Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets over the past three months to demonstrate against the plan in the largest demonstrations in the country’s 75-year history.

    Leaders of Israel’s vibrant high-tech industry have said the changes will scare away investors, former top security officials have spoken out against the plan and key allies, including the United States and Germany, have voiced concerns.

    In recent weeks discontent has even surged from within Israel’s army – the most popular and respected institution among Israel’s Jewish majority. A growing number of Israeli reservists, including fighter pilots, have threatened to withdraw from voluntary duty in the past weeks.

    Israel’s military is facing a surge in fighting in the occupied West Bank, threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and concerns that archenemy Iran is close to developing a nuclear-weapons capability.

    Violence both in Israel and the occupied West Bank has escalated over the past few weeks to heights unseen in years.

    Manuel Trajtenberg, head of an influential Israeli think tank, the Institute for National Security Studies, said that “Netanyahu can dismiss his defense minister, he cannot dismiss the warnings he heard from Gallant.”

    Meanwhile, an Israeli good governance group on Sunday asked the country’s Supreme Court to punish Netanyahu for allegedly violating a conflict of interest agreement meant to prevent him from dealing with the country’s judiciary while he is on trial for corruption.

    The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a fierce opponent of the overhaul, asked the court to force Netanyahu to obey the law and sanction him either with a fine or prison time for not doing so. It said he was not above the law.

    “A prime minister who doesn’t obey the court and the provisions of the law is privileged and an anarchist,” said Eliad Shraga, the head of the group, echoing language used by Netanyahu and his allies against protesters opposed to the overhaul. “The prime minister will be forced to bow his head before the law and comply with the provisions of the law.”

    The prime minister responded saying the appeal should be dismissed and said that the Supreme Court didn’t have grounds to intervene.

    Netanyahu is barred by the country’s attorney general from directly dealing with his government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, based on a conflict of interest agreement he is bound to, and which the Supreme Court acknowledged in a ruling over Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption. Instead, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant of Netanyahu, is spearheading the overhaul.

    But on Thursday, after parliament passed a law making it harder to remove a sitting prime minister, Netanyahu said he was unshackled from the attorney general’s decision and vowed to wade into the crisis and “mend the rift” in the nation. That declaration prompted the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, to warn that Netanyahu was breaking his conflict of interest agreement by entering the fray.

    The fast-paced legal and political developments have catapulted Israel into uncharted territory and toward a burgeoning constitutional crisis, said Guy Lurie, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

    “We are at the start of a constitutional crisis in the sense that there is a disagreement over the source of authority and legitimacy of different governing bodies,” he said.

    Netanyahu is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and dismisses critics who say he will try to seek an escape route from the charges through the legal overhaul. —— Associated Press journalist Tia Goldenberg contributed from Tel Aviv.

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  • China’s Xi makes 1st Moscow visit as Putin wages Ukraine war

    China’s Xi makes 1st Moscow visit as Putin wages Ukraine war

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    Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Monday on a three-day visit that shows off Beijing’s new diplomatic swagger and offers a welcome political lift for Russian President Vladimir Putin as the fighting in Ukraine slows to a grinding war of attrition.

    China and Russia have described Xi’s trip as part of efforts to further deepen their “no-limits friendship.” China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas for its energy-hungry economy, and as a partner in opposing what both see as U.S. domination of global affairs.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that over dinner on Monday, Putin and Xi will touch on issues related to Ukraine, adding that Russia’s president will likely offer a “detailed explanation” of Moscow’s view on the current situation.

    Broader talks involving officials from both countries on a range of subjects are scheduled for Tuesday, according to Peskov.

    For Putin, Xi’s presence at the Kremlin is a prestige visit and a diplomatic triumph, allowing him to tell Western leaders allied with Ukraine that their efforts to isolate him have fallen short. Xi’s trip comes just days after the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced it wants to put Putin on trial for the abductions of thousands of children from Ukraine.

    China portrays Xi’s visit as part of normal diplomatic exchanges and has offered little detail about what the trip aims to accomplish, though the nearly 13 months of war in Ukraine cast a long shadow on the talks.

    At a daily briefing in Beijing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Xi’s trip was a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace.”

    On the war, Wang said: “China will uphold its objective and fair position on the Ukrainian crisis and play a constructive role in promoting peace talks.”

    Beijing’s leap into Ukraine issues follows its recent success in brokering talks between Iran and its chief Middle Eastern rival, Saudi Arabia, which agreed to restore their diplomatic ties after years of tensions.

    Flushed with that success, Xi called for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs.

    “President Xi will have an in-depth exchange of views with President Putin on bilateral relations and major international and regional issues of common concern,” Wang said.

    He added that Xi aims to “promote strategic coordination and practical cooperation between the two countries and inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations.”

    China last month called for a cease-fire and peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cautiously welcomed Beijing’s involvement, but the overture fizzled.

    The Kremlin has welcomed China’s peace plan and said it would be discussed in talks between Putin and Xi that will begin over dinner.

    Washington strongly rejected Beijing’s call for a cease-fire as the effective ratification of the Kremlin’s battlefield gains.

    Kyiv officials say they won’t bend in their terms for a peace accord.

    “The first and main point is the capitulation or withdrawal of the Russian occupation troops from the territory of Ukraine in accordance with the norms of international law and the UN Charter,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, tweeted on Monday.

    That means restoring “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” he wrote.

    Xi’s trip to Russia comes after the International Criminal Court on Friday issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest on war crimes charges.

    The Kremlin doesn’t recognize the authority of the the International Criminal Court and has rejected its move against Putin as “legally null and void.” China, the United States and Ukraine don’t recognize the ICC, either, but the court’s announcement tarnished Putin’s international standing.

    China’s foreign ministry on Monday called on the ICC to “respect the jurisdictional immunity” of a head of state and “avoid politicization and double standards.”

    Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said Monday that the International Criminal Court’s move to issue an arrest warrant for Putin will have “monstrous consequences” for international law.

    “A gloomy sunset of the entire system of international relations is coming, trust is exhausted,” Medvedev wrote on his messaging app channel.

    He argued that in the past the ICC has destroyed its credibility by failing to prosecute the purported U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    He also cautioned that the court in The Hague could be a target for a Russian missile strike. Medvedev has in the past made bombastic statements and claims.

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    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • UN says intense diplomacy under way to end 8-year Yemen war

    UN says intense diplomacy under way to end 8-year Yemen war

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    UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. special envoy for Yemen said Wednesday that intense diplomatic efforts are underway to end the eight-year war in Yemen. He cited new regional and international momentum, including the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, who back rivals in the conflict.

    Hans Grundberg told the U.N. Security Council there has also been “a step change in the scope and depth of the discussions,” and he urged Yemen’s internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels “to seize the opportunities” created by the new momentum. He singled out continuing efforts by Saudi Arabia and Oman.

    Grundberg also indicated progress in talks on a prisoner exchange between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Houthis that are co-chaired by the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He urged the parties “to finalize the details of the current phase they have agreed on, including the implementation plan.”

    U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya had some positive news as well: The number of people going hungry in Yemen has dropped by almost 2 million, and the number at the worst level, facing famine, has dropped to zero.

    Nonetheless, she said, “Yemen remains a staggering emergency” with more that 17 million people in need of assistance this year, funding in short supply and economic problems “pushing even more people into destitution.”

    At a pledging conference two weeks ago more than 30 donors promised $1.16 billion for humanitarian assistance this year for Yemen, which Msuya welcomed, but she stressed it was the lowest level since 2017 and far below the $4.3 billion the U.S. needs to help the 17 million people.

    Yemen’s devastating conflict began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition including the United Arab Emirates intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power.

    A U.N.-backed truce initially took effect in April 2022 and raised hopes for a longer pause in fighting, but it ended on Oct. 2 after just six months.

    Nonetheless, special envoy Grundberg said the overall military situation in the country continues to be “relatively stable” and other elements of the truce continue to be implemented, though he expressed concern at the uptick in the number and intensity of clashes in several front-line areas, including Marib and Taiz.

    He called these gains “fragile” and urged the government and Houthis “to exercise maximum restraint during this critical time, including refraining from escalatory public rhetoric, to avoid destabilizing the situation.”

    Grundberg said he recently visited Moscow, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Tehran and Riyadh in his search for moves toward peace, including renewed talks between the warring parties.

    He said the Saudi-Iran agreement, facilitated in part by China, and good neighborly relations “are important for the region and for Yemen.”

    “The parties must seize the opportunity presented by this regional and international momentum to take decisive steps towards a more peaceful future,” Grundberg said. “This requires patience and a long-term perspective. And this requires courage and leadership.”

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