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Tag: International agreements

  • Today in History: October 24, the UN charter takes effect

    Today in History: October 24, the UN charter takes effect

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    Today in History

    Today is Monday, Oct. 24, the 297th day of 2022. There are 68 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Oct. 24, 1945, the United Nations officially came into existence as its charter took effect.

    On this date:

    In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England’s King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.

    In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., over a line built by the Western Union Telegraph Co.

    In 1940, the 40-hour work week went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

    In 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower declared in Detroit, “I shall go to Korea” as he promised to end the conflict. (He made the visit over a month later.)

    In 1962, a naval quarantine of Cuba ordered by President John F. Kennedy went into effect during the missile crisis.

    In 1972, Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who’d broken Major League Baseball’s modern-era color barrier in 1947, died in Stamford, Connecticut, at age 53.

    In 1991, “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry died in Santa Monica, California, at age 70.

    In 1992, the Toronto Blue Jays became the first non-U.S. team to win the World Series as they defeated the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in Game 6.

    In 1996, TyRon Lewis, 18, a Black motorist, was shot to death by police during a traffic stop in St. Petersburg, Florida; the incident sparked rioting. (Officer James Knight, who said that Lewis had lurched his car at him several times, knocking him onto the hood, was cleared by a grand jury and the Justice Department.)

    In 2002, authorities apprehended John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Maryland, in the Washington-area sniper attacks. (Malvo was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but Maryland’s highest court has agreed to reconsider that sentence in 2022; Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.)

    In 2005, civil rights icon Rosa Parks died in Detroit at age 92.

    In 2020, heavily protected crews in Washington state worked to destroy the first nest of so-called murder hornets discovered in the United States.

    Ten years ago: Less than two weeks before Election Day, President Barack Obama set out on a 40-hour campaign marathon through battleground states; Republican Mitt Romney looked to the Midwest for a breakthrough in a close race shadowed by a weak economy. Hurricane Sandy roared across Jamaica and headed toward Cuba, before taking aim at the eastern United States. The San Francisco Giants took the first game of the World Series, 8-3, over the Detroit Tigers, as Pablo Sandoval became the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game.

    Five years ago: Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018; he’d been critical of the path the GOP had taken under President Donald Trump. Fats Domino, the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer whose hits included “Blueberry Hill” and “Ain’t That a Shame,” died in Louisiana at the age of 89. Actor Robert Guillaume, who won Emmy awards for his portrayal of the sharp-tongued butler in the sitcoms “Soap” and “Benson,” died in Los Angeles at 89. In a game that began in 103-degree heat, the Los Angeles Dodgers opened the World Series with a 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros in Los Angeles; Clayton Kershaw was the winning pitcher in his World Series debut.

    One year ago: Pope Francis called for an end to the practice of returning migrants rescued at sea to Libya and other unsafe countries. Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” debuted with $40.1 million in ticket sales in its opening weekend in North America, drawing a large number of moviegoers to see the thundering sci-fi epic on the big screen despite it also being available to stream in homes. British pop star Ed Sheeran said he had tested positive for COVID-19 and would do interviews and performances from his house while he self-isolated. Tom Brady became the first player to throw 600 career touchdown passes and then tacked on two more in Tampa Bay’s 38-3 rout over the Chicago Bears.

    Today’s Birthdays: Rock musician Bill Wyman is 86. Actor F. Murray Abraham is 83. Movie director-screenwriter David S. Ward is 77. Actor Kevin Kline is 75. Congressman and former NAACP President Kweisi Mfume (kwah-EE’-see oom-FOO’-may) is 74. Actor Doug Davidson is 68. Actor B.D. Wong is 62. Actor Zahn McClarnon is 56. Singer Michael Trent (Americana duo Shovels & Rope) is 45. Rock musician Ben Gillies (Silverchair) is 43. Singer-actor Monica Arnold is 42. Actor-comedian Casey Wilson is 42. R&B singer, actor and TV personality Adrienne Bailon Houghton is 39. Actor Tim Pocock is 37. R&B singer-rapper-actor Drake is 36. Actor Shenae Grimes is 33. Actor Eliza Taylor is 33. Actor Ashton Sanders (Film: “Moonlight”) is 27. Olympic gold medal gymnast Kyla Ross is 26. Actor Hudson Yang is 19.

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  • Guinea junta agrees with bloc to hold vote in early 2025

    Guinea junta agrees with bloc to hold vote in early 2025

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    CONAKRY, Guinea — The government led by Guinea’s coup leader reached an agreement late Friday with West African regional mediators on a schedule for holding new elections a little over two years from now.

    The regional bloc known as ECOWAS has spent more than a year negotiating with Col. Mamady Doumbouya’s government following the September 2021 coup and had imposed sanctions on the junta leadership. It was not immediately known how soon those might be lifted.

    The junta initially proposed a three-year transition, which was rejected by the regional mediators who already had obtained two-year transition deals after similar coups in both Mali and Burkina Faso. Guinea’s two-year clock starts in January, with elections then due in early 2025.

    For some, the news was bittersweet as demonstrations protesting the duration of the transition in Guinea have turned deadly, including three killed Thursday.

    “It took more than 17 deaths to reach a consensus,” complained Aly Baldé, whose brother was shot dead in Conakry.

    Guinea became the second country hit by a recent coup in West Africa, a little over a year after Mali’s military junta overthrew that country’s democratically elected ruler. Since then, Burkina Faso has seen two coups of its own.

    Burkina Faso and Mali already have agreed with ECOWAS on election dates — Mali’s is scheduled to be held by March 2024, but the situation in Burkina Faso is now in doubt after the latest coup there.

    A deal had been reached with the man who first toppled Burkina Faso’s president in January to hold a vote by July 2024. But it remains to be seen whether Capt. Ibrahim Traore, who seized power on Sept. 30, will fully honor that agreement.

    ECOWAS has said that Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso will all remain suspended from the bloc until elections are held.

    Beyond setting dates, ECOWAS also has expressed concerns about what shape the future elections will take and whether the coup leaders turned interim presidents will be allowed to run as candidates.

    Earlier this month, Doumbouya reiterated that neither he nor any member of the junta or the transitional government would take part in the eventual elections now due by January 2025.

    Doumbouya emerged as the leader after mutinous soldiers overthrew President Alpha Conde last year.

    Conde had won a landmark 2010 election after decades of dictatorship and strongman rule in Guinea, only to eventually try to seek a third term in office. He claimed the country’s term limits did not apply to him. While he succeeded in winning a third term, he was overthrown nine months later.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.

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  • Australia and Singapore strike agreement to achieve net-zero

    Australia and Singapore strike agreement to achieve net-zero

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    CANBERRA, Australia — Australian and Singaporean leaders announced Tuesday what they described as a world-first agreement to cooperate in transitioning their economies to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

    Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlined their so-called Green Economy Agreement between the two countries after an annual meeting in the Australian Parliament House.

    The agreement has 17 components that cover facilitating trade and investment in green services, harmonizing standards and building green growth sectors through collaboration between business.

    Australia has committed to reducing its emissions to net-zero by 2050 and Singapore is considering adopting the same target.

    Albanese described Singapore as “one of the most innovative economies in the world,” while Australia had the potential to become a “renewable energy superpower” due to its vast open spaces and relatively small population.

    The agreement “will support clean energy innovation, unlock business opportunities and create jobs, and help deliver our mission’s targets while positioning Australia as a renewable energy superpower,” Albanese said.

    Lee foreshadowed further cooperation in cross-border electricity trade and “sustainable aviation” through what he described as the “world’s first such agreement.”

    ”These are all areas which are of interest to Singapore and to Singapore businesses and we hope with a Singapore-Australia GEA they’ll be able to move forward,” Lee said.

    “But we also hope with this GEA will encourage other countries to look at what we have been able to do and to ask whether some of this may not make sense to them to do with Singapore or to do with each other,” Lee added.

    Singapore is already planning to use solar power from northern Australia transmitted by a 4,200-kilometer (2,600-mile) submarine cable.

    Singaporean company Sun Cable plans to start construction in 2024 of the 30 billion Australian dollar ($19 billion) Australia-Asia PowerLink project that will include 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of solar panels near the northern Australian city of Darwin.

    Albanese described the export of Australian solar power to Singapore as an “ultimate win-win.”

    “If this project can be made to work — and I believe it can be — you will see the world’s largest solar farm, you will see the export of energy across distances … (and) the production of many jobs here in Australia, including manufacturing jobs,” Albanese said.

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  • Putin signs annexation of Ukrainian regions as losses mount

    Putin signs annexation of Ukrainian regions as losses mount

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the final papers Wednesday to annex four regions of Ukraine while his military struggled to control the new territory that was added in violation of international laws.

    Ukrainian law enforcement officials, meanwhile, reported discovering more evidence of torture and killings in areas retaken from Russian forces.

    The documents finalizing the annexation were published on a Russian government website. In a defiant move, the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine.

    Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia.”

    Peskov did not specify which additional Ukrainian territories Moscow is eyeing, and he wouldn’t say if the Kremlin planned to organize more such “referendums.”

    Putin last week signed treaties that purported to absorb Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia. The annexation followed Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in Ukraine that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as illegitimate.

    The Russian president defended the validity of the vote, saying it’s “more than convincing” and “absolutely transparent and not subject to any doubt.”

    “This is objective data on people’s mood,” Putin said Wednesday at an event dedicated to teachers, adding that he was pleasantly “surprised” by the results.

    On the ground, Russia faced mounting setbacks, with Ukrainian forces retaking more and more land in the eastern and southern regions that Moscow now insists are its own.

    The precise borders of the areas Moscow is claiming remain unclear, but Putin has vowed to defend Russia’s territory — including the annexed regions — with any means at his military’s disposal, including nuclear weapons.

    Shortly after Putin signed the annexation legislation, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on his Telegram channel that “the worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on.”

    “A collective insane asylum can continue to live in a fictional world,” Yermak added.

    Zelenskyy responded to the annexation by announcing Ukraine’s fast-track application to join NATO. In a decree released Tuesday, he also ruled out negotiations with Russia, declaring that Putin’s actions made talking to the Russian leader impossible.

    In the eastern Kharkiv region, more disturbing images emerged from areas recently reclaimed from Russia.

    Serhiy Bolvinov, who heads the investigative department of the national police in the region, said authorities are investigating an alleged Russian torture chamber in the village of Pisky-Radkivski.

    He posted an image of a box of what appeared to be precious metal teeth and dentures presumably extracted from those held at the site. The authenticity of the photo could not be confirmed.

    Ukraine’s prosecutor general also spoke of new evidence of torture and killings found Wednesday in the Kharkiv region.

    Andriy Kostin told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a security conference in Warsaw that he had just been notified of four bodies found with signs of possible torture. He said they were believed to be civilians but an investigation was still needed.

    Two bodies were found in a factory in Kupiansk with their hands bound behind their backs, while two other bodies were found in Novoplatonivka, their hands linked by handcuffs.

    During his public speech, Kostin said officials found the bodies of 24 civilians, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, who had been killed in six cars near Kupiansk. It was not clear when the discovery was made.

    On the battlefield, Russia and Ukraine gave conflicting assessments of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Russian-occupied southern Kherson region. A Moscow-installed regional official insisted that Ukrainian advances had been halted.

    “As of this morning … there are no movements” by Kyiv’s forces, Kirill Stremousov said Wednesday in comments to state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti. He vowed the Ukrainian fighters would not enter the city of Kherson.

    However, the Ukrainian military said the Ukrainian flag had been raised above seven Kherson region villages previously occupied by the Russians. The closest of the liberated villages to the city of Kherson is Davydiv Brid, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

    The deputy head of the Ukrainian regional government, Yurii Sobolevskyi, said military hospitals were full of wounded Russian soldiers and that Russian military medics lacked supplies. Once they are stabilized, Russian soldiers were getting sent to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

    “Not everyone arrives,” Sobolevskyi wrote.

    In the neighboring Mykolaiv region, the governor said Russian troops have started to withdraw from Snihurivka, a city of 12,000 that Moscow seized early in the war and annexed along with the Kherson region. A Russian-installed official in Snihurivka, Yury Barbashov, denied that Russian troops had lost control of the city, a strategic railway hub, but said the Ukrainian forces were advancing.

    In the Moscow-annexed eastern Donetsk region, where Ukrainian forces still control some areas, Russian forces shelled eight towns and villages, the Ukrainian presidential office said.

    After reclaiming the Donetsk city of Sviatohirsk, Ukrainian forces located a burial ground for civilians and found the bodies of four people, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.

    In the Luhansk region, also in the eastern Donbas, Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Ukrainian forces have retaken several villages. He did not name the villages, but said the retreating Russian forces are mining the roads and buildings.

    In central Ukraine, multiple explosions rocked Bila Tserkva, a city about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the capital, Kyiv. Regional leader Oleksiy Kuleba said six Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones struck the city and set off fires at what he described as infrastructure facilities. One person was wounded.

    Russia has increasingly employed kamikaze or suicide drones in recent weeks, posing a new challenge to Ukrainian defenses. The unmanned vehicles can stay aloft for long periods of time before diving into targets and detonating their payloads at the last moment.

    Many of the earlier attacks with the Iranian-made drones happened in the south of Ukraine and not near the capital, which hasn’t been targeted for weeks.

    ———

    Hanna Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.

    ———

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

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  • Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind

    Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind

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    LYMAN, Ukraine — Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets, offering more evidence Tuesday of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexations following “referendums” that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as fraudulent.

    Responding to the move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally ruled out talks with Russia, declaring that negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are impossible after his decision to take over the regions.

    The Kremlin replied by saying that it will wait for Ukraine to agree to sit down for talks, noting that it may not happen until a new Ukrainian president takes office.

    “We will wait for the incumbent president to change his position or wait for a future Ukrainian president who would revise his stand in the interests of the Ukrainian people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

    Despite the Kremlin’s apparent political bravado, the picture on the ground underscored the disarray Putin faces amid the Ukrainian advances and attempts to establish new Russian borders.

    Over the weekend, Russian troops pulled back from Lyman, a strategic eastern town that the Russians had used as a logistics and transport hub, to avoid being encircled by Ukrainian forces. The town’s liberation gave Ukraine an important vantage point for pressing its offensive deeper into Russian-held territories.

    Two days later, an Associated Press team reporting from Lyman saw at least 18 bodies of Russian soldiers still on the ground. The Ukrainian military appeared to have collected the bodies of their comrades after fierce battles for control of the town, but they did not immediately remove those of the Russians.

    “We fight for our land, for our children, so that our people can live better, but all this comes at a very high price,” said a Ukrainian soldier who goes by the nom de guerre Rud.

    Speaking late Tuesday in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said dozens of settlements had been retaken “from the Russian pseudo-referendum this week alone” in the four annexed regions. In the Kherson region, he listed eight villages that Ukrainian forces reclaimed, “and this is far from a complete list. Our soldiers do not stop.”

    The deputy head of the Russian-backed regional administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian TV that Ukrainian troops made “certain advances” from the north, and were attacking the region from other sides too. He said they were stopped by Russian forces and suffered high losses.

    As Kyiv pressed its counteroffensives, Russian forces launched more missile strikes at Ukrainian cities.

    Several missiles hit Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, damaging infrastructure and causing power cuts. Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed. In the south, Russian missiles struck the city of Nikopol.

    After reclaiming control of Lyman in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces pushed further east and may have gone as far as the border of the neighboring Luhansk region as they advanced toward Kreminna, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis.

    On Monday, Ukrainian forces also scored significant gains in the south, raising flags over the villages of Arkhanhelske, Myroliubivka, Khreshchenivka, Mykhalivka and Novovorontsovka.

    In Washington, the U.S. government announced Tuesday that it would give Ukraine an additional $625 million in military aid, including more of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that are credited with helping Kyiv’s recent military momentum. The package also includes artillery systems ammunition and armored vehicles.

    Before that announcement, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis told a conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday that Ukraine needed more weapons since Russia began a partial mobilization of draft-age men last month. He said additional weapons would help end the war sooner, not escalate it.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the military has recruited more than 200,000 reservists as part of the partial mobilization launched two weeks ago. He said the recruits were undergoing training at 80 firing ranges before being deployed to the front lines in Ukraine.

    Putin’s mobilization order said that up to 300,000 reservists were to be called up, but it held the door open for an even bigger activation. The order sparked protests across Russia and drove tens of thousands of men to flee the country.

    Russia’s effort to incorporate the four embattled regions in Ukraine’s east and south was done so hastily that even the exact borders of the territories being absorbed were unclear.

    The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, voted to ratify treaties to make the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. The lower house did so Monday.

    Putin is expected to quickly endorse the annexation treaties.

    In other developments, the head of the company operating Europe’s largest nuclear plant said Ukraine is considering restarting the Russian-occupied facility to ensure its safety as winter approaches.

    In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Energoatom President Petro Kotin said the company could restart two of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s reactors in a matter of days.

    “If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged,” he said.

    Fears that the war in Ukraine could cause a radiation leak at the Zaporizhzhia plant had prompted the shutdown of its remaining reactors. The plant has been damaged by shelling, prompting international alarm over the potential for a disaster.

    ———

    Adam Schreck reported from Kyiv.

    ———

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

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  • Solomon Islands agreed to accord after China references axed

    Solomon Islands agreed to accord after China references axed

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    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Solomon Islands agreed to sign an accord between the United States and more than a dozen Pacific nations only after indirect references to China were removed, the Solomon Islands foreign minister said Tuesday.

    “There were some references that put us in a position where we’ll have to choose sides, and we did not want to be placed in a position where we have to choose sides,” Jeremiah Manele told reporters in Wellington.

    His remarks represented the first time Solomon Islands has publicly acknowledged it had initial concerns about the agreement and expressed why it had a change of heart.

    The accord was signed in Washington last week, with President Joe Biden telling visiting Pacific leaders that the U.S. was committed to bolstering its presence in the region and becoming a more collaborative partner.

    The administration pledged the U.S. would add $810 million in new aid for Pacific Island nations over the next decade. The summit came amid growing U.S. concern about China’s military and economic influence in the Pacific.

    But the final agreement focused mainly on issues like climate change, economic growth and natural disasters. A small section on security contained mostly broad language, and while it specifically condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it made no mention of China.

    Ahead of the summit, diplomats had said Solomon Islands was signaling it was unlikely to sign the joint declaration, which would have represented a diplomatic blow for both the U.S. and the Pacific nations.

    Many in the U.S. and the Pacific had been eager to get Solomon Islands on board after becoming alarmed about the increasing ties between Solomon Islands and China, especially after the two nations signed a security agreement earlier this year.

    “In the initial draft, there were some references that we were not comfortable with, but then with the officials, after discussions and negotiations, we were able to find common ground,” Manele said.

    Pressed further by reporters on those concerns, Manele acknowledged the draft had contained indirect references to China.

    He said the Solomon Islands security agreement with China was part of a national security strategy and there was no provision in it for China to build a military base, as some had feared.

    Manele met with his New Zealand counterpart Nanaia Mahuta in Wellington at a potentially awkward venue — Parliament’s so-called Rainbow Room, which is dedicated to the nation’s gay, lesbian and transgender communities. The room features photographs of LGBTQ lawmakers and framed copies of bills relevant to those communities.

    In Solomon Islands, gay and lesbian sex remain illegal.

    Manele said Solomon Islands was a young democracy.

    “These are emerging issues. These are challenges that as a young country we will find ways to discuss,” he said.

    Mahuta said there was no undertone or message intended in the choice of location. “It was the only available room for us to use,” she said.

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  • US, Philippine forces hold combat drills to brace for crisis

    US, Philippine forces hold combat drills to brace for crisis

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    MANILA, Philippines — More than 2,500 U.S. and Philippine marines joined combat exercises Monday to be able to respond to any sudden crisis in a region long on tenterhooks over South China Sea territorial disputes and increasing tensions over Taiwan.

    The annual military drills are some of the largest so far between the longtime treaty allies under newly elected Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had been an outspoken critic of U.S. security policies and frowned on military exercises with American forces he said could offend China.

    Called Kamandag the Tagalog acronym for “Cooperation of the Warriors of the Sea” — the drills involve 1,900 U.S. Marines and more than 600 mostly Philippine counterparts in mock amphibious assaults and special operations, U.S. and Philippine military officials said. America’s HIMARS missile launchers and supersonic fighter jets will be in live-fire maneuvers that will end on Oct. 14, they said.

    The venues include the western island province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, and the northern Philippines, across the Luzon Strait from Taiwan.

    The military maneuvers in the Philippines are being held simultaneously with combat exercises between U.S. Marines and Japanese army self-defense forces on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido that involve about 3,000 military personnel from both sides, U.S. military officials said.

    U.S. Maj. Gen. Jay Bargeron of the Japan-based 3rd Marine Division said the simultaneous exercises were aimed at bolstering the defensive capabilities of the U.S. alliances with the Philippines and Japan “through realistic combined training.”

    “These exercises will allow our forces to strengthen interoperability and readiness to ensure we are prepared to rapidly respond to crisis throughout the Indo-Pacific,” Bargeron said in a statement.

    “Our strength, resolve and commitment to our allies and partners in the region are our most effective deterrent,” U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Kurt Stahl told The Associated Press. “Together, we can deter potential adversaries from ever testing our capabilities or our relationships.”

    In July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington is obligated to defend the Philippines under the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty if Filipino forces, vessels or aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters.

    The ruling was issued by an arbitration tribunal set up in The Hague under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea after the Philippine government complained in 2013 about China’s seizure of a shoal off its northwestern coast. China did not participate, called the arbitration decision a sham and continues to defy it.

    In addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have had overlapping claims in the busy waterway, where an estimated $5 trillion in goods passes each year and which is believed to be rich in undersea gas and oil deposits.

    Separately, President Joe Biden said last month that American forces would defend Taiwan if Beijing tries to invade the self-ruled island, sparking protests from China.

    The long-simmering sea disputes and the increasingly tense relations between China and Taiwan have become key fronts of the U.S.-China rivalry.

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  • Today in History: October 3, MLB’s first Black manager

    Today in History: October 3, MLB’s first Black manager

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    Today in History

    Today is Monday, Oct. 3, the 276th day of 2022. There are 89 days left in the year.

    Today’s Highlight in History:

    On Oct. 3, 1995, the jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles found the former star not guilty of the 1994 slayings of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. (Simpson was later found liable for damages in a civil trial).

    On this date:

    In 1941, Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin that Russia had been “broken” and would “never rise again.”

    In 1944, during World War II, U.S. Army troops cracked the Siegfried Line north of Aachen, Germany.

    In 1951, the New York Giants captured the National League pennant by a score of 5-4 as Bobby Thomson hit a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the “shot heard ‘round the world.”

    In 1961, “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” also starring Mary Tyler Moore, made its debut on CBS.

    In 1970, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was established under the Department of Commerce.

    In 1974, Frank Robinson was named major league baseball’s first Black manager as he was placed in charge of the Cleveland Indians.

    In 1981, Irish nationalists at the Maze Prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended seven months of hunger strikes that had claimed 10 lives.

    In 1990, West Germany and East Germany ended 45 years of postwar division, declaring the creation of a reunified country.

    In 2001, the Senate approved an agreement normalizing trade between the United States and Vietnam.

    In 2003, a tiger attacked magician Roy Horn of duo “Siegfried & Roy” during a performance in Las Vegas, leaving the superstar illusionist in critical condition on his 59th birthday.

    In 2008, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. (Simpson was later sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison; he was granted parole in July 2017 and released from prison in October of that year.)

    In 2011, an Italian appeals court freed Amanda Knox of Seattle after four years in prison, tossing murder convictions against Knox and an ex-boyfriend in the stabbing of their British roommate, Meredith Kercher.

    Ten years ago: An aggressive Mitt Romney sparred with President Barack Obama on the economy and domestic issues in their first campaign debate. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton promised a full and transparent probe of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

    Five years ago: President Donald Trump, visiting Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, congratulated the U.S. island territory for escaping the higher death toll of what he called “a real catastrophe like Katrina”; at a church used to distribute supplies, Trump handed out flashlights and tossed rolls of paper towels into the friendly crowd. The United States expelled 15 of Cuba’s diplomats to protest Cuba’s failure to protect Americans from unexplained attacks in Havana. Yahoo announced that the largest data breach in history had affected all 3 billion accounts on its service, not the 1 billion it had revealed earlier.

    One year ago: A report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found that hundreds of world leaders, politicians, billionaires, religious leaders and drug dealers had been hiding investments in mansions, beachfront property, yachts and other assets for decades, using shell companies and offshore accounts to keep trillions of dollars out of government treasuries; those identified as beneficiaries of the secret accounts included Jordan’s King Abdullah II and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair. An EgyptAir jet landed in Tel Aviv, making the first official direct flight by the Egyptian national carrier since the two countries signed a 1979 peace treaty. Tom Brady rallied the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 19-17 victory over the Patriots on a rainy Sunday night in his return to New England.

    Today’s Birthdays: Composer Steve Reich is 86. Rock and roll star Chubby Checker is 81. Actor Alan Rachins is 80. Former Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is 79. Singer Lindsey Buckingham is 73. Jazz musician Ronnie Laws is 72. Blues singer Keb’ Mo’ is 71. Former astronaut Kathryn Sullivan is 71. Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is 71. Baseball Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley is 68. Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton is 68. Actor Hart Bochner is 66. Actor Peter Frechette is 66. World Golf Hall of Famer Fred Couples is 63. Actor-comedian Greg Proops is 63. Actor Jack Wagner is 63. Actor/musician Marcus Giamatti is 61. Rock musician Tommy Lee is 60. Actor Clive Owen is 58. Actor Janel Moloney is 53. Singer Gwen Stefani (No Doubt) is 53. Pop singer Kevin Richardson is 51. Rock singer G. Love is 50. Actor Keiko Agena is 49. Actor Neve Campbell is 49. Actor Lena Headey is 49. Singer India.Arie is 47. Rapper Talib Kweli is 47. Actor Alanna Ubach is 47. Actor Seann (cq) William Scott is 46. Actor Shannyn Sossamon is 44. Rock musician Josh Klinghoffer (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 43. Actor Seth Gabel is 41. Rock musician Mark King (Hinder) is 40. Actor Erik Von Detten is 40. Actor Tessa Thompson is 39. Country singer Drake White is 39. Actor Meagan Holder is 38. Actor Christopher Marquette is 38. Actor-singer Ashlee Simpson is 38. Rapper A$AP Rocky is 34. Actor Alicia Vikander is 34. Actor Noah Schnapp (TV: “Stranger Things”) is 18.

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  • China dismisses complaints over quarantining US diplomats

    China dismisses complaints over quarantining US diplomats

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    BEIJING — China on Friday dismissed complaints from two U.S. congressmembers over the quarantining of American diplomats and their family members under the country’s strict COVID-19 regulations.

    Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China “adopts a science-based and effective epidemic prevention protocol for both Chinese and foreigners coming to China without discrimination.”

    The policy, Mao said, is “open and transparent.” Regardless of their status, all U.S. visitors accepted China’s epidemic policies, including post-entry medical observation and health monitoring, Mao told reporters at a daily briefing.

    “Such statements by individual U.S. lawmakers are really absurd and completely groundless,” Mao said, adding that the congressmen appeared to be showing signs of “China phobia.”

    Republicans James Comer of Kentucky and Michael T. McCaul of Texas wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday asking for clarification on the quarantining of U.S. diplomats and family members by the People’s Republic of China.

    “U.S. Embassy officials in Beijing recently confirmed that 16 U.S. diplomats and their family members — throughout the pandemic — have been involuntarily held in quarantine camps and subjected to strict confinement measures with no definitive release date,” their letter stated.

    “Committee Republicans are concerned that U.S diplomats could be or have been pressured to surrender intelligence while detained in PRC quarantine camps,” it said. “The PRC poses a geopolitical threat to the United States and should not be coercing U.S. diplomats into and surveilling them under draconian quarantine policies.”

    The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment on the letter on Friday.

    The letter followed an article in the Washington Post newspaper in July which cited the embassy saying 16 U.S. diplomatic personnel or their family members had “been sent, against their will, to Chinese government medical quarantine centers since the pandemic began.”

    It said the State Department concluded that was a “clear violation” of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and that U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns has since secured a promise that U.S. diplomats and their family members would be allowed to quarantine in their homes or at the embassy rather at government-run isolation centers notorious for poor hygiene, overcrowding and a lack of privacy.

    Mao said she was not aware to the situation of the 16 Americans mentioned or how the number had been arrived at.

    “It is even more nonsense to say that China obtained intelligence from the U.S. through quarantine,” she said.

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  • Kremlin gets ready to annex 4 regions of Ukraine on Friday

    Kremlin gets ready to annex 4 regions of Ukraine on Friday

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Russia on Friday will formally annex occupied parts of Ukraine where it held Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in which it claimed that residents had voted overwhelmingly to live under Moscow’s rule. The Ukrainian government and the West have denounced the ballots as illegal, forced and rigged.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony Friday in the Kremlin when four regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — will be officially folded into Russia, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

    Peskov said the pro-Moscow administrators of those regions will sign treaties to join Russia during the ceremony at the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hall. The official annexation was widely expected following the votes that wrapped up on Tuesday in the areas under Russian occupation in Ukraine.

    The Kremlin’s announcement was met with swift rejection from European officials.

    “It’s absolutely unacceptable,” said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency. “We reject such one-sided annexation based on a fully falsified process with no legitimacy.”

    Lipavsky described the pro-Russia referendums as “theater play” and insisted the regions remain “Ukrainian territory.”

    Other officials who denounced Russia on Thursday over the “sham” votes included the prime ministers of Italy and Denmark and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

    “Under threats and sometimes even (at) gunpoint, people are being taken out of their homes or workplaces to vote in glass ballot boxes,” she said at a conference in Berlin.

    “This is the opposite of free and fair elections,” Baerbock said. “And this is the opposite of peace. It’s dictated peace. As long as this Russian diktat prevails in the occupied territories of Ukraine, no citizen is safe. No citizen is free.”

    Armed Russian troops had gone door-to-door with election officials to collect ballots in five days of voting. The suspiciously high margins in favor are being characterized by the West as a land grab by an increasingly cornered Russian leadership after Russian troops faced some embarrassing military losses in Ukraine.

    Moscow-installed administrations in the four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine claimed Tuesday night that 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87% in Kherson, 98% in Luhansk and 99% in Donetsk.

    Ukraine too has dismissed the referendums as illegitimate, saying it has every right to retake those territories, a position that has won support from Washington.

    The Kremlin has been unmoved by the criticism. After a counteroffensive by Ukraine this month dealt Moscow’s forces heavy battlefield setbacks, Russia said it would call up 300,000 reservists to join the fight. It also warned it could resort to nuclear weapons. In response, tens of thousands of Russian men have sought to leave the country.

    On the battlefront Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said Russian shelling killed at least eight civilians, including a child, and wounded scores of others. A 12-year-old girl was pulled alive out of rubble after an attack on Dnipro, officials said.

    “The rescuers have taken her from under the rubble, she was asleep when the Russian missile hit,” said local administrator Valentyn Reznichenko.

    A Russian rocket attack on Kramatorsk, a city in the eastern Donetsk region still held by Ukraine, wounded 11 people and inflicted damage on the city, Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko said.

    Reports of new shelling came as Russia appeared to lose more ground around the key northeastern city of Lyman, which is coming as the Russian military is struggling with a chaotic mobilization of troops and trying to prevent fighting-age men from leaving the country, according to a Washington-based think-tank and the British intelligence reports.

    The Institute for the Study of War, citing Russian reports, said Ukrainian forces have taken more villages around Lyman, a city 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The report said Ukrainian forces may soon encircle Lyman entirely, in what would be a major blow to Moscow’s war effort.

    “The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping in northern Donetsk and western Luhansk oblasts and may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk” region, the institute said.

    British military intelligence claimed the number of Russian military-age men fleeing the country likely exceeds the number of forces that Moscow used to initially invade Ukraine in February.

    “The better off and well educated are over-represented amongst those attempting to leave Russia,” the British said. “When combined with those reservists who are being mobilized, the domestic economic impact of reduced availability of labor and the acceleration of ‘brain drain’ is likely to become increasingly significant.”

    Russia’s partial mobilization has been deeply unpopular in some areas, however, triggering protests and scattered violence. Russian men have formed miles-long lines trying to leave at some borders and Moscow also reportedly has set up draft offices at its borders to intercept some of those fleeing.

    On the subject of sabotage that has hit Russian gas pipelines to Europe this week, Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, claimed Thursday that the Nord Stream pipeline accidents would have been impossible without a government’s involvement.

    “It looks like a terror attack, probably conducted on a state level,” Peskov told reporters. “It’s a very dangerous situation that requires a quick investigation.”

    He dismissed media reports about Russian warships spotted in the area as “stupid and biased,” claiming that many more NATO aircraft and ships “have been spotted in the area.”

    European officials have noted that Russia benefits from higher gas prices when supplies to Europe are disrupted.

    ———

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

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  • Kremlin will annex 4 regions of Ukraine on Friday

    Kremlin will annex 4 regions of Ukraine on Friday

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Russia confirmed on Thursday it will formally annex parts of Ukraine where occupied areas held Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” on living under Moscow’s rule that the Ukrainian government and the West denounced as illegal and rigged.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony on Friday in the Kremlin when four regions of Ukraine will be officially folded into Russia, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

    Peskov said the pro-Moscow administrators of the regions will sign treaties to join Russia during the ceremony at the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hall.

    The official annexation was widely expected following the votes that wrapped up on Tuesday in the areas under Russian occupation in Ukraine and after Moscow claimed residents overwhelmingly supported for their areas to formally become part of Russia.

    The United States and its Western allies have sharply condemned the votes as “sham” and vowed never to recognize their results. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday joined other Western officials in denouncing the referendums.

    “Under threats and sometimes even (at) gunpoint people are being taken out of their homes or workplaces to vote in glass ballot boxes,” she said at a conference in Berlin.

    “This is the opposite of free and fair elections,” Baerbock said. “And this is the opposite of peace. It’s dictated peace. As long as this Russian diktat prevails in the occupied territories of Ukraine, no citizen is safe. No citizen is free.”

    Armed troops had gone door-to-door with election officials to collect ballots in five days of voting. The suspiciously high margins in favor were characterized as a land grab by an increasingly cornered Russian leadership after embarrassing military losses in Ukraine.

    Moscow-installed administrations in the four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine claimed Tuesday night that 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87% in the Kherson region, 98% in the Luhansk region and 99% in Donetsk.

    Ukraine too has dismissed the referendums as illegitimate, saying it has every right to retake the territories, a position that has won support from Washington.

    The Kremlin has been unmoved by the criticism. After a counteroffensive by Ukraine this month dealt Moscow’s forces heavy battlefield setbacks, Russia said it would call up 300,000 reservists to join the fight. It also warned it could resort to nuclear weapons.

    Also on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said Russian shelling has killed at least eight civilians, including a child, and wounded scores of others. A 12-year-old girl has been pulled out of rubble after an attack on Dnipro, officials said.

    “The rescuers have taken her from under the rubble, she was asleep when the Russian missile hit,” said local administrator Valentyn Reznichenko.

    Reports of new shelling came as Russia appeared to continue to lose ground around a key northeastern city of Lyman while it struggles to press on with chaotic mobilization of troops and prevent the fighting-age men from leaving the country, according to a Washington-based think-tank and the British intelligence reports.

    The Institute for the Study of War, citing Russian reports, said Ukrainian forces have taken more villages around Lyman, a city some 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The report said Ukrainian forces may soon encircle Lyman entirely, in what would be a major blow to Moscow’s war effort.

    “The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping in northern Donetsk and western Luhansk oblasts and may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk” region, the institute said.

    The British military intelligence report claimed the number of Russian military-age men fleeing the country likely exceeds the number of forces Moscow used to initially invade Ukraine in February.

    “The better off and well educated are over-represented amongst those attempting to leave Russia,” the British said. “When combined with those reservists who are being mobilized, the domestic economic impact of reduced availability of labor and the acceleration of ‘brain drain’ is likely to become increasingly significant.”

    That partial mobilization is deeply unpopular in some areas, however, triggering protests, scattered violence, and Russians fleeing the country by the tens of thousands. Miles-long lines formed at some borders and Moscow also reportedly set up draft offices at borders to intercept some of those trying to leave.

    ———

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

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