Global Shares Track Wall Street Rally 04/24 04:52
Global Shares Track Wall Street Rally 04/24 04:52 World shares advanced Wednesday, led by a 2.4% rally for Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index that was powered by strong gains for semiconductor makers. HONG KONG (AP) -- World shares advanced Wednesday, led by a 2.4% rally for Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index that was powered by strong gains for semiconductor makers. European markets opened higher. Germany's DAX was up 0.4% to 18,200.49 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged less than 0.1% higher to 8,109.21. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to 8,078.50. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged. In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained more than 900 points to close at 38,460.08. Shares in computer chip company Renesas Electronics Corp. jumped 10.5%, while rival Tokyo Electronic surged 7.1%. Investors are watching to see how Japan's central bank and its Finance Ministry react to prolonged weakness in the yen, which has been trading at its lowest level in 34 years, at a policy meeting that begins Thursday. The U.S. dollar rose to 154.93 Japanese yen on Wednesday from 154.82 yen late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.0690 from $1.0699. "Market participants will be closely monitoring updates for any indications of how the Bank of Japan might address foreign exchange pressures during this week's policy meeting," Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary. Shares in Greater China also rallied. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 2.1% to 17,176.31, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 3.4%. Chinese artificial intelligence company Sensetime Group's shares surged 31.2% after it released the latest version of its SenseNova generative AI model on Tuesday. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.8% to 3,044.82. Taiwan's Taiex gained 2.7%. In South Korea, the Kospi added 2% to 2,675.75, led by a 4% gain in heavyweight Samsung Electronics. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was unchanged at 7,683.00 following the release of a fifth consecutive quarter of decelerating inflation, with the consumer price index in the first quarter easing to 3.6% from previous 4.1%. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 climbed 1.2% to 5,070.55, pulling further out of the hole created by a six-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 38,503.69, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.6% to 15,696.64. A weaker-than-expected report on U.S. business activity helped support the market, which remains in an awkward phase. The hope on Wall Street is for the economy to avoid a severe recession, but not to stay so hot that it keeps upward pressure on inflation. A preliminary report from S&P Global released Tuesday seemed to hit that sweet spot. Treasury yields eased in the bond market, and stocks added to gains immediately after its release. Top officials at the Federal Reserve warned last week they may need to keep interest rates high for a while in order to ensure inflation is heading down to their 2% target. That was a big letdown for financial markets, dousing hopes that had built after the Fed signaled earlier that three interest-rate cuts may come this year. Lower rates had appeared to be on the horizon after inflation cooled sharply last year. But a string of reports this year showing inflation has remained hotter than expected has raised worries about stalled progress. In oil trading, U.S. benchmark crude added 11 cents to $83.48 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 18 cents to $87.57 per barrel.
Blinken Begins Key China Visit 04/24 06:03
Blinken Begins Key China Visit 04/24 06:03 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun a critical trip to China armed with a strengthened diplomatic hand following Senate approval of a foreign aid package that will provide billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform --- all areas of contention between Washington and Beijing. SHANGHAI (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun a critical trip to China armed with a strengthened diplomatic hand following Senate approval of a foreign aid package that will provide billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform --- all areas of contention between Washington and Beijing. Blinken arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday just hours after the Senate vote on the long-stalled legislation and shortly before President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law to demonstrate U.S. resolve in defending its allies and partners. Passage of the bill will add further complications to an already complex relationship that has been strained by disagreements over numerous global and regional disputes. Still, the fact that Blinken is making the trip -- shortly after a conversation between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a similar visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and a call between the U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs -- is a sign the two sides are at least willing to discuss their differences. Of primary interest to China, the bill sets aside $8 billion to counter Chinese threats in Taiwan and the broader Indo-Pacific and gives China's ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok with a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress. China has railed against U.S. assistance to Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, and immediately condemned the move as a dangerous provocation. It also strongly opposes efforts to force TikTok's sale. The bill also allots $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza, and $61 billion for Ukraine to defend itself from Russia's invasion. The Biden administration has been disappointed in China's response to the war in Gaza and has complained loudly that Chinese support for Russia's military-industrial sector has allowed Moscow to subvert Western sanctions and ramp up attacks on Ukraine. Even before Blinken landed in Shanghai -- where he will have meetings on Thursday before traveling to Beijing -- China's Taiwan Affairs Office slammed the assistance to Taipei, saying it "seriously violates" U.S. commitments to China, "sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence separatist forces" and pushes the self-governing island republic into a "dangerous situation." China and the United States are the major players in the Indo-Pacific and Washington has become increasingly alarmed by Beijing's growing aggressiveness in recent years toward Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries with which it has significant territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea. The U.S. has strongly condemned Chinese military exercises threatening Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province and has vowed to reunify with the mainland by force if necessary. Successive U.S. administrations have steadily boosted military support and sales for Taiwan, much to Chinese anger. A senior State Department official said last week that Blinken would "underscore, both in private and public, America's abiding interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We think that is vitally important for the region and the world." In the South China Sea, the U.S. and others have become increasingly concerned by provocative Chinese actions in and around disputed areas. In particular, the U.S. has voiced objections to what it says are Chinese attempts to thwart legitimate maritime activities by others in the sea, notably the Philippines and Vietnam. That was a major topic of concern this month when Biden held a three-way summit with the prime minister of Japan and the president of the Philippines. On Ukraine, which U.S. officials say will be a primary topic of conversation during Blinken's visit, the Biden administration said that Chinese support has allowed Russia to largely reconstitute its defense industrial base, affecting not only the war in Ukraine but posing a threat to broader European security. "If China purports on the one hand to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can't on the other hand be fueling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War," Blinken said last week. China says it has the right to trade with Russia and accuses the U.S. of fanning the flames by arming and funding Ukraine. "It is extremely hypocritical and irresponsible for the U.S. to introduce a large-scale aid bill for Ukraine while making groundless accusations against normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Tuesday. On the Middle East, U.S. officials, from Biden on down, have repeatedly appealed to China to use any leverage it may have with Iran to prevent Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza from spiraling into a wider regional conflict. While China appears to have been generally receptive to such calls -- particularly because it depends heavily on oil imports from Iran and other Mideast nations -- tensions have steadily increased since the beginning of the Gaza war in October and more recent direct strikes and counterstrikes between Israel and Iran. Blinken has pushed for China to take a more active stance in pressing Iran not to escalate tensions in the Middle East. He has spoken to his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, several times urging China to tell Iran to restrain the proxy groups it has supported in the region, including Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. The senior State Department official said Blinken would reiterate the U.S. interest in China using "whatever channels or influence it has to try to convey the need for restraint to all parties, including Iran." The U.S. and China are also at deep odds over human rights in China's western Xinjiang region, Tibet and Hong Kong, as well as the fate of several American citizens that the State Department says have been "wrongfully detained" by Chinese authorities, and the supply of precursors to make the synthetic opioid fentanyl that is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. China has repeatedly rejected the American criticism of its rights record as improper interference in its internal affairs. Yet, Blinken will again raise these issues, according to the State Department official. Another department official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Blinken's private talks with Chinese officials, said China had made efforts to rein in the export of materials that traffickers use to make fentanyl but that more needs to be done. The two sides agreed last year to set up a working group to look into ways to combat the surge of production of fentanyl precursors in China and their export abroad. U.S. officials say they believe they had made some limited progress on cracking down on the illicit industry but many producers had found ways to get around new restrictions. "We need to see continued and sustained progress," the official said, adding that "more regular law enforcement" against Chinese precursor producers "would send a strong signal of China's commitment to address this issue."
Ukrainian Thanks US for Military Aid 04/24 06:07
Ukrainian Thanks US for Military Aid 04/24 06:07 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukrainian officials on Wednesday expressed thanks for a fresh batch of U.S. military aid that threw Kyiv's armed forces a lifeline in their more than two-year war with Russia, even though the vital new supplies aren't expected to have an immediate impact on the battlefield. Ukrainian troops have faced acute shortages of shells and air defense systems as political quarrels in Washington held up the aid for months, allowing the Kremlin's forces to edge forward in some parts of eastern Ukraine by sheer weight of troop numbers and firepower in what has largely become a war of attrition. The U.S. decision came as the Kremlin's army extended its bombardment of the Kharkiv region and Ukrainian long-range drones struck more fuel and energy facilities inside Russia. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the U.S. Senate for approving the $61 billion aid package late Tuesday. "Ukraine's long-range capabilities, artillery and air defense are extremely important tools for the quick restoration of a just peace," Zelenskyy said on the social platform X, referring to the aid Kyiv expects to receive in the coming weeks and months. Two Russian S-300 missiles struck Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city near the northeastern border with Russia, during the night, and another two hit the Kharkiv region town of Zolochiv, local officials said. They reported no casualties. Another missile hit the southern city of Odesa, injuring one woman, Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov said. Ukrainian drones, meanwhile, targeted Russian infrastructure, setting ablaze two energy facilities in the western Smolensk region. Regional head Vasily Anokhin said the attack struck "civilian fuel and energy facilities" but provided no further details. Russia's defense ministry said that eight drones were shot down overnight in the Belgorod, Smolensk, Kursk and Voronezh regions.
Biden Fight With GOP for Aid Over 04/24 06:09
Biden Fight With GOP for Aid Over 04/24 06:09 President Joe Biden's long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress to secure urgently needed assistance for Ukraine will end Wednesday when he signs into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan and other allies. WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Joe Biden's long, painful battle with Republicans in Congress to secure urgently needed assistance for Ukraine will end Wednesday when he signs into law a $95 billion war aid measure that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan and other allies. But significant damage has been done to the Biden administration's effort to help Ukraine repel Russia's brutal invasion during the funding impasse that dates back to August, when the Democratic president made his first emergency spending request for Ukraine aid. Even with a burst of new weapons and ammunition, it is unlikely Ukraine will immediately recover after months of setbacks. Biden is expected to quickly approve the transfer of an initial aid package of about $1 billion in military assistance -- the first tranche from about $61 billion allocated for Ukraine, according to U.S. officials. It is expected to include air defense capabilities, artillery rounds, armored vehicles and other weapons to shore up Ukrainian forces who have seen morale sink as Russian President Vladimir Putin has racked up win after win. In a statement after the Senate passed the package Tuesday night, Biden said he would sign it as soon as he receives it on Wednesday. "This critical legislation will make our nation and world more secure as we support our friends who are defending themselves against terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin," Biden said. But longer term, it remains uncertain if Ukraine -- after months of losses in Eastern Ukraine and sustaining massive damage to its infrastructure -- can make enough progress to sustain American political support before burning through the latest influx of money. "It's not going in the Ukrainians' favor in the Donbas, certainly not elsewhere in the country," said White House national security spokesman John Kirby, referring to the eastern industrial heartland where Ukraine has suffered setbacks. "Mr. Putin thinks he can play for time. So we've got to try to make up some of that time." Russia now appears focused on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. Russian forces have exploited air defense shortages in the city,pummeling the region's energy infrastructure, and looking to shape conditions for a potential summer offensive to seize the city. House Speaker Mike Johnson delayed a vote on the supplemental aid package for months as members of his party's far right wing, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, threatened to move to oust him if he allowed a vote to send more assistance to Ukraine. Those threats persist. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested his fellow Republicans' holding up the funding could have a lasting impact on Ukraine's hopes of winning the war. "Make no mistake: Delay in providing Ukraine the weapons to defend itself has strained the prospects of defeating Russian aggression," McConnell said Tuesday. "Dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face." Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive 2024 presidential GOP nominee, has complained that European allies have not done enough for Ukraine. While he stopped short of endorsing the supplemental funding package, his tone has shifted in recent days, acknowledging that Ukraine's survival is important to the United States. Indeed, many European leaders have long been nervous that a second Trump presidency would mean decreased U.S. support for Ukraine and for the NATO military alliance. The European anxiety was heightened in February when Trump in a campaign speech warned NATO allies that he "would encourage" Russia "to do whatever the hell they want" to countries that don't meet defense spending goals if he returns to the White House. It was a key moment in the debate over Ukraine spending. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg quickly called out Trump for putting "American and European soldiers at increased risk." Biden days later called Trump's comments "dangerous" and "un-American" and accused Trump of playing into Putin's hands. But in reality, the White House maneuvering to win additional funding for Ukraine started months earlier. Biden, the day after returning from a whirlwind trip to Tel Aviv following Hamas militants' stunning Oct. 7 attack on Israel, used a rare prime time address to make his pitch for the supplemental funding. At the time, the House was in chaos because the Republican majority had been unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who had been ousted more than two weeks earlier. McCarthy's reckoning with the GOP's far right came after he agreed earlier in the year to allow federal spending levels that many in his right flank disagreed with and wanted undone. Far-right Republicans have also adamantly opposed sending more money for Ukraine, with the war appearing to have no end in sight. Biden in August requested more than $20 billion to keep aid flowing into Ukraine, but the money was stripped out of a must-pass spending bill even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Washington to make a personal plea for continued U.S. backing. By late October, Republicans finally settled on Johnson, a low-profile Louisiana Republican whose thinking on Ukraine was opaque, to serve as the next speaker. Biden during his congratulatory call with Johnson urged him to quickly pass Ukraine aid and began a months-long, largely behind-the-scenes effort to bring the matter to a vote. In private conversations with Johnson, Biden and White House officials leaned into the stakes for Europe if Ukraine were to fall to Russia. Five days after Johnson was formally elected speaker, national security adviser Jake Sullivan outlined to him the administration's strategy on Ukraine and assured him that accountability measures were in place in Ukraine to track where the aid was going -- an effort to address a common complaint from conservatives. On explicit orders from Biden himself, White House officials also avoided directly attacking Johnson over the stalled aid -- a directive the president repeatedly instilled in his senior staff. For his part, Johnson came off to White House officials as direct and an honest actor throughout the negotiations, according to a senior administration official. Biden had success finding common ground with Republicans earlier in his term to win the passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure deal, legislation to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, and an expansion of federal health care services for veterans exposed to toxic smoke from burn pits. And he knew there was plenty of Republican support for further Ukraine funding. At frustrating moments during the negotiations, Biden urged his aides to "just keep talking, keep working," according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal discussions. So they did. In a daily meeting convened by White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, the president's top aides -- seated around a big oval table in Zients' office -- would brainstorm possible ways to better make the case about Ukraine's dire situation in the absence of aid. Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, and legislative affairs director Shuwanza Goff were in regular contact with Johnson. Goff and Johnson's senior staff also spoke frequently as a deal came into focus. The White House also sought to accommodate Johnson and his various asks. For instance, administration officials at the speaker's request briefed Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. -- two conservatives who were persistent antagonists of Johnson. All the while, senior Biden officials frequently updated McConnell as well as key Republican committee leaders, including Reps. Michael McCaul and Mike Turner. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Biden's instincts to resist pressuring Johnson proved correct. "Joe Biden has a very good sense of when to heavily intervene and when to try to shape things," Schumer said. In public, the administration deployed a strategy of downgrading intelligence that demonstrated Russia's efforts to tighten its ties with U.S. adversaries China, North Korea and Iran to fortify Moscow's defense industrial complex and get around U.S. and European sanctions. For example, U.S. officials this month laid out intelligence findings that showed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry. Earlier, the White House publicized intelligence that Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and has acquired attack drones from Iran. The $61 billion can help triage Ukrainian forces, but Kyiv will need much more for a fight that could last years, military experts say. Realistic goals for the months ahead for Ukraine -- and its allies -- include avoiding the loss of major cities, slowing Russia's momentum and getting additional weaponry to Kyiv that could help them go on the offensive in 2025, said Bradley Bowman, a defense strategy and policy analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington. "In our microwave culture, we tend to want immediate results," Bowman said. "And sometimes things are just hard and you can't get immediate results. I think Ukrainian success is not guaranteed, but Russian success is if we stop supporting Ukraine."
Biden Tries to Navigate School Protests04/24 06:13
Biden Tries to Navigate School Protests04/24 06:13 NEW YORK (AP) -- Student protests over the war in Gaza have created a new and unpredictable challenge for President Joe Biden as he resists calls to cut off U.S. support for Israel while trying to hold together the coalition of voters he'll need for reelection. The protests at Columbia University in New York and other campuses have captured global media attention and resurfaced questions about Biden's lagging support from young voters. His handling of the Middle East conflict is also being closely watched by both Jewish and Arab American voters in key swing states. At best for Biden, the protests are a passing distraction while the White House presses forward with negotiations over a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas while pushing Israel to limit casualties with more than 34,000 Palestinians dead. At worst, they build momentum toward the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, potentially triggering scenes of violence that could recall the unrest of protests against the Vietnam War during the party's convention there in 1968. "If it ends with Columbia, that's one thing," said Angus Johnston, a historian focused on campus activism. "If this sends the national student movement to a new place, that's a very different situation." Already, Biden's aides have had to work to minimize disruptions from antiwar protesters, holding smaller campaign events and tightly controlling access. Demonstrators forced his motorcade to change routes to the Capitol on his way to deliver the State of the Union, and they've thrown a red substance intended to symbolize blood near his home in Delaware. The president could face more confrontations with students this spring. Morehouse College said Tuesday that Biden would appear at the iconic historically Black campus in May. More than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators camped out at Columbia were arrested Thursday, with dozens more people arrested at other campuses. Many now face charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct. The protesters have demanded that their universities condemn Israel's assault on Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and divest from companies that do business with Israel. Some people have reported antisemitic chants and messages at and around the Columbia campus, and similar concerns have been reported at other universities. Some Jewish students say they've felt unsafe on campus. The White House, in a message Sunday to mark the Passover holiday, denounced what it called an "alarming surge" of antisemitism, saying it "has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country." Four Jewish Democratic members of Congress toured Columbia's locked-down campus on Monday with members of the school's Jewish Law Students Association. They condemned that things had escalated to where Jewish students felt unsafe and the university canceled in-person classes Monday. Columbia said it would use hybrid remote and in-person learning through the end of the spring term. Rep. Kathy Manning of North Carolina called on the Education Department and Justice Department to work with the White House "to ensure that all universities take steps necessary to keep Jewish students and faculty safe." "This discrimination is simply unacceptable and cannot be allowed to continue," she said. Biden on Monday sought the same middle ground that he's staked out for months as he backs Israel's military operations with weapons shipments while also pushing Israel to limit civilian casualties and get more humanitarian aid into Gaza, where the United Nations has said there is a looming famine. "I condemn the antisemitic protests," the president said at an Earth Day event. He then added, "I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians." Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a high-profile progressive who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, spoke before Biden at the same event. She said it was "important that we remember the power of young people shaping this country" and praised "the leadership of those peaceful student-led protests." Former President Donald Trump, Biden's presumptive Republican opponent in November, pointed to the headlines and images coming out of Columbia to redirect focus from his criminal hush money trial in New York, telling reporters in the courthouse Tuesday that Biden bears the blame for the unrest. "If this were me, you'd be after me. You'd be after me so much," he said. "But they're trying to give him a pass. But what's going on is a disgrace to our country, and it's all Biden's fault and everybody knows it." In a sign of the political potency of the situation at Columbia, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson planned to visit the school Wednesday and meet with Jewish students. Joel Rubin, a former State Department official and Democratic strategist who has worked in Jewish politics for years, rejected critics blaming Biden "for everything that's gone wrong" but said the president would have to "make the argument for why the policy is the right one and let the chips fall where they may." "If it were purely politics and polling, it would be a very hard one," Rubin said. "But I think Biden is making these decisions based on national security." Biden graduated from Syracuse's law school in 1968, bypassing the campus convulsions over the Vietnam War. He distanced himself from that protest movement two decades later during his first run for president. "I was married, I was in law school, I wore sports coats," Biden said in 1987. "You're looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am. I'm not big on flak jackets and tie-dyed shirts. You know, that's not me." Biden has been endorsed this year by many leading youth activist organizations and also built his campaign around key social issues -- such as defending abortion rights, combating climate change and canceling student debt for millions -- that they believe can energize voters under 30 who are more likely to be concerned about the president's approach to Gaza. He was in Florida on Tuesday to capitalize on the momentum against nationwide abortion restrictions and criticize a state law soon to go into effect that will ban abortions after six weeks, before many women know they're pregnant. A day earlier, Vice President Kamala Harris held an event promoting abortion rights in swing state Wisconsin. Safia Southey, a 25-year-old law student at Columbia who is Jewish, has been participating in the protest and sleeping at the encampment on the university's quad since Thursday. She believes outrage over the war will deflate Biden's chances against Trump because staunch supporters of Israel are more likely to support the presumptive Republican nominee. "I think Biden has tried to be very strategic and it's backfired in a lot of ways," she said. However, Southey said she'll vote for Biden "pretty much no matter what" in a matchup with Trump. "The students who are upset, especially at these kind of universities, are smart enough to not stay home," she said. "I think that they're going to go out and vote, and they're going to go for the most strategic option, even if they're not happy for Biden. I think that they would do anything to make sure that Trump's not in office." Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher was skeptical that campus demonstrations over Gaza would prove to be politically influential. "What percentage of Americans are really in those narrow spaces, and how representative are they of a broader American audience, or even a broader youth audience?" he asked. Johnston, the historian on student activism, said the current protests don't approach the size or intensity of demonstrations in the 1960s, when school officials were held hostage and campuses were vandalized. But over the years, he said, "there's a lot of times where student protests have shaped the national debate."
World Seeing Breakdown of Int'l Law 04/24 06:15
World Seeing Breakdown of Int'l Law 04/24 06:15 LONDON (AP) -- The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report. The human rights organization said the most powerful governments, including the United States, Russia and China, have led a global disregard for international rules and values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with civilians in conflicts paying the highest price. Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general, said the level of violation of international order witnessed in the past year was "unprecedented." "Israel's flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza," she said. "Many of those allies were the very architects of that post-World War Two system of law." The report highlighted the United States' failures to denounce rights violations committed by Israel and its use of veto power to paralyze the U.N. Security Council on a cease-fire resolution in Gaza, as well as Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine. It also pointed to China's arming of military forces in Myanmar and the way Beijing has shielded itself from scrutiny over its treatment of the Uyghur minority. "We have here three very large countries, superpowers in many ways, sitting on the Security Council that have emptied out the Security Council of its potentials, and that have emptied out international law of its ability to protect people," she told The Associated Press in London. The report, which detailed Amnesty's assessment of human rights in 155 countries, underlined an increasing backlash against women's rights and gender equality in 2023. It cited the brutal suppression of women's protests in Iran, the Taliban's decrees "aimed at erasing women from public life" in Afghanistan, and legal restrictions on abortion in the U.S. and Poland, among others. The rights organization also warned about the threat of new technologies if left unchecked, saying the rapid advancement in artificial intelligence and mass surveillance tools could be deployed to stoke conflict, encroach on rights and freedoms and sow discord in a landmark election year. Unregulated tech advances "can be weaponized to discriminate, disinform and divide," Callamard said.
UN Calls for Gaza Mass Graves Probe 04/24 06:19
UN Calls for Gaza Mass Graves Probe 04/24 06:19 UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The United Nations called Tuesday for "a clear, transparent and credible investigation" of mass graves uncovered at two major hospitals in war-torn Gaza that were raided by Israeli troops. Credible investigators must have access to the sites, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters, and added that more journalists need to be able to work safely in Gaza to report on the facts. Earlier Tuesday, U.N. human rights chief Volker Trk said he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Shifa medical center in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis as well as the reported discovery of mass graves in and around the facilities after the Israelis left. He called for independent and transparent investigations into the deaths, saying that "given the prevailing climate of impunity, this should include international investigators." "Hospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law," Trk said. "And the intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are 'hors de combat' (incapable of engaging in combat) is a war crime." U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel on Tuesday called the reports of mass graves at the hospitals "incredibly troubling" and said U.S. officials have asked the Israeli government for information. The Israeli military said its forces exhumed bodies that Palestinians had buried earlier as part of its search for the remains of hostages captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. The military said bodies were examined in a respectful manner and those not belonging to Israeli hostages were returned to their place. The Israeli military says it killed or detained hundreds of militants who had taken shelter inside the two hospital complexes, claims that could not be independently verified. The Palestinian civil defense in the Gaza Strip said Monday that it had uncovered 283 bodies from a temporary burial ground inside the main hospital in Khan Younis that was built when Israeli forces were besieging the facility last month. At the time, people were not able to bury the dead in a cemetery and dug graves in the hospital yard, the group said. The civil defense said some of the bodies were of people killed during the hospital siege. Others were killed when Israeli forces raided the hospital. Palestinian health officials say the hospital raids have destroyed Gaza's health sector as it tries to cope with the mounting toll from over six months of war. The issue of who could or should conduct an investigation remains in question. For the United Nations to conduct an investigation, one of its major bodies would have to authorize it, Dujarric said. "I think it's not for anyone to prejudge the results or who would do it," he said. "I think it needs to be an investigation where there is access and there is credibility." The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, said after visiting Israel and the West Bank in December that a probe by the court into possible crimes by Hamas militants and Israeli forces "is a priority for my office." The discovery of the graves "is another reason why we need a cease-fire, why we need to see an end to this conflict, why we need to see greater access for humanitarians, for humanitarian goods, greater protection for hospitals" and for the release of Israeli hostages, Dujarric said Monday. In the Hamas attack that launched the war, militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others. In response, Israel's air and ground offensive in Gaza, aimed at eliminating Hamas, has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women. It has devastated Gaza's two largest cities, created a humanitarian crisis and led around 80% of the territory's population to flee to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
China Blasts US Military Aid to Taiwan 04/24 06:21
China Blasts US Military Aid to Taiwan 04/24 06:21 China on Wednesday blasted the latest package of U.S. military assistance to Taiwan on Wednesday, saying that such funding was pushing the self-governing island republic into a "dangerous situation." BEIJING (AP) -- China on Wednesday blasted the latest package of U.S. military assistance to Taiwan on Wednesday, saying that such funding was pushing the self-governing island republic into a "dangerous situation." The U.S. Senate late Tuesday passed $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars. China claims the entire island of Taiwan as its own territory and has threatened to take it by force if necessary. The mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office said the aid "seriously violates" U.S. commitments to China and "sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence separatist forces." Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian added that Taiwan's ruling pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, which won a third four-year presidential term in January, is willing to "become a pawn for external forces to use Taiwan to contain China, bringing Taiwan into a dangerous situation." On Tuesday, Taiwan's President-elect Lai Ching-te told a visiting U.S. Congressional delegation that the aid package would "strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain" and "help ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and also boost confidence in the region." The package has had broad congressional support since Biden first requested the money last summer. But congressional leaders had to navigate strong opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question U.S. involvement in foreign wars and argue that Congress should be focused instead on the surge of migration at the U.S.-Mexico border. The package covers a wide range of parts and services aimed at maintaining and and upgrading Taiwan's military hardware. Separately, Taiwan has signed billions in contracts with the U.S. for latest-generation F-16V fighter jets, M1 Abrams main battle tanks and the HIMARS rocket system, which the U.S. has also supplied to Ukraine. Taiwan has also been expanding its own defense industry, building submarines and trainer jets. Next month, it plans to commission its third and fourth domestically designed and built stealth corvettes to counter the Chinese navy as ptensions art of a strategy of asymmetrical warfare, in which a smaller force counters its larger opponent by using cutting edge or nonconventional tactics and weaponry. China launches daily incursions into waters and airspace around Taiwan by navy ships and warplanes. It has also sought to pick away Taiwan's few remaining formal diplomatic partners. However, only two People's Liberation Army Air Force planes and seven navy vessels were found operating in areas around Taiwan between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, possibly as a result of heavy rainstorms and low visibility overnight along the island's west coast facing China. At times of heightened tensions, China has launched dozens of such missions over a 24 hour period, many of them crossing the center line in the Taiwan Strait dividing the sides or entering Taiwan's air defense identification zone.
