Dow Hits 2022 Low on Recession Fears 09/23 16:00
Dow Hits 2022 Low on Recession Fears 09/23 16:00 Stocks tumbled worldwide Friday on mounting signs the global economy is weakening just as central banks raise the pressure even more with additional interest rate hikes. (AP) -- Stocks tumbled worldwide Friday on mounting signs the global economy is weakening just as central banks raise the pressure even more with additional interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6%, closing at its lowest level since late 2020. The S&P 500 fell 1.7%, close to its 2022 low set in mid-June, while the Nasdaq slid 1.8%. The selling capped another rough week on Wall Street, leaving the major indexes with their fifth weekly loss in six weeks. Energy prices closed sharply lower as traders worried about a possible recession. Treasury yields, which affect rates on mortgages and other kinds of loans, held at multiyear highs. European stocks fell just as sharply or more after preliminary data there suggested business activity had its worst monthly contraction since the start of 2021. Adding to the pressure was a new plan announced in London to cut taxes, which sent U.K. yields soaring because it could ultimately force its central bank to raise rates even more sharply. The Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world aggressively hiked interest rates this week in hopes of undercutting high inflation, with more big increases promised for the future. But such moves also put the brakes on their economies, threatening recessions as growth slows worldwide. Besides Friday's discouraging data on European business activity, a separate report suggested U.S. activity is also still shrinking, though not quite as badly as in earlier months. "Financial markets are now fully absorbing the Fed's harsh message that there will be no retreat from the inflation fight," Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a research report. U.S. crude oil prices slid 5.7% to their lowest levels since early this year on worries that a weaker global economy will burn less fuel. Cryptocurrency prices also fell sharply because higher interest rates tend to hit hardest the investments that look the priciest or the most risky. Even gold fell in the worldwide rout, as bonds paying higher yields make investments that pay no interest look less attractive. Meanwhile the U.S. dollar has been moving sharply higher against other currencies. That can hurt profits for U.S. companies with lots of overseas business, as well as put a financial squeeze on much of the developing world. The S&P 500 fell 64.76 points to 3,693.23, its fourth straight drop. The Dow, which at one point was down more than 800 points, lost 486.27 points to close at 29,590.41. The Nasdaq fell 198.88 points to 10,867.93. Smaller company stocks did even worse. The Russell 2000 fell 42.72 points, or 2.5%, to close at 1,679.59. More than 85% of stocks in the S&P 500 closed in the red, with technology companies, retailers and banks among the biggest weights on the benchmark index. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lifted its benchmark rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, to a range of 3% to 3.25%. It was at virtually zero at the start of the year. The Fed also released a forecast suggesting its benchmark rate could be 4.4% by the year's end, a full point higher than envisioned in June. Treasury yields have climbed to multiyear highs as interest rates rise. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tends to follow expectations for Federal Reserve action, rose to 4.20% from 4.12% late Thursday. It is trading at its highest level since 2007. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, slipped to 3.69% from 3.71%. Goldman Sachs strategists say a majority of their clients now see a "hard landing" that pulls the economy sharply lower as inevitable. The question for them is just on the timing, magnitude and length of a potential recession. Higher interest rates hurt all kinds of investments, but stocks could stay steady as long as corporate profits grow strongly. The problem is that many analysts are beginning to cut their forecasts for upcoming earnings because of higher rates and worries about a possible recession. "Increasingly, market psychology has transitioned from concerns over inflation to worries that, at a minimum, corporate profits will decline as economic growth slows demand," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist for LPL Financial. In the U.S., the jobs market has remained remarkably solid, and many analysts think the economy grew in the summer quarter after shrinking in the first six months of the year. But the encouraging signs also suggest the Fed may have to jack rates even higher to get the cooling needed to bring down inflation. Some key areas of the economy are already weakening. Mortgage rates have reached 14-year highs, causing sales of existing homes to drop 20% in the past year. But other areas that do best when rates are low are also hurting. In Europe, meanwhile, the already fragile economy is dealing with the effects of war on its eastern front following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The European Central Bank is hiking its key interest rate to combat inflation even as the region's economy is already expected to plunge into a recession. And in Asia, China's economy is contending with still-strict measures meant to limit COVID infections that also hurt businesses. While Friday's economic reports were discouraging, few on Wall Street saw them as enough to convince the Fed and other central banks to soften their stance on raising rates. So they just reinforced the fear that rates will keep rising in the face of already slowing economies.
Russian Men Join Exodus, Fear Call-Up 09/24 08:48
Russian Men Join Exodus, Fear Call-Up 09/24 08:48 Military-aged men fled Russia in droves Friday, filling planes and causing traffic jams at border crossings to avoid being rounded up to fight in Ukraine following the Kremlin's partial military mobilization. ISTANBUL (AP) -- Military-aged men fled Russia in droves Friday, filling planes and causing traffic jams at border crossings to avoid being rounded up to fight in Ukraine following the Kremlin's partial military mobilization. Queues stretching for 10 kilometers (6 miles) formed on a road leading to the southern border with Georgia, according to Yandex Maps, a Russian online map service. The lines of cars were so long at the border with Kazakhstan that some people abandoned their vehicles and proceeded on foot -- just as some Ukrainians did after Russia invaded their country on Feb. 24. Meanwhile, dozens of flights out of Russia -- with tickets sold at sky-high prices -- carried men to international destinations such as Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Serbia, where Russians don't need visas. Among those who reached Turkey was a 41-year-old who landed in Istanbul with a suitcase and a backpack and plans to start a new life in Israel. "I'm against this war, and I'm not going to be a part of it. I'm not going to be a murderer. I'm not going to kill people," said the man, who identified himself only as Yevgeny to avoid potential retribution against his family left behind in Russia. He referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "war criminal." Yevgeny decided to flee after Putin announced a partial military call-up on Wednesday. The total number of reservists involved could be as high as 300,000. Some Russian men also fled to neighboring Belarus, Russia's close ally. But that carried risk. The Nasha Niva newspaper, one of the oldest independent newspapers in Belarus, reported that Belarusian security services were ordered to track down Russians fleeing from the draft, find them in hotels and rented apartments and report them to Russian authorities. Russian authorities tried to calm an anxious public about the draft. Legislators introduced a bill Friday that would suspend or reduce loan payments for Russians called up for duty. News outlets emphasized that draftees would have the same status as professional soldiers and be paid the same, and that their civilian jobs would be held for them. The Defense Ministry said that many people who work in high tech, communications or finance will be exempt from the call-up "to ensure the operations'' of those fields, the Tass news agency reported. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the fact that Russians were leaving their country to avoid conscription shows that the war in Ukraine is "unpopular." "What Putin is doing -- he is not coming from a place of strength," Jean-Pierre told reporters. "He is coming from a place of weakness." The exodus unfolded as a Kremlin-orchestrated referendum got underway seeking to make occupied regions of Ukraine part of Russia. Kyiv and the West condemned it as a rigged election whose result was preordained by Moscow. German government officials voiced a desire to help Russian men deserting military service, and they called for a European solution. "Those who bravely stand up to Putin's regime and thereby put themselves in great danger can apply for asylum in Germany on the grounds of political persecution," the spokesman for German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said. The spokesman, Maximilian Kall, said deserters and those refusing to be drafted would receive refugee status in Germany if they are at risk of serious repression, though every case is examined individually. But they would first have to make it to Germany, which has no land border with Russia, and like other European Union countries has become far more difficult for Russians to travel to. The EU banned direct flights between its 27 member states and Russia after the attack on Ukraine, and recently agreed to limit issuing Schengen visas, which allow free movement across much of Europe. Four out of five EU countries that border Russia -- Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland -- also recently decided to turn away Russian tourists. Some European officials view fleeing Russians as potential security risks. They hope that by not opening their borders, it will increase pressure against Putin at home. Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Thursday that many of those fleeing "were fine with killing Ukrainians. They did not protest then. It is not right to consider them as conscientious objectors." The one EU country that is still accepting Russians with Schengen visas is Finland, which has a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia. Finland border guards said Friday that the number of people entering from Russia has climbed sharply, with media reporting a 107% increase compared with last week. At Vaalimaa, one of the busiest crossings on the border, the line of waiting cars stretched for half a kilometer (a third of a mile), the Finnish Border Guard said. Finnish broadcaster MTV carried interviews with Russian men who had just crossed into Finland at the Virolahti border crossing, including with a man named Yuri from Moscow who said that no "sane person" wants to go to war. A Russian man from St. Petersburg, Andrei Balakirov, said he had been mentally prepared to leave Russia for half a year but put it off until the mobilization. "I think it's a really bad thing," he said. Valery, a man from Samara who was heading to Spain, agreed, calling the mobilization "a great tragedy." "It's hard to describe what's happening. I feel sorry for those who are forced to fight against their will. I've heard stories that people have been given these orders right in the streets -- scary."
Iran Women Furious Over Headscarf Death09/24 08:51
Iran Women Furious Over Headscarf Death09/24 08:51 NEW YORK (AP) -- The tears come quickly to Masih Alinejad when she talks about the messages she's received in recent days from women in Iran protesting against their government after a young woman died in police custody over a violation of the country's strict religious dress code. They talk about the risks, possibly fatal ones, in facing off against government forces that have a long history of cracking down on dissent. They share stories of saying goodbye to their parents, possibly for the last time. They send videos of confrontations with police, of women removing their state-mandated head coverings and cutting their hair. According to a tally by The Associated Press, at least 11 people have been killed since protests began earlier this month after the funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being detained by Iran's morality police. State media has said the toll could be as high as 35. "I feel the anger of people right now through their text messages," Alinejad told The Associated Press in New York City, where the 46-year-old opposition activist and writer in exile has lived since fleeing Iran following the 2009 election. "They have been ignored for years and years," she said. "That is why they are angry. Iranian women are furious now." Amini's death spurred this latest explosion of outrage. She had been detained Sept. 13 for allegedly wearing her hijab too loosely in violation of strictures demanding women in public wear the Islamic headscarves. She died three days later in police custody; authorities said she had a heart attack but hadn't been harmed. Her family has disputed that, leading to the public outcry. Protests started after her Sept. 17 funeral, and have taken place in more than a dozen cities. The Iranian government has pushed back, clashing with demonstrators and clamping down on internet access. Alinejad shares the outrage of the protesters; for more than a decade she has been an outspoken critic of the theocracy that rules the country and its control over women through the required wearing of the hijab and other measures. In 2014, she started My Stealthy Freedom, an online effort encouraging Iranian women to show images of themselves without hijabs. "Let me make it clear that Iranian women who are facing guns and bullets right now in the streets, they're not protesting against compulsory hijab like just a small piece of cloth. Not at all," she said. "They are protesting against one of the most visible symbols of oppression. They are protesting against the whole regime." Alinejad, who grew up following the rules on religious coverings in the small Iranian town where she was born, began pushing back against being forced to don certain garments when she was a teenager. But even she, who now displays her full head of curly hair as a matter of course, didn't find it easy to overcome a lifetime of conditioning. "It was not easy to put it away, like overnight," she said. "It took three years for me, even outside Iran, to take off my hijab." She said the first time she went out without a religious covering, in Lebanon, she saw a police officer and had a panic attack. "I thought the police are going to arrest me." Her activism has made her no fans among Iranian officials and supporters of the government. Last year, an Iranian intelligence officer and three alleged members of an Iranian intelligence network were charged in federal court in Manhattan with a plot to kidnap her and take her back to Iran. Officials in Iran have denied it. In August, an armed man was arrested after being seen hanging around Alinejad's Brooklyn home and trying to open the front door. She's committed to her cause, though, and supporting those in Iran, women and men, who are engaged in the protests. She would love to see more support from those in the West. "We deserve the same freedom," she said. "We are fighting for our dignity. We are fighting for the same slogan -- My body, my choice." She worries what will happen to the demonstrators in Iran as the government takes action to remain in control and shut down dissent, if there is no outside pressure. "My fear is that if the world, the democratic countries don't take action, the Iranian regime will kill more people," she said, scrolling through her phone to show images of young people she says have already been killed in the current wave of protest. She called the women in the protests warriors and "true feminists." "These are the women of suffragists risking their lives, facing guns and bullets," she said. But even if, as has happened in the past, the government exerts enough control to quiet the protests down, it won't make the dissent go away, she said. The "Iranian people made their decision," she said. "Whether the regime cracks down on the protests, whether they shut down the internet, people of Iran won't give up. ... The anger is there."
West:More Sanctions, Isolation on Putin09/24 08:54
West:More Sanctions, Isolation on Putin09/24 08:54 U.S. and European leaders have made clear: more financial penalties and international isolation for Russia, more arms and other backing for Ukraine. WASHINGTON (AP) -- How do American leaders and their allies intend to respond if President Vladimir Putin seeks to escalate his way out of a bad situation on Ukraine's battlefields, and makes good on renewed threats of annexing territory or even using nuclear weapons? At least to start with, by trying to double down on the same tactics that have helped put Russia in a corner in Ukraine, U.S. and European leaders have made clear: more financial penalties and international isolation for Russia, more arms and other backing for Ukraine. That won't necessarily be easy. It's been tough enough staying the current course of persuading all of dozens of allies to stick with sanctions and isolation for Putin, and persuading more ambivalent countries to join in. Global financial and energy disruptions from Russia's war in Ukraine already promise to make the coming winter a tough one for countries that have depended on Russia for their energy needs. And there's no sign of U.S. or NATO officials matching Putin's renewed nuclear threats with the same nuclear bluster, which in itself might raise the risks of escalating the conflict to an unimaginable level. Even if Putin should act on his nuclear threat, President Joe Biden and others point, without details, to an ascending scale of carefully calibrated responses, based on how far Russia goes. To start with, "they'll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been," Biden told CBS' "60 Minutes" just ahead of Putin's new wartime measures and renewed nuclear threat. "What they do will determine what response would occur," Biden said on the nuclear side, adding that the U.S. responses in that case would be "consequential." "I do not believe the United States would take an escalatory step" in the event of a one-off, limited nuclear detonation by Russia aimed at trying to scare Ukraine and its supporters off, said Rose Gottemoeller, former deputy NATO secretary-general and former U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control. "Certainly, it would not respond with nuclear weapons." Putin this week pledged to use "all available means" to stave off any challenges as Russia moves to summarily claim more Ukrainian territory despite heavy losses on the battlefield to NATO-armed Ukrainian forces. In case NATO missed the point, another senior Russian political figure specified the next day that included nuclear weapons. Putin also mobilized Russian fighters to throw into the seven-month invasion of Ukraine, and announced votes in parts of Ukraine that the West says are meant to provide political cover for illegally absorbing those regions into Russia. U.S. and European Union officials say new sanctions are in the works in response to Putin's latest moves. "Russia, its political leadership, and all those involved in organizing these 'referenda' as well as in other violations of international law and international humanitarian law in Ukraine will be held accountable," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell pledged this week, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. But political declarations are the easy part. It's unclear what type of measures can be agreed upon, as the financial punishments against Russia are also increasingly inflicting pain on other European economies weighed down by high electricity and natural gas prices and spiraling inflation. Hungary has led resistance to sanctions that might hit its supplies from Russia, but it isn't alone in hesitating. New sanctions may come only after much debate and hand-wringing among the 27 EU member countries in coming weeks, probably only after Russia has held its referendums. The last round of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine was announced May 4, but only agreed on four weeks later, as concerns over oil divided member countries. Rather than a new set of sanctions, a "maintenance and alignment" package was sealed in July, mostly to close loopholes on measures already agreed upon. Pressed by reporters in New York for details about what might be coming, Borrell said the sanctions would target "new areas of the Russian economy, especially -- if I can be a little more concrete -- the technological ones." Ursula von der Leyen, who heads the EU's executive branch -- the European Commission -- which has been responsible for drawing up most of the sanctions, also appeared resolute, but she was hardly more forthcoming. "We stand ready to impose further economic costs on Russia and on individuals and entities inside and outside of Russia who support (the war), politically or economically. Plus we will propose additional export controls on civilian technology as Russia moves to a full war economy," she told CNN. Beyond the economic sanctions, the EU since Russia's February invasion of Ukraine has slapped asset freezes and travel bans on more than 1,200 Russians, including Putin, Russia's foreign minister and other senior officials. Militarily, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this month that NATO is working with the defense industry to explore ways to boost arms production to better meet Ukraine's needs and replenish the arsenals of allies who have been providing weapons and defense systems. "We saw that during the COVID crisis, the industry was able to ramp up production of vaccines and now we need to have, to some extent, the same approach: ramp up quickly production of weapons and ammunition," he told The Associated Press. The U.S. as a matter of policy maintains ambiguity about how it would respond to any use of nuclear weapons in the conflict. Such a use would return the world to nuclear war for the first time since the U.S. dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and risk escalation on a scale the world has never seen. But U.S. officials' public comments on the matter this month are in line with expectations from arms experts that Washington's response would be a graduated one based on the gravity of Russia's nuclear use. A one-off and comparatively limited Russian nuclear use would deepen Russia's isolation internationally, but may not necessarily draw an immediate Western nuclear use in kind. It's difficult to fathom Putin launching any central strategic nuclear strike at the United States or its NATO allies, which would be "to commit suicide," said Gottemoeller, the former deputy NATO secretary-general. Gottemoeller describes instead a scenario of Putin carrying out a single demonstration strike over the Black Sea or against a Ukrainian military target, in hopes of spiking pressure on Ukraine's Western-allied government to capitulate. Internationally, "There would be a very firm response that ... would amount to, again redoubling efforts to help the Ukrainians," and "also in terms of huge condemnation in the international community," she said. That condemnation would be sure to draw in countries that so far have declined to break with Russia or stop doing business with it, including China, India and countries of the global south, she said. For Putin, actual nuclear use would give up all the benefits of simply threatening it, and pile on untold risks for Putin after that, said Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at King's College London. "The Chinese and the Indians and others that have not been marked in their condemnation of Russia ... would have to speak. The last thing they want is for the precedent of nuclear use to be made," Freedman said. "So I think we can we can scare ourselves quite easily by the by the rhetoric he uses. But I think I think it's best to recognize he does have a purpose, which is working, to stop the West intervening directly," he said. "To start using nuclear weapons against the West, you have to expect" at least the risk of "nuclear weapons coming back in your direction."
Russia Shells Ukraine Cities Amid Votes09/24 08:58
Russia Shells Ukraine Cities Amid Votes09/24 08:58 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- Russian forces launched new strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kremlin-orchestrated votes took place in occupied regions of Ukraine to create a pretext for their annexation by Moscow. Ukraine's presidential office said the latest Russian shelling killed at least three people and wounded 19. Oleksandr Starukh, the Ukrainian governor of Zaporizhzhia, one of the regions where Moscow-installed officials organized referendums on joining Russia, said a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and injuring seven others. In the five-day voting in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south that began Friday, election officials accompanied by police officers carried ballots to homes and set up mobile polling stations, citing safety reasons. The votes are set to wrap up Tuesday, when balloting will be held at polling stations. Ukraine and its Western allies say the referendums have no legal force. They alleged the votes were an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to slice away a large part of Ukraine, stretching from the Russian border to the Crimean Peninsula. A similar referendum took place in Crimea in 2014 before Moscow annexed it, a move that most of the world considered illegal. "Half of the population fled the Donetsk region because of Russian terror and constant shelling, voting against Russia with their feet, and the second half has been cheated and scared," Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in occupied regions to undermine the referendums and to share information about the people conducting "this farce." He also called on people to try to avoid the partial troop mobilization Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday or to sabotage and desert the Russian military if they ended up in the ranks. "If you get into the Russian army, sabotage any activity of the enemy, hinder any Russian operations, provide us with any important information about the occupiers -- their bases, headquarters, warehouses with ammunition," Zelenskyy said. Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said the voting "looked more like an opinion survey under the gun barrels," adding that the Moscow-backed local authorities were sending sending armed escorts to accompany election officials and to note the names of individuals who voted against joining Russia. In the Ukrainian capital, about 100 people from the Russia-occupied city of Mariupol, which is part of the Donetsk region, gathered to protest the referendum, covering themselves in Ukrainian flags and carrying posters "Mariupol is Ukraine." "They ruined the city, killed thousands of people, and now they are doing some kind of profanation over there," said Vladyslav Kildishov who helped organize the rally. Elina Sytkova, 21, a demonstrator who has many relatives left in Mariupol even though the city spent months under bombardment, said the vote was "like a joke, because it's the same as it was in Crimea, meaning it's fake and not real." "It's an illusion of choice when there isn't any." she added. Russia's Defense Ministry said that the partial mobilization ordered by Putin aimed to add about 300,000 troops, but the presidential decree keeps the door open for a broader call-up. Across Russa's 11 time zones, men hugged their weeping family members before being rounded up for service amid fears that a wider call-up might follow. Some media reports claimed that the Russian authorities actually plan to mobilize more than 1 million, the allegations denied by the Kremlin. Police moved quickly to disperse more demonstrations against the mobilization that were held in several cities across Russia on Saturday and detained more than 100 participants. Over 1,300 protesters were arrested during antiwar demonstrations on Wednesday, and many of them immediately received call-up summons. Many Russian men tried desperately to leave the country, buying up scarce and exorbitantly priced plane tickets. Thousands others fled by car, creating lines of traffic hours or even days long at some borders. The mobilization marked a sharp shift from Putin's effort to cast the seven-month war as a "special military operation" that doesn't intefere with the lives of most Russians. The massive exodus underlined the unpopularity of the war and fueled public outrage that could erode his grip on power. Moving to assuage public fears over the call-up, the authorities announced that many of those working in high tech, communications or finance will be exempt. And in a signal that the Kremlin was getting worried about the spreading panic and chaos caused by the mobilization, the head of a top state-controlled TV station harshly criticized military authorities for hastily sweeping up random people to meet mobilization targets instead of calling up people with military skills who had served recently, as Putin promised. RT chief Margarita Simonyan lashed out at military conscription offices for "driving people mad" by rounding up those who weren't supposed to be drafted. "It's as if they were tasked by Kyiv to do that," she said. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed regional leader of Chechnya who sent his forces to fight in Ukraine and repeatedly called for tougher action, suggested that Moscow should more broadly engage personnel from law-enforcement agencies in the fighting. He denounced those fleeing the mobilization as cowards and argued that police and various paramilitary agencies that number a total of 5 million together with the military would make a much better-trained and motivated fighting force. "If we leave 50 percent of the personnel to fulfil their duties, 2.5 million others will blow any Western army away and we won't need any reservists," Kadyrov said. Putin's mobilization order followed a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive that forced Moscow's retreat from broad swaths of the northeastern Kharkiv region, a humiliating defeat that highlighted blunders in Moscow's military planning. The Defense Ministry on Saturday announced the dismissal of Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov from the post of deputy defense minister in charge of logistics. It didn't mention the cause for his ouster, but the move was widely seen as a punishment for the flaws in supporting operations in Ukraine.
German Leader Seeks Deals, Alliances 09/24 08:59
German Leader Seeks Deals, Alliances 09/24 08:59 BERLIN (AP) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is traveling to the Middle East on Saturday for a two-day, three-country visit aimed at striking new energy deals and forging fresh alliances amid the economic and geopolitical turmoil resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The German government has scrambled to wean Europe's biggest economy off Russian oil, coal and gas since coming to office last December. While imports from Russia have declined sharply since then, there are fears that Germany, like other European countries, could face an energy shortage in the coming months. Bridging the gap in natural gas supplies is a particular concern and one of the reasons Scholz is heading to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar together with a high-level business delegation, senior officials said. The officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the trip, said Scholz will also address human rights issues when he meets Saturday with Saudi Arabia's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah. U.S. President Joe Biden was criticized in July for meeting with the Saudi crown prince, despite allegations that he was involved in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. "Of course this trip is being closely watched and we're going to encounter difficult partners there," one German official said. "And yet we can't refuse to have such meetings and such cooperation." "In a world with 193 countries and big differences, it's not just the German chancellor but many other leaders too who are seeking out talks at the moment and trying to forge new alliances and strengthen old ties," he said. He was not authorized to be quoted by name on the trip, From Saudi Arabia the German leader flies to Abu Dhabi, where he will meet with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates and sign an energy accord. Talks there will also address the country's hosting of next year's U.N. climate talks. The final stop is Doha, where Scholz will meet Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss bilateral relations, regional issues such as tensions with Iran and the Gulf nation's upcoming hosting of the soccer World Cup. German officials said all energy agreements will take into account the country's plans to become carbon neutral by 2045, requiring a shift from natural gas to hydrogen produced with renewable energy in the coming decades. Saudi Arabia, which has vast regions suitable for cheap solar power generation, is seen as a particularly suitable supplier of hydrogen, they said.
Marcos Wants to Reintroduce Philippines09/24 09:02
Marcos Wants to Reintroduce Philippines09/24 09:02 NEW YORK (AP) -- Looking to "reintroduce the Philippines" to the world, new President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ambitious plans for his nation on the international stage and at home -- if, that is, the twin specters of pandemic and climate change can be overcome or at least managed. And if he can surmount the legacies of two people: his predecessor, and his father. He also wants to strengthen ties with both the United States and China -- a delicate balancing act for the Southeast Asian nation -- and, like many of his fellow leaders at the United Nations this week, called on the countries that have caused global warming to help less wealthy nations counteract its effects. Marcos, swept into office this spring, is already drawing distinctions both subtle and obvious between himself and his voluble predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who alienated many international partners with his violent approach to fighting drug trafficking and the coarse rhetoric he used to galvanize supporters. Asked if Duterte went too far with his lethal drug crackdown, Marcos redirected the criticism toward those who carried out the plan. "His people went too far sometimes," Marcos told The Associated Press on Friday. "We have seen many cases where policemen, other operatives, some were just shady characters that we didn't quite know where they came from and who they were working for. But now we've gone after them." Marcos, 65, sat for a wide-ranging interview in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's annual leaders' meeting. Three months into his administration, he seemed energetic and enthusiastic -- and eager to project his vision for the nation beyond its borders. On Thursday, he met with U.S. President Joe Biden in a bid to strengthen the sometimes complicated ties that have ebbed and flowed between the two nations since the Philippines spent four decades as an American colony in the early 20th century. "There have been bits and pieces where they were not perhaps ideal," Marcos said. "But in the end, that overall trajectory has been to strengthen and strengthen and strengthen our relationship." In addition to Duterte, Marcos also must draw distinctions between himself and the most iconic figure in the Philippines' public sphere: his late father, whose name he shares. Ferdinand Marcos Sr., hero to some and plundering dictator to others, ruled from the 1960s to the 1980s, including a tumultuous period of martial law and repression. He made the family reputation an indelible part of Filipino history. Addressing the family legacy directly is something the son has been loath to do, at least explicitly, though he vehemently rejects use of the term "dictator" to describe his father's rule. To him, the political baggage of his parents is a remnant of the past. "I did not indulge in any of that political back-and-forth concerning the Marcos family," he said. "All I spoke about was, 'What are we going to do to get into a better place?' And people responded." Engaging, he said, would have simply been a retread -- and an unnecessary one. "It doesn't help. It doesn't change anything," he said. "So what's the point?" The elder Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972, a year before his term was to expire. He padlocked Congress and newspaper offices, ordered the arrest of political opponents and activists and ruled by decree. Thousands of Filipinos disappeared under his rule; some have never been accounted for. When it comes to his predecessor, Marcos treads a nuanced political line as well. Distinguishing himself from Duterte's in-your-face rule can benefit him at home and internationally, but Duterte's popularity helped catapult him into office, and the former president's daughter Sara is Marcos' vice president. The extrajudicial killings associated with Duterte's yearslong crackdown provoked calls that his administration should be investigated from the outside, and he vowed not to rejoin the International Criminal Court -- a precept that Marcos agrees with. After all, Marcos asked, why should a country with a functioning legal system be judged from elsewhere? "We have a judiciary. It's not perfect," he said. "I do not understand why we need an outside adjudicator to tell us how to investigate, who to investigate, how to go about it." Marcos cast the coronavirus pandemic as many other leaders have -- as a balancing act between keeping people safe and making sure life can push forward. "We took a very extreme position in the Philippines, and we eventually had the longest lockdown in any country in the world," he said. "That was the choice of the previous government. And now, we are now coming out of it." In recent days, he has both removed a national mandate to wear masks outdoors and extended a "state of calamity" -- something he said he didn't necessarily want to do, but keeping the declaration in place allows more people to continue getting help. "It's not very encouraging when people look at your country and they see, 'Well, it's under a state of calamity.' That's not good for tourists. It's not good for visitors. It's not good for business," Marcos said. Encouraging ties with China, particularly given Beijing's aggressive maritime policies, might be a daunting prospect for a nation so closely and historically aligned with the United States. But, Marcos says, it's possible -- and necessary. "It is a very fine line that we have to tread in the Philippines," the president said. "We do not subscribe to the old Cold War 'spheres of influence.' ... So it's really guided by national interest, number one. And second, the maintenance of peace." Peace comes in many flavors. Last week, Marcos traveled to the southern part of the nation -- a predominantly Muslim area of a predominantly Catholic country -- to express support for a multiyear effort to help a onetime rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, give up their guns and govern their autonomous region effectively. While Moro has come into the government fold, smaller militant groups including the violent Abu Sayyaf have continued to fight the government and wage sporadic attacks, especially in impoverished rural regions with weak law enforcement. Marcos dismissed Abu Sayyaf as a group that no longer has a cause other than "banditry." "I don't believe they are a movement anymore. They are not fighting for anything," Marcos said. "They are just criminals." Marcos did not specify precisely why the Philippines needed to be reintroduced, though the country's image took a hit from 2016 to 2022 under the Duterte administration. "The purpose, really, that I have brought to this visit here in New York ... has been to try to reintroduce the Philippines to our American friends, both in the private sector and in the public sector," he said. And after the pandemic truly ends, he said, the nation needs to find a fruitful path and follow it. "We have to position ourselves. We have to be clever about forecasting, being a bit prescient," he said. "We do not want to return to whatever it is we were doing pre-pandemic," Marcos said. "We want to be able to be involved and be a vital part of the new global economy, of the new global political situation."
US Steps Up China Diplomatic Efforts 09/24 09:03
US Steps Up China Diplomatic Efforts 09/24 09:03 The Biden administration on Friday ramped up its diplomatic efforts to press China to end provocative actions against Taiwan and warned it about any active support for Russia in its war against Ukraine. NEW YORK (AP) -- The Biden administration on Friday ramped up its diplomatic efforts to press China to end provocative actions against Taiwan and warned it about any active support for Russia in its war against Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made both cases in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on Friday in a meeting on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, according to U.S. officials. The session was one of the few that Blinken kept on his schedule after the death of his father on Thursday. The officials wouldn't describe the Chinese response, but said Foreign Minister Wang Yi was receptive to the messages and that the two men discussed the need "to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the U.S.-China relationship, especially during times of tension." The talks between Blinken and Wang come amid a period of intense tensions on both issues and ahead of an expected meeting in November between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. Biden's recent comments about Taiwan and China's tacit support for the war in Ukraine are just two of the latest irritants in relations between Washington and Beijing. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken had affirmed to Wang the administration's commitment to "maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait" despite Biden's assertion earlier this week that the U.S. would send troops to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. China regards the self-governed island of Taiwan as its sovereign territory, has not ruled out force to reunify it with the mainland and has in recent months stepped up military activity in the area. That activity is at least partially in response to high-level U.S. congressional visits to Taipei, including by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and stepped-up American arms sales. Blinken "stressed that preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is critical to regional and global security and prosperity," Price said in a statement. It added that the U.S. remains committed to its "one-China policy" which does not support Taiwanese independence. On Russia, U.S. officials said Blinken underscored the damage that would be done to the Sino-U.S. relationship should Beijing take a more active role in supporting the war in Ukraine. U.S. officials have said they are cautiously optimistic about recent comments from Chinese leaders about their concerns over the war and its consequences, and Blinken wanted to drive the point home. Blinken "highlighted the implications if the PRC were to provide support to Moscow's invasion of a sovereign state," Price said in the statement. "PRC" refers to China's formal name, the People's Republic of China. The U.S.-China relationship has become increasingly fraught in recent years over multiple issues, including the persecution of Muslims and ethnic minorities in China's western Xinjiang region, clampdowns on dissent in Tibet and Hong Kong, aggressive Chinese actions in the South China Sea and against Taiwan, and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Nonetheless, Price said the U.S. continues to be "open to cooperating with the PRC where our interests intersect." One area the U.S. hopes to continue coordination is on climate change.
