News in Brief
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The United States military has announced plans to hold what is said to be the largest U.S.-led drills in Europe early next year.
The U.S. European Command (EUROCOM) said that 37,000 forces, some 20,000 American troops, will partake in Defender Europe-20 maneuvers, which is set to be held in April and May 2020.
According to the statement, the U.S. army will deploy a division headquarters, three tank brigades and thousands of other troops to the major event, which will be held across 10 European countries – mainly Germany and Poland.
Besides U.S. army forces, the U.S. air force and marine corps will also participate in the maneuvers along with troops from 18 other countries, EUCOM said, adding that the drills and all the linked activities will cost around $340 million.
EUROCOM said the drills will resemble the Return of Forces to Germany, or more commonly Reforger, drills of the Cold War era, which at its peak involved some 125,000 NATO forces in 1988.
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BRUSSELS (AFP) -- A nucleus of four EU countries was trying Tuesday to coax more reluctant member states to take a share of rescued asylum-seekers, a day after another Mediterranean migrant boat tragedy.
Germany, France, Italy and Malta were seeking support from colleagues in an EU interior ministers' meeting in Luxembourg for an agreement they worked out September 23 in Malta meant to serve as a six-month, stop-gap plan pending a long-delayed reform of the EU's asylum policy.
The meeting came after a boat packed with around 50 migrants capsized Monday off Italy's island of Lampedusa, resulting in the drowning deaths of at least 13 women, some of them pregnant.
The aim of the so-called Malta declaration is to avoid such tragedies in the future, and to find a solution for NGO rescue ships filled with migrants often being refused entry to EU waters for weeks.
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BEIJING (AFP) -- China hit back at the United States on Tuesday over the blacklisting of 28 Chinese entities accused of being implicated in rights violations against mostly Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, saying the claims are "groundless".
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the move to bar the entities on Monday, saying his country "cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China."
But Beijing expressed "strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to the blacklist and defended its policy in the western frontier region, where rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are held in re-education camps.
"There is no such thing as these so-called 'human rights issues' as claimed by the United States," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Tuesday.
"These accusations are nothing more than an excuse for the United States to deliberately interfere in China's internal affairs."
***
VIENNA (Reuters) -- Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz opened talks with potential coalition partners on Tuesday after his People’s Party (OVP) fell short of the majority needed to form a government in last month’s snap parliamentary election.
Kurz, 33, has not ruled out governing with any of the four other parties and kicked off what could be a protracted process by sounding out the second-placed Social Democrats (SPO) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which came in third.
On Wednesday, Kurz will meet the other two parties, the environmentalist Greens and the liberal Neos, as he tries to find a deal that would give him the extra 21 seats he needs for a majority in parliament.
Before meeting SPO leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner for an hour on Tuesday, Kurz told reporters his aim was to improve Austria’s political culture after a campaign full of mud-slinging and to explore ways for parties to cooperate in parliament.
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LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of climate change activists camped out in central London on Tuesday during a second day of world protests by the Extinction Rebellion movement to demand more urgent actions to counter global warming.
Determined activists glued themselves to the British government’s Department of Transport building as police working to keep streets clear appealed to protesters to move to Trafalgar Square.
Cities in Australia, elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world also had climate change protests for a second day.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appealed Monday to the protesters to stop blocking London’s streets. He called the activists "uncooperative crusties” who should abandon their "hemp-smelling bivouacs.”
Authorities arrested 319 people at the London protests on Monday.
Disruption continued in other major cities. In Brisbane, Australia, protesters chained themselves to intersections in the city center and three people locked themselves onto barrels filled with concrete.
***
BERLIN (Reuters) -- An F16 warplane crashed over uninhabited territory near the western German city of Trier, public broadcaster SWR reported on Tuesday, adding that the pilot had been able to eject to safety.
The broadcaster said that according to police large quantities of jet fuel had been spilt over the crash site. Local and domestic authorities were not immediately able to comment on the reports.
The U.S. European Command (EUROCOM) said that 37,000 forces, some 20,000 American troops, will partake in Defender Europe-20 maneuvers, which is set to be held in April and May 2020.
According to the statement, the U.S. army will deploy a division headquarters, three tank brigades and thousands of other troops to the major event, which will be held across 10 European countries – mainly Germany and Poland.
Besides U.S. army forces, the U.S. air force and marine corps will also participate in the maneuvers along with troops from 18 other countries, EUCOM said, adding that the drills and all the linked activities will cost around $340 million.
EUROCOM said the drills will resemble the Return of Forces to Germany, or more commonly Reforger, drills of the Cold War era, which at its peak involved some 125,000 NATO forces in 1988.
***
BRUSSELS (AFP) -- A nucleus of four EU countries was trying Tuesday to coax more reluctant member states to take a share of rescued asylum-seekers, a day after another Mediterranean migrant boat tragedy.
Germany, France, Italy and Malta were seeking support from colleagues in an EU interior ministers' meeting in Luxembourg for an agreement they worked out September 23 in Malta meant to serve as a six-month, stop-gap plan pending a long-delayed reform of the EU's asylum policy.
The meeting came after a boat packed with around 50 migrants capsized Monday off Italy's island of Lampedusa, resulting in the drowning deaths of at least 13 women, some of them pregnant.
The aim of the so-called Malta declaration is to avoid such tragedies in the future, and to find a solution for NGO rescue ships filled with migrants often being refused entry to EU waters for weeks.
***
BEIJING (AFP) -- China hit back at the United States on Tuesday over the blacklisting of 28 Chinese entities accused of being implicated in rights violations against mostly Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region, saying the claims are "groundless".
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced the move to bar the entities on Monday, saying his country "cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China."
But Beijing expressed "strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition" to the blacklist and defended its policy in the western frontier region, where rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities are held in re-education camps.
"There is no such thing as these so-called 'human rights issues' as claimed by the United States," said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Tuesday.
"These accusations are nothing more than an excuse for the United States to deliberately interfere in China's internal affairs."
***
VIENNA (Reuters) -- Austrian conservative leader Sebastian Kurz opened talks with potential coalition partners on Tuesday after his People’s Party (OVP) fell short of the majority needed to form a government in last month’s snap parliamentary election.
Kurz, 33, has not ruled out governing with any of the four other parties and kicked off what could be a protracted process by sounding out the second-placed Social Democrats (SPO) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which came in third.
On Wednesday, Kurz will meet the other two parties, the environmentalist Greens and the liberal Neos, as he tries to find a deal that would give him the extra 21 seats he needs for a majority in parliament.
Before meeting SPO leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner for an hour on Tuesday, Kurz told reporters his aim was to improve Austria’s political culture after a campaign full of mud-slinging and to explore ways for parties to cooperate in parliament.
***
LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of climate change activists camped out in central London on Tuesday during a second day of world protests by the Extinction Rebellion movement to demand more urgent actions to counter global warming.
Determined activists glued themselves to the British government’s Department of Transport building as police working to keep streets clear appealed to protesters to move to Trafalgar Square.
Cities in Australia, elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world also had climate change protests for a second day.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appealed Monday to the protesters to stop blocking London’s streets. He called the activists "uncooperative crusties” who should abandon their "hemp-smelling bivouacs.”
Authorities arrested 319 people at the London protests on Monday.
Disruption continued in other major cities. In Brisbane, Australia, protesters chained themselves to intersections in the city center and three people locked themselves onto barrels filled with concrete.
***
BERLIN (Reuters) -- An F16 warplane crashed over uninhabited territory near the western German city of Trier, public broadcaster SWR reported on Tuesday, adding that the pilot had been able to eject to safety.
The broadcaster said that according to police large quantities of jet fuel had been spilt over the crash site. Local and domestic authorities were not immediately able to comment on the reports.