Ukraine Opens Investigation Into Possible Surveillance of Former U.S. Ambassador

(KYIV, Ukraine) — Ukrainian police say they have opened an investigation into the possibility that the former U.S. ambassador came under illegal surveillance before she was recalled from her post.

The announcement Thursday came two days after Democratic lawmakers in the United States released a trove of documents that showed Lev Parnas, an associate of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, communicating about the removal of Marie Yovanovitch as the ambassador to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry, which runs the police forces, said in a statement that Ukrainian police “are not interfering in the internal political affairs of the United States.”

“However, the published messages contain facts of possible violations of Ukrainian law and of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, which protect the rights of diplomats on the territory of another state,” the statement continued.

Hong Kong Leader Says the City’s Semiautonomy Can Endure Beyond the 2047 Deadline

(HONG KONG) — Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam said Thursday that the ”one country, two systems” framework under which the city enjoys freedoms unknown in China could continue after a 2047 deadline if loyalty to Beijing is upheld.

Lam’s comments at the Legislative Council appeared to be an appeal to those in the city who see Beijing as tightening its control over the semi-autonomous territory’s civic, economic and political life.

Hong Kong has been wracked by often violent anti-government protests since June, although they have diminished considerably in scale following a landslide win by opposition candidates in races for district councilors late last year.

Hong Kong was handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997 with a promise that it would maintain its own capitalist economy and Western-style institutions for 50 years.

“Only if we insist on implementing the ‘one country, two systems’ principle and practice it continuously and fully … then I think there will be enough grounds ..

Australian Firefighters Save the World’s Last Remaining Dinosaur Trees

(CANBERRA, Australia) — Specialist firefighters have saved the world’s last remaining wild stand of a prehistoric tree from wildfires that razed forests west of Sydney, officials said Thursday.

Firefighters winched from helicopters to reach the cluster of fewer than 200 Wollemi Pines in a remote gorge in the Blue Mountains a week before a massive wildlife bore down, National Parks and Wildlife Service Director David Crust said.

The firefighters set up an irrigation system to keep the so-called dinosaur trees moist and pumped water daily from the gorge as the blaze that had burned out of control for more than two month edged closer.

Firefighting planes strategically bombed the fire front with fire retardant to slow its progress.

“That helped just to slow the intensity of the fire as it approached the site,” Crust told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“The Wollemi Pine is a particularly important species and the fact that this is the only place in the world where they exist and they ex..

Patient in Japan Confirmed as Having New Virus From China

(TOKYO) — Japan’s government said Thursday a man treated for pneumonia after returning from China has tested positive for the new coronavirus identified as a possible cause of an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The man developed a fever and coughs on Jan. 3 while in Wuhan, returned to Japan on Jan. 6, and was hospitalized four days later due to persistent coughs and fever, with his X-ray image showing signs of pneumonia, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Tests conducted Tuesday found the same coronavirus as had been detected in other patients in the Wuhan outbreak, the ministry said.

The man has since been released from hospital as his symptoms subsided. He was only identified as a man in his 30s in the Kanagawa prefecture, west of Tokyo. No sicknesses have been found so far in his family and medical staff who treated him. Kyodo News agency says the patient is Chinese.

Officials in Wuhan said last weekend 41 people had pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus an..

‘Women Don’t Give Up.’ Why Female Protesters Are at the Forefront of India’s Resistance Movement

Nusra Ara had only just fallen asleep when the phone rang. It was 10 a.m. on Tuesday and though she had returned home seven hours earlier, she stayed up cooking, cleaning, packing lunch boxes and then dropping her daughter to school. When she picked up the call, a fellow protester’s voice rang out in panic and made her sit up. Soon she was rushing out of her home through the busy, narrow streets of Shaheen Bagh in South Delhi, toward the site where she and thousands of other protesters, mostly women, have gathered every evening for more than a month.

Making her way past shabby buildings alternating with newer apartment blocks, through alleyways filled with restaurants, car repair shops, schools and clinics, she reached just as the news she had heard on the phone was beginning to spread: the police were about to arrive. Within minutes, women streamed out of houses and alleyways and the relatively empty protest site began ringing with chants, poetry and the Indian national anthem. As t..

China Refutes Human Rights Report, Insists the Country’s Record ‘Is at Its Historical Best’

China pushed back against a damning Human Rights Watch report released on Tuesday, insisting instead that the country’s record on human rights has never been better. “The Chinese people are in the best position to judge China’s human rights condition, which is at its historical best,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Wednesday.

The World Report 2020, HRW’s annual survey of the global state of human rights, highlighted China’s detention and mass surveillance of 13 million Uighur and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang province, the crackdown on Hong Kong‘s pro-democracy protesters, severe restrictions on religious freedom, speech and movement in Tibetan areas and the government’s stifling on freedom of expression online and in schools and universities. The report was originally to be launched in Hong Kong but the organization’s executive director was denied entry by authorities last weekend. “I had hoped to hold this press conference in Hong Kong but the Chinese auth..

‘A Bloodless Revolution.’ Putin’s Plan to Rewrite Russia’s Constitution Could Allow Him to Lead for Years to Come

Even in 2018, when Vladimir Putin still had a full six years to serve as President of Russia, the political class around the Kremlin began to whisper about what comes next.

Some pundits referred to the problem as Operation 2024, the year when Putin would have to decide whether – or, more likely, how – he would remain in power after his final term runs out. That operation appeared to begin on Wednesday, Jan. 15, the day after Russians emerged from their long winter holiday.

In his annual state of the nation address in Moscow, Putin announced his wish to reform the Russian constitution. “I truly believe that it is time to introduce certain changes to our country’s main law,” Putin said. Shortly afterward the government resigned en masse, not in protest but seemingly to pave the way for these reforms.

The changes Putin proposed would not blow up the edifice of Russian democracy; the president’s best-considered moves tend to be more subtle and circumspect than that. What he suggested in..

Senate Resolution to Enforce Congressional Approval on ‘Sustained’ Military Action in Iran Has ‘At Least 51 Votes,’ Says Sen. Kaine

(WASHINGTON) — A Democratic senator said Tuesday he has at least 51 votes to support a bipartisan resolution asserting that President Donald Trump must seek approval from Congress before engaging in further military action against Iran.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said the Senate could vote as soon as next week on the measure, which is co-sponsored by two Republican senators and has support from at least two more. Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky have co-sponsored the measure, and GOP Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Susan Collins of Maine said Tuesday they will support it.

“We now have a majority of colleagues, Democratic and Republican, who will stand strong for the principle that we should not be at war without a vote of Congress, and that’s a very positive thing,” Kaine told reporters Tuesday.

The bipartisan resolution “clearly states that America can always defend itself,” against attack from Iran or any other country, Kaine said, “but we don’t think th..

‘Today, the American Soldier is in Danger, Tomorrow the European Soldier Could Be,’ Warns Iran’s President Rouhani

(TEHRAN, Iran) — Iran’s president warned Wednesday that European soldiers in the Mideast “could be in danger” after three nations challenged Tehran over breaking the limits of its nuclear deal. Tehran’s top diplomat meanwhile acknowledged that Iranians “were lied to” for days following the Islamic Republic’s accidental shoot down of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people.

President Hassan Rouhani‘s remarks in a televised Cabinet meeting represent the first direct threat he’s made to Europe as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington over President Donald Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the deal in May 2018.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s admission, which came at a summit in New Delhi on Wednesday, represents the first time an Iranian official referred to earlier claims from Tehran that a technical malfunction downed the Ukraine International Airlines flight as a lie. The shoot down — and subsequent days of denials that a missile had downed it — sparked..

Russia’s Prime Minister Submits Government Resignation to Putin

(MOSCOW) — Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a constitutional overhaul Wednesday to boost the powers of parliament and the Cabinet, a move signaling Putin’s intention to carve out a new position for himself after his current term ends.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev submitted his resignation hours after Putin discussed the constitutional amendments during his state of the nation address.

The Russian leader thanked Medvedev for his service but said the prime minister’s Cabinet had failed to fulfill all of its objectives. In televised remarks, Putin said Medvedev would take up a new position as a deputy head of the presidential Security Council.

Medvedev, a longtime close associate of Putin’s, has served as Russia’s prime minister since 2012. He spent four years before that as president in 2008-2012, becoming a placeholder when Putin had to switch into the prime minister’s office because of constitutional term limits on the presidency.

Medvedev obediently stepped down after j..

How 24 Tons of Chicken Feet Could Herald a New Era for U.S.-China Trade

A container with 23.94 tons of American chicken feet cleared Chinese customs Tuesday, potentially heralding the start of a new trading era between the two countries just days before they sign a long-awaited trade deal.

The chicken feet, or phoenix claws as they’re known in Chinese recipes, were inspected and approved for unloading by customs in Shanghai, the official Securities Times reported. The event marks the return of U.S. poultry meat to China five years after it was banned, it said.

China prohibited the import of all U.S. poultry products in 2015 in response to cases of avian flu in America. That stance changed last year as demand for alternative animal protein surged after the spread of deadly African swine fever slashed the country’s hog herds and reduced pork supplies.

The Asian nation is expected to increase purchases of American farm products after signing the trade deal on Wednesday in Washington, which may include a pledge to buy $40 billion a year of agricultural good..

China Poses an ‘Existential Threat’ to International Human Rights, Says Rights Group After Director Barred From Hong Kong

China poses an “existential threat” to the international human rights system, according to a new report released today by Human Rights Watch (HRW) after the organization’s executive director was denied entry to Hong Kong at the weekend. “It’s not simply a suppression at home, but it’s attacks on virtually any body, company, government, international institution that tries to uphold human rights or hold Beijing to account,” HRW’s executive director Kenneth Roth told TIME ahead of the report’s release.

That’s the message Roth intended to highlight in Hong Kong on Wednesday, where World Report 2020, HRW’s annual survey of the global state of human rights, was originally due to be launched in Hong Kong. “I had hoped to hold this press conference in Hong Kong but the Chinese authorities had a different idea and they blocked me at the airport,” Roth said during a press conference held instead in New York. “This is the first time I have been blocked entering Hong Kong.”

Roth said he had bee..

How Australia’s Indigenous Experts Could Help Deal With Devastating Wildfires

Australia has always had bushfires, the result of being the driest inhabited continent on earth combined with high temperatures. Its indigenous people, who predate European colonization by some 40,000 years, learned to manage and mitigate fire risk through specific knowledge of local ecosystems and carefully controlled burnings. As Australia suffers through drought, heatwaves and devastating bushfires this summer, practitioners of indigenous fire management report greater interest in their work than ever before.

Australia was colonized by the British in 1788, with settlers systematically working to decimate the existing indigenous population through violence. Those who survived found themselves herded onto Christian mission compounds and forced to adopt a more Western lifestyle, with the result being the loss of traditional knowledge systems, based on many thousands of generations of observing nature. The recent surge in interest in indigenous fire management is an implicit sign that ..

Australian Man Dies in Hospital, 20th Fatality of New Zealand Volcano Eruption

(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — An Australian man who was injured in a volcanic eruption in New Zealand more than a month ago has died, becoming the 20th victim of the disaster, officials said Monday. A police statement confirmed Paul Browitt died on Sunday night as a result of injuries from the eruption. A hospital statement said he had been critically ill.

Paul Browitt and his two daughters were caught in the Dec. 9 eruption on White Island. The body of Krystal Browitt, 21, was among six recovered from the island in the days after the eruption.

Paul Browitt and his daughter Stephanie Browitt, 23, survived the eruption and were transferred to Alfred Hospital in their hometown of Melbourne three days after the disaster.

Maria Browitt, the wife and mother of the victims, had remained on a cruise ship while her family took a day trip to the island.

Of 23 victims who remain in hospitals in New Zealand and Australia, at least five are listed as in critical condition, health authorities sai..

European Leaders Launch ‘Dispute Mechanism’ Over Iran Nuclear Agreement

(BRUSSELS) — Britain, France and Germany have launched action under the Iran nuclear agreement paving the way for possible sanctions in response to Tehran’s attempts to roll back parts of the deal, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Tuesday.

The three countries, which signed the international agreement in 2015 along with the United States, Russia and China, informed Borrell, who supervises the pact, in a letter that they are triggering its “dispute mechanism,” ratcheting up pressure on the Islamic Republic.

The leaders of the three nations said in a statement that they’ve been “left with no choice, given Iran’s actions, but to register today our concerns that Iran is not meeting its commitments.” The powers said they are referring “this matter to the Joint Commission under the Dispute Resolution Mechanism, as set out” in the nuclear deal.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement that the three European countries “could no longer leave the growing Ir..

Avalanches Kill 70 More People in Pakistan and Afghanistan

(MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan) — Severe winter weather has claimed more lives as avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall killed 55 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir while 15 died in neighboring Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.

The latest deaths raise the two countries’ overall death toll from the severe weather to 126 since Sunday.

The disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir was the worst-affected area, with 55 deaths in the past 24 hours, said Waseem Uddin, a spokesman for Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.

Among those fatalities, 41 died in a single avalanche in the Neelum Valley while 14 people died in elsewhere in the region, he told The Associated Press. Avalanches are common in Kashmir, which is divided between Pakistan and India and claimed by both in its entirety.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ahmad Raza Qadri, the minister for the disaster management authority in Kashmir, said they had declared a state of emergency in the affected areas. “Rescuers are facing difficul..