The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- U.S. mulls leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan
- Japan says faces increasing threats from China, North Korea
- Asiana plane was far below target speed before San Francisco crash
| U.S. mulls leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is considering leaving no American troops behind in Afghanistan after the planned 2014 withdrawal date, U.S. officials said on Monday, amid ongoing tensions between the President Barack Obama's administration and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government. Obama is committed to wrapping up U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but the United States has been talking with officials in Afghanistan about keeping a small residual force there of perhaps 8,000 troops after next year. U.S. officials did not deny a report in the New York Times that Obama has become increasingly frustrated by his dealings with Karzai, with their fraying relationship falling to new depths after last month's U.S. move to open peace talks with the Taliban. A June 27 video conference between Obama and Karzai aimed at lowering tensions ended poorly, the Times reported on its website, citing U.S. and Afghan officials with knowledge of the conversation. The Times reported that Karzai accused the United States of trying to forge a separate peace with the Taliban and its Pakistani supporters in an arrangement that would expose Karzai's government to its enemies. Since the video conference, a full military pullout from Afghanistan like the one from Iraq has been transformed from a "worst-case scenario" to an option "under serious consideration in Washington and Kabul," the Times reported. U.S. officials, asked about the report, pointed reporters to a comment by Ben Rhodes, the deputy White House national security adviser, who said in January that the "zero option" of leaving no troops behind is "an option that we would consider." The comment still stands, officials said. Asked about the Times report, one senior Obama administration official said: "All options remain on the table but a decision is far from made." The officials quoted by the Times said no decisions have been made on the pace and scale of the withdrawal. The United States also had considered keeping a small force in Iraq after the broad troop withdrawal from that country, but talks with Iraqi leaders failed to yield such a deal. "There's always been a zero option, but it was not seen as the main option," the Times quoted a senior Western official in Kabul as saying. "It is now becoming one of them, and if you listen to some people in Washington, it is maybe now being seen as a realistic path." More than a dozen American troops were killed in Afghanistan last month. The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan — now around 63,000 — already is set to decline to 34,000 by next February, the Times noted. The White House has said the great majority of American forces would be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014. U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since 2001. The United States invaded Afghanistan to topple the country's Taliban rulers who had harbored the al Qaeda network responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States weeks earlier. (Reporting by Will Dunham, Phil Stewart and Steve Holland; Editing by Eric Walsh and Will Dunham) |
| Japan says faces increasing threats from China, North Korea Posted: TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan faces increasingly serious threats to its security from an assertive China and an unpredictable North Korea, a defence ministry report said on Tuesday, as ruling politicians call for the military to beef up its ability to respond to such threats. The report, the first since hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office vowing to boost Japan's defences, was likely to prompt a sharp response from Beijing, whose ties with Tokyo are strained by a territorial row. China is also upset by remarks from Abe suggesting he wants to cast Tokyo's wartime history in a less apologetic tone. "There are various issues and destabilising factors in the security environment surrounding Japan, some of which are becoming increasingly tangible, acute and serious," the annual defence white paper said. "China has attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law," the report said, echoing recent comments by Abe and his cabinet. "China should accept and stick to the international norms." A Sino-Japanese dispute over rival claims to tiny East China Sea islets flared up last September after Japan nationalised the isles, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Japan has been gradually ratcheting up its expressions of concern about Beijing's military expansion. Last year's defence white paper, issued before the islands flare-up, flagged the risks of the army's role in shaping Chinese foreign policy. Patrol ships from both countries routinely shadow each other near the islands, raising concerns that an unintended collision or other incident could lead to a broader clash. "Some of China's activities involve its intrusion into Japan's territorial waters, its violation of Japan's territorial airspace and even dangerous actions that could cause a contingency, and are extremely regrettable," the paper said. Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said in February that a Chinese naval vessel had locked its fire control radar on a Japanese destroyer. Directing such radar at a target can be considered a step away from actual firing. China denied the warship had locked its radar on the Japanese vessel. But the white paper said Beijing's assertion was "inconsistent with the facts". Abe returned to power for a rare second term after his ruling bloc won a general election late last year, promising to revive the economy and strengthen Japan's defences. He also wants to revise the post-World War Two pacifist constitution to legitimise the military, although winning support for contentious revisions is likely to take time. BALANCE OF POWER Japan is already bolstering defence of the disputed islands and this year raised its defence budget for the first time in 11 years. The military is conducting joint drills with the United States, its main security ally, and fortifying defences against missile attacks, while the government is reviewing its mid-term defence policy. Japan plans to draw up a new defence plan by December, and Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) submitted recommendations to the government last month that included looking into acquiring the capability to attack enemy targets. Japan has long maintained that it has the right to strike enemy targets when an intention to attack Japan is clear, the threat is imminent and there are no other options. But any sign that Japan is moving to obtain such capabilities could upset China and South Korea, where resentment against Japan's wartime aggression and colonisation runs deep. The LDP also recommended that, in order to boost the defence of remote islands, the military should set up an amphibious Marines division equipped with tilt-rotor aircraft like the V-22 Osprey. "The balance of power will be lost if we don't start considering striking back when attacked," said Osaka University professor Kazuya Sakamoto, who sits on a panel advising Abe on security policies. "If we don't have weapons that reach an enemy, Japan cannot defend itself. It cannot maintain deterrence." Such moves, Sakamoto added, should not unnerve China, with its arsenal of nuclear weapons. Abe, whose LDP is expected to cement its grip on power in this month's upper house election, also wants to revise an interpretation of the constitution that bans using the right of collective self-defence, or aiding an ally under attack. A panel set up during Abe's first 2006-7 term recommended that the ban be lifted in certain cases, such as intercepting ballistic missiles bound for the United States. A new committee of advisers is expected to reach similar conclusions. North Korea launched a missile in December, stepping up the threat that the isolated, impoverished state poses to rivals. In February, it conducted a third nuclear test, which moved Pyongyang closer to developing long-range nuclear missiles. "The launch of a missile ... showed that North Korea has advanced its technologies to extend the range and improve the accuracy of ballistic missiles," the white paper said. |
| Asiana plane was far below target speed before San Francisco crash Posted: SAN FRANCISCO/SEOUL (Reuters) - The role of the pilots in Saturday's crash of an Asiana Airlines plane in San Francisco came under increasing scrutiny on Monday as U.S. investigators began to interview them and released new details about the jet's dangerously slow air speed before it slammed into the ground. The Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 was flying 39 miles per hour below its target speed of 158 mph in the moments before it crashed at San Francisco's international airport, National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said at a news conference in San Francisco. Planes can stall at slow speeds, and Hersman said on Sunday a stall warning had sounded four seconds before the crash. All four pilots from the flight were being interviewed on Monday by investigators from the NTSB and other agencies, Hersman said. Saturday's crash killed two teenage Chinese passengers and injured more than 180 other people. The pilot at the controls, Lee Kang-kuk, was still training on Boeing 777 jets, the South Korean airline said, and his supervisor was making his first flight as a trainer. Lee had 43 hours of experience flying the long-range jet, Asiana said. Lee Kang-kuk was making his first attempt to land a 777 at San Francisco's airport, although he had flown there 29 times previously on other types of aircraft, said South Korean Transport Ministry official Choi Seung-youn. It was not clear whether the senior pilot, Lee Jung-min, who had clocked 3,220 hours on a Boeing 777, had tried to take over to abort the landing. "All responsibilities lie with the instructor captain," Yoon Young-doo, the president and CEO of the airline, said at a news conference on Monday at the company's headquarters. Hersman said her team was investigating all aspects of the crash and the rescue efforts. She noted that the tail of the plane had hit the seawall in front of the runway, and part of the tail and other debris had landed in the water. Bits of the seawall were found far down the runway, Hersman added. She said the NTSB wants to get the facts straight about who was the "flying pilot" in this leg of the flight and "who was the pilot in command in the cockpit." "We have to understand what these pilots knew. We also need to look at how they were flying the airplane. Were they hand-flying the airplane? Were they relying on auto pilot or some combination of the two of those - and how those systems worked, if they worked as designed, if the crew understood what they were supposed to do," Hersman said in a CNN interview. But Hersman, whose agency takes the lead in finding the cause of U.S. air crashes, added: "I think it really is too early to conclude pilot error because there's so much that we don't know." The NTSB had said on Sunday the plane was "significantly below" its intended air speed and its crew tried to abort the landing less than two seconds before it hit the seawall in front of the runway. On Monday, Hersman offered fresh details, saying the plane was flying at just 119 miles per hour immediately prior to the accident, a full 25 percent slower than normal for the descent. Hersman referred to the local coroner's office any questions on whether one of the two girls killed in the accident had been run over by a fire vehicle. San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes White said on Monday: "We have information and evidence to suggest that one of our fire apparatus came into contact with one of the victims at the scene. We're working closely with the NTSB as they conduct their investigation, particularly on this aspect." The coroner's office did not respond to inquiries about when the autopsy results might be released. DRAMATIC RESCUE SCENE San Francisco police and fire officials, at an airport news conference, described a dramatic scene in the moments after the crash, with firefighters quickly putting out an initial blaze and clambering up escape slides to help evacuate passengers. San Francisco police officer Jim Cunningham, who colleagues said raced onto the plane without any protective gear, described freeing passengers as fire began to engulf the aircraft. "People had injuries and some were just scared to move," Cunningham said. "When we were getting the last couple of people out, I started coughing. The cabin started filling up with smoke. A black billow of smoke came rushing towards us before we were just about to get off the plane." Many passengers, especially at the front of the plane, were able to walk off easily. But emergency workers and passengers described a grim situation in other parts of the plane, with some passengers trapped among dislodged seats and an escape chute that had deployed inside the aircraft. Eugene Rah, a concert producer who lives in the San Francisco suburb of Milbrea, described heroic efforts by a flight attendant he identified as Ji Yeon Kim. "She was in tears, but she was telling everybody what to do," Rah said in an interview. "She was piggybacking other passengers." Rah described a frustrating and disorganized situation in the hours after the crash, with survivors receiving little information or help from the airline or local authorities. The charred aircraft remained on the airport tarmac on Monday as investigators collected evidence even as flight operations gradually returned to normal. The two girls who died, Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, were friends from the Jiangshan Middle School in Quzhou, located in the prosperous eastern coastal province of Zhejiang. Ye, 16, had an easy smile, was an active member of the student council and had a passion for biology, the Beijing News reported. "Responsible, attentive, pretty, intelligent," were the words written about her on a recent school report, it said. Wang, a year older than Ye, also was known as a good student and was head of her class, the newspaper said. They were among a group of about 35 students on their way to attend a summer camp at the West Valley Christian School in West Hills, near Los Angeles. Pastor Glenn Kirby said the surviving students would now be returning home to China. (Additional reporting by Gerry Shih, Alistain Barr, Sarah McBride, Ronnie Cohen, Poornima Gupta, Laila Kearney, Dan Levine, Peter Henderson, Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Jonathan Allen and Barbara Goldberg in New York, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Laura MacInnis in Washington; Writing by Jonathan Weber; Editing by Will Dunham) |
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