BEIJING - China has denounced as "crude interference" proposed US legislation for the annual certification of Hong Kong's autonomy.

US lawmakers on Thursday introduced the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which would require the US secretary of state to issue an annual certification of Hong Kong's autonomy.

Under the proposed bill, Hong Kong risks losing certain trade-related privileges with the US that are not enjoyed by mainland China.

On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang called the introduction of the bill "irresponsible carping and crude interference."

Speaking at a regular media briefing in Beijing, Geng urged the US "to give up its delusions of creating chaos in Hong Kong, stop pushing the proposed bill, and stop interfering in China's domestic affairs."

The development came shortly after days of unrest in Hong Kong over an extradition bill.

Hong Kong's government seeks to have a law passed that allows suspects to be sent for trial to countries not covered by the region's current extradition agreements. Critics say the law could be used to send Beijing's political opponents to mainland China. Proponents say it makes for normal judicial processes that will close loopholes in current laws.

The protests were the most intense and violent on Wednesday, when the government was forced to postpone the second round of the debate on the extradition bill.

US officials have been supporting the protesters.

China summons senior US diplomat

Later on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned a senior US Embassy official to file stern representations over remarks and actions by the US government regarding Hong Kong.

According to the ministry's statement, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng summoned US Deputy Chief of Mission in Beijing Robert Forden and called on the US not to not take any action that harmed Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.

"China will watch the US side's actions and further respond," Le said, without elaborating.

Former British colony Hong Kong was returned to China after about a century in 1997. Its legislative, executive, and judicial bodies are separate from and independent of China, and Beijing only maintains authority in defense, foreign affairs, and constitutional disputes.

New Delhi - India has joined the elite bloc of nations like Russia, Germany, Italy, and France with indigenously built heavyweight torpedoes for its submarines and warships.

The development comes with India signing a $170 million contract for the supply of over 70 torpedoes for arming both warships and submarines. The supply of torpedoes named "Varunastra" has to be executed in the next 42 months.

The ship-launched electrically propelled underwater weapon is equipped with the most advanced automatic and remote controlled guidance systems, according to Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) - the manufacturer of the weapon system.

The development holds high importance as India scrapped a deal to purchase heavy torpedoes from Whitehead Alenia Systemi Subacquei (WASS) over corruption allegations involving another Finmeccanica subsidiary, Agusta Westland, in 2017.

The Indian Navy has made another attempt to purchase similar torpedoes from foreign vendors, including German and French firms, but it could not make much progress in the last two years.

The Indian Navy had evaluated German SeaHake and French F21 Artemis heavyweight torpedoes, but the current status of the tender is yet unknown.

In the absence of heavy torpedoes, the Indian Navy has been operating its first Scorpene-class submarine without its primary weapon system.

The second submarine of this class, also without the modern heavyweight torpedoes, is likely to be inducted in the next few months. "We cannot reveal due to sensitivity of the matter", a BDL spokesperson replied when asked whether Varunastra could be fitted into the Scorpene-class submarines immediately.

Varunastra, with 95% indigenous content, is developed by the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), a premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory based at Visakhapatnam. Bharat Dynamics Ltd. has been associated as a production partner in concurrent engineering mode.

The versatile naval weapon, Varunastra, which can be fired from Rajput-class destroyers, the Delhi-class and all future Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) ships, is capable of firing heavy torpedoes. It is also capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines both in deep and littoral waters even in an intense countermeasure atmosphere.

The Indian shipyard MDL has been building Scorpene-class submarines with the help of French firm DCNS. It originally envisaged equipping the submarines with Black Shark torpedoes as their primary weapons.

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan - Iran will continue scaling back compliance with its nuclear deal commitments unless other signatories show “positive signals”, the Iranian president told a meeting of Russian, Chinese and other Asian leaders in Tajikistan.

Iran stopped complying in May with some commitments in a 2015 nuclear deal that was agreed with global powers, a year after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the accord and tightened sanctions.

Tehran said in May that Iran would start enriching uranium at a higher level, unless world powers protected its economy from U.S. sanctions within 60 days.

“Obviously, Iran cannot stick to this agreement unilaterally,” President Hassan Rouhani told the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

“It is necessary that all the sides of this agreement contribute to restoring it,” he said, adding that Iran needed to see “positive signals” from other signatories to the pact, which include Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

He did not give details on what actions Iran would take or say what positive signals Tehran wanted to see.

France and other European signatories to the deal, which aimed to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions, have said they wanted to save it, but many of their companies have canceled deals with Tehran, under financial pressure from the United States.

Western powers have accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies saying it wants nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Rouhani made no mention of attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week which Washington has blamed on Tehran, raising concern about new confrontation. Iran has denied any role in the attacks.

ARLINGTON, Virginia, USA - The U.S. Air Force successfully conducted the first flight test of its AGM-183A Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, on a B-52 Stratofortress aircraft on June 12 at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

A sensor-only version of the ARRW prototype was carried externally by a B-52 during the test to gather environmental and aircraft handling data.

The test gathered data on drag and vibration impacts on the weapon itself and on the external carriage equipment of the aircraft. The prototype did not have explosives and it was not released from the B-52 during the flight test. This type of data collection is required for all Air Force weapon systems undergoing development.

"We're using the rapid prototyping authorities provided by Congress to quickly bring hypersonic weapon capabilities to the warfighter," said Dr. Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. "We set out an aggressive schedule with ARRW. Getting to this flight test on time highlights the amazing work of our acquisition workforce and our partnership with Lockheed Martin and other industry partners."

The Air Force is leading the way in air-launched hypersonic weapon prototyping efforts. As one of two rapid prototyping hypersonic efforts, ARRW is set to reach early operational capability by fiscal year 2022.

"This type of speed in our acquisition system is essential – it allows us to field capabilities rapidly to compete against the threats we face," Roper said.

The flight test serves as the first of many flight tests that will expand the test parameters and capabilities of the ARRW prototype.

The ARRW rapid prototyping effort awarded a contract in August 2018 to Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Florida, for critical design review, test and production readiness support to facilitate fielded prototypes.

By Jamie Dettmer

WASHINGTON - A Russian military contractor indicted last year by U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller for meddling in domestic American politics is emerging as a key figure in a wide-ranging Kremlin influence operation aimed at boosting Russian clout in Africa at the expense of Western powers, according to documents obtained by an investigative unit funded by an exiled critic of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Nicknamed "Putin's cook' because of his lucrative Kremlin catering contracts, the 57-year-old Yevgeny Prigozhin emerges from a tranche of documents as the go-to oligarch for Moscow's ambition to turn sub-Saharan Africa into a strategic hub and to reduce Western influence.

The documents, first reported by Britain's Guardian newspaper, detail the activities and goals in various African countries of the Wagner group, a military contractor that supplied Russian mercenaries to Kremlin allies for combat in Syria and Ukraine. The St. Petersburg-based Prigozhin has denied in the past the existence of the Wagner group, but both were sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2016 for supporting pro-Moscow separatists in the conflict in Ukraine's Donbas region.

The Treasury Department said Prigozhin provided extensive support to the separatists, including constructing a military base near Ukraine for Russian troops to use for deployments into the Donbas. Some Russian opposition leaders and independent military analysts suspect Wagner is a disguised unit of Russia's defense ministry.

Who is Cooperating

The documents, internal communications shared between Prigozhin's employees, outline what Wagner has accomplished and plans to do in 13 African states, including the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Libya and South Africa. There are also ratings of the level of cooperation already achieved with local political authorities, the armed forces and police as well as evaluations of current political and economic ties with Russia.

In CAR, the group credits itself with reducing the influence of local politicians who it describes as "orientated to France” and of strengthening the armed forces. The group also brags about setting up newspapers and a radio station. It accords a five out five for the level of cooperation already achieved in CAR.

In July last year three Russian journalists who were investigating Wagner's involvement in the CAR were found dead outside the capital city of Bangui.

Madagascar is also marked as a five out five for cooperation already reached. In the internal documents Wagner's achievements listed on the island include helping to secure the election in 2018 of 45-year-old Andry Rajoelina as president. Other accomplishments noted are stabilizing the political situation, counteracting anti-government protests, training the police and producing and distributing the country's biggest mass-selling newspaper.

Wagner's activities are coordinated with top officials inside Russia's foreign and defense ministries, suggest the documents, which were obtained by the Dossier Center, an investigation team set up and financed by Mikhail Khodorkovksy, a businessman and philanthropist who was imprisoned in Russia for a decade and now lives in exile in Switzerland.

U.S. Indictment

Last year, Robert Mueller, who led a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, secured from a grand jury an indictment of Prigozhin for overseeing a troll factory that spearheaded Russian meddling in the elections. A dozen other Russians were charged at the same time.

According to the indictment Prigozhin controlled the entity behind a troll factory, known as the Internet Research Agency, which waged "information warfare against the United States” by "creating fictitious social-media personas and spreading falsehoods.”

European intelligence agencies have also accused the Internet Research Agency of conducting social-media based disinformation campaigns designed to magnify and aggravate social and political divisions in the West.

Prigozhin mocked the Mueller indictment, telling the Russian state news agency Ria Novosti: "The Americans are very impressionable people; they see what they want to see. I have a lot of respect for them. I am not upset at all that I ended up on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see him.”

The Kremlin's Hand

But Russian opposition politicians and rights activists describe Prigozhin as Putin's go-to oligarch for sensitive and unsavory missions that advance Kremlin's geopolitical ambitions. The documents obtained by the Dossier Center suggest Wagner is nurturing relations with existing African rulers and identifying and grooming likely future leaders, as well as striking military deals and advising on disinformation campaigns.

One of the documents proposes establishing a database of Africans residing in the U.S. and Europe to help spot "future leaders” and those who could be developed to become "agents of influence” with the eventual aim of shaping a "loyal chain of representatives across African territory.”

Wagner has also been advising some African leaders on how to undermine anti-government protests, although its counsel is not always taken, apparently. In a letter purportedly written by Prigozhin, the Wagner boss berates the former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted earlier this year, for failing to heed Russian advice on how to combat the pro-democracy protests imperiling his rule.

Prigozhin reprimanded al-Bashir at the "lack of activity” and the government's "extremely cautious position.” He had urged the ousted leader to be more aggressive and to smear the demonstrators as being pro-Israel and pro-gay and anti-Islam.

In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting president to be indicted by the International Criminal Court, for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur.

Kremlin officials have regularly denied any Russian government connection with the activities of the Wagner group. But last November supporters of Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army, who launched this year an assault on Tripoli, posted a video showing Prigozhin attending a meeting in Moscow between top Russian officials and the Libyan general.

A recent investigation by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta found that a private jet linked to Prigozhin had flown back and forth between Russia and Africa frequently in 2018.

WASHINGTON - Women around the world have an essential role in conflict prevention and resolution, security provision, peace processes, and countering terrorism. For over a decade, the United States has been a leader in promoting global peace and stability by empowering women to take on those roles and addressing challenges faced by women and girls in conflict and disaster affected areas. Today, the United States reaffirms our leadership on these issues with President Trump's release of the U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security, said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in statement.

The strategy directs the Department of State to ensure women and girls' meaningful participation and safety in efforts to promote stable and lasting peace as well as enhance U.S. partners' capacity to advance women, peace, and security. We are proud to take on this task in partnership with the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Department of State will mobilize the unique contributions of American diplomacy through the implementation of this strategy.

The United States recognizes that societies which empower women economically and politically are more stable and peaceful. As such, the strategy is a government-wide effort, complementing the recently announced Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. Both efforts underscore President Trump's emphasis on the importance of empowering women to participate fully in civic and economic life, leading to more peaceful and prosperous societies.

Justice Department presses UK to extradite WikiLeaks founder to US

By Masood Farivar

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has formally asked Britain to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face a raft of charges related to his release of a massive trove of secret diplomatic cables and war logs, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

A formal request for Assange's extradition was delivered to British authorities last Thursday, just days before a June 11 deadline.

Under an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom, the U.S. had 60 days from the date of Assange's April 11 arrest in London to file a formal request for his handover. The treaty bars U.S. prosecutors from charging Assange with crimes not outlined in the request, making the filing of additional counts against Assange highly unlikely.

The Australian-born computer programmer and activist is being sought to face charges in federal court in Northern Virginia that he worked with former Army specialist Chelsea Manning to unlawfully obtain and publish hundreds of thousands of reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as conditions within the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Assange had eluded arrest for seven years by holing up in Ecuador's embassy in London until Ecuadorian officials turned against him in April.

After Assange's arrest by London police, U.S. prosecutors unsealed a year-old indictment charging Assange with a single count of computer intrusion in connection with the publication of the secret documents. But last month, they upped the ante, accusing Assange in a new 18-count superseding indictment of violating the 1917 Espionage Act by distributing classified information.

Assange, 47, faces up to ten years in prison for each of the new charges.

The Espionage Act was enacted by Congress to deter spies from passing secret information to foreign governments. The last time a grand jury returned an indictment under the law was during World War II.

The Espionage charges against Assange have provoked outrage among press freedom advocates who worry that the government could use the law to prosecute others for distributing confidential defense information.

Yet it remains far from certain that Assange will stand trial in the United States. That is because the U.S.-U.K. treaty prohibits extradition for the specific charges Assange faces.

"Espionage is generally considered a political offense, and the treaty forbids extraditing someone charged with political offenses," John T. Nelson, a legal fellow at the Just Security blog, wrote recently.

Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006 as "an intelligence agency of the people." To obtain secret documents to publish on his website, he "repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal and provide it to WikiLeaks to disclose," prosecutors wrote in the superseding indictment.

Assange took refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 to avoid possible extradition to Sweden to face charges that he raped a Swedish woman. A Swedish court ruled last week that Assange should not be extradited to Sweden but should still be questioned in the case while he is imprisoned in Britain.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to Sweden for a revived rape investigation, but should still be questioned in the case while he is imprisoned in Britain, a Swedish court ruled Monday, The ruling by the Uppsala District Court. doesn't mean the preliminary rape investigation must be abandoned, only that Assange won't be extradited to Sweden for now. Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden's deputy director of public prosecutions, said she has not decided yet.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves Southwark Crown Court after being sentenced in London, Britain, May 1, 2019.

Swedish prosecutors are reopening the rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange following a request from the lawyer of one of the alleged victims. Assange was arrested last month in Ecuador's embassy in London, after the country reversed its decision to give him asylum. The 47-year-old Australian national is also wanted in the United States on hacking charges and the British government will now have to decide which extradition request should take priority.

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange held placards and a banners in protest outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London on May 30, 2019.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange missed a court session Thursday, apparently due to health problems. He had been expected to appear from prison via video link at a brief extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court. Lawyer Gareth Peirce told the court Assange was "not very well.''

Assange is due to appear this Friday at Westminster Court in London but his ill-health may not provide him with the strength to stand trial.

At briefing Tuesday at the Foreign press Association, a former Icelandic minister of the Interior revealed that an FBI delegation landed in Iceland capital in 2015 with the objective of framing Assange so that he could stand trial either in Britain or Sweden. The minister ordered the FBI delegation to go back to the US.

the Editor of Wikileaks also said that Assange’s detention is politically motivated and that press freedom is now on trial.

CAIRO - A Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Iran-allied Houthi forces in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, Saudi state television reported early on Saturday, part of an escalation of tit-for-tat strikes that has stoked regional tensions.

The strikes hit air-defence systems and other military positions in the Houthi-controlled city, days after the Houthis launched a missile attack on a Saudi airport, according to the TV report.

The Western-backed, Sunni Muslim coalition has been battling the Houthis in Yemen since 2015 to try to restore the internationally recognized government that was forced out of Sanaa by the Houthis.

The Houthis have stepped up drone and missile attacks on cities in neighboring Saudi Arabia in recent months as tensions have risen between Iran and Gulf Arab states allied with the United States further afield across the Middle East.

The Yemen conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. But the Houthis have denied taking any orders from Tehran and say they took up arms against corruption.

Yemen’s civil war has killed more than 10,000 people and pushed the impoverished country to the verge of famine, the United Nations and aid agencies have said.

Saudi authorities says the Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport on Wednesday wounded 26 people.

Campaign group Human Rights watch condemned that attack. “Unlawful Saudi-led coalition air strikes in Yemen never justify Houthi attacks on Saudi civilians,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

The escalation in violence could threaten a fragile U.N.-led peace initiative in Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah, which handles the bulk of the impoverished country’s commercial and aid imports and is a lifeline for millions of Yemenis.

BISHKEK - U.S. actions pose a serious threat to stability in the Middle East, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the leaders of a China-led security bloc including Russia and India on Friday.

The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concern about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation. Iran denied any connection with the attacks.

Rouhani did not mention the attacks but focused his criticism on U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal last year from world powers’ 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

He said Iran continued to honor the accord. “Iran asks the remaining participants in the nuclear deal to immediately [meet] their commitments,” Rouhani told the meeting in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.

The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concerns about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation, but Tehran bluntly denied the allegation.

Iran's foreign minister said on Friday that the U.S. allegations against Iran over the Gulf of Oman tanker attacks were part of "sabotage diplomacy" adopted by a so-called B Team, which he has said includes U.S. national security adviser John Bolton.

TEHRAN - Iran said on Friday it was responsible for maintaining the security of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf, state radio reported, adding that blaming Tehran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman was alarming.

“We are responsible for ensuring the security of the Strait and we have rescued the crew of those attacked tankers in the shortest possible time,” Radio quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying.

“Obviously, accusing Iran for such a suspicious and unfortunate incident is the simplest and the most convenient way for (U.S. Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo and other U.S. officials. These accusations are alarming.”

The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concern about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosions that forced the crews to abandon ship and leave both the Norwegian-owned Front Altair and Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous adrift in waters between Gulf Arab states and Iran.

The blasts, south of the Strait of Hormuz, followed last month’s sabotage attacks on vessels off the Fujairah emirate, one of the world’s largest bunkering hubs. Iran has distanced itself from the attacks.

Almost a fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait - some 17.2 million barrels per day (bpd). Consumption was about 100 million bpd in 2017, data from analytics firm Vortexa showed.

Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to $61.69 per barrel in Asian trade on Friday, having gained 2.2% the previous day, though at one point they had surged as much as 4.5% in the wake of the attacks.

Iran’s key regional rival Saudi Arabia said that Riyadh was committed to providing reliable oil supplies to global markets.

One source said the blast on the Front Altair, which caught fire and sent a huge plume of smoke into the air, may have been caused by a magnetic mine. The firm that chartered the Kokuka Courageous tanker said it was hit by a suspected torpedo, but a person with knowledge of the matter said torpedoes were not used.

The U.S. military released a video late on Thursday that it said showed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) removing an unexploded mine from the side of the Japanese-owned oil tanker.

The U.S. military’s Central Command also released photographs showing the apparent mine, which attaches to the side of a ship magnetically, before it was removed later in the day.

Tension between Iran and the United States has risen since May last year, when U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that aimed to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran has repeatedly warned it would block the Strait of Hormuz if it cannot sell its oil because of U.S. sanctions.

Tensions have increased further since Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran and acted at the beginning of May to force Iran’s oil customers to slash their imports to zero or face draconian U.S. financial sanctions.

Iran’s oil exports, its economy’s lifeblood, have dropped to about 400,000 bpd in May from 2.5 million bpd in April last year.

Meeting on Friday on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kyrgyzstan, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Friday that China will promote steady development of ties with Iran no matter how the situation changes, the official Xinhua news agency reported.