Putin: S-300 missiles not sent to Syria yet

Russian President Vladimir Putin leads a Russia-EU Summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Tuesday, June 4, 2013. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Mikhail Klimentyev, Presidential Press Service)

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday thatRussia hasn't yet fulfilled a contract to send sophisticated S-300 air defense missile systems to Syria to avoid tilting the balance of power in the region.

Russian officials have acknowledged that Moscow signed a deal for the delivery of the powerful missiles a few years ago, but have been coy about whether any of them have been delivered.

Syrian President Bashar Assad told the Lebanese TV station Al-Manar last week that Russia has fulfilled some of its weapons contracts recently, but he was vague on whether this included the advanced S-300s. Israel's defense minister told a parliamentary committee Monday that according to "Russian talk," the weapon has not yet been delivered.

Speaking after a Russia-European Union summit in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, Putin defended the S-300 deal, saying it complies with the international law, but added that Russia hasn't yet fulfilled it.

"It's perhaps the best such weapon in the world," Putin said at a news conference. "It's indeed a serious weapon. We don't want to throw the region off balance."

"The contract has been signed a few years ago. It hasn't been fulfilled yet," Putin said.

The U.S. and Israel have warned Russia against delivering the missiles, which would dramatically increase Syria's air defense potential. Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria in recent months that are believed to have destroyed weapons shipments bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, asked about Putin's announcement at a news conference Tuesday at U.N. headquarters in New York, said: "We would certainly urge Russia not to supply these weapons to the Syrian regime."

The S-300 missile system, which has a range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) and the capability to track down and strike multiple targets simultaneously, could significantly limit the Israeli air force's ability to act. Israel has threatened to attack the missiles if they are delivered.

Russia has been a key supporter of Assad, protecting his regime from U.N. sanctions and providing it with weapons, despite the two-year civil war in which more than 70,000 people have been killed.

Putin on Tuesday also criticized the EU's decision to lift its weapons embargo for Syrian rebels, saying that Russia was "disappointed" by the move, which he said ran contrary to international law.

He said that Russia would continue to push for a peace conference on Syria, but added that the prospects for convening it have been clouded by the "lack of goodwill on behalf of the armed opposition."

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Edith M. Lederer contributed to this story from the United Nations.

Turkey's street protests get personal

A protester holds a Turkish flag decorated with the image of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, during clashes near Taksim Square in Istanbul, late Monday, June 3, 2013. Turkish riot police launched round after round of tear gas against protesters on Monday, the fourth day of violent demonstrations, as the president and the prime minister staked competing positions on the unrest. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected the protesters' demands that he resign and dismissed the demonstrations as the work of Turkey's opposition. President Abdullah Gul, for his part, praised the mostly peaceful protesters as expressing their democratic rights. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he addresses reporters during a press conference at the Moroccan foreign ministry in Rabat, Morocco, Monday June 3, 2013. On Monday Erdogan again dismissed the Istanbul street protests as being organized by extremists, described them as a temporary blip and angrily rejected comparisons with the Arab Spring uprisings.(AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Brash and stubborn, Turkey's leader doesn't shrink from a scrap. His voice booms when he gets on a podium and his folksy zingers enthrall supporters as much as they repulse opponents. That trademark combativeness, though, is fueling protests against hisgovernment.

For perhaps the first time in a decade of power, Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks vulnerable.

Turkey has been gripped by street skirmishes since Friday, when a police raid against a peaceful demonstration in an Istanbul park blew the lid off pent-up hostility toward the government. The protests are largely driven by visceral dislike among urban and secular circles for Erdogan, the three-term prime minister with designs on the presidency who helped build a middle class.

His hardheadedness once served him well, helping him project Turkish influence in the region, excise military meddling from politics and build a model for countries struggling to reconcile Islam and democratic impulses.

But his uncompromising style is now working against him, as members of the middle class he helped foster make it clear they've had enough of his rule.

Though many see him as out of touch with his early commitment to individual freedoms and democratic reforms, Erdogan can still count on a powerful support base of conservative Turks. Though some government officials have hinted at disagreement with their leader's approach, Erdogan has so far chosen confrontation over reconciliation, dismissing the demonstrators as rabble.

Erdogan, an ex-football player from a poor neighborhood of Istanbul, has led his ruling party to a string of electoral landslides over the fractured political opposition. But government opponents complain of unilateral decision-making and edicts that appear to be religiously motivated and pose a challenge to Turkey's secular principles.

Protesters vent their displeasure by calling the 59-year-old prime minister by his given name "Tayyip," a way of denigrating Erdogan because of his paternal demeanor, which would ordinarily command respect. A traditional term of address would be "Basbakanim," which means "My Prime Minister."

"Tayyip, winter is coming," warned one piece of protest graffiti. "Tayyip, would you like three kids like us?" read a sign held by a protester who lampooned Erdogan's calls for families to have three children.

Beril Eski, a 27-year-old editor at a television station, was not inclined to protest in the past. But she joined the demonstrations that have swept Istanbul because she felt insulted by police treatment of demonstrators and what she described as an overbearing government led by a man given to provocative rhetoric.

"If he said he was sorry — I'm not sure he's going to do that — if he said he would step back, that would make us feel comfortable," Eski said. "That would make us feel that we have a say in our future."

She said she had had been sympathetic to his years of effort to remove the political influence of military-backed elites, which had sidelined Erdogan's traditional constituency of religiously devout Turks in the past. But now that Erdogan's base is in charge, she said, he has a growing sense of entitlement.

"It's too much about his style, too much about his being the single man in control," Eski said.

Turkey has long been guided by strongman cults. There were centuries of Ottoman imperial rulers; then Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the national founder who imposed an unrelenting vision of secularism that benefited like-minded elites; and the military, quick to step in when unhappy with civilian leadership.

On Erdogan's watch, the economy has grown, the military has dropped out of politics and diplomats have confidently fanned out across the region. The rapid expansion of Turkish Airlines, the national flagship, symbolizes the ambitions of a country that started to rediscover the purported glories of an Ottoman era seen as backward by Ataturk, whose image has been seen on posters and flags at the recent protests.

A product of political Islam, Erdogan reassured supporters of Western-style democracy with an early push for European Union membership. But opponents feel his government's emphasis on "morality," and measures such as restrictions on alcohol consumption, mask a campaign to tamper with their most intimate decisions in the name of Islam.

The prime minister was so confident in the past that national billboards have linked his legacy to plans for the centenary of the national founding in 2023. That lofty vision ties in with his ambition, now in doubt, to switch Turkey to a presidential system of government by referendum, allowing him to run for the post and possibly stay at Turkey's helm for another decade.

"We won't let Erdogan be defeated by anyone. Neither we, nor our voters, would allow that. He is a centenary leader. Our prime minister is the one who led the great transformation of Turkey," Yalcin Akdogan, an aide to the prime minister, said Monday in an interview with HaberTurk television.

Still, Erdogan no longer seems politically untouchable.

"I think people are excited to possibly witness a David and Goliath story," said Arda Batu, vice chairman of the ARI Movement, a non-governmental group based in Istanbul.

He said, however, that the protesters were unlikely to defeat him even though they had inflicted an "important wound" on the country's leader.

"It seems there is no political party to harness this energy" in the streets, Batu wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "I think that the greatest strength of this political movement, the fact that it was an independent public movement, also points to the greatest weakness in Turkish politics, the lack of strong opposition."

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Christopher Torchia was Associated Press bureau chief in Turkey from 2007 until early 2013.

Ohio lawmaker seeks money for 3 captive women

Ohio lawmaker seeks reparations, free college for 3 Cleveland women abducted, held captive

Associated Press -

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A lawmaker wants the state to provide years of relief payments and a free ride to college for three Cleveland women abducted and held in captivity for about a decade.

State Rep. John Barnes Jr. planned to introduce his Survivors of Abduction Act on Tuesday. It would provide Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight with at least $25,000 annually in reparations for the years they were restrained and tuition, fees and living expenses at a public college.

The bill also requires pursuit of a federal waiver for the women — or anyone restrained or held in "involuntary servitude" for at least eight years — so they would receive lifetime government medical assistance.

Barnes, a Cleveland Democrat, said legislators of both parties have expressed support for the bill, which would bear the women's names and be covered by taxpayers. A spokesman for House Speaker William Batchelder said the Republican leader hadn't yet seen the bill and so couldn't comment on its prospects.

Ariel Castro was charged with rape and kidnapping last month after the women's dramatic escape and rescue from his Cleveland home. The three were in their teens or early 20s when they disappeared. The 52-year-old's attorney has said Castro will plead not guilty.

In contemplating the case that shocked his city, Barnes said he knew nothing policymakers did could bring back the decade or more of everyday activities Berry, DeJesus and Knight missed through their ordeal: going to the beauty shop, taking a walk, attending prom, throwing a snowball.

He settled on offering them education, health care and an annual stipend from one of the crime victims' reparations funds overseen by Attorney General Mike DeWine. Under the bill, those payments would continue for at least as many years as the abduction survivor was held in captivity.

"Society is not going to be kind to them regardless of whether or not they were in this situation or not. It's going to view, 'Well, what have you done? What do you have to offer?'" Barnes said. "So, I thought: Let's look at how we could restore what they would have received had they in fact had an opportunity to have their freedom."

The legal-crisis management team representing the women said they continue to spend quiet time with family and friends and preferred not to comment on the bill.

But their attorney, Jim Wooley, said, "Anything the community does to support these women is greatly appreciated."

Barnes said Berry, DeJesus and Knight would need to obtain a GED and be admitted to a public college, university or technical school to take advantage of the college benefit in the bill.

He said he doesn't want the legislation to discourage acts of philanthropy toward the three women, who have received an outpouring of support from around the world since their story was told.

"We want to be mindful that as the news goes away, and as the lime(light) of the moment begins to dim, that a lot of that support is going to go away," he said. "So that, by far, is not enough to be sustainable to them."

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After Sandy Hook, Connecticut lawmakers vote to shield victim photos

By Richard Weizel

MILFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - The Connecticut General Assembly overwhelmingly approved compromise legislation on Wednesday to prevent public release of homicide victim photos, videos and some audiotapes in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting rampage.

After legislative maneuvering that pushed the vote into the pre-dawn hours, the state Senate voted 33-2 and the Connecticut House of Representatives voted 130-2 to pass the bill that establishes a new exemption under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

Governor Dannel Malloy was expected to sign the bill, which could be used to keep from public view some images and audiotapes concerning not only the Sandy Hook massacre of 26 children and school staff in Newtown, Connecticut, last December, but other homicides as well. Once the governor signs the measure, it will take effect immediately.

The bill prohibits the release of photographs, film, video and other visual images showing a homicide victim if the records could "reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy of the victim or the victim's surviving family members.''

However, parts of 911-call tapes will be made public, according to the bill.

Malloy said his goal initially had been to provide a measure of protection for the families who lost loved ones when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook, killing 20 first-grade students and six staff.

"But the fact is, all families have a right to grieve in private. Those who lose loved ones to violence have a right to protect themselves against further anguish," Malloy said.

In a joint letter to Malloy opposing the bill, groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, The Connecticut Daily Newspapers Association, Connecticut Broadcasters Association and Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information said the documents were essential to public watchdogs keeping an eye on government.

"We maintain that public access to investigative reports, 9-11 emergency call transcripts and recordings, death certificates, and the like, serve the public's best interest by permitting the public to monitor the performance of its government," the group wrote.

Initial legislation had been drafted in secret until the Hartford Courant reported on May 21 that the staffs of the state's top prosecutor and the governor's office were working with legislators on a law to suppress the Newtown files.

As part of a compromise, the bill passed on Wednesday included a self-policing measure that would establish a task force of state officials to review the law in action and report its findings early next year to the legislature and governor.

The Sandy Hook violence was one of the worst mass school shootings in U.S. history and revived the gun control debate in the United States.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Maureen Bavdek)

U.S. says Iran's nuclear reactor plans 'deeply troubling'

By Fredrik Dahl

VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it was "deeply troubled" by Iran's plans to start a reactor in 2014 that could yield nuclear bomb material while failing to give U.N.inspectors necessary design information about the plant.

The comments by a U.S. envoy to a board meeting of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) highlighted deepening Western concern about the heavy water reactor which Iran is building near the town of Arak.

Tension over Iran's nuclear course is rising with talks between Tehran and six powers stalled. Israel, widely assumed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed state, sees Iran as the most serious risk to it and has threatened to bomb its nuclear sites if diplomacy and sanctions fail to restrain Tehran.

Iran says the Arak plant will make isotopes for medical and agricultural use. But analysts say this type of facility can also produce plutonium for weapons if the spent fuel is reprocessed - something Iran says it has no intention of doing.

Tasked with ensuring that nuclear material is not diverted for military purposes, the IAEA says Iran must urgently give it design data about Arak, warning that it would otherwise restrict its ability to monitor the site effectively.

"We are deeply troubled that Iran claims that the IR-40 heavy water reactor at Arak could be commissioned as soon as early 2014, but still refuses to provide the requisite design information for the reactor," Joseph Macmanus, the U.S. ambassador to the IAEA, told the 35-nation Board of Governors.

He cited IAEA rules that a member state must inform the Vienna-based U.N. agency about a nuclear plant, and give design details, as soon as it has decided to build one. Iran says it must only do so before loading nuclear fuel into the reactor.

"Iran's refusal to fulfill this basic obligation must necessarily cause one to ask whether Iran is again pursuing covert nuclear activities," Macmanus said, according to a copy of his speech to the closed-door gathering.

The West suspects Iran is seeking the capability to develop nuclear weapons behind the facade of an atomic energy program.

Western worries about Iran are focused largely on uranium enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow, as such material refined to a high level can provide the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

But diplomats and experts say Arak could offer Iran a second route to nuclear bombs, if it decided to build them.

CHINA, RUSSIA JOIN WEST IN PRESSING IRAN

The Arak reactor "creates what is sometimes referred to as a plutonium path to potential weapons-grade material for a nuclear device," Macmanus told reporters outside the board meeting.

Experts say Arak could produce enough plutonium for one bomb per year, if Iran decided to pursue such weapons of mass destruction. But it would first have to build a facility to chemically separate the material from the spent fuel.

The 27-nation European Union said Iran's expansion of sensitive nuclear activities, including its Arak plans, and lack of transparency towards the IAEA "further aggravate the international community's existing concerns".

Iran says its nuclear work is a bid to generate electricity and also to make progress in other areas of scientific research. It denies accusations it is seeking to develop atomic weapons.

Israel has twice before bombed suspected reactor construction sites in the Middle East - in Iraq in 1981 and in Syria in 2007 - underlining its determination not to allow regional foes to acquire the means to assemble nuclear weapons.

To signal big power unity on Iran, China and Russia joined four Western powers in pressing Iran at the IAEA meeting to cooperate with a stalled investigation by the U.N. nuclear agency into suspected atomic weapons research by Tehran.

In a joint statement, the six powers said they were "deeply concerned". But, like previous such diplomatic initiatives, it looked unlikely to have any immediate impact in softening Iran's defiance in the face of increasing international pressure to make it curb activity with both civilian and military uses.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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