Myanmar fighting spurs U.N. response
GENEVA — As fighting in western Myanmar sent thousands of refugees fleeing to Bangladesh, the United Nations top human rights official on Tuesday urged Myanmar’s military to show restraint and accused the office of the country’s de facto leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, of issuing “irresponsible” statements that could endanger international aid organizations.
United Nations officials said more than 8,700 Rohingya, members of Myanmar’s Muslim minority, have fled across the border to Bangladesh from Rakhine state since Saturday, following clashes last week between security forces and a militant group identified as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. The fighting was reported to have killed more than 100 people.
Brexit tensions rise
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker joined the bloc’s chief negotiator in lashing out at the UK for failing to prepare for Brexit talks, as the third round of negotiations looked set to produce little progress.
“I’veread all the position papersproduced by Her Majesty’sgovernment and none ofthem is satisfactory,” Mr. Junckersaid on Tuesday at a conferencein Brussels, as talksbetween the UK and the EUresumed. “There is still an enormousamount of issues thatremain to be settled.”
The stage had already been set for an intense round of negotiations after chief negotiator Michel Barnier and Brexit Secretary David Davis met on Monday for the first time since July and candidly aired their frustration at each other’s approaches. Mr. Barnier said time was running out, as the UK continued in its bid to change the order of topics discussed.
Uranium bank opens
ASTANA,Kazakhstan — Arms control advocates Tuesday celebrated the opening of an internationally supported repository for nuclear reactor fuel that its backers believe will dissuade countries interested in nuclear power from developing the capability to make atomic weapons.
Enriching uranium, the technology that produces fuel for a nuclear power plant, is also the process for creating a nuclear bomb, meaning that the risk of proliferation spreads when individual countries build their own fuel-making facilities.
TheInternational Atomic EnergyAgency’s low-enricheduranium bank, opened Tuesdayin Kazakhstan, is the culminationof a years-long effortto respond to this risk. Theagency, which will run the“bank” independently of anycountry, will purchase andstore low-enriched uranium,fuel for civilian reactorsbut not an ingredient for nuclearweapons.
The uranium repository is also a rare bright spot in the rocky U.S.-Russian relationship. Both Russia and China granted transit rights for uranium fuel being shipped to and from the Kazakh facility.
Grasberg mine stake shift
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Though located in Indonesia, one of the world’s most valuable chunks of land has long been owned by Americans. Called the Grasberg mine, it represents a vast store of copper and gold ore extracted through an open pit one-third of a mile deep.
The deal unveiled Tuesday between the U.S. owner, the mining company Freeport-McMoRan, and the Indonesian government is meant to bring an end to years of rising public anger over U.S. control of one of the mining industry’s crown jewels. It could also end a fight between the two sides that limited output at the mine and affected metals prices worldwide.