CHEBOYGAN (US), Feb 14: It’s been so bitterly cold for so long that the Great Lakes are almost completely covered with ice for the first time in 20 years.
The last time they came this close was in 1994, when 94 percent of the lakes’ surface was frozen. As of Wednesday, ice cover extended across 87 percent. That’s according to the federal Government’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor.
Sections of the lakes harden almost every winter. But scientists say that over the past four decades, the average ice cover has receded 70 percent, probably in part because of climate change.
The deep freeze is more than a novelty. It may help replenish water levels by limiting evaporation, and it could help sustain some species of wildlife. (AGENCIES)

MOSCOW, Feb 14: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the European Union today of seeking to create a “sphere of influence” by pressing Ukraine to choose closer ties with the bloc at the expense of relations with Russia.
Lavrov made the remark at a joint news conference after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. (AGENCIES)

SEOUL, Feb 14: The rival Koreas resumed rare, high-level talks today, seeking a compromise to allow a planned reunion for divided families to go ahead despite the North’s objection to overlapping South Korea-US military drills.
The talks have no fixed agenda, but the first round on Wednesday that ended without any tangible progress made the immediate focus of concern for both sides very clear.
South Korea wants the North to guarantee that the planned reunion for relatives divided by the 1950-53 Korean War will take place as scheduled at the North’s Mount Kumgang resort from February 20-25.
North Korea is insisting that the South must postpone the February 24 start of its annual military drills with the United States until after the reunion is over.
This was the crux of the issue being thrashed out today in the border truce village of Panmunjom, although some observers argue that the most important factor is the willingness of both sides to engage at all.
There are the highest level North-South talks for seven years and the first substantive follow-up to statements by the leaders of both countries — South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and the North’s Kim Jong-Un — professing a desire for improved inter-Korean ties.
A compromise on the overlapping family reunions and military drills could signal a willingness to explore other, far more contentious issues, according to Robert Carlin, a former US State Department official and contributor to the closely-followed North Korea-dedicated website, 38 North.
“When they want to be — which unfortunately is not all that often — both sides are capable of imaginative solutions to what, at first, look to be intractable problems,” Carlin said in post on the website.
There were already signs of a shift in position at Wednesday’s first round talks, with the North’s demand that the annual South Korea-US exercises be postponed.
North Korea routinely condemns the drills as provocative rehearsals for war, and its previous position has always been to demand their permanent cancellation.
By calling for this year’s exercises to be delayed, Pyongyang seemed to indicate that it could live with them actually going ahead — if Seoul and Washington conceded on the scheduling. (AGENCIES)

BEIJING, Feb 14: US Secretary of State John Kerry today met Chinese President Xi Jinping as he embarked on a key visit to hold talks with the top leadership here amid spiralling regional tensions.
Kerry met Xi at the Great Hall of the People and was due to meet Premier Li Keqiang, Foreign Minister Wang Yia and top Chinese officials.
Kerry’s trip comes at a critical juncture with raging tension between China and Japan over islands in the East China Sea, adding to the South China Sea disputes.
During Kerry’s visit, the two sides were expected to discuss bilateral ties and issues of common concern, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing yesterday.
Kerry will “relay the message that the US is committed to pursuing a positive, cooperative, comprehensive relationship and welcomes the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China that plays a positive role in world affairs,” US State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said in a statement.
His visit comes in the wake of a deepening row between China and Japan, which is a close ally of Washington.
Ahead of his visit to China, Kerry last night reiterated that the East China Sea islands, called Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan, fall under the security treaty that obliges the US to intervene on Japan’s behalf if it is attacked.
“That is the position of the United States with respect to those islands,” he said.
Kerry, however, refrained from making a direct reference to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s December visit to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine, saying while there is “legitimate concern about the past”, there are also “issues of enormous current pressing concern that deal with security that are relevant in terms of today, not in terms of history”.
“And it is vital for us to be able to continue to stay focused on the high stakes, in terms of everybody’s lives right now, of those issues,” he said.
Kerry’s discussions are expected to feature the South China Sea diputes as well.
The US has backed Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei’s objections to China’s claims over the South China Sea and has been pushing Beijing to address their objections.
For its part China is concerned over US’ pivot to Asia under which Washington plans to deploy over 60 per cent of its maritime military assets in the region, which Beijing sees as a threat to its security.
The two sides also would focus their talks on issues affecting the steady improvement of bilateral ties.
Kerry arrived here from South Korea and is on his fifth trip to Asia since he took office. His itinerary includes visits to South Korea, China, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates. (AGENCIES)

LONDON, Feb 14: Yet another Atlantic storm was barreling towards Britain today, threatening to dump a month’s worth of rainfall on communities already struggling to cope with the wettest winter for 250 years.
The country’s Met Office said a “multi-pronged attack” of wind, rain and snow would sweep across the country after making landfall in southwest England today.
The heavy rain could lead to another 1,000 houses being evacuated, the Environment Agency told the Daily Telegraph, with downpours of up to 40 millimetres forecast to fall in just six hours.
The agency warned of huge waves on England’s south coast as high tides combine with 128 kms per hour winds.
The storm comes two days after hurricane-force gales tore through the country leaving one person dead and tens of thousands without power.
The swollen River Thames was expected to reach its highest level for 60 years at the weekend, promising fresh misery for flooded towns west of London where the military is providing relief.
Energy companies yesterday worked to get power back to more than 56,000 people still left without electricity, having restored supplies to more than 400,000 hit by outages during Wednesday’s storm.
Prime Minister David Cameron said he would seek financial aid from the European Union to cope with the floods, despite his promises to renegotiate London’s relationship with Brussels and hold a referendum.
“There is assistance that we are seeking from the EU,” he said. “Some of the money I’m making available for Britain’s farmers comes out of an EU budget.”
Cameron said he was also seeking “expertise” from other EU nations, including “Dutch experts on pumping and dealing with flood defences”.
His Government has faced criticism for being slow to help people in flood-hit areas.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg later announced a USD 416,000 fund to advise those hit by the floods. (AGENCIES)

BANGKOK, Feb 14: Thailand’s embattled Government will launch a security operation to reclaim several areas occupied by opposition protesters, a top official said today, as riot police gathered in the capital Bangkok.
The authorities plan to re-take four sites including the Government headquarters and the interior ministry, National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabut told reporters, saying officials would try to negotiate with the demonstrators first.
“We will re-take wherever we can and arrest protest leaders,” he said. (AGENCIES)

TIKRIT, Feb 14: Gunmen seized part of a northern Iraqi town and nearby villages, while bombs killed at least seven people at a historic Baghdad market and set it ablaze, officials said.
The takeover in and around the Salaheddin provincial town of Sulaiman Bek yesterday comes as gunmen control all of one major city and part of another in the western province of Anbar in a stand-off that has lasted for weeks and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
It illustrates the scope of the security problems the country faces, the reach of militant groups and the inability of the armed forces to bring them under control.
The Sulaiman Bek violence began when militants armed with light and medium weapons attacked army positions and overran the town centre early yesterday, local official Talib al-Bayati said.
Some called over mosque loudspeakers for residents to leave, Bayati said, adding that soldiers subsequently surrounded the area and exchanged fire with militants.
Another local official, Shallal Abdul Baban, said militants were in control of western Sulaiman Bek and three nearby villages.
He reported sporadic clashes in the area, and said two policemen had been wounded.
The unrest followed a series of other attacks in the area, including one last July in which some 150 militants hit Sulaiman Bek with mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, and executed 14 Shiite Muslim truck drivers on a nearby highway.
The town was also briefly seized by militants in late April.
In Baghdad, two bomb blasts in the historic Shorjah market, which dates to the Abbassid era over 700 years ago, killed at least seven people and wounded at least 21, officials said.
A journalist said one bomb exploded in the perfume market and the second hit an area where clothes are sold.
The explosions sparked fires, the largest of which raged through the perfume market, sending a pillar of black smoke skywards. (AGENCIES)

SURABYA, Feb 14: Volcanic ash from a major eruption in Indonesia closed three international airports on today and darkened skies across a large swath of the country’s most densely populated island.
First light brought clear the extent of the overnight explosive eruption at Mount Kelud. Booms from the mountain could be heard 130 kilometres away in Surabaya, the country’s second-largest city, and even further afield in Jogyakarta.
Ash covered the ground in both cities and was still falling, according to witnesses and accounts on social media. TV footage from towns closer to the peak showed farmyard animals covered in ash.
Transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said Jogyakarta, Solo and Surabaya airports were closed due to reduced visibility and the dangers posed to aircraft engines by ash.
There were no reports of injuries as a result of the eruption. The mountain had been rumbling for several weeks.
Officials late yesterday urged about 200,000 people living in 36 villages within 10 kilometres of the crater to evacuate. It was unclear how many people heeded that warning.
The 1,731-meter Kelud is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. (AGENCIES)