China penalizes worker at U.K. outpost
HONG KONG -- China said Wednesday that a staff member at the British Consulate in Hong Kong has been given 15 days of administrative detention in the city of Shenzhen for violating regulations on public order.
The case has stoked fears among Hong Kong residents that Beijing is extending its judicial reach to Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory and former British colony.
"The relevant employee is a Hong Kong resident, not a British citizen," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily briefing. "This is purely the internal affairs of China."
Geng said the man violated regulations on "Punishments in Public Order and Security Administration," but gave no further details, adding that his case is "not a diplomatic issue."
About two dozen people gathered Wednesday outside the British Consulate in Hong Kong to demand the U.K. government step up efforts to secure the release of Simon Cheng Man-kit, a trade and investment officer at the consulate.
Max Chung, the event's organizer and an acquaintance of Cheng, said Cheng traveled to the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen on a mainland travel permit for Hong Kong and Macao residents. He holds a British National Overseas passport, according to Chung. The travel document is issued by the U.K. to Hong Kong permanent residents.
2 U.S. servicemen killed in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The NATO mission in Afghanistan said two U.S. service members have been killed.
A brief statement said the two were killed Wednesday and their names are being withheld until 24 hours after their relatives are notified, in accordance with Pentagon policy.
The statement doesn't say how they were killed.
More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 to topple the Taliban, whose government had harbored al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Now, the U.S. and Taliban are in negotiations on an end to nearly 18 years of fighting -- America's longest war.
The U.S. formally ended its Afghan combat mission in 2014 but still provides extensive air and other support to local forces battling both the Taliban and an affiliate of the Islamic State.
New Iran missile system said to be ready
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's state TV is reporting that the country will unveil an Iran-made air-defense missile system.
The Wednesday report said that the Bavar-373 is a long-range surface-to-air missile system able to recognize up to 100 targets at one time and confront them with six different weapons. It was set to be unveiled today.
The system could be a competitor to Russia's S-300 missile system.
Since 1992, Iran has developed a homegrown defense industry that has produced light and heavy weapons ranging from mortars and torpedoes to tanks and submarines.
The U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iran after it pulled out of a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers over concerns about Iran's missile program and regional influence.
Iraq militias accuse Israel of drone hits
BAGHDAD -- Iraqi paramilitary forces backed by Iran accused Israeli drones of carrying out a series of attacks on bases run by the militias, saying Wednesday that they hold the United States ultimately responsible. The militias vowed to defend themselves against any future attack.
The rare and combative statement by the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces came in the wake of at least three mysterious explosions at militia bases around Iraq over the past month. A government investigation, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, found that one of the blasts, last week near Baghdad, was caused by a drone strike.
American officials denied the U.S. had any role in the explosions.
Asked about the mounting speculation that Israel was striking in Iraq, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday neither denied nor confirmed such operations.
If Israel did carry out the bombings, it would be an expansion of its campaign against Iran's spreading influence in the region. Israel is known to have struck Iranian targets in Syria on numerous occasions -- as well as in Lebanon and Sudan in the past. But the last time Israel was known to have struck inside Iraq was in 1981.
Iran wields powerful influence over the Iraqi government through its support of the militias, which were a major force in the fight against the Islamic State.
A Section on 08/22/2019