Rare leopard frog found beyond its known range in Southwest

FILE - In this April 17, 2008, file photo a threatened Chiricahua leopard frog comes out from hiding in a special tank at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Albuquerque, N.M. A U.S. Forest Service volunteer recently photographed the rare frog in an earthen stock tank near the town of Camp Verde in central Arizona, the agency said Thursday, July 23, 2020. The aquatic frogs were thought to be only in eastern Arizona, western New Mexico and northern Mexico but historically were more widespread. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

A U.S. Forest Service volunteer recently photographed a Chiricahua leopard frog in an earthen stock tank near the town of Camp Verde in central Arizona, the agency said Thursday. Biologists later confirmed that at least 10 of the frogs were living there.

The aquatic frogs were thought to be only in eastern Arizona, western New Mexico and northern Mexico but historically were more widespread. The frogs’ numbers have declined because of habitat loss, disease and predators.

Audrey Owns of the Arizona Game and Fish Department said the frogs could have moved into lower elevations in Camp Verde because they were seeking protected habitat or warmer temperatures that guard them from fungal disease.

FILE - In this April 17, 2008, file photo a pair of threatened Chiricahua leopard frogs in a special tank at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Albuquerque, N.M. The rare frog has been found beyond its known range in the U.S. Southwest. A U.S. Forest Service volunteer recently photographed a Chiricahua leopard frog in an earthen stock tank near the town of Camp Verde in central Arizona, the agency said Thursday, July 23, 2020. The agency says biologists later confirmed that at least 10 of the frogs were living there. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the frogs as threatened in 2002. Part of the recovery efforts have included rearing the frogs in captivity and releasing them into stock tanks. A recovery team also has been supplementing water amid a prolonged drought, removing livestock, deepening stock tanks and controlling erosion.

“Large-scale and varied recovery efforts, such as those carried out in the Fossil Creek watershed, are vitally important since biologists do not know exactly which efforts will be successful, or how frogs will adapt to changes in natural conditions, such as disease and long-term drought,” said Janie Agyagos, a wildlife biologist for the Coconino National Forest’s Red Rock Ranger District.

Biologists plan to visit aquatic areas near Camp Verde to determine the extent of the frogs. The male frogs are distinctive for the sound they make during the breeding season, much like snoring.

Poles split over govt plan to exit domestic violence treaty

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA

Members of Poland's women's rights organizations, with obituaries of women who fell victim to violence, protest against plans by the right-wing government to withdraw from Europe's Istanbul Convention on prevention of violence against women and children, in Warsaw, Poland, Friday, July 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles are bitterly divided over steps being taken by the right-wing government to leave a European treaty against domestic violence, claiming it promotes gender “ideology” and links violence to religion.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said Monday he has formally asked the Ministry of Family to start preparations for Poland’s exit from the Istanbul Convention — an initiative of the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights organization. It was not clear when an official withdrawal notice would be filed.

Ziobro, who is head of a small grouping inside the ruling coalition, said he was taking the steps of his own accord and was ready to discuss their timing with other government members.

“It is time to take decisions .... to protect women, children and the family against violence but also time to give no consent to them being demoralized by norms that have been insidiously added to the valid slogans and demands for protection against domestic violence,” Ziobro said on Catholic Radio Maryja.

Ziobro argued that the convention includes provisions of an “ideological character” that his ministry does not agree with. He insisted Poland’s own legislation protects women and children against violence to an even higher degree than the convention.

Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric has said Poland’s intentions to withdraw from the convention are “alarming” and encouraged a “constructive dialogue” to clarify any misunderstandings.

“Leaving the Istanbul Convention would be highly regrettable and a major step backwards in the protection of women against violence in Europe,” Pejcinovic Buric tweeted Sunday.

Also the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe said Monday that Poland’s move toward withdrawal form the convention were “reason for serious concern.”

It said the Istanbul Convention is “widely recognised as the most advanced legally binding treaty to prevent and combat gender-based violence, including marital rape, forced marriages, stalking, female genital mutilations and so-called “honour crimes.”

In Poland, critics expressed outrage on social media, saying the right-wing government of the conservative Law and Justice party was ready to sacrifice women’s safety for its own views based on Roman Catholic traditions.

Warsaw’s liberal mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, runner-up in the recent presidential election, on Monday called attempts to leave to convention a “scandal,” saying that all political forces should work together to fight domestic violence.

Last week, thousands protested the government’s plan in rallies across Poland.

Deputy Justice Minister Michal Wojcik, however, said that while the ministry agreed with the convention on the protection of victims of violence, there was “no consent to ideology” regarding the concept of gender as a social construct.

“There is no third sex, there is only a man and a woman,” Wojcik said.

The deputy spokesman for the ruling party, Radoslaw Fogiel, said on public-service broadcaster Polish Radio 24 that the government was analyzing the convention but had not yet made its final decision regarding the withdrawal.

Poland’s previous, liberal government ratified the convention in 2015, shortly before the current administration took office after winning parliamentary elections on promises including the expanding of social welfare.

The treaty, formally named the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, is based on the premise that women are targeted with violence just because they are women. It states that men and women have equal rights and obliges state authorities to take steps to prevent violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

Another point in the convention that has been questioned by Poland’s government says that “culture, custom, religion, tradition or so-called ‘honor’ shall not be regarded as justification” for acts of violence covered in the treaty. In the government’s interpretation, that amounts to making a link between religion and violence.

The convention, which came into force in 2014, has been signed by 45 European countries and the European Union, but 10 countries — including Britain, Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic — and the EU have yet to ratify it.


SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/07/alarm-at-polands-plan-to-leave-treaty.html
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/07/poland-to-quit-treaty-on-violence.html
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/07/polish-nationalist-catholic-reaction-4.html

UPDATED
Daisy the St. Bernard recovers from her mountain ordeal
yesterday

Volunteers from Wasdale mountain rescue team carry 121lb (55kg) St Bernard dog, Daisy from England's highest peak, Scafell Pike, Sunday July 26, 2020. The mountain rescue team spent nearly five hours rescuing St Bernard dog Daisy, who had collapsed displaying signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move, while descending Scafell Pike. The Wasdale Mountain Rescue team rely on public contributions to their JustGiving.com/wasdalemrt page to fund their mountain safety efforts. (Wasdale Mountain Rescue via AP)


LONDON (AP) — Don’t worry: Daisy — the St. Bernard who reversed mountain rescue conventions — is fine.

The owners of the dog who collapsed while descending England’s tallest mountain says she’s recovering well after a mountain rescue team helped her to safety .

Sixteen volunteers from Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team spent nearly five hours rescuing Daisy last week — after the 55 kilogram (121 pound) dog collapsed while descending Scafell Pike.

Daisy was displaying signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move, having decided she had had enough. After consulting with a veterinarian’s office, rescuers administered some pain relief and adjusted a stretcher designed for humans to be dog-friendly.

Daisy needed a bit of persuasion and a few treats before settling down with her chin resting on the head guard of the stretcher as she was carried down. Rescue workers said it wasn’t all that different from lending a hand to humans in trouble.

“I think Daisy probably knows, even though she can’t say it, how grateful she is,” owner Su Hall told the BBC. She and her husband Jason praised the work of the rescue team, all of whom are volunteers.

St Bernard dogs were originally bred to help with rescues in the Alps, but rescuers say Daisy proved the perfect casualty as she was hauled down Scafell Pike, which is 978 meters (3,209 feet) above sea level and is located in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria.

“She apparently feels a bit guilty and slightly embarrassed about letting down the image of her cousins bouncing across the Alpine snows with barrels of brandy around their necks,” rescue leader Phil Hall said in his Facebook post on the matter.

Volunteers from Wasdale mountain rescue team take turns to carry 121lb (55kg) St Bernard dog, Daisy from England's highest peak, Scafell Pike, Sunday July 26, 2020. The mountain rescue team spent nearly five hours rescuing St Bernard dog Daisy, who had collapsed displaying signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move, while descending Scafell Pike. The Wasdale Mountain Rescue team rely on public contributions to their JustGiving.com/wasdalemrt page to fund their mountain safety efforts. (Wasdale Mountain Rescue via AP)

Sixteen volunteers from Wasdale mountain rescue team take turns to carry 121lb (55kg) St Bernard dog, Daisy from England's highest peak, Scafell Pike, Sunday July 26, 2020. The mountain rescue team spent nearly five hours rescuing St Bernard dog Daisy, who had collapsed displaying signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move, while descending Scafell Pike. The Wasdale Mountain Rescue team rely on public contributions to their JustGiving.com/wasdalemrt page to fund their mountain safety efforts. (Wasdale Mountain Rescue via AP)


St Bernard mountain rescue dog rescued – 
from mountain

‘She feels embarrassed about letting down the image of her cousins bouncing across Alpine snow with barrels of brandy around their necks,’ say team

Jane Dalton @JournoJane

St Bernard dogs have long offered invaluable support in reaching people stranded in precarious mountain emergencies.

So rescuers in Cumbria had a big surprise when they received a call saying one of the breed itself was stuck and needed their help.

Daisy, a St Bernard weighing 8st 9lb (55kg), collapsed while being walked down England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, after showing signs of pain in the legs, and was refusing to move.

Sixteen members of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team had to win the dog’s trust by using treats, before they could administer a painkiller – on a vet’s advice – then begin the rescue operation.
St Bernards, known for their size, were originally bred to rescue people in the Italian and Swiss Alps.

The rescue took five hours as the team carried Daisy on a stretcher over obstacles including a waterfall.

The team wrote on Facebook that as members have their own pampered pooches at home they didn’t think twice about swinging into action when they received the call.

“A few different tactics needed to be tried until both Daisy and her stretcher-bearers were all satisfied and progress could be made. It had become quickly apparent that Daisy’s cooperation was going to be essential if we were to make progress as Daisy made sure we knew that if she didn’t want to do something, she wasn’t going to do it,” they wrote.

“However, after a little persuasion and a bit of arranging the stretcher to become dog-friendly and of course plenty more treats, the 55kg Daisy very quickly settled down with her chin resting on the head guard, having realised that we were trying to help her.”

The rescue then was not very different from rescuing a person, they said.

After a night’s sleep, the four-year-old dog was back in high spirits, the team reported, adding: “She apparently feels a bit guilty and slightly embarrassed about letting down the image of her cousins bouncing across the Alpine snows with barrels of brandy around their necks.”

St Bernard rescued from England’s highest mountain

Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team were called to Scafell Pike to rescue Daisy the St Bernard – a breed originally bred to rescue people in the Alps.

Monday 27 July, 2020

Daisy being rescued.
Image: PA

A MOUNTAIN RESCUE team said its members “didn’t need to think twice” when they were called to help a 121lb (55kg) St Bernard which had collapsed while descending England’s highest peak.

Sixteen volunteers from Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team spent nearly five hours rescuing Daisy from Scafell Pike after receiving a call from Cumbria Police.

The team said the dog was displaying signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move as she came down from the summit of the mountain with her owners on Friday evening.

A spokesman said: “Having team members with their own pampered pooches at home, and also our very own much-adored search dog Jess, we recognise the distress that both an animal can feel and also that of their owners.

“Therefore … when Cumbria Police contacted us about a St Bernard dog (Daisy), who had collapsed whilst descending from the summit of Scafell Pike and therefore unable to carry on, our members didn’t need to think twice about mobilising and deploying to help retrieve Daisy off England’s highest.”

The team said they sought advice from vets before beginning the rescue operation and were able to assess Daisy’s condition and administer pain relief before lifting her off the mountain on a stretcher.

They said: “After a little persuasion and a bit of arranging the stretcher to become dog-friendly, and of course plenty more treats, the 55kg Daisy very quickly settled down with her chin resting on the head guard, having realised that we were trying to help her.

“From there on, apart from the odd little adjustment, the evacuation was found to be not that much different to a normal adult evacuation which, of course, is the bread and butter of our team, which we have done hundreds of times before.”


St Bernard dogs were originally bred to help with rescues in the Alps in Italy and Switzerland but the team said Daisy was the “perfect casualty” and is now recovering from her own rescue ordeal.

The spokesman said: “She apparently feels a bit guilty and slightly embarrassed about letting down the image of her cousins bouncing across the Alpine snows with barrels of brandy around their necks.”

The team thanked West Lakeland Veterinary Group and Galemire Veterinary Hospital for their advice and support during the rescue.

'Hitler's alligator' that survived Battle of Berlin dies in Moscow
An alligator who survived the bombing of Berlin in 1943 and is rumored to have belonged to Adolf Hitler has died in a Moscow zoo aged 84. "Animals are not involved in wars and politics," the zoo said.

FRATER SATURN WAS SUBJECTED TO BOTH 

WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR FATALITY 

An 84-year-old alligator rumored to have once belonged to German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died in Russia, the Moscow Zoo announced Saturday.

Saturn the alligator escaped from a Berlin zoo amid Allied bombing on November 23, 1943. The 3.5-meter animal appears to have survived on his own for the remainder of the war until British soldiers discovered him in 1946.

Read more: 'Hitler supporter' museum project halted

No-one knows exactly where and how Saturn survived in the intervening years.

He was then transported to a Moscow zoo where he has lived peacefully ever since. Zookeepers say he died of old age.

"Saturn had a long and varied life," the zoo said in a statement. "This is an extremely remarkable age." Alligators in the wild tend to live a maximum of 50 years.
The Moscow Zoo posted a video of Saturn on Twitter. "Moscow Zoo had the honor of keeping Saturn for 74 years. He knew many of us as children. We hope we didn't disappoint him," they wrote.
Hitler's pet?

The rumor that Saturn had belonged to Hitler appears to have first been born after he arrived in Moscow, and has never been proved. Saturn appears to have been born in the United States in 1936 before being moved to Berlin.

"Almost immediately, the myth was born that he was allegedly in the collection of Hitler and not of the Berlin Zoo," the Moscow Zoo said in a statement. The rumor is widespread in Germany as well.

The zoo dismissed the story of Saturn's alleged provenance. "Even if he belonged to someone in theory — animals are not involved in war and politics."

"It is absurd to blame them for human sins," they added.

Some historians have debunked long-held beliefs that Hitler was a strict vegetarian and was kind to animals.

ed/shs (AP, dpa)

Defense team alleges U.S. officials using Assange case for political ends

SAY IT AIN'T SO

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange's defense team alleged Monday that U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may be using his case for political ends. File Photo by Stringer/EPA-EFE

July 27 (UPI) -- The defense team for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange alleged Monday during a court hearing that U.S. officials may be using his extradition case for political ends.

Edward Fitzgerald QC said at the hearing at Westminster magistrates court that President Donald Trump had described the defense case as a "plot by the Democrats."

He added that U.S. Attorney General William Barr of the Department of Justice had "sprung" a new superseding U.S. indictment on the defense team and may be using the case for political ends. The indictment came months after Britain had started to try to secure his extradition to the United States.

Fitzgerald also said that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could be using Assange's case for political purposes, ComputerWeekly.com reported.

Assange, who is being held at Belmarsh Prison, eventually took part in the hearing by video link after an initial delay.

Fitzgerald said at the hearing that it would be improper if the new indictment led to postponing the hearing until after the November presidential election in the United States.

Assange was arrested in April of last year. He had been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012 when he sought asylum to dodge sexual assault charges in Sweden. Assange was arrested after Ecuador withdrew its offer of asylum. Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno said the country's patience for Assange had "reached its limit" after "repeated violations to international conventions and daily life."

The WikiLeaks founder was indicted on 17 new charges of violating the Espionage Act in May of last year and already faced a charge from March 2018 of conspiring to commit unlawful computer intrusion, which carried a maximum five years in prison. Assange was accused of working with former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain and publicly release classified information. The new charges brought his total charges to 18 counts with each violation of the Espionage Act carrying a maximum 10-year sentence.

The newest superseding indictment alleges Assange recruited and intentionally worked with hackers from hacking groups "Anonymous" and "LulzSec" to provide WikiLeaks with documents.

The Justice Department said the newest superseding indictment returned last month does not add to the 18-count indictment against him in May 2019, but does "broaden the scope of the conspiracy surrounding alleged computer intrusions with which Assange was previously charged."

"It contains no new charges," WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson said outside the court, referring to the new indictment. "What's really happening is despite its decade-long head-start, the prosecution are still unable to build a coherent and and credible case. So they've scrapped their previous two indictments and gone for a third try."

The full hearing of the extradition case has been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic to September. Judge Vanessa Baraitser said that she expected all parties to attend in person in September.

upi.com/7024479

South Korea lawmakers back compensation for all Jeju massacre victims


The 4.3 Peace park in Jeju island, South Korea, honors victims of a 1948 massacre. File Photo by Jeon Heon-kyun/EPA-EFE

July 27 (UPI) -- South Korean lawmakers across party lines are supporting a new bill that could compensate all victims of a civilian massacre on Jeju Island.

A total of 133 lawmakers say survivors of an anti-communist crackdown that took place in 1948 should receive $109,000 each for being wrongfully charged by military authorities and for having their rights violated, News 1 reported Monday.

The special law's primary objectives are to amend clauses, request additional fact-finding investigations and pursue compensation for victims.

The bill would also cancel charges against civilians who were imprisoned after being sentenced by military courts illegally, said Oh Young-hoon, a lawmaker with Seoul's ruling Democratic Party.

RELATED Exonerated Jeju Massacre prisoners fight to right Korean history

If the bill is passed, financial compensation would be awarded to the victims or surviving family, according to the report.

There are 14,532 officially recognized victims of the Jeju Massacre in South Korea. Of that number, 3,357 have no surviving family and would not count in the reparations. Total state compensation would be greater than $1 billion.

The bill is being supported in Seoul less than a year after some of the victims, 18 plaintiffs, were awarded more than $4 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment following the Jeju massacre.

RELATED Women divers of Jeju Island swim into America's imagination

Other activists were seeking reparations from the North Korean government on Monday.

Lawyers for human rights and unification on the Korean Peninsula said families of victims abducted during the 1950-53 Korean War are to file a second lawsuit against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Yonhap reported.

Eight families, representing eight victims, are to be named the plaintiffs in the suit, the South Korean attorneys said.

The suit seeks about $25,000 in reparations per victim.

Last month the lawyers filed a first lawsuit against Kim on behalf of 10 victims of North Korea wartime abductions.

South Korea spy chief nominee denies offering billions to North

South Korean National Intelligence Service chief nominee Park Jie-won is handed a copy of an alleged secret inter-Korean agreement dating to 2000 on Monday during his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul. Photo by Yonhap/EPA-EFE

July 27 (UPI) -- South Korea's spy chief nominee denied he signed a secret agreement with North Korea in 2000 that pledged to deliver billions of dollars in aid and economic assistance to the regime.

Park Jie-won, former chief presidential secretary to President Kim Dae-jung during Kim's historic summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Il, said the agreement is a forgery. A copy was presented at his confirmation hearing Monday to lead the National Intelligence Serivce, News 1 reported.

Rep. Joo Ho-young, the floor leader for the main opposition United Future Party, presented the copy of the alleged "Agreement on Economic Cooperation," which included Park's signature.

Joo's copy of the document, dated April 8, 2000, showed the South agreeing to provide $2.5 billion in investments and economic funding to the North over a three-year period, beginning in June 2000.

RELATED Kim Jong Un gifts commemorative pistols to his officers

The South also agreed to provide $500 million of assistance in the "humanitarian spirit" to Pyongyang, Joo's document showed.

Park said the document is a forgery but the signature on the agreement was his. He also said he did not recall signing the agreement.

The nominee also said he would take all responsibility and would not rule out resignation if he is found to have signed the paper.

RELATED North Korea defector escaped using storm drain, Seoul says

Park played a critical role during the 2000 inter-Korea summit. Kim Dae-jung later won a Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy, but the achievement was overshadowed by revelations his administration bribed the North Korean leadership with $500 million to secure a direct meeting with Kim Jong Il.

At the hearing, Park may have refused to completely condemn North Korea as an enemy of the South Korean state.

Yonhap reported Monday Park said while Pyongyang is the "main adversary," it is also a partner in "peace, cooperation and unification."

RELATED Fans return to Korean baseball stadiums amid pandemic

Park also said past South Korean government efforts to improve North Korea human rights have not yielded productive outcomes in response to opposition party lawmakers' questions.

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

GAO report: Pentagon has not considered contractors' climate change risks

F-35 fighter planes are on the Lockheed Martin assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas. A Government Accountability Office report said on Monday that the Pentagon is not considering contractors' risks involving climate change. Photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin

July 27 (UPI) -- The Pentagon has not taken contractors' risks because of climate change into account, a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday says.

The 45-page report notes that the Defense Department has regarded climate change as a threat to operations since 2010. The report details a review of acquisition and supply processes, as well as mission assurance processes, to protect or ensure the function of capabilities and assets critical to the department's missions. 

The review found that the Defense Department "has not routinely assessed climate-related risks faced by its contractors as part of its acquisition and supply processes," and that typical processes to spot potential supply chain problems "do not systematically identify and consider climate-related risks to materiel acquisition and supply or the acquisition of weapon systems."

A 2016 Pentagon order calls for assessment by military branches with consideration of potential vulnerabilities caused by climate change, but officials told the GAO that the directive has not been implemented. Leading defense contractors were also consulted for Monday's GAO report, who told the watchdog agency that steps to track climate change and its effects have been taken internally.

RELATED Two-thirds of Americans say gov't response to climate change is inadequate

"Our review of publicly available disclosures by leading DoD contractors showed that some contractors make climate-related disclosures in filings with the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission]," the report says, an indication that information is readily available to the Defense Department.

The report was sent on Monday to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Jack Reed, D- R.I., who are on the Senate Armed Services Committee. It offers six recommendations; notably that the Defense Department should incorporate climate adaptation into its acquisition and supply guidance and issue or update guidance on mission assurance-related assessments for contractors.

A Defense Department letter, added to the report in an appendix, said that it concurred with four suggestions, noting that it is investigating vulnerabilities. It added that industry "is best postured" to deal with climate change issues regarding contractors, and mission assurance of all commercial facilities is beyond the Defense Department's scope.

Gallup: Global approval of U.S. leadership still at historic low

THE FREE WORLD VOTES 

THUMBS DOWN USA

The Americas was the only region in the world where Trump's ratings improved, according to Gallup's "Rating World Leaders" report.

President Donald Trump walks to the South Portico of the White House on Sunday after returning from his luxury resort in Bedminster, N.J. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo

July 27 (UPI) -- About three months before the U.S. presidential election, a new survey Monday showed that international approval for President Donald Trump's leadership is still historically low.

According to Gallup's "Rating World Leaders" report, which surveyed residents worldwide between March 2019 and February, approval for Trump's presidency was 33% -- lower than the rating for any other year going back to 2007, except for Trump's first two years, when approval was 30% and 31%, respectively.

The lowest mark outside Trump's presidency was 34% for former President George W. Bush in 2008.
Disapproval, meanwhile, continued at a markedly higher level under Trump. Monday's survey put his latest disapproval rating at 42%, following 43% (2017) and 40% (2018) his first two years. The previous high was 34% for Bush 12 years ago.

Europe and Asia were the regions that saw the lowest approval for Trump.

In Europe, Trump's leadership saw a 24% approval rating and in Asia the figure was 32%. Ongoing trade and political conflicts with China is helping to keep Trump's approval low in Asia, while similar disputes pulled them down in Europe.

Respondents in all 135 nations were asked to rate the leadership in the United States, Germany and Russia, and residents in 136 nations were also asked to rate Chinese leadership.

For the third straight year, Germany was rated highest of the group, with median approval of 44%. China tied the United States with a 32% rating and Russia polled at 30%.

Approval for U.S. leadership under Trump did increase in the Americas region, where it rose to 34% after sinking to 24% during his first year. Mexico, Nicaragua and Paraguay were the only countries in the Americas where approval for Trump did not rise.

Disapproval for the U.S. leadership in the Americas, however, was 51%, and the Americas was the only region of the world where Trump's ratings improved in 2019.

Gallup polled 1,000 respondents over the age of 15 in each nation for the survey, which has a margin of error between 1.5 and 5.4 points.

upi.com/7024393

SIBERIA'S HOT SUMMER

Russia's Far East protests draws tens of thousands in third week

OF PROTEST

A woman holds a portrait of the arrested governor of the Khabarovsk region, Sergei Furgal, during a rally to support him Saturday in Khabarovsk, Russia. Photo by Aleksandr Kolbin/EPA-EFE

July 25 (UPI) -- The third straight weekend of Russia's Far East protests against the arrest of a regional governor drew tens of thousands of people Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in the central Lenin Square by the head of the regional government and marched for 3 miles through the central streets of Khabarovsk, a city 4,000 miles east of Moscow, in a loop returning to the square.

Protesters have been rallying against the detainment in Moscow of Sergei Furgal, 50, the governor of Khabarovsk Krai, each Saturday for three weeks. Furgal was arrested July 9 near his home in Khabarovsk city on suspicion of involvement in multiple murders and taken to Moscow where he as charged with attempted murder and organizing two murders of businessmen in 2004-05. His arrest occurred less than two weeks after a referendum that gave President Vladimir Putin the ability to seek two more terms in office and possibly stay in power until 2036.

A member of the opposition group, the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Furgal took office as governor after winning the 2018 election against Putin's ruling party, United Russia. Demonstrators allege that Furgal's arrest is an attempt to suppress opposition to Putin.

On Saturday, protesters chanted "Freedom!" and "Putin resign!" along with demanding that Furgal face trial in Khabarovsk instead of Moscow.

Putin appointed a 39-year-old politician from outside the region, Mikhail Degtyarev, to replace Furgal as the acting governor Monday. Degtyarev told Interfax news agency, when asked whether he would meet with protesters, that he had better things to do than talk to people "screaming outside the windows."