The Boston Globe - 13.08.2019

A4 The Boston Globe TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2019

The World

SEOUL — South Korea re-
taliated against Japan on Mon-
day in a diplomatic and trade
dispute between the two key
US allies, deciding to remove
its neighbor from its list of
countries entitled to preferen-
tial treatment in trade.
South Korea’s action had
been expected since Japan
took a similar action against
South Korea on Aug. 2. Still,
the move provided Washing-
ton with fresh evidence that
neither country would back
down any time soon, even

though President Trump has

urged them both to “sit down

and get along with each other.”

The removal of Japan from

South Korea’s “white list” of 29

most-trusted trading partners

will take effect in September.

It was not immediately

clear how the tightened export

controls South Korea and Ja-

pan have introduced against

each other would affect bilat-

eral trade because the mea-

sures do not ban certain kinds

of trade outright.

NEW YORK TIMES

S.Korea-Japantradespatcontinues

MOSCOW — As funerals
were held Monday for five nu-
clear workers who were killed
while testing a new missile,
Russian officials said they will
try to determine what went
wrong.
The weapon prototype they
were testing relies on small-
scale power sources being de-
veloped by the Russian Federal
Nuclear Center that use ‘‘ra-
dioactive materials, including
fissile and radioisotope mate-
rials,’’ the scientific director of
the center, Vyacheslav Solo-
viev, said.
The missile exploded

Thursday evening in the

Arkhangelsk region in Russia’s

far north. Three nuclear work-

ers who were injured have

been hospitalized in Moscow.

The explosion of liquid

rocket fuel, on a platform in

Dvinsky Bay, threw several of

those who died into the water,

Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear

agency, reported. A ‘‘short-

term’’ spike in radiation levels

was reported Friday by offi-

cials in the city of Severod-

vinsk, near the testing site, but

that report was removed from

the Web later that day.

WASHINGTON POST

Russiaanalyzesfailedmissiletest

BERLIN — It was a most

surprising case for the police:

An endangered bird may have

attacked two men in a forest,

they attacked and killed the

bird, and a crowd attacked the

two men. Less surprising, al-

cohol was involved.

Now, with the body of a

western capercaillie as evi-

dence, authorities in south-

western Germany are trying to

determine what happened.

Two young men, both

drunk, took a shortcut

through the woods Saturday

and encountered the bird and

beat it with a bottle, according

to police in Titisee-Neustadt,

the Black Forest village where

the incident occurred.

They later said they were

merely defending themselves

from the capercaillie, which is

roughly the size of a large

chicken. It is increasingly rare

in Western Europe and listed

as endangered in Germany.

After witnessing the death

of the bird from afar, several

people in a group of about 10

punched, kicked, and poured

beer over the two men.

NEW YORK TIMES

Rarebird’sdeathbringsquestions

BUENOS AIRES — Presi-

dent Mauricio Macri of Argen-

tina was unexpectedly

trounced in primary elections,

suggesting that voters angered

over his austerity measures

and the country’s deep reces-

sion and soaring inflation are

inclined to put their faith in

his leftist opponents.

Polls had predicted a tight

race, but Macri received 32%

of the vote, lagging 16 points

behind the ticket in which the

country’s former president

and political powerhouse,

Cristina Fernández de Kirch-

ner, is running as vice presi-

dent with a little-known presi-

dential candidate.

“We had a bad election,”

Macri told supporters in Bue-

nos Aires as he vowed to “re-

double efforts” to win back

support before the presidential

election in October.

The results were a vindica-

tion of Kirchner’s comeback

plan. The former leader, who

has been indicted in 11 cor-

ruption cases, tapped Alberto

Fernández, a more moderate

politician, to run as president.

NEW YORK TIMES

Argentinaleaderstumblesinvote

Daily Briefing

GUATEMALA CITY — Con-

servative Alejandro Giammat-

tei has blazed a long, strange

path to Guatemala’s presiden-

cy, which he won on his fourth

try.

The 63-year-old spent sev-

eral months in prison in 2008,

when he was director of the

country’s prison system, after

some prisoners were killed in a

raid on his watch. He was ac-

quitted of wrongdoing.

Until courts prevented

some of the more popular can-

didates from running in this

year’s race, he also appeared to

be a long-shot candidate in a

tumultuous campaign season.

But on Sunday, his get-

tough approach to crime and

his socially conservative val-

ues, including his strident op-

position to gay marriage and

abortion, finally paid off with

Guatemalan voters in a presi-

dential runoff.

‘‘We won. We are very excit-

ed, it is logical, it has been 12

years of struggle,’’ Giammatttei

said in his victory speech.

‘‘Twelve years waiting to serve

my country.’’

Giammattei won about

58% of the votes, compared to

about 42% for former first lady

Sandra Torres.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LongshotisnewGuatemalanleader

By Austin Ramzy
and Gerry Mullany
NEW YORK TIMES
HONG KONG — Hong
Kong’s airport came to a near
halt Monday, with more than
150 flights canceled after thou-
sands of demonstrators flooded
one of the world’s busiest trans-
portation hubs in a show of an-
ger over the police’s response to
protests the night before.
The airport said in an after-
noon statement that all flights
had been canceled for the rest
of the day other than those al-
ready en route to Hong Kong.
Almost 150 departures and
more than two dozen arrivals
were affected, according to the
airport’s website.
The move was a stark dis-
play of the power of the anti-
government protests, which are
now in their third month, to
disrupt the basic functioning of
Hong Kong, an Asian financial
hub known for order and effi-
ciency. Its airport is a crucial
connection point for regional

air travel.

Members of the largely lead-

erless movement had called for

the demonstration after a night

of clashes Sunday during which

the police fired tear gas inside

one subway station and chased

protesters down an escalator in

another. Many airport demon-

strators Monday were angry

that a woman at one of the Sun-

day protest sites had been hit by

a projectile in one eye.

This summer’s protests in

Hong Kong began in early June

in opposition to legislation that

would have allowed extradi-

tions to mainland China, where

the courts are controlled by the

ruling Communist Party. That

proposal has since been sus-

pended but not fully with-

drawn, and continues to drive

antigovernment sentiment.

But other issues have

loomed larger in recent weeks,

including the stalled promise of

more direct elections and the

use of force by the police

against demonstrators.

Protesters gathered at the

airport throughout the after-

noon Monday, eventually filling

the arrival hall in the main ter-

minal, before more protesters

went upstairs to the departure

hall.

The airport said in its state-

ment that operations had been

“seriously disrupted as a result

of the public assembly at the

airport today.” A Hong Kong of-

ficial called it an “illegal assem-

bly.”

The cancellations affected

thousands of passengers at

Hong Kong International Air-

port, which handled nearly 75

million passengers last year.

Some said they agreed with

the protesters’ prodemocracy

agenda.

“If they have to stand for

something, as long as it’s peace-

ful, I can understand that,” said

Africa Alvarez, 48, who was fly-

ing home to Barcelona. “I can’t

take my flight against some-

thing which is more impor-

tant.”

Others expressed frustra-

tion.

“I am sympathetic for peo-

ple who want changes, but I’m

not sure it’s the best way to go

about it,” said Pauline Price, a

52-year-old movie theater man-

ager from New Zealand.

She said protesters risked

losing support if their “ad hoc”

moves became too disruptive:

“Hong Kong was stable. It was

one of the safest places in the

world. This damages the image

of Hong Kong.”

As passengers and protest-

ers streamed out of the airport,

they formed long lines for taxis

and the Airport Express train.

Many protesters walked to the

nearby town of Tung Chung to

take the subway.

Antigovernment protesters

had staged a three-day sit-in at

the airport over the weekend,

during which they handed out

pamphlets to travelers explain-

ing their grievances. That pro-

test started Friday and did not

noticeably disrupt services.

On Monday afternoon, the

central government in Beijing

reiterated its support for the

Hong Kong police and con-

demned the actions of protest-

ers Sunday, including the use of

a gasoline bomb that officials

said had burned a police officer.

“Hong Kong’s radical dem-

onstrators have repeatedly at-

tacked police officers with ex-

tremely dangerous means,” said

Yang Guang, a spokesman for

the Hong Kong and Macau Af-

fairs Office, which oversees Chi-

nese policy toward the two cit-

ies. “These have already consti-

tuted serious violent crimes

and have begun to show signs

of terrorism.”

Steve Li Kwai-wah, a senior

police superintendent in Hong

Kong, disputed that character-

ization. “We are not at that

stage yet,” he said, citing the

United Nations’ definition of

terrorism as a guide.

The Chinese and Hong Kong

authorities have escalated their

criticism of the protest move-

ment in recent days, and the

Hong Kong police — who have

fired more than 1,800 rounds of

tear gas over the past nine

weeks — unveiled even more

confrontational approaches to

protesters Sunday, like firing

tear gas inside the subway sta-

tion.

The mainland authorities

have also continued to make

shows of force. Over the week-

end, several armored personnel

carriers and trucks were seen in

Shenzhen, a mainland city near

Hong Kong, according to a re-

port in The Global Times, a na-

tionalist mainland tabloid. The

vehicles were from the People’s

Armed Police, which handles

civil disturbances. The newspa-

per said they were assembling

“in advance of apparent large-

scale exercises.”

By Donald G. McNeil Jr.

NEW YORK TIMES

NEW YORK — Two experi-

mental treatments to treat Eb-

ola infection work so well that

they will now be offered to all

patients in the Democratic Re-

public of Congo, scientists said

Monday.

The antibody-based treat-

ments are so powerful that

they raise hopes the disastrous

epidemic in eastern Congo can

soon be stopped. “Now we can

say that 90 percent can come

out of treatment cured,” one

scientist said.

Many families in the epi-

demic zone have been hiding

their sick or bringing them in

near death, too late to save.

The epidemic has infected

about 2,800 known patients

and has killed more than 1,

of them, according to the

World Health Organization.

The treatments, known as

REGN-EB3 and mAb-114, are

both monoclonal antibodies

that are infused intravenously

into the blood. They attach

themselves to the outside of

the virus, preventing it from in-

vading the patient’s cells.

It is helpful to have two op-

tions in case supply problems

develop with one drug or the

other, said Dr. Michael Ryan,

director of emergency response

for the World Health Organiza-

tion.

The announcement was

made in conjunction with Dr.

Jean-Paul Muyembe, director

of Congo’s National Institute

for Biomedical Research.

The makers of the two treat-

ments gave assurances that

they could make enough doses

to treat all patients, Dr. Antho-

ny S. Fauci, director of the Na-

tional Institute of Allergy and

Infectious Diseases, said.

Muyembe, 77, who has been

fighting Ebola since it first ap-

peared in 1976, pioneered the

use of survivors’ blood — which

contains antibodies — in order

to save patients. The two treat-

ments that proved to be suc-

cessful last week descend in

part from his original research.

Asked how he felt about

that during a telephone news

conference, Muyembe said

through a translator: “I’m very

happy, and I can’t believe it.”

Fauci called him a “true he-

ro.”

ANTHONY KWAN/GETTY IMAGES

Prodemocracy demonstrators occupied the departure hall of Hong Kong International Airport, one of the world’s busiest, nearly shuttering it Monday.

Protestersfloodairport,disruptflights

HongKonghub

nearlyshutdown

asthousandsvent

Newdrugs

forEbola

proving

effective

Congo epidemic

may end soon

JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

“It has been 12 years of struggle,” Alejandro Giammattei

told his supporters after his victory.