Nation/World briefly, Dec. 10

Nerve agent survivor fears poison death LONDON (AP) — A British man who was exposed to the deadly nerve agent Novichok said he is struggling with his eyesight and mobility, and fears the poison will kill him within a decade. Charlie Rowley, 45, fell ill in June near Salisbury, England, after coming into contact with the Soviet-developed nerve agent that was used months earlier to attack former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Rowley, Skripal and his daughter survived, but Rowley's partner Dawn Sturgess, who was also exposed, died in the hospital. Rowley told the Sunday Mirror newspaper that he was back in the hospital being treated for meningitis. He said he was going blind and unable to use one arm, and said he was "terrified about the future" and what long-term effects the military grade poison would have on him. "I'm still worried the Novichok could kill me if I get any sort of virus again — it's on my mind all the time. I'm dreading getting a cold," he said. "I don't think I'll be alive in 10 years. It's been horrendous." Britain accuses Russia of carrying out the poisoning of the Skripals, a claim Moscow denies. Rowley and Sturgess collapsed after they handled a small bottle containing the nerve agent, believed to have been discarded by the Skripals' attackers. Britain charged two alleged Russian military intelligence agents in absentia for the attack. The pair denied their involvement on Russian television. The Skripals' poisoning ignited a diplomatic confrontation in which hundreds of envoys were expelled by both Russia and Western nations. Tentative deal to end charter schools strike CHICAGO (AP) — The nation's first teachers' strike against a charter school operator will end after their union and management struck a tentative deal Sunday that includes protections for students and immigrant families living in the country illegally. The Chicago Teachers Union said more than 500 teachers will return to classes Monday at Acero's 15 schools with 7,500 predominantly Latino students. Teachers went on strike Tuesday and classes were canceled. Robert Bloch, general counsel for the union, said that since the schools' enrollment is "overwhelmingly low-income Latino," the union felt it was necessary to have provisions to protect students, their families and teachers who may be living in the country illegally. The agreements prohibits Acero from collecting and distributing information about the immigration status of students, teachers and families and restricts access by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to schools except by court order, he said. Acero said in a news release the two sides agreed to raises for teachers and staff annually over the four-year term of the contract and the charter operator agreed to the union's request to shorten the school year to more closely align with the Chicago Public Schools. Teachers' work days will be reduced, but Acero said that through changes in the way the school day is structured, the schools will preserve the amount of instructional time for students. The deal was struck just before 5 a.m. Sunday. "Thanks to hard work and very long hours from both bargaining teams, we were able to reach an agreement that values teachers and staff for the important work they do, while still maintaining the attributes of our network that help produce strong educational outcomes for our students," Acero Schools' CEO Richard L. Rodriguez said in a prepared statement. "Most important for all of us and the families and communities we serve, we can now get students back into the classroom, where they belong." The union said the agreement also reduces class sizes. The union said the strike was the first against a charter school operator in the nation. The union also represents public school teachers in Chicago. Russia is world's No. 2 arms producer HELSINKI (AP) — A Swedish think tank said Monday that Russia has emerged as the world's second-largest arms producer after the United States. Russia surpassed Britain, which had held that spot since 2002 and remains Western Europe's No. 1 arms maker. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said in its annual report on the world's 100 biggest armaments groups that the combined arms sales of Russian companies amounted to $37.7 billion in 2017, an 8.5 percent rise from a year earlier. Russia's sales accounted for 9.5 percent of a worldwide total of $398.2 billion. The report includes both domestic and foreign sales around the globe, but doesn't include Chinese companies because of unreliable statistics, the institute said. Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the institute, said Russian producers of arms and weapon systems have been on a significant growth path since 2011. "This is in line with Russia's increased spending on arms procurement to modernize its armed forces," Wezeman said. For the first time in the report's history, a Russian company — the Moscow-based and state-owned Almaz-Antey that makes advanced air defense systems among other things — was listed among the world's top 10 weapons companies. The report noted Russia started an initiative to consolidate its arms industry in 2007, a process that is expected to be completed soon. Overall, the U.S. continued to dominate the list with 42 companies accounting for 57 percent of total sales, including the world's largest arms producer, Lockheed Martin Corp. As a notable development, the report highlighted a 24 percent rise in sales by Turkish arms companies in 2017 from the preceding year. That reflected "Turkey's ambitions to develop its arms industry to fulfill its growing demand for weapons and become less dependent on foreign suppliers," senior researcher Pieter Wezeman said. Search begins for 4 missing coal miners CLEAR CREEK, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia mine rescue team is searching for four people reported missing at an underground coal mine. The state Office of Miner's Health, Safety and Training says in a news release it began assisting the Raleigh County Sheriff's Office on Sunday. The search is at Elk Run Coal Co.'s Rock House Powellton Mine near Clear Creek. The statement says an abandoned ATV the four were believed to be riding was found near the mine entrance. Members of the state mine safety office and mine parent company Alpha Natural Resources entered the mine Sunday afternoon to begin the search. According to the mine safety office, coal has not been mined at the underground location for two years. Kid Rock pays off $81K in layaways NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Singer Kid Rock says he followed the lead of actor Tyler Perry by paying off the layaway items of hundreds of Walmart customers in Tennessee. Store manager Tom Meyer tells The Tennessean Kid Rock spent $81,000 to pay the balances of 350 customer accounts at a Walmart in Nashville. Meyer calls it a "pretty Nashville proud moment." On Twitter, Kid Rock said "great idea!" in a nod to Perry, who had posted a video Thursday saying he had paid off layaway balances at two Georgia Walmarts. Meyer said Kid Rock called the store Friday. Kid Rock's manager later came into the store to make the payment. Kid Rock is a partner in a bar in Nashville. States to meet on Colorado River plan LAS VEGAS (AP) — With drought entering a second decade and reservoirs continuing to shrink, seven Southwestern U.S. states that depend on the overtaxed Colorado River for crop irrigation and drinking water had been expected to ink a crucial share-the-pain contingency plan by the end of 2018. They're not going to make it — at least not in time for upcoming meetings in Las Vegas involving representatives from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the U.S. government, officials say. Arizona has been the holdout, with farmers, cities, Indian tribes and lawmakers in the state set to be first to feel the pinch still negotiating how to deal with water cutbacks when a shortage is declared, probably in 2020. "There will be cuts. We all know the clock is ticking. That's what a lot of the difficult negotiations have been around," said Kim Mitchell, Western Resource Advocates water policy adviser and a delegate to ongoing meetings involving the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Central Arizona Project, agricultural, industrial and business interests, the governor, state lawmakers and cities including Tucson and Phoenix. In Arizona, unlike other states, a final drought contingency plan must pass the state Legislature when it convenes in January. Federal water managers wanted a deal to sign at the annual Colorado River Water Users Association conference beginning Wednesday in Las Vegas, and threatened earlier this year to impose unspecified measures from Washington if a voluntary drought contingency plan wasn't reached. However, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman is signaling that the agency that controls the levers on the river is willing to wait. She is scheduled to talk to the conference on Thursday. "Reclamation remains cautiously optimistic that the parties will find a path forward," the bureau said in a statement on Friday, "because finding a consensus deal recognizing the risks of continuing drought and the benefits of a drought contingency plan is in each state's best interest." Colorado River water supports about 40 million people and millions of acres of farmland in the U.S. and Mexico. After 19 years of drought and increasing demand, federal water managers project a 52 percent chance that the river's biggest reservoir, Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam, will fall low enough to trigger cutbacks under agreements governing the system. The seven states saw this coming years ago, and used Colorado River Water Users Association meetings in December 2007 to sign a 20-year "guidelines" plan to share the burden of a shortage. Contingency agreements would update that pact, running through 2026. They call for voluntarily using less to keep more water in the system's two main reservoirs, lakes Powell and Mead. Lake Powell upstream from of the Grand Canyon is currently at 43 percent capacity; Lake Mead, downstream, is at 38 percent. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, the river's Upper Basin states, aim to keep the surface of Lake Powell above a target level to continue water deliveries to irrigation districts and cities and also keep hydroelectric turbines humming at Glen Canyon Dam. The Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada aim to keep Lake Mead above a shortage declaration trigger point by using less water than they're legally entitled to. If Lake Mead falls below that level, Arizona will face a 9 percent reduction in water supply, Nevada a 3 percent cut and California up to 8 percent. Mexico's share of river water would also be reduced. Water officials in most states — from the Southern Nevada Water Authority in Las Vegas to the Colorado River Water Conservation District in Glenwood Springs, Colorado — have signed off on plans in recent weeks. In Arizona, the board governing the Central Arizona Project irrigation system approved the Lower Basin plan on Thursday. In California, the sprawling Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves some 19 million people, is set to approve it Tuesday. Board members there were reminded the agreements are only a short-term fix. According to a board briefing, the Bureau of Reclamation, seven basin states and water contractors will begin negotiating again beginning no later than 2020. "That process is expected to result in new rules for management and operation of the Colorado River after 2026," the board briefing said.