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PORTLAND, Maine — The deadly implosion of an experimental submersible en route to the deep-sea grave of the Titanic last June has not dulled the desire for further ocean exploration, despite lingering questions about the disaster. Tuesday marks one year since the Titan vanished on its way to the historic wreckage site in the North Atlantic Ocean. After a five-day search that captured attention around the world, authorities said the vessel had been destroyed and all five people on board had died. Concerns have been raised about whether the Titan was destined for disaster because of its unconventional design and its creator’s refusal to submit to independent checks that are standard in the industry. The U.S. Coast Guard quickly convened a high-level investigation into what happened, but officials said the inquiry is taking longer than the initial 12-month time frame, and a planned public hearing to discuss their findings won’t happen for at least another two months. Meanwhile, deep-sea exploration continues. The Georgia-based company that owns the salvage rights to the Titanic plans to visit the sunken ocean liner in July using remotely operated vehicles, and a real estate billionaire from Ohio has said he plans a voyage to the shipwreck in a two-person submersible in 2026. The Titan dove southeast of Newfoundland. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Monday that there are other submersibles operating within Canadian waters, some of which are not registered with the country or any other. Numerous ocean explorers told The Associated Press they are confident undersea exploration can continue safely in a post-Titan world. “It's been a desire of the scientific community to get down into the ocean,” said Greg Stone, a veteran ocean explorer and friend of Titan operator Stockton Rush, who died in the implosion. “I have not noticed any difference in the desire to go into the ocean, exploring.” OceanGate, a company co-founded by Rush that owned the submersible, suspended operations in early July following the implosion. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment. David Concannon, a former adviser to OceanGate, said he will mark the anniversary privately with a group of people who were involved with the company or the submersible's expeditions over the years, including scientists, volunteers and mission specialists. Many of them, including those who were on the Titan support ship Polar Prince, have not been interviewed by the Coast Guard, he said. “The fact is, they are isolated and in a liminal space," he said in an email last week. “Stockton Rush has been vilified and so has everyone associated with OceanGate. I wasn’t even there and I have gotten death threats. We support each other and just wait to be interviewed. The world has moved on ... but the families and those most affected are still living with this tragedy every day.” The Titan had been chronicling the Titanic’s decay and the underwater ecosystem around the sunken ocean liner in yearly voyages since 2021. The craft made its last dive on June 18, 2023, a Sunday morning, and lost contact with its support vessel about two hours later. When it was reported overdue that afternoon, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to the area, about 700 kilometers south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The U.S. Navy notified the Coast Guard that day of an anomaly in its acoustic data that was “consistent with an implosion or explosion” at the time communications between the Polar Prince and the Titan were lost, a senior Navy official later told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive technology. Any sliver of hope that remained for finding the crew alive was wiped away on June 22, when the Coast Guard announced that debris had been found near the Titanic on the ocean floor. Authorities have since recovered the submersible’s intact endcap, debris and presumed human remains from the site. In addition to Rush, the implosion killed two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Harding and Nargeolet were members of The Explorers Club, a professional society dedicated to research, exploration and resource conservation. “Then, as now, it hit us on a personal level very deeply,” the group’s president, Richard Garriott, said in an interview last week. “We knew not only all the people involved, but even all the previous divers, support teams, people working on all these vessels — those were all either members of this club or well within our network.” Garriott believes even if the Titan hadn't imploded, the correct rescue equipment didn't get to the site fast enough. The tragedy caught everyone from the Coast Guard to the ships on-site off guard, underscoring the importance of developing detailed search and rescue plans ahead of any expedition, he said. His organization has since created a task force to help others do just that. "That’s what we’ve been trying to really correct, to make sure that we know exactly who to call and exactly what materials need to be mustered,” he said.

washington — Washington and Seoul have expressed alarm about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to Pyongyang, while Beijing says it has no intention of interfering with the cooperation between Russia and North Korea. Putin will pay a state visit to North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday, the North's official KCNA news agency announced on Monday. His trip to Pyongyang will be followed by a two-day state visit to Vietnam, where discussions will touch on trade and economic cooperation, the Kremlin said Monday. The South Korean Foreign Ministry said it opposes Moscow and Pyongyang deepening their military cooperation through Putin’s trip to the country. “All cooperation and exchanges between Russia and North Korea will need to abide by relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions and contribute toward the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula,” a spokesperson told VOA’s Korean Service on Monday. Putin’s visit to the country, the first in 24 years, comes amid increased military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. North Korea has transferred approximately 10,000 containers that could hold nearly 5 million artillery shells to Russia to fight against Ukraine, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday.    All arms exports and imports by North Korea are sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms dealings between them. Putin’s trip to Pyongyang is expected to increase military cooperation that officially kicked off when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited Russia in September 2023. Kim invited Putin to Pyongyang during his visit to Russia. “We discourage any government from receiving President Putin,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA’s Korean Service on June 12. “If he is able to travel freely, it could normalize Russia’s blatant violations of international law and inadvertently send the message that atrocities can be committed in Ukraine and elsewhere with impunity,” the spokesperson said. Deepening cooperation between Russia and North Korea poses concern for the Korean Peninsula as well as for Ukraine as it defends its “freedom and independence against Russia’s brutal war,” the spokesperson added. After the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 for Russia’s alleged war crimes in Ukraine since its unprovoked invasion of the country in February 2022, Putin is limited in his international travels to allied countries. Since his new presidential term began in May, Putin has visited Belarus, China and Uzbekistan. In the meantime, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told VOA on Thursday that “China has no intention [of] interfer[ing] with the exchange and cooperation between two sovereign countries.” He said, “Both DPRK and Russia are China’s friendly neighbors.” North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. China and Russia, both veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, have supported North Korea at council meetings held in the past several years by opposing new U.S.-led resolutions condemning North Korea’s ballistic missile launches banned by the U.N. In March, Moscow vetoed a resolution granting the annual extension of a U.N. panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea while Beijing abstained. Michael Kimmage, who served on the U.S. State Department’s Policy Planning staff on Russia and Ukraine from 2014 to 2016, said, “Putin wishes to forge a long-term relationship with North Korea, and this would be reflected” in his visit to Pyongyang. “Not only does North Korea supply Russia with weaponry to use in its war against Ukraine, but a more radical North Korea will pin the resources of Russia’s archenemy, the United States, in East Asia, helping to create a third zone of difficulty for Washington, in addition to Europe and the Middle East,” Kimmage said. Kimmage, currently the chair at Catholic University of America’s history department, added that Russia’s other partner, China, may not want Pyongyang to be more provocative and may not be pleased with deepening ties between Moscow and Pyongyang. Earlier this month, Putin threatened to arm the West’s adversaries with long-range missiles that could target the West in response to NATO members, including the U.S., allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to target inside Russia. Evans Revere, a former U.S. State Department official with extensive experience negotiating with North Korea, said Putin’s meeting with Kim in Pyongyang “could reveal the details of Russian support for North Korea.” “Pyongyang is reportedly interested in missile guidance, engine and fuel technologies, avionics upgrades for its aircraft and assistance with its nuclear program,” he said. Revere added, “Russia has a significant strategic and tactical interest in complicating the security calculus of the United States and its allies in Northeast Asia. Putin’s visit will soon demonstrate how far Moscow is prepared to go in pursuing that interest.” VOA’s Soyoung Ahn contributed to this report.

The European Union granted official candidate status to Georgia last year, but analysts say that led by the country's richest man, the government has turned toward Russia following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Critics warn that Georgia's democratic future is at stake in October's elections. Henry Ridgwell reports from Tbilisi.

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TEHRAN, Iran — Six presidential candidates on Monday discussed Iran's economic problems in a four-hour live debate on state TV, ahead of the June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash last month that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others.  It was the first of five debates planned in the 10 days remaining before the vote in a shortened campaign to replace Raisi, a hard-line protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei once floated as a possible successor to the 85-year-old cleric.  The candidates were to discuss their proposals and plans for Iran's spiraling economy, struggling under sanctions from the United States and other Western nations.  They all promised they would try and get the sanctions lifted and introduce reforms, but none offered any details. The candidates also discussed inflation, the budget deficit, Iran's housing problem and ways to fight corruption.  The June 28 election comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, its arming of Russia in that country's war on Ukraine and its wide-reaching crackdowns on dissent.  Iran's support of militia proxy forces throughout the wider Middle East, meanwhile, have been increasingly in the spotlight as Iran-backed Yemen's Houthi rebels attack ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Five of the candidates are hard-liners while the sixth candidate, lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, is a heart surgeon who has the support of some pro-reformers.  The most prominent candidate remains Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, 62, a former Tehran mayor with close ties to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. However, many remember that Qalibaf, as a former Guard general, was part of a violent crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999. He also reportedly ordered live gunfire to be used against students in 2003 while serving as the country's police chief.  Among those running for president are also Iran's vice-president, Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, 53, and the current Tehran mayor, Ali Reza Zakani, 58. A member of Supreme National Security Council, 58-year-old Saeed Jalili and cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi, 64, a previous interior minister under former relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, are also in the race.  Qalibaf promised he would be a "strong" president who would support the poor, better manage the economy and work to remove sanctions through diplomatic means.  Pezeshkian said the sanctions were a "disaster" and also lobbied for less restrictions on the internet. Iran has long blocked Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and other major social media platforms and messaging systems, mainly over security concerns.  All of the candidates pledged to strengthen the country's currency, the rial, which has plunged to 580,000 against the dollar. The rial was 32,000 to the dollar when Iran and world powers reached a deal in 2015 on capping Tehran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions.  The six stayed away from the topic of the tattered nuclear deal. Khamenei has final say on all major state matters, including nuclear, foreign policy, space and military programs.  Pro-reform figures such as former President Mohammad Khatami and former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal, have backed Pezeshkian, though votes in his favor in his parliamentary constituency in the northwestern city of Tabriz declined from 36% to 24% of the vote in elections over the past eight years.  Raisi won Iran's 2021 presidential election in a vote that saw the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history.

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seattle — BNSF Railway must pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state, a federal judge ordered Monday after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the tribe's reservation.  U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik initially ruled last year that the railway deliberately violated the terms of a 1991 easement with the Swinomish Tribe north of Seattle that allows trains to carry no more than 25 cars per day. The judge held a trial earlier this month to determine how much in profits BNSF made through trespassing from 2012 to 2021 and how much it should be required to disgorge.  The company based in Fort Worth, Texas, said in an email it had no comment on the judgment. The tribe, which has about 1,400 members, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.  The tribe sued in 2015 after BNSF dramatically increased, without the tribe's consent, the number of cars it was running across the reservation so that it could ship crude oil from the Bakken Formation in and around North Dakota to a nearby refinery. The route crosses sensitive marine ecosystems along the coast, over water that connects with the Salish Sea, where the tribe has treaty-protected rights to fish.  Bakken oil is easier to refine into the fuels sold at the gas pump and ignites more easily. After train cars carrying Bakken crude oil exploded in Alabama, North Dakota and Quebec, a federal agency warned in 2014 that the oil has a higher degree of volatility than other crudes in the U.S.  Last year, two BNSF engines derailed on Swinomish land, leaking an estimated 3,100 gallons (11,700 liters) of diesel fuel near Padilla Bay.  The 1991 easement limited rail traffic to one train of 25 cars per day in each direction. It required BNSF to tell the tribe about the "nature and identity of all cargo" transported across the reservation, and it said the tribe would not arbitrarily withhold permission to increase the number of trains or cars.  The tribe learned through a 2011 Skagit County planning document that a nearby refinery would start receiving crude oil trains. It wasn't until the following year that the tribe received information from BNSF addressing current track usage, court documents show.  The tribe and BNSF discussed amending the agreement, but "at no point did the Tribe approve BNSF's unilateral decision to transport unit trains across the Reservation, agree to increase the train or car limitations, or waive its contractual right of approval," Lasnik said in his decision last year.  "BNSF failed to update the Tribe regarding the nature of the cargo that was crossing the Reservation and unilaterally increased the number of trains and the number of cars without the Tribe's written agreement, thereby violating the conditions placed on BNSF's permission to enter the property," Lasnik said.  The four-day trial this month was designed to provide the court with details and expert testimony to guide the judge through complex calculations about how much in "ill-gotten" profit BNSF should have to disgorge. Lasnik put that figure at $362 million and added $32 million in post-tax profits such as investment income for a total of more than $394 million.  In reality, the judge wrote, BNSF made far more than $32 million in post-tax profits, but adding all of that up would have added hundreds of millions more to what was already a large judgment against the railway.

lima, peru — The government of Peru said Monday that it would investigate sex abuse allegations leveled by hundreds of Indigenous children against teachers in a jungle region of the South American country. A total of 524 cases of rape and abuse dating as far back as 2010 have been reported by girls and boys from the Awajun Indigenous group who attended public schools in the Condorcanqui province in Peru's north. The alleged crimes at school residences were revealed last month by Rosemary Pioc, representative of an Awajun women's association. "We have to investigate the facts. We'll stand with the victims," government spokesman Alberto Adrianzen told foreign correspondents Monday. "We reject all forms of sexual abuse." The announcement of an investigation came after two government ministers provoked widespread anger by equating the alleged abuse with "cultural practices." "To say that these are cultural practices is to endorse these actions. ... Rape is not a practice in our community," Pioc told RPP radio on Monday. Adrianzen said the victims "will have to receive comprehensive health care," including psychological help and HIV treatment if necessary. Peru's human rights ombudsman called Monday for implicated teachers to be "immediately removed" from the schools at which they taught.

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LOS ANGELES — Firefighters increased their containment of a large wildfire in mountains north of Los Angeles on Monday after a weekend of explosive, wind-driven growth along Interstate 5.  The Post Fire was 8% surrounded after scorching more than 61 square kilometers (24 square miles) and forcing the evacuation of at least 1,200 campers, off-roaders and hikers from the Hungry Valley recreation area on Saturday.  "That 8% is good because it means we are increasing and bolstering our containment lines," said Kenichi Haskett, a Los Angeles County Fire Department section chief.  Firefighters hoped to hold the fire at its current size, but further growth was still possible, especially towards the south, Haskett said.  The fire broke out as weather turned hot and windy in a region where grasses spawned by a rainy winter have long since dried out and easily burn.  The massive columns of smoke that marked the fire's initial rampage were gone by Monday morning. But Sunday's smoke drifted some 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest across the Mojave Desert to cast a slight haze in the Las Vegas area. Nevada air quality officials issued an alert advising children, older adults, and people with respiratory and heart disease to stay indoors.  In Northern California, a wildfire sparked Sunday prompted evacuation orders and warnings for a sparsely populated area near Lake Sonoma. Known as the Point Fire, it was 20% surrounded Monday after charring nearly 5 square kilometers (2 square miles) about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of San Francisco and destroying at least one structure.  Ben Nicholls, division chief of the Cal Fire district in the area covering the Point Fire, said Monday morning that fire activity subsided overnight.  "Forecasted winds are supposed to be less than we experienced yesterday, which should allow the resources assigned for this operational period to build and strengthen the control lines that were put in place yesterday," Nicholls said in a video briefing.  The Southern California fire erupted Saturday afternoon near I-5 in Gorman, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Los Angeles. Two structures burned within the evacuated recreation area.  The majority of the 1,148 firefighters assigned to the blaze were focused on its southern edge, near popular Pyramid Lake, which was closed as a precaution on Father's Day and again Monday. Officials also warned residents of Castaic, home to about 19,000 people, that they should prepare to leave if the fire pushed farther south.  "If you're in a warning area, be prepared with a 'go bag,' with overnight clothes and your cell phone, your medicines, your glasses. Have your car fueled up," said Haskett. "Be ready to evacuate."  About 120 kilometers (75 miles) to the east, the nearly 5-square-kilometer (2-square-mile) Hesperia Fire was 30% contained after no overnight growth. The fire erupted Saturday and forced road closures and evacuation warnings in San Bernardino County.  After back-to-back wet winters, fire season has gotten off to a slow to near-average start, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles.  "These are not peak season fires either in scope or behavior, or in terms of where they're burning," Swain said in an online briefing. "In many ways, they're classic, early-season fires since they're primarily burning in grass and brush."  Swain said he expects more fire activity to begin in July at lower elevations and August at higher elevations.  "And the bad news is that I think that the back half of this season is going to be much more active, with a lot more concerning level of wildfire activity in a lot of areas than the first half," he said.

washington — President Joe Biden is planning to announce a sweeping new policy Tuesday that would lift the threat of deportation for tens of thousands of people married to U.S. citizens, an aggressive election-year action on immigration that many Democrats had sought.  Biden is set to host a White House event to celebrate an Obama-era directive that offered deportation protection for young undocumented immigrants and will announce the new program then, according to three people briefed on the White House plans. The policy will allow roughly 490,000 spouses of U.S. citizens an opportunity to apply for a "parole in place" program, which would shield them from deportations and offer them work permits if they have lived in the country for at least 10 years, according to two of the people briefed. They all spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the announcement publicly.  The White House on Monday declined to comment on the expected announcement.  Families who would potentially benefit from Biden's actions were expected to attend the White House event on Tuesday afternoon  For some time, administration officials have been deliberating various options to offer protections for immigrants who lack legal status in the U.S. but who have long-standing ties — even after the White House crafted a restrictive proposal that essentially halted asylum processing at the U.S-Mexico border.  Biden is invoking an authority that not only gives deportation protection and work permits but also removes a legal barrier to allow qualifying immigrants to apply for permanent residency and, eventually, U.S. citizenship. It's a power that's already been used for other categories of immigrants, such as members of the U.S. military or their family members who lack legal status.  "Today, I have spoken about what we need to do to secure the border," Biden said at a June 4 event at the White House, when he rolled out his order to suspend asylum processing for many migrants arriving now at the U.S. border. "In the weeks ahead — and I mean the weeks ahead — I will speak to how we can make our immigration system more fair and more just."  Biden was also expected to announce a policy of making recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program eligible for visas, rather than the temporary work authorization they currently receive, according to two of the people briefed.  In Congress, a group of Democratic lawmakers called the Congressional Hispanic Caucus has advocated for a policy of making graduates of U.S. colleges who came to the country without authorization as children eligible for work visas as well.  The White House on Tuesday afternoon will mark the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was created by then-President Barack Obama to protect young immigrants who lacked legal status, often known as "dreamers."

After a weekend peace summit on Ukraine, Russia's war in grinds on with fresh air attacks that leave tens of thousands without power. Nearly eighty countries represented at the Summit on Peace in Switzerland agreed that territorial integrity and principles of international law should be the basis for any negotiation. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit North Korea this week amid international concerns over the two country’s military cooperation. Despite Russia’s invasion, Ukraine remains a popular destination for overseas parents seeking surrogate mothers.

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BRUSSELS — European Union countries approved a flagship policy to restore damaged nature on Monday, after months of delay, making it the first green law to pass since European Parliament elections this month.  The nature restoration law is among the EU's biggest environmental policies, requiring member states to introduce measures restoring nature on a fifth of their land and sea by 2030.  EU countries' environment ministers backed the policy at a meeting in Luxembourg, meaning it can now pass into law.  The vote was held after Austria's environment minister, Leonore Gewessler of the Greens, defied her conservative coalition partners by pledging to back the policy — giving it just enough support to pass.  "I know I will face opposition in Austria on this, but I am convinced that this is the time to adopt this law," Gewessler told reporters.  The policy aims to reverse the decline of Europe's natural habitats — 81% of which are classed as being in poor health — and includes specific targets, for example to restore peat lands so they can absorb CO2 emissions.  The move by Austria's minister angered Chancellor Karl Nehammer's conservative People's Party, which opposes the law. The OVP minister for EU affairs, Karoline Edtstadler, said Gewessler's vote in favor would be unconstitutional.  Belgium, which holds the EU's rotating presidency and chairs meetings of ministers, said the Austrian government dispute would not affect the legality of the EU ministers' vote.  EU countries and the European Parliament negotiated a deal on the law last year but it has come under fire from some governments in recent months amid protests by farmers angry at costly EU regulations.  Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden voted against the law on Monday. Belgium abstained.  EU countries had planned to approve the policy in March but called off the vote after Hungary unexpectedly withdrew its support, wiping out the slim majority in favor.  Countries including the Netherlands had raised concerns the policy would slow the expansion of wind farms and other economic activities, while Poland on Monday said the policy lacked a plan for how nature protection would be funded.

Cotonou, Benin — A Benin court on Monday handed 18-month suspended jail sentences to three Nigeriens at the center of a diplomatic dispute as tensions escalate between the West African neighbors. Ties between Benin and Niger have been strained since last year's coup ousted Nigerien President Mohammed Bazoum, and Benin's Atlantic port of Seme-Kpodji, which exports landlocked Niger's oil, has become a flashpoint. Five Nigeriens were arrested earlier this month at Seme-Kpodji, accused of entering the port illegally. On Monday, Benin's Court for the Repression of Economic Offenses and Terrorism (CRIET) sentenced three of them to 18 months in prison suspended, an AFP correspondent said. Moumouni Hadiza Ibra, Deputy General Director of Wapco-Niger -- a local affiliate of a Chinese company operating a pipeline from Niger to Benin's coast -- and two of her compatriots were jailed after their initial arrest. Wapco has not responded to emails seeking a response. The court on Monday reclassified the charges as "usurpation of title and use of falsified computer data.” Lawyers for the three defendants denied all the charges, an AFP correspondent said. Under regional sanctions imposed on Niger after last year's coup, Benin closed the border, but it has since reopened its side of the frontier. Niger's military rulers have refused to reopen their side. Beninese President Patrice Talon had long conditioned the start of loading of Nigerien oil from Benin's port on the reopening of the border. According to Niamey, the arrested team were on a mission to Benin to oversee the loading of oil. The military regime in Niger described the arrests as a "kidnapping" and said it was ready to "take all measures" to have them released "unconditionally.” The day after their arrests, the military regime in Niamey closed the valves of the oil pipeline, according to Niger public television.