Russia is making plans to hold its biggest war games in nearly 40 years.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the military exercises on Tuesday.
He said they will take place next month and also involve the armies of China and Mongolia.
The Reuters news agency says the exercises, called Vostok-2018, will take place in Russia's
central and eastern military districts.
It will involve almost 300,000 troops, over 1,000 military aircraft, and two of Russia's
naval fleets, Shoigu said in a statement.
The war games are coming at a time of increased tensions between Russia and the West.
Russian officials are concerned about what they say is an unjustified build-up of the
NATO military alliance along their country's western borders.
NATO officials say the alliance strengthened its forces in Europe to stop possible Russian
military action after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
They add that the Russian government supported a pro-Russian rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
The war games will take place from September 11 to 15.
They are likely to displease Japan, which is already worried about a Russian military
build-up in East Asia.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to attend a meeting in the Russian city of
Vladivostok over the same period.
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday that Japan is closely watching
military cooperation between Russia and China.
The Russian defense minister said the war games would be the biggest since 1981.
That was 10 years before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
When asked if the cost of holding such a massive exercise was justified, a Russian government
spokesman said such war games were important.
"The country's ability to defend itself in the current international situation, which
is often aggressive and unfriendly towards our country, means (the exercise) is justified,"
the official said.
When asked if Chinese involvement meant China and Russia were moving towards an alliance,
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it showed that the two countries were cooperating in all
areas.
China and Russia have held military exercises together before, but never exercises this
large.
NATO spokesman Dylan White said that Russia had told the alliance about the planned exercises
in May.
He said NATO planned to watch it closely.
Russia has invited military attaches from NATO countries to observe the war games.
White said that offer was under consideration.
"All nations have the right to exercise their armed forces," he wrote in an email.
He added that it is important that exercises be "transparent" and "predictable."
Russia is "increasing its defense budget and its military presence," White said, adding
that these large exercises show that Russia appears to be preparing for large conflicts.
Shoigu had earlier announced the start of immediate conflict readiness checks in the
central and eastern military areas before the planned exercises.
I'm Susan Shand.
New opinion studies have found a majority of teachers believe technology is helping
them do a better job in the classroom.
But the research also shows that many educators are concerned digital devices can cause physical
and mental harm to students.
One study asked higher education teachers to give their opinions on the use of technology
in the classroom.
The study involved higher education teachers at public and private colleges and universities
across the United States.
The 2018 Teaching with Technology Survey was published by the website Campus Technology.
Of those questioned, 44 percent said technology made their job easier, while 29 percent said
it made their job much easier.
While overall feelings about technology were good among college educators, an increasing
number said technology could also be harmful.
A total of 19 percent of those questioned said they felt technology had made their job
harder or much harder.
The study also looked at how technology helped teaching effectiveness.
A large majority of educators, 87 percent, said technology had positively affected their
ability to teach.
Eleven percent said they felt technology had no effect on the quality of their teaching.
Just two percent said technology had a negative effect on teaching.
Results of the survey also found teachers had good feelings about technology's effects
on learning.
Eighty-three percent said they felt technology had positively affected their students' learning.
Just nine percent said technology did not affect student learning, while eight percent
said they believed it had a negative effect.
In releasing the study results, Campus Technology reported that some teachers had expressed
mixed feelings about the use of technology.
These opinions came in the form of open-ended questions answered directly by educators.
The educators were not identified.
One noted that the learning process can suffer if students depend too much on their devices.
"People can easily get addicted to their devices, and using technology can change the way the
brain develops - not always in a good way," the teacher wrote.
Another educator wrote: "Technology is accidentally increasing students' weakness in reading and
figuring things out (or critical thinking).
They confuse clicking with learning."
Another expressed that while technology had improved learning in some areas, it had also
created "a false sense of security" in others.
The teacher said more research should be done on how the use of technology compares to traditional
teaching methods.
"For example, several recent studies have shown that taking notes with pen and paper
improves student learning over taking notes on a laptop," the educator wrote.
"For some students, the laptop is necessary.
For the majority, it's a detriment to their learning."
Research organization Gallup published a study earlier this year on the use of digital devices
by students in grades K-12.
In that study, 42 percent of teachers said the effects of devices on students' education
was mostly helpful.
About 30 percent of educators said they were neither helpful nor harmful to students.
However, 28 percent said they thought the use of such devices was mostly harmful.
Earlier research has shown that a large majority of students at all age levels own a smartphone.
An estimated 53 percent of elementary school students have their own digital devices.
About 65 percent of middle school students are thought to own them, along with at least
82 percent of high school students.
The Gallup study also asked teachers to give their opinions on the possible harmful effects
of digital device usage.
About 55 percent of K-12 teachers said the effects of digital devices on students' physical
health are mostly harmful.
Forty-two percent said they felt the devices are neither helpful nor harmful.
And about 69 percent of teachers said they feel digital devices are mostly harmful to
students' mental health.
Parents were mostly more supportive than teachers of digital devices and their effects on school-age
children.
The Gallup study found that 87 percent of parents believe such devices are mostly helpful,
while 13 percent said they are mostly hurtful.
I'm Bryan Lynn.
The owner of a Texas company that makes 3D printed guns said Tuesday that he is selling
the printing plans through his website.
A federal court order bars him from posting the plans online.
The owner, Cody Wilson, told reporters he started selling the plans Tuesday morning.
He said he had already received 400 orders.
He also said he will sell the plans to anyone in the United States for as little as one
cent.
"Anyone who wants to get these files is going to get them," Wilson said.
"They can just name their price."
Wilson said some of his customers will be mailed a computer device that contains the
printing plans.
Others will receive the plans by email or some other secure download method.
Some people have paid for the plans with cryptocurrency, he said.
Wilson first used a website to publish designs for a printable handgun in 2013.
But the U.S. State Department soon ordered him to stop, saying the designs violated laws
related to weapons exports.
This summer, the two parties reached a settlement that would permit Wilson's company, Defense
Distributed, to post the designs.
Shortly after, 19 American states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. government,
seeking to cancel that settlement.
The states argued that online access to plastic handguns would create a security risk, especially
if criminals or terrorists gain access to the gun-making plans.
Plastic guns can go through metal detectors without being found.
In July, a U.S. District Judge in Seattle, Robert Lasnik, temporarily banned Defense
Distributed from posting the plans online.
That ban was to end Tuesday.
On Monday, however, Lasnik extended the ban.
He said the "undetectable nature of these small firearms" makes them especially dangerous.
Wilson said he believes the ruling still permits him to sell the printing plans.
"I'm following yesterday's orders that direct me to sell the files," Wilson said.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson directed the federal lawsuit.
He said, "I trust the federal government will hold Cody Wilson...accountable to that law.
If they don't, President Trump will be responsible for anyone who is hurt or killed as a result
of these weapons."
Wilson said he believes he could have begun selling the printing plans earlier.
He said he chose not to because he wanted to be able to post them online for wider availability.
"For many years I chose not to sell these files," Wilson said.
"I don't expect to make money on it."
I'm Ashley Thompson.
Japan say North Korea remains a serious threat to Japan's national security.
The statement comes from Japan's yearly defense policy paper.
The document was released on Tuesday.
The Japanese government has announced plans to buy two American-made air defense radar
tracking stations.
Officials say the Aegis Ashore defense system would help strengthen the country's defenses
against a missile attack.
The Japanese military notes that North Korea has carried out three nuclear tests and test-fired
more than 40 ballistic missiles since 2016.
Some of those missiles passed over Japanese air space.
The new report recognizes recent efforts by North Korea to reduce tensions with South
Korea.
These efforts led to the historic talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President
Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.
At the meeting, the two men signed a statement.
It included a general promise by North Korea to remove nuclear weapons from the Korean
Peninsula.
Yet the Japanese military noted that, "There is no change in our basic recognition concerning
the threat of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles."
The report also expressed concerns about China's military expansion, including Chinese territorial
claims in the East China Sea.
Yoichiro Sato is a professor of international strategic studies at Ritsumeikan Asia-Pacific
University in Japan.
He notes there have been many diplomatic developments involving North Korea.
But he said "Japan is not likely to alter its perception of threats from North Korea."
Speaking about China, Sato said Japan is concerned about parts of China's "Belt and Road" development
plan.
The plan provides money for building roads, rail transportation and other projects.
The goal is to help connect Asia with Europe, and even Africa.
Sato said some projects, such as ports, can also be used by China's growing navy -- an
important concern for Japan.
The release of Japan's defense policy paper comes just days after President Trump cancelled
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea.
On Twitter, Trump wrote that "we are not making sufficient progress" on the issue of removing
nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula.
The South Korean government is seeking to improve relations with the North.
The South expressed regret over the cancellation of Pompeo's visit.
It added, however, that it was important for the allies to seek "substantial progress"
on the nuclear issue.
North and South Korea are currently involved in a number of trust-building measures.
These include reunions of family members separated by the Korean War and joint Korean sports
teams at the Asian Games in Indonesia.
On Sunday, North Korea announced that a Japanese man, Tomoyuki Sugimoto, would be released
from detention.
Sugimoto was arrested in early August and held for several weeks.
The North's official KCNA news agency said he was being released for humanitarian reasons.
News reports say Sugimoto was seized for taking videos of a military area near the port of
Nampo.
He was first placed on an airplane going to Beijing and returned to Japan on Tuesday.
I'm Mario Ritter.
In a few weeks, Julia Flores Colque will celebrate her 118th birthday.
She is the oldest woman in Bolivia.
Following the death of a woman in Japan earlier this year, Flores Colque may now be the oldest
person in the world.
Her national paper says Flores Colque was born on October 26, 1900 in the mountains
of Bolivia.
During her long life, Flores Colque has seen two world wars.
Her home country of Bolivia had a major revolution.
And the town where she is from, Sacaba, has grown from 3,000 people to 175,000.
But right now, Flores Colque seems mostly interested in her dogs, cats and rooster.
She has not heard of the Guinness Book of World Records, and she does not care if experts
confirm she is the oldest person alive.
"She's always been active, easygoing and fun," says her grandniece, who lives with her in
a simple home with a dirt floor.
Government officials have paid for some improvements to the house, adding a brick path and railings
so Flores Colque can walk safely.
The Sacaba mayor's office calls Flores Colque part of the country's living history.
On the day a reporter from the Associated Press visited, Flores Colque was playing a
small guitar called the charango and singing old songs in her native language of Quechua.
"If you would have told me you were coming, I'd have remembered all the songs," she joked.
Then she dipped her finger into a cake and smiled while she licked the frosting.
When she was growing up, Flores Colque herded sheep and llamas in the Bolivian highlands.
Then she moved to a valley, where she sold fruits and vegetables.
Those fruits and vegetables became her main food, and she still eats a healthy diet – except
for a piece of cake and a glass of soda sometimes.
She never married and does not have children.
Today, the AP reporter says Flores Colque looks like a stone statue.
She cannot hear very well, but she is alert and scolds her small dog when the animal goes
into the road.
Flores Colque's age would make her interesting anywhere, but it is especially notable in
Bolivia.
The United Nations says the country has one of the South America's highest levels of death.
I'm Jonathan Evans.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has named Steve Biegun as special representative for North
Korea.
He will direct U.S. policy towards North Korea and lead efforts to achieve President Donald
Trump's goal of the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea, as agreed
to by Chairman Kim in Singapore.
As special representative, Mr. Biegun will lead negotiations and spearhead diplomatic
efforts with American allies and partners.
"Mr. Biegun has had an extensive career in foreign policy and in tough negotiating
settings", said Secretary Pompeo.
This will place Mr. Biegun in good stead as his primary task will be to use diplomacy
to resolve the North Korean security threat once and for all.
In remarks, Mr. Biegun acknowledged the challenges ahead, "The issues are tough, and they will
be tough to resolve.
But the President has created an opening, and it's one that we must take by seizing
every possible opportunity to realize the vision for a peaceful future for the people
of North Korea."
"This begins," said Mr. Biegun, "with the final, fully verified denuclearization
of North Korea.
. . .I will work closely with my colleagues here at the State Department and throughout
the U.S.
Government, as well as our allies and partners around the world, to achieve our shared goal
of a safer and more peaceful world.
Secretary Pompeo expressed his confidence in Mr. Biegun saying he "is eminently qualified
for the task and clear-eyed in the challenge before us.
I'm fully confident that he will be able to lead our mission in ensuring a secure future
for the American people and – we hope – a far brighter future for the people of North
Korea."
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