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On This Day In The Navy:
1945: Over 1200 Navy ships and Army troops begin invasion of Okinawa.

TOP STORIES:
1. Russia Signals It Will Withdraw Troops From Ukraine Border
Vladimir Putin Says He Had 'Ordered a Partial Withdrawal' of Forces
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 01 APR 14) ... Anton Troianovski and Lukas I. Alpert
Russia signaled on Monday it was pulling some troops away from its border with Ukraine, a move that met with skepticism in the West but could represent the Kremlin's first notable concession after weeks of frantic diplomacy by the U.S. and Europe.

2. After Trading Fire, North And South Korea Trade Insults
(NEW YORK TIMES 01 APR 14) ... Choe Sang-Hun
SEOUL, South Korea – A day after exchanging artillery fire across their disputed sea border, North and South Korea hurled insults at each other on Tuesday, with the North rejecting an ambitious overture from the South’s president, Park Geun-hye.

3. Malaysia Changes Last Words From Missing Plane, Hunt Goes On
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... Stuart Grudgings and Matt Siegel
KUALA LUMPUR/PERTH – The last words from the cockpit of a missing Malaysian jet were a standard "Good night Malaysian three seven zero,” Malaysian authorities said, changing their account of the critical last communication from a more casual "All right, good night."

EUROPE:
4. Russia Pulls Back A Battalion From Ukraine Border
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 31 MAR 14) ... Laura Mills and Vladimir Isachenkov
SIMFEROPOL, Crimea – Russia said Monday it was pulling a battalion of several hundred troops away from the Ukrainian border but kept tens of thousands in place, prompting a worried response from the Kiev government about what the U.S. warned was still a "tremendous buildup."

5. NATO Plans More Support For East Europeans Worried By Crimea
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... Adrian Croft
BRUSSELS – NATO will decide new steps on Tuesday to reinforce eastern European countries worried by Russia's annexation of Crimea, and on how to bolster Ukraine's armed forces.

ASIA – PACIFIC:
6. Poor Coordination Led To Flawed Search For Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The Search Area Shifted Abruptly on Friday After Authorities More Fully Merged Two Investigative Strands
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 01 APR 14) ... Andy Pasztor and Jon Ostrower
Lapses in coordination among countries and companies trying to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 led to three days of searches in an area hundreds of miles from where investigators now believe the plane is likely to have gone down, people familiar with the matter said.

7. China Snubs Japan Over International Warship Gathering
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 31 MAR 14)
TOKYO – Japan’s navy has not been invited to join an international flotilla of warships taking part in a ceremonial event in China, an official said Monday, the latest snub in a row between Asia’s two largest economies.

8. N. Korea Prepares Missile Launch, But No Imminent Sign Of Atomic Test
(YONHAP NEWS AGENCY (S.KOREA) 01 APR 14) ... Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL –North Korea has imposed a no-sail zone in the East Sea for domestic vessels in a move seen as preparations for additional missile launches, military officials said Tuesday, though Pyongyang has not shown any imminent sign of a nuclear test.

9. Beijing And Manila In Dispute Over Reef
(NEW YORK TIMES 31 MAR 14) ... Jane Perlez
BEIJING – China accused the Philippines on Monday of illegally occupying Chinese territory after a Filipino vessel outmaneuvered the Chinese Coast Guard and resupplied a ship that has been stranded for 15 years on the Second Thomas Shoal, a tiny reef in the South China Sea.

10. Old U.S. Ship Home To Filipinos In China Standoff
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 31 MAR 14) ... Jim Gomez
ABOARD BRP SIERRA MADRE, Spratly Islands – On board the crumbling carcass of this World War II-era warship, Filipino marine 1st Lt. Mike Pelotera and his eight men make their way to a mid-level deck to raise the Philippine flag up a leaning pole and then salute it. Across the calm, turquoise waters, two Chinese coast guard ships lurk, looking on.

11. Japan Relaxes Arms Export Regime To Fortify Defense
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... Kiyoshi Takenaka and Nobuhiro Kubo
TOKYO – Japan eased its weapons export restrictions on Tuesday in the first major overhaul of arms transfer policy in nearly half a century, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to fortify ties with allies and bolster the domestic defense industry.

MIDEAST:
12. Converging Interests May Lead To Cooperation Between Israel And Gulf States
(NEW YORK TIMES 01 APR 14) ... Helene Cooper
JERUSALEM – Looking for a potential bright spot in the roiling upheaval of the Middle East, American and Israeli officials meeting in Jerusalem on Monday held out the hope of growing security cooperation between Israel and its Arab neighbors in the Persian Gulf.

AFGHANISTAN:
13. U.S. Seeking Buyers For Old Military Equipment
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 31 MAR 14) ... Kathy Gannon
KABUL, Afghanistan – The United States is trying to sell or dispose of billions of dollars in military hardware, including sophisticated and highly specialized mine resistant vehicles as it packs up to leave Afghanistan after 13 years of war, officials said Monday.

ARCTIC:
14. Ice Exercise 2014 Demobilizes Ice Camp Nautilus And Shifts To Next Phase
(NAVY LIVE BLOG 31 MAR 14) ... Larry Estrada
Preparing USS New Mexico (SSN 779) and USS Hampton (SSN 767) started in late 2013 with the installation of specially designed sensors by the Arctic Submarine Laboratory and training for the unique challenges and procedures required to transit and operate in the Arctic.

AVIATION:
15. U.S. GAO Sees $11.5 Billion Drop In Acquisition Cost Of Lockheed F-35
(REUTERS 01 APR 14)
WASHINGTON – The estimated acquisition cost of Lockheed Martin Corp's F-35 fighter jet program dropped $11.5 billion over the past year, the congressional Government Accountability Office reported Monday in its annual report on U.S. arms programs.

16. Boeing Backers Launch Growler Gambit
(POLITICO 31 MAR 14) ... Austin Wright
Boeing’s backers in Congress are kicking off a campaign to save one of the company’s fighter jet programs, an effort complete with behind-the-scenes lobbying and public petitions – and one that could face resistance from rival aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS:
17. How To Keep An Aircraft Carrier: The Navy's $7 Billion Problem
(DEFENSE DAILY 31 MAR 14) ... Megan Eckstein
Congress wants the Navy to keep 11 aircraft carriers in its fleet. The Navy wants to keep 11. Law dictates that the Navy keep 11. And yet, the Navy’s budget plans – assuming that sequestration remains the law of the land – does not include funding to refuel the USS George Washington (CVN-73), instead defueling and inactivating the flattop.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE:
18. Pentagon Aiding Allies On Cybersecurity In Gulf To Asia
(BLOOMBERG NEWS 31 MAR 14) ... Gopal Ratnam
The Pentagon is working with a dozen countries, including allies in the Persian Gulf region and east Asia, to bolster the cybersecurity of their militaries and build a collective defense against attacks.

19. Hagel Acts To Improve POW-MIA Accounting Effort
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 31 MAR 14) ... Robert Burns
WASHINGTON – In a bid to improve the government's accounting for missing U.S. war dead, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday he is establishing a new Pentagon agency with more focused authority and innovative approaches.

CONGRESS / BUDGET:
20. Commissary Cuts Could Hurt MWR Programs
(NAVY TIMES 07 APR 14) ... Karen Jowers
Proposed cuts in commissary funding not only would drive shoppers away because their grocery prices would rise, but also could have a “devastating” ripple effect on base morale, welfare and recreation programs, advocates said.

SEXUAL ASSAULT:
21. April Is Sexual Assault Awareness Month
(NAVY LIVE BLOG 31 MAR 14) ... Rear Adm. Sean Buck
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, recognized around the world each year – both in civilian society as well as within many militaries of our partner nations.

PERSONNEL:
22. Hagel Supports Review Of On-Base Tobacco Sales
(NAVY TIMES 31 MAR 14) ... Andrew Tilghman
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday that he supports a forcewide review of tobacco use and sales on military installations.

23. Caregivers For Post-9/11 Veterans Face Hurdles
(USA TODAY 01 APR 14) ... Gregg Zoroya
An estimated 1.1 million Americans provide care for ailing or disabled veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including parents and spouses whose cumulative efforts save taxpayers $3billion each year, according to a RAND Corp. study released Monday.

INFRASTRUCTURE / INSTALLATIONS:
24. Navy Bases Tighten Truck Driver Screening
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 31 MAR 14) ... Brock Vergakis
NORFOLK, Va. – An on-base shooting that left one sailor dead has prompted the Navy to begin prohibiting delivery drivers who have a felony conviction in the past 10 years from coming onto any of its bases from North Carolina to Maine, officials said Monday.

25. Civilian Guard On Leave As Navy Boosts Base Security
(NORFOLK VIRGINIAN-PILOT 01 APR 14) ... Lauren King
NORFOLK – A civilian police officer has been placed on leave, and the Navy is boosting security measures at bases from Virginia to Maine after last week's shooting aboard the destroyer Mahan.

26. Naval Base Kitsap's Lockdown Lifted; No Proof Shots Fired
(NAVY TIMES 31 MAR 14)
Law enforcement officials at Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor, sounded the all clear after an investigators failed to uncover evidence that shots had been fired near the base, Navy officials said Monday afternoon.

COMMENTARY:
27. The U.S. Should Not Be Shutting Out Ukraine
(WASHINGTON POST 01 APR 14) ... Editorial
The Obama administration insists that it won’t negotiate the future of Ukraine with Russia over the heads of the Ukrainians. But something very much like that has appeared to be happening since Vladi­mir Putin telephoned President Obama on Friday.

28. When Sanctions Aren't Enough
If NATO wants to stanch Russian adventurism in Eastern Europe, it needs a comprehensive security plan (and fast).
(FOREIGN POLICY 31 MAR 14) ... William B. Taylor, John E. Herbst and Steven Pifer
It should be clear now that the West has a Russian security problem. Twice in the last six years, the Kremlin has seized territory in a neighboring country on the grounds of protecting minorities or ethnic Russians and Russian speakers. In each instance, the rejoinder from the West proved to be inadequate. Now, this threat demands a broad response that goes beyond the steps taken to date, that will deter the Kremlin from further aggression.

29. The Naïveté Of Distance
The befuddled response to Russia's Crimea takeover shows that America needs a refresher on how the rest of the world actually thinks and works.
(FOREIGN POLICY 31 MAR 14) ... Aaron David Miller
The Ukraine crisis has made it clear that there are some crucial facts about world history and geography that Americans don't really understand. As the world digests Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggressive moves and ponders future ones by Russia or other smaller powers, here are a few things about these two profoundly important forces – or more specifically, the U.S. relationship to them – that Americans need to keep in mind. Grasping them is, in a word, critical.

30. The U.S. Navy And The Pivot: Less Means Less
Given resource constraints, the U.S. Navy may need to execute a pivot of its own.
(THE DIPLOMAT 31 MAR 14) ... William Kyle
Five years of Obama administration foreign policy are in the history books as the world continues to move beyond the era of the Global War on Terror. While the jury is still out regarding the ultimate impact of his post-GWOT redirection of American foreign policy, U.S. President Barack Obama’s initiatives since 2011 have clearly been designed to steer American policy in a profoundly Pacific direction. This shift has direct consequences for the U. S. Navy in the so-called “Pacific Century.”

31. Will Presidential Elections Bring Stability To Afghanistan?
Expert roundup interviews
(CFR.ORG 31 MAR 14) ... Zachary Laub
Afghans will choose among eleven contenders for the presidency on April 5. The stakes are high: The election promises to bring Afghanistan's "first peaceful and democratic transfer of executive power," writes Andrew Wilder of the U.S. Institute of Peace. But some degree of fraud is inevitable, and after the votes have been cast, backroom dealing may sway the outcome, says Martine van Bijlert of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

32. Congress, Pentagon Battle Over Budget
Congress, Pentagon at odds in budget talks; it’s military’s needs vs. lawmakers’ home front
(WASHINGTON POST 01 APR 14) ... Walter Pincus
Defense Department officials and Congress continue to disagree on how to save money in the fiscal 2015 defense budget.

33. The Things She Carried
(NEW YORK TIMES 01 APR 14) ... Cara Hoffman
The injury wasn’t new, and neither was the insult. Rebecca, a combat veteran of two tours of duty, had been waiting at the V.A. hospital for close to an hour when the office manager asked if she was there to pick up her husband.

34. U.S. Navy Takes ‘One Giant Leap’ With New Research Vessel
(NAVY LIVE BLOG 31 MAR 14) ... Tim Schnoor
It’s a great day for the U.S. Navy and the ocean science community – I just witnessed the christening of the Navy’s newest research vessel at the Dakota Creek Industries shipyard in Anacortes, Washington, about 70 miles north of Seattle.

35. Chief Petty Officers Celebrate 121 Years Of Excellence
(NAVY LIVE BLOG 31 MAR 14) ... Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens
As the master chief petty officer of the Navy, I get the chance to talk with chief petty officers from all across the world. As I travel throughout the fleet, it is evident that chiefs are doing great things. Their Sailors are a reflection of their amazing work. Established on April 1, 1893, chiefs have led each Sailor in their charge.


TOP STORIES:
1. Russia Signals It Will Withdraw Troops From Ukraine Border
Vladimir Putin Says He Had 'Ordered a Partial Withdrawal' of Forces
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 01 APR 14) ... Anton Troianovski and Lukas I. Alpert

Russia signaled on Monday it was pulling some troops away from its border with Ukraine, a move that met with skepticism in the West but could represent the Kremlin's first notable concession after weeks of frantic diplomacy by the U.S. and Europe.
It remained unclear just how many troops Russia was withdrawing. The German government said President Vladimir Putin told Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone that he had "ordered a partial withdrawal" of military forces massing along Ukraine's eastern border.
Russia's Defense Ministry said an infantry battalion – a relatively small number of troops – had been ordered to return from a position near Ukraine to their base some 800 miles to the east. Ukrainian officials said as many as 20,000 Russian troops had apparently been moved back from the border in recent days, but that some 40,000 remained.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he couldn't confirm whether Russian forces were pulling troops back. "There is still a tremendous buildup of Russian forces on that border," Mr. Hagel said.
Last week Western officials said Russian military forces were seen massing along the Ukraine border, prompting fears that the Kremlin was preparing for another incursion into the territory of its largest western neighbor. The ensuing military campaign would likely be more deadly than the practically bloodless takeover of Crimea, the pro-Russian region of Ukraine that Russia occupied and annexed in recent weeks.
But the troop movements disclosed Monday appeared to reinforce suspicions among Western diplomats that Mr. Putin was hoping to use the positioning of his military forces as a bargaining chip in his bid to prevent Ukraine from drifting into the West's orbit.
In an hourlong phone call Friday that the Kremlin initiated, President Barack Obama urged Mr. Putin to stop his troop buildup. Secretary of State John Kerry said after a meeting in Paris with his Russian counterpart Sunday that "any real progress in Ukraine must include a pullback of the very large Russian force that is currently amassing along Ukraine's border."
Russian officials have said they have no intention of invading Ukraine, but say they retain the right to protect ethnic Russians who live in the eastern half of the country. In return for easing military tensions, Moscow appears to be pushing harder on the diplomatic front in its bid to influence Ukraine's future.
In his meeting with Mr. Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged a constitutional overhaul in Ukraine in which the provinces would have greater autonomy from the government in Kiev. U.S. and Ukrainian officials say they worry such a formula could provide the Kremlin with a virtual veto over Kiev's political system.
Despite Russian assurances, Western officials warned on Monday that the military threat to Ukraine had by no means passed.
"We are not yet seeing the type of activity that would lead us to believe that a significant withdrawal is in progress," a North Atlantic Treaty Organization spokesman said.
In Berlin, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said that Mr. Putin's argument that he had a duty to protect Russian minorities abroad mirrored Adolf Hitler's pretext in the 1930s for invading the Sudetenland, a largely German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, in October 1938.
"Those are the methods that Hitler has applied in the Sudetenland," Mr. Schäuble said during a question-and-answer session with schoolchildren, according to people in the audience. "We know all about that from history."
His comments jar with Chancellor Merkel's finely calibrated approach to Moscow since the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine. The chancellor has gradually ramped up her criticism of Russia while eschewing harsh rhetoric and stressing the need for dialogue.A spokesman for the German Finance Ministry confirmed his comment but said Mr. Schäuble made clear he wasn't "comparing Russia in any way with the Third Reich."
Ukrainian officials said some of the troop movement appeared to be the routine rotation of draftees who had reached the end of their service. Russian officials declined to comment beyond the official report on the battalion returning to base. That report included no details on the number of troops involved.
Asked about Ukraine's request for additional military supplies, Mr. Hagel noted that the food rations promised by the U.S. have arrived and the government is continuing to discuss Kiev's requests. He said aid to Ukraine would also be discussed at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers this week.
While Western leaders appeared focused on eastern Ukraine, Moscow moved to further cement its hold on Crimea. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev became the highest-level Russian official to visit the region since the disputed March referendum vote to join Russia and announced a series of programs aimed at swiftly incorporating the territory into Russia's economy and infrastructure.
At a cabinet meeting held in the regional capital of Simferopol on Monday, Mr. Medvedev announced the creation of a new ministry for Crimean affairs.
"The development of Crimea and Sevastopol has become a state priority for us," he said. "Every deputy prime minister, every minister is fully responsible for the Crimean situation within the areas under their command."
His visit likely put to rest whatever doubt remained about Russia's intention to proceed with fully absorbing Crimea since it voted to secede from Ukraine in mid-March and Russia agreed to annex the territory.
Mr. Medvedev said work would begin quickly to move Crimea away from dependence on energy and water supplies from Ukraine, and that construction of a bridge connecting the peninsula to mainland Russia across the Kerch Strait would start as soon as possible. In the short term, a ferry service crossing the strait will be increased.
He also said a fiber-optic cable to connect Crimea to Russian telecommunications networks would be laid by mid-April and integrating the region into Russia's banking system would be completed in the near future.
Naftali Bendavid, Gregory L. White, Julian E. Barnes and Andrea Thomas contributed to this article.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304157204579473611876116286

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2. After Trading Fire, North And South Korea Trade Insults
(NEW YORK TIMES 01 APR 14) ... Choe Sang-Hun

SEOUL, South Korea – A day after exchanging artillery fire across their disputed sea border, North and South Korea hurled insults at each other on Tuesday, with the North rejecting an ambitious overture from the South’s president, Park Geun-hye.
In a speech in Dresden, Germany, that was broadcast live in South Korea on Friday, Ms. Park promised a huge investment in North Korea’s decrepit industries, as well as humanitarian aid for babies and nursing mothers, if the North gives up its nuclear weapons program.
Although Ms. Park’s proposal largely reiterated what her three predecessors had proposed, it marked her most detailed overture toward the North since she came to office shortly after the North’s nuclear test in February 2013.
On Tuesday, the state-controlled North Korean newspaper Rodong Sinmun scoffed at Ms. Park’s speech, calling the unmarried South Korean leader an “eccentric old spinster” and “a frog in a well.” It said her overture was “full of deception” and “filth” and was aimed at destroying the North Korean government.
South Korea immediately responded, condemning North Korea for using “expressions even street ruffians would refrain from.”
“North Korea must realize that by the way it is behaving, it will attain nothing and will only deepen its isolation,” the government in Seoul said in a statement.
North Korea stoked tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula last spring by threatening to launch nuclear strikes at Washington and Seoul. In the past few months, it had been moving to ease the tensions, but in recent weeks it conducted a series of short- and midrange missile tests.
Then on Sunday, North Korea threatened to carry out a “new form of nuclear test.” On Monday, it fired 500 artillery shells and rockets off its southern coast, with 100 of them falling south of a disputed sea border between North and South Korea. The South fired back, pounding North Korean waters with 300 artillery rounds.
The tensions continued on Tuesday, with the South Korean military saying it was investigating an unidentified drone that crash-landed on Baengnyeong, a South Korean island near the waters where the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire on Monday. The drone was first spotted by an islander on Monday.
“We have collected its debris for investigation,” said a spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of National Defense who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy. “We are looking into all possibilities, including the possibility that it came from the North.”
The spokesman declined to provide further details. But the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted an unidentified government official as saying that the drone was two to three meters long, or 6.5 to 10 feet, and carried a small camera. The drone had a Japanese engine and Chinese components, it said.
North Korea unveiled what appeared to be drones during recent military parades in its capital, Pyongyang. In March last year, its news media showed the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, watching drones attack targets during a military drill.
Mr. Kim was quoted as saying at the time that the drones were intended to be used to attack targets in South Korea.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/world/asia/korea.html

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3. Malaysia Changes Last Words From Missing Plane, Hunt Goes On
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... Stuart Grudgings and Matt Siegel

KUALA LUMPUR/PERTH – The last words from the cockpit of a missing Malaysian jet were a standard "Good night Malaysian three seven zero,” Malaysian authorities said, changing their account of the critical last communication from a more casual "All right, good night."
The correction more than three weeks after Flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board was made as Malaysian authorities face heavy criticism, particularly from China, for mismanaging the search and holding back information.
Painstaking analysis of radar data and limited satellite information has focused the search on a vast, inhospitable swath of the southern Indian Ocean west of the Australian city of Perth, but has so far failed to spot any sign of the jetliner.
Search coordinators warned the hunt could drag on for some time yet.
"In this case, the last known position was a long, long way from where the aircraft appears to have gone," retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told reporters in Perth.
"It's very complex, it's very demanding and we don't have hard information like we might normally have," he said.
The Boeing 777 disappeared from civilian radar in the early hours of March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Minutes later its communications were cut off and it turned back across Malaysia and headed towards the Indian Ocean.
Malaysia says the plane was likely diverted deliberately, probably by a skilled aviator, leading to speculation of involvement by one or more of the pilots. Investigators, however, have determined no apparent motive or other red flags among the 227 passengers and 12 crew.
"We would like to confirm that the last conversation in the transcript between the air traffic controller and the cockpit is at 0119 (Malaysian Time) and is "Good night Malaysian three seven zero," the Department of Civil Aviation said in a statement late on Monday.
Malaysia's ambassador to China told Chinese families in Beijing as early as March 12 that the last words had been "All right, good night.” About two-thirds of the passengers on board were Chinese.
The statement said authorities were still conducting "forensic investigation" to determine whether the last words from the cockpit were by the pilot or the co-pilot. Malaysia Airlines had previously said the words were believed to have come from the co-pilot.
Search Goes On
Nine ships and 10 aircraft resumed the hunt for wreckage from MH370 on Tuesday, hoping to recover more than fishing gear and other flotsam found since Australian authorities moved the search 1,100 km (685 miles) north after new analysis of radar and satellite data.
Houston said the challenging search, in an area the size of Ireland, would continue based on the imperfect information with which they had to work.
"But, inevitably, if we don't find any wreckage on the surface, we are eventually going to have to, probably in consultation with everybody who has a stake in this, review what to do next," he said.
Using faint, hourly satellite signals gathered by British firm Inmarsat PLC and radar data from early in its flight, investigators have only estimates of the speed the aircraft was travelling and no certainty of its altitude, Houston said.
Satellite imagery of the new search area had not given "anything better than low confidence of finding anything,” said Mick Kinley, another search official in Perth.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will travel to Perth on Wednesday to see the operations first hand.
Among the vessels due to join the search in the coming days is an Australian defense force ship, the Ocean Shield, that has been fitted with a sophisticated U.S. black box locator and an underwater drone.
Time is running out because the signal transmitted by the missing aircraft's black box will die about 30 days after a crash due to limited battery life, leaving investigators with a vastly more difficult task.
Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Perth and Jane Wardell in Sydney; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Paul Tait.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/us-malaysiaairlines-flight-idUSBREA2701720140401

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EUROPE:
4. Russia Pulls Back A Battalion From Ukraine Border
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 31 MAR 14) ... Laura Mills and Vladimir Isachenkov

SIMFEROPOL, Crimea – Russia said Monday it was pulling a battalion of several hundred troops away from the Ukrainian border but kept tens of thousands in place, prompting a worried response from the Kiev government about what the U.S. warned was still a "tremendous buildup."
Russia moved quickly to strengthen its economic hold on Crimea, with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arriving in the newly annexed peninsula with promises of funds for improved power supplies, water lines, education and pensions for the elderly.
Russia's takeover of the strategic Black Sea region, its troop buildup near Ukraine's border and its attempts to compel constitutional changes in Ukraine have markedly raised tensions with the West and prompted fears that Moscow intends to invade other areas of its neighbor.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone call Monday that some troops were being withdrawn from the Ukraine border, Merkel's office said. The withdrawal involved a battalion of about 500 troops, Russian news reports said.
The U.S. reacted cautiously to the Russian troop movement, with Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel saying that "tens of thousands" of Russian forces still remained along the Ukrainian border, a situation he called "a tremendous buildup."
The new government in Ukraine said the action only increased its uneasiness about Russia's intentions.
"We have information that Russia is carrying out incomprehensible maneuvers on the border with Ukraine," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevgen Perebyinis said. "Troops in some places are moving backward, some of them are moving forward. Which is why, obviously, we are worried by these movements of armed forces. We have no clear explanation from the Russian side about the aim of these movements."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also discussed Ukraine by phone Monday, a day after holding talks in Paris, the Russian foreign ministry said.
A senior U.S. official said Lavrov had promised Kerry that a division of Russian troops would be pulled back; a division generally consists of thousands of troops.
"Now there have been reports of possible drawdowns of Russian military forces from the border. We haven't seen that yet, but if they turn out to be accurate, that would be a good thing," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.
Concerns of a possible invasion of eastern Ukraine – home to many ethnic Russians – were stoked by the large numbers of troops Russia had along the Ukrainian border for what Moscow said were military exercises.
One Russian battalion – about 500 troops – that had been sent to the Rostov region next to Ukraine was being withdrawn to its permanent base in the central Samara region, Russian news agencies quoted the Defense Ministry as saying Monday.
Alexander Rozmaznin, deputy chief of the Ukrainian armed forces command center, also confirmed a drop in Russian troop numbers along the border.
In Kiev, meanwhile, Ukraine's acting president flatly rejected escalating Russian pressure to turn Ukraine into a loose federation.
"Russia's leadership should deal with problems in the Russian Federation, and not with Ukraine's problems," Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchinov said. "It is Ukrainians that should dictate the form of the new constitution and how the country is structured."
Medvedev, who led a delegation of Cabinet ministers on a surprise visit to Crimea, pledged that Russia would quickly boost salaries and pensions and pour in resources to improve education, health care and local infrastructure.
But making no mistake about Russia's view of the peninsula, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted a photo of himself upon arrival with the words "Crimea is ours, and that's that."
Russia's defense minister, meanwhile, announced that all Crimean men of conscription age will get a deferral from the draft for one year.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March after a hastily called referendum just two weeks after Russian forces took control of the Black Sea region. Ukraine and the West have rejected the vote.
The annexation came after Ukraine's president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted in February and fled to Russia following months of protests. Russia claims the ouster was a coup and that the new Ukrainian authorities are nationalist fascists who will abuse Ukraine's large ethnic Russian population.
To keep its influence over eastern and southern Ukraine, Russia has pushed for Ukraine to become a federation where regions would have broad powers. The U.S. says it's up to Ukrainians to determine the structure of their government, not Moscow.
Medvedev said Russia will create a special economic zone in Crimea – a peninsula of 2 million people – that will include incentives for business with lower taxes and simpler rules, and will develop the region as a top tourist destination.
"We must create a new investment history for Crimea, which will be more successful than what it has been," Medvedev said.
Medvedev particularly emphasized the need to ensure a stable power supply for the peninsula. Crimea currently gets about 80 percent of its electricity and a similar share of its water from Ukraine, and power cutoffs last week raised fears that the Ukrainian government could use energy as a weapon to bargain with Russia.
Medvedev said Russia already has made sure that Crimea has enough backup power capacity to ensure an uninterrupted electricity supply. He added that Russia will work on long-term solutions to Crimea's energy problem that could involve linking the region to Russia's power grid or developing local power generation.
In Kiev, a member of the radical nationalist group Right Sector was detained late Monday over his involvement in a shooting near a restaurant adjacent to Independence Square, which saw many of the protests that culminated in Yanukovych's ouster. Many activists have remained encamped there and have signaled their intent to remain until the election of what they deem to be a legitimate government.
Officials said a city government official was among three people injured in the incident. Police later surrounded the Dnepr hotel in central Kiev, which Right Sector has commandeered as it headquarters, in an effort to persuade the group to hand over any weapons in its possession.
Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Jim Heintz in Moscow, Nedra Pickler in Washington and Matthew Lee in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE

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5. NATO Plans More Support For East Europeans Worried By Crimea
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... Adrian Croft

BRUSSELS – NATO will decide new steps on Tuesday to reinforce eastern European countries worried by Russia's annexation of Crimea, and on how to bolster Ukraine's armed forces.
Diplomats said NATO foreign ministers will look at options ranging from stepped-up military exercises and sending more forces to eastern members states, to the permanent basing of alliance forces there – a step Moscow would view as provocative.
Ministers from the 28 alliance members are meeting in Brussels for the first time since Russia's military occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region caused the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
While the United States and its allies have made clear they will not intervene militarily in Ukraine, which does not belong to NATO, they have scrambled to reassure anxious NATO members in eastern Europe, particularly ex-Soviet republics in the Baltics, that they are sheltered by the alliance's security umbrella.
The United States has increased the number of U.S. aircraft in regular NATO air patrols over the Baltic States and beefed up a previously planned training exercise with the Polish air force.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute said the ministers, including Secretary of State John Kerry, would discuss further measures to reassure the eastern European allies.
"They will talk about ... what more can be done to amplify the measures that have been taken already and to sustain them over time so that these measures are not simply short-term gestures," Lute told a news conference.
Since 1999, when it began admitting former members of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, NATO has had a self-imposed restriction on permanently basing alliance forces in eastern Europe. However, Poland and Romania have agreed to host parts of the U.S. anti-ballistic missile shield and NATO air forces take turns to provide air cover over the Baltic states.
A senior NATO diplomat said the Crimean crisis would probably lead to the issue of permanent bases being discussed. "I think that these are the sorts of things that ministers are likely to talk about in the next couple of days," he said.
The ministers' meeting continues on Wednesday, although it is due to discuss Afghanistan then.
Flaunting Russia's Grip
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev flaunted Russia's grip on Crimea by flying to the region and holding a government meeting there on Monday. But in a gesture that could ease tension, Moscow said it had pulled some troops back from near Ukraine's eastern border.
Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser, told reporters last week that the United States would increase temporary deployments of ground and naval forces to NATO allies in eastern Europe. "We expect other European partners to step up and join us in doing so," he said.
U.S. forces in Europe have fallen from just over 300,000 in the final years of the Cold War to about 100,000 in 2005. The number is estimated at about 80,000 in 2014, including 14,000 civilians, according to the U.S. military's European Command.
Many European allies have slashed military spending in response to the financial crisis and the United States also recently unveiled cuts. Washington is pressing European allies to reverse the cuts, but is likely to face an uphill struggle.
Ministers will review NATO's cooperation with Russia, but it was unclear if they would announce further steps on Tuesday.
NATO announced soon after the Crimean crisis broke that it would no longer hold lower-level meetings with Russian counterparts and would suspend planning for a joint mission linked to Syrian chemical weapons.
NATO and Russian ambassadors could continue to meet but "other forms of practical cooperation, military cooperation are likely to be in the deep freeze for the time being," one senior diplomatic source said.
At a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia, the NATO ministers are also expected to offer help to make Ukraine's armed forces more efficient.
Ukraine has sent NATO "a huge list of equipment requests" which had been forwarded to individual allies for them to decide on what they could do, a senior NATO official said.
Ministers are expected to agree to step up cooperation with Ukraine's armed forces, which already includes training officers, holding joint exercises and promoting reforms.
Diplomats said they expected no discussion this week on whether the Crimean crisis would put Georgian and Ukrainian membership of NATO back on the agenda. Possible future expansion of NATO will be discussed at another meeting in June.
A divided NATO reached a compromise at a 2008 summit, declaring that the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine would one day join the alliance, but without setting them on an immediate path to membership.
Georgia's membership prospects were put on ice after it fought a war with Russia later that year while Ukraine's former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, ousted in February, ditched the goal of joining NATO in 2010.
Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Phil Stewart in Washington; editing by David Stamp.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/01/us-ukraine-crisis-nato-idUSBREA2U1UF20140401

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ASIA – PACIFIC:
6. Poor Coordination Led To Flawed Search For Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The Search Area Shifted Abruptly on Friday After Authorities More Fully Merged Two Investigative Strands
(WALL STREET JOURNAL 01 APR 14) ... Andy Pasztor and Jon Ostrower

Lapses in coordination among countries and companies trying to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 led to three days of searches in an area hundreds of miles from where investigators now believe the plane is likely to have gone down, people familiar with the matter said.
The search area shifted abruptly on Friday after authorities more fully merged two investigative strands by international teams of experts that had largely been working separately to estimate where in the southern Indian Ocean naval forces should be looking for wreckage.
One team's calculations of the plane's likely speed and rate of fuel consumption were based on radar data and aircraft-performance modeling. Another team worked separately for at least several days using satellite data to calculate the plane's likely trajectory, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The failure to promptly coordinate the analyses raises questions about the flow of information among the many participants in the multinational probe, particularly in the process of identifying the initial search area in the Indian Ocean.
The previous search area was based primarily on the satellite analysis. The search area shifted about 700 miles northeast after investigators combined the satellite analysis with updated speed and fuel-consumption calculations, these people said.
The result provided "the most credible path" and the point at which "the aircraft is likely to have crashed into the water," according to Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
Malaysian and Australian government officials have said the decision to shift the focus of the hunt in the Indian Ocean closer to the coast of Australia – after more than three days of fruitless searches in the previous location – was based on "updated advice" from an international technical team assisting Malaysia.
People familiar with the Malaysian-led probe said it was an evolving process and investigators shared all relevant information with international partners. But Malaysian officials didn't feel it was their role to ensure that foreign experts were sharing refined data among themselves, one of these people said.
Last week, the acting transport minister told reporters that despite the setbacks, "I do not think that we would have done anything differently" in searching for the plane.
"They don't have the necessary structure for inter-agency coordination," said James Keith, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia from 2007 to 2010. "It has exposed their lack of preparation to deal with such a disaster."
Boeing Co., which built the missing 777-200ER aircraft and calculated fuel consumption, has declined to comment on its work in the investigation.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which contributed to the speed estimate, said "the teams are working together and concurrently on various aspects of the data," without elaborating. British air-accident investigators, who are providing technical advice to Malaysia, declined to comment.
The announcement of the revised search area was prompted by a new analysis of how fast the plane may have been flying while it was being tracked by Malaysian military radar after disappearing from civilian radar screens on March 8. The work helped investigators and search teams better estimate where the jet likely ran out of fuel.
Among the entities involved in the latest analysis were the NTSB and Boeing.
But those calculations effectively were done separately from earlier work sketching out a likely trajectory performed by Inmarsat PLC, a British satellite operator, said the two people familiar with the matter.
Inmarsat, which was advising British air-safety experts assisting the Malaysians, was "a long way removed" from the international team's work and analysis, one of these people said.
On March 24, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that based on Inmarsat's novel analysis of satellite data – briefed to him just hours earlier by the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch – the plane's flight "ended in the southern Indian Ocean" and "far from any possible landing sites."
Around that time, Malaysian Defense Minister and acting transportation chief Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia set up "an international working group," including the NTSB and Boeing, to refine Inmarsat data and "more accurately determine the final position" of Flight 370.
"Inmarsat is proud to see our model being applied and refined with additional data," said company senior Vice President Chris McLaughlin. "We are not proprietary where search and rescue is the goal."
Inmarsat and the British investigators used assumptions in calculating where the plane likely ran out of fuel; those included typical ground speeds of 400 to 450 knots. The faster Flight 370 flew, the shorter its overall range would have been.
"The previous analysis had a range of possible assumptions about the speed, and those assumptions have now been refined," Mr. Dolan told reporters when announcing the revised search area Friday.
Referring to Inmarsat's work and the speed analysis, he said: "Bringing those two together gives you the most credible path."
Before the new search area was identified, Inmarsat had "no Malaysian radar data showing [Flight 370 was] faster" than 450 knots, according to one person briefed on the issue.
By the end of last week, however, four days after the prime minister's announcement, the international team of technical experts concluded that the plane had indeed been flying faster than 450 knots and therefore used more fuel and likely went down earlier. Officials haven't said how fast they believe the plane was flying.
Much of the information contributed by outside experts to the investigation goes into "the pool and [is] refined by others," said a person familiar with the probe, adding that those contributors often have "no right" to any of the subsequent analysis, under the investigation's current structure.
The assumptions used to approximate the presumed final location of Flight 370 are still guided by little hard data. Even with the now-refined speed data from the 777 as it flew back across the Malaysian peninsula, investigators "don't know what speed [Flight 370] was doing after it left Malaysian [military] radar," this person said. "It's a very imprecise thing."
Richard Paddock and Robert Wall contributed to this article.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304886904579471272412709930

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7. China Snubs Japan Over International Warship Gathering
(AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 31 MAR 14)

TOKYO – Japan’s navy has not been invited to join an international flotilla of warships taking part in a ceremonial event in China, an official said Monday, the latest snub in a row between Asia’s two largest economies.
The international fleet review, being held to mark the 65th anniversary of the Chinese navy, will see warships take part in a sail-past off the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao next month, according to Japanese media reports.
“We have not received an invitation,” a spokesman for Japan’s Marine Self-Defense Force (MSDF) told AFP.
Japanese media speculated that Beijing’s move was intended to punish Tokyo, with relations mired in acrimony over historical differences and a territorial dispute.
The Nikkei business daily reported that Washington was considering boycotting the event to show its displeasure with China.
“We are prepared to participate in the fleet review and prepared to send our escort ship if we are invited,” the Japanese official said. He added Japan had not been invited to a similar gathering hosted by China five years ago.
The move comes ahead of a visit to China and Japan this week by Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel after he hosts a meeting of Asian defense ministers in Hawaii from Tuesday to Thursday.
While Japan appears to have been left off the guest list for the fleet review, it has been invited to a naval symposium that is being held in Qingdao at the same time, involving top naval officials from more than 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Japan has not yet decided whether to send MSDF chief of staff Katsutoshi Kawano, the official said.
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140331/DEFREG03/303310029

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8. N. Korea Prepares Missile Launch, But No Imminent Sign Of Atomic Test
(YONHAP NEWS AGENCY (S.KOREA) 01 APR 14) ... Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL –North Korea has imposed a no-sail zone in the East Sea for domestic vessels in a move seen as preparations for additional missile launches, military officials said Tuesday, though Pyongyang has not shown any imminent sign of a nuclear test.
The latest move follows the North's live-fire drill held near the tense western sea border on Monday, which prompted South Korea to fire hundreds of shells in response to shots that fell in its waters.
"North Korea has internally set the no-sail zone in waters near Wonsan this week to control its vessels," the source said on condition of anonymity. "It is highly likely that the North may fire ballistic missiles."
Wonsan is located on the southeastern coast, where missile and rocket launches have taken place in recent weeks.
Pyongyang last week fired off two mid-range Rodong missiles, drawing condemnation from the United Nations Security Council. The ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying a simple nuclear warhead, flew about 650 kilometers before hitting eastern waters.
The communist state has claimed that its rocket and missile launches are "self-defensive military drills" to counter the "U.S. hostile policy," and a sharply pointed response against the ongoing military exercise between Seoul and Washington. It also threatened to conduct "a new form of nuclear test" to bolster its nuclear deterrence.
South Korean and U.S. forces have stepped up their surveillance on the North Korean military to detect signs of missile launches and an atomic test at its test facilities, but there is no imminent sign of a nuclear test, Seoul's defense ministry said.
"North Korea has prepared an underground explosion at a horizontal tunnel dug deep inside of a mountain," ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing. "To conduct a real atomic test, additional equipment and devices are needed. But no such movement has been detected yet."
Pyongyang conducted three atomic tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, all of which were conducted at an underground testing site in Punggye-ri in the northeastern region.
In regard to the possibilities of an underground explosion or an airborne testing, Kim said the North may find it hard to conduct a test in this atmosphere because it could bring a strong backlash from the international community due to radioactive fallout. An underground test would yield similar effects regardless of its internal designs, he said.
Experts have speculated that the North's "new form" of nuclear test could use different testing platforms or new uranium-enrichment technology.
In November, the South Korean military said the North is believed to be capable of producing nuclear weapons from enriched uranium, though it failed to detect the fission materials used in the third nuclear test in February 2013.
Seoul officials have been on high alert ahead of several significant national anniversaries scheduled in April as the North could take noticeable actions to consolidate internal unity.
Pyongyang plans to hold the first session of the Supreme People's Assembly on April 19; celebrate the April 15 birthday of Kim Il-sung, the country's late founding leader and grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un; and commemorate the birthday of the Korean People's Army on April 25.
"North Korea has claimed the ballistic missile launches are part of its military drills, but they are apparently aimed at having an external effect," a senior military official said on condition of anonymity. "Announcing the no-sail zone in the East Sea following the large-scale firing drill in Yellow Sea shows signs of additional provocations."
The communist state test-fired Rodong missiles capable of striking Japan in 1993 and now is estimated to have 200 of them. It also has about 600 Scud short-range missiles that can hit all parts of South Korea.
Following Monday's drill, the North Korean batteries on its western shores have not shown any special movement.
Between Feb. 21 and March 31, Pyongyang fired nearly 600 projectiles, including missiles, rockets and artillery, in a show of force against the ongoing joint military drills between Seoul and Washington. The two-month combat field training Foal Eagle runs through April 18.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2014/04/01/68/0401000000AEN20140401003600315F.html

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9. Beijing And Manila In Dispute Over Reef
(NEW YORK TIMES 31 MAR 14) ... Jane Perlez

BEIJING – China accused the Philippines on Monday of illegally occupying Chinese territory after a Filipino vessel outmaneuvered the Chinese Coast Guard and resupplied a ship that has been stranded for 15 years on the Second Thomas Shoal, a tiny reef in the South China Sea.
Chinese ships prevented the Philippines from resupplying the boat and its eight-man military crew in early March, but on Saturday a Filipino vessel manned by troops managed to keep the Chinese at bay by going into shallow waters and lifting food onto the stranded ship.
“This is a political provocation,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Hong Lei, said at a regular briefing on Monday, adding that the Philippines was “hyping” its “illegal occupation” by filing a case on Sunday with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
The submission by the Philippines argues that the Second Thomas Shoal – known as Ayungin in the Philippines and Ren’ai Reef in China – is 105 nautical miles from the Philippines, well inside the 200 nautical miles of a Philippine exclusive economic zone that allows the Philippines to exploit the waters around the shoal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the brief says.
The Philippine secretary of foreign affairs, Albert del Rosario, said at a news conference in Manila on Sunday that a ruling on the submission – which includes 4,000 pages and 40 maps and was written by a Washington law firm – was expected in 2015.
The State Department noted the filing Sunday and said the United States supported the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
The cat-and-mouse maneuvers between the Philippines, an American ally with little naval capacity, and China, which has a fast-expanding navy, have captured attention for what they might foretell about future rivalries in the South China Sea.
China claims about 80 percent of the South China Sea, a vital waterway for world trade.
President Obama is scheduled to visit the Philippines during a tour of Asian allies in April, a trip that does not include China but is bound to highlight China’s projection of power in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
In the past year, China has intensified its surveillance operations in the South China Sea, dispatching fishing vessels, coast guard ships and navy ships to keep watch.
To publicize its determination to keep the Second Thomas Shoal, the Philippines invited reporters on board the government vessel that was sent to resupply the Sierra Madre, a rusted warship that has been grounded on the reef since 1999. The warship and its crew had been kept in place as a way to reinforce the Philippine claim to the shoal.
China says that the shoal is part of the Nansha Islands, which it says are inside the so-called nine-dash line that runs deep into the waters around Southeast Asia. The line was first drawn by the Nationalist government in the 1940s and has been used by the Communist government to justify its claims to a wide area of islands and sea.
As the resupply vessel approached the Sierra Madre on Saturday, two Chinese ships approached the Filipino vessel and sent a radio message saying that it should leave immediately and “stop all” illegal activities. The Filipino vessel kept going and found waters too shallow for the Chinese ships so that the resupply operation could go ahead, Reuters reported.
After food and water were heaved onto the Sierra Madre, the crew on board left and a new crew began its rotation.
The Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper with nationalist views, said in an editorial on Monday that the “small and weak” Philippines had become the vanguard force of “provoking China.” It warned that China had the ability to force Filipino soldiers off the reef at any time, “like taking thieves away.”
Bree Feng contributed research.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/world/asia/beijing-and-manila-in-dispute-over-reef.html

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10. Old U.S. Ship Home To Filipinos In China Standoff
(ASSOCIATED PRESS 31 MAR 14) ... Jim Gomez

ABOARD BRP SIERRA MADRE, Spratly Islands – On board the crumbling carcass of this World War II-era warship, Filipino marine 1st Lt. Mike Pelotera and his eight men make their way to a mid-level deck to raise the Philippine flag up a leaning pole and then salute it. Across the calm, turquoise waters, two Chinese coast guard ships lurk, looking on.
Its hull riddled with holes and rust, the BRP Sierra Madre has become a fragile symbol of the Philippines' claim to Second Thomas Shoal, an eight-kilometer (five-mile) -long submerged coral outcrop that has been disputed by China and the Philippines for years.
It's a lonely ship, where Pelotera and his team wage a daily battle against isolation.
"There's a point where you tend to feel low," Pelotera said of the challenges of his team's four-month deployment at the reef, where there is no land to stand on and nothing to stare at all day but sea. "But we have to kill the boredom because there is an important mission to fulfill."
The Philippine navy inherited the former U.S. tank-landing ship USS Harnett County in 1976, and ran it deliberately aground at Second Thomas Shoal in 1999.
A Chinese frigate and maritime surveillance ships arrived last year to press China's claim to the shoal, which is believed to be sitting atop undersea oil and gas reserves. The move was an example of China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea, something that is alarming the United States, Manila's longtime ally.
Analysts say China's strategy is to slowly take possession of islands and outcrops in the South China Sea, using intimidation where necessary but avoiding any major confrontation. Its military might and economic dominance in the region mean it can push its weight around with little fear.
Second Thomas Shoal and the nearby Spratly Islands lie about 120 miles (190 kilometers) from the western Philippine province of Palawan, and about 700 miles (more than 1,000 kilometers) from southern China. China's foreign ministry says Beijing has "indisputable sovereignty" over the shoal.
The Sierra Madre is now effectively a shipwreck, but the Philippine military has not decommissioned it. This makes the ship an extension of the government and means any attack on the ship is tantamount to an assault against the Philippines. The Chinese ships are around 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the outpost, clearly visible to those on board.
When Associated Press journalists and other members of the media were allowed to board the ship over the weekend, the marines went about their day, washing dishes and giving the visitors a short tour. The slow strain of Kid Rock's late 1990's song "Only God Knows" played from an old stereo set.
"We're marines," Pelotera said in an interview. "We can adapt to life anywhere."
Another marine, Cpl. Sheffrey Luna, said people should look beyond the ship's disrepair.
"They should see the determination of the soldiers in it," he said. "If you're not determined here, where everything you see is water, you won't last long."
In the last 15 years, the Sierra Madre has slowly crumbled, beaten by the sun, sea and storms.
Its main deck, used as a helipad before, is now home to an upturned lifeboat and toppled iron poles. Doors and wooden scraps cover holes and weak deck sections that could collapse and hurl a marine down into the cavernous cargo hold. Its towering mast is heavily rusted and could be toppled by the next big storm.
Three weeks ago, the Chinese succeeded in blocking for the first time a Philippine boat bringing troops and supplies to the Sierra Madre.
Manila deployed a civilian boat last week with a fresh batch of marines and 10 tons of food. In a bid to draw global attention to what Philippine officials have called China's bullying tactics, they invited more than a dozen journalists, TV cameramen and photographers to come along on the 30-hour-plus journey from the Philippine mainland.
Two Chinese coast guard ships tried to block the slow-moving vessel, with one cutting dangerously through the Philippine boat's path twice. The Chinese coast guard warned the boat by radio to turn back, saying it was illegally venturing into Chinese territory. The Chinese ships blew their horns continuously, but the boat maneuvered toward a shallow approach to the shoal dotted with submerged rocky outcrops, preventing the Chinese from continuing.
Carl Thayer, a professor at the University of New South Wales and an expert on the dispute, said China is trying to wear the Philippines down. "China is mainly motivated to squelch the Philippines and its vocal and legal opposition to Chinese assertiveness, less this inspire other regional states to do the same," Thayer said. "Bit by bit, China hopes to condition regional states into accepting its hegemony."
Philippine navy Lt. Ferdinand Gato, who led the resupply mission, smiled as the boat approached the Sierra Madre, with the outgoing marines, some of them sporting beards, waving and smiling on the deck. He had served as a gunnery officer of the warship during military campaigns against Muslim insurgents and Abu Sayyaf extremists in the mid-1990s.
A regional military commander, Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, awarded Pelotera and his men with bronze cross medals Monday for their work on the Sierra Madre.
"You can now shave and have a haircut," he told the marines.
He said he was heartened when he asked each of them if they were willing to return to the Philippine ship on the shoal. "They told me, ‘anytime, sir.'"
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_SOUTH_CHINA_SEA_DISPUTED_SHOAL

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11. Japan Relaxes Arms Export Regime To Fortify Defense
(REUTERS 01 APR 14) ... Kiyoshi Takenaka and Nobuhiro Kubo

TOKYO – Japan eased its weapons export restrictions on Tuesday in the first major overhaul of arms transfer policy in nearly half a century, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to fortify ties with allies and bolster the domestic defense industry.
In a move which alarmed China, where bitter memories of Japan's past militarism run deep, the government decided to allow arms exports and participation in joint weapons development and production when they serve international peace and Japan's security.
That is a shift from a decades-old policy of banning all weapons exports in principle, although quite a few exceptions to the rule have been made over the years, such as the transfer of arms technology to the United States, Japan's closest ally.
"This is beneficial for Japanese companies in that they can take part in joint development and joint production and have access to cutting-edge technology," Takushoku University Professor Heigo Sato said.
"If you live in a closed market like the Japanese defense industry does, you clearly lag behind in technological development."
But even under the new regime, Japan is to focus mainly on non-lethal defense gear such as patrol ships and mine detectors and says it has no plan to export such weapons as tanks and fighter jets.
The move comes when Sino-Japanese ties have been chilled due to a territorial dispute over a group of East China Sea islets and Abe's visit in December to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression.
"Japan's policy on military security concerns the region's stability. We pay great attention to this," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily news briefing.
"We request that the Japanese side learn lessons from history, earnestly respond to regional countries' strong concerns about the relevant issue ... and do more to benefit the region's peaceful development."
Japan's self-imposed restrictions on arms exports have virtually excluded defense contractors such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI from the overseas market and made it difficult for them to cut costs and keep abreast of technological development.
Competition Tough
Japan's defense budget slipped for a decade through 2012, raising concerns that some of t