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MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) - Russia's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that large-scale military exercises had started in southern Russia and in disputed territories on Russia's borders.
The exercises involve over 2,000 anti-aircraft troops and 500 items of weaponry and will last until April 10, Interfax news agency reported.
The Defense Ministry said the exercises were taking place in Russia's Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts, as well as on Russian military bases in Armenia, the Georgian separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Ukraine's Crimea region, which Moscow annexed last year.
They are likely to be viewed in the West as a show of force as relations between Russia and the West are at their most strained since the Cold War because of the Ukraine crisis.
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of directing a separatist assault in eastern Ukraine with its own troops and weapons. Russia has repeatedly denied those accusations.
At a news conference in Moscow unrelated to the exercises, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said NATO activities on Russia's borders far exceeded anything the Russian military was undertaking.
"NATO states are using the situation in the south-east of Ukraine as an excuse to ... move forward, closer to Russia's borders," Interfax quoted Antonov as saying.
On Wednesday, a NATO flotilla arrived in the Black Sea to train with ships from the Bulgarian, Romanian and Turkish navies, the defense alliance said. (Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Christian Lowe/Jeremy Gaunt)

In one month the world will commemorate a sad anniversary. It will be a year since 219 girls were abducted from their school in Chibok, northern Nigeria, and taken into the dense forest never to be seen again despite global efforts to rescue them.


Even now parents cannot be sure whether their children are dead or alive.


Even now parents wake up worried their children are being abused by terrorists.


And inspired by the passion and strength of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign a new concept has emerged. The Safe Schools plan draws on the expertise of those who have worked persistently and quietly for years on this issue, and their ideas have been brought together by A World at School.


We plan to offer support everywhere girls feel too afraid of terrorists to go to school. This support will include physical fortifications, guards, telecommunications connections and protective community safeguards.


The speed at which the Safe Schools plan was started and put into practice over the last year is remarkable. Backed by Nigerian business leaders, and set into action by President Goodluck Jonathan and Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Nigeria, it offers a way forward for the protection of girls (and boys) in the years ahead.


Globally few years have seen so many threats to girl's rights as the past 12 months. From Syria and Iraq to Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan girls' education is under attack. The basic human rights set out in the UN's universal declaration are being systematically abused by the failure to protect girls against abduction, child marriage, child trafficking, sexual abuse and violence.


Once again, International Women's Day gives us the chance to refocus the world's attention on giving every girl their rightful place in school.


Throughout this year events are being planned to call for access to education for girls. These young women are being prevented from learning for a multitude of reasons: because their personal safety is at risk; because they are forced to marry young; or made to work to support their families.


It is time to acknowledge that the current treacherous reality is robbing children of their future. I hear this regularly from A World at School's Global Youth Ambassadors, 500 young people spearheading a new children's rights movement. This movement sees children demanding an education and demanding it now. A global petition -- the #UpForSchool petition -- has already been signed by 3 million people. It is on the way to becoming the biggest petition for education and it won't stop there.


The world is calling for a safe education for all children. People everywhere feel strongly that it is unacceptable for parents to keep children at home because they are too afraid to send them to school. With half the world's out of school children caught up in conflict and post conflict areas, with girls threatened by violence and fearful of the journey to school, it is time to act.


In 2015 the world has seen education come under attack from many quarters. From diseases such as Ebola to terrorist groups such as ISIS and Boko Haram and brutal civil wars, children have been taken away from their classrooms. There is a growing call to provide properly funded education as part of any humanitarian response to children trapped in refugee camps, and displaced from their own homes.


This International Women's Day we can all stand #UpForSchool for the next generation of women and ensure that they have the opportunity to grow, learn at school and lead. For #Throwback Thursday many people are posting a photo of themselves as a schoolchild. You can see mine here.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Indonesian officials said Thursday they will reject an Australian offer to swap prisoners as part of a last-ditch attempt to save the lives of two Australian drug smugglers expected to face a firing squad within days.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly said prisoner swaps might be possible for other crimes in the future, but not for people sentenced to death under Indonesia's tough anti-drug laws. "When it comes to this crime, we will say no," he told reporters after meeting with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said earlier Thursday that she made the proposal to her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi, who had agreed to convey it to Widodo. Bishop said she had yet to hear back.

"What we are seeking to do is have an opportunity to talk about options that might be available in the area of prisoner transfer or prisoner swap," Bishop told reporters at a dawn vigil outside Parliament House.

Bishop has offered to repatriate three convicted Indonesian drug criminals in return for the lives of the Australians, Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, The Australian newspaper reported Thursday.

The proposal was made in a phone call Tuesday night after Indonesia announced the men would be transferred Wednesday from their prison home of a decade on the resort island of Bali to their place of execution on a maximum-security prison island, the newspaper said.

Bishop and Prime Minister Tony Abbott were among 40 lawmakers who gathered near the front doors of Parliament House for a candlelight vigil for the death row prisoners.

Abbott said he had requested another phone conversation with Widodo, a week after his last personal plea for the Australians' lives.

"I can't guarantee that the request will be met, but I've certainly put in a request because the government and the people of Indonesia need to know that this is important to us," Abbott said.

"We respect Indonesia, we honor the friendship that we have with Indonesia, but we stand up for our values and we stand up for our citizens and these are Australian citizens in extremis," he added.

The Australians are among nine foreign drug criminals who are to be executed soon despite clemency appeals from several of their governments. An Indonesian is also scheduled to be executed.

The preparations at Nusakambangan Island's prison have been completed, Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said. He refused to say when the executions would take place.

Besides the two Australians, a Nigerian national born in Spain was also transferred to the island prison off Indonesia's main island of Java. Two other Nigerians, a Filipino woman and four men from Brazil, France, Ghana and Indonesia are also scheduled to be executed. It was not immediately known how many have been transferred to the island.

Jeff Hammond, a Jakarta-based pastor who has been counselling Chan for four years, said the prisoner "was very upbeat" when they last met at the Bali prison on Monday.

"He's still praying ... that God will provide a miracle for him," Hammond told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The planned executions have soured relations between Indonesia and other countries involved, especially Australia and Brazil. Widodo received phone calls from some foreign leaders asking that the executions be canceled but has rejected their requests. He has vowed not to grant mercy to drug offenders because Indonesia is suffering a "drug emergency."

Prasetyo said he discussed the Australian prisoner swap offer with Foreign Minister Marsudi on Thursday and told her that "it is difficult and I do not think it needs to be considered. This does not mean that we will go head-to-head against Australia. They should understand that this is a serious crime."

Australia has repeatedly pleaded for clemency for its two citizens, who were arrested in April 2005 while trying to smuggle more than 8 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin from Bali to Australia.

The Indonesian government recalled its newly designated ambassador to Brazil, Toto Riyanto, last week to protest the postponement of the approval of his credentials by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff amid tensions over the imminent execution of its citizen, Rodrigo Gularte, 42.

The Spain-born Nigerian, Raheem Agbaje Salami, 45, and 30-year-old Filipino Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso have also been convicted of drug smuggling.

Attorney General Prasetyo said authorities are waiting for the completion of a last-minute judicial review of Veloso's case.

Indonesia executed six drug convicts including foreigners in January. More than 130 people are on death row, including 57 drug convicts.

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