By JAMEY KEATEN

GENEVA (AP) — A U.S. official focusing on arms control on Monday provided what he called new, declassified details of a Chinese underground nuclear test nearly six years ago and urged countries to press China and Russia to do more on nuclear disarmament.

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Christopher Yeaw, assistant secretary of state for the bureau of arms control and nonproliferation, spoke to a U.N.-backed body after the last nuclear arms pact between the United States and Russia expired this month. That has ended limits on the arsenals of the world’s biggest nuclear powers and raised concerns about a possible new arms race.

Yeaw called for greater transparency from China and pointed to some shortcomings of the New START treaty, such as that it didn’t address Russia’s large arsenal of nonstrategic nuclear weapons — which counts up to 2,000 warheads.

“But perhaps its greatest flaw was that New START did not account for the unprecedented, deliberate, rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup by China,” he told the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament.

Yeaw said Beijing “has deliberately, and without constraint, massively expanded its nuclear arsenal” despite its assurances to the contrary. He lamented a lack of transparency about China’s “endpoint” or goals.

“We believe China may achieve parity within the next four or five years,” he said.

Beijing has balked at any restrictions on its smaller but growing nuclear arsenal and denies carrying out such a nuclear test.

Details about alleged Chinese nuclear test in 2020

Yeaw met Monday with a Russian delegation and was to meet with Chinese and other delegations Tuesday in Geneva. U.S. officials have already held repeated meetings with partners, including nuclear-armed France and Britain.

In his speech, Yeaw cited an explosion detected at the Lop Nur underground site in western China as a magnitude 2.75 seismic event on June 22, 2020, based on information collected from an international monitoring system station in neighboring Kazakhstan.

“It was a probable explosion based upon comparisons between historic explosions and earthquakes,” he said. “The seismic signals were indicative of a single fire explosion, not typical of mining explosions.”

Yeaw said China has made it “difficult” for the international community to monitor its testing activities and that during talks, it rejected allowing seismic testing stations to be put at a comparable distance to Lop Nur that the U.S. allows near its test site in Nevada.

China rejects accusations

China’s ambassador to the conference said Monday that Beijing “resolutely rejects the unfounded accusations” by the U.S. and lashed out at “continued distortion and smearing of China’s nuclear policy by certain countries.”

“The U.S. accusation that China conducted a nuclear explosion test is completely unfounded and is merely a pretext for resuming its own nuclear testing,” Ambassador Jian Shen said. “The U.S.’s practice of smearing other countries to evade international arms control obligations seriously damages its own international standing.”

If China conducted yield-producing nuclear explosive tests, it would severely tarnish its reputation as a responsible nuclear power, said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow focused on nuclear policy and China at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

Some in the U.S. could cite that as justification for testing weapons again.

“There are American nuclear weapon scientists who genuinely think, no matter what other countries do, that the U.S. needs to resume nuclear testing simply to ensure its own arsenal would be reliable in the long run,” Zhao said.

President Donald Trump in October pointed to U.S. intentions to resume nuclear tests for the first time since 1992, but Energy Secretary Chris Wright later said such tests would not include nuclear explosions.

In his first term, Trump tried and failed to push for a three-way nuclear pact involving China.

Just after the New START pact expired, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was “pursuing all avenues” to fulfill Trump’s “desire for a world with fewer of these awful weapons” but insisted Washington would not stand by while Russia and China expand their nuclear forces.

“Since 2020, China has increased its nuclear weapons stockpile from the low 200s to more than 600 and is on pace to have more than 1,000 warheads by 2030,” Rubio wrote on Substack this month.

US presses other countries to get involved

The U.S. has expressed a willingness to pursue multiple diplomatic avenues over the issue — whether bilateral, in a small group of countries or in broader multilateral talks.

“We are looking to all of you to help encourage nuclear-weapon states like China and Russia to engage meaningfully in a multilateral process,” Yeam told the conference, which brings together some 65 countries on issues like nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

Shen said China has consistently supported the goals of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, “always adhered” to the commitments of the five nuclear weapons states to suspend nuclear testing and “never” engaged in activities that violate the treaty.

He also suggested Beijing, which has been on a vigorous military buildup in recent years, still has fewer nuclear weapons than the U.S. or Russia and said it was “unfair, unreasonable and unfeasible” to demand China engage in three-way nuclear arms control talks.

“China’s nuclear arsenal is not on the same scale as the country with the largest nuclear arsenal, and the strategic security environment faced by China’s nuclear policy is completely different from that of the U.S.,” Shen said.

Associated Press writers Didi Tang and Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.

After months of keeping hope alive that rumors of a grocery store revival are true, downtown St. Paul residents have received the closest thing to official confirmation that discount grocer Aldi is moving into the former Lunds and Byerlys space at 10th and Minnesota streets.

The German grocer, which already has a sizable footprint in St. Paul, pulled at least five permits with the St. Paul Department of Safety Inspections in recent weeks for work at 115 10th St. East related to building renovations, street light improvements and signage. The latest permit requests, filed Feb. 18 and 19, call for projecting signs, and a building permit applied for on Jan. 9 describes a “remodel of existing space to become a new ALDI retail grocery store.”

That still leaves some unanswered questions about the path ahead.

The expected renovation dates run from March 16 through June 22, according to the permit application, but no general contractor is listed on materials publicly available on Monday, which indicates the contractor is “TBD,” or “to be determined.” The building permit itself has yet to be issued.

Aldi did not return a reporter’s request for comment.

Aldi, which is reportedly still attempting to pin down financing for what will be more than a $2.2 million project, has been mum for months on its plans to open in downtown St. Paul, despite residents of the Penfield apartments — which adjoins the former Lunds space — and other downtown residents pestering construction contractors for details whenever they appear on site.

“The fact that they’re going to have items at the range of price points that downtown residents have been asking for less than a year (after Lunds exited) … all bodes really well,” said St. Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who said she had “conversations” with Aldi and “answered questions that they’d had related to safety and related to community support.”

“We’ve got a brand new Pedro Park,” Noecker added. “A once-in-a-century reconstruction of Robert Street. Brand new bus rapid transit. Being a booster, responding to their concerns, that’s really been my role.”

Lunds, which opened at 10th and Robert streets in 2014, closed permanently in March of last year, a further setback to a downtown that has experienced the loss of significant retail, office and residential tenant spaces since the outset of the pandemic in 2020. With its departure, downtown St. Paul has been left without a grocery store, and even convenience store options like the two-level Walgreens pharmacy on Wabasha Street are limited in number for an increasingly residential downtown.

There are four existing Aldi locations in St. Paul, including University Avenue, West Seventh Street, Clarence Street and Suburban Avenue.

In response to a reporter’s inquiry on Monday, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her issued a written statement: “Bringing a grocery store back downtown was one of my top priorities and a huge need we heard from residents. I want to thank Aldi for choosing to invest in our city and contributing to our vision of revitalization. My administration will continue making it easier for businesses and residents to put down roots here and ensuring that being downtown is a vibrant, welcoming, and rewarding experience for everyone.”

Joe Spencer, president of the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, said downtown’s population has continued to grow, despite some “scary moments” around the loss of Lunds and Byerlys and the collapse of Madison Equities, a major downtown property owner. He pointed to the recent renovations of Landmark Tower and the Stella, which is soon to open.

“It’s very exciting,” said Spencer, who has hosted a series of “Reimagine Downtown” events to court public feedback on needed improvements and amenities. “The number one thing everyone has said across the board is they want a grocery store. This is just a great day for downtown.”

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Longtime KARE 11 meteorologist Belinda Jensen is retiring after spending 33 years at the NBC affiliate.

KARE 11 meteorologist Belinda Jensen (Courtesy of KARE 11)

“KARE 11 has been more than a workplace; it has been family,” Jensen said in the station’s story about her retirement. “To the loyal viewers who welcomed me into their homes each day, thank you for your trust, loyalty and kindness, and for allowing me to be part of your lives.”

Jensen, 58, graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a bachelor of science degree in meteorology.

She worked for the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City and the ABC affiliate KTVX in Salt Lake City before starting at KARE in September 1993. She became chief meteorologist at KARE in 2005.

“From day one, 33 years ago, at 25 years old, I felt this was a remarkable opportunity that I didn’t want to take for granted,” Jensen said. “I interned under Paul Douglas while at the University of Wisconsin in 1989, and interviewed him in 10th grade for a term paper about meteorology, so this has been a true dream job for me from the start. KARE always pushed me to try things I never thought I could do, and every year brought more interesting and incredible experiences.”

Jensen was born in Apple Valley and grew up in Prescott.

In addition to covering the weather, Jensen serves as the station’s Saturday morning show. She also wrote a series of books called “Bel the Weather Girl.”

Jensen’s final day on the air will be May 2, but she’ll return in the fall as an occasional contributor on Saturdays.

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A St. Paul man who walked into an unlocked Merriam Park home while naked and was later confronted by a teen girl and her father has been sentenced to two years of probation.

William Kweku Enin (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

William Kweku Enin, 25, received his sentence Friday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to first-degree burglary in connection with the incident in the early morning hours of Sept. 1, 2024.

A stayed prison sentence to probation was the presumptive sentence under state guidelines, which take into account the severity of the offense and a defendant’s criminal history. Enin had no prior criminal convictions.

Enin lived less than a mile south of the home he burglarized. He has since moved to California, where he’s been living with his mother and undergoing mental health treatment and “doing well,” his attorney Emma Koski said in court.

According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to the home in the 1800 block of Marshall Avenue on a burglary call just after 3:30 a.m. The 16-year-old girl’s father told police she saw a man in her bedroom closet and that she screamed, causing him to apologize and leave her room.

The father heard the girl’s screams and encountered the man downstairs wearing the girl’s clothes. The father asked him what he was doing and he replied, “God called me to come here” and asked why the home’s door had been unlocked, the complaint said.

After the man left, the father saw the man had made food in the kitchen and turned on a TV in the living room.

The father gave police video surveillance footage that shows the man entering the home through the front door naked. He grabbed a towel from the front porch and wrapped it around his waist. He walked through the house before putting on the girl’s clothes.

Enin was arrested the same day — less than a mile away — after he reportedly went inside a car and refused to get out.

One credit shy of graduating

Enin, at his first court appearance, was ordered to undergo a Rule 20.01 evaluation, which is used to determine whether a defendant is capable of communicating with a defense attorney and competent to participate in criminal proceedings. He was found to be competent.

In December, Enin entered a Norgaard plea to the felony charge. Under a Norgaard plea, a defendant says they are unable to remember what happened due to drug use or mental health impairment at the time, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

Enin appeared for Friday’s sentencing via Zoom from California.

“I would just like to say I take full accountability for everything that happened,” he told Judge Kellie Charles. “And I’m really sorry that this happened.”

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“I see that you were one credit away from a degree from Macalester College,” Charles said.

“Yes, Your Honor,” he replied.

Charles then gave Enin a stay of imposition, meaning the felony conviction will become a misdemeanor if he successfully completes the conditions of probation, which include mental health programming.

“So it’s important that you follow through,” Charles said. “I’ve been following this case for close to two years, and you’ve always shown up and you’re taking your mental health seriously. And I am confident that you’re going to be able to do well on probation.”