On the final Monday of May, Americans set aside the day to honor those who died on the battlefield.
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Month: May 2017
Pope says Egyptian Copts Killed by IS Were ‘Martyrs’
For the second day in a row, Pope Francis has expressed his solidarity with Egypt’s Coptic Christians following an attack on a bus carrying Coptic pilgrims to a remote desert monastery.
Francis led thousands of people in prayer Sunday for the victims, who Francis said were killed in “another act of ferocious violence” after having refused to renounce their Christian faith.
Speaking from his studio window over St. Peter’s Square, Francis said: “May the Lord welcome these courageous witnesses, these martyrs, in his peace and convert the hearts of the violent ones.”
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, which killed 29 people.
On Saturday during a visit to Genoa, Francis prayed for the victims and lamented that there were more martyrs today than in early Christian times.
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Congo Militiamen Free One French, 3 Congolese Mine Workers
Militiamen have a freed French national and three Congolese who were kidnapped in March during an attack on Banro Corp’s Namoya gold mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.
“The president of the republic welcomes the news of the liberation of our compatriot kidnapped on March 1 in the east of Democratic Republic of Congo,” said a statement from the office of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The militiamen had kidnapped five workers, including the French national, a Tanzanian and three Congolese.
The Tanzanian had already been freed. The remaining four hostages were all freed on Saturday, the Congolese Interior Ministry said in a statement.
New York and Toronto-listed Banro’s four gold mines in eastern Congo have faced hazards both from illegal miners squatting on site and by armed groups that are a legacy of a regional conflict which officially ended in 2003.
Armed robbers attacked Banro’s Twangiza gold mine in neighboring South Kivu province in February, killing three police officers.
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Europe Left Uneasy by Trump’s Message
White House press spokesman Sean Spicer declared Saturday night Donald Trump’s first overseas trip as U.S. president had been a success in a tweet posted as the American leader was flying back to Washington “after very productive 9 days.”
Just hours earlier President Trump told American troops stationed in Sicily he had strengthened bonds with allies.
That isn’t how Europe leaders and most of the continent’s media see it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel spelled out publicly her fears that the traditional western alliance is now under threat both from the Trump presidency and Brexit.
Speaking at a rally in Germany, she said: “The times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days.”
While acknowledging that Germany and Europe should strive to maintain good relations with the U.S. and Britain, Merkel also said, “We need to know we must fight for our own future as Europeans for our destiny.”
European reaction — especially in the key capitals of Berlin and Paris — to the Trump visit is very different from the White House’s characterization; and “success” isn’t a word being used.
European officials say they now are convinced Europe will have to go it alone more — something they expected would be the case after Trump was elected.
For them, Washington is no longer the dependable ally. And that broadly has been the view of Europe’s press. Headlines all week have been providing a counterpoint to the White House version of meetings. Belgium’s Le Soir headlined one front-page story: “Trump shoves his allies.”
And Germany’s financial newspaper Handelsblatt dubbed him “Boor-in-Chief.”
Disappointment
The Europeans had hoped Trump’s visit might mark a reset in transatlantic relations roiled by his election — that the U.S. president would be persuaded to see the world through their eyes more. But from Brussels to Sicily, there were uneasy smiles, awkwardness and no disguising rifts on a range of issues — from trade and immigration to sanctions on Russia and climate change.
European leaders and officials complained to the media that Trump and his advisers were ignorant of basic facts, notably on transatlantic trade. “Every time we talked about a country, he remembered the things he had done,” one official told Belgium’s Le Soir. “Scotland? He said he had opened a club. Ireland? He said it took him two-and-a-half years to get a license and that did not give him a very good image of the EU.”
German officials told Süddeutsche Zeitung that Trump and his aides were under the impression America had separate trade deals with each individual EU country.
‘America First’ message
France’s Le Monde newspaper said: “During this visit, President Trump maintained his line ‘America First,’ refusing to take a step to improve U.S.-European relations.” It faulted him for failing to make a clear statement reaffirming Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, guaranteeing mutual assistance in the event of armed attack, and for lecturing European leaders on financial burden-sharing.
The German magazine Der Spiegel pounced on the closing photo-op of a midweek meeting between Trump and newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron in which the two men appeared locked in a hand-wrestling match as a visual metaphor of the U.S. president’s European trip.
WATCH: Trump Meets French President Macron
“The Frenchman grabbed Trump’s hand and squeezed hard,” the magazine noted. “Trump squeezed back. For a moment, they looked like opponents locked in a wrestling match. Trump wanted to let go, but Macron squeezed even harder until his knuckles turned white,” was the Der Spiegel’s description of an iconic almost sumo-like standoff between the two leaders.
Body language
Other European media outlets focused their attention on the shove President Trump gave Montenegro’s prime minister, Dusko Markovic, in order to position himself to the front for a group photo-opportunity of NATO leaders.
Aside from body-language, European media attention Saturday focused on the brevity of the communiqué concluding the two-day G-7 summit in Sicily Saturday — half-a-dozen pages long, compared to 32 pages last year — which many editorial writers saw as advertising the absence of consensus between the U.S. and the other G-7 members.
Trump’s refusal to reaffirm the 2015 Paris pact on climate change aimed at reining in greenhouse gas emissions was the headline dispute of the G-7 summit in the cliff-top town of Taormina on Sicily’s Ionian coast, but European commentators noted that across the board there was very little meeting of minds.
Italian newspapers noted the disappointment of Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in his efforts to get U.S. backing for a new partnership between G-7 nations and Africa involving aid and investment in a bid to stem the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean.
Deadlock over climate change
European newspapers have now taken to dubbing the G-7 as “G-6 plus one” — a characterization prompted partly by German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s remarks on the summit deadlock over climate change.
“The whole discussion on the topic of climate was very difficult, not to say very unsatisfactory,” Merkel said as the summit of the leaders of the world’s most economically advanced nations was drawing to a close. “Here we have a situation of six against one, meaning there is still no sign of whether the U.S. will remain in the Paris accord or not,” she added.
The Guardian newspaper’s Jon Henley, the paper’s European affairs correspondent, argued in his assessment of Trump’s visit: “It may, mercifully, have passed off without apocalyptic mishap, but Donald Trump’s first transatlantic trip as U.S. president still left European leaders shaken.”
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Dozens of Cypriots Call for Reunification With Linked Arms
Dozens of Greek and Turkish Cypriots have linked arms across a U.N.-controlled buffer zone cutting across ethnically divided Cyprus’ capital of Nicosia to voice their support for a reunification agreement.
Beating drums, blowing whistles and singing traditional Cypriot folk songs, the demonstrators said real peace lies in the hands of ordinary people from both sides of the divide as the Mediterranean island’s reunification talks appear to be faltering.
Protesters said Saturday’s event was to remind politicians not to let ordinary people down.
On Friday, a U.N. envoy called off mediation efforts with the island’s Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci after failing to find “common ground” on convening a final summit for an overall reunification deal.
But officials insisted talks haven’t collapsed.
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Migrants’ Mediterranean Travails Are Backdrop for G-7 Talks in Sicily
Maritime rescues of migrants adrift in the Mediterranean continued unabated on Saturday, with Spanish officials assisting more than 150 refugees in small boats and Tunisian security forces pulling more than 100 others to safety, including seven pregnant women and three children.
The latest tally of rescued African migrants seeking a better life in Europe came as Libyan and Italian officials said about 10,000 migrants had been rescued off the coast of Libya this week. The French news agency AFP quoted authorities as saying at least 54 people had drowned.
Migrants in need of assistance often are brought to Sicily, but that process was halted this week ahead of the Group of Seven summit. Leaders of the world’s seven biggest industrialized nations met in the eastern Sicilian seaside town of Taormina.
Heads of state, including U.S. President Donald Trump, heard an impassioned plea from the host nation. Italy called on the G-7 nations to massively increase investment in large parts of Africa, to help make residents’ lives more attractive and prosperous.
However, there were no reports from the summit of any specific progress on that issue.
Rome had hoped to persuade the industrialized nations to develop legal procedures for additional migration. Analysts say that effort was scrapped before the two-day summit opened, when the United States, Britain and Japan voiced opposition to new immigration initiatives in their respective countries.
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Long Shunned By Foreigners, Iran Looks to Tourism to Boost Ailing Economy
Iran’s potential as a holiday destination is vast, with its stunning landscapes and numerous World Heritage sites, but foreign tourists have largely avoided the country ever since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
The reasons are numerous. The visa process can be lengthy and complex. Some female visitors object to customary restrictions on dress. Alcohol consumption is heavily restricted. And, fears of detention and political upheaval enter the minds of many foreigners considering holidays in the Islamic republic.
Under President Hassan Rohani, a relative moderate who won a second term in office with a convincing first-round victory in Iran’s May 19 presidential election, the country has welcomed foreigners as part of an effort to improve its international image and boost an economy battered by low oil prices and years of crippling international sanctions imposed over Iran’s nuclear program.
Since the signing of a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 that was the crowning achievement of Rohani’s first term, tour companies have launched holiday packages and major European airlines have resumed regular flights to Iran.
The number of foreign tourists has increased accordingly, and the cash-strapped government is planning to build on its tourism revival by easing visa restrictions and spending heavily to spruce up tourist accommodations and shabby transportation networks.
‘Tsunami of tourists’
In 2015, Masoud Soltanifar, the head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, said he was expecting a “tsunami of tourists” once sanctions were lifted following the deal under which Iran’s nuclear program would be curbed in return for the lifting of sanctions.
The World Bank said the number of visitors to Iran increased from 2.2 million in 2009 to 5.2 million in 2015, and Iranian officials expect that trend to continue.
The influx of tourists has brought the country billions of dollars in revenue and created badly needed jobs. In 2015, Iran earned $7.5 billion in tourism revenue; the government hopes to attract 20 million foreign tourists by 2025 and gross $30 billion.
Business Insider and Bloomberg have named Iran among the top destinations to visit in 2017 because of security and the country’s ancient architecture, famous bazaars, and natural beauty.
To put Iran on the map for tourism in the region, authorities have announced sweeping plans that include easing visa restrictions.
Issuing visas on arrival at the airport for nationals of 190 countries as well as issuing electronic visas are among the initiatives being considered by Iranian officials. Citizens from the United States, Canada and Britain would still only be allowed to travel on escorted tours.
The government has also announced plans to create sufficient accommodation and transportation for the growing number of tourists. There is a plan to increase the number of higher-end hotels from 130 to more than 1,000 in 10 years.
Iran also plans to add 400 new passenger planes to its domestic fleet to compensate for shortages due to international sanctions over the past three decades.
The plan is to make Iran a hot spot that would rival regional destinations. Like Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, Iran is blessed with natural wonders.
The Islamic Republic has a sun-baked coast with hundreds of kilometers of beaches. Iran is also a haven for culture buffs, with 19 World Heritage sites, including the ancient desert city of Bam and the ruins of Persepolis.
Tourist hub
Key to the government’s plans to boost tourist numbers is Kish Island, one of a handful of free-trade zones in Iran. The southern island in the Persian Gulf is known for its newly built, multistory malls; sparkling jewelry stores; and swanky, five-star hotels hugging the coast.
The island is a tourist hot spot that attracts an estimated 1 million people every year, mostly Iranians. But Tehran is stepping up its efforts to make the island, located 16 kilometers from the mainland, a destination for foreign visitors as well.
Iran’s first cruise ship since 1979 made its maiden voyage on April 13, docking at another Iranian Gulf resort island, Qeshm, with more than 200 passengers on board.
The seven-floor, Swedish-built cruise liner, named Sunny, is equipped with two cinemas, restaurants, a swimming pool and a conference hall. With the capacity to carry up to 1,600 passengers and 200 vehicles between the two islands, the ship is intended to help launch a “boom [in] marine tourism,” according to Iran’s state IRNA news agency.
Luxurious spot
Kish Island is known as an oasis of luxury and relative freedom in the otherwise conservative Islamic republic.
Women can be seen dipping their bare legs in the warm sea, alcohol is easier to come by, and even prostitutes can be seen on the promenades. It is a world away from the mainland, where a strict ban on alcohol and prostitution is enforced and women must be covered.
Visitors to Kish are attracted by the duty-free shops, resort hotels, water sports and an opportunity to escape the strict social norms on the mainland. A small number of foreigners are also going to Kish, where they do not need a visa and where they can mingle freely in foreigners-only parts of the island.
Authorities occasionally crack down on cinemas playing Western films, shops displaying mannequins that are deemed too exposed, and restaurants selling alcohol, but that is the exception.
Mina, a 21-year-old Iranian student who has visited Kish Island twice, says Iranians go there to escape the social restrictions on the mainland. But she added, “I saw more foreigners coming to Kish, and as long the infrastructure improves, more will come.”
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Tillerson Declines to Host Ramadan Event at State Department
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has declined a request to host an event to mark Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, two U.S. officials said, apparently breaking with a bipartisan tradition in place with few exceptions for nearly 20 years.
Since 1999, Republican and Democratic secretaries of state have nearly always hosted either an iftar dinner to break the day’s fast during Ramadan or a reception marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the month, at the State Department.
Tillerson turned down a request from the State Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs to host an Eid al-Fitr reception as part of Ramadan celebrations, said two U.S. officials who declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
According to an April 6 memo seen by Reuters, the office — which typically initiates such events — recommended that Tillerson hold an Eid al-Fitr reception.
Ramadan event
His rejection of the request suggests there are no plans this year for any high-profile Ramadan function at the State Department. The month of fasting and prayer for Muslims gets under way in many countries on Saturday.
When asked by Reuters to comment on Tillerson declining a request to host an Eid al-Fitr event in July for Ramadan, a State Department spokesperson said:
“We are still exploring possible options for observance of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan. U.S. ambassadors are encouraged to celebrate Ramadan through a variety of activities, which are held annually at missions around the world.”
Muslim activists have accused President Donald Trump’s administration of having an unfriendly attitude toward Islam, encapsulated by its attempts to ban citizens of several Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
The administration says that while it strongly opposes Islamist militants, it has no quarrel with Islam. Aides point to Trump’s visit this month to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam where he addressed the leaders of more than 50 Muslim countries, as evidence of that.
Members of Congress, Muslim civil society and community leaders, diplomats from Muslim countries and senior U.S. officials usually attend the State Department Ramadan event, a symbol of the U.S. government’s diplomatic efforts with Muslim countries and people.
If Tillerson avoids hosting one this year, that could send a message “that it is not as important to this administration to engage with Muslims,” said former U.S. diplomat Farah Pandith, who served in the Bush and Obama administrations and helped plan Ramadan events at the White House and State Department.
Tillerson issued a statement on Friday to mark the start of Ramadan, which he called “a month of reverence, generosity, and self-reflection.”
“Most importantly, it is a cherished time for family and friends to gather and give charity to those who are less fortunate,” he said.
Past events
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright started the tradition 18 years ago of America’s top diplomat hosting a public event for Ramadan, a lunar month.
The secretary of state of the time usually gives remarks there on the meaning of Ramadan.
In April, the State Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs made a request to Tillerson’s office that he deliver remarks at an Eid al-Fitr reception this year, and suggested a two-week range of dates in July. The event would serve to “highlight State Department initiatives and the importance of Muslim engagement,” the memo said.
It noted that by hosting a reception just after Ramadan, rather than an iftar – an often sumptuous dinner at sunset – a State Department event could be held any time of the day, thus preventing “a very late evening for the Secretary.”
Several weeks later, that office and other offices at the State Department were alerted that Tillerson declined the request, the officials said.
Reuters was told of the request being declined but did not see Tillerson’s reply. An official with the Office of Religion and Global Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Several prominent Muslim-American groups in the Washington area who are normally invited to the Ramadan event told Reuters this week that they had yet to receive an invitation from the State Department, which they said was unusual.
Also In Politics
“If they’re having one, we haven’t been invited,” said Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington. A representative for her group has been invited to the State Department event in the past, she said.
Fraught relationship
Trump’s administration has had a fraught relationship with Muslims. As a presidential candidate, the Republican urged a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, called for more surveillance of mosques and warned that radical Muslims were “trying to take over our children.”
Trump has since toned down his rhetoric and courts have halted his temporary travel ban on people from six mostly Muslim countries.
White House officials did not respond to a request for comment on whether they would continue the tradition this year of hosting a Ramadan-related event at the White House.
The State Department celebrates other religious traditions though some of those commemorations are not as well-established as the State Department’s Ramadan event. In 2014, then-secretary of state John Kerry hosted the first ever celebration at the State Department marking Diwali, the Hindu festival.
The White House also traditionally hosts annual Christmas and Easter events as well as a Seder dinner to mark the Jewish Passover.
The top U.S. diplomat has personally hosted a Ramadan event every year since 1999, often in the State Department’s grand Benjamin Franklin room, apart from three years.
In 2006 and 2015, deputies of the secretary of state at the time hosted either an iftar dinner or an Eid al-Fitr reception. In 2014, Kerry hosted a reception for Eid al-Adha, another important Muslim holiday.
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Italy Still Isolated in Shouldering Migration Crisis After G-7
Italy chose to host a Group of Seven summit of wealthy nations on a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean, looking to draw attention to the migrant crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of people set sail from Africa in search of a better life in Europe.
But world leaders on Saturday said little that will help Italy manage the steady flow of migrants to its shores or enable it to cope with the growing number of new arrivals.
“Even though this summit took place in Sicily, a stone’s throw from where so many migrants have died, it produced no concrete steps to protect vulnerable migrants or to address the root causes of displacement and migration,” said Roberto Barbieri, the local director of humanitarian group Oxfam.
Food security
Rome had hoped to persuade other major industrialized nations to open more legal channels for migration and to focus attention on food security — policies which were meant to lower the number of people who set off for Europe.
But the plan was scrapped before the two-day summit even started, with the United States, Britain and Japan unwilling to commit to major new immigration initiatives.
The final communique outlined medium-term commitments to bolster African economies and promote sustainable agriculture, but it focused more on the need for each country to guarantee national security than on how to limit migration.
Countries “reaffirm the sovereign rights of states to control their own borders and set clear limits on net migration levels,” said the communique.
‘Desperate measures’
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said the language was decided “weeks ago” by diplomats from G7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United States.
“It wasn’t an issue that was the focus of debate, other than recognising the humanitarian importance of taking people in as this region has done,” Gentiloni said of Sicily, which has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants arrive since 2014.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there had been “excellent” discussion on the need boost economic opportunity, in particular during outreach sessions with five African leaders on Saturday, so that people “are not driven to take desperate measures to improve their lot”.
Both the United States and Britain opposed the Italian pre-summit initiative to draft a stand-alone G-7 statement entitled “G7 Vision on Human Mobility”, an Italian official said.
Open, safe, legal paths
That document included language on the need for open, safe and legal paths for migrants and refugees, according to excerpts seen by Reuters.
Italy has been put under increasing pressure as EU partners have refused to relocate large numbers of asylum seekers, and some have closed their southern borders to keep migrants out of their own countries, effectively sealing them in Italy.
More than 175,000 asylum seekers live in Italian shelters. With sea arrivals at a record pace this year, the issue is hotly debated by politicians facing a general election within a year.
Over the past 10 days, almost 10,000 migrants were rescued off the coast of Libya, where people smugglers cram them onto unsafe boats. Dozens died, including many children.
“We know that the deadliest season is upon us. It starts pretty much now, at least it has for the last few years,” Joel Millman, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said on Friday. “We expect these coming weeks to be much worse.”
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After UK, Egypt Attacks, Libya Seen as Militants’ Haven
The Libya connection in the May 22 Manchester concert suicide bombing and Friday’s attack on Christians in Egypt has shone a light on the threat posed by militant Islamic groups that have taken advantage of lawlessness in the troubled North African nation to put down roots, recruit fighters and export jihadists to cause death and carnage elsewhere.
Libya has been embroiled in violence since a 2011 uprising toppled and killed Moammar Gadhafi. Vast and oil-rich, Libya currently has rival administrations, an army led by a Gadhafi-era general as well as powerful Islamist militias that compete for territory, resources and political leverage.
At the peak of its power in Libya, the Islamic State group controlled a 160-kilometer (100-mile) stretch of Libyan coastline and boasted between 2,000 and 5,000 fighters, many of them from Egypt and Tunisia.
It is that Libya that the alleged Manchester bomber, 22-year-old British citizen Salman Abedi, found when he and his family moved back from Britain after Gadhafi’s ouster in 2011.
Monday’s bombing left 22 dead, including an 8-year-old girl, and was claimed by IS. Abedi’s brother Hashim has been taken into custody in Tripoli and, according to Libyan authorities, has confessed that he and Salman were IS members.
In Egypt, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi sent his fighter-jets to bomb militant positions in eastern Libya just hours after IS fighters shot dead 29 Christians on their way to a remote desert monastery. The military said the attackers were trained in Libya.
Egypt also has long complained that weapons smuggled across the porous desert border with Libya have reached militants operating on its soil. It also has claimed that militants who bombed three Christian churches since December received military training in IS bases in Libya.
Genesis of Libya’s militancy:
Hundreds of Libyan youths answered the call to Jihad in the 1980s, traveling to Afghanistan to fight against the Russians. When they returned home after the war, Many of them wanted Islamic Sharia laws implemented in their country. They formed underground cells to escape the regime’s watchful eyes and unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Gadhafi.
After Gadhafi’s fall, veteran jihadists, al-Qaida sympathizers and Islamists of all shades formed militias that filled the post-Gadhafi power vacuum. Libya’s present woes are rooted in the failure of the very first transitional government to dismantle those militias and integrate them into a national army. Instead, they carved up Libya into fiefdoms.
Where are the militants now?
Darna: The eastern Libyan city, where militant positions were targeted by Egyptian warplanes on Friday, has historically been a bastion of radical Islamic groups as well as highly respected Islamic scholars. Extremists made the city their stronghold in the 1980s and 1990s, protected by the rugged terrain of the surrounding Green Mountain range. It was the main source of Libyan jihadists for the insurgency in Iraq. Entire brigades of Darna natives are known to be fighting in Syria’s civil war.
During the 2011 uprising, residents formed the “Abusaleem Martyrs” brigade to fight Gadhafi loyalists. It proved to be one of the most effective rebel outfits. Its ranks soon later swelled and its fighters seized the city, setting up the Darna Mujahideen Shura Council to replace the local government.
The Islamic State group’s Libyan affiliate had a robust presence in Darna, but the IS faction eventually fell out with the council and was driven out. The IS fighters relocated to the coastal city of Sirte and Darna remains to this day under the control of the Mujahideen Shura Council.
Benghazi: Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, was the first to fall under the influence of extremist Islamic militias. Many of those militias were formed to fight the Gadhafi regime in 2011 and were led by radicals, widely viewed as experienced and motivated.
Perhaps the most notorious of the Benghazi militias is Ansar Al-Sharia, blamed for the killings of hundreds of former Libyan soldiers and for the death of the U.S. ambassador in 2012.
For more than two years, the so-called Libyan National Army led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter has battled an alliance of Benghazi’s militias. His forces have managed to secure most of the city, except for pockets of a seaside neighborhood, heavily fortified and surrounded by fields of land mines.
Sirte: Sirte was where Gadhafi and his loyalists made a last stand in the 2011 civil war. The city, Gadhafi’s hometown, was almost completely destroyed in the fighting. Furious over the city’s loyalty to Gadhafi, anti-government rebels punished the city’s residents with extrajudicial killings and revenge attacks.
In 2013, Sirte fell under the control of Ansar Al-Sharia, which made alliances with local tribes and an uneasy truce with other militias and the small number of remaining army troops. The group took over a sprawling former Gadhafi compound and boasted its own TV and radio station. IS also slowly infiltrated the city as fighters from countries like Mali, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria moved in and later declared Sirte an IS emirate.
Last year, militiamen from Misrata and other localities in western Libya, acting with the support of a U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, waged a protracted and bloody campaign to drive IS militants from Sirte. When fighting stalled, the government sought support from the United States, which responded with airstrikes that sped up the collapse of IS in the city.
IS was finally defeated in Sirte and the fighters who survived the carnage fled to the vast deserts to the south.
Sebratha: Sebratha has earned a reputation as a small but tenacious stronghold of Islamic radicals, something that made it easier for IS militants to find a foothold there and spawned a lucrative business in human trafficking to Europe. The city is the main IS gateway due to its location near the Tunisian border. The jumble of various militias have helped IS keep a low profile in the city, but a 2016 U.S. airstrike that killed about 40 of the group’s operatives highlighted their presence in Sebratha.
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Mother of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Killed in Boat Accident
The mother of the CEO of the ride-hailing company Uber died in a boat accident Friday evening in Fresno County, the company said.
Bonnie Kalanick, 71, died after the boat she and her husband, Donald, 78, were riding hit a rock in Pine Flat Lake in the eastern part of the county, authorities said.
They are the parents of Travis Kalanick, 40, who founded Uber in 2009. The company has since grown to become an international operation with a market value of nearly $70 billion.
The couple have been longtime boaters. In a memo to Uber staff, Liane Hornsey, the chief human resources officer, called the incident an “unthinkable tragedy.” She wrote that “everyone in the Uber family knows how incredibly close Travis is to his parents.”
About 5 p.m. Friday, officers were called to the scene of the accident and found a man and woman on a shore of the lake, the Fresno County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The woman died at the scene, and the man suffered moderate injuries, the sheriff’s office said. He told officers the boat had sunk.
An autopsy of the woman is planned, the office said.
Uber identified the couple as the Kalanicks. Donald Kalanick is being treated at a hospital and is in stable condition, the company said.
Crews will try to remove the boat from the lake Saturday, the sheriff’s office said.
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Baseball Star Jim Bunning, Former US Senator, Dead at 85
Jim Bunning, a baseball star who later served nearly a quarter-century in the U.S. Congress, has died at age 85 in his home state of Kentucky.
Bunning, who died Friday, had suffered a stroke in October 2016. He served six two-year terms as a congressman beginning in 1987, and was elected twice to the U.S. Senate.
Bunning pitched for 17 years, originally for the Detroit Tigers then for three other teams, and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. The only Hall of Famer ever elected to Congress, he was a staunch conservative whose outspoken style aroused some controversy during his later years in the Senate, Bunning chose not to run for re-election in 2010.
Known in baseball for his consistency — rarely missing a turn in his team’s pitching rotation, shrugging off fatigue or minor injuries — Bunning had the second-highest total of strikeouts, 2,855, when he retired as an athlete. He threw a perfect game in the National League and also had a no-hitter in the American League — an unusual distinction — and also was the second pitcher ever to win at least 100 games and amass 1,000 strikeouts in each of American baseball’s two major leagues.
Bunning’s wife, Mary Catherine, whom he married in 1952, survives him. The couple had five daughters and four sons.
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Two Influential Somali Clerics Reject Violence as Ramadan Begins
Based on confirmed sightings of Ramadan’s new moon crescent, millions of Muslims around the world are fasting on the first day of the holy month. According to Islam, the sighting of the new moon marks the beginning of the Muslim lunar month of Ramadan.
Thirty-three countries, mainly those in which the majority of residents are Sunni Muslims, officially started Ramadan on Saturday. Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Shi’ite Muslims in Iraq declared Sunday to be their first day of Ramadan.
During Ramadan, which is the holiest and the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, Muslims abstain from food, drink, sex and immoral acts from sunrise to sunset. It is one of the most important Muslim practices — the Five Pillars of Islam — and just the second below the shahada, which is the sincere recitation of the Muslim profession of faith.
In Ramadan, fasting and carrying out the other Islamic obligations provide the framework of a Muslim’s life.
But in contrast with these Islamic values, the Islamic State and other terrorist groups in the world, like al-Shabab in Somalia, use the holy month to call for more violence against the West and other Muslim counties by attacking innocents and civilians.
This year, Ramadan begins as the world mourns the loss of innocent victims of barbaric terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and Egypt.
Messages from clerics
Moderate Muslim clerics across the world started Ramadan with messages to the world emphasizing that acts of terrorism and violence are directly contrary to the spirit of Ramadan.
“Ramadan is a month of peace, love and respect for all, but not a month of violence and bloodshed. Those calling for mayhem do not represent Islam and Muslims,” said Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad, an influential cleric and the chairman of the Council of Religious Scholars of Somalia.
In Britain, Muslim leaders called for calm and special prayers for the victims of the Manchester bombing.
Muslims in America are observing Ramadan this year for the first time under President Donald Trump. In a statement on Ramadan, Trump focused on violence and terrorism.
“At its core, the spirit of Ramadan strengthens awareness of our shared obligation to reject violence, to pursue peace, and to give to those in need who are suffering from poverty or conflict,” Trump’s statement said.
Imam Sharif Mohamed of Islamic Civic Society of America at Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis said the president’s message was different from the Ramadan massages of former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
“Unlike Obama and George Bush, Trump mainly focused on the fight against terrorism in his Ramadan statement,” said Sharif. “His statement only represented his election campaign and the anti-Muslim rhetoric he was notorious with.”
Taking Heart
In Minnesota, the Muslim American Society and Minnesota Council of Churches continue a program called Taking Heart to bring Christians and members of other faith communities together with Muslims for food and conversation.
“For many years, Minnesota mosques and Islamic Community Centers and mosques like ours, we have been running such programs where we sit with non-Muslim neighbors for a traditional Ramadan iftar, inviting a time of learning and encounter,” Sharif said.
“Our faith, Islamic faith, obliges us to follow the message of tolerance, co-existence, and to publicly condemn violence, extremism, any form of that,” he said.
Growing in popularity, Taking Heart saw more than 800 non-Muslims attend open-house iftar dinners in 2016.
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Sergio Bendixen, Latino Polling Pioneer, Dies in Miami
Sergio Bendixen, a pioneer in public opinion polling of Latinos who also was the first Hispanic to run a U.S. presidential campaign, has died.
His business partner, Fernand Amandi, tweeted Saturday that Bendixen was 68.
The Miami Herald reported that no cause was immediately given for his death in Miami on Friday.
As a researcher and strategist, Bendixen had clients that included the World Bank, the United Nations and several foundations.
He pioneered multilingual surveys for Hispanics and other ethnic groups.
In 1984, Bendixen became the campaign manager for then-Democratic presidential candidate Alan Cranston, the U.S. senator from California.
Four years later, he ran Bruce Babbit’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Amandi tweeted that Bendixen had changed the world for the better.
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NATO Chief: Trump’s Message on Spending Echoes Previous Administrations
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the message in U.S. President Donald Trump’s “blunt” speech urging alliance members to boost defense spending echoed that of previous administrations.
Stoltenberg spoke to RFE/RL in an interview on Friday, a day after Trump met with the other leaders of the 28-member military alliance at its new headquarters in Brussels.
Trump used a large part of his speech before unveiling a 9/11 memorial to admonish allies he said are not shouldering their share of the financial burden.
It is “not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States” that only five NATO countries currently meet a target of spending at least 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, he said.
WATCH: NATO Chief not shocked by Trump’s ‘blunt and direct’ speech
Trump “has a blunt and direct style,” Stoltenberg told RFE/RL. “This plain speaking is something we have seen before and he expressed clearly an expectation that European allies and Canada should invest more in defense.”
However, he added that “the language may be different and the words may be different but the core message is the same as we have heard before, also during the previous administration: that we need fairer burden-sharing in the alliance.”
NATO countries pledged in 2014 to try to reach the 2 percent target within a decade, but so far only Britain, Estonia, Greece, Poland, and the United States are doing so.
Many NATO countries, especially on the organization’s eastern edges, have expressed concerns about the perceived threats from an aggressive Russian foreign policy and about Trump’s commitment to the Western alliance and to sanctions placed on Moscow for its interference in Ukraine.
‘Strong, united approach’
A U.S. official on Friday caused concern when asked whether Trump plans to extend Ukraine-related U.S. sanctions against Moscow.
“I think the president is looking at it. Right now, we don’t have a position,” White House economic adviser Gary Cohn told reporters en route to a Group of Seven meeting in Sicily.
However, later Friday at the G-7 summit, Cohn came out strongly in favor of sanctions.
“We are not lowering our sanctions on Russia,” he told reporters. “If anything, we would probably look to get tougher on Russia.”
Stoltenberg insisted to RFE/RL that the alliance has a “strong, united approach” to Moscow.
“I know that NATO is united in our common approach to Russia, which is about credible deterrence and defense combined with political dialogue, and that is exactly what we are delivering on,” he said.
The NATO chief said the alliance has “implemented the strongest reinforcement of collective defense since the end of the Cold War” but has also engaged in talks with Moscow “because Russia is our biggest neighbor.”
“We have to avoid a new Cold War,” he added. “We don’t seek confrontation with Russia and, therefore, also our deployment of forces in the eastern part of the alliance is defensive. It’s proportionate and it is done in a way which sends a clear signal of multinational presence.”
Ukraine crisis
He said NATO leaders discussed the Ukraine crisis during their Brussels gathering.
“Of course, we also addressed issues like Ukraine, where we see that Russia continues to destabilize Ukraine, continues to provide support for the separatists in Eastern Ukraine, and continues to illegally annex Crimea.”
He said it was important that all NATO members express “strong political support” for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and to seek a peaceful, negotiated settlement to the crisis.
“On top of that, we also provide practical support, helping Ukraine to build more modern security institutions, implement reforms fighting corruption, developing command and control, strengthening their cybercapabilities, and many other areas, logistics,” he said.
Afghan mission
However, he added that NATO is facing many other important issues.
“NATO is about addressing many different security challenges, including the terrorist threat, the instability we see to the south, [the extremist group Islamic State], Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and also, of course, cyberthreats where, of course, we have threats coming from many different state and non-state actors.”
Stoltenberg said the alliance is studying the need to send additional troops to Afghanistan to aid the battle against the Taliban, the Islamic State group, and other militants.
“What is clear is that NATO allies will continue to sustain our mission in Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s currently at 13,000 troops,” adding that alliance leaders are assessing the request from their military chiefs to increase troop levels “with a few thousand.”
“That has not yet been decided. But it’s clear that will continue. The exact troop levels [will be known] in the coming weeks.”
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Electricity, Water Cut as Turkey Rebuilds Sur, But Some Residents Remain
Sur, a central district in Diyarbakir that was destroyed in the monthslong clashes in 2015 between Turkish security forces and the youth branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), is finally being rebuilt.
But some families are refusing to leave their homes, saying a state-sponsored subsidy is too low. Power and water to the district have been cut, meaning families have no electricity and must carry water for their needs.
At night, the streets of Ali Pasa and Lalebey neighborhoods in Sur are mostly dark because of the power outage, with a few street lamps as the only light source. The residents gather under the lamps to talk about only one topic: the clearing out of the district.
Two neighborhoods have evacuated.
Some families who got subsidies left Sur for good. Other families, who said the subsidies were too low, sought legal help. But even as their lawsuits are making their way through the courts, some residents have been forced to leave. Still others have refused to abandon the city, which led to the government’s decision to cut power and water to Sur.
For those residents who remain, they carry water for their daily needs and sit under street lamps until they go to bed. It’s been three days, and the residents are frustrated.
Cemal Tayurak, who lives with 19 other people in one house, told VOA, “They’re forcing us to leave by cutting electricity and water. The subsidy they gave for my 135-square-meter house is 87,000 Turkish liras [U.S. $24,285]. Twenty people live here. Where can we go with this little money? We don’t know where to go, we’re desperate. We’re poor, that’s why we live here.”
Sitki Aktas says he’s tired of carrying water.
“You see how dirty we are. I couldn’t even pray. No water, no power. I have four kids living with me. We are 20 people in total,” Aktas said. “They gave 105,000 Turkish liras [U.S. $29,309]. Where can we go? I’m carrying water from the mosque since this morning.”
WATCH: Sur Residents Talk about their Inability to Leave
The women suffer more from the lack of water, because it limits what housework they can do.
Cahide Toprak told VOA that time doesn’t pass without electricity and water.
“I’m desperate,” Toprak said. “We all sit here. I don’t have any means to leave. We’ve collected our stuff and [are] waiting. Come see our situation in our house. The state, the municipality don’t give us water. What else can I say?”
For security reasons, the street lamps are still powered.
But as Ramadan, the holy month in Islam, is about to start, the residents are feeling more anxious. The lack of electricity and water will make it harder for them to fast.
PHOTOS: Some Sur Residents Remain After Electricity, Water Cut
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Man Shouting Racial, Anti-Muslim Slurs Kills 2 Who Tried to Stop Him
Two people died Friday and another was hurt in a stabbing on a Portland light-rail train after a man yelled racial slurs at two young women who appeared to be Muslim, one of whom was wearing a hijab, police said.
Officers arrested a man Friday afternoon who ran from the train, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Police were still working Friday night to identify the man and the people who were attacked.
Hate speech, vicious attack
Before the stabbing, the assailant on the train was ranting on many topics, using “hate speech or biased language,” and then turned his focus on the women, police Sgt. Pete Simpson said.
“In the midst of his ranting and raving, some people approached him and appeared to try to intervene with his behavior and some of the people that he was yelling at,” Simpson told The Oregonian. “They were attacked viciously.”
One person was dead at the scene and another died at a hospital, Simpson said. The third person was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Motive is unclear
It wasn’t clear why the man was yelling, Simpson said.
“He was talking about a lot of different things, not just specifically anti-Muslim,” Simpson said.
Police don’t know if the man has mental health issues or if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.
The attack happened on a MAX train as it headed east. A train remained stopped on the tracks at a transit center, which was closed while police investigated.
Simpson said the women understandably left the scene before police were able to talk with them but police would like to hear from them to help fill in what happened.
“It’s horrific,” Simpson said. “There’s no other word to describe what happened today.”
Millions of Muslims marked the start of Ramadan Friday, a time of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts.
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Climate Change, Migration, North Korea, Terrorism Dominate Trump’s 1st G-7 Meeting
U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to talk about North Korea and counterterrorism at his first summit with leaders of the world’s industrialized democracies. But his counterparts had other ideas, especially regarding climate change. VOA White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman reports from the G-7 summit in Taormina, Italy.
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Syrian Civilians Caught Between Counter-IS Airstrikes and Islamic State Abuse
The U.N.’s top human rights official said civilians are paying a heavy price as airstrikes in Syria escalate, particularly in Islamic State-controlled areas. High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called on the air forces operating in the country to do more to minimize civilian casualties.
The situation for Syrian civilians is difficult throughout the country, but it is particularly so in areas held by Islamic State in the northeastern governorates of al-Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor.
Battered from both sides
The high commissioner’s spokesman, Rupert Colville, said civilians in those areas are being battered by escalating airstrikes from Syrian, Russian and U.S. coalition forces. At the same time, he says the same civilians are suffering indiscriminate shelling and summary executions by IS militants, whom he referred to by the acronym ISIL.
“Because of the ISIL presence, we fear civilians are in an increasingly dangerous situation as the airstrikes and ground conflict intensify, possibly resulting in many more casualties, as well as retaliatory assaults by ISIL against densely populated civilian areas,” Colville said.
“And, unfortunately, we think very scant attention is really being paid by the outside world to this situation and the appalling predicament of the civilians trapped in these areas,” he added.
Airstrikes, then ISIL
On May 14, Colville noted, airstrikes in a rural village of eastern al-Raqqa Governorate killed 23 farm workers, 17 of them women. The following day, he said, airstrikes on two residential areas in an IS-controlled city in eastern Deir-ez-Zor reportedly killed at least 59 men, women and children and wounded 70 others.
“And the day after that,” Colville said, “ISIL fighters are said to have cut the throats of eight men at the sites of the airstrikes, after accusing them of providing coordinates for the strikes.”
Al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, is urging all air forces operating in Syria to take much greater care to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilians.
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Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Adviser to President Carter, Dies
Zbigniew Brzezinski, who helped topple economic barriers between the Soviet Union, China and the West as President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, died Friday. He was 89.
His death was announced on social media Friday night by his daughter, MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski. She called him “the most inspiring, loving and devoted father any girl could ever have.”
Earnest and ambitious, Brzezinski helped Carter bridge wide gaps between the rigid Egyptian and Israeli leaders, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, leading to the Camp David accords in September 1978. Three months later, U.S.-China relations were normalized, a top priority for Brzezinski.
Expert in Communism
Born in Warsaw and educated in Canada and the United States, Brzezinski was an acknowledged expert in Communism when he attracted the attention of U.S. policymakers. In the 1960s he was an adviser to John F. Kennedy and served in the Johnson administration.
In December 1976, Carter offered Brzezinski the position of national security adviser. He had not wanted to be secretary of state because he felt he could be more effective working at Carter’s side in the White House.
Brzezinski often found himself in clashes with colleagues like Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. For the White House, the differences between Vance and Brzezinski became a major headache, confusing the American public about the administration’s policy course and fueling a decline in confidence that Carter could keep his foreign policy team working in tandem.
Iran hostage crisis
The Iranian hostage crisis, which began in 1979, came to dramatize America’s waning global power and influence and to symbolize the failures and frustrations of the Carter administration. Brzezinski, during the early months of 1980, became convinced that negotiations to free the kidnapped Americans were going nowhere. Supported by the Pentagon, he began to push for military action.
Carter was desperate to end the standoff and, over Vance’s objections, agreed to a long-shot plan to rescue the hostages. The mission, dubbed Desert One, was a complete military and political humiliation and precipitated Vance’s resignation. Carter lost his re-election bid against Ronald Reagan that November.
Brzezinski went on to ruffle the feathers of Washington’s power elite with his 1983 book, “Power and Principle,” which was hailed and reviled as a kiss-and-tell memoir.
“I have never believed in flattery or lying as a way of making it,” he told The Washington Post that year. “I have made it on my own terms.”
Son of a diplomat
The oldest son of Polish diplomat Tadeus Brzezinski, Zbigniew was born on March 28, 1928, and attended Catholic schools during the time his father was posted in France and Germany.
The family went to Montreal in 1938 when the elder Brzezinski was appointed Polish consul general. When Communists took power in Poland six years later, he retired and moved his family to a farm in the Canadian countryside.
At his new home, the young Brzezinski began learning Russian from a nearby farmer and was soon bitten by the foreign policy bug.
Brzezinski’s climb to the top of the foreign policy community began at Canada’s McGill University, where he earned degrees in economics and political science. Later at Harvard, he received a doctorate in government, a fellowship and a publishing contract, for his thesis on Soviet purges as a permanent feature of totalitarianism.
Frequent trips to Eastern Europe and several books and articles in the 1950s established Brzezinski as an expert on Communism, and by the 1960s he’d begun to attract the interest of policymakers. Throughout his career, he would be affiliated with moderate-to-liberal groups, including the Rand Corp., the Council on Foreign Relations, Amnesty International and the NAACP.
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DC Roundup: Trump at G-7, Reports on Kushner and Russia, Clinton Speech
Developments Friday concerning President Donald Trump include his discussions on North Korea, climate change and trade at the Group of Seven meeting in Italy, newspaper reports about his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a Senate committee seeking all Russia-related campaign documents from Trump’s presidential campaign; and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s commencement speech, in which she referenced Trump:
Climate Change Among Most Contentious Issues at G-7 Summit — Climate change was among the most contentious agenda items Friday at the Group of Seven (G-7) summit in Sicily, but both American and British government officials are publicly denying any major discord. The leaders had a “very good discussion” about climate issues, British Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters, adding there was “no doubt around the table” — which included U.S. President Donald Trump — about how important the issue is.
Report: Russian Ambassador Told Moscow Kushner Wanted a Private Channel to Kremlin — The Washington Post is reporting that Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, discussed with Russia’s ambassador to Washington the possibility of setting up a secret communications channel between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin.
Report: Senate Intelligence Panel Seeks Trump Campaign Documents — The Senate Intelligence Committee, investigating Russian meddling in U.S. 2016 election, has asked President Donald Trump’s political organization to hand over all documents going back the campaign’s launch in June 2015, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing two people briefed on the request.
Trump: North Korea ‘A Particular Focus’ for G-7 Leaders at Summit — U.S. President Donald Trump says terrorism and North Korea are top items on the agenda for the leaders’ summit of the Group of Seven nations, which began Friday on Sicily, the largest Mediterranean island. While terrorism would also be a primary concern for the leaders during their two days of talks on the Italian island, North Korea’s nuclear weapons testing and ballistic missile development comprise “a big problem, it’s a world problem,” said Trump. Trade is another major topic on the minds of Trump’s counterparts who have gathered in the resort town of Taormina.
Tillerson: US Takes ‘Full Responsibility’ for Manchester Intel Leaks — The United States takes “full responsibility” for the leaking of sensitive information in the aftermath of the suicide bombing in Manchester Monday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said.
WATCH: Clinton’s commencement speech
Hillary Clinton Calls on Graduates to Fight for “Truth and Reason’ — Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on graduates to fight for “truth and reason” Friday during a commencement address at her alma mater. “Don’t be afraid of your ambition, of your dreams, or even your anger,” she told Wellesley College’s class of 2017. “Those are powerful forces, but harness them to make a difference in the world.”
Career Prosecutor Nominated to Head US Office of Special Counsel — President Donald Trump has announced his intent to nominate Henry Kerner, vice president of a nonpartisan watchdog agency, as special counsel in the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency that protects employee rights. Kerner is the vice president of a watchdog group called Cause of Action that monitors and reports on federal government waste, fraud and abuse.
US Congressional Candidate Who Attacked Reporter Wins Election, Apologizes — The Republican candidate for a U.S. congressional seat in (the western U.S. state of Montana who was charged with assault after he allegedly grabbed a reporter by the neck and threw him to the ground, has apologized for his actions after defeating his Democratic opponent.
Trump to Set Up ‘War Room,’ Seek to Repel Attacks Over Russia Probe — Once U.S. President Donald Trump returns from his overseas trip, the White House plans to launch its most aggressive effort yet to push back against allegations involving Russia and his presidential campaign, tackling head-on a scandal that has threatened to consume his young presidency. Trump’s advisers are planning to establish a “war room” to combat mounting questions about communication between Russia and his presidential campaign before and after November’s presidential election, while bringing new aides into the White House, administration officials and persons close to Trump told Reuters.
US: China Puts Pressure on Border With North Korea — Chinese officials have told the U.S. that they’ve tightened inspections and policing along the border with North Korea as part of U.N. sanctions aimed at halting Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile activities, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said Friday.
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Africa Day 2017 Focuses on Investing in Youth
For more than half a century, Africa’s identity and unity have been celebrated around the world on May 25, in honor of the 1963 founding of the Organization of African Unity, now known as the African Union (AU).
“Celebrating Africa Day, to me, is recognizing not only what Africa has contributed to the rest of the world, willingly and/or unwillingly through slave trades, wars and colonization, but also through trade, cultural and civilizational exchanges; also to see how much Africa has learned, acquired and borrowed from other civilizations,” said Mohamed Saliou Camara, chair of the African Studies department at Howard University in Washington.
Today, the continent has one of the largest populations of people ages 35 and younger, and while that can be an asset, Camara says it also has its challenges.
Youth education in almost every African country has been increasing in the past 20 to 25 years, Camara says, but “unemployment has also been on the rise. So when you take that, you get what you call the youth bulge.
“You have so many young and talented people, educated young people, connected with the rest of the world, many of whom don’t have jobs, gainful employment and so on,” he said.
Hence, this year’s Africa Day celebration focused on harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth.
Raymond Maro, who is working on his master’s degree in African Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Bradford in England, has been involved in many youth organizations in East Africa.
“We have two profound challenges that have been daunting so far,” Maro told VOA via Skype. “First, it’s the employability … and, secondly, it’s education. There’s still a gap between the business stakeholders and the education sector, whereby they don’t come together to see if our young graduates’ [skills]” align with the labor market.
Maro hopes to use his knowledge to help resolve issues in Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He says he’ll always remember the words of former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, who told him and others that “young people in Africa don’t need to only debate issues that matter to you, but also have a concern of what you can do to help make the continent better.”
Maro says he supported this year’s Africa Day theme and the AU Africa Agenda 2063. The agenda — to accelerate growth and sustainable development — is a strategic framework for the socioeconomic transformation of the continent over 50 years.
“It’s an agenda that talks about reforming the African continent, but how do we reform it?” Maro said. “We reform it through policies. So the policies that are not good to us, we think that they are outdated, we can relinquish them and find a way that we can have policies that would aim higher and will give us a chance to propel the continent forward.”
Maro’s advice for the youth in Africa and the diaspora: “We should take advantage of the opportunities that are unveiled to us and tackle them in a way that we can impact change to our countries. We should be cognizant of the fact that change is hard, but it’s necessary. Progress is never easy, but it’s always possible, so let’s play our part.”
One problem-solving method, as seen by Camara of Howard University, is regional integration. Groups such as the 15-state West African economic bloc, or ECOWAS, can complement one another economically, culturally and intellectually, Camara says.
“Why don’t we integrate these countries in a way that Senegalese young people can find employment in Guinea and vice versa, the same way you can travel within the 15 nation states without needing a visa, as long as your passport is valid?” he asked. “Why not have an ECOWAS-wide university system, ECOWAS-wide educational, training and employment system?”
Camara points to Botswana, Tanzania, Mauritius, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, and Cape Verde as examples of African countries whose stability, democratic governance and economic progress can serve as inspiration for others.
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Report: Senate Intelligence Panel Seeks Trump Campaign Documents
The Senate Intelligence Committee, investigating Russian meddling in U.S. 2016 election, has asked President Donald Trump’s political organization to hand over all documents going back the campaign’s launch in June 2015, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing two people briefed on the request.
The letter from the Senate panel seeking all documents, emails and telephone records arrived at Trump’s campaign committee last week and was addressed to its treasurer, the Post said.
This marked the first time the Trump campaign organization has been drawn into the bipartisan committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election, it said.
Dozens of former campaign staffers are expected to be contacted soon to ensure they are aware of the request, the Post said, citing the two people.
The letter was signed by Republican Senator Richard Burr, the committee’s chairman, and Senator Mark Warner, its top Democrat, according to the Post, which said representatives for Burr and Warner declined to comment.
The Senate panel’s investigation is among several in Congress into Russian interference in the election, and is separate from a probe into the matter being led by a special counsel appointed last week by the Justice Department, former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller.
Trump’s campaign committee, based at Trump Tower in New York, is now led by Michael Glassner, a former deputy campaign manager, and John Pence, a nephew of Vice President Mike Pence, the Post said.
Glassner did not immediately respond to a request for comment and a White House representative had no immediate comment, the Post said.
Trump’s administration has been dogged by concerns about its ties to Russia and questions over whether Trump associates may have cooperated with Russians as they sought to meddle in last year’s election on Trump’s behalf.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to sway the November vote in Trump’s favor. Russia has denied involvement, and Trump has denied any collusion between
his campaign and Russia.
Controversy has engulfed Trump since he fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9 as Comey oversaw an investigation into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia.
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South Sudan Frees UN Journalist After Two-year Detention
South Sudanese authorities released a journalist Thursday who had been detained without charges since August 22, 2014.
George Livio, who worked for the U.N.-sponsored Miraya FM radio station, had been arrested by national security operatives and detained at an unknown location.
The U.N. did not immediately provide a reason for Livio’s release, though the U.N. mission in South Sudan had been pushing for his freedom and that of two other staff members.
Several rights groups, including Amnesty International, had petitioned President Salva Kiir to intervene and release Livio.
VOA’s South Sudan in Focus reached Gelego Livio, the journalist’s father, by phone Friday in Khartoum.
“I got the news … about half past 5 yesterday evening. He was released about midday, possibly,” Livio said.
Livio told South Sudan in Focus that he never received a reason for his son’s arrest from the government, but heard that the government thought he was “collaborating with Riek Machar,” the former first vice president who fled Juba shortly after a fresh outbreak of deadly fighting occurred in the capital in July.
The elder Livio said he and his wife were granted one visit with their son in March 2016. He said George Livio was being held at a Juba hospital.
Livio said he learned from his maternal uncle in Juba that his son had been freed Thursday.
“We, his mother and I, had a very, very exciting time last evening. Now, we really want to hear his voice,” said the father.
South Sudan in Focus directly contacted George Livio on Friday, but he declined to comment and referred the VOA program to the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
A UNMISS spokesman, Daniel Dickinson, applauded Livio’s release and urged authorities to free other U.N. staff members in detention.
“The mission calls for the release of its two other national staff members who are currently also being held in detention without trial since 2014. UNMISS continues to call on the South Sudanese authorities to respect national law and the fundamental principles of due process under international human rights law,” Dickinson said.
Amnesty International said there has been an increase in illegal detentions since a civil war broke out in the country in 2013.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least five journalists have been killed in South Sudan since the country gained independence in 2011.
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