August 2017 - Page 11 of 25

Russia Bans Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Translation Of Bible

Posted on 08/19/2017 by SeeEU

A Russian court has banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ translation of the Bible following a drawn-out legal battle, another blow to followers of the pacifist Christian sect who have been branded extremists and driven to practicing their faith underground, as in Soviet times.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ parent organization in Russia and 395 regional branches were formally placed on the Justice Ministry’s list of extremist groups Aug. 17, a procedural move following the Supreme Court’s decision to ban the group’s activities and seize its property earlier this year.

In a separate case that same day, a court in the northwestern border town of Vyborg banned the New World Translation of The Holy Scriptures, the group’s version of the Bible. Several other publications by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, including a brochure, The Bible — What Is Its Message? — were also labeled extremist.

The case against the religious group’s Bible dates to July 2015, when a shipment of the books from Finland was stopped at the border and impounded by customs officials on suspicion of extremism.

Ban to be challenged

The ban on the Bible used by the Jehovah’s Witnesses has not come into legal force, as the group intends to challenge the ruling in a regional court.

“Soon it will be illegal not only to gather [to worship], but also to read,” said Yaroslav Sivulsky, a member of the European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, adding that the court proceedings felt like theater.

“Whatever our lawyers said, it was as if the ruling was already known,” he said.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses international headquarters in New York decried the ruling.

“Just how far will Russia’s resistance to religious freedom go? We certainly hope that respect for sacred texts will prevail when we pursue this case on appeal,” said spokesman David Semonian in comments circulated by the group’s press service.

The statement said the court ruling contradicts legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2015 stipulating that sacred texts such as the Bible and Koran cannot be labeled extremist.

‘Not a Bible’

The statement said the court relied on the findings of an expert panel that determined the book is not a Bible.

The Moscow-based Sova Center, which monitors the misuse of extremism legislation, criticized the “invalidity, helplessness, and glaring absurdity” of the panel’s findings.

“It’s just a typical translation,” Aleksandr Verkhovsky, Sova’s director, told RFE/RL. “It differs a little, of course, in language. There is always a variation between translations. It is not fundamentally different [from other versions of the Bible].”

He added: “It’s written in more modern language, and there is a certain difference [in the translation] which reflects their religious beliefs. Some things are written, for instance, with a small letter, not with a big letter. Or where different names for God are used, [the Jehovah’s Witnesses] write Jehovah everywhere. That’s the level [of variation that] we’re talking about.”

Conservative Victory

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, known universally for their door-to-door proselytizing, are viewed with suspicion in Russia for their rejection of military service and voting. Their refusal to take blood transfusions has seen them accused of being a threat to themselves, their children, and public safety.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted in the Soviet Union, most severely under Josef Stalin. After the Soviet collapse, tight restrictions on religious groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses were suddenly relaxed, leading to a surge in popularity for the Orthodox Church and other religious and faith groups.

Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses are estimated to number 175,000 today.

The group was driven underground this year after the Supreme Court labeled them extremists, Sivulsky said. “When the ruling came into full force after July 17, then of course everyone without exception stopped gathering in big groups because it is a criminal offense. No one is consciously trying to be accused of criminal activity,” he said.

The Supreme Court ruling stipulates that all property belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ organization should be seized by the state, although Sivulsky said this provision had not yet been implemented. “We haven’t seen any action on this. [But] it’s a question of time.”

The banning of the group fits into a broader conservativism advocated by Moscow in a rejection of liberal Western values. It has also been seen as a victory for conservative factions of the Russian Orthodox Church, which view the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rejection of elements of mainstream Christian doctrine as a threat.

However, Vsevolod Chaplin, the ultraconservative former church spokesman, disapproved of the banning of the group in comments to the NTV channel on August 17.

“Perhaps it would be better to keep them in the field of play to keep an eye on how they are developing so as to perhaps restrict it in its extreme activities,” he said.
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Buhari to Return to Nigeria From Medical Leave in Britain

Posted on 08/19/2017 by SeeAF

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will return Saturday from medical leave in Britain where he has been since May 7, a presidential spokesman said.

The presidency has not disclosed the precise nature of the 74-year-old’s ailment, which has led to speculation in Nigerian media and on social media about his illness and whether he will seek a second term by contesting the 2019 election.

Buhari, who took office in May 2015, handed over power to his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, in his absence to allay concerns of a void at the helm of Africa’s biggest economy.

“President Muhammadu Buhari returns to the country later today, after receiving medical attention in London,” the president’s spokesman Femi Adesina said in a statement Saturday.

“President Buhari is expected to speak to Nigerians in a broadcast by 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Monday, August 21,” he said.

It was his second break for medical leave in Britain this year after a first that began in January and lasted nearly two months.

Buhari reduced his working day to a few hours after returning to Nigeria from his first stint of medical leave March 10, diplomats and government sources said.
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Back at Breitbart, Bannon Ready to Do Battle

Posted on 08/19/2017 by SeeUS

The news that White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was leaving the Trump administration was made public Friday afternoon. By evening, he was back at work at his old job.

Bannon left the White House and went directly to the Breitbart News Network, the ultra-conservative online publication he led before joining Donald Trump’s presidential campaign a little more than a year ago.

The website announced that Bannon “returned as Executive Chairman of Breitbart News Friday afternoon and chaired the company’s evening editorial meeting.”

He took over leadership of Breitbart following the death of its founder, Andrew Breitbart, in 2012. With Bannon at the helm, Breitbart News took on a more nationalistic slant, appealing to the alt-right movement.

Bannon is credited with helping Trump win the White House by pushing a populist, nationalist message after joining the campaign. But following the election, Bannon clashed with other powerful West Wing figures, including Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

In interviews following his departure, Bannon – using the same bellicose language that became the hallmark of Breitbart News under his watch – said he looked forward to taking on those he feels are standing in Trump’s way.

“If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents on Capitol Hill, in the media and in corporate America,” Bannon told Bloomberg News.

“I feel jacked up,” he said during an interview with The Weekly Standard. “Now I’m free. I’ve got my hands back on my weapons. Someone said, ‘it’s Bannon the Barbarian.’ I am definitely going to crush the opposition.”
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For Moms Heading Back to Work, ‘Returnships’ Offer a Path Forward

Posted on 08/19/2017 by SeeUS

How does a former stay-at-home mom become an employee of a tech company that could be worth more than $1 billion?

For Ellein Cheng, mom to a 5½- and a 2½-year-old, the answer involved a “returnship.”

So-called returnships are internships that target men and women who have been out of the workforce, either for childrearing or other caregiving. It gives them a chance to retrain in a new field.

In Cheng’s case, the former math teacher and tutor took a returnship at AppNexus, an online advertising company.

For companies, returnships are an opportunity to tap into more mature and professionally diverse talent pools. For participants who may be out of the workforce, it’s a chance to refresh their networks, learn new skills and try on new roles.

Beneficial arrangement

For both parties, it’s a low-risk, low-commitment arrangement. Companies can achieve their goals to make the employee ranks more diverse. Job seekers can potentially find full-time work.

Cheng’s returnship was set up by Path Forward [[www.pathforward.org/]], a New York-based nonprofit that works with tech companies to coordinate 16-week, paid assignments for those who have been away from the labor market for two or more years because of caregiving.

The organization partners with tech companies that range in size from 30-person startups to behemoths such as PayPal, which has more than 10,000 employees.

“What these companies of every size in the tech sector have in common is rapid growth, and also not enough talent to fulfill their needs,” said Tami Forman, executive director at Path Forward.

Women re-entering the workforce often struggle to explain the gap in their resume and find employment harder to come by, Forman said.

“They often get feedback from companies and recruiters and hiring managers that makes them believe that they’ll never be hired, that no one will ever overlook their gap,” she said. The organization says it gets results — 40 out of the 50 women who have gone through the program were offered ongoing employment at the companies in which they interned.

Teaching background

In her job search, Cheng applied for teaching positions but was also open to other fields. The product support work struck a chord with her in its appeal for candidates “passionate about learning and teaching.”

The program gave both managers and participants the chance to see if a long-term opportunity would be the right fit for them.

It also provided a dose of inspiration.

Other employees were “inspired to see people stepping out of their comfort zone, taking a big risk, working on something they haven’t done before,” Lorraine Buhannic, senior director of talent acquisition at AppNexus, said.

For Cheng, the inspiration came from a more personal place — her daughters.

They are growing up “in a world that is changing so quickly with technology, and I just want to be part of that,” she said. “I want to grow with them, I want to learn with them.”

In the end, the match worked. After the returnship, AppNexus hired Cheng as a product support specialist.

Now working in the fast-paced world of online advertising, Cheng says she doesn’t feel she has left her old self behind.

“I’m still obviously learning a lot, because I’m switching careers completely, but at the same time, still bringing the teaching element part of it every day to work,” she said.
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At Least One Officer Dead After Two Police Shootings in Florida

Posted on 08/19/2017 by SeeUS

Four police officers were shot in two separate shootings in Florida late Friday night. One officer died from his injuries and two others are in critical condition.

Two police officers in Kissimmee, Florida, were investigating a suspicious persons report shortly before 9:30 p.m. EDT Friday, Kissimmee Police Chief Jeff O’Dell said at a news conference early Saturday. About five minutes later a shooting was reported, and other officers responding to the scene found the wounded policemen.

O’Dell said Officer Matthew Baxter has died from his injuries and Sgt. Sam Howard is in “grave, critical condition.”

“And the prognosis does not look good,” O’Dell added.

According to the Kissimmee Police Department’s Twitter feed, O’Dell said the shooting “looks as though it may have been an ambush.”

President Donald Trump tweeted condolences to the Kissimmee Police Department early Saturday morning.

According to The Associated Press, three suspects are in custody and a fourth is being sought.

Meanwhile, two officers were shot responding to a call in Jacksonville, Florida, about 150 miles north of Kissimmee.

One of those officers is in critical condition and the other is in stable condition. Police shot and killed the suspect in that shooting.
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Libyan Coast Guard Threatens NGO Rescue Ships in Mediterranean

Posted on 08/19/2017 by SeeEU

With no safe, legal passage to Europe, more than 100,000 migrants and refugees have nevertheless crossed the Mediterranean Sea this year, many setting off from Libya, which has become a trafficking hub. In recent months, the Libyan coast guard has expanded its operations beyond its territorial waters, threatening rescue ships and making it more difficult for humanitarians to assist those fleeing. From the United Nations, VOA’s Margaret Besheer has more.
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IS Member Behind Paris, Brussels Attacks Added to US Terrorist List

Posted on 08/19/2017 by SeeEU

Ahmad Alkhald, a Syrian national from Aleppo who played a key role in the Islamic State (IS) terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, has been identified as a specially designated global terrorist by the United States, the U.S. State Department said.

The designation Thursday — which also included an Iraqi national who has provided close protection to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the IS leader in Iraq and Syria — imposed “strict sanctions” on the individuals and prohibited any dealings with them.

Alkhald is an IS bomb maker and the terror group’s explosives chief who helped carry out the November 2015 attacks in Paris and the March 2016 attacks in Brussels, the State Department statement said.

The series of the deadly terrorist attacks on several public places killed 130 people in Paris and 32 in Brussels.

Alkhald reportedly traveled to Europe, where he made the explosive vests used in the Paris attacks.

Island a gateway to Europe

According to French media, he crossed into Europe via the Greek island of Leros in September 2015. The island has been a gateway for some other IS attackers who have reportedly sneaked in among Syrians seeking refuge in Europe in the aftermath of the country’s civil war.

Alkhald returned to Syria shortly before the Paris attacks and continued helping other IS plots in Europe, including the March 2016 attacks in Brussels.

“Alkhald is wanted internationally and a European warrant for his arrest has been issued,” the statement said.

Al-Baghdadi’s protector

Abu Yahya al-Iraqi, also known as Iyad Hamed Mahl al-Jumaily, was the second individual identified as a specially designated global terrorist in Thursday’s statement.

Al-Iraqi is a senior IS figure close to al-Baghdadi, the terror group’s leader. He is reportedly a key IS leader in Iraq and Syria and has played a major role in providing security for al-Baghdadi.

The designation “notifies the U.S. public and the international community that Alkhald and al-Iraqi have committed or pose a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism,” the State Department said.

The statement said the designation and action by the State Department would help expose and isolate the two men, and help law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and around the world in their efforts against them.

A response to 9/11 attacks

Specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) is a designation established by the U.S. government in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Individuals designated as SDGTs are believed to pose a threat to U.S. national security by committing acts of terrorism.

The State Department has placed 272 individuals from different terrorist entities on the designation list, including 20 IS leaders and operatives.

“These designations are part of a larger comprehensive plan to defeat [IS] that, in coordination with the 73-member global coalition, has made significant progress toward this goal,” the State Department said.
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DRC Landslide Death Toll Seen Topping 200

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeAF

A landslide in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo most likely killed more than 200 people, based on estimates from the number of households submerged, the vice governor of affected Ituri province said Friday.

The landslide struck the village of Tora, on the shores of Lake Albert, a seismically active zone in the western Rift Valley, on Thursday.

“There are many people submerged whom we were unable to save,” Pacifique Keta, the vice governor of Ituri province, told Reuters by telephone. “The rescue is very complicated because there are mountains everywhere, which makes it very difficult to have access.”

Many parts of west and central Africa are vulnerable to landslides, because land is heavily deforested and communities crowd into steep hillsides.

On Friday, Sierra Leone buried 461 victims of a mudslide that swept away homes on the edge of Freetown, the capital, and 600 more people are missing.

Eastern Congo has the added risk of being on a seismic fault line, which means it frequently suffers earthquakes and sometimes volcano eruptions.

Keta said the toll was an estimate based on the number of households submerged and the population of the households.

“We are trying to enhance the emergency response. The aid agencies and MINUSCO [the U.N. peacekeeping force] are there to evacuate bodies and any survivors as quickly as possible,” Keta said.
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Kenyan Opposition Files Court Challenge of Election Results

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeAF

Kenya’s opposition coalition went to the Supreme Court late on Friday to challenge the results of a presidential election that it said was rigged

Election authorities have said President Uhuru Kenyatta won the August 8 election by 1.4 million votes, but opposition leader Raila Odinga said the results were false. He has not yet presented evidence of fraud.

Kenyans who remember the violence that followed the disputed 2007 election, when about 1,200 people were killed, were relieved when Odinga announced this week he would turn back to the courts, rather than the streets, to make his case.

Odinga also went to court to challenge the 2013 election result, and his decision to turn to the judiciary helped quell violence then.

Lawyers for Odinga’s National Super Alliance did not speak to reporters as they entered the court just 90 minutes before it closed for the weekend and the deadline for delivering their petition would expire.

But a statement from Dennis Onyango, a spokesman for Odinga, gave details of the petition, saying votes for the opposition had been removed from the some of the totals. The statement also accused election officials of faking documentation.

“NASA [party] agents … were removed from polling stations and replaced by impostors who were caused to sign fictitious names and sign blank result forms,” the statement said.

“Data analysts have examined over 25,000 results forms for vote declarations and detected 14,000 of them that had errors ranging from statutory documents not signed by returning officers, others not authenticated by an official rubber stamp, and yet others that do not have agent names or signatures.”

He did not give any specific examples.

The paper forms, which should have been signed by an agent for each part supervising the polling station, were designed to be an additional check against the possibility of rigging.

The electoral commission had been slow to publish scanned copies of papers detailing results from each of the country’s 40,883 polling stations.

“The nature and extent of the flaws and irregularities so significantly affected the results that the [election commission] cannot accurately and verifiably determine the number of votes any of the candidates received,” the petition concluded.

The Supreme Court has 14 days to review the petition, a constitutional requirement designed to minimize the period of uncertainty in case of an electoral dispute.

If the court upholds the election, Kenyatta will be sworn in. If Odinga can prove that rigging took place to an extent that would overturn the result, then Kenya must hold another presidential election in 60 days.

At least 28 people have been killed in election-related violence since polling day, many of them shot by police. But while there have been scattered protests in Odinga strongholds, the demonstrations were relatively muted.

International and domestic observers have said the election was largely free and fair.
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South African Marks Year in Detention in South Sudan

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeAF

The family of a retired South African colonel arrested for unclear reasons in South Sudan one year ago is calling for his release.

Authorities took retired Colonel William Endley into custody in Juba, the capital, on August 18, 2016. According to his daughter, Gwyneth Endley, he is now jailed at a national security facility in Juba but has yet to be charged with any crime.

“We just want him home,” said Gweneth Endley in an interview Friday with VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. She said her family had tried to win Endley’s release but had been unsuccessful. She said they had not been able to learn much about the case against the retired colonel.

Mawien Makol, spokesman for South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Endley had violated South Sudan’s visa rules. He did not provide details.

Makol said Endley, 56, would be released once the government finished its investigation.

“Of course, he may be awaiting some kind of processes that he has to undergo, and that is the regulations of the country,” Makol told VOA.

Gwyneth Endley said she believed her father was being held as a political prisoner.

William Endley’s LinkedIn profile shows that he once worked as a senior security consultant for former South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar.

Machar leads the rebel forces that oppose President Salva Kiir. He is currently under what appears to be house arrest in South Africa.

Gwyneth Endley, however, denied that her father worked for Machar. “He wasn’t really working. He was just advising,” she said.

William Endley’s sister, Charmaine Quinn, told VOA that the South African mission in Juba had been keeping his family informed about his health conditions.

Quinn said the family sends a monthly allowance of about $150 to the mission in Juba and the mission gets the money to Endley in detention.
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US Defense Chief to Visit Jordan, Turkey, Ukraine

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will travel to Jordan, Turkey and Ukraine next week for talks with the leaders of all three nations.

Pentagon officials said Friday that Mattis aims to reaffirm Washington’s commitments to each of the countries.

Mattis will begin his trip by meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah as well as top defense officials. Jordan has been a key partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State terror group.

From Jordan, Mattis will head to Turkey for meetings with top officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Secretary Mattis will emphasize the steadfast commitment of the United States to Turkey as a NATO ally and strategic partner, seek to collaborate on efforts to advance regional stability, and look for ways to help Turkey address its legitimate security concerns — including the fight against the PKK,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The PKK, also known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, has been leading an insurgency against the Turkish government since 1984. It is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. and many European nations.

In Kyiv, Mattis is expected to meet with Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and President Petro Poroshenko.

His visit comes amid reports the Trump administration is considering providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russian-backed separatists.

“During these engagements, the secretary will reassure our Ukrainian partners that the U.S. remains firmly committed to the goal of restoring Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Pentagon statement said.

The visits to Jordan and Ukraine will be Mattis’ first as defense secretary.
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Top US General Commits to Work With Tokyo to Strengthen Missile Defense

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

The top U.S. general and his Japanese counterpart have agreed to work together to strengthen missile defenses for Japan, as Tokyo announced that they will introduce the land-based Aegis Ashore system for additional protection against the North Korean missile threat.

General Joe Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a small group of reporters in Tokyo that his meetings with Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reaffirmed the “extraordinarily healthy military-to-military relationship” between Japan and the United States.

“I think this is probably about as important a place that I could be … in the wake of recent activity by Kim Jong Un, making sure our allies have no confusion at all about where we are in our overall policy [and] where we are with regards to the military dimension of that policy,” Dunford said Friday.

Dunford was visiting Japan after talks with Chinese and South Korean leaders in Beijing and Seoul earlier in the week. He said he offered Abe some of the perspectives picked up during his time in China, while also focusing on the challenge of North Korea and the trilateral efforts that the U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries needed to deal with the threat.

“I think it’s important that allies and friends have complete transparency, so I wanted him to know the nature of my conversations in China,” Dunford explained.

New defense system

The Aegis Ashore will provide an additional land-based missile defense system on the archipelago nation.

Japan’s current ballistic missile defense system uses Aegis warships equipped with Standard Missile-3 interceptors that are used to stop missiles in the outer atmosphere. If those SM-3 interceptors miss, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air guided interceptor missiles can be launched from Japan to defend against missile attacks.

The U.S. is bound by treaty to defend Japan from outside attacks against the allied country.

Japan’s Defense Ministry says it will seek funding in the next fiscal year to cover system-design costs, after expediting the decision to deploy the Aegis Ashore amid the latest series of ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang. North Korea test-launched two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July, each of which landed in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
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Republican Romney Criticizes Trump’s Handling of Charlottesville Protest

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

Former U.S. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized President Donald Trump on Friday for his handling of last Saturday’s violent white supremacist rally in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, that left three people dead and 19 others injured.

Romney’s comments were in response to Trump’s comments Tuesday that “both sides” were to blame for the violence at the rally.

In a posting on Facebook, Romney warned Trump to change his approach or face the possibility of further national unrest.

“Whether he intended to or not, what he communicated causes racists to rejoice, minorities to weep and the vast heart of America to mourn,” Romney said.

His post also warned that if Trump does not take “remedial action in the extreme,” there could be “an unraveling of our national fabric.”

The former Massachusetts governor said Trump should admit he was wrong when he equated the actions of counterprotesters with those of the white supremacists who organized the rally.

“Testify that there is no conceivable comparison or moral equivalency between the Nazis — who brutally murdered millions of Jews and who hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their lives to defeat — and the counter-protesters who were outraged to see fools parading the Nazi flag, Nazi armbands and Nazi salute,” he wrote.

Romney’s comments are the latest indication of a growing rift between Trump and his own political party.

Trump’s comments Tuesday, in which he said demonstrators from hate groups and counterprotesters shared the blame for the violence, unleashed unprecedented criticism of the president by Republican lawmakers. Some admonished Trump by name. Most released comments rejecting bigotry, though the timing of their messages indicated they were clearly responding to the president’s remarks.

On Thursday, Trump publicly attacked Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina for criticizing additional charged remarks in the days following the racially motivated protests.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona also incurred Trump’s wrath Thursday for writing in a recently-published book that Republicans abandoned their principles by surrendering to Trump’s “politics of anger.”

‘Radical change’

Speaking to the Chattanooga Rotary Club on Thursday in his home state of Tennessee, Republican Senator Bob Corker called for “radical change” in the White House to avoid “great peril.”

“The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence, that he needs to demonstrate in order for him to be successful,” Corker said.

No Republican lawmakers have appeared on television to defend Trump’s stance, and there has been silence from the White House.

Some political observers contend Trump cannot and will not change, and that could lead to serious consequences for Trump, as well as the party.

“This is who Trump is, what he believes and what is natural. The more people see that, the more it shapes the picture of who Trump is,” Georgetown University Assistant Professor Hans Noel said.

The political scientist told VOA this “may have electoral consequences in the future if things continue down this road.”
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Zimbabwe Declares Mugabe’s Birthday National Holiday

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeAF

Zimbabwe’s government has announced that President Robert Mugabe’s birthday will now be a public holiday. The announcement is the latest in a series of efforts to secure the longtime leader’s legacy.

Most cities and towns in Zimbabwe have a road named after President Robert Mugabe. In Harare, the public square that most political parties use for rallies also bears his name.

Earlier this month, Zimbabwe’s cash-strapped government announced that it is setting aside $1 billion to establish the Robert Gabriel Mugabe University.

It seems that is not all.

Home Affairs Minister Ignatious Chombo announced Friday that every February 21st, the birthday of Mugabe, will now be a public holiday.

“President Mugabe has exhibited the following values that any fair-minded Zimbabwean would want their youths to emulate: self-sacrifice, selflessness, patriotism, hard work, principled leadership, respect for others, compassion and empathy, among others,” he said.

However, analysts see the move as more of the political jostling that began in earnest last year over Mugabe’s succession.

Rejoice Ngwenya, a political analyst and opposition supporter in Harare, said “we have always been expecting it because the degree of drooling and praise-singing in ZANU-PF has reached unprecedented proportion.”

“And I feel that citizens need to be given an opportunity to discuss this before it is legislated,” he continued. “… The disadvantage of an authoritarian regime is decisions are taken unilaterally. So it means that very soon we are going to be having a Robert Mugabe everything.”

The 93-year-old leader has said he will run for another term next year. However, he has made at least three trips abroad for medical reasons this year and there has been concern about his health.

One faction of the ruling Zanu-PF is backing first lady Grace Mugabe to succeed her husband. The other faction led by Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa seems to have lost steam this month when its leader was airlifted to neighboring South Africa for medical treatment following suspected food poisoning.

Meanwhile, the Zanu-PF has sought to further consolidate power in the executive with parliament passing a constitutional amendment in late July allowing the president to hand pick all top judges. This would include the chief justice of the Supreme Court who rules on any election disputes.

The new amendment reversed a provision of the constitution passed in 2013 by popular referendum that required all top judges to be selected through public interviews conducted by Zimbabwe’s judiciary service commission.
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Ruling Party Consolidates Power in Kenyan Elections

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeAF

Nairobi roads have returned to their usual pre-election bustle and Kenyans have gone back to work.

But the elections are not quite over, as opposition leader Raila Odinga insists the presidential poll was “stolen” and has announced plans to challenge the outcome at the Supreme Court.

Official results show President Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Odinga, 54 percent to 45 percent.

University of Warwick professor of comparative politics, Gabrielle Lynch, says most people expected a tighter presidential race, although she notes the final result is still in dispute.

Lynch also notes the ruling Jubilee party succeeded in gaining parliamentary seats and winning 28 of 47 governorships. She says a projected wave of independent winners failed to materialize.

“Due to alleged problems with party nominations, both in the opposition and Jubilee, in a number of constituencies and counties across the country, independent candidates stood against party candidates, and there was a prediction that quite a few of these people might win. Actually, very few independents won in the end,” Lynch said.

Kenya’s treasury says the government allocated $483 million for the election, with $415 million directed to the electoral commission, known as the IEBC.

Kenyan researcher Nanjala Nyabola says despite these large sums, there were problems with the voter registry and the transmission of vote counts, and a delay in the release of polling station tally forms.

“We were promised a digital election,” Nyabola said. “We didn’t have a digital election. The only thing that was digital was the voter registration. Everything else was 100 percent manual. So, it makes you wonder, what did we spend all this money on?”

One week before the election, the electoral commission’s head of IT systems, Chris Msando, was found tortured and murdered. Scheaffer Okore, a program officer at political engagement organization Siasa Place, says the lack of follow-up is concerning.

“Investigations, I don’t think they’re being done, or if they are, I don’t know who’s doing it,” Okore said. “No one wants to answer why this man was killed or murdered, and allegations have come across that he held such as senior position in regards to the process that was supposed to be conducted, and we don’t have answers, why was he killed?”

In addition, police killed at least 28 people in post-election violence, including a young girl and a baby, according to Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights. Kenya’s Independent Police Oversight Authority says they are investigating these cases.
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Somali-American Picked as US Youth Observer to UN

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

A Somali-American from Minnesota will speak on behalf of youth at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York and other events.

Munira Khalif, who will be a junior this fall at Harvard University, was chosen from 350 applicants as the 2017-2018 U.S. Youth Observer to the U.N.

“When you are the youngest person in the room, you think, maybe my voice is not important,'” Khalif told VOA. “I think sometimes we limit ourselves, and there’s a challenge within that. But I think [it’s about] really reminding yourself that your voice matters.”

Khalif is the U.N.’s sixth U.S. Youth Observer, a program organized in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations Association of the USA.

This is not Khalif’s first time in the spotlight. In high school, she co-founded a nonprofit, “Lighting the Way,” that advocates for girls’ education in East Africa. She was also an adviser to the U.N. Foundation’s Girl Up initiative.

As a senior in high school, Khalif made national headlines when she was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools.

“I was a really active young person, and I continue to be someone who is really engaged and involved. It was a tremendous privilege, but I feel like it wasn’t just for me. I think it was for the whole Somali community, because I really think it takes a village. There were so many people who had supported me along my journey,” she said.

Khalif will serve as Youth Observer for one year, traveling throughout the country and internationally to speak with young people and listen to their concerns.

“Young people like Munira are a driving force for positive change in their communities and the world,” said UNA-USA Executive Director Chris Whatley. “We are delighted for Munira to share her experiences and collaborate with her peers worldwide to bring young people’s perspective[s] to the world’s most significant global forum.”

Khalif said she also wants to encourage young Americans to look beyond their borders and become aware of global issues. “What I find inspiration in is other young people. There are other young people all around the world who are doing really amazing things in shaping our world and trying to create positive change,” she said.

She is majoring in economics and minoring in government at Harvard and believes her generation is eager to make changes.

“We are the largest generation of young people in history. There is really power in our numbers, and, in order to be able to solve these very complex issues at the United Nations, we need a diversity of voices,” she said. “Reminding yourself that my voice is not only powerful but it is important and necessary to make a better world.”
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Officials: State Department Suffers Worldwide Email Outage

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

U.S. officials say the State Department has suffered a worldwide email outage affecting its entire unclassified system.

The officials said the outage began early Friday morning and that technicians were working to restore email as soon as possible. The officials said the outage was not caused by “any external action or interference.”

The department was forced to shut down its unclassified email systems in 2014 in what officials said at the time was routine maintenance. But it later emerged that the system had been compromised by hackers believed to be affiliated with Russia and that the maintenance explanation was a cover story.
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Top US General Meets Chinese President Xi to Discuss North Korean Threat

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

The top U.S. general has wrapped up his visit to China as tensions on the Korean peninsula are expected to increase. On Monday, U.S. and South Korea are expected to conduct joint military exercises. VOA’s Carla Babb is traveling with General Joe Dunford and has the latest from Beijing.]]
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US Helping Clear ‘Historic’ Amount of Explosives in Mosul

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

The wires protruding from the small, misshapen stuffed animal revealed the deadly booby trap tucked inside.

For the people of Mosul, the sophisticated bomb was a reminder of how difficult it will be to return to homes littered with explosives hidden by Islamic State militants and dotted with the remnants of undetonated bombs dropped by the U.S.-led coalition that still could blow up.

Washington at least is trying to ease a bit of the massive cleanup burden.

On Thursday, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said for the first time that the American military will help contractors and other officials locate unexploded bombs dropped by the coalition. U.S. Embassy officials have asked the coalition to declassify grid coordinates for bombs dropped in Iraq to help clear the explosives.

It may not be that simple, Gen. Stephen Townsend told a small group of reporters, “but we’ll find a way through that.”

“We’ll find a way to help them,” he said.

The coalition’s unexploded bombs are only a small part of Mosul’s problems. The bulk of the explosives have been hidden by IS fighters to be triggered by the slightest movement, even picking up a seemingly innocent children’s toy, lifting a vacuum cleaner, or opening an oven door. The effort could continue wreaking destruction on Iraq’s second-largest city even as IS was defeated after a nine-month battle.

Decadeslong problem

U.S. Embassy officials and contractors hired to root out the hidden explosives use the same words to describe the devastation in western Mosul: Historic. Unprecedented. Exponentially worse than any other place.

“We use broad terms like historic because when you enter a dwelling, everything is suspect,” said the team leader in northern Iraq for Janus Global Operations, a contracting company hired to find and remove hidden explosive devices and unexploded bombs from Iraqi cities recaptured from the Islamic State group. “You can’t take anything at face value.”

The team leader asked that he not be identified by name because he and his teams continue working in Mosul and the company fears for their safety.

Some estimates suggest it may take 25 years to clear west Mosul of explosives. The bomb-removing team leader said those estimates understate what is sure to be a long, enduring problem.

Normalcy may return to parts of west Mosul in a year, and perhaps after a decade many of the obvious explosives will be found. But other unexploded bombs and hidden devices will surface at construction sites and other locations for years and likely decades to come, he said.

As much as 90 percent of west Mosul’s old city has been reduced to ruins, destroyed by the IS militants who occupied it for nearly three years and by the campaign of airstrikes and ground combat needed to retake the city.

Booby traps

For Muhammed Mustafa, a restaurant owner from west Mosul, the disaster is very personal.

“In the beginning we thanked God we had been liberated from our oppressor,” said Mustafa, 54, who had lived in Mosul’s old city.

Mustafa escaped IS territory as Iraqi forces pushed through western Mosul earlier this year and is now living with extended family in the city’s east.

“When my neighborhood was liberated, I wanted to return and gather some belongings. On my street all I saw was destruction, except my home, thank God, but I found a written statement on the wall warning it was booby-trapped,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “When I saw it, I couldn’t stand. I fell to the ground.”

Security forces in the area barred him from entering due to the risk.

“They said there were many houses like it and many people had already died trying to inspect their homes when a bomb inside exploded,” he said. “Can you imagine, the house I grew up in, now I can no longer enter?”

David Johnson, vice president for the Washington office of Janus Global Operations, said his workers are finding explosives where local residents would be most likely to trigger them, and are “seeing a level of sophistication and a number of improvised explosive devices that is literally without parallel.”

‘Something we’ve never seen before’

Over time, the officials said, the improvised explosive devices — or IEDs — have become far more innovative and sophisticated. They range from basic pressure plates in the roads or doorways to small devices, similar to ones that turn on a refrigerator light when the door is opened. They’re tucked into dresser drawers or smoke detectors, or buried under large piles of rubble that were pushed aside as Iraqi forces cleared roads to move through the city.

The devastation is so extensive and the danger so high that government and humanitarian agencies have been unable to get a full assessment of the explosives threat or a solid estimate of how much money and effort is needed to make the city safe and livable again.

The team leader painted a grim picture of the city where his workers have spent the last two weeks trying to clear explosives from critical infrastructure, including the electric grid.

A retired Navy explosives specialist who served multiple tours in Iraq and Syria, he said his team is “facing something we’ve never seen before.”

In the Navy, he said, his worst day involved finding 18 explosive devices. On Wednesday, on the outskirts of Mosul, his team cleared 50 explosive devices out of a pipeline. He estimated as many as 300 in that one area alone.

There are five such teams, totaling 130 people, working in Mosul. So far, no one has been injured. In Ramadi, however, company workers were killed and injured as they tried to eliminate explosives. Janus wouldn’t provide details.
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Widening Rift Between Trump, His Party Seen as Unprecedented

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

A rift between the U.S. president and his own political party widened Thursday as Donald Trump publicly criticized two Republican senators, and another senator from the party questioned the president’s stability and competence.

The latest targets of the president’s wrath are Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Graham, a former presidential candidate, has accused Trump of stoking civil tension with his comments on the racially motivated protests several days ago Charlottesville, Virginia.

“Publicity seeking Lindsey Graham falsely stated that I said there is moral equivalency between the KKK, neo-Nazis & white supremacists,” Trump said on the Twitter social media platform Thursday, adding that such a characterization is “a disgusting lie.”

Flake, who sits on the Senate judiciary committee, is incurring presidential wrath for writing in a recent book that Republicans abandoned their principles by surrendering to Trump’s “politics of anger.”

Takes to Twitter

Trump responded on Twitter Thursday by essentially endorsing Flake’s 2018 primary election opponent, saying the incumbent is “WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in the Senate. He’s toxic.”

The latest outbursts on social media by the president, as he continues a working vacation at his New Jersey golf club, also included opposition to the removal of statues and other monuments honoring Confederate generals and soldiers from America’s Civil War in the 1860s.

“The president’s tweets speak for themselves,” White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters said.

For some, Trump’s tweets and recent statements speak volumes about the state of the relationship between the president and the Republican Party, founded in 1854.

Most notably, Trump finds himself increasingly isolated from the leadership of Congress, both chambers of which are controlled by the Republican Party.

Trump’s comments Tuesday, in which he said demonstrators from hate groups and counterprotesters shared blame for the Charlottesville violence, unleashed unprecedented criticism of the president by Republican lawmakers. Some admonished Trump by name. Most others released comments rejecting bigotry, though the timing of their messages indicated they were clearly responding to the president’s remarks.

‘Radical change’

Speaking to the Chattanooga Rotary Club on Thursday in his home state of Tennessee, Republican Senator Bob Corker called for “radical change” in the White House to avoid “great peril.”

“The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence, that he needs to demonstrate in order for him to be successful,” Corker said.

No Republican lawmakers have appeared on television to defend Trump’s stance, and there has been silence from the White House.

“The rift between the president and the GOP is unlike any other American example that I know,” Ted McAllister, associate professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, said.

The historian notes that early U.S. President John Adams — and his son, President John Quincy Adams — “had serious challenges from within their parties that prevented them from accomplishing much of anything,” and President Andrew Johnson’s experiences with Congress during Reconstruction might have some similarities, but “the parallel is not strong.”

McAllister, a frequent and prominent lecturer on American conservatism, told VOA that Trump was brought to power as a “rebel yell” by supporters who wanted an outsider, but had no third-party candidate from which to choose.

“The GOP is still run by those who believe in the old ideology from the 1980s and whose own interests are tied to the institutional matrix, the policies, the political arrangements, that had evolved during this new age of globalization,” McAllister said. “The GOP is currently incapable of abandoning those connections, and so they are constitutionally formed in such a way as to reject a rebel. Trump, meanwhile, can only connect with those who voted for him by being a rebel.”

Tied ‘at the hip’

For some analysts, there is only so far Trump and party can diverge.

“The Republican Party and President Trump remain tied together at the hip,” Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Jamie Metzl said.

“Even though Republican critiques of the president are increasing, too many Republican lawmakers remain unwilling to support the aggressive measures required to reign in America’s out-of-control president for fear of alienating their base,” Metzl, a former director for multilateral affairs on the National Security Council, told VOA. “Until this changes, America’s democracy and role in the world will increasingly be at risk.”

Some political observers contend Trump cannot and will not change, and that could lead to serious consequences for Trump, as well as the party.

“This is who Trump is, what he believes and what is natural. The more people see that, the more it shapes the picture of who Trump is,” Georgetown University Assistant Professor Hans Noel said.

The political scientist told VOA this “may have electoral consequences in the future if things continue down this road.”

Natalie Liu contributed to this report.
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US Cities Debate Fate of Confederate Statues

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

As communities across the United States redouble efforts to remove Confederate monuments from public spaces after a far-right rally in Virginia turned deadly, city leaders now face another conundrum: what to do with the statues.

President Donald Trump described them on Thursday as “beautiful statues and monuments,” part of the history and culture of the country that will be “greatly missed.”

But they are seen by many Americans as symbols of racism and glorifications of the Confederate defense of slavery in the Civil War, fueling the debate over race and politics in America.

Cities are speeding up their removal since Saturday’s rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a suspected white supremacist crashed a car into a crowd, killing one woman, during protests against the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, who headed the Confederate army in the American Civil War.

Since Monday, officials in Baltimore and Gainesville, Florida, have taken down statues, while another was torn from its plinth by protesters in Durham, North Carolina.

Calls for more to be removed have grown louder.

This has created an additional headache for cities and spurred another debate: how to dispose of the statues once they are taken down.

Some have suggested putting them in museums or Confederate cemeteries. One city councilman proposed using their metal to make likenesses of civil rights leaders.

“Melting them down and using the materials to make monuments for Frederick Douglass, Thurgood Marshall, Harriet Tubman would be powerful!” Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott wrote on Twitter this week. The mayor’s office said that was unlikely.

Unlike Eastern Europe

The debate contrasts sharply with how Eastern Europe handled thousands of statues following the collapse of communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Often pulled down by angry mobs, some of the statues ended up in dumpsters and others in museums to teach people the evils of totalitarian regimes. In Budapest, a for-profit park hosts about 40 statues of communist heroes such as Karl Marx.

In the U.S. South, the debate still rages between those nostalgic for the past and those who view the monuments as painful reminders of slavery.

There are more than 700 Confederate statues in the United States according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, most of them created in the 1910s and 1920s, decades after the Civil War ended. They were intended to reassert the power of white people, said Jonathan Leib, chair of political science and geography at Old Dominion University in Virginia.

“They’re visible, tangible expressions of power,” he said Thursday.

In Birmingham, Alabama, Mayor William Bell ordered workers to hide a Confederate statue behind plywood boards, while the city challenges a state law banning the removal of such monuments.

“They represent acts of sedition against the United States of America and treason against the United States of America,” he told Reuters on Wednesday.

But sympathies persist, as both lawmakers and citizens resist plans to remove them.

“I absolutely disagree with this sanitization of history,” Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, a Republican, told WVHU radio on Tuesday.

Proper context

For now, many of the removed statues gather dust in warehouses or, as in the case of New Orleans, sit disassembled in a city scrap yard, where two were found by local reporters.

In Baltimore, statues are now in storage, according to the mayor’s spokesman Anthony McCarthy, who said they would most likely end up in a Confederate cemetery or a museum.

Many city legislators have expressed interest in relocating statues to museums, where they might be viewed as historical artifacts and not rallying points for racism.

Anna Lopez Brosche, City Council president in Jacksonville, Florida, encouraged the removal of Confederate statues from public property on Monday and proposed placing them where they will be “historically contextualized.”

In Lexington, Kentucky, Mayor Jim Gray has proposed removing statues from one city park, formerly the site of a slave auction block and whipping post.

Meanwhile, a statue removed in Gainesville, Florida, on Monday is being returned to a local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, which erected it in 1904.

The group, founded in 1894 by women descended from Confederate soldiers, put up many of the statues as part of their goal to display what they call “a truthful history” of the Civil War and mark places “made historic by Confederate valor.”

Some historians argue that, as in Eastern Europe, the Confederate monuments should be preserved, but in the proper context.

“A slave whipping post isn’t something we want up, just out in public without interpretation,” said W. Fitzhugh Brundage, American history professor at the University of North Carolina. “But on the other hand, if you have it in the Smithsonian where people can see it and it can be properly interpreted, it’s a valuable teaching tool.”
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US Navy to Remove Senior Leaders of Warship After Deadly June Crash

Posted on 08/18/2017 by SeeUS

The U.S. Navy will relieve the two senior officers and the senior enlisted sailor on a U.S. warship that collided with a Philippine container ship in June off the coast of Japan, the Navy said on Thursday.

A separate official report released on Thursday contained dramatic accounts of what happened when the freighter hit the USS Fitzgerald, killing seven Navy sailors.

Admiral Bill Moran, deputy chief of naval operations, told reporters that the USS Fitzgerald’s commander, executive officer and master chief petty officer would be removed.

“We’ve lost trust and confidence in their ability to lead,” he said.

Moran said about another nine sailors would face administrative punishments, and he left open the possibility of further action.

While an investigation into the cause of the crash was still under way, Moran said there was enough evidence to take initial action.

“Serious mistakes were made by members of the crew, and there was no benefit to waiting on taking accountability actions,” Moran told reporters.

Multiple U.S. and Japanese investigations are still under way into how the Fitzgerald, a guided missile destroyer, and the much larger ACX Crystal container ship collided in clear weather south of Tokyo Bay in the early hours of June 17.

Under the maritime rules of the road, the commercial vessel had the right-of-way, and the Fitzgerald, which was hit on the starboard, or right, side was likely at fault.

One pertinent question, said two naval officers who spoke on condition of anonymity, is what was happening at the time in the Fitzgerald’s Combat Information Center, or CIC, where crew members monitor radar that should have detected the approach of a 30,000-ton cargo vessel.

Details of the Crash

The Navy also released a report with new details of the crash and its aftermath.

The collision tore a gash below the Fitzgerald’s waterline.

The death of the seven sailors was the greatest loss of life on a U.S. warship since 2000, when Islamic extremists bombed the USS Cole in Yemen’s Aden harbor.

The report said the collision at 1:30 a.m. local time sent water pouring into the U.S. warship.

“Water on deck,” sailors in a berthing started yelling. “Get out,” they shouted as mattresses, furniture and even an exercise bicycle began to float.

Within 60 seconds, the berthing was completely flooded. More than two dozen of the 35 sailors in it escaped. The last sailor to be rescued was in the bathroom at the time of the collision.

“Lockers were floating past him, … at one point he was pinned between the lockers and the ceiling of Berthing 2, but was able to reach for a pipe in the ceiling to pull himself free,” the report said.

Crew Rescue Efforts

Two sailors stayed at the foot of the ladder in the compartment to help others escape.

“The choices made by these two sailors likely saved the lives of at least two of their shipmates,” the report said.

The commanding officer, Bryce Benson, who is one of the officers who will be relieved of his post, was trapped in his cabin, and five sailors used a sledgehammer to break through the door.

“Even after the door was open, there was a large amount of debris and furniture against the door, preventing anyone from entering or exiting easily,” the report said.

The sailors tied themselves together with a belt and rescued Benson, who was hanging from the side of the ship.
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Wildfire-plagued Portugal Declares Public Calamity as Braces for More

Posted on 08/17/2017 by SeeEU

Parts of Portugal, beset by its deadliest summer of wildfires in living memory, were declared in a state of public calamity on Thursday as the government put emergency services on alert for further outbreaks.

It has borne the brunt of a heatwave that has settled over much of southern Europe, and more than three times as much forest has burned down in the country this summer as in an average year.

Since a single blaze killed 64 people in June, the government has been under pressure to come up with a strategic plan to limit the damage.

It said on Thursday the state of calamity would trigger “preventative effects” in the central and northern interior and parts of the southern Algarve region, while the meteorological office forecast temperatures would top 40 degrees centigrade in some places by Sunday.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa would also meet with military, police and rescue service commanders “for the maximum mobilization and pre-positioning of personnel in the areas of greatest risk,” the government said in a statement.

Since June’s tragedy, emergency services have made far greater efforts to evacuate villages and shut roads early in affected areas.

Still, nearly 80 people have been hurt in wildfires in the past week alone, according to the civil protection service.

Last Saturday, when a record 268 fires blazed countrywide, the government requested water planes and firemen from other European countries.

On Thursday, over 130 people were evacuated from villages in the Santarem district around 170 km (110 miles) northeast of Lisbon, where over 1,000 firefighters were battling flames.

With just over 2 percent of the EU landmass, Portugal accounts for almost a third of burnt areas in the union this year.

More than 163,000 hectares of forest have been lost there, more than three times higher than the average of the last 10 years, according to EU data.
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Timeline: Deadly Attacks in Western Europe

Posted on 08/17/2017 by SeeEU

Following are some of the deadly attacks in Western Europe in recent years:

Aug. 17, 2017 — A van ploughs into crowds in the heart of Barcelona, killing at least 13 people, a regional official says, in what police say they are treating as a terrorist attack.

June 3, 2017 — Three attackers ram a van into pedestrians on London Bridge then stab revellers in nearby bars, killing eight people and injuring at least 48. Islamic State says its militants are responsible.

May 22, 2017 — A suicide bomber kills 22 children and adults and wounds 59 at a packed concert hall in the English city of Manchester, as crowds began leaving a concert by U.S. singer Ariana Grande.

April 7, 2017 — A truck drives into a crowd on a shopping street and crashes into a department store in central Stockholm, killing five people and wounding 15 in what police call a terrorist attack.

March 22, 2017 — An attacker stabs a policeman close to the British parliament in London after a car ploughs into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge. Six people die, including the assailant and the policeman he stabbed, and at least 20 are injured in what police call a “marauding terrorist attack.”

Dec. 19, 2016 — A truck ploughs into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says authorities are assuming it was a terrorist attack.

July 26, 2016 — Two attackers kill a priest with a blade and seriously wound another hostage in a church in northern France before being shot dead by French police. French President Francois Hollande says the two hostage-takers had pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

July 24, 2016 — A Syrian man wounds 15 people when he blows himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach in southern Germany. Islamic State claims responsibility.

July 22, 2016 — An 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman apparently acting alone kills at least nine people in Munich. The teenager had no Islamist ties but was obsessed with mass killings. The attack was carried out on the fifth anniversary of twin attacks by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik that killed 77 people.

July 18, 2016 — A 17-year-old Afghan refugee wielding an axe and a knife attacks passengers on a train in southern Germany, severely wounding four, before being shot dead by police. Islamic State claims responsibility.

July 14, 2016 — A gunman drives a heavy truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice, killing 86 people and injuring scores more in an attack claimed by Islamic State. The attacker is identified as a Tunisian-born Frenchman.

June 14, 2016 — A Frenchman of Moroccan origin stabs a police commander to death outside his home in a Paris suburb and kills his partner, who also worked for the police. The attacker told police negotiators during a siege that he was answering an appeal by Islamic State.

March 22, 2016 — Three Islamic State suicide bombers, all Belgian nationals, blow themselves up at Brussels airport and in a metro train in the Belgian capital, killing 32 people. Police find links with attacks in Paris the previous November.

Nov. 13, 2015 — Paris is rocked by multiple, near simultaneous gun-and-bomb attacks on entertainment sites around the city, in which 130 people die and 368 are wounded. Islamic State claims responsibility. Two of the 10 known perpetrators were Belgian citizens and three others were French.

Jan. 7-9, 2015 — Two Islamist militants break into an editorial meeting of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7 and rake it with bullets, killing 17. Another militant kills a policewoman the next day and takes hostages at a supermarket on Jan. 9, killing four before police shoot him dead.

May 24, 2014 — Four people are killed in a shooting at the Jewish Museum in central Brussels. The attacker was French national Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, who was subsequently arrested in Marseille, France. Extradited, he is awaiting trial in Belgium.

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