Month: April 2018

Africa Misses Out on Taiwan’s Development Aid Due to ‘One China’ Policy

Posted on by SeeAF

Taiwan says it regrets that the “one China” policy insisted on by Beijing prevents it from providing much needed development aid to most countries in Africa.

Taiwan was in a relatively good diplomatic position in Africa several years ago. Taiwan’s Deputy Secretary-General for International Cooperation and Development, Pai-po Lee, says this made it possible for those countries that had diplomatic relations with Taiwan to benefit from his agency’s aid projects.

“Previously, we have over nine countries with Taiwan. For instance, Senegal, the Gambia, Chad, Niger, Liberia, Central Africa — also Sao Tome Principe… Six years ago, they still have relations with Taiwan. But, then they shifted to China,” said Pai-po Lee.

Lee says Taiwan had invested a lot in the African region. But, all that is now in the past. He says Taiwan currently maintains diplomatic relations with only two countries — Burkina Faso and Swaziland.

He says Taiwan has been running productive agricultural and livestock, as well as vocational and medical programs in Swaziland since 1975.

As for Burkina Faso, he says a successful irrigation project on the Kou River, which was started in 1967, ended in 1973. That was when Burkina Faso broke off relations with Taiwan in favor of China.

But Lee tells VOA Burkina Faso restored ties with Taiwan in 1994. He suggests the lure of billions of dollars in Chinese aid was not strong enough to keep this impoverished country within Beijing’s diplomatic orbit.

“It is… coming from the Burkina Faso people. To think about the 1967 in Kou River, this 1967. They had quite a good memory of that… So, the people urged the government to restore the relations with Taiwan. So, that pressure comes from the people,” said Lee.

Since resuming development work in Burkina Faso, the Taiwanese development official says the country’s irrigation system has been expanded. He says a program is ongoing to train local nurses and medical doctors and an infant and maternal health program is having great success in reducing both maternal and infant deaths.

This story was written by VOA’s Lisa Schlein

 

 

 
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UN, Singapore Concerned about Rising Trade Tensions

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The U.N. secretary-general and the Singaporean foreign minister voiced concerns about global trade tensions and rising protectionism during back-to-back meetings in Beijing on Sunday.

Following remarks from his Chinese counterpart, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan vowed to “double-down” on free trade and economic liberalization in tandem with China.

 

“This is a time in the world where the temptation to embark on unilateralism and protectionism is unfortunately rising,” Balakrishnan said.

 

In a separate meeting, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called China “absolutely crucial” in the international system.

 

“You mentioned reform and opening up — it’s so important in a moment when some others have a policy of closing up,” Guterres told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

 

“The solutions for these problems are not to put globalization to question, but to improve globalization. Not isolation or protectionism, but more international cooperation,” Guterres said.

 

The comments came as China and the U.S. exchanged escalating tariff threats in what is already shaping up to be the biggest trade battle for more than a half century.

 

Beijing vowed Friday to “counterattack with great strength” if President Donald Trump follows through on threats to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods.

 

Trump’s announcement followed China’s decision to tax $50 billion in American products, including soybeans and small aircraft, in response to a U.S. move this week to impose tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods.

 

The U.S. bought more than $500 billion in goods from China last year and now is planning or considering penalties on some $150 billion of those imports. The U.S. sold about $130 billion in goods to China in 2017 and faces a potentially devastating hit to its market there if China responds in kind.

 

In the meetings, Wang attacked what he called “protectionism and unilateralism,” though he didn’t single out the U.S. by name.

 

“China will safeguard the principles of free trade and oppose protectionism,” Wang said. “We should push forward with economic globalization.”

 

Wang was welcoming both officials ahead of their planned appearances at the annual Boao Forum for Asia, a Chinese-sponsored annual gathering for political and economic elites on tropical Hainan Island.

 

Guterres will meet President Xi Jinping later Sunday and also plans to visit the China Peacekeeping Police Training Center.

 

Balakrishnan is traveling with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the first of a five-day visit to China.

This story was written by the Associated Press

 

 
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‘Women of Courage’ Fight Inequality, Injustice

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Outrage, compassion, a desire for justice. These are some of the motivations of 10 women honored by the U.S. State Department this year with the International Women of Courage Award.

Presented their awards in Washington March 23 by first lady Melania Trump, the women include L’Malouma Said, who was born into slavery, became a civil rights activist and is now a deputy in the Mauritanian national assembly. There she has worked for human rights, prison reform, and to improve conditions for Haratines, an ethnic group descended from slaves.

Helping victims of torture

Another honoree, a Kosovo physician Feride Rushiti, works with the survivors of the massacres, rape and torture from the Kosovo War 1998 and 1999, when Yugoslav and Serbian forces targeted ethnic Albanians suspected of supporting rebel fighters. Rushiti was one of a handful of awardees who spoke recently in Los Angeles.

She said the stories of survivors led her to create the Kosovo Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims.

“The stories of the mothers, the stories of the girls, of children, of parents that I heard really affected me a lot, and sometimes I cried with them,” she said.

Her center uses a multidisciplinary approach to helping refugees, especially women. She said it offers “psychotherapy, medical therapy, legal aid where it’s needed, social support, and empowerment programs “because the majority of those women and girls unfortunately are living in extreme poverty.”

Progress in Rwanda

The 1994 Rwandan genocide spurred the work of another woman, Godelieve Mukasarasi, to bring the perpetrators to justice. She was undeterred when her husband and daughter were murdered after she decided to testify at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

She now works with rape victims and their children, organizing “forums where they can meet together and deal with the trauma that they’ve been through,” she explained in French.

Mukasarasi sees progress in her country, saying that more Rwandans today see themselves as Rwandans and identify less with the class or tribal divisions that fueled the 1990s genocide.

A forensic pathologist from Honduras, Julissa Villanueva, was among the honorees who traveled to Los Angeles. She oversees 650 experts in the Honduran Attorney General’s Forensic Medicine Department who use scientific evidence to solve murders and other cases of violent crime, especially against women and children.

Justice in domestic violence

Aiman Umarova, a criminal lawyer from Kazakhstan, works to bring justice to victims of sexual violence in her country. For Kazakh women, says Umarova, domestic violence was long considered a taboo topic.

While old attitudes persist, she says, her country has laws protecting those who speak out, “but many cases finish without suitable compensation for victims.” Compensation can amount to just a few thousand dollars in cases of violent rape, which she says “victimizes the victims a second time.” She says she is fighting to change that.

Janet Elliott of the International Visitors Council of Los Angeles, who worked with the State Department to bring some of the award winners to her city, says these women have shown courage in overcoming violence and persecution.
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Global Hunger Is Rising, Artificial Intelligence Can Help

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Despite a global abundance of food, a United Nations report says 815 million people, 11 percent of the world’s population, went hungry in 2016. That number seems to be rising.

Poverty is not the only reason, however, people are experiencing food insecurity.

“Increasingly we’re also seeing hunger caused by the displacement related to conflict, natural disaster as well, but particularly there’s been an uptick in the number of people displaced in the world,” said Robert Opp, director of Innovation and Change Management at the United Nations World Food Program.

Humanitarian organizations are turning to new technologies such as AI, or artificial intelligence, to fight global food insecurity.

WATCH: Global Hunger Is Rising — Artificial Intelligence Can Help

“What AI offers us right now, is an ability to augment human capacity. So, we’re not talking about replacing human beings and things. We’re talking about doing more things and doing them better than we could by just human capacity alone,” Opp said.

Analyze data, get it to farmers

Artificial intelligence can analyze large amounts of data to locate areas affected by conflict and natural disasters and assist farmers in developing countries. The data can then be accessed by farmers from their smartphones.

“The average smartphone that exists in the world today is more powerful than the entire Apollo space program 50 years ago. So just imagine a farmer in Africa who has a smartphone has much more computing power than the entire Apollo space program,” said Pranav Khaitan, engineering lead at Google AI.

“When you take your special data and soil mapping data and use AI to do the analysis, you can send me the information. So in a nutshell, you can help me [know] when to plant, what to plant, how to plant,” said Uyi Stewart, director of Strategy Data and Analytics in Global Development of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“When you start combining technologies, AI, robotics, sensors, that’s when we see magic start to happen on farms for production, to increase crop yields,” said Zenia Tata, vice president for Global Impact Strategy at XPRIZE, an organization that creates incentivized competitions so innovative ideas and technologies can be developed to benefit humanity.

“It all comes down to developing these techniques and making it available to these farmers and people on the ground,” Khaitan said.

Breaking down barriers

However, the developing world is often the last to get new technologies.

As Stewart said, “815 million people are hungry and I can bet you that nearly 814 million out of the 815 million do not have a smartphone.”

Even when the technology is available, other barriers still exist.

“A lot of these people that we talked about that are hungry, they don’t speak English, so when we get insights out of this technology how are we going to pass it onto them?” Stewart said.

While it may take time for new technologies to reach the developing world, many hope such advances will ultimately trickle-down to farmers in regions that face food insecurity.

“You’ve invented the technology. The big investments have gone in. Now you’re modifying it, which brings the cost down as well,” said Teddy Bekele, vice president of Ag Technology at U.S.-based agribusiness and food company Land O’Lakes.

“So, I think three to four years maybe we’ll have some of the things we have here to be used there [in the developing world] as well,” Bekele predicted.

Those who work in humanitarian organizations said entrepreneurs must look outside their own countries to adapt the new technologies to combat global hunger, or come up with a private, public model. Farmers will need the tools and training so they can harness the power of artificial intelligence to help feed the hungry in the developing world.

This story was written by Elizabeth Lee​.
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Judge: State’s Assault Weapons Ban Doesn’t Violate 2nd Amendment

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Assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are not protected by the Second Amendment, a federal judge said in a ruling Friday upholding Massachusetts’ ban on the weapons.

U.S. District Judge William Young dismissed a lawsuit challenging the 20-year-old ban, saying assault weapons are military firearms that fall beyond the reach of the constitutional right to “bear arms.”

Regulation of the weapons is a matter of policy, not for the courts, he said.

“Other states are equally free to leave them unregulated and available to their law-abiding citizens,” Young said. “These policy matters are simply not of constitutional moment. Americans are not afraid of bumptious, raucous and robust debate about these matters. We call it democracy.”

Attorney general praises ruling

State Attorney General Maura Healey said the ruling “vindicates the right of the people of Massachusetts to protect themselves from these weapons of war.”

“Strong gun laws save lives, and we will not be intimidated by the gun lobby in our efforts to end the sale of assault weapons and protect our communities and schools,” Healey, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Families across the country should take heart in this victory.”

AR-15 assault-style rifles are under increased scrutiny because of their use in several recent mass shootings, including the February massacre at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead.

Gun owners’ lawsuit

The Gun Owners Gun Owners’ Action League of Massachusetts and other groups that filed the lawsuit argued that the AR-15 cannot be considered a “military weapon” because it cannot fire in fully automatic mode.

But Young dismissed that argument, noting that the semi-automatic AR-15’s design is based on guns “that were first manufactured for military purposes” and that the AR-15 is “common and well-known in the military.”

“The AR-15 and its analogs, along with large capacity magazines, are simply not weapons within the original meaning of the individual constitutional right to ‘bear arms,”’ Young wrote.

Young also upheld Healey’s 2016 enforcement notice to gun sellers and manufacturers clarifying what constitutes a “copy” or “duplicate” weapon under the state’s 1998 assault weapon ban, including copies of the Colt AR-15 and the Kalashnikov AK-47.

State law mirrors federal one

Healey’s stepped-up enforcement followed the shooting rampage at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 patrons. She said at the time that gun manufacturers were circumventing Massachusetts’ ban by selling copycat versions of the weapons they claimed complied with the law.

The Massachusetts assault weapons ban mirrors the federal ban that expired in 2004. It prohibits the sale of specific and name-brand weapons and explicitly bans copies or duplicates of those weapons.

The National Rifle Association panned the ruling and pledged to help the groups fighting the case “in any way possible.”
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Kansas Lawmakers Boost School Funding Over GOP Objections

Posted on by SeeUS

Kansas legislators approved an increase in spending on school funding early Sunday, with Republicans pushing the measure to passage over the bitter objections of some GOP colleagues in hopes of meeting a court mandate.

Dozens of teachers, many wearing red shirts, converged on the Statehouse, camped out for hours and cheered after the Senate approved a bill, 21-19, to phase in a $534 million increase in education funding over five years. The House passed the bill Saturday, 63-56, and GOP Gov. Jeff Colyer endorsed it publicly.

“I am pleased that we were able to compromise and pass a bill that ensures our schools will remain open and are funded adequately and equitably,” Colyer said in a statement.

Court ruling

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last fall that the state isn’t spending enough money on its public schools. Colyer and some members of the Republican-controlled Legislature worried that a frustrated high court would take the unprecedented step of preventing the state from distributing dollars through a flawed education funding system, effectively closing schools statewide.

Many Democrats had argued that the plan, drafted largely by top House Republicans, would not satisfy the Supreme Court. Most Democrats in the House voted against it.

But the measure had bipartisan support in the Senate. The state’s largest teachers union put aside its own misgivings that the plan was too small and had members pack the Senate gallery and hallways outside the chamber.

“It is certainly the best bill we’ve seen,” said Kansas National Education Association lobbyist Mark Desetti. “It’s time to get something before the court.”

 

WATCH: Teacher Strikes Spread Across the US

Education underfunded

The Supreme Court declared in October that the state’s current funding of more than $4 billion a year isn’t enough for lawmakers to fulfill their duty under the Kansas Constitution to finance a suitable education for every child. It gave Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, until April 30 to report on how lawmakers responded.

Lawmakers had been scheduled to start an annual spring break Saturday and return April 26 — four days before Schmidt’s deadline. He and Colyer urged legislators to delay the break until a school funding bill passed.

Senate GOP leaders had excoriated a previous, similarly sized plan from the House as likely to force higher taxes within two years. The Senate approved a plan to phase in a $274 million increase over five years and top Republicans hoped in negotiations to talk the House down from its big plan.

“We know — absolutely know — if we’re going to pay this bill, we’re going to have to increase taxes,” said Senate President Susan Wagle, a conservative Wichita Republican.

Later, she said, “I’m here for the people who are footing the bill.”

Colyer argued in a statement Saturday that the new plan could be sustained without increasing taxes. Supporters believe the annual growth in tax revenues will cover the new spending.

The House and Senate had passed rival plans earlier in the week. Their negotiators made little progress Friday on how much school spending should increase.

Besides objecting to the level of spending, some conservative Republicans said the court is improperly encroaching on the Legislature’s power to determine the state budget.

Conservative GOP Rep. Randy Garber, of Sabetha, argued that problems with public education stem from U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the early 1960s declaring school-sponsored prayer and Bible reading as unconstitutional.

“If we don’t fix society, we won’t fix our schools,” Garber said in concluding a 13-minute speech. “I say the way to fix our schools is to put prayer and the Bible back and give it a chance.”
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Ethiopia Closes Infamous Prison, But Activists Await Deeper Reforms

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Days after swearing in its new prime minister, Ethiopia has begun to make good on promised reforms. In the past week, officials have closed an infamous detention center and released 11 jailed journalists and politicians.

Former prisoners and journalists, however, say that many detainees have simply been moved to different facilities, and they question whether the symbolic closure and releases signify real change.

New prime minister

On April 2, Abiy Ahmed became prime minister after a protracted nomination process following the sudden resignation of his predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn.

In his acceptance speech, Ahmed emphasized unity.

“From this day forward, we will look at political parties outside of EPRDF as competitors rather than enemies — their supporters as brothers and sisters who have alternative ideas and who love their country — and as a collection of citizens,” Ahmed said.

Concrete steps followed.

On Thursday, politicians and journalists who had been jailed for participating in an illegal gathering in late March were released. Most had been imprisoned previously.

A day later, the government announced that it had closed Maekelawi Prison, a detention center and police station in Addis Ababa, the capital.

When he announced the decision to close Maekelawi at a press conference broadcast on state-owned media in early January, then-Prime Minister Desalegn linked the facility to atrocities committed by the Derg, a regime that lost power in the late 1980s, and said the facility would become a museum.

Dissidents, former prisoners and humans rights groups, however, say the prison is more than a symbol of an ugly past. They say detainees at Maekelawi have continued to experience inhumane conditions.

In a 2013 report on the prison and an attached police station, Human Rights Watch concluded that abuses at Maekelawi were widespread.

“Police investigators at Maekelawi use coercive methods on detainees amounting to torture or other ill-treatment to extract confessions, statements and other information from detainees. Detainees are often denied access to lawyers and family members. Depending on their compliance with the demands of investigators, detainees are punished or rewarded with denial or access to water, food, light and other basic needs,” according to HRW.

‘Not about the walls and the people inside’

Now that Maekelawi has closed, activists and former prisoners question whether authorities will ensure inhumane treatment doesn’t persist at other facilities around the country.

Chaltu Takele was accused of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front, a group the government considers a terrorist organization, and she spent nearly a decade in prison, including time at Maekelawi.

“I am very happy that Maekelawi is closed, for sure,” Takele told VOA’s Amharic service. “However, at the end of the day, it is not about the walls and the people inside, but the people who are doing these deeds and torture people.”

What counts isn’t closing a particular facility, she added, but changing “the psyche of the people” who commit inhumane acts.

Emawayesh Alemu, who was also imprisoned for many years, echoed those thoughts. 

“If Maekelawi is closed and another Maekelawi is opened, there is no change. If they open another facility, how can we say Maekelawi is closed?” Alemu said.

Nigist Yirga, who was arrested for participating in protests, described unbearable conditions.

“Maekelawi is like hell on Earth. We didn’t know the difference between day and night. A young person going into that detention center comes out crippled and carried by people as someone who couldn’t walk anymore,” she said.

“At night they make you go naked — men and women are forced to get naked. They used to make me stand naked, and they used to tell them to make me walk barefoot as my feet were wounded on the cold tile floors,” Yirga told VOA.

Getachew Shiferaw, the editor of the news website Negere Ethiopia, was detained at Maekelawi and documented inmates’ experiences. He told VOA that the closing is meaningless.

“The people who were subjected to unjust treatment in Maekelawi are still in prison,” he said.

Shiferaw named multiple detainees who had been tortured at Maekelawi and were transferred to Kaliti Prison, also in Addis Ababa. Several of those prisoners had been maimed or made sterile after the trauma they experienced, he said. Others were held in solitary confinement for months at a time.

Reconciliation

To move forward, Shiferaw said, the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, must not only close facilities and release prisoners but also own up to its misdeeds.

“EPRDF needs to admit to and acknowledge the atrocities that happened in the detention center, just like how they admit that there has been bad governance and corruption issues. They have to admit the inhumane treatment committed in Maekelawi. They need to acknowledge it now because they will be criticized for it tomorrow — these deeds that force people to hate their own country and treat people inhumanely and isolate them,” he said.

The government must also provide medical and support services for prisoners now suffering from long-term health problems, Shiferaw added.

Until then, Shiferaw and other former prisoners await the release of all dissidents and restitution for those who have been subjected to unbearable pain and humiliation.

This story was written by Salem Solomon.
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Reports: Chemical Attack on Syrian Town Kills Dozens

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A chemical attack on a rebel-held town in eastern Ghouta killed dozens of people, a medical relief organization and a rescue service said, and Washington said the reports — if confirmed — would demand an immediate international response.

Medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) said 41 people had been killed, with other reports putting the death toll much higher. The civil defense rescue service, which operates in rebel-held areas of Syria, put it as high as 150 in a report on one of its Twitter feeds.

The Russian-backed Syrian state denied government forces had launched any chemical attack as the reports began circulating Saturday night and said rebels in the eastern Ghouta town of Douma were in a state of collapse and spreading false news.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

The lifeless bodies of around a dozen children, women and men, some of them with foam at the mouth, were shown in one video circulated by activists. 

“Douma city, April 7 … there is a strong smell here,” a voice can be heard saying.

Ghouta offensive especially deadly

The U.S. State Department said reports of mass casualties from an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma were “horrifying” and would, if confirmed, “demand an immediate response by the international community.”

President Bashar al-Assad has won back control of nearly all of eastern Ghouta in a Russian-backed military campaign that began in February, leaving just Douma in rebel hands. After a lull of days, government forces began bombarding Douma again on Friday.

The offensive in Ghouta has been one of the deadliest of the seven-year-long war, killing more than 1,600 civilians according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory said it could not confirm if chemical weapons had been used in the attack on Saturday.

Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said 11 people had died in Douma as a result of suffocation caused by the smoke from conventional weapons being dropped by the government. It said a total of 70 people suffered breathing difficulties.

Two attacks alleged

Medical relief organization SAMS said a chlorine bomb hit Douma hospital, killing six people, and a second attack with “mixed agents” including nerve agents had hit a nearby building.

Basel Termanini, the U.S.-based vice president of SAMS, told Reuters another 35 people had been killed at the nearby apartment building, most of them women and children.

SAMS operates 139 medical facilities in Syria where it supports 1,880 medical personnel, according to its website.

“We are contacting the U.N. and the U.S. government and the European governments,” he said by telephone.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the rebel group in Douma, Jaish al-Islam, was making “chemical attack fabrications in an exposed and failed attempt to obstruct advances by the Syrian Arab army,” citing an official source.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauret recalled a 2017 sarin gas attack in northwestern Syria that the West and the United Nations blamed on Assad’s government.

“The Assad regime and its backers must be held accountable and any further attacks prevented immediately,” she said.

“The United States calls on Russia to end this unmitigated support immediately and work with the international community to prevent further, barbaric chemical weapons attacks,” Nauert said in a statement.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons during the conflict.

This story was written by Reuters.
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Palestinian American Comedian Making Her Mark in Male Dominated Arena

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Comedy is a field dominated by men, but that’s changing. Among the trendsetters is Suzie Afridi, a Palestinian-American stand-up comedian. Afridi says she’s probably not living the life her parents wanted for her when she was growing up in the West Bank. But she says how else would a feminist Palestinian Christian, married to a Muslim man, trying to raise a cross-cultural 9-year-old, express herself, except by making people laugh? VOA’s Samina Ahsan takes a look at Afridi’s unlikely journey.
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Freestyle Wrestling World Cup Opens In U.S. Without Russia, Iran

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The 2018 World Cup of freestyle wrestling opened Saturday in the U.S. state of Iowa without Russia and Iran, two traditionally strong teams in the sport.

Iran, the six-time defending champ, pulled out in March without citing a reason, although many tied it to the resignation of the Iranian federation president, Rasoul Khadem, over issues related to the country’s state policy of refusing to compete against Israeli competition.

Khadem quit in protest after United World Wrestling (UWW) ruled that an Iranian wrestler threw a match at the Under-23 World Championships in November to avoid having to face an Israeli opponent and temporarily banning the athlete and his coach.

Russia pulled out of the tournament a week ago after saying it did not have enough time for the visa process needed to get the athletes cleared for the journey to Iowa City.

UWW invited Mongolia and India to replace Iran and Russia the annual meet, considered the second-biggest event outside of the World Championships, which will be held in Hungary in October.

“Our team was poised to do well [even if] Russia and Iran [were competing], so that’s a little bit disappointing,” said Rich Bender, the director of USA Wrestling.

“Certainly, in light of the current political situation and the relations between our governments and the drama around what’s going on in our State Departments, with their embassy and ours, this was not the year to wait until the last minute to apply,” he said of the Russians.

Bill Zadick, the U.S. freestyle coach, said, “It’s disappointing that they [Russians and Iranians] weren’t able to make it to the event because they have great wrestling traditions.”

“Despite our difference in politics on the government side, our federations share a brotherhood and have a really positive relationships that I think both sides value,” he added.

The U.S. team beat India in its first match, while Mongolia beat Kazakhstan.

Some material for this report came from AP, Sioux City Journal, Des Moines Register and Interfax.
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Iran Caught in Global Cyber Attack That Left US Flag on Screens

Posted on by SeeEA

Hackers have attacked networks in a number of countries, including data centers in Iran where they left the image of a U.S. flag on screens along with a warning: “Don’t mess with our elections,” the Iranian IT ministry said Saturday.

“The attack apparently affected 200,000 router switches across the world in a widespread attack, including 3,500 switches in our country,” the Communication and Information Technology Ministry said in a statement carried by Iran’s official news agency IRNA.

The statement said the attack, which hit internet service providers and cut off web access for subscribers, was made possible by a vulnerability in routers from Cisco, which had earlier issued a warning and provided a patch that some firms failed to install over the Iranian new year holiday.

A blog published Thursday by Nick Biasini, a threat researcher at Cisco’s Talos Security Intelligence and Research Group, said: “Several incidents in multiple countries, including some specifically targeting critical infrastructure, have involved the misuse of the Smart Install protocol. … As a result, we are taking an active stance, and are urging customers, again, of the elevated risk and available remediation paths.”

On Saturday evening, Cisco said those postings were a tool to help clients identify weaknesses and repel a cyber attack.

Iran’s IT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi posted a picture of a computer screen on Twitter with the image of the U.S. flag and the hackers’ message. He said it was not yet clear who had carried out the attack.

Azari-Jahromi said the attack mainly affected Europe, India and the United States, state television reported.

“Some 55,000 devices were affected in the United States and 14,000 in China, and Iran’s share of affected devices was 2 percent,” Azari-Jahromi was quoted as saying.

In a tweet, Azari-Jahromi said the state computer emergency response body MAHER had shown “weaknesses in providing information to (affected) companies” after the attack, which was detected late on Friday in Iran.

Hadi Sajadi, deputy head of the state-run Information Technology Organization of Iran, said the attack was neutralized within hours and no data was lost.

The story was written by Reuters.
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Backers of Ailing Algerian Leader Urge Him to Seek Fifth Term

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Algeria’s governing party is urging President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to seek a fifth term even though the 81-year-old has been debilitated by a stroke for years.

The head of the FLN party, Djamel Ould Abbas, formally asked Bouteflika to run in the May 2019 election in a speech Saturday to party lawmakers. Ould Abbas added that “the last word remains with him, of course.”

Bouteflika is barely seen in public, and it’s not clear whether he is still really in charge of Africa’s largest country.

Ould Abbas praised Bouteflika’s record as a leader since winning the presidency in 1999 and bringing a cautious peace to a North African country riven by years of insurgency.

No other presidential candidates have emerged because they are waiting to see whether Bouteflika will run.
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Violence Claims More Lives in Syrian Capital, Suburbs

Posted on by SeeEA

Syrian government forces pressed their offensive Saturday against the last rebel-held town in eastern Ghouta under the cover of airstrikes as shelling of civilian areas on both sides claimed more lives, state media and opposition activists said.

Syrian government forces had resumed their offensive on rebel-held Douma on Friday afternoon after a 10-day truce collapsed over disagreement regarding evacuation of opposition fighters. Violence resumed days after hundreds of opposition fighters and their relatives left Douma for rebel-held areas in northern Syria.

A reporter for Lebanon’s Al-Manar TV embedded with Syrian troops near Douma said government forces advanced toward Douma from the towns of Misraba and Madiara that were recently captured by troops. Al-Manar TV is run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, which has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to back government forces.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media said government forces captured several farms Saturday on the southern and western edges of the city, which is home to tens of thousands of people. SCMM said the area controlled by the Army of Islam in and around Douma was 19 square kilometers (7.3 square miles).

The group said its fighters had repelled all government attacks that began Friday, adding that 17 Syrian soldiers had been killed.

By Saturday evening, state media was reporting that troops were approaching Army of Islam fortifications on the edge of the town, adding that street battles could begin soon. It said warplanes bombarded the group’s headquarters and command and control center.

State TV said Army of Islam fighters had pelted several neighborhoods in Damascus with mortar shells, killing six civilians and wounding more than 30.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bombardment of Douma had killed eight people and wounded 48, including 15 children.

Gas attacks alleged

Some opposition activists in Douma posted photographs of people wearing gas masks, saying that government forces were shelling the town with poison gas. State media denied the reports, saying that “such farces about chemical weapons” had been triggered by the troops’ quick push toward Douma.

On Friday, opposition activists said 40 people were killed in Douma while state media said four were killed in government-held Damascus.

Government forces launched a crushing offensive in February and March on eastern Ghouta, capturing dozens of towns and villages and forcing thousands of opposition fighters to surrender and evacuate the area toward Syria’s north.

A deal was reached last month to evacuate Douma, but activists and state media reported that the Army of Islam group demanded amendments to the deal.

The Observatory said the Russian response to the Army of Islam was a list of demands, including handing over heavy weapons within three days and light weapons thereafter, in return for government forces’ withdrawal from the outskirts of Douma within a week.

The Observatory also said that the Russians promised the rebels that once they handed over their weapons, airstrikes would stop. It added that fighters who handed over their weapons could join a local police force that will be established in Douma, mostly consisting of Army of Islam members who would be given Russian weapons to fight members of the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked fighters.

Army of Islam military spokesman Hamza Bayraqdar told The Associated Press by text message, “The Russians are making humiliating demands that mean surrender and handing over the area. This is something that we categorically reject.” 

Russia’s military said the Army of Islam had forced out leaders who were taking part in negotiations to withdraw from Douma and that their fighters had resumed attacks.

Major General Yuri Yevtushenko, head of the Russian center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, said that “as a result of sharp opposition among the odious militants and those who were prepared to participate in the negotiations process, the former leaders of the group [known as] Abu Humam, Abu Omar and Abu Ali were physically removed.” 

He said the information had come from a close aide of Abu Humam.

Observation post in Idlib

In northern Syria, the Turkish military said on its Twitter account that it had established the ninth observation post in the rebel-held province of Idlib as part of the de-escalation agreement with Russia and Iran. Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said the military convoy had reached the town of Morek in Idlib province.

Eastern Ghouta was part of the same de-escalation plan signed last year in the Kazakh capital, Astana. Turkey’s presidential spokesman said that the Turkish military presence in Idlib would serve as a “guarantee” against attacks to ensure that it did not meet the same fate as eastern Ghouta.

Ibrahim Kalin said, “The Russians and the Iranians have a full understanding of this,” adding that the Syrian regime also understood that “Turkish soldiers are not to be attacked in those areas.”

Elsewhere in Syria, a bomb exploded in the Aleppo town of al-Bab, which is controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing nine people and wounding 15, according to the activist media collective Aleppo Media Center. The Observatory said eight people were killed in the blast, which occurred near the town’s Grand Mosque.
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Ship Hits Historic Mansion on Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait

Posted on by SeeEU

A cargo ship has crashed into a historic mansion on Istanbul’s Bosporus strait, severely damaging the building.

Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency said the Maltese-flagged cargo ship had a malfunction that disabled its rudder and caused it to lose control in the busy waterway.

Videos showed the large ship sailing straight toward the Asian shores of Istanbul, hitting the red seaside mansion of Hekimbasi Salih Efendi. No one was injured.

Anadolu said the 225-meter (738-foot) ship was carrying barley from Russia to Saudi Arabia.

The mansion once belonged to a doctor who served in the Ottoman palace and dates to the 18th century.

The Bosporus is a key waterway connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and then the Aegean Sea.

This story was written by the Associated Press.
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Turkey’s Erdogan Says France Is Abetting Terrorists

Posted on by SeeEU

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused France of abetting terrorists by “hosting them” at the Elysee Palace, amid a diplomatic row between the NATO allies over Paris’s support for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Relations between Ankara and Paris have been tense in recent weeks, with France one of the most vocal critics of Turkey’s two-month-old military operation in northern Syria against the Kurdish YPG, which Turkey considers a terrorist organisation.

That came to a head on March 30 after President Emmanuel Macron met a Syrian delegation including the YPG and its political arm, the PYD, and gave assurances of French support to help stabilise northern Syria against Islamic State.

Turkey said the pledge amounted to support for terrorism and could make France a “target of Turkey.”

“France, you are abetting terrorism, supporting it by then hosting them at the Elysee Palace,” Erdogan told his supporters in the southwestern province of Denizli. “You will not be able to explain this. You will not be able to rid yourself of this terror burden… As long as the West nurtures these terrorists, you will sink,” he said.

The split with France is the latest rift between Turkey under Erdogan and its NATO allies in the West.

Turkey has also been infuriated by U.S. support for the YPG, threatening to extend military operations along hundreds of miles of border, including areas where American forces are deployed.

France, like the United States, has already extended arms and training to the YPG-led militia in the fight against Islamic State, and has dozens of special forces members based in the region, angering Turkey.

Ankara considers the YPG to be an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has waged a decades-old insurgency in southeast Turkey.

Turkish forces drove the YPG from the northwestern Syrian town of Afrin last month, amid international criticism from its allies, notably from Macron.

Ankara, meanwhile, has said it expects its allies to move their troops out of the way of a Turkish advance.
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Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas Facing Tornado and Wildfire Threats

Posted on by SeeUS

Emergency officials in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas are bracing for two types of disasters as spring gets into full swing: The start of what’s historically the most active time of year for tornadoes plus wildfire threats brought on by severe drought.

April, May and June are the most active months in the U.S. for tornadoes. At the same time, the three states on the southern end of Tornado Alley are experiencing extreme and exceptional drought that could fuel wildfires.

Tornado Alley extends from northern Texas and covers much of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, plus slivers of New Mexico and Colorado, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center.

The past three years, the U.S. has seen an average of more than 600 tornadoes during April, May and June, according to the center . That is more than half the average of 1,186 tornadoes per year during that time span, although the numbers from the last three months of 2017 are still considered preliminary.

Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas are accustomed to preparing for multiple emergency situations happening at once and train with various agencies to account for different possibilities.

“We’re typically preparing for worst-case scenarios year-round anyway,” state Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said, noting that the SPC reports Oklahoma City has been struck by more tornadoes than any other U.S. city, with more than 100 known twisters. “We do have some experience at that. We plan for all hazards anyway.”

Katie Horner, spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general’s division of emergency management, said last year the state dealt with a blizzard, an ice storm, fire, flooding and a tornado warning all in the same week. “We train not only for one or two events in a day, but three or four events in a day,” she added.

Chip Orton, the emergency management director for Amarillo, a city of about 200,000 in the Texas Panhandle, says, “My job is to be worried.”

“That’s why we come to work every day. Is it likely? Probably not. Could it happen? Sure,” he said.

While tornadoes are the result of thunderstorms, which are created from conditions that include moisture, the current dry conditions in the area do not preclude twisters, said Storm Prediction Center meteorologist Patrick Marsh. He noted that two tornadoes were reported in the Texas Panhandle on March 18, even as the area was rated in extreme drought.

Some private forecasting services are predicting an increase in tornadoes during the coming months, based largely on the fact that there was the climate phenomenon La Nina during the past winter. They’re expecting weather patterns in the coming months to be wetter and warmer than usual, particularly in the southeastern U.S. and along the Gulf Coast.

“(Those conditions) would be a petri dish for thunderstorms. You need to add an additional ingredient for tornados. … You need wind shear. Wind shear is best described as a change in wind speed and direction,” Marsh said, and is created when cold air and warm air collide at the surface.

The national Storm Prediction Center, however, does not forecast severe weather more than about a week in advance.

This story was written by AP.
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Air France Strike Sees 30 Percent of Flights Cancelled

Posted on by SeeEU

Some 30 percent of Air France flights were cancelled Saturday as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying.

And that’s just part of France’s travel troubles this month. Most French trains will screech to a halt as a strike over President Emmanuel Macron’s economic reforms resumes Saturday night – a strike that is set to last through Monday.

Screens at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport showed red “cancelled” notes next to multiple flights Saturday, as families around France and Europe headed off on spring vacations.

The one-day Air France walkout is affecting international and domestic travel, notably a quarter of flights at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports. Air France is urging passengers to check the status of their flights before coming to the airport and offering to change tickets for free.

It’s the fifth Air France strike since February, and the number of cancelled flights is rising. Unions this week announced more strikes this month to coincide with national rail walkouts.

Air France unions want 6 percent pay raises after years of salary freezes. Air France is offering 1 percent raises, saying anything higher will hurt its turnaround efforts.

The strikes have been costing Air France some 20 million euros ($24.6 million) a day and have hurt its share price.

Meanwhile, the SNCF national railway announced that 80 percent of high speed trains and two-thirds of regional trains will be canceled starting Saturday night as unions stage another two-day walkout.

About a quarter of Eurostar trains to London will be cancelled, and no trains were expected to run at all to Switzerland, Spain or Italy.

It’s part of three months of rolling train strikes seen as the biggest challenge to Macron since he took office last year. Rail unions are angry at plans by Macron’s government to abolish a generous benefits system that gives train workers jobs for life.

Both the government and unions are holding firm despite continuing negotiations. France prides itself on its railways, seen as a pillar of public service.

Macron argues that the special status for train workers is no longer tenable in a globalized and increasingly automated economy. It’s part of his broader plans to overhaul the French economy to make it more competitive.
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US Senators Call For Credible Elections in Zimbabwe

Posted on by SeeUS

Visiting members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee say Zimbabwe’s government must ensure free and fair elections if Washington is to lift sanctions.

Jeff Flake and Chris Coons, both members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters Saturday in Harare they are happy with how Zimbabwe is progressing since the forced retirement of Robert Mugabe as the country’s president last November.

 

Flake urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to ensure Zimbabwe hold credible elections so the West can lift sanctions imposed on some members of the ruling Zanu PF party in 2002 after accusations of election rigging and human rights abuses.

“Nothing will please us more than to be able to play a role in the legislative branch and also to recommend to the president that these sanctions are all to be lifted, and the U.S. and Zimbabwe can have not just full diplomatic relations as we do now for commercial ties and to have expanded trade and to remove individuals from that sanctions list, but that depends  as we all know  on what happens in the upcoming months,” said Flake.

That was a reference to Zimbabwe’s elections, expected in July or August of this year. Senator Coons was asked what the U. S. and the West expect from the polls.

 

“We believe there are well known international standards adopted by the African Union, by SADC [Southern African Development Community], by EU [European Union], by others that show what steps are that go from a declaration that we intend to have a free and fair election, to having that election, and steps that follow after an election to re-establishing the rule of law, to re-establishing a sound economic system that is sound, to re-establishing human rights and respect for others. It is not our place to dictate a particular path or steps,” Coons said.

Last month, Senators Flake, a Republican, and Coons, a member of the Democratic Party, introduced a bill to reset relations, including laying out steps Zimbabwe’s new government needs to takein order to have U.S. sanctions lifted.

This story was written by VOA’s Sebastian Mhofu.
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Motorist Plows Into German Crowd, Kills 2, Fatally Shoots Self

Posted on by SeeEU

Two people were killed and numerous others were injured when a vehicle was driven into a crowd Saturday in the northwestern German city of Muenster. A third fatality occurred when the driver shot himself inside the vehicle, police said.

A police spokesman, Andreas Bode, said investigators were checking witnesses’ reports that two additional people might have fled the vehicle. He also said police were investigating a suspicious-looking object found inside the vehicle.

Officials said six of those hurt in the incident were in critical condition.

The site of the incident is popular for its shops and cafes and its proximity to the city’s historic cathedral. The targeted area appears to have been the outside seating area of a popular cafe where a number of patrons were enjoying a warm spring afternoon.

‘Muenster mourns’ 

Muenster Mayor Markus Lewe told reporters that “all of Muenster mourns over this horrible thing,” expressing compassion for the families of those killed and wishes for a swift recovery for those injured. He said any motive for the attack was not known.

A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel called reports of the event “terrible news.” Merkel released a statement saying she was “deeply shocked by the terrible events in Muenster.”

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said federal officials were communicating with their counterparts in Muenster to figure out what happened.

The incident happened in the old part of the city, near a famous 19th-century statue of a traveling salesman, known as the “Kiepenkerl,” which became a Twitter hashtag referencing the event.

Germany has been on high alert for terror attacks since a truck crashed into a Christmas market in Berlin two years ago, killing 12 people.

Saturday was also the one-year anniversary of an attack in Stockholm, Sweden, in which a truck crashed into a crowd of people in front of a department store. Five people died in that attack. The attacker claimed to be a member of the Islamic State terror group.
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FBI Seizes Online Classified Website Backpage.com

Posted on by SeeUS

The free classifieds website, Backpage.com, was seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Friday, according to an announcement on the Backpage.com website.

The website offers a wide variety of goods and services for sale, but critics say the vast majority of ads posted were in the “adult services” section. Authorities have said for years that many of the ads are thinly disguised offers for prostitution.

Visitors who went to the advertising website Friday after the FBI seizure were greeted with a notice from the FBI announcing its seizure.

The founder of backpage.com, Michael Lacey lives in Sedona, Arizona. The FBI confirmed to ABC15 there is law enforcement activity in the area. ABC15 also saw the FBI at Lacey’s home in Paradise Valley.

In addition, ABC15 crews saw the FBI at the Paradise Valley home of James Larkin, another founder of backpage.com.

This story was written by VOA
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Former Catalan President Renews Call for Secession Talks

Posted on by SeeEU

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont called again on the Spanish government to begin negotiations over Catalonia’s secession declaration.

The former separatist leader renewed the call Saturday at a news conference in Berlin, one day after being released from a German prison in Neumuenster after two weeks of detention.

“The path for political negotiations based on mutual respect, this is what Europe expects. This is what the Catalan people ask for. This is what the Catalan economy, society and culture need,” Puigdemont said.

Puigdemont was arrested in Germany as he travelled from Finland to Belgium, where he had been in self-imposed exile after fleeing Spain in October.

The Spanish government has accused Puigdemont of provoking an uprising by attempting to declare Catalonia an independent state after a referendum last year the government says was illegal. Madrid has also accused Puigdemont of misusing public money.

Puigdemont was released on bail Friday pending a decision by German judges on whether to extradite him from Spain.

The Schwesig state court decided the charge of rebellion did not warrant extradition, but Puigdemont can still be extradited on the less serious charge of misuse of funds to hold Catalonia’s banned independence referendum.

 

This story was written by VOA News.
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Gaza Buries Journalist Killed After Covering Mass Protests

Posted on by SeeEA

Hundreds, including Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, attended the funeral of a well-known Palestinian journalist in Gaza on Saturday who was killed while covering mass protests along the Israeli border the previous day.

Yasser Murtaja died from a gunshot wound he sustained while filming Friday in an area engulfed in thick black smoke from protesters setting tires on fire. Israeli troops opened fire from across the border, killing at least nine Palestinians and wounding 491 others in the second mass border protest in eight days. The deaths brought to at least 31 the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since last week.

Murtaja was over 100 meters (yards) from the border, wearing a flak jacket marked “press” and holding his camera when he was shot in an exposed area just below the armpit.

The Israeli military has said it fired only at “instigators” involved in attacks on soldiers. It said it was investigating the circumstances of Murtaja’s death.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since a 2007 takeover and calls for Israel’s destruction, has called for a series of protests until May 15, the anniversary of Israel’s founding when Palestinians commemorate their mass uprooting during the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

The Islamic group hopes the mass protests can create pressure to break a border blockade enforced by Israel and Egypt since 2007, without having to succumb to demands that it disarm. The blockade has made it increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern. It has also devastated Gaza’s economy, made it virtually impossible for people to enter and exit the territory, and left residents with just a few hours of electricity a day.

Israel argues that Hamas could have ended the suffering of Gaza’s 2 million people by disarming and renouncing violence.

It says Hamas is exploiting the mass marches as a cover for attacking the border fence, and has vowed to prevent a breach at all costs. The military said that on Friday protesters hurled several explosive devices and firebombs, using the thick plumes of smoke from burning tires as cover, and that several attempts to cross the fence were thwarted.

Murtaja, 30, was the co-founder of Ain media, a local TV production company that has done projects, including aerial drone video, for foreign media clients such as BBC and Al Jazeera English.

Murtaja was not affiliated with Hamas or any other militant group. His death, along with the other recent casualties, seemed likely to draw renewed criticism from rights groups that have branded Israel’s open-fire orders on the border as unlawful, after Israel’s defense minister warned that those approaching the fence were risking their lives.

Just two weeks ago, Murtaja posted a drone photo of Gaza’s seaport at sunset on his Facebook page with the following caption: “I wished I could take this photo from the sky, not from land. My name is Yasser Murtaja, I am 30 years old. I live in Gaza City. I have never traveled.”

Friends say it reflected his greatest wish – to escape Gaza’s isolation.

Hana Awad, his colleague and close friend, said he had long dreamt of traveling and was recently granted an Al Jazeera scholarship for training in Doha. She described him as active and friendly and not at all interested in politics.

“We didn’t know his political views, he was passionate about his job and wanted to travel and learn,” she said of Murtaja, who was the father of a 2-year-old boy.

Witnesses described the area in which he was shot as a chaotic scene in which protesters torched large piles of tires, engulfing the area in black smoke that was meant to shield them from Israeli snipers. Footage showed that visibility was limited and the faces of some of the activists were covered in black soot.

Israeli troops on the other side of the fence responded with tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and water cannons, as well as occasional live fire.

This story was written by AP.
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At Least 9 Protesters Killed by Israeli Fire at Gaza Border

Posted on by SeeEA

Nine Palestinians, including a journalist, died after being shot by Israeli troops during border clashes, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza strip said Saturday.

Yasser Murtaga, a photographer with the Gaza-based Ain Media agency, was hit during clashes Friday, the ministry said, despite wearing a press vest.

The Israeli army declined to comment, saying it was reviewing the incident.

In addition to the nine dead, one of them a 16-year-old boy, at least 491 other people were wounded by Israeli gunfire, the health ministry said.

Live fire from Israelis

Israeli soldiers on Friday fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to prevent a breach of the border fence. The protesters burned tires near the fence, causing thick black smoke to rise into the air.

Israel’s military said the Palestinians protesters threw several explosive devices and firebombs and said some demonstrators attempted to cross the border fence.

Palestinian protesters have set up tent encampments a few hundred meters from the fence that separates Israel from the Gaza Strip. Groups of youths have approached the fence to throw stones or to burn tires, risking live fire from Israeli troops.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman described the protests as a provocation and warned that anyone nearing the border fence is putting his life at risk.

Israel’s military estimated the number of protesters Friday to be around 20,000. That is more than in recent days, but less than the 30,000 who protested on the first day of the demonstrations on March 30. That day, 17 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.

Protesting Gaza conditions

The United Nations, European Union and human rights groups charge that firing at unarmed demonstrators is an excessive use of force, but Israel has rejected their demands for an inquiry.

The Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, says the protests are aimed at highlighting Israel’s crippling blockade on the coastal territory as well as the so-called “right of return,” the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their former homes in Israel.

The demonstrations, set to end May 15, are designed to commemorate what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to flee their land or were expelled during the war in 1948 that led to the creation of Israel.

The demonstration is expected to end at the same time Washington plans to open an embassy in Jerusalem, a move that has infuriated Palestinians, who have claimed the eastern section of the city as the capital of their future state.

This story was written by VOA News. Robert Berger contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
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Trump Expresses Condolences to Victims of Canadian Bus Crash

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed sympathy Saturday for the victims and survivors of a crash involving a bus carrying a Canadian junior hockey team that killed 14 people late Friday.

The Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League were on their way to the town of Nipawin for a playoff game when their bus collided with a tractor-trailer about 5 p.m. on a highway about 30 kilometers north of Tisdale, in northeastern Saskatchewan.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said 14 other people had been injured, three of them critically.

A total of 28 people, including coaches and the driver, were on the bus at the time of the accident.

The Canadian police were still confirming the identity of the victims early Saturday morning.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he could not imagine what the parents of the players were going through. “My heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy,” he said.

National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman said Saturday, “Our thoughts are with the players, families, coaches, team management and all those throughout the community that have been affected by the tragedy.”

Bettman added, “The NHL mourns the passing of those who perished and offers strength and comfort to those injured while traveling to play and be part of a game they love.”

Hockey Canada, the country’s national governing body of ice hockey, expressed its sadness on Twitter:

The team had been scheduled to play the Nipawin Hawks on Friday night. “Tonight’s game is canceled,” the Hawks said on Facebook.

The Broncos consisted 24 players, all from Canada, with the youngest age 16 and the oldest 20.
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