Month: June 2018

Forest Fire Raging in Sweden Prompts Evacuations

Posted on by SeeEU

Swedish authorities say at least 25 people have been evacuated as a forest fire rages in southeastern Sweden with dozens of firefighters, army personnel and five helicopters trying to control the blaze.

Authorities said Tuesday the fire near Sala, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Stockholm, had been contained but wasn’t under control, adding they were up against strong winds and dry conditions. Police estimate the fire covers an area of more than five square kilometers (two square miles). 

The Greater Stockholm fire department, which is coordinating the efforts, said firefighters around Sweden have in the past days been extinguishing several fires in the “very dry” countryside.

Open fires have been banned in most of Sweden, and also in parts of Norway, Denmark and Germany.
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Netanyahu Warns Merkel Iran Meddling Will Spark New Refugee Crisis

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with French leaders Tuesday in Paris as he continues efforts to persuade European leaders to alter the international nuclear agreement with Iran.

Netanyahu began his three-day European tour Monday in Germany, where he warned Chancellor Angela Merkel Iranian meddling in the Middle East could spark massive new refugee flows to Europe.

Speaking to reporters at a joint news conference with Merkel, the Israeli leader said Tehran wants to conduct a religious campaign in largely Sunni Syria by using Shi’ite militias under its control to convert Sunni Muslims.

“This will inflame another religious war — this time a religious war inside Syria and the consequences will be many, many more refugees. And you know where exactly they will come,” he said.

Germany and other European nations saw an influx of more than one million migrants, creating deep political divisions and fueling the rise of far-right parties.

Merkel said she agreed that Iran’s activities in the Middle East were a concern but defended the nuclear deal as a way of thwarting Tehran’s nuclear and regional ambitions. Europeans and Israel were, she said, “united by the goal that Iran must never get a nuclear weapon.” She added, “We support Israel’s right to security and have said this to Iran at all times.”

Netanyahu will meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday and British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday.

Britain, France and Germany agreed to the deal with Iran in 2015 along with Russia, China and the United States. 

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last month the United States was pulling out of what he called a “horrible, one-sided deal,” while saying he wants additional restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and what he called its “destabilizing activities in the Middle East.”

The other signatories have expressed a desire to keep the nuclear deal in place, saying it is working. Britain, France and Germany have suggested addressing other concerns about Iran through a supplemental agreement.

Like Trump, Netanyahu has been a fierce critic of the deal, saying the agreement left Iran with the potential to quickly develop a nuclear weapon when the terms expire.

Iran, which won sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear program, has said repeatedly its nuclear activity was solely peaceful in nature.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday the U.S. decision to withdraw from the agreement was illegal and he urged the other signatories not to follow suit.

State-run Iranian media said Zarif sent a letter to the foreign ministers of the remaining nations. He asked them to “make up” for the Iranian losses brought on by the U.S. withdrawal if they want to save the deal.

Zarif called the 2015 nuclear agreement the result of “accurate, sensitive and balanced multilateral talks.”

“The illegal withdrawal of the U.S. government…especially bullying methods used by this government to bring other governments in line, has discredited the rule of law while challenging the principles of the U.N. Charter and efficiency of international bodies,” Zarif wrote.
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Czech Leader Opposes Merkel’s Idea of EU Immigration ‘Flexibility’

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The Czech Republic opposed on Monday German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s idea of a flexible European Union approach to migration and an independent border police, saying protecting frontiers should be up to individual member states.

Prague, along with other central European governments, has rejected a quota system drawn up by the European Commission to redistribute asylum seekers around the bloc.

With an EU summit due to tackle the dispute this month, Merkel called at the weekend for a flexible system in which countries that refuse to take in refugees could compensate by making contributions in other areas. She also said the European border police force Frontex should be allowed to operate independently.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis rebuffed this approach. “The idea that Frontex will guard everything by itself is not realistic in the long term,” he told reporters when asked about Merkel’s comments. “Individual states must guard that.”

Babis said later on Twitter he was not against common border controls but the EU should use the potential of member states first. “We support all EU initiatives to fight against illegal migration,” he said.

Migration has divided the EU’s 28 member states since more than one million migrants, many of them Muslims, arrived in 2015 largely from the Middle East and Africa. The Czech Republic – along with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland which together form the Visegrad Group – has taken a hard line on the issue and refused to accept more than tiny numbers of migrants.

EU leaders will again discuss migration at the end of this month. Merkel said over the weekend she was not sure that any deal to break the impasse over burden-sharing could be reached by then.

Unlike Western EU states, the Visegrad countries have little experience of immigration historically and some have expressed fears for their Christian culture from any sizeable intake of migrants.

Babis questioned how countries could compensate for refusing to take in migrants and said on Twitter his country was “ready to continue with financial solidarity, but not as sanctions for not accepting quotas.”

He also said elections this weekend in Slovenia, won by an anti-immigration opposition party, and the formation of an anti-establishment government in Italy showed how the policy stance of the Visegrad Group had spread.

“This opinion on migration will prevail in the whole of Europe, and we have to stop migration outside the European continent and help the people in Africa and Syria,” he said. 
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US Justice Dept. Appeals Ruling that Trump Can’t Block Twitter Followers

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The U.S. Justice Department late on Monday said it would appeal a federal judge’s ruling that President Donald Trump may not legally block Twitter users from his account on the social media platform based on their political views, according to a court filing. 

A lawyer for seven plaintiffs who sued, Jameel Jaffer, said that the @realdonaldtrump account on Monday had unblocked the seven plaintiffs who filed suit.

The White House and the Justice Department did not immediately comment.

“We’re pleased that the White House unblocked our clients from the President’s Twitter account but disappointed that the government intends to appeal the district court’s thoughtful and well-supported ruling,” Jaffer said in an email. 
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Two Men Plead Guilty to Smuggling Illegal Immigrants Into US From Canada

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Two men, one from Mexico and the other from Honduras, face up to 10 years in prison for smuggling 14 illegal immigrants across the Canadian border into Vermont.

Alberto Alvarado-Castro and Hector Perez-Alvarado both pleaded guilty Monday in a federal court in Burlington, Vermont.

“This case serves as an excellent example of the dedication and hard work put forth by Border Patrol agents to keep our country and communities safe,” U.S. Border Patrol official Robert Garcia said. “Our agents did an outstanding job thwarting this smuggling attempt and the U.S. Attorney’s Office did an excellent job prosecuting it.”

The two defendants admitted guiding the illegal immigrants through the woods, from Quebec, Canada, to a van in Derby, Vermont, to avoid the U.S. border crossing.

They made multiple trips driving the illegal immigrants, who were from Guatemala and Mexico, to a motel in Derby and were arrested on the last trip. 

Both defendants will be sentenced in September.

In an earlier version of this story Border Patrol official Robert Garcia was misquoted. VOA regrets the error.
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Trump Disinvites Super Bowl Champs to White House

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Less than 24 hours before he was to host the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump disinvited the Super Bowl champions. 

“The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to celebrate tomorrow,” Trump said in a statement released Monday evening. “They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.”

All Eagles players stood during the anthem last season.

 

Trump said the team wanted to send a smaller delegation, but “the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better.”

Instead, Trump said the fans were still welcome and that he would host “a different type of ceremony,” one that would “honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the National Anthem.”

Trump has been at odds with NFL players who knelt during the playing of the American national anthem before their games in a protest of police brutality and racial inequality.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the players as unpatriotic and demanded an end to such protests.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney criticized the move by President Trump and said the Eagles “represent the diversity of our nation—a nation in which we are free to express our opinion.”  “Disinviting them from the White House only proves that our President is not a true patriot, but a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing a party to which no one wants to attend,” he added.

Wide receiver Torrey Smith, who played for the Eagles last season, took to Twitter to respond to Trump’s decision.

“So many lies,” he wrote, adding “Not many people were going to go'”

He also said, “No one refused to go simply because Trump `insists’ folks stand for the anthem. … The President continues to spread the false narrative that players are anti military.”

He went on: “It’s a cowardly act to cancel the celebration because the majority of the people don’t want to see you. To make it about the anthem is foolish.”

This is not the first time Trump has clashed with professional athletes.

Last year, the National Basketball Association champions, the Golden State Warriors, did not visit the White House after the president took issue when team star Stephen Curry said he would not attend.

 
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Former Enemies Band Together to Convert Radicalized Terrorists

Posted on by SeeUS

We have all seen the stories of criminals who turn their lives around. But this next one comes with a new twist for the 21st century. Two arch enemies – one a former Muslim Extremist and the other, a former New York City intelligence officer—are joining forces to stop the radicalization of young Muslims. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti explains.
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US President Declares His ‘Absolute Right’ to Pardon Himself

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday declared he has an “absolute right” to pardon himself and then also tweeted his assertion that the federal government’s investigation into ties between his 2016 election campaign and Russia is “totally unconstitutional.” Details from VOA’s White House bureau chief, Steve Herman.
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Murders, Kidnappings Close Africa’s Oldest National Park 

Posted on by SeeAF

Murders and kidnappings are forcing Africa’s oldest national park to close to visitors for a year.

Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is home to endangered mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, elephants and other wildlife.

“It is clear that the Virunga region is deeply affected by insecurity and that this will be the case for a certain time,” park director Emmanuel de Merode said Monday. “So that Virunga can be visited in safety, much more robust measures are needed than in the past.”

A ranger was killed and two British tourists and their driver kidnapped in Virunga last month. The Britons and driver were freed two days later.

But other attacks by armed convoys left five rangers, two soldiers and two civilians dead since April.

The entire Virunga region is plagued by violence as armed gangs and militias battle for control of the area’s valuable natural resources.
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UN Official: Governments Should Sanction Leaders of South Sudan Conflict

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A senior U.N. official is calling on governments to target the leaders of South Sudan’s warring factions with painful financial measures and other actions to persuade them to change the behavior that has plunged their country into a state of perpetual conflict and suffering. 

South Sudan’s conflict is in its fifth year, with nothing more than unimaginable suffering for millions of civilians in sight. The United Nations says armed men subject civilians to unbearable abuse, using murder and rape as weapons of war. 

The war has driven more than 4 million South Sudanese from their homes and according to the U.N., more than half the population, or 7 million people, need humanitarian assistance.

Despite ongoing efforts, U.N. emergency relief coordinator Mark Lowcock says the peace process has produced nothing.The war goes on.The gross violations of human rights go on and so does the suffering.

Lowcock says the belligerents do not seem to care about peace or the welfare of their people. He tells VOA measures that bear more directly on the financial interests of the people in control of the military should be considered. 

“In other places, things like visa bans have been used, various forms of financial sanctions have been used,” said Lowcock. “There are lots of concerns about how various parties in the conflict are enriching themselves through South Sudan’s oil and gold and teak and other natural resources. There is also concern that a lot of South Sudan’s wealth is being held outside the country.”

Lowcock says some governments have legislative arrangements that allow them to look into these hidden stashes of wealth. 

The U.N. official says he welcomed a recent announcement by the White House that Washington was planning to review its assistance to South Sudan. He says similar action is being taken by ECHO, the European Commission’s Humanitarian Office

While operational changes are being considered, Lowcock notes nobody is talking about cutting off humanitarian assistance to the people. He says this must continue, as without emergency relief the situation would worsen and many people would die.  

In a related development, a Security Council resolution to extend sanctions on South Sudan was renewed for 45 more days Friday after the U.S.-led effort passed at the U.N. 

South Sudan’s conflict began in 2013 as a power struggle between South Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, and his former deputy, Riek Machar. 

 
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US: Airstrike in Somalia Kills 27 Al-Shabab Extremists

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The U.S. military says it has carried out an airstrike in northern Somalia that killed 27 al-Shabab extremists.

The statement issued Monday by the U.S. Africa command said it assesses that no civilians were killed in the attack on Sunday about 26 miles southwest of Bosasso, the commercial capital of the semiautonomous Puntland state. The area has recently seen attacks on local forces by extremists aligned with the Islamic State group.

The Trump administration approved expanded military operations against extremists in Somalia, including al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida and was blamed for the truck bombing in Mogadishu in October that killed more than 500 people.
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US Airstrike Kills 27 Terrorist Fighters in N. Somalia

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A U.S. airstrike in northern Somalia Saturday killed 27 al-Shabab militants, the U.S. Africa Command said.

It posted a Twitter message Monday saying the strike near Bosaso, in semi-autonomous Puntland state, was carried out in coordination with the Somali government.

U.S. commanders said no civilians were killed.

“U.S. forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect U.S. citizens and to disable terrorist threats,” the command said.

Targets will include terror training camps and safe havens throughout Somalia and the region.

Another U.S. airstrike killed 12 al-Shabab militants Thursday south of Mogadishu.

Saturday’s airstrike came after al-Shabab extremists attacked a military base in Puntland, claiming to have killed five soldiers, wounding seven and destroying Somali military equipment.

Al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabab is fighting to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government. It is blamed for countless terrorist attacks, including an October truck bombing in Mogadishu that killed more than 500 people.
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France’s Macron Urges Donors to Quickly Finance Sahel Force

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French President Emmanuel Macron called on international donors to quickly make financing available for the Sahel regional counterterror force.

In a news conference in Paris with visiting Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou, Macron said money “now needs to be disbursed” to allow the five-nation regional force, known as the G5 Sahel, to keep functioning.

He said the European Union started financing the force last week and will provide equipment in coming weeks. He called on other donors like Saudi Arabia to meet their financial commitments. Issoufou expressed his concerns over the financial sustainability of the force.

Earlier this year, international donors pledged 414 million euros ($510 million) to help Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger set up a counterterror force to combat the deadly jihadist threat in the Sahel region.

In an interview to French television France 24, Issoufou said negotiations are ongoing for the release of two humanitarian workers who were kidnapped in Niger. He said Jeffery Woodke, an American abducted in 2016 and Jorg Lang, a German abducted in April this year, are alive.

Issoufou said “we have some news, we know they are alive. We keep working on creating conditions for their release.”

He said he couldn’t confirm their precise location but one probable hypothesis is that they are being detained in northern Mali.
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First Saudi Women Get Drivers Licenses

Posted on by SeeEA

Saudi Arabia on Monday began issuing its first drivers licenses to women in decades, state media reported.

“The first group of women today received their Saudi driving licenses,” the official Saudi Press Agency said.

“The general directorate of traffic started replacing international driving licenses recognized in the kingdom with Saudi licenses,” it added.

The move comes as Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed drive, prepares to lift its decades-long ban on female drivers on June 24.

SPA said authorities started swapping international licenses for Saudi ones in multiple locations across the kingdom, with women applicants made to undergo a “practical test”.

It did not specify the number of licenses issued.

The move is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s far-reaching liberalization drive as he seeks to modernize the conservative petro-state.

The self-styled reformer, who recently undertook a global tour aimed at reshaping his kingdom’s austere image, has sought to break with long-held restrictions on women and the mixing of the genders.

But casting a shadow on the reforms, Saudi Arabia last week said it detained 17 people for “undermining” the kingdom’s security, in what campaigners have dubbed a sweeping crackdown against activists.

Rights groups have identified many of the detainees as women campaigners for the right to drive and to end the conservative Islamic country’s male guardianship system.

Authorities said eight of the detainees had been “temporarily released” until their investigation is completed.

Nine suspects, including four women, remain in custody after they “confessed” to a slew of charges such as suspicious contact with “hostile” organizations and recruiting people in sensitive government positions, according to SPA.

Authorities accused the detainees of “coordinated activity undermining the security and stability of the kingdom”.

Previous reports in state-backed media branded some of the detainees traitors and “agents of embassies”.

Campaigners have dismissed the reports as a “smear” campaign. The crackdown has also sparked a torrent of global criticism.

 
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Pompeo Meets with Turkish FM in Bid to Reduce Bilateral Tensions

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reaffirmed their commitment to addressing common concerns, including terrorism, Monday during talks aimed at resolving bilateral tensions between the NATO allies.

After concluding the discussions in Washington, a joint statement said the two officials “exchanged views on bilateral and regional issues” and “reaffirmed their joint resolve to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”

High on the agenda was Washington’s support of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the war against the Islamic State group. Ankara calls the YPG terrorists, accusing the militia of being linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

“[The United States] has preferred to collaborate with a terrorist organization in Syria. That was a grave mistake, and we are trying to change their position,” Cavusoglu said Saturday, ahead of his U.S. visit.

The Syrian town of Manbij — which was seized from Islamic State by mainly YPG forces — has become the epicenter of Turkish-U.S. tensions. Ankara claims Washington reneged on an agreement that the militia would withdraw after taking Manbij.

In their joint statement, Pompeo and Cavusoglu said they “considered the recommendations of the Turkey-U.S. Working Group on Syria pertaining to the future of our bilateral cooperation in Syria on issues of mutual interest, to include taking steps to ensure the security and stability in Manbij.

“They endorsed a Road Map to this end and underlined their mutual commitment to its implementation, reflecting agreement to closely follow developments on the ground,” the statement said, adding that the two sides agreed to hold further meetings to resolve outstanding issues.

Dorian Jones and Nike Ching contributed to this report.

 
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UN Expert Calls US Income Inequality ‘a Political Choice’

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A U.N.-supported human rights expert has blasted the yawning gap between rich and poor in the United States and says the world’s richest country “is now moving full steam ahead to make itself even more unequal.”

The United Nations’ human rights office said Monday that Philip Alston, an independent expert commissioned to examine “extreme” poverty, prepared a report on the U.S. that faults “successive administrations” in Washington for failing to uphold treaty commitments to economic and social rights.

 

Alston acknowledges “no magic recipe” can eliminate extreme poverty. But in such a wealthy nation, “the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power. With political will, it could readily be eliminated.”

 

The report denounces U.S. President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut passed in December.

 

 
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NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson Being Honored In Bronze

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Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician whose calculations helped astronauts return to Earth, is being honored at her alma mater with a bronze statue and a scholarship in her name.

 

West Virginia State University says a dedication ceremony is planned for August 25, the day before Johnson’s 100th birthday.

 

Long before the digital era, Johnson worked as a human “computer” at the agency that became NASA, working in relative obscurity as an African-American woman. Her contributions were later recognized in the “Hidden Figures” movie, with actress Taraji P. Henson playing her role.

West Virginia State hopes to endow the scholarship at $100,000, awarding money to students majoring in science, technology, engineering and math, targeting people who are underrepresented in those fields.

 

 
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US Demands OAS Suspend Venezuela

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded Monday the Organization of American States suspend Venezuela from the group until it restores constitutional order in the aftermath of what the United States says was the “sham” re-election last month of President Nicolas Maduro.

Pompeo accused the Maduro government of a “full-scale dismantling of democracy” and told the 34-nation Western Hemisphere group that Venezuela was in the midst of a “heart-breaking humanitarian disaster.” Pompeo renewed a call last month by Vice President Mike Pence that Caracas be suspended from the group.

“We seek only what all the nations of the OAS want for our people: A return to the constitutional order, free and fair elections with international observation, and the release of political prisoners,” Pompeo said.

“That suspension is not a goal onto itself, but it would show the OAS backs up its words with action and it will send a powerful signal to the Maduro regime,” Pompeo said. “Only real elections will allow your government to be included in the family of nations.”

In addition, the top U.S. diplomat called for OAS countries “to apply additional pressure on the Maduro regime, including sanctions and further diplomatic isolation, until such time as it undertakes the actions necessary to return genuine democracy.”

Pompeo said, “The Maduro regime’s efforts to move toward an unconstitutional government and its human rights abuses are now well known by all. All these actions have, among other ill consequences, resulted in an unconstitutional alteration of Venezuela’s constitutional order.”

The OAS response to the U.S. demand was not immediately clear.

In order to suspend Venezuela, the OAS would have to convene an extraordinary general assembly session of its members, beyond the current regular session. Member countries also could refuse to recognize the result of the May 20 election, setting the stage for further action against the Maduro government.

After Pompeo’s attack, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza accused the United States of violating international law.

“The aggression against Venezuela is brutal, it’s economic, it’s financial, it’s commercial, it’s political, it’s media, and we are going to press on and we will triumph,” Arreaza said. “No government has the moral authority to recognize or not our government.”

Maduro has called the OAS a pawn of U.S. foreign policy and last year said he would pull Venezuela out of the organization, a two-year process started a year ago April.

Even as Maduro has begun to free opponents jailed after violent anti-government protests last year, critics say about 300 are still being detained on what the opposition says are trumped-up charges intended to stifle dissent.
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Trump to Nominate Michael Pack as Next BBG CEO

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President Donald Trump plans to nominate conservative filmmaker and documentarian Michael Pack as the next head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the White House says.

The BBG is the federal agency that oversees Voice of America, along with other congressionally-funded broadcast entities.

Pack is the president of Manifold Productions, an independent film and television production company.

Pack has an extensive background in media, including as senior vice president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, publisher of the Claremont Review of Books, and as director of Worldnet, the film and television service of the former U.S. Information Agency.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Pack would succeed John Lansing as BBG chief executive officer. The term would be for three years.

 
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After US Exit, Iran Urges Other Signatories to Preserve Nuclear Deal

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Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, is calling the U.S. pullout from the nuclear deal illegal and urging other signatories not to follow its lead.

State-run Iranian media said Sunday Zarif sent a letter to the foreign ministers of the remaining nations in the agreement – Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia, asking them to “make up” for the Iranian losses brought on by the U.S. withdrawal if they want to save the deal.

Zarif called the 2015 nuclear agreement the result of “accurate, sensitive and balanced multilateral talks.”

“The illegal withdrawal of the U.S. government … especially bullying methods used by this government to bring other governments in line, has discredited the rule of law while challenging the principles of the U.N. charter and efficiency of international bodies,” Zarif wrote.

President Donald Trump announced last month the United States was dropping out of what he calls a “horrible one-sided deal” that gives all the advantages to Iran.

Trump says the agreement, negotiated in part by the Obama administration, would allow Iran to resume some of its nuclear program in the next decade. He says it also does nothing to rein in Iran’s ballistic missile program or its support for extremists across the Middle East, including the Syrian regime.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both accuse Iran of violating the nuclear agreement – a claim refuted by international inspectors.

Trump has threatened to reimpose sanctions on Iran.

 
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Tears of Joy, Grief at Florida High School Graduation

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A time that is supposed to be one of the most joyful moments in a young person’s life was overshadowed by tears at Sunday’s graduation of the senior class of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Seventeen students and faculty – including four seniors who were supposed to have received diplomas – were killed during the February 14 shooting at the Parkland, Florida, high school.

The graduating class, parents and guests solemnly paid tribute to their slain friends in a number of ways.

Senior class president Julia Cordover urged students to change the world by voting in this November’s congressional elections.

The parents and siblings who came to the stage to pick up the diplomas in place of the murdered children got standing ovations.

Some students wore pictures of shooting victims on top of their graduation caps while others had price tags reading “$1.05” dangling from their hats – that is the price per Florida school student that activists say the National Rifle Association donated to Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

Comedian Jimmy Fallon, host of TV’s Tonight Show, was a surprise guest speaker at the ceremony.

“Choose to move forward and don’t let anything stop you. Thank you for your courage and your bravery,” he told the audience.

Another poignant high school graduation ceremony was held near Houston Saturday where 10 people were gunned down at Santa Fe High School two weeks ago.

 
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Anticipation Builds for Trump-Kim Summit

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Washington is watching as the White House prepares for next week’s historic summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, the Singapore encounter that Trump canceled last month is now on again, prompting an avalanche of speculation as to what will transpire and what the summit may produce.
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Migrants Continue Perilous Journeys to Europe, but Numbers Fall

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Tunisia’s Defense Ministry says at least 46 migrants have died after their boat sank off the country’s southern coast and 67 others were rescued by the coast guard on Sunday.

The rescue operation was ongoing, the ministry said in a statement. The migrants were of Tunisian and other nationalities.

In a separate incident, nine people, including six children, died Sunday after a speedboat carrying 15 refugees sank off the coast of Turkey’s southern province of Antalya, the Turkish coast guard said in a statement.

Reducing the flow of migrants into Italy is one of the aims of the anti-immigrant League party in Italy and its leader Matteo Salvini, who was sworn in as the country’s new interior minister on Friday.

Salvini and his party have promised to block the arrival of boat migrants from Africa and to deport up to 100,000 illegal immigrants per year.

“Italy and Sicily cannot be Europe’s refugee camp,” he told a crowd of supporters in the port town of Pozzallo, a migration hotspot.

“Nobody will take away my certainty that illegal immigration is a business… and seeing people make money on children who go on to die makes me furious.”

Meanwhile, Spain’s maritime rescue service said it rescued 240 people, with one person apparently drowning, while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa.

 

The service said it rescued the migrants from 11 small boats attempting the perilous crossing from African shores to Spain between Saturday and Sunday.

The International Organization for Migration, the U.N. agency for migration, reported last week that 30,300 migrants and refugees entered Europe via sea in the first 147 days of 2018.

The arrivals are at this point in 2018 less than half those seen last year and less than 15 percent of those seen in 2016 at the same point. IOM had reported 69,219 refugees had arrived from January through May in 2017 and 198,346 during the same period in 2016.

IOM said 655 people have lost their lives at sea since the beginning of 2018, at least 1,000 fewer than the recorded deaths in the same period last year.

 
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Police Shoot ‘Rampaging’ Man in Berlin Cathedral

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German police shot at a “rampaging” man wielding a knife in a cathedral in Berlin on Sunday, according to city officers.

“Shortly after 4 pm (1400 GMT) police shot at a rampaging man at Berlin Cathedral,” police said in a tweet.

“He was wounded in the leg,” police said, later adding that an officer had been wounded, without providing further details.

Officers rushed to the Berliner Dom, a major tourist attraction on the historic Museum Island in the German capital, after an employee called emergency services to report the incident.

Police have said the suspect is a 53-year-old man, and that there is no reason to believe the attack was related to terrorism.

 
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