Pope Francis ‘Serene’ Despite Hovering Sex Abuse Scandal

Pope Francis was described Thursday by a top aide as ‘serene’ in the face of the unprecedented public skirmishing breaking out among Catholic prelates over an explosive charge that the pontiff knew about sexual misconduct allegations against a U.S. cardinal but chose to ignore them.

The Vatican’s secretary of state said Francis is maintaining his grace despite “bitterness and concern” in the Vatican over the accusation leveled against him by a onetime top Catholic envoy, who has demanded the Pope resign.

The Pope’s accuser, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador and a doctrinal opponent of Francis, has gone into hiding after making his claim last Sunday in a scathing 11-page document that was crafted with the assistance of a well-known Italian journalist and a stalwart critic of the Pope. According to Vigano, Francis ignored misconduct allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The incendiary document, which also warned of a homosexual culture in the church, was leaked to several conservative Catholic newspapers and blogs, all determined foes of Francis. They agreed to publish it on the second and final day of Francis’s trip to Ireland, in a coordinated effort, say Francis loyalists, to cause him maximum damage.

The publication of the letter upended the visit to Ireland, where Pope Francis had hoped to stanch the damage being done to the Holy See by the clerical sex abuse crisis that has roiled the Roman Catholic Church worldwide for decades. Just two weeks before the Ireland trip, the Church was rocked by further clerical abuse allegations with the release of a grand jury report in the U.S. which detailed the abuse of children in six Pennsylvania dioceses over the past seven decades by hundreds of “predator priests.”

In Ireland, Pope Francis met Irish abuse victims and asked for the faithful to forgive the church for its failings. “We ask forgiveness for the times that we did not show [abuse] survivors compassion or the justice they deserve in the search for truth,” he said. And he then added: “We ask forgiveness for members of the Church hierarchy who did not take care of these situations and kept quiet.”

But Vigano says Francis is one of the church leaders who’s colluded in covering up abuse or has been too ready to overlook abuse allegations when leveled against friends and progressive allies. He has also claimed that a tolerant attitude towards homosexuality in the Vatican — even alleging a progressive gay cabal in the upper echelons of the Church — is the root cause of clerical sex abuse. Francis supporters scoff at that charge, noting that clerical sex abuse has been going on for decades and for most of that time traditionalists were in control of the Vatican.

‘Conspiracy of silence’

Midweek Vigano reemerged to give an interview to La Verità newspaper, saying he spoke up out of a sense of duty to the Catholic Church and not because the Pope had passed him over for promotion. “I have never had feelings of vendetta or rancor,” he said, adding that there is a “conspiracy of silence” in the Church “not so dissimilar from the one that prevails in the mafia.”

Vigano says Francis was aware of the grave allegations of sexual misconduct against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who’s been accused of abusing young priests and molesting seminarians for decades. Unlike his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who imposed sanctions on McCarrick, Francis and his circle of advisers chose to rehabilitate the U.S. cardinal, argues Vigano.

The claims are shaking Francis’s five-year papacy.

Amid the swirl of charge and counter-charge between church liberals and conservatives locked in a power struggle, there’s mounting anxiety in the Vatican that traditionalists, opposed to the Pope’s efforts to make the Church more inclusive and less rigid doctrinally, are determined to use the clerical sex abuse scandal to gain politically.

The pope’s supporters say Francis’ doctrinal opponents won’t be satisfied until they have either forced him to resign, or so damaged him that he’s stripped of the authority needed to drive the reforms they’re determined to halt. They say traditionalists have been emboldened by the resignation of Benedict, whose stepping down as leader of the Catholic Church in 2013 made him the first pope to relinquish the office since 1415, setting a modern-day precedent for pontiffs not having to stay in office until they die.

Abuse survivors are also suspicious of the motives of Vigano and the circle of traditionalists supporting him. Despite their own frustrations with Francis at what they see as a failure by his Vatican to take concrete steps to root out corrupt clergy, they worry traditionalists are enlisting homophobia in their campaign against Francis and are not truly focused on the well-being of abuse survivors.

Not a word

Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga, one of the Pope’s closest advisers, dismissed Vigano’s attacks, telling La Repubblica newspaper Thursday, “Transforming information of a private nature into a bombshell headline that explodes around the world damaging the faith of many people doesn’t seem to me to be a correct action.” But Maradiaga did not engage with the details of Vigano’s central charge — that the pope ignored misconduct allegations against McCarrick, who last month resigned, becoming the first cardinal to do so since 1927.

Francis, too, has continued to remain silent about McCarrick.

The 81-year-old pope told journalists who accompanied him on his two-day visit to Ireland that he wouldn’t comment. Asked in an impromptu press conference on board his plane on the return to Rome about Vigano’s accusation, the Pope said he left it up to the journalists to judge for themselves. “I won’t say a word about it,” he said.

Vatican analysts say the Holy See appears to be hoping that by ignoring the substance of the claim against Francis, the storm can be ridden out.  But they warn that appears to be a forlorn hope — by shunning the charge, Francis is fueling it and prompting the question, ‘why won’t the pope answer?’ If the claim is inaccurate, “why wouldn’t the pope correct it, just as he has spoken so openly about so many other things?” queried commentator Tim Stanley in a commentary for the London Sunday Telegraph.

Francis’ conservative critics are gearing up to press formally for an answer. In an open letter to his diocese in Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland midweek said: “Let us be clear that they are still allegations, but as your shepherd I find them to be credible.” He says he will agitate for an investigation.

Other prelates are plotting to do so as well, next month in Rome at a synod of bishops to discuss young people and faith.

The Diocese of Dallas in Texas has petitioned the Pope to hold a special synod, or summit, of bishops on the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Progressives started to rally Friday around Francis with prelates from Latin America, the pope’s home continent, as well as Portugal  leading the charge.

Of the accusations, Cardinal António dos Santos Marto, of Fatima, Portugal, told the Observador newspaper, “It’s a campaign organized by ultra-conservatives to mortally wound the pope.”

Marto predicted Francis will be strengthened by the controversy, adding, however, that “in this moment it’s necessary for the entire Church to manifest her support for the pope.” He said Francis may soon switch tactics and address head-on the accusations against him.

Francis also received backing from a top aide to his predecessor, Benedict XVI. Archbishop Georg Ganswein dismissed Vigano’s claim that Benedict had informed Francis of the misconduct allegations against McCarrick. He told Italian newspapers Friday: “It’s all rubbish.”

 

 

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Pope Francis ‘Serene’ Despite Hovering Sex Abuse Scandal

Pope Francis was described Thursday by a top aide as ‘serene’ in the face of the unprecedented public skirmishing breaking out among Catholic prelates over an explosive charge that the pontiff knew about sexual misconduct allegations against a U.S. cardinal but chose to ignore them.

The Vatican’s secretary of state said Francis is maintaining his grace despite “bitterness and concern” in the Vatican over the accusation leveled against him by a onetime top Catholic envoy, who has demanded the Pope resign.

The Pope’s accuser, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican ambassador and a doctrinal opponent of Francis, has gone into hiding after making his claim last Sunday in a scathing 11-page document that was crafted with the assistance of a well-known Italian journalist and a stalwart critic of the Pope. According to Vigano, Francis ignored misconduct allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

The incendiary document, which also warned of a homosexual culture in the church, was leaked to several conservative Catholic newspapers and blogs, all determined foes of Francis. They agreed to publish it on the second and final day of Francis’s trip to Ireland, in a coordinated effort, say Francis loyalists, to cause him maximum damage.

The publication of the letter upended the visit to Ireland, where Pope Francis had hoped to stanch the damage being done to the Holy See by the clerical sex abuse crisis that has roiled the Roman Catholic Church worldwide for decades. Just two weeks before the Ireland trip, the Church was rocked by further clerical abuse allegations with the release of a grand jury report in the U.S. which detailed the abuse of children in six Pennsylvania dioceses over the past seven decades by hundreds of “predator priests.”

In Ireland, Pope Francis met Irish abuse victims and asked for the faithful to forgive the church for its failings. “We ask forgiveness for the times that we did not show [abuse] survivors compassion or the justice they deserve in the search for truth,” he said. And he then added: “We ask forgiveness for members of the Church hierarchy who did not take care of these situations and kept quiet.”

But Vigano says Francis is one of the church leaders who’s colluded in covering up abuse or has been too ready to overlook abuse allegations when leveled against friends and progressive allies. He has also claimed that a tolerant attitude towards homosexuality in the Vatican — even alleging a progressive gay cabal in the upper echelons of the Church — is the root cause of clerical sex abuse. Francis supporters scoff at that charge, noting that clerical sex abuse has been going on for decades and for most of that time traditionalists were in control of the Vatican.

‘Conspiracy of silence’

Midweek Vigano reemerged to give an interview to La Verità newspaper, saying he spoke up out of a sense of duty to the Catholic Church and not because the Pope had passed him over for promotion. “I have never had feelings of vendetta or rancor,” he said, adding that there is a “conspiracy of silence” in the Church “not so dissimilar from the one that prevails in the mafia.”

Vigano says Francis was aware of the grave allegations of sexual misconduct against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who’s been accused of abusing young priests and molesting seminarians for decades. Unlike his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who imposed sanctions on McCarrick, Francis and his circle of advisers chose to rehabilitate the U.S. cardinal, argues Vigano.

The claims are shaking Francis’s five-year papacy.

Amid the swirl of charge and counter-charge between church liberals and conservatives locked in a power struggle, there’s mounting anxiety in the Vatican that traditionalists, opposed to the Pope’s efforts to make the Church more inclusive and less rigid doctrinally, are determined to use the clerical sex abuse scandal to gain politically.

The pope’s supporters say Francis’ doctrinal opponents won’t be satisfied until they have either forced him to resign, or so damaged him that he’s stripped of the authority needed to drive the reforms they’re determined to halt. They say traditionalists have been emboldened by the resignation of Benedict, whose stepping down as leader of the Catholic Church in 2013 made him the first pope to relinquish the office since 1415, setting a modern-day precedent for pontiffs not having to stay in office until they die.

Abuse survivors are also suspicious of the motives of Vigano and the circle of traditionalists supporting him. Despite their own frustrations with Francis at what they see as a failure by his Vatican to take concrete steps to root out corrupt clergy, they worry traditionalists are enlisting homophobia in their campaign against Francis and are not truly focused on the well-being of abuse survivors.

Not a word

Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga, one of the Pope’s closest advisers, dismissed Vigano’s attacks, telling La Repubblica newspaper Thursday, “Transforming information of a private nature into a bombshell headline that explodes around the world damaging the faith of many people doesn’t seem to me to be a correct action.” But Maradiaga did not engage with the details of Vigano’s central charge — that the pope ignored misconduct allegations against McCarrick, who last month resigned, becoming the first cardinal to do so since 1927.

Francis, too, has continued to remain silent about McCarrick.

The 81-year-old pope told journalists who accompanied him on his two-day visit to Ireland that he wouldn’t comment. Asked in an impromptu press conference on board his plane on the return to Rome about Vigano’s accusation, the Pope said he left it up to the journalists to judge for themselves. “I won’t say a word about it,” he said.

Vatican analysts say the Holy See appears to be hoping that by ignoring the substance of the claim against Francis, the storm can be ridden out.  But they warn that appears to be a forlorn hope — by shunning the charge, Francis is fueling it and prompting the question, ‘why won’t the pope answer?’ If the claim is inaccurate, “why wouldn’t the pope correct it, just as he has spoken so openly about so many other things?” queried commentator Tim Stanley in a commentary for the London Sunday Telegraph.

Francis’ conservative critics are gearing up to press formally for an answer. In an open letter to his diocese in Tyler, Texas, Bishop Joseph Strickland midweek said: “Let us be clear that they are still allegations, but as your shepherd I find them to be credible.” He says he will agitate for an investigation.

Other prelates are plotting to do so as well, next month in Rome at a synod of bishops to discuss young people and faith.

The Diocese of Dallas in Texas has petitioned the Pope to hold a special synod, or summit, of bishops on the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Progressives started to rally Friday around Francis with prelates from Latin America, the pope’s home continent, as well as Portugal  leading the charge.

Of the accusations, Cardinal António dos Santos Marto, of Fatima, Portugal, told the Observador newspaper, “It’s a campaign organized by ultra-conservatives to mortally wound the pope.”

Marto predicted Francis will be strengthened by the controversy, adding, however, that “in this moment it’s necessary for the entire Church to manifest her support for the pope.” He said Francis may soon switch tactics and address head-on the accusations against him.

Francis also received backing from a top aide to his predecessor, Benedict XVI. Archbishop Georg Ganswein dismissed Vigano’s claim that Benedict had informed Francis of the misconduct allegations against McCarrick. He told Italian newspapers Friday: “It’s all rubbish.”

 

 

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Merkel Wraps Up Africa Tour with Talk of Business, Migration

German Chancellor Angela Merkel wrapped up a tour of three African nations Friday. She said her goals during the visit were two-fold: to promote business ties with Germany and to curb the wave of migration from the continent to Europe.

But Merkel faces many other issues on the continent, analysts say: the rise of China, the declining image of the United States, and a still-festering wound in Namibia over Germany’s actions in that country more than 100 years ago.

Analyst Jakkie Cilliers of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies notes that Merkel’s trip follows recent visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“So, in one sense, one could make the argument that Merkel is playing catch-up,” he told VOA. “But I actually think these [visits] reflect, to a large degree, real concerns in Germany about migration and, of course, radicalism and radical terrorism in West Africa.”

Merkel’s tour included stops in three of West Africa’s most vibrant economies: Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria. Nearly a dozen German CEOs keen on promoting business ties accompanied Merkel on her trip.

Cilliers also says that Merkel may be trying to fill a vacuum created by what he described as a “faltering” of U.S. leadership in the last two years.

“Africa is, in my view, an important pivot, a battleground in a certain way, about the future of rules-based order at a time when American leadership clearly is faltering,” he said. “So you can, in that context, make the argument that to a degree perhaps, Angela Merkel is partly stepping into the vacuum that has been left by the U.S. retreat.”

Merkel’s tour coincided with a major development in Berlin. Earlier this week, her government handed over the remains of indigenous Namibians killed by German forces in the early 1900s. German troops are believed have killed tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people after they revolted against colonial rule.

Vekuii Rukoro is the elected chief of the Herero people, who number about 400,000, and he attended the ceremony in Berlin. He says he welcomed the gesture.

“We feel happy that after more than 114 years we were able to bring back these remains, back home to the land of their ancestors, and reunite them with the spirits of the ancestors,” he told VOA.

But, he says, it’s not enough. His group is suing the German government in U.S. District Court in New York — which is home to a large concentration of expatriate Hereros — seeking an apology and group reparations.

Until Germany does more, he says, he sees no point in a visit from Germany’s chancellor.

“What would she come and do,” he said, “in the absence of them having acknowledged genocide, them having even issued an appropriate apology?”

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Merkel Wraps Up Africa Tour with Talk of Business, Migration

German Chancellor Angela Merkel wrapped up a tour of three African nations Friday. She said her goals during the visit were two-fold: to promote business ties with Germany and to curb the wave of migration from the continent to Europe.

But Merkel faces many other issues on the continent, analysts say: the rise of China, the declining image of the United States, and a still-festering wound in Namibia over Germany’s actions in that country more than 100 years ago.

Analyst Jakkie Cilliers of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies notes that Merkel’s trip follows recent visits by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“So, in one sense, one could make the argument that Merkel is playing catch-up,” he told VOA. “But I actually think these [visits] reflect, to a large degree, real concerns in Germany about migration and, of course, radicalism and radical terrorism in West Africa.”

Merkel’s tour included stops in three of West Africa’s most vibrant economies: Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria. Nearly a dozen German CEOs keen on promoting business ties accompanied Merkel on her trip.

Cilliers also says that Merkel may be trying to fill a vacuum created by what he described as a “faltering” of U.S. leadership in the last two years.

“Africa is, in my view, an important pivot, a battleground in a certain way, about the future of rules-based order at a time when American leadership clearly is faltering,” he said. “So you can, in that context, make the argument that to a degree perhaps, Angela Merkel is partly stepping into the vacuum that has been left by the U.S. retreat.”

Merkel’s tour coincided with a major development in Berlin. Earlier this week, her government handed over the remains of indigenous Namibians killed by German forces in the early 1900s. German troops are believed have killed tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people after they revolted against colonial rule.

Vekuii Rukoro is the elected chief of the Herero people, who number about 400,000, and he attended the ceremony in Berlin. He says he welcomed the gesture.

“We feel happy that after more than 114 years we were able to bring back these remains, back home to the land of their ancestors, and reunite them with the spirits of the ancestors,” he told VOA.

But, he says, it’s not enough. His group is suing the German government in U.S. District Court in New York — which is home to a large concentration of expatriate Hereros — seeking an apology and group reparations.

Until Germany does more, he says, he sees no point in a visit from Germany’s chancellor.

“What would she come and do,” he said, “in the absence of them having acknowledged genocide, them having even issued an appropriate apology?”

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Syria Rebels Destroy Bridges in Anticipation of Offensive

Syrian opposition fighters blew up bridges Friday linking areas they control to government-held territories in northwestern Syria in anticipation of a military offensive against their last stronghold in the country, activists and a war monitor said.

The explosions rocked the area in al-Ghab plains, south of Idlib and came after rebels detected government troop movement in the area, according to Rami Abdurrahman, head of the war monitoring Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Abdurrahman said two other bridges remain in the area and could be used by government forces to move in on the rebel stronghold.

Most of Idlib province and adjacent strips of Hama province remain in the hands of an assortment of armed groups, some Turkey-backed and others independent Islamist groups. But the strongest alliance of fighters is led by an al-Qaida-linked group that controls most of the area that is also home to some 3 million people.

Thousands of government troops and allied fighters have been amassing in areas surrounding Idlib while Russia, Syria’s powerful ally, has said a military operation was necessary to weed out “terrorists” it blames for attacking its bases on the coast.

Turkey, which backs a number of opposition factions in Syria and has set up observation points that ring the rebel stronghold, has been seeking to curtail a full-scale offensive. Ankara fears a humanitarian and security crisis on its borders.

U.N. officials estimate an offensive would trigger a wave of displacement that could uproot up to 800,000 people. The area is already home to nearly 2 million displaced previously from other parts of Syria.  

The Observatory said Turkey-backed rebels blew up the bridges as part of their reinforcement around the stronghold.

They have dug trenches, built berms and fortified their posts. Al-Qaida-linked authorities have also called on residents to take part in supporting the fighters, either through building reinforcements, volunteering to fight, or in field hospitals and kitchens to help men deployed on the frontline.

It also called on residents to take to the streets after Friday prayers against an offensive and in support of the fighters. Thousands protested in various towns in Idlib and Hama, denouncing threats of an attack and hailing the area’s readiness to fight.

The campaign for Idlib is likely to be the last major theater of battle after seven years of brutal civil war.

 

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Syria Rebels Destroy Bridges in Anticipation of Offensive

Syrian opposition fighters blew up bridges Friday linking areas they control to government-held territories in northwestern Syria in anticipation of a military offensive against their last stronghold in the country, activists and a war monitor said.

The explosions rocked the area in al-Ghab plains, south of Idlib and came after rebels detected government troop movement in the area, according to Rami Abdurrahman, head of the war monitoring Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Abdurrahman said two other bridges remain in the area and could be used by government forces to move in on the rebel stronghold.

Most of Idlib province and adjacent strips of Hama province remain in the hands of an assortment of armed groups, some Turkey-backed and others independent Islamist groups. But the strongest alliance of fighters is led by an al-Qaida-linked group that controls most of the area that is also home to some 3 million people.

Thousands of government troops and allied fighters have been amassing in areas surrounding Idlib while Russia, Syria’s powerful ally, has said a military operation was necessary to weed out “terrorists” it blames for attacking its bases on the coast.

Turkey, which backs a number of opposition factions in Syria and has set up observation points that ring the rebel stronghold, has been seeking to curtail a full-scale offensive. Ankara fears a humanitarian and security crisis on its borders.

U.N. officials estimate an offensive would trigger a wave of displacement that could uproot up to 800,000 people. The area is already home to nearly 2 million displaced previously from other parts of Syria.  

The Observatory said Turkey-backed rebels blew up the bridges as part of their reinforcement around the stronghold.

They have dug trenches, built berms and fortified their posts. Al-Qaida-linked authorities have also called on residents to take part in supporting the fighters, either through building reinforcements, volunteering to fight, or in field hospitals and kitchens to help men deployed on the frontline.

It also called on residents to take to the streets after Friday prayers against an offensive and in support of the fighters. Thousands protested in various towns in Idlib and Hama, denouncing threats of an attack and hailing the area’s readiness to fight.

The campaign for Idlib is likely to be the last major theater of battle after seven years of brutal civil war.

 

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US Navy Interrupts Gun Smuggling Operation in Gulf of Aden

The U.S. Navy says it has interrupted a weapons smuggling operation in the Gulf of Aden, amid the ongoing war in Yemen.

“The guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham, deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet, seized an illicit shipment of arms from a stateless skiff in the international waters of the Gulf of Aden,” the Navy said in a statement. The seizure happened Tuesday.

A U.S. military video, released early Friday, allegedly shows the small-ship smuggling operation.

The Navy statement said the Dunham located a dhow, a traditional ship type common in the Persian Gulf region, transferring “covered packages” to the skiff. The skiff was determined to be stateless following a flag verification boarding, conducted in accordance with international law, the Navy said.

The Dunham’s search and seizure team found a cache of more than 1,000 AK-47 automatic rifles aboard the skiff.

The Navy said it has not identified the source of the weapons, which are now in its custody.

The skiff’s engines were inoperable, according to the Navy. The vessel’s “distressed mariners” were brought aboard the Dunham and were later transferred to the Yemeni Coast Guard.

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US Navy Interrupts Gun Smuggling Operation in Gulf of Aden

The U.S. Navy says it has interrupted a weapons smuggling operation in the Gulf of Aden, amid the ongoing war in Yemen.

“The guided-missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham, deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet, seized an illicit shipment of arms from a stateless skiff in the international waters of the Gulf of Aden,” the Navy said in a statement. The seizure happened Tuesday.

A U.S. military video, released early Friday, allegedly shows the small-ship smuggling operation.

The Navy statement said the Dunham located a dhow, a traditional ship type common in the Persian Gulf region, transferring “covered packages” to the skiff. The skiff was determined to be stateless following a flag verification boarding, conducted in accordance with international law, the Navy said.

The Dunham’s search and seizure team found a cache of more than 1,000 AK-47 automatic rifles aboard the skiff.

The Navy said it has not identified the source of the weapons, which are now in its custody.

The skiff’s engines were inoperable, according to the Navy. The vessel’s “distressed mariners” were brought aboard the Dunham and were later transferred to the Yemeni Coast Guard.

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Pizza, Beer Help Foreign Students Orient to New Schools

Before hunkering down in lectures about chemistry or economics, international students at U.S. colleges and universities are learning about health insurance and visa specifications.

It’s international student orientation week at many colleges and universities, including Rice University, where many graduate students are just days into their new journeys in Houston, Texas.

“Everyone is a little bit confused, a little disoriented. Lots of people are jetlagged,” Arina Zaytseva, a Ph.D. candidate in religious studies from Russia, told VOA at an afternoon pizza party in the engineering building, following a long morning of information sessions in lecture halls.

Zaytseva was not particularly impressed with the pizza.

Health insurance and bike laws

“But there were many important helpful tips, so I’m glad I came here,” she added, noting that she found the orientation sessions on health insurance the most useful.

Health insurance, which international students are required to have while in the U.S., is just one of many things students learn about in orientation, which can last multiple days.

Victoria Graja, a Ph.D. candidate from Ecuador, attended a presentation about coming from a culture that is less direct than American culture. 

“Here you have to know that people are very direct,” she said.

And for other students, the most vital, if not shocking information, was about U.S. bike laws.

“I’m still super freaked out by the turn right on red rule,” Konstantin Georgiev of Bulgaria said, speaking about a traffic law that allows cars to turn right even if their light is red. Georgiev, an avid bike commuter, said he bought a bike the first day he moved to Houston but has had a hard time adjusting to traffic laws in a city dominated by cars.

“I’m coming from quite a biking place so it really bugs me when I’m in the right lane waiting for the traffic light to allow me to go forward and suddenly there would be a big SUV making a right turn while the red light is still on, which is totally legal, although I still can’t imagine it is!” he said.

 

WATCH: International Students Learn About Insurance, Adjust to Weather at Orientation

Not new to US

Many of those attending international student orientation have spent time in the United States, particularly graduate students.

Takudzwa Tapfuma, originally from Zimbabwe, had attended Amherst College in Massachusetts for four years of undergraduate studies before moving to Texas for his master’s in architecture.

Standing under an archway over a stone staircase in one of the oldest buildings on campus, Tapfuma talked about how moving from Massachusetts to Texas was a culture shock.

“I’d heard a lot of great things about Houston. … I had not been to this part of the country, specifically Texas, so it was an exciting new challenge,” he said.

“I didn’t come in thinking I knew it all about being an international student in the U.S., and I think the Office of International Student Services showed that there’s a lot to learn even if you’ve been living in the United States,” Tapfuma said. “I’ve learned a ton from the orientation. There are resources on campus, how you can make use of the resources and just how to adjust to this new intellectual environment.”

​Diverse city

Houston has been recognized as the most diverse metropolitan area in the United States, boasting a population that is more than a quarter foreign-born and 44 percent Hispanic, according to Rice’s Kinder Institute and 2016 census data.

Rice University has an international student population of 1,676 this academic year, about 24 percent of the student population, according to Rice’s Office of International Students and Scholars.

“If Rice hadn’t contacted me in the first place, I would not have considered coming to Texas just because I had some previous ideas,” said Santiago Lopez Alvarez, a Fulbright scholar from Colombia. “I think it’s great that I ended up coming here because life teaches you that stereotypes and prejudice are always overturned when you get there.”

“What I like is the diversity that they have,” Graja said. “In these few days I have met people from different countries and cultures and backgrounds, and they are also studying different subjects so I think that that’s the most interesting part of it.”

But there are many things about their vastly different home countries that they miss. During a day bookended by a pizza party and a classic Texas barbecue at the university president’s house, many students said that second only to their friends and family, food is what they’ll miss the most.

“Five years into living in America, the food still leaves a gaping hole in my stomach,” Tapfuma said with a sad smile.

Plenty of leftover pizza remained after the students filtered outside before afternoon orientation sessions. As for the barbecue, it seemed the beer was more popular.

​You are wanted here

But more than 1 million international students braved American cuisine on college and university campuses during the 2016-2017 school year, making up 5.3 percent of the entire higher education student population in the United States, according to the International Institute of Education’s Open Doors report.

“I encourage everyone who’s considering coming to the States to pursue a graduate education to give it a try,” Lopez Alvarez said.

“The international component of the programs is one of the main strengths,” he said. “They do want to have you here. They do want international students, and American students want to get in touch with you and meet you, and that’s really cool.”

your ad here

Pizza, Beer Help Foreign Students Orient to New Schools

Before hunkering down in lectures about chemistry or economics, international students at U.S. colleges and universities are learning about health insurance and visa specifications.

It’s international student orientation week at many colleges and universities, including Rice University, where many graduate students are just days into their new journeys in Houston, Texas.

“Everyone is a little bit confused, a little disoriented. Lots of people are jetlagged,” Arina Zaytseva, a Ph.D. candidate in religious studies from Russia, told VOA at an afternoon pizza party in the engineering building, following a long morning of information sessions in lecture halls.

Zaytseva was not particularly impressed with the pizza.

Health insurance and bike laws

“But there were many important helpful tips, so I’m glad I came here,” she added, noting that she found the orientation sessions on health insurance the most useful.

Health insurance, which international students are required to have while in the U.S., is just one of many things students learn about in orientation, which can last multiple days.

Victoria Graja, a Ph.D. candidate from Ecuador, attended a presentation about coming from a culture that is less direct than American culture. 

“Here you have to know that people are very direct,” she said.

And for other students, the most vital, if not shocking information, was about U.S. bike laws.

“I’m still super freaked out by the turn right on red rule,” Konstantin Georgiev of Bulgaria said, speaking about a traffic law that allows cars to turn right even if their light is red. Georgiev, an avid bike commuter, said he bought a bike the first day he moved to Houston but has had a hard time adjusting to traffic laws in a city dominated by cars.

“I’m coming from quite a biking place so it really bugs me when I’m in the right lane waiting for the traffic light to allow me to go forward and suddenly there would be a big SUV making a right turn while the red light is still on, which is totally legal, although I still can’t imagine it is!” he said.

 

WATCH: International Students Learn About Insurance, Adjust to Weather at Orientation

Not new to US

Many of those attending international student orientation have spent time in the United States, particularly graduate students.

Takudzwa Tapfuma, originally from Zimbabwe, had attended Amherst College in Massachusetts for four years of undergraduate studies before moving to Texas for his master’s in architecture.

Standing under an archway over a stone staircase in one of the oldest buildings on campus, Tapfuma talked about how moving from Massachusetts to Texas was a culture shock.

“I’d heard a lot of great things about Houston. … I had not been to this part of the country, specifically Texas, so it was an exciting new challenge,” he said.

“I didn’t come in thinking I knew it all about being an international student in the U.S., and I think the Office of International Student Services showed that there’s a lot to learn even if you’ve been living in the United States,” Tapfuma said. “I’ve learned a ton from the orientation. There are resources on campus, how you can make use of the resources and just how to adjust to this new intellectual environment.”

​Diverse city

Houston has been recognized as the most diverse metropolitan area in the United States, boasting a population that is more than a quarter foreign-born and 44 percent Hispanic, according to Rice’s Kinder Institute and 2016 census data.

Rice University has an international student population of 1,676 this academic year, about 24 percent of the student population, according to Rice’s Office of International Students and Scholars.

“If Rice hadn’t contacted me in the first place, I would not have considered coming to Texas just because I had some previous ideas,” said Santiago Lopez Alvarez, a Fulbright scholar from Colombia. “I think it’s great that I ended up coming here because life teaches you that stereotypes and prejudice are always overturned when you get there.”

“What I like is the diversity that they have,” Graja said. “In these few days I have met people from different countries and cultures and backgrounds, and they are also studying different subjects so I think that that’s the most interesting part of it.”

But there are many things about their vastly different home countries that they miss. During a day bookended by a pizza party and a classic Texas barbecue at the university president’s house, many students said that second only to their friends and family, food is what they’ll miss the most.

“Five years into living in America, the food still leaves a gaping hole in my stomach,” Tapfuma said with a sad smile.

Plenty of leftover pizza remained after the students filtered outside before afternoon orientation sessions. As for the barbecue, it seemed the beer was more popular.

​You are wanted here

But more than 1 million international students braved American cuisine on college and university campuses during the 2016-2017 school year, making up 5.3 percent of the entire higher education student population in the United States, according to the International Institute of Education’s Open Doors report.

“I encourage everyone who’s considering coming to the States to pursue a graduate education to give it a try,” Lopez Alvarez said.

“The international component of the programs is one of the main strengths,” he said. “They do want to have you here. They do want international students, and American students want to get in touch with you and meet you, and that’s really cool.”

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Mourners Pay Final Respects to Aretha Franklin at Public Viewing

Thousands of mourners have come to pay their respects to music legend Aretha Franklin, who will be laid to rest Friday in Detroit, Michigan. A star-studded roster of performers and speakers are scheduled to attend. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.

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Mourners Pay Final Respects to Aretha Franklin at Public Viewing

Thousands of mourners have come to pay their respects to music legend Aretha Franklin, who will be laid to rest Friday in Detroit, Michigan. A star-studded roster of performers and speakers are scheduled to attend. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.

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UN Envoy Warns Against Use of Chemical Weapons in Battle for Idlib

The United Nations expressed concern for civilians in the Idlib area in northwestern Syria, where government forces, backed by Russia, plan to launch a major offensive to reclaim the last rebel stronghold. U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned Thursday that chemical weapons use would be unacceptable. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports the U.N. official urged the Syrian government to allow civilians to leave Idlib before launching an offensive likely to cause another humanitarian catastrophe.

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UN Envoy Warns Against Use of Chemical Weapons in Battle for Idlib

The United Nations expressed concern for civilians in the Idlib area in northwestern Syria, where government forces, backed by Russia, plan to launch a major offensive to reclaim the last rebel stronghold. U.N. envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned Thursday that chemical weapons use would be unacceptable. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports the U.N. official urged the Syrian government to allow civilians to leave Idlib before launching an offensive likely to cause another humanitarian catastrophe.

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Trump Notably Absent From McCain Tributes

Notably absent from the final tribute ceremonies for U.S. Senator John McCain, who died last Saturday, is President Donald Trump. McCain and Trump disagreed on a number of issues, including U.S. relations with Russia. Some analysts view the feud as emblematic of the clash of values within the Republican Party. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

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Trump Notably Absent From McCain Tributes

Notably absent from the final tribute ceremonies for U.S. Senator John McCain, who died last Saturday, is President Donald Trump. McCain and Trump disagreed on a number of issues, including U.S. relations with Russia. Some analysts view the feud as emblematic of the clash of values within the Republican Party. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.

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China’s Floating Nuclear Power Plants Pose Risks in South China Sea

Floating Chinese nuclear power plants stationed in the South China Sea would help Beijing fortify its claims in a decades-old maritime sovereignty dispute, but come with environmental risks, scholars say.

China plans to power some of its claimed islets with nuclear energy, the U.S. Department of Defense recently told Congress in an annual report on Chinese military activities. Beijing had indicated last year it was planning to install “floating nuclear power stations” that would start operating before 2020, the report says.

That development would bulk up China’s maritime claim after about a decade of land reclamation in parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea and the sending of military units to some of the artificial islands, analysts say. Rival maritime claimants Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam lack similar means to electrify their holdings.

“You are literally facilitating increase of physical control of the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“I think the more immediate concerns of anyone, be they claimants, be they non-claimants, is a huge ecological risk, and taking into account that Chinese nuclear energy technology may not necessarily be one of the best in the world,” he said.

​Wait and watch

Chinese media said in 2016 their country might install as many as 20 floating nuclear power plants for commercial development. It’s not clear whether they would fuel Chinese installations in the Paracel Islands that are actively contested by Vietnam or in the Spratly archipelago further south where all six governments hold some of the islands.

Nuclear power plants on barges would technically work, said Oh Ei Sun, international studies instructor at Singapore Nanyang University.

“You have some sort of barge, that would actually be more feasible than if you had a permanent building there, because in that case you would be just like a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier,” Oh said.

Russia announced floating nuclear power stations in 2000 with a Ministry for Atomic Energy project that saw construction begin in 2007.

​Sovereignty advantage

A stable power supply would help Beijing ensure it can develop islets where it now has installations, experts say, and other claimants would keep clear of any barges to prevent accidents. China otherwise uses generators to provide electricity to its once uninhabited holdings that are more than 1,000 kilometers from the Chinese mainland, Koh said.

Beijing claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, overlapping waters that the five other governments call their own. The sea that stretches from Taiwan to Singapore is prized for fisheries, shipping lanes, oil and gas.

More than 1,000 Chinese live on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago, where China is also looking to promote tourism. China has hangars at its three major Spratly islets, Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs, that can handle bombers as well as aircraft for transport, patrol and refueling, the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies says.

The other Asian claimants probably won’t try to overturn any nuclear installation, said Jay Batongbacal, a University of the Philippines international maritime affairs professor. All are militarily weaker than China, and the Southeast Asian claimants depend to some degree on Chinese economic support.

But the United States might take nuclear power as a new cause to send naval ships into the sea and warn China, Batongbacal said. It could follow up with a “diplomatic initiative,” he added. Washington, which supports freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, has helped Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines militarily in the past.

Once China installed a nuclear barge, Batongbacal said, any protests would be too late to stop it.

“There really isn’t much (other countries) can do once China installs those things there,” he said. “Their best hope is to bring pressure to bear and discourage China from actually doing it.”

Ecological risks

China is unlikely to do an environmental impact study on any nuclear-power barges before installing them, Koh said. A “runaway reactor” could lead to a “major ecological disaster,” he said. The U.S. Defense Department report notes that the sea is prone to typhoons, during which most vessels seek shelter.

Pirates and terrorists at sea could also disrupt a nuclear power barge, said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank.

“It certainly requires a different kind of infrastructure building, because it’s a floating nuclear power plant, never been doing it before, and the maritime conditions (are) putting a lot of potential risks or uncertainty in terms of maintaining such an installation,” Yang said.

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China’s Floating Nuclear Power Plants Pose Risks in South China Sea

Floating Chinese nuclear power plants stationed in the South China Sea would help Beijing fortify its claims in a decades-old maritime sovereignty dispute, but come with environmental risks, scholars say.

China plans to power some of its claimed islets with nuclear energy, the U.S. Department of Defense recently told Congress in an annual report on Chinese military activities. Beijing had indicated last year it was planning to install “floating nuclear power stations” that would start operating before 2020, the report says.

That development would bulk up China’s maritime claim after about a decade of land reclamation in parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea and the sending of military units to some of the artificial islands, analysts say. Rival maritime claimants Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam lack similar means to electrify their holdings.

“You are literally facilitating increase of physical control of the South China Sea,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“I think the more immediate concerns of anyone, be they claimants, be they non-claimants, is a huge ecological risk, and taking into account that Chinese nuclear energy technology may not necessarily be one of the best in the world,” he said.

​Wait and watch

Chinese media said in 2016 their country might install as many as 20 floating nuclear power plants for commercial development. It’s not clear whether they would fuel Chinese installations in the Paracel Islands that are actively contested by Vietnam or in the Spratly archipelago further south where all six governments hold some of the islands.

Nuclear power plants on barges would technically work, said Oh Ei Sun, international studies instructor at Singapore Nanyang University.

“You have some sort of barge, that would actually be more feasible than if you had a permanent building there, because in that case you would be just like a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier,” Oh said.

Russia announced floating nuclear power stations in 2000 with a Ministry for Atomic Energy project that saw construction begin in 2007.

​Sovereignty advantage

A stable power supply would help Beijing ensure it can develop islets where it now has installations, experts say, and other claimants would keep clear of any barges to prevent accidents. China otherwise uses generators to provide electricity to its once uninhabited holdings that are more than 1,000 kilometers from the Chinese mainland, Koh said.

Beijing claims about 90 percent of the South China Sea, overlapping waters that the five other governments call their own. The sea that stretches from Taiwan to Singapore is prized for fisheries, shipping lanes, oil and gas.

More than 1,000 Chinese live on Woody Island in the Paracel archipelago, where China is also looking to promote tourism. China has hangars at its three major Spratly islets, Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs, that can handle bombers as well as aircraft for transport, patrol and refueling, the U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies says.

The other Asian claimants probably won’t try to overturn any nuclear installation, said Jay Batongbacal, a University of the Philippines international maritime affairs professor. All are militarily weaker than China, and the Southeast Asian claimants depend to some degree on Chinese economic support.

But the United States might take nuclear power as a new cause to send naval ships into the sea and warn China, Batongbacal said. It could follow up with a “diplomatic initiative,” he added. Washington, which supports freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, has helped Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines militarily in the past.

Once China installed a nuclear barge, Batongbacal said, any protests would be too late to stop it.

“There really isn’t much (other countries) can do once China installs those things there,” he said. “Their best hope is to bring pressure to bear and discourage China from actually doing it.”

Ecological risks

China is unlikely to do an environmental impact study on any nuclear-power barges before installing them, Koh said. A “runaway reactor” could lead to a “major ecological disaster,” he said. The U.S. Defense Department report notes that the sea is prone to typhoons, during which most vessels seek shelter.

Pirates and terrorists at sea could also disrupt a nuclear power barge, said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank.

“It certainly requires a different kind of infrastructure building, because it’s a floating nuclear power plant, never been doing it before, and the maritime conditions (are) putting a lot of potential risks or uncertainty in terms of maintaining such an installation,” Yang said.

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Trump Again Threatens to Shake Up Federal Law Enforcement Leadership

U.S. President Donald Trump, at political rally in the Midwestern state of Indiana, again directed his ire at the country’s top national law enforcement officials.

“Our Justice Department and our FBI have to start doing their job, doing it right and doing it well,” Trump said Thursday evening. “People are angry.”

“What’s happening is a disgrace,” declared the president.

“I wanted to stay out, but at some point if it doesn’t straighten out properly … I will get involved and I’ll get in there if I have to,” Trump added.

Sessions’ job

Earlier in the day at the White House, the president referred to the special counsel’s probe into whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russians as an “illegal investigation.”

Speaking to the Bloomberg news agency, Trump said the job of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recused himself from oversight of the investigation, is safe until, at least, the November midterm election.

“I just would love to have him do a great job,” Trump said during the Oval Office interview, adding that he would “love to have him look at the other side,” reiterating calls for the Justice Department to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the origins of the Russia probe.

“I do question what is Jeff doing,” he added.

The president has repeatedly ridiculed Sessions, the top U.S. law enforcement officer, as “weak” for not pursuing what the president and many other Republicans perceive as anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

​FBI refuted Trump claim

The FBI, on Wednesday, refuted the claim Trump made without citing evidence that the e-mails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom he defeated in the 2016 election, had her e-mails hacked by China.

Trump, earlier Wednesday had said federal law enforcement risked losing credibility if it did not further investigate the matter.

“Look at what she’s getting away with?” Trump said about Clinton at the Indiana rally, prompting the crowd in the 11,000-seat Ford Center to briefly chant “lock her up.”

Trump has repeatedly called the investigation, headed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is a former FBI director, a politically motivated witch hunt.

The president repeatedly asserts there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Six convictions, 12 indictments

Mueller’s investigation has so far resulted in six people being convicted of crimes. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on August 21 was the first person to be convicted in a jury trial from the probe, which also returned indictments in July against 12 Russian intelligence officers in the computer hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign.

On Twitter earlier in the day Trump denied referenced reports he has tried to have Sessions and Mueller removed from their positions.

Discussing his soon-to-depart White House Counsel, Donald McGahn, the president tweeted: “I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!”

During the evening’s rally in Evansville, Trump again targeted journalists for harsh criticism, accusing them of being in alliance with those who oppose him politically, including “deep state radicals.”

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Trump Again Threatens to Shake Up Federal Law Enforcement Leadership

U.S. President Donald Trump, at political rally in the Midwestern state of Indiana, again directed his ire at the country’s top national law enforcement officials.

“Our Justice Department and our FBI have to start doing their job, doing it right and doing it well,” Trump said Thursday evening. “People are angry.”

“What’s happening is a disgrace,” declared the president.

“I wanted to stay out, but at some point if it doesn’t straighten out properly … I will get involved and I’ll get in there if I have to,” Trump added.

Sessions’ job

Earlier in the day at the White House, the president referred to the special counsel’s probe into whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russians as an “illegal investigation.”

Speaking to the Bloomberg news agency, Trump said the job of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recused himself from oversight of the investigation, is safe until, at least, the November midterm election.

“I just would love to have him do a great job,” Trump said during the Oval Office interview, adding that he would “love to have him look at the other side,” reiterating calls for the Justice Department to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the origins of the Russia probe.

“I do question what is Jeff doing,” he added.

The president has repeatedly ridiculed Sessions, the top U.S. law enforcement officer, as “weak” for not pursuing what the president and many other Republicans perceive as anti-Trump bias in the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

​FBI refuted Trump claim

The FBI, on Wednesday, refuted the claim Trump made without citing evidence that the e-mails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom he defeated in the 2016 election, had her e-mails hacked by China.

Trump, earlier Wednesday had said federal law enforcement risked losing credibility if it did not further investigate the matter.

“Look at what she’s getting away with?” Trump said about Clinton at the Indiana rally, prompting the crowd in the 11,000-seat Ford Center to briefly chant “lock her up.”

Trump has repeatedly called the investigation, headed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is a former FBI director, a politically motivated witch hunt.

The president repeatedly asserts there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Six convictions, 12 indictments

Mueller’s investigation has so far resulted in six people being convicted of crimes. Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on August 21 was the first person to be convicted in a jury trial from the probe, which also returned indictments in July against 12 Russian intelligence officers in the computer hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign.

On Twitter earlier in the day Trump denied referenced reports he has tried to have Sessions and Mueller removed from their positions.

Discussing his soon-to-depart White House Counsel, Donald McGahn, the president tweeted: “I liked Don, but he was NOT responsible for me not firing Bob Mueller or Jeff Sessions. So much Fake Reporting and Fake News!”

During the evening’s rally in Evansville, Trump again targeted journalists for harsh criticism, accusing them of being in alliance with those who oppose him politically, including “deep state radicals.”

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Report: Protesting Dervish Prisoners Put in Solitary Confinement

An Iranian news outlet covering Iran’s Gonabadi Dervish minority says a number of jailed Dervishes have been put in solitary confinement at a prison near Tehran after guards broke up a protest they had held.

In several tweets posted Thursday, Majzooban Noor said authorities at the Great Tehran Penitentiary transferred an unidentified number of Dervishes to solitary cells in response to the protest staged by those prisoners the previous day. It said the prison management also cut off phone connections to wards where the Dervishes were being detained, to prevent information about them from leaking out.

Sit-in protest

A day earlier, Majzooban Noor posted several tweets saying security guards used batons and tear gas to break up a sit-in by male Dervish inmates calling for the release of female Dervishes held at Qarchak prison, also near the Iranian capital. The Dervish detainees in both prisons were among several hundred Dervishes arrested by security forces in February for involvement in anti-government protests in Tehran.

In its Thursday tweets, the news outlet said relatives of Dervishes wounded in the breakup of Wednesday’s protest were concerned that prison authorities would keep the inmates in solitary confinement until their wounds healed, in order to cover up the incident. It said family members sent a letter to judiciary officials demanding immediate access to the prison to meet with the detainees.

There were no reports of the Great Tehran Penitentiary incident in Iranian state media.

Violent confrontations

The February 19-20 protests by Iranian Dervishes escalated into violent confrontations with security forces, who arrested more than 300 people. Five security personnel were killed in the clashes.

The Dervish protesters had been demanding the release of arrested members of their community and the removal of security checkpoints around the house of their 90-year-old leader, Noor Ali Tabandeh. Members of the Sufi Muslim religious sect long have complained of harassment by Iran’s Shiite Islamist rulers, who view them as heretics.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service.

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Report: Protesting Dervish Prisoners Put in Solitary Confinement

An Iranian news outlet covering Iran’s Gonabadi Dervish minority says a number of jailed Dervishes have been put in solitary confinement at a prison near Tehran after guards broke up a protest they had held.

In several tweets posted Thursday, Majzooban Noor said authorities at the Great Tehran Penitentiary transferred an unidentified number of Dervishes to solitary cells in response to the protest staged by those prisoners the previous day. It said the prison management also cut off phone connections to wards where the Dervishes were being detained, to prevent information about them from leaking out.

Sit-in protest

A day earlier, Majzooban Noor posted several tweets saying security guards used batons and tear gas to break up a sit-in by male Dervish inmates calling for the release of female Dervishes held at Qarchak prison, also near the Iranian capital. The Dervish detainees in both prisons were among several hundred Dervishes arrested by security forces in February for involvement in anti-government protests in Tehran.

In its Thursday tweets, the news outlet said relatives of Dervishes wounded in the breakup of Wednesday’s protest were concerned that prison authorities would keep the inmates in solitary confinement until their wounds healed, in order to cover up the incident. It said family members sent a letter to judiciary officials demanding immediate access to the prison to meet with the detainees.

There were no reports of the Great Tehran Penitentiary incident in Iranian state media.

Violent confrontations

The February 19-20 protests by Iranian Dervishes escalated into violent confrontations with security forces, who arrested more than 300 people. Five security personnel were killed in the clashes.

The Dervish protesters had been demanding the release of arrested members of their community and the removal of security checkpoints around the house of their 90-year-old leader, Noor Ali Tabandeh. Members of the Sufi Muslim religious sect long have complained of harassment by Iran’s Shiite Islamist rulers, who view them as heretics.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service.

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UN: Lebanon, Israel at Risk of Renewed Conflict

The U.N. Security Council warned Thursday that violations of the cease-fire agreement between Lebanon and Israel could lead to a new conflict and urged international support for Lebanon’s armed forces and their stepped up deployment in the south and at sea.

The council’s warning against “a new conflict that none of the parties or the region can afford” came in a resolution adopted unanimously extending the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL until Aug. 31, 2019.

Council members urged “all parties” to exercise “maximum calm and restraint and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region.”

Peacekeepers since 1978

UNIFIL was originally created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded after a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah militants so that peacekeepers could deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border, to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country’s south for the first time in decades.

The French-drafted resolution again urged all countries to enforce a 2006 arms embargo and prevent the sale or supply of weapons to any individual or entity in Lebanon not authorized by the government or U.N. force known as UNIFIL, an implicit criticism of the suppliers of weapons to Hezbollah.

Rodney Hunter, the U.S. Mission’s political coordinator, told the council that Hezbollah, with Iran’s help, “has grown its arsenal in Lebanon in direct threat to peace” along the boundary with Israel “and the stability of all of Lebanon.”

Hunter said 12 years after the council imposed an arms embargo, “it is unacceptable that Hezbollah continues to flout this embargo, Lebanon’s sovereignty, and the will of the majority of Lebanese people.”

Lebanese forces

Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war and the resolution reiterates the council’s call for Israel and Lebanon “to support a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution.”

The council also stressed “the necessity of an effective and durable deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces in southern Lebanon and the territorial waters of Lebanon at an accelerated pace.”

It called for UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese military to analyze the country’s ground forces and maritime assets.

The council also called for the Lebanese government “to develop a plan to increase its naval capabilities … with the goal of ultimately decreasing UNIFIL’s Maritime Task Force and transitioning its responsibilities to the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

France’s deputy U.N. ambassador Anne Gueguen stressed that “only the presence of the Lebanese state and its armed forces will ensure security … and create the conditions of lasting stability in the south of Lebanon, and along its territorial waters.”

Political solution

The Security Council also commented on the current political situation in Lebanon.

Nearly four months after the country held its first general elections in nine years, politicians are still squabbling over the formation of a new government amid uncertainty over a long stagnating economy, struggling businesses and concerns over the currency.

The Security Council welcomed the holding of elections and the country’s progress toward reactivating government institutions, and called for the formation of a new Lebanese government “without further delay.”

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UN: Lebanon, Israel at Risk of Renewed Conflict

The U.N. Security Council warned Thursday that violations of the cease-fire agreement between Lebanon and Israel could lead to a new conflict and urged international support for Lebanon’s armed forces and their stepped up deployment in the south and at sea.

The council’s warning against “a new conflict that none of the parties or the region can afford” came in a resolution adopted unanimously extending the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL until Aug. 31, 2019.

Council members urged “all parties” to exercise “maximum calm and restraint and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region.”

Peacekeepers since 1978

UNIFIL was originally created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded after a 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah militants so that peacekeepers could deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border, to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country’s south for the first time in decades.

The French-drafted resolution again urged all countries to enforce a 2006 arms embargo and prevent the sale or supply of weapons to any individual or entity in Lebanon not authorized by the government or U.N. force known as UNIFIL, an implicit criticism of the suppliers of weapons to Hezbollah.

Rodney Hunter, the U.S. Mission’s political coordinator, told the council that Hezbollah, with Iran’s help, “has grown its arsenal in Lebanon in direct threat to peace” along the boundary with Israel “and the stability of all of Lebanon.”

Hunter said 12 years after the council imposed an arms embargo, “it is unacceptable that Hezbollah continues to flout this embargo, Lebanon’s sovereignty, and the will of the majority of Lebanese people.”

Lebanese forces

Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war and the resolution reiterates the council’s call for Israel and Lebanon “to support a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution.”

The council also stressed “the necessity of an effective and durable deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces in southern Lebanon and the territorial waters of Lebanon at an accelerated pace.”

It called for UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon, and the Lebanese military to analyze the country’s ground forces and maritime assets.

The council also called for the Lebanese government “to develop a plan to increase its naval capabilities … with the goal of ultimately decreasing UNIFIL’s Maritime Task Force and transitioning its responsibilities to the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

France’s deputy U.N. ambassador Anne Gueguen stressed that “only the presence of the Lebanese state and its armed forces will ensure security … and create the conditions of lasting stability in the south of Lebanon, and along its territorial waters.”

Political solution

The Security Council also commented on the current political situation in Lebanon.

Nearly four months after the country held its first general elections in nine years, politicians are still squabbling over the formation of a new government amid uncertainty over a long stagnating economy, struggling businesses and concerns over the currency.

The Security Council welcomed the holding of elections and the country’s progress toward reactivating government institutions, and called for the formation of a new Lebanese government “without further delay.”

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