Month: January 2023

Funeral Held for Greece’s Former King Constantine

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European royalty from Britain to Spain have gathered in Athens for the funeral of Greece’s last monarch, Constantine the Second.

Among the royals in attendance are Britain’s Princess Anne, the daughter of the late Queen Elizabeth the Second and a cousin of Constantine through her father, the late Prince Philip. King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain, as well as members of the royal houses of Denmark, Luxembourg, Monaco and Sweden were among the 200 guests at the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Constantine died last week at the age of 82 in a local hospital. He was only 27 years old when the military took power in a coup in 1967. After initially cooperating with the junta, he and his family fled into exile in Europe eight months later after he led an unsuccessful counter-coup.

The junta abolished the monarchy in 1973, a year before democracy was restored in Greece. But the country rejected restoring the royal family in a referendum that same year, ending the monarchy’s rule that began in 1863.

Constantine, who won a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics for sailing, was stripped of his Greek citizenship in 1994 after a contentious battle with the government over the royal family’s former property. Despite the lingering acrimony, Constantine and his family returned to Greece permanently in 2013.

After the funeral, his body will be taken to the town of Tatoi, just outside Athens, where other members of the former royal family are buried. The government has refused to hold a state funeral for Constantine.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
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Fugitive Mafia Boss Arrested in Italy

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One of Italy’s most wanted men, Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, has been arrested.  

ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported Monday that the alleged boss of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia, who had been on the run for 30 years, was arrested by police at a private clinic in Palermo.  

Italian state television said Denaro was taken to a secret location immediately after his arrest.  

Tried in absentia on dozens of murders, including the 1992 deaths of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the 60-year-old Denaro is facing multiple life sentences.  

Denaro had once claimed he could “fill a cemetery” with his victims.  

Last September, police said that even though Denaro had been on the run for 30 years, he was still able to issue orders for the Mafia around the western Sicilian city of Trapani.  

“In 2015, police discovered he was communicating with his closest collaborators via the pizzini system, where tiny, folded paper notes were left under a rock at a farm in Sicily,” according to an Agence France-Presse report. 

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement that Denaro’s arrest is a “great victory” for Italy’s fight against organized crime.  

Information for this report was taken from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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Inner City Youth Orchestra Takes Black Kids Off the Streets

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Los Angeles based conductor Charles Dickerson is convinced that every metropolitan area with a big African American population should have a classical youth orchestra to help take local kids off the streets. He created the largest majority Black youth orchestra in the U.S. Genia Dulot reports.
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At least 35 Dead After Russian Missile Hits Ukraine Apartment Building

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Ukrainian officials said Monday the death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro had risen to 35, with rescue crews still searching the rubble for any survivors.    

Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said on social media said the attack had injured 75 people and that the fate of 35 others was unknown.    

The missile strike took place Saturday with what Ukraine’s air force command said was a Kh-22 missile launched from Russia’s Kursk region. Military officials said Ukrainian forces shot down 21 of 33 total missiles Russia fired that day, but that Ukraine does not have a system capable of intercepting the Kh-22.    

Russian forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets since invading Ukraine in February. 

Russian officials have repeatedly denied doing so, including again Monday as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces “do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure, they strike military targets.”  Peskov said what happened in Dnipro was caused by Ukrainian air defenses.   

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that he was thankful for words of support from around the world after the attack, adding that it is “very important that normal people unite in response to terror.”    

He faulted those in Russia “who even now could not utter even a few words of condemnation.”    

“Evil is very sensitive to cowardice,” Zelenskyy said. “Evil always remembers those who fear it or try to bargain with it. And when it comes after you, there will be no one to protect you.”  

Belarus-Russian drills     

Ukraine’s neighbor to the north, Belarus, began joint military exercises with Russia on Monday.    

The Belarusian defense ministry said the drills would run until February 1 and utilize all of the country’s military airfields.    

Areas of training include aerial reconnaissance, border patrols, tactical air assault landing and evacuation of the wounded, the ministry said.    

Belarus has participated in numerous military exercises with Russia since the conflict began, increasing fears in Ukraine and among its allies that Russia is hoping Belarus will enter the war on its side, despite assurances from Minsk it won’t join the fight.  

Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of Belarusian Security Council, said in a post on the social media platform Telegram that “the exercise is purely defensive in nature.”   

Russia held military exercises in Belarus just before sending tens of thousands of those troops across the border into Ukraine at the start of its invasion.  

British tanks 

The Kremlin responded to the latest round of Western aid pledged to Ukraine by saying tanks Britain planned to send “will burn just like the rest.” 

Britain announced Saturday it will send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to help repel Russia’s invasion.  

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said the tanks would be sent in the coming weeks, with about 30 self-propelled AS-90 guns to follow. He said training for Ukrainian troops on how to use the guns and the tanks will begin soon.  

The Challenger 2 is Britain’s main battle tank. It is designed to attack other tanks and has been in service since 1994, according to the army.  

Russia has threatened previous Western military aid to Ukraine, including saying U.S.-provided air defense systems and any accompanying personnel would be legitimate targets for Russian forces.   

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, Reuters and The Associated Press. 
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Jailed Iranian American Launches Hunger Strike in Appeal to Biden

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Iranian American Siamak Namazi has launched a seven-day hunger strike to call attention to his continued detention in Iran, while calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to bring home all Americans jailed in Iran. 

Namazi was arrested in 2015 and convicted of what the United States and the United Nations said were false spying charges. 

His appeal Monday came in the form of a letter to Biden, released by Namazi’s lawyer Jared Genser, on the seventh anniversary of a deal in which Iran freed five Americans in exchange for the United States offering clemency to seven Iranians. That swap coincided with the implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement, at a time when Biden was the U.S. vice president. 

“When the Obama Administration unconscionably left me in peril and freed the other American citizens Iran held hostage on January 16, 2016, the U.S. Government promised my family to have me safely home within weeks,” Namazi wrote. “Yet seven years and two presidents later, I remain caged in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, holding that long overdue IOU along with the unenviable title of the longest held Iranian-American hostage in history.” 

Namazi cited what he called “well-intentioned statements” from senior U.S. officials saying the release of U.S. hostages from Iran is a top priority, but that he has learned not to get his hopes up. 

While saying he will deny himself food for seven days, Namazi urged Biden to spend one minute on each of those days “devoted to thinking about the tribulations of the U.S. hostages in Iran.” 

Namazi’s father, Baquer, was arrested in 2016 after traveling to Iran to visit his son and spent years in prison on the same charges before being released in October on medical grounds. 

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Expanded US Training for Ukraine Forces Begins in Germany

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The U.S. military’s new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley, who plans to visit the Grafenwoehr training area on Monday to get a first-hand look at the program, said the troops being trained left Ukraine a few days ago. In Germany is a full set of weapons and equipment for them to use.

Until now the Pentagon had declined to say exactly when the training would start.

The so-called combined arms training is aimed at honing the skills of the Ukrainian forces so they will be better prepared to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks. They will learn how to better move and coordinate their company- and battalion-size units in battle, using combined artillery, armor and ground forces.

Speaking to two reporters traveling with him to Europe on Sunday, Milley said the complex training — combined with an array of new weapons, artillery, tanks and other vehicles heading to Ukraine — will be key to helping the country’s forces take back territory that has been captured by Russia in the nearly 11-month-old war.

“This support is really important for Ukraine to be able to defend itself,” Milley said. “And we’re hoping to be able to pull this together here in short order.”

The goal, he said, is for all the incoming weapons and equipment to be delivered to Ukraine so that the newly trained forces will be able to use it “sometime before the spring rains show up. That would be ideal.”

The new instruction comes as Ukrainian forces face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where the Russian military has claimed it has control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting, but if Moscow’s troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

Russia also launched a widespread barrage of missile strikes, including in Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 30.

Milley said he wants to make sure the training is on track and whether anything else is needed, and also ensure that it will line up well with the equipment deliveries.

The program will include classroom instruction and field work that will begin with small squads and gradually grow to involve larger units. It would culminate with a more complex combat exercise bringing an entire battalion and a headquarters unit together.

Until now, the U.S. focus has been on providing Ukrainian forces with more immediate battlefield needs, particularly on how to use the wide array of Western weapons systems pouring into the country.

The U.S. has already trained more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops on how to use and maintain certain weapons and other equipment, including howitzers, armored vehicles and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS. Other nations are also conducting training on the weapons they provide.

In announcing the new program last month, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the idea “is to be able to give them this advanced level of collective training that enables them to conduct effective combined arms operations and maneuver on the battlefield.”

Milley said the U.S. was doing this type of training prior to the Russian invasion last February. But once the war began, U.S. National Guard and special operations forces that were doing training inside Ukraine all left the country. This new effort, which is being done by U.S. Army Europe Africa’s 7th Army Training Command, will be a continuation of what they had been doing prior to the invasion. Other European allies are also providing training.
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New York Mayor Says ‘No Room’ in His City for Migrants

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The mayor of New York traveled to the Mexican border city of El Paso on Sunday and declared that “there is no room in New York” for busloads of migrants being sent to America’s most populous city. 

Eric Adams, a Democrat, was also critical of the administration of Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, saying “now is the time for the national government to do its job” about the immigrant crisis at America’s southern border. 

The visit of a New York mayor to a southern border city about the issue of immigrants is unprecedented. 

Busloads of migrants have been shipped north to New York and other cities by Republican run states. That has exacerbated a housing crisis in New York and a worsening homeless crisis in the city. 

Adams’s trip to El Paso comes after he said the migrant influx into New York could cost the city as much as $2 billion, at a time when the city is already facing a major budget shortfall. 

In recent months the Republican governors of Florida and Texas have sent thousands of migrants seeking sanctuary in the U.S. to cities run by Democratic politicians, including New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. 
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Preservationists in Ukraine’s Lviv Work to Save Historic Buildings Amid War

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While there’s no knowing when the war in Ukraine will be over, one volunteer organization in western Ukraine – called Lviv Knights – has been working since 2014 trying to help restore old historical buildings while at the same time helping Ukrainian soldiers by collecting whatever equipment they can. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story from Lviv, in western Ukraine. VOA footage and video editing by Yuriy Dankevych.
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Four Mali Police Officers Killed in Ambush

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Four gendarmes were killed, and three others injured Sunday after being ambushed in western Mali, a region prone to jihadi attacks, the paramilitary police said.

Two police vehicles were torched and two others, equipped with machine guns, were captured by the assailants during the attack in Koula, the force said.

Two of the assailants were killed and others taken prisoner.

The gendarmerie did not say who was responsible for the attack, but police, troops and Malian state targets are regularly hit by jihadi groups.

Mali has been in the throes of a nearly 11-year security crisis triggered by a regional revolt in the north that developed into a full-blown jihadi insurgency.

Thousands have died, hundreds of thousands have fled their homes and devastating economic damage has been inflicted to one of the world’s poorest countries.

Since August 2020, Mali has been ruled by the military, leading to a bust-up with France, the country’s traditional ally, and closer ties with Russia.

The violence has mainly affected the center and the east sections of the country and has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. But it has not spared the west and is spreading southwards, alarming Mali’s other neighbors including Senegal.

The junta claims to have forced jihadis affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization on the defensive.

Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga said last week that there was no longer any part of the territory where the army could not go, although the authorities had previously acknowledged that two-thirds of the territory was outside state control.

Maiga’s security assessment has been contradicted by experts and a recent U.N. report that said security conditions have continued to deteriorate in the central Sahel, “particularly in Burkina Faso and Mali.”
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‘They’re on the Run’: Somalia Touts Gains Against Al-Shabab

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Enough was enough. For 13 years, extremists with al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate had controlled Mohamud Adow’s village in central Somalia, imposing harsh ideology and arresting local teachers and traditional leaders.

Then, word came that Somali forces in a surprising national offensive had expelled the fighters from nearby villages.

A small group of residents sneaked out one night in August to meet with Somali troop commanders and invited them into their village of Rage-El. The 80-year-old Adow was among those taking up arms, joining a local militia fighting alongside Somali forces in rural battles with battered guns.

“The people were living in agony,” said Adow, one of several witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press.

In what is being called a “total war” by the government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who was elected in May, Adow and others across the Horn of Africa nation are being encouraged to stand up to the al-Shabab extremists who have long embedded in Somali society, exploiting clan divisions and extorting millions of dollars a year from businesses and farmers in their quest to impose an Islamic caliphate.

On Thursday, Somalia’s government announced a “people’s uprising” as it seeks to pressure al-Shabab from all angles, including financial ones.

It’s being described as the most significant offensive against the al-Shabab extremist group in more than a decade. And this time, Somali fighters are in the lead, backed by U.S. and African Union forces.

Al-Shabab’s fighters have held back the nation’s recovery from decades of conflict by carrying out brazen attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, and elsewhere. Over the years, countries from Turkey to China to those in the European Union have invested in military training and other counterterrorism support.

Last weekend, the U.S. made a small but symbolic donation of $9 million in heavy weapons and equipment to the Somali National Army, whose abilities have long been questioned as it prepares to take over the country’s security from an African Union multinational force by the end of next year.

“We cheer the success achieved by Somali security forces in their historic fight to liberate Somali communities suffering under al-Shabab,” U.S. Ambassador Larry Andre said.

Somalia’s government has claimed more than 1,200 militants have been killed since August, according to a database kept by International Crisis Group analyst Omar Mahmood. Such claims can’t be verified.

One key to the offensive’s progress is a population pushed to the brink by a historic drought. As animals and crops wither and die and millions of people go hungry, Somalis who flee al-Shabab-held communities have described the extremists’ harsh taxation demands.

“They are being rented out like houses; they are telling you that their animals are being taken away without permission,” said Gen. Abdirahman Mohamed Tuuryare, a former director of Somalia’s national intelligence agency who leads the offensive against al-Shabab in the Middle Shabelle region. “Even the child born tonight will be required to pay.”

Residents have also described al-Shabab forcing sons to become suicide bombers and killing people at will.

Tuuryare described a bloody battle last year over the Masjid Ali-Gadud community in which he estimated 200 al-Shabab fighters and “many” soldiers were killed. It took time to persuade wary residents to return to a community so tightly controlled that even Quranic schools were closed. Only centers for training bombers and fighters functioned.

After 15 years under al-Shabab indoctrination, Tuuryare said, residents found it hard to grasp that fellow Somalis had come to help them.

One resident, Ibrahim Hussein, was still adjusting. Al-Shabab fighters forcibly recruited teenage boys and forced women into marriage, he told The Associated Press, and people found guilty of adultery would be stoned to death or publicly flogged.

Still, security was good: “For instance, when a prayer is called, everyone goes toward the mosque without closing their properties. Nobody can touch them. If anyone is found stealing, he or she will face amputation of a limb or limbs,” Hussein said.

Winning over such communities, and holding them with effective administration, are major challenges to the Somali government’s goal of eliminating al-Shabab this year. Another is preventing the local militias working with Somali forces from amassing power in a country awash with weapons and turning into a new threat.

“Local forces shouldn’t fight among themselves, shouldn’t turn into thugs,” Tuuryare, the general, said, adding that the government supports training and local security positions for militia members.

“If all this goes wrong and happens to come back, it won’t be easy to reorganize,” Tuuryare said. He expressed his wish for more U.S. military support, including further drone strikes against al-Shabab, and a U.S. campaign at the U.N. Security Council to lift an arms embargo on Somalia for easier access to heavy weapons.

In an analysis for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, former Somali government security adviser Samira Gaid warned the offensive’s success could be fleeting if Somalia’s still-fragile government doesn’t focus on winning hearts and minds and address the clan rivalries al-Shabab has long used to its advantage.

“This is still a remarkable offensive as, for the first time, we see a citizen awakening that is supported by the federal government,” she told the AP. For years, Somalis have seen the fight against al-Shabab as led by outsiders like the African Union force or troops from neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya.

Now Kenya is increasing security along the border to find extremists on the run, and the United States this month announced million-dollar rewards for al-Shabab leaders accused of major attacks.

Under pressure, al-Shabab has lashed out, killing at least 120 people at a busy intersection in Mogadishu in October.

But for Somalis long separated from loved ones by the extremists, there is hope.

Hassan Ulux is a 60-year-old traditional elder who left his community of War-isse a decade ago and feared returning until it was recently freed from al-Shabab.

“Praise be to Allah,” he said, finally home. “Now they are on the run. Now we can talk about education and normalcy.”
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Clearance of Protesters Opposing German Coal Mine Expansion Nearly Complete

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A village in western Germany that is due to be demolished to make way for a coal mine expansion has been cleared of activists, apart from a pair who remained holed up in a tunnel, police said Sunday.

The operation to evict climate activists who flocked to the site in the hamlet of Luetzerath kicked off Wednesday morning and progressed steadily over the following days. Police cleared people out of farm buildings, the few remaining houses and a few dozen makeshift constructions such as tree houses.

On Saturday, thousands of people demonstrated nearby against the eviction and the planned expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine. There were standoffs with police as some protesters tried to reach the village, which is now fenced off, and the mine.

Environmentalists say bulldozing the village to expand the Garzweiler mine would result in huge amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. The government and utility company RWE argue the coal is needed to ensure Germany’s energy security.

The regional and national governments, both of which include the environmentalist Green party, reached a deal with RWE last year allowing it to destroy the abandoned village in return for ending coal use by 2030, rather than 2038.

The Greens’ leaders argue that the deal fulfills many of the environmentalists’ demands and saved five other villages from demolition, and that Luetzerath is the wrong symbol for protests. Activists reject that stance.

Police said in a statement Sunday that nearly 300 people have been removed so far from Luetzerath. They added that “the rescue by RWE Power of the two people in underground structures continues; beyond that, the clearance by police is complete.”

They said that 12 people were detained in connection with Saturday’s incidents. Demolition of the buildings in Luetzerath is already underway.

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who joined Saturday’s big protest, took part in a smaller demonstration Sunday, singing and dancing with other activists near the edge of the mine, German news agency dpa reported.

Police said Thunberg briefly sat on an embankment at the edge of the mine and officers carried her a few steps away after she didn’t comply with calls to move for her own safety, dpa reported, adding that she then went on her way.
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Biden Faces Scrutiny Over Handling of Classified Documents

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As the United States this week remembers the champion of civil rights, Martin Luther King, Jr., President Joe Biden is facing scrutiny into whether he mishandled classified documents. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on why both Republicans and Democrats agree that the ongoing investigation into the matter is necessary.
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US House Republican Blasts Biden’s Handling of Classified Documents

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The new Republican head of a key House committee assailed Democratic President Joe Biden and his aides Sunday for their handling of classified documents discovered at a Washington office Biden used after his vice presidency ended in 2017 and at his home in the eastern city of Wilmington, Delaware.   

Representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, asked Ron Klain, Biden’s White House chief of staff, in a letter for information on the searches for the documents at Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington and at Biden’s home, including lists of who visited the residence since he became president nearly two years ago.

Comer’s request came a day after the White House said Biden’s aides had found five additional pages of classified material at his home, in addition to an earlier disclosure that other documents had been found in the garage at his home and at the Washington office Biden occasionally used before running for president in 2020.

In all, about 20 classified documents have been found at the Biden office or home, including some that were first discovered in early November, just days before crucial nationwide congressional elections, but not acknowledged by the White House until last week. All have been turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration as required by U.S. law when presidents and vice presidents leave office.

In the run-up to the elections, where Democrats won more contests than predicted— before the voting, Biden attacked former President Donald Trump as “totally irresponsible” for taking more than 300 classified documents to his Mar-a-Lago oceanside retreat in Florida when he left office. Eventually, Trump returned some of the documents as the Archives requested, while dozens of others were not recovered until FBI agents discovered them in a court-ordered search at Mar-a-Lago last August.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, Comer said he was not accusing Biden of wrongdoing, but added, “I will accuse the Biden administration of not being transparent” in not confirming that the classified documents had been discovered until after CBS News first reported it.

“The hypocrisy here is great,” Comer said about Biden attacking Trump for his document cache and then not confirming his own until weeks after the election, the disclosure of which could have influenced voting.

Comer made no request for visitor logs at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago retreat where he lives in the winter months.

“No one’s been investigated more than President Trump,” Comer told CNN, “but no one’s investigated President Biden.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed two special counsels, one to investigate Trump’s classified documents and another to probe Biden’s collection of classified material.

The White House, seeking to minimize the political fallout from the disclosure of the classified material found at Biden locations, has noted that it is fully cooperating with the investigation of his documents while Trump has decried the probe of the material found at Mar-a-Lago.

In his letter to Klain, Comer said, “It is troubling that classified documents have been improperly stored at the home of President Biden for at least six years, raising questions about who may have reviewed or had access to classified information.”

Biden has said he was surprised to learn that any classified material was discovered at locations linked to him.  

Comer, asked by CNN if he cared more about the mishandling of classified documents when it related to Democrats, replied, “Absolutely not. Look, we still don’t know what type of documents President Trump had.”  

“My concern,” he said, “is how there’s such a discrepancy in how former President Trump was treated by raiding Mar-a-Lago, by getting the security cameras, by taking pictures of documents on the floor. … That’s not equal treatment, and we’re very concerned and there’s a lack of trust here at the Department of Justice by House Republicans. That’s the outrage.”
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In Tribute to Rights Leader King, Biden Invokes ‘Battle for the Soul of This Nation’ 

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President Joe Biden told Americans to look towards Martin Luther King Jr.’s life for lessons on repairing their divisions, extremism and injustice, as he become the first sitting U.S. president to speak at a Sunday service in the civil rights leader’s church in Atlanta.

Marking Monday’s national holiday celebrating King, Biden delivered a sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church at the invitation of its pastor, Democratic U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, centered on a common theme — the country and the world are battling against autocratic forces.

“The fact is that I stand here at a critical juncture for the United States and the world in my view,” Biden said, calling it a “time of choosing.”

“Are we a people who will choose democracy over autocracy,” Biden asked. “We have to choose a community over chaos. Are we the people going to choose love over hate? These are the questions of our time and the reason I am here.”

King worked for voting rights, Biden said, but “we do well to remember that his mission was even deeper. It was spiritual. It was moral.”

King often asked ‘Where do we go from here?’ Biden said. “My message to the nation on this day is we go forward. We go together.”

Sunday would have been King’s 94th birthday. He was assassinated at age 39 in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, by avowed segregationist James Earl Ray. King was pastor of Ebenezer church from 1960 until his death.

“The battle for the soul of this nation is perennial,” Biden said in his tribute to King. “It’s a constant struggle between hope and fear kindness and cruelty, justice and injustice.”

Many presidents, including Biden, have visited Ebenezer to honor King, usually during events around the time of his birthday. But Biden was the first to speak from the pulpit at a regular Sunday service.

King “reminds us that we are tied in a single garment of destiny, that this is not about Democrat and Republican, red, yellow, brown, black and white,” Warnock said earlier on Sunday.

On Monday Biden will meet with civil rights advocate Al Sharpton in Washington, and speak to his group, the National Action Network.

Biden is expected to announce his re-election bid in the weeks ahead.

Biden was elected in 2020 with strong support from Black voters after pledging to do more to expand voting rights and address other racial justice issues. But some activist groups boycotted his 2022 speech honoring King, disappointed by what they see as his lack of action.
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Global Leaders Will Tackle Multiple Crises at World Economic Forum   

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More than 2700 world leaders will seek solutions for multiple global crises when they convene at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the posh Swiss Alpine village of Davos this week.

This auspicious gathering includes 52 heads of state, leaders in business, finance, and culture as well as humanitarians and members of civil society from 130 countries. More than 5,000 Swiss army soldiers will be on hand to guarantee security and ensure any protests do not get out of hand.

The theme of this year’s meeting is cooperation in a fragmented world. After emerging from three years of pandemic isolation, delegates once again will be meeting in person. During the week, they will address critical political, economic, and social issues that demand urgent attention.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, says this personal interaction will create the necessary level of trust to bring people together.

“One of the root causes of this fragmentation is actually a lack of cooperation. This in turn increases fragmentation in society and leads even more to short-term and self-serving policy making. It is a truly vicious circle,” he said.

Schwab says the erosion of trust between the government and business sectors must be stopped. He says cooperation must be reinforced and conditions for a strong and durable recovery created.

Managing director of the forum, Mirak Dusek, says world leaders will be encouraged to work together on such interconnected issues as energy, climate, and nature. He says discussion on the economy and society will take center stage.

“On the economy, we are going to be putting a lot of emphasis on infrastructure. Particularly on how we make sure that the investments around infrastructure, particularly clean infrastructure — how do we make sure that this leads to new growth, growth that is more inclusive and makes us more resilient in the future…Of course, we will also be looking at social vulnerability that are stemming from these crises,” he said.

Dignitaries attending the meeting include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and U.N. Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. U.S. President Joe Biden will not be coming to Davos. However, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, will be present.

A high-level delegation from Ukraine is expected to come to Davos. Forum officials say their names are not being disclosed for security reasons. They say several sessions related to the war in Ukraine will be held. They add Russia is not expected to attend.
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Greece Presses Ahead With Plans to Fence Its Land Borders With Turkey 

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Greece says it will press ahead with plans to seal off its land frontiers with neighbor Turkey, tripling the size of a soaring fence already erected in the region. The effort comes as Greece faced a surge in refugee flows in 2022, and as threats of war sound from Turkey, which have aggravated already troubled relations between the two NATO allies.

It’s rhetoric like this that has Greece concerned.   

Speaking during the weekend Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Greece of constantly creating border crises with Turkey. What’s more, Erdogan also warned, that Turkey, as he put it “can and will plough into Greece one night and take it over.”   

On the other side of the divide and at a separate event, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was quick to respond.    

“Greece does not need anyone telling it how to exercise its own sovereign rights. It will continue to bolster its defenses as it sees fit,” he said.  

Among the most ambitious plans include a soaring steel seal fence stretching some 160 kilometers…sealing Greece’s land frontiers with Turkey. A quarter of that project is already in place, but over the weekend Mistotakis went to the border region of Alexandroupolis to oversee a 56-kilometer extension the Greek government says will cost over 100 million dollars.   

The first leg of that fence was built to stem the rising tide of illegal migration. And while the fence has helped block some 250,000 illegal migrants from entering Greece from Turkey in 2022 alone, according to police date, authorities here fear more will try to make the crossing as elections near in Turkey.   

U.N. data for 2022 show illegal entries to Greece tripled in 2022 compared to the year prior.   

Such a forecast, officials say adds to growing tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey as both sides remain locked in a heated arms race, mainly over U.S. weapons systems.   

This week President Biden is set to ask Congress to approve a $20 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. And while the potential sale will not hamper Greece’s purchase of U.S. F-35 fighters, Mitsotakis is advising Capitol Hill to show great scrutiny.     

“How the U.S. Congress will handle an arms sale to Turkey is its own affair,” Mitsotakis told reporters. “But it should not disregard Turkey’s provocative behavior, referring to Turkey’s recurring threats of war and airspace violations — both serious breaches of NATO alliance rules.”  

Relations between Ankara and Washington have been frustrated by Turkey’s refusal to back Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO. But in recent months, those relations have thawed somewhat as Erdogan helped broker an arrangement permitting Ukrainian grain shipments from the Black Sea.   

Several U.S. lawmakers, including Robert Menendez who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee remain skeptical. They vow to block the purported F-16 sale this week unless Erdogan takes several steps to show he can uphold Turkey’s NATO priorities.   

Anything less, officials in Athens say, will only aggravate tensions with Turkey and amplify Greece’s needs to further bolster its defenses. 
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Congo’s Army Says Church Bomb Kills 6, Extremists Suspected 

Posted on by SeeAF

A suspected extremist attack at a church in eastern Congo killed at least 10 people and wounded more than three dozen, according to the country’s army.

A group linked to Islamic extremists was suspected of being responsible for a bomb that went off in the Pentecostal church in the North Kivu province town of Kasindi, military spokesperson Anthony Mwalushayi told The Associated Press by phone.

A Kenyan national found at the scene was detained, Mwalushayi said. Congo’s government urged people to avoid crowds and be vigilant as it conducted an investigation, said the minister of communication in a tweet.

Videos and photos of the attack seen by the AP showed dead bodies lying on the ground outside the church, including what appeared to be a dead child. The injured were being carried out of the church surrounded by other people screaming.

Violence has wracked eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups and self-defense militias fight for land and power. Nearly 6 million people are internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, according to the U.N.

Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel organization which is believed to have links to the the Islamic State group. have carried out several attacks in Kasindi, which is located on the border with Uganda.

Troops from Uganda’s army have deployed to eastern Congo to try to stem the violence, but the attacks have increased and spread. ADF attacks since April have killed at least 370 civilians and involved the abduction of several hundred more, a report by the United Nations last month said.

The rebel group has extended its area of operations to Goma and into neighboring Ituri province.
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20 Dead, 73 Wounded in Dnipro After Missile Strike 

Posted on by SeeEU

At least 20 people were killed and 73 wounded Saturday, including children, in the southeastern Ukraine city of Dnipro where a Russian missile strike destroyed a section of a nine-story apartment building, regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.

Infrastructure was also damaged in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Odesa regions, as well as in Kharkiv and Kyiv by the wave of Russian missiles.

“Debris clearance is still ongoing. . . It’s not yet known how many people are under the rubble. Unfortunately, the death toll is growing every hour,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Local authorities reported that Ukraine’s air defense downed Russian missiles in Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, and Ivano-Frankivsk. Ukraine’s top military commander said his forces shot down 21 of the 33 cruise missiles Russia fired.

The strikes caused emergency blackouts in multiple regions, such as the Kharkiv region and the city of Kharkiv in the northeast — Ukraine’s second-largest city. In the western Lviv Oblast, the governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, said there might be interruptions in the power and water supply because of missile damage.

Another energy facility was hit in the western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, according to Governor Svitlana Onyschuk.

A few hours after Saturday’s missile strikes, Britain promised to send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to help repel Russia’s invasion.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said the tanks would be sent in the coming weeks, with about 30 self-propelled AS90 guns to follow. He said training for Ukrainian troops will begin soon on how to use the guns and the tanks.

The Challenger 2 is Britain’s main battle tank. It is designed to attack other tanks and has been in service since 1994, according to the army.

Britain’s Defense Ministry said Sunday there is a possibility that Russia will extend the age limit for military conscription from 27 to 30 in time for the Spring 2023 draft, a move that would enable Russian forced to increase its enrollment by at least 30%.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he supports the move, according to the British ministry, which added that “Russian officials are likely sounding out public reactions.”

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and The Associated Press.
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Miss USA R’Bonney Gabriel Wins Miss Universe Competition

Posted on by SeeUS

R’Bonney Gabriel, a fashion designer, model and sewing instructor from Texas who competition officials said is the first Filipino American to win Miss USA, was crowned Miss Universe on Saturday night.

Gabriel closed her eyes and clasped hands with runner-up Miss Venezuela, Amanda Dudamel, at the moment of the dramatic reveal of the winner, then beamed after her name was announced.

Thumping music rang out, and she was handed a bouquet of flowers, draped in the winner’s sash and crowned with a tiara onstage at the 71st Miss Universe Competition, held in New Orleans.

The second runner-up was Miss Dominican Republic, Andreina Martinez.

In the Q&A at the last stage of the competition for the three finalists, Gabriel was asked how she would work to demonstrate Miss Universe is “an empowering and progressive organization” if she were to win.

“I would use it to be a transformational leader,” she responded, citing her work using recycled materials in her fashion design and teaching sewing to survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence.

“It is so important to invest in others, invest in our community and use your unique talent to make a difference,” Gabriel continued. “We all have something special, and when we plant those seeds to other people in our life, we transform them, and we use that as a vehicle for change.”

According to Miss Universe, Gabriel is a former high school volleyball player and graduate of the University of North Texas. A short bio posted on the organization’s website said she is also CEO of her own sustainable clothing line.

Nearly 90 contestants from around the world took part in the competition, organizers said, involving “personal statements, in depth interviews and various categories including evening gown & swimwear.”

Miss Curacao, Gabriela Dos Santos, and Miss Puerto Rico, Ashley Carino, rounded out the top five finalists.

Last year’s winner was Harnaaz Sandhu of India.
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UFO Reports in US Rise to 510

Posted on by SeeUS

The U.S. has now collected 510 reports of unidentified flying objects, many of which are flying in sensitive military airspace. While there’s no evidence of extraterrestrials, they still pose a threat, the government said in a declassified report summary released Thursday.

Last year the Pentagon opened an office, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, solely focused on receiving and analyzing all of those reports of unidentified phenomena, many of which have been reported by military pilots. It works with the intelligence agencies to further assess those incidents.

The events “continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in its 2022 report.

The classified version of the report addresses how many of those objects were found near locations where nuclear power plants operate or nuclear weapons are stored.

The 510 objects include 144 objects previously reported and 366 new reports. In both the old and new cases, after analysis, the majority have been determined to exhibit “unremarkable characteristics,” and could be characterized as unmanned aircraft systems, or balloon-like objects, the report said.

But the office is also tasked with reporting any movements or reports of objects that may indicate that a potential adversary has a new technology or capability.

The Pentagon’s anomaly office is also to include any unidentified objects moving underwater, in the air, or in space, or something that moves between those domains, which could pose a new threat.

ODNI said in its report that efforts to destigmatize reporting and emphasize that the objects may pose a threat likely contributed to the additional reports.
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Cameroon’s ‘Funeral Music’ Gives Voice to Frustrated Youth

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It began as a form of music chanted at wakes to comfort mourners — now it is part of Cameroon’s cultural mainstream, and a powerful form of expression for its frustrated youth.

Mbole (pronounced “em-bo-lay”) developed around a quarter of a century ago in poor districts of Yaounde, the central African nation’s capital.

It began as a sort of back-and-forth at funeral vigils between a chanter, who would devise lyrics and sing them, and “responders,” who sang the lyrics back and provided rhythm using buckets, saucepans or other implements.

“You would invite people around, you formed a circle, and you started to play to keep people entertained,” said Etienne Koumato, a 24-year-old biology student who performs in a mbole group called League des Premiers and is signed to a specialist record label.

“At the start, mbole was stigmatized — people looked on it as gutter music, like rap,” he said.

“But beneath the image, it was adaptable and it won people over.”

Mbole spread to weddings and baptisms and other ceremonies, progressively becoming more sophisticated as instruments such as keyboards and the big West African drum, the djembe, were brought in.

Around six years ago, mbole started to go mainstream, and it is now feted as a national music genre.

“There’s no TV or radio station which doesn’t have mbole,” said Yannick Mindja, who has made a documentary on the music’s rise.

“We had Afro-beat, which came from Nigeria, but when you listen to mbole, you hear all the sounds of Cameroon,” he said, pointing to traditional music forms called bend skin, makossa and bikutsi.

“Mbole is the grandson of bikutsi and the nephew of makossa, but when you hear it, you feel immediately Cameroonian,” said Lionel Malongo Belinga, who performs under the name of Petit Malo.

Neighborhood roots

Beneath the media success, mbole remains a versatile form of expression and is still very much rooted in poor neighborhoods.

Poverty, drugs and insecurity are recurrent themes among its young performers, some of whom have almost iconic status in their neighborhoods.

In 2016, Petit Malo recorded his first mbole hit, “Dans mon kwatta” (‘In My Neighborhood’), which depicted life in Nkoldongo, a rundown area of Yaounde.

The district is a warren where wastewater runs in rivulets down the narrow unpaved streets.

Many homes have no door but just a cloth to cover their entrance, hanging above some shoes, showing that people live there.

The sound of voices and the djembe bring neighborhood youngsters running.

“Petit Malo is a good singer,” said Herman Sone, a 15-year-old fan. “He sings about peace and hope, and lots of good things.”

Female singers are also shouldering their way into a genre that “is still very male-oriented,” said Jeanne Manga, 29, who, as performer Jay-Ni, has set up a girls-only mbole group.

Mbole is a fine vehicle for denouncing sexism, she said.

“In my lyrics, I talk for instance about men who invite women out and then expect sexual favors in return,” she said. “We are not targets, and mbole gives us the chance to say so.”
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Let’s Waltz! Vienna Ball Season Back in Full Swing

Posted on by SeeEU

After COVID-19 restrictions had wiped out Vienna’s glamorous winter ball season for two years in a row, 50-year-old Wahyuni couldn’t wait any longer to get dolled up and put on her dazzling floral-patterned ballgown to once again waltz the night away.

“We love to come here, because the very nice decorations are made out of real flowers and it’s very lovely,” Wahyuni said, alongside her friend Deasy, who declined to give their full names, as both were attending the legendary Flower Ball in Vienna’s neo-Gothic city hall.

Admiring the riot of colors, 46-year-old Deasy, who originally hails from Indonesia, said she had been here a few years ago and “had to come back.”

Known for being one of the most beautifully decorated winter balls among about 450 hosted in the Austrian capital each season, the Flower Ball showcases mesmerizing floral arrangements skillfully crafted out of 100,000 blossoms.

Donning snow-white dresses and classy black evening suits, four first-time debutants said they were “quite nervous” about opening the ball.

“I think it is so beautifully decorated, and that makes me super happy,” 18-year-old Eduard Wernisch said.

The self-described rookies said they had attended dance classes for a couple of hours every week since September to be prepared.

The rhythm of the waltz can be tricky, and 17-year-old classmate Emma said she was particularly afraid of dropping her flower bouquet.

“People come here with the expectation of experiencing spring” as opposed to the gray, foggy winters so prevalent in Vienna, Peter Hucik, art director of the Flower Ball told Agence France-Presse.

Even though the ball is not sold out, Hucik said he is pleased that 2,400 visitors are attending Friday’s ball, kicking off the season as one of Vienna’s first big balls.

Most successful season

The COVID-related shutdown of Vienna’s famous ball season caused the city to lose at least $164 million in revenue per year.

This season, however, appeared to be on track to become one of Vienna’s most successful on record.

“The season is making a roaring comeback,” said Markus Griessler, chairman of the tourism and leisure division of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce.

Griessler said he expects the city to rake in 170 million euros this season.

“Every third Viennese aged 15 and older is planning to attend a ball this year,” compared with 1 in 4 in 2019, he added, noting that nearly 550,000 tickets have been sold.

About one-tenth of the ball-goers each year come from abroad. On average, every ball-goer spends around 320 euros per ball.

Too close for comfort

There are parallels between Vienna’s ball season and traveling in general, Norbert Kettner, director of the city’s tourist office told AFP, when asked about why balls remained a top priority.

“Clearly, people insist on traveling and dancing,” said Kettner while emphasizing the city’s age-old tradition of hosting such events.

The tradition dates to the 18th century, when the balls of the Habsburg royal court ceased to be reserved for the aristocracy alone.

The Viennese began adopting court customs for their own soirees, soon launching balls dedicated to hunters, cafe owners and florists.

The Viennese used the opportunity to approach the opposite sex, lavishly wine, dine, spy and dance.

“The Viennese ball season and the waltz had always been a thorn in the side of the Catholic Church,” Kettner said, because “waltzing was too close for comfort.”

Therefore the famous ball season “loosely follows the Christian calendar and wraps up before Ash Wednesday,” he added.

Thousands will earn their living in the flourishing sector, from hotels and restaurants to fashioning evening wear and hairdressing.

All businesses were as excited as the revelers to gear up and make this season a success.
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Retired General Wins First Round of Czech Presidential Vote

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With nearly all the votes counted in the first round of the Czech Republic’s presidential election, retired army General Petr Pavel eked out a narrow victory over billionaire populist and former Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

Pavel won 35.39% of the votes Saturday versus 35% for Babis in the eight-candidate field.  The two will face off against each other in another round of voting in two weeks.

Economics professor Danuse Nerudova finished third with 13.9% of the vote.  No other candidate received more than 7%.

Political analysts had predicted a close contest between the 68-year-Babis and the 61-year-old Pavel.

Babis was the leading opposition candidate, and Czech political analyst and writer Jiří Pehe described him as an “oligarch populist” who, he said, “flirts with the political orientation” of Hungarian President Viktor Orban.

Orban, an admirer of former U.S. President Donald Trump, comes under frequent criticism from the European Union, which has accused him of stifling democratic institutions.

Pavel, a former chair of NATO’s military committee, received the endorsement of the government. He and Nerudova, were seen as the most pro-Western, pro-democratic candidates.

Nerudova would have been the first woman to hold the office of president.

Political analyst Pehe, who leads New York University’s academic center in Prague, told VOA the war in Ukraine is likely to play a significant role in the elections, as it has raised security and foreign policy concerns to a higher level than they otherwise would be in the election.

That was likely to favor Pavel, Pehe said, because of his extensive military and international experience. The political analyst said Pavel has been an enthusiastic supporter of Ukraine as the country defends itself from Russian attacks, while Babis has been more ambiguous.

Pehe said polls indicated the economy was a major issue for Czech voters, which could help Babis, as he has stressed domestic issues over aid to Ukraine. But Pehe added that the voters want to see the Czech Republic maintain strong ties with the West and NATO, likely helped Pavel.

Recent Gallup polling shared with VOA shows that approval of EU leadership has risen to 49% in the country, the highest level recorded in 13 years. Approval of Russian leadership, meanwhile, is at a 13-year low of 5%.

Corruption is also a major concern of Czech voters, according to the 2022 Gallup polling. It showed that 74% of the public believe that corruption is widespread in the government, a belief that has been fairly consistent since 2006.

On the positive side, 65% of respondents told Gallup they are confident in the honesty of elections.

The winner of the election will take over from current President Milos Zeman, who is completing his second term. Pehe said Zeman became a divisive figure — who was quite pro-Russia and China — when he attempted to over-step his presidential powers as designated by the nation’s constitution.

In the Czech government, the president is elected by the popular vote and appoints the prime minister, but the job is otherwise a largely ceremonial post.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. Myroslava Gongadze reported from Warsaw.
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Britain to Send 14 Tanks, Artillery to Ukraine, PM Says

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for heavy weapons, primarily tanks, was officially answered late Saturday by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose office said Britain would send 14 tanks along with artillery support to Ukraine.

“As the people of Ukraine approach their second year living under relentless Russian bombardment, the prime minister is dedicated to ensuring Ukraine wins this war,” a spokesperson for the prime minister said in a statement.

The Russian embassy said in its own statement that the tanks “are unlikely to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine turn the tide on the battlefield,” and would instead drag out the war.

Earlier Saturday, Russia launched another massive missile attack on Ukrainian cities.

“Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Ladyzhyn, Burshtyn, Lviv region, Khmelnytsky and other cities were targets of terrorists. Civilian objects are everywhere!” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

At least 14 people were killed and 64 wounded, among them children, in the southeastern city of Dnipro. A Russian missile strike there destroyed a section of a nine-story apartment building, regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. Infrastructure was also damaged in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Odesa regions, as well as in Kharkiv and Kyiv.

Targeting civilians and critical infrastructure across Ukraine has been a consistent tactic by Russia. According to the Geneva Conventions, targeting vital public infrastructure constitutes a war crime.

Zelenskyy said the death toll in Dnipro is expected to increase.

“Debris clearance is still ongoing and will continue throughout the night. It’s not yet known how many people are under the rubble. Unfortunately, the death toll is growing every hour,” he said. “My condolences to relatives and friends.”

Local authorities reported that Ukraine’s air defense downed Russian missiles in Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, and Ivano-Frankivsk. Ukraine’s top military commander said his forces shot down 21 of the 33 cruise missiles Russia fired.

The strikes caused emergency blackouts in multiple regions, such as the Kharkiv region and the city of Kharkiv in the northeast — Ukraine’s second-largest city. In the western Lviv Oblast, the governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, said there might be interruptions in the power and water supply because of missile damage.

Another energy facility was hit in the western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, according to Governor Svitlana Onyschuk. A fire broke out at the site following the attack, Onyschuk said, adding there were no casualties.

Earlier, Odesa authorities said the missiles were launched “from air and sea,” while Southern Operational Command reported that five Russian missile carriers with a total of 36 Kalibr cruise missiles were detected in the Black Sea.

During the attack, a defiant Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, said, “We will fight back.”

In the country’s Donbas, fighting continues to rage around Soledar, with Russia claiming to have captured the town and Hanna Malyar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, saying: “fierce battles for Soledar are continuing.”

Zelenskyy reiterated his pleas for more weapons from the West.

“What is needed for this? Those weapons that are in the warehouses of our partners and that our troops are so waiting for,” he said.

“No amount of persuasion or just passing the time will stop the terrorists, who are methodically killing our people with missiles, drones bought in Iran, their own artillery, tanks and mortars. The whole world knows what can stop and how it’s possible to stop those who sow death,” he said.

A few hours after Saturday’s missile strikes, Britain promised to send the Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to help the country repel Russia’s invasion.

Sunak’s office said the tanks would be sent into the country in the coming weeks along with about 30 self-propelled AS90 guns to follow. Training for Ukrainian troops will begin soon on how to use the guns and the tanks.

The Challenger 2 is Britain’s main battle tank. It is designed to attack other tanks and has been in service since 1994, according to the army.

Sunak and Zelenskyy spoke by phone Saturday, after which Zelenskyy turned to Twitter to thank the prime minister “for the decisions that will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners.”

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and The Associated Press.
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