Month: April 2023

Jon Rahm Rallies to Win the Masters

Posted on by SeeEU

Jon Rahm turned the longest day into his sweetest victory, starting Sunday with a four-shot deficit in the morning chill and finishing in fading sunlight as the fourth Spaniard to become a Masters champion. 

Rahm closed with a 3-under 69 to pull away from mistake-prone Brooks Koepka. He won by four shots over Koepka and 52-year-old Phil Mickelson, who turned in a tournament-best 65. He is the oldest runner-up in Masters history. 

It was Mickelson who declared Rahm would be among golf’s biggest stars even before the Spaniard turned pro in 2016. Rahm now has a green jacket to go along with his U.S. Open title he won in 2021 at Torrey Pines. 

Rahm made up two shots on Koepka over the final 12 holes of the rain-delayed third round and started the final round two shots behind. He seized on Koepka’s collapse and then surged so far ahead that Mickelson’s amazing closing round — the best final round ever at Augusta National for the three-time Masters champion — was never going to be enough. 

Nothing was more satisfying than an uphill climb to the 18th green to claim the green jacket on a day when Spanish stars aligned. Sunday is the birthdate of his idol, the late Seve Ballesteros, and this is the 40-year anniversary of Ballesteros winning his second Masters title. 

Rahm embraced his wife and two children, and as he walked toward the scoring room, there was two-time Masters champion José María Olazábal in his green jacket for the strongest hug of all. 

Rahm won for the fourth time this year — just as Scottie Scheffler did a year ago when he won the Masters — and reclaimed the No. 1 world ranking from Scheffler. 

This Masters had a little bit of everything — hot and humid at the start, a cold front with wind that toppled three trees on Friday, putting surfaces saturated from rain on Saturday and a marathon finish Sunday as Rahm and Koepka went 30 holes. 

Koepka helped to pave the way with one miscue after another, losing the lead for the first time since Thursday afternoon when he chipped 20 feet past the hole from behind the par-3 sixth and made his second bogey. There would be more to come. 

Worse yet, Koepka went 22 consecutive holes Sunday without a birdie — from the par-5 eighth hole in the morning of the third round until the par-5 13th in final round. By then, he was three shots behind and Rahm all but sealed it with his next shot. 

He hit a low cut around a tree from right of the 14th fairway and it caught a slope just right on the 14th green and fed down to 3 feet for a birdie. When Koepka three-putted for bogey, it was a matter of finishing. 

Rahm hooked his tee shot into the trees on the final hole and didn’t reach the fairway. No matter. He played up the fairway, hit wedge to 3 feet and tapped in for the victory. 

The leaderboard was littered with major champions and a tinge of Saudi-funded LIV Golf. Mickelson and Koepka both are part of the rival circuit. Former Masters champion Patrick Reed, another player who defected to LIV, closed with a 68 and tied for fourth with Jordan Spieth (66) and Russell Henley. 
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Boat With 400 Migrants Adrift Between Greece, Malta

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A vessel with around 400 people on board is adrift between Greece and Malta and is taking on water, support service Alarm Phone said Sunday, after a sharp rise of migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa. 

Alarm Phone said on Twitter they had received a call from the boat, which departed from Tobruk, in Libya, overnight and that they had informed authorities. But authorities had not launched a rescue operation so far, they added. 

Alarm Phone said the boat was now in the Maltese Search and Rescue area (SAR). 

German NGO Sea-Watch International said on its Twitter account it had found the boat with two merchant ships nearby. 

It said the Maltese authorities had ordered the ships not to carry out a rescue and that one of them was just asked to supply it with fuel. 

It was not immediately possible to reach Maltese authorities for comment. 

Alarm Phone said people on board were panicking, with several of them requiring medical attention. The vessel was out of fuel and its lower deck was full of water, while the captain had left and there was nobody who could steer the boat, they said. 

Another NGO, Germany’s RESQSHIP, said Sunday at least 23 migrants died overnight in the Mediterranean in a separate shipwreck. 

It said on Twitter the NGO found 25 people in the water during a rescue operation, and its staff were able to recover 22 survivors and two bodies, although it was told about 20 other people that had already drowned. 

Last week 440 migrants were rescued off Malta after a complex 11-hour operation in stormy seas by the Geo Barents vessel of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity. 

At least 23 African migrants were missing and four died Saturday after their two boats sank off Tunisia as they tried to reach Italy. 
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Ramadan Spurs Muslims in South Africa to Give to Those in Need

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Muslims across South Africa are observing Ramadan with prayer and fasting. But some also see the holy month as an opportunity to reach out to those in need within their communities. Zaheer Cassim spoke to residents in Johannesburg and has the story.
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‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Smashes Box Office

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Audiences said let’s go to the movie theater for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” this weekend. The animated offering from Universal and Illumination powered up with $204.6 million in its first five days in 4,343 North American theaters, including $146.4 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

With an estimated $173 million in international earnings and a global total of $377 million, “Mario” broke records for video game adaptations (passing “Warcraft’s” $210 million) and animated films (“Frozen 2’s” $358 million).

Its global total makes it the biggest opening of 2023 and the second biggest three-day domestic animated opening (behind “Finding Dory”). It’s also a record for Illumination, the animation shop behind successful franchises like “Minions,” which has made over $5 billion from its 13 films.

“This partnership between Nintendo and Illumination is just incredible and led to this extraordinary performance,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

The PG-rated “Mario” is an origin story of Brooklyn plumbers Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, and Luigi (Charlie Day), who fall into a pipe and come out in another world full of Nintendo’s most famous characters, from Bowser (Jack Black) to Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Critics were largely mixed. “Mario” currently has a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences were more favorable, giving it an A CinemaScore.

Orr said that theater owners were surprised by just how broad the audiences were and reported seeing some ticket buyers decked out in character costumes for the movie. According to exit polls, 59% of the audience was male and 45% were between the ages of 18 and 34.

“$377 million worldwide is just astounding and a testament to how important outside of the home activities are for families,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Kids and their parents collectively were able to go out, have an outside the home event for the whole family at a relatively bargain price compared to a trip or a sporting event.”

Also, Dergarabedian noted, there is a long runway before “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” opens on May 5.

“This was a perfect release date,” Dergarabedian said.

“Mario” wasn’t the only movie based on a brand that opened in theaters this week. Ben Affleck’s “Air,” about the origins of Nike’s Air Jordan and how the corporation signed Michael Jordan, also debuted in 3,507 theaters Wednesday. The film, which marks Amazon Studios’ first global theatrical release, has grossed an estimated $20.2 million since opening Wednesday in North America, with $14.5 million coming from the weekend to give it a fourth-place start.

With an R-rating, “Air,” starring Matt Damon, Viola Davis and Affleck, was a bit of adult-targeted counter programming to the “Mario” juggernaut. Reviews were glowing (95% on Rotten Tomatoes) for the film which debuted as a surprise screening at the South by Southwest Film Festival last month, helping to bolster buzz. Audiences were 55% male and 39% over the age of 45.

“‘Air’ found its audience. It’s a solid gross,” Dergarabedian said. “This one is in it for the long haul.”

“Air” is the first film from Affleck and Damon’s new company Artists Equity which was formed last year in partnership with RedBird Capital.

Second place went to “John Wick Chapter 4” which made $14.6 million in its third weekend, bringing its total grosses to $147.1 million. Close behind was “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” which placed third with $14.5 million in its second weekend, while “Scream VI” rounded out the top 5 with $3.3 million.

In limited release, Kelly Reichardt’s art centric ” Showing Up,” with Michelle Williams and Hong Chau, also bowed on four screens, grossing $66,932.

“This is such an important weekend for theaters, a home stretch heading into the summer movie season, and this is a perfect scenario,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s game on for movie theaters when a lot of people thought it was game over.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

  1. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $146.4 million.

  2. “John Wick: Chapter 4,” $14.6 million.

  3. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $14.5 million.

  4. “Air,” $14.5 million.

  5. “Scream VI,” $3.3 million.

  6. “His Only Son,” $3.3 million.

  7. “Creed III,” $2.8 million.

  8. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” $1.6 million.

  9. “Paint,” $750,000.

  10. “A Thousand and One,” $600,000.
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Reports: Tesla Plans Shanghai Factory for Power Storage

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Electric car maker Tesla Inc. plans to build a factory in Shanghai to produce power-storage devices for sale worldwide, state media reported Sunday.

Plans call for annual production of 10,000 Megapack units, according to the Xinhua News Agency and state television. They said the company made the announcement at a signing ceremony in Shanghai, where Tesla operates an auto factory.

The factory is due to break ground in the third quarter of this year and start production in the second quarter of 2024, the reports said.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to requests for information.
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Irish PM Seeks Restoration of Northern Ireland Power-Sharing   

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Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar pledged Sunday to intensify efforts with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak to restore power-sharing government in Northern Ireland and hopes to break the deadlock there in the next few months.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has said it will not drop a yearlong boycott of the devolved assembly in protest at post-Brexit trade rules without further changes to a deal struck by the United Kingdom and the European Union in February to ease the trade barriers.

London has said it will not renegotiate any part of its new agreement.

“We put a huge amount of effort in the last few months into getting an agreement on revisions and reforms to the protocol,” Varadkar told national broadcaster RTE, referring to the checks on goods between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. that has angered many pro-British unionists.

“The next piece now is deep engagement with the British government and also with the five parties in Northern Ireland to try and get the institutions up and running again, and certainly over the next few weeks I’ll be intensifying my contacts with Prime Minister Sunak.”

Varadkar said he would work toward restoring the mandatory power-sharing government “in the next few months,” noting that May’s local council elections and the annual marching season in July – which often sparks sectarian tensions – could make an agreement more difficult in the short term.

The DUP, at odds with opinion polls that suggest most Northern Irish voters support the revised Brexit deal, has said its concerns over the continued role of EU law and Northern Ireland’s place in the U.K.’s internal market must be addressed.

The latest suspension of the assembly is casting a shadow over Monday’s 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Northern Ireland on Tuesday to mark the peace accord that ended three decades of bloodshed.

Power-sharing has collapsed several times for different reasons since its introduction as part of the peace deal, each time being restored after long political talks. The most recent lasted from 2017 to 2020.
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Activist Puts Spotlight on Potential Dangers of Skin-Whitening Products

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Qamar Ali Haji has been using skin-lightening products for four years. Initially she liked the change in her appearance but now the exposure to the chemicals in the products is taking a toll. She says she regrets it.

“I can’t sit too long in the school, I cannot bear the heat, my cheeks turn red, and I cannot go into the kitchen,” Haji said. “I cannot bear the slightest heat, I become boiled, there are ulcers on my legs, redness all over.”

The 19-year-old student is one of a growing number of women in Somalia who use the skin-lightening products.

Locally known as “qasqas” or “mixture,” the term reflects the combination of various skin-whitening products. Health advocates say using these products can cause dangerous side effects and lead to physical and mental health problems.

Somali officials and activists said the country’s political upheavals and the war on the al-Shabab militant group are overshadowing socially driven health dangers like skin-whitening. Due to a lack of awareness, some people don’t realize how dangerous these products can be.

The issue has attracted the attention of Amira Adawe, a leading activist with a master’s degree in public health from Minnesota. Adawe has traveled to the Horn of Africa region multiple times in recent years as part of her research into the practice of skin-whitening.

She is the founder of Beautywell, an organization that has been addressing this issue in the United States.

Adawe said the skin-lightening products from Kenya and Somalia that she tested contained high levels of toxic chemicals like mercury, hydroquinone and lead.

Mercury, hydroquinone, steroids and lead are the four main chemicals found in skin-whitening products, according to Adawe. Mercury is a toxic heavy metal. Women who use skin-lightning products that contain mercury, can suffer neurological side effects, and develop depression and anxiety, Adawe added.

“We had a Somali woman in the state of Minnesota who actually lost her vision because of (the) neurological impact that came from the use of skin-lighting products containing mercury,” she told Women’s Square, a new VOA Somali program.

“Some people also develop diabetics because medically, skin-lightning products impact hormones … which impacts the insulin in our body,” she said.

Other health risks include hypertension, kidney problems, skin sensitivity and skin cancer as product users cannot tolerate any sunlight, Adawe said.

“Steroids can give them a lot of skin tenderness,” she added.

There’s also the possibility of a mother passing the toxicity to her baby if she is breastfeeding.

Skin-whitening is multibillion-dollar industry that targets women around the globe. Adawe says the practice is especially high in countries where regulations on toxic products are weak or nonexistent, like Somalia.

According to Adawe many people in Somalia are using skin-whitening products.

“I have done several focus group sessions, key informant interviews and surveyed two universities,” she said. “In all these more than 140 women, girls and some men participated, and all of the women and girls were using. Some of the men were using.”

The focus groups and interviews took place in Mogadishu and Hargeisa.

“Women that I interviewed … in Somalia had kidney problems and other health issues like very (a) bad smell of fish odor, skin redness, skin ulcers, blue skin pigmentation, headache, severe wound healing problems and endocrinological problems,” she said.

“All of these (health issues) are associated with the use of mercury, hydroquinone and steroids in skin-lightening products.”

Adawe shared her work with Somali officials and explained the health issues associated with exposure to the toxic ingredients in skin-lightening products.

In Mogadishu she met female parliamentarians who promised to support legislation to regulate skin-lightening products with toxic chemicals. She also has been communicating with the Somali ministry of health to increase awareness of the problem and find strategies for regulating the toxic products.

Interim manager of the National Medicine Regulatory Authority at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Farah Mohamed Sharawe was one of the officials who met Adawe last month. He admits the government has not researched skin-whitening products.

“The first action of my office is to register the importation of these medications, find out who is bringing [them] in, and give them license. The other action is widespread awareness about the harmful impacts of these medications. [To] prevent expanding of skin-whitening problems,” he said.

Sharawe said the ministry agreed with Adawe on the need for research about the cosmetics coming into Somali and the amount of toxicity, if any, the products may contain.

“Conduct research into the compounds, check the level of mercury and other harmful elements, and then share … [the] data with the public,” he said. “This needs legislation, the Medicine and Food Safety Bill, which the Cabinet has passed. That legislation is important.”

While the Medicine and Food Safety Bill has Cabinet approval, it won’t become law until Parliament approves it.

Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik, the World Health Organization representative for Somalia, also met Adawe.

“These are poisons which should never be allowed to come in. She is using science to understand the scope of this problem and address these problems which are harmful to public health. She is doing it without any fear,” he said.

Malik said WHO is planning to set up a laboratory for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment to test and identify contaminated products.

“Within (the) next few months we will help them to have the ability to test these cosmetic products, food and any other imported products which pose (a) risk to (the) health of the population,” he said.

Personal mission

The practice of whitening skin is personal to Adawe. She has faced discrimination because of her own dark skin color.

“At a very young age I had a little experience of colorism; as you know colorism, it’s a cultural thing that happens all over the world because of skin color discrimination especially in countries that went through colonization and slavery,” Adawe said.

“So at very young age I remember people always commenting on my skin color and so that stayed with me but also I have seen when I was growing up in Somalia and also growing up in the United States especially in Minnesota, many individuals that are using these products, whether it’s relatives or friends or people that I came to know using these products and externally I could see how it was impacting their skin color.”

She said she hopes to see the Somali government ban the toxic ingredients like mercury, lead and other chemicals found in some skin-lightening products and establish a regulatory system for the drugs and cosmetics.

Harun Maruf contributed to this report.
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Pope at Easter: Pray for Ukrainian, Russian People, Refugees

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In an Easter message highlighting hope, Pope Francis on Sunday invoked prayers for both the Ukrainian and Russian people, praised nations which welcome refugees and called on Israelis and Palestinians wracked by the latest surge in deadly violence to forge a “climate of trust.”

Francis, along with dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of faithful, celebrated Easter Mass in a flower-adorned St. Peter’s Square, affirming the Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead days after his crucifixion.

The 86-year-old pontiff topped the celebration with a traditional speech about troubled places in the world. Encouraging “trust among individuals, peoples and nations,” Francis said Easter’s joy “illumines the darkness and gloom in which, all too often, our world finds itself enveloped.”

The pope’s Easter message is known by its Latin name, “Urbi et Orbi,” which means “to the city and the world.”

Since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022, Francis has repeatedly called for the fighting to end and sought prayers for the “martyred” Ukrainian people.

Ukrainian diplomats have complained that he hasn’t come down hard enough in his statements on Russia and particularly Russian President Vladimir Putin as the Vatican tries to avoid alienating Moscow.

“Help the beloved Ukrainian people on their journey towards peace, and shed the light of Easter upon the people of Russia,” Francis implored God in his Easter speech, which he delivered while sitting in a chair on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica facing the square. “Comfort the wounded and all those who have lost loved ones because of the war, and grant that prisoners may return safe and sound to their families.”

He urged the international community to work to end the war in Ukraine and “all conflict and bloodshed in the world, beginning with Syria, which still awaits peace.”

Francis also prayed for those who lost loved ones in an earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey two months ago, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

With a renewal in deadly violence affecting both Israelis and Palestinians in recent days, Francis called for a “resumption of dialogue, in a climate of trust and reciprocal respect, between Israelis and Palestinians, so that peace may reign in the Holy City and in the entire region,” a reference to Jerusalem.

But Francis also noted progress on some fronts.

“Let us rejoice at the concrete signs of hope that reach us from so many countries, beginning with those that offer assistance and welcome to all fleeing war and poverty,” he said, without naming any particular nations.

How to care for asylum-seekers, migrants and refugees, and whether to allow them entrance, is a raging political and social debate in much of Europe, as well in the United States and elsewhere.

Francis also prayed that national leaders “ensure that no man or woman may encounter discrimination” and that there would be “full respect for human rights and democracy.”

With migrants risking their lives in smugglers’ unseaworthy boats in hopes of reaching Europe, the pope said that Tunisia’s people, particularly the young, struggle with social and economic hardship.

In the last two weeks, dozens have died or were left missing after attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Tunisia.

The pope included Lebanon and two African countries he visited this year – South Sudan and Congo – among the nations in need of ending divisions and building reconciliation.

Speaking about Haiti, he appealed to “political actors and the international community to seek a definitive solution to the many problems that afflict that sorely tried people.”

The bloody conflicts cited by Francis contrasted with a riot of bright colors lent by orange-red tulips, yellow sprays of forsythia and daffodils, hyacinths and other colorful seasonal flowers that decorated St. Peter’s Square. The blooms were trucked in trucks from the Netherlands.

By the end of the pope’s appearance, some 100,00 people had flocked to the square in time for the pontiff’s speech, according to the Vatican’s crowd count.

A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye for the Mass 12 hours after a 2.25-hour long Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica the night before.

Francis was hospitalized March 29-April 1 for treatment of bronchitis. Still recovering, he skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.

Near the end of the more than two-hour-long Easter Sunday appearance, Francis seemed to run out of steam. His voice grew hoarse and he interrupted his speech at one point to cough.

He nonetheless made several laps through the square in the popemobile after the Mass, waving and smiling at cheering well-wishers.
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South Africa Police Say Prison Escapee Arrested in Tanzania 

Posted on by SeeAF

 

 

 

 

 

 

South Africa police say prison escapee arrested in Tanzania

(RADIO)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police say that a convicted murderer who faked his death to escape prison has been arrested in Tanzania following a two-week manhunt. South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said officials are going to Tanzania Sunday to begin to extradite Thabo Bester, 35. Bester was dubbed the “Facebook Rapist” as he used the social media platform to lure at least two women he was convicted of raping. He was also found guilty of killing one. Bester was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 and it was reported in May last year that he died in a fire in his cell. However, nearly a year later an investigation showed that the body found in the cell was not his.

(WEB)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African convicted murderer who faked his death to escape from prison has been arrested in Tanzania following a two-week manhunt, police have announced.

South African officials are going to Tanzania Sunday to begin to extradite Thabo Bester, 35, dubbed the “Facebook Rapist” as he used the social media platform to lure at least two women he was convicted of raping. He was also found guilty of killing one.

Bester was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 and it was reported in May last year that he died in a fire in his prison cell.

However, reports surfaced of him being seen in Johannesburg and an investigation including DNA samples showed that the body found burned beyond recognition in the cell was not his.

Two weeks ago police said they were chasing Bester and last week they raided a luxurious home he was believed to have been renting in a posh Johannesburg suburb.

Bester was apprehended with his girlfriend Nandipha Magudumana, a well-known celebrity doctor, and a Mozambican national believed to have assisted them to cross borders and evade law enforcement authorities, officials announced.

They were found with several fake passports which were unstamped at the time of their arrest, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Kenyan border.

Authorities have now started the process to extradite the fugitives back to South Africa, where they are expected to face several charges. “An official delegation from South Africa, comprising senior officials from the police and the department of justice and correctional services will depart for Tanzania on Sunday,” Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said Saturday, announcing Bester’s arrest.

The South African news outlet GroundUp reported that for nearly a year after his prison escape Bester had lived a lavish lifestyle with Magudumana in Johannesburg’s upmarket Hyde Park suburb.

While in prison, Bester used a laptop he had for studies to run an event and production company, GroundUp reported. At one point he addressed a conference from his prison cell, telling attendees that he was speaking from the U.S., it reported.

Bester’s elaborate escape from prison has raised many questions about the possible involvement of prison officials.

At least three officials have been fired from the Mangaung Correctional Centre from where Bester escaped, according to local reports. The prison was managed privately by the British-based G4S security firm. The South African government has now taken over management of the maximum security prison and has announced that the G4S contract to manage the prison will not be renewed when it expires in 2026.
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Oldest US City Remains a Mystery to Many

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More than half a century before the Pilgrims set up a colony at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts, and 42 years before the first permanent English settlement in North America was founded at Jamestown in Virginia, the Spanish established the city of St. Augustine in the far northeastern corner of Florida.

And yet, despite its status as the oldest continuously occupied settlement founded by non-Indigenous residents in the United States, St. Augustine is rarely mentioned in American history classes.

“I think it’s because it’s Spanish colonial history that we’re talking about,” says Nancy Sikes-Klein, mayor of St. Augustine. “Some people might say it’s Anglo biased.”

Retired American history professor Thomas Graham, who says he can trace his lineage back to the Spanish period, agrees.

“People are oriented towards the northeast, towards the original English-speaking colonies, and for the longest time, St. Augustine and Florida were part of the Spanish Empire,” says Graham, who taught at Flagler College in St. Augustine before retiring in 2008. “St. Augustine and Florida have been neglected for a long time. Although that’s changing a bit as our horizons have broadened.”

The Spanish controlled St. Augustine from 1565 until 1821, except for a brief period of English rule between 1763 and 1783. St. Augustine became part of the United States in 1821 when Spain peacefully turned its Florida territories, which had become a financial burden, over to the Americans.

Today, St. Augustine is a relatively small town. It covers 10.7 square miles (27.7 square kilometers) and has a population of about 15,000.

And, despite centuries of Spanish rule, little visual evidence of Spain’s influence remains in St. Augustine because most of the buildings from that era are long gone.

“We have a plaza, and we have streets laid out in a grid in a traditional Spanish, and before that, Roman style,” Graham says. “The streets are still here, the narrow streets, the small city blocks, and they survive as a part of the oldest part of St. Augustine.”

The oldest structure in St. Augustine is Castillo de San Marcos, a fort built by the Spanish in 1695 to protect against English attacks. The fort is now a national monument.

“It was designed to protect an entire town. Whoever controls the city of St. Augustine and that fortress, at the time, controlled the territory of Florida,” says Chris Leverett of the National Park Service. “The records we have of St. Augustine being under attack describe the town being surrounded by ships, and soldiers occupying the city, the town’s inhabitants taking shelter within the fort.”

The central plaza, as well as the buildings surrounding it, were a key part of St. Augustine’s heyday as a playground for wealthy Americans escaping harsh winters in northern U.S. states. In the 1870s, American industrialist Henry Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil, decided to build three world-class hotels — Hotel Ponce de Leon, Hotel Alcazar and Hotel Cordova — for rich visitors.

“He saw that wealthy northerners have discovered that St. Augustine had warm weather and sunshine in January, which New York did not have,” Graham says. “Prior to this, resort hotels tended to be what we would think of as frontier hotels. You went to one of these hotels and you expected to rough it. You expected that the accommodations and food would not be as good. And, Flagler said, ‘We’re going to change that.’”

But the wealthy didn’t stay long. Within 20 years, the rich discovered that Palm Beach, Florida, had even better weather. Today, Hotel Ponce de Leon is Flagler College and Hotel Alcazar, once famous for its casino and enormous swimming pool, houses city hall and a museum. Only Hotel Cordova, the smallest of the three, still hosts overnight guests, but is now called Hotel Casa Monica.

Still, tourism remains a main source of income for the city. More than 3 million people visited St. Augustine between July 2021 and June 2022. Many are day-trippers, and the city is looking for ways to entice them to stay longer.

“We would like to see the cultural visitor, the civic tourist so to speak, because we feel like they will stay longer and they will dig deeper,” Sikes-Klein says. “We have so many layers of history here that we want them to stay longer so that they can explore.”

The city hopes to attract even more visitors as St. Augustine’s status as the nation’s oldest continuously occupied U.S. city becomes more widely known. Centuries after its founding, the historic city still waits to be fully appreciated by a modern audience.
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Woods Withdraws Before Completing 3rd Round of Masters 

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Tiger Woods withdrew from the Masters before the resumption of the third round Sunday, ending his streak of completing all 72 holes of every tournament he has played at Augusta National as a professional.

The tournament said about 90 minutes before play was to begin that Woods, who is still hobbled by the effects of a 2021 car accident that nearly cost him his right leg, had withdrawn with an injury. He had limped through practice rounds early in the week and again during the first and second rounds, but it had become more pronounced as the weather worsened.

The five-time champion finished his second round in cold, driving rain on Saturday to make the cut on the number at 3 over, extending his Masters streak to 23 straight and tying Fred Couples and Gary Player for the longest in history.

The 47-year-old Woods headed back out for the start of the third round as temperatures struggled to reach 50 degrees, and it wound up being a water-logged slog. Wearing a gray winter hat over a baseball cap, he started on the 10th hole with a bogey, added another at No. 14, and then had back-to-back double bogeys after finding the water on Nos. 15 and 16.

It was the first time Woods has ever had consecutive double bogeys at the Masters.

By the time the horn blew ending play with rain still pouring and puddles beginning to stand at Augusta National, Woods was at 9 over and alone in last place among those that made the cut. That was 22 shots behind leader Brooks Koepka.

The 15-time major champion also withdrew before the final round of last year’s PGA Championship with what his agent, Mark Steinberg, described as pain and discomfort in his right foot. That came hours after he shot 79 at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in similarly cold and windy weather.

 
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Hamburg Residents on Alert for Toxins from Fire Kilometers Away

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The residents of the German city of Hamburg have been warned that toxins from  a warehouse fire in the city of Rothenburgsort, a few kilometers southeast of Hamburg are headed their way.

Reuters reports that despite not knowing just how toxic the fumes may be, authorities have decided to evacuate 140 Hamburg residents, while other Hamburg residents have been instructed to stay home with their doors and window closed.  

The fire erupted early Sunday and continued to burn Sunday afternoon, despite scores of firefighters battling the blaze.

The warehouse contents were not immediately clear.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.
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Pope, Big Crowd Mark Easter in Flower-Adorned Vatican Square

Posted on by SeeEU

Pope Francis opened a celebration of Mass on Easter Sunday joined by dozens of prelates and tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square, where spring flowers made the vast space bright. made bright by spring flowers.

Orange-red tulips, yellow sprays of forsythia and daffodils, and other colorful seasonal blooms were transported in trucks from the Netherlands on Saturday and set up in planters to decorate the Vatican square, which quickly filled up Sunday with Rome residents and Holy Week visitors to the city.

Some 45,000 people had gathered by the start of the mid-morning Mass, according to Vatican security services.

At the beginning of the Easter ceremony inspired by the core Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion, Francis sprinkled holy water and sounded somewhat tired as he recited ritual words in Latin.

A canopy on the edge of steps on the square sheltered the pontiff, who was back in the public eye 12 hours after a 2.25-hour long Easter vigil ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica the night before.

Still recovering from bronchitis, Francis, 86, skipped the traditional Good Friday procession at Rome’s Colosseum due to unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures.

Sunday was breezy, but the temperature quickly rose a day after rain and strong wind gusts lashed Rome.

At the end of the Mass, Francis was set to deliver a speech that pontiffs give on Christmas and Easter. Known by its Latin name, “Urbi et Orbi,” which means to the city and to the world, the message is a frequently an occasion to decry wars and injustices around the globe, including religious persecution.

Francis has generally rebounded following a three-day stay last week at a Rome hospital where he was administered antibiotics intravenously for bronchitis. He was discharged on April 1. Except for forgoing the Colosseum Way of the Cross torch-lit procession, he has stuck to a heavy schedule of Holy Week public appearances.
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Building Collapses in Marseille, France

Posted on by SeeEU

A residential building in Marseille collapsed Sunday.  Emergency workers are looking for victims.  At least six people were injured.

Officials say an explosion was heard, but it is not immediately clear if an explosion caused the building to collapse or if the collapse resulted in an explosion.

A fire, however, erupted on the site after the building fell.

“We’re trying to drown the fire while preserving the lives of eventual victims under the rubble,” Lionel Mathieu, commander of the Marseille fire brigade, said.  

Two buildings near the downed structure have also partially collapsed.

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Ethiopia PM Vows to Dismantle Regional Military Forces

Posted on by SeeAF

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed vowed Sunday to dismantle regional forces established by some states, warning that law enforcement measures would be taken against any “destructive” opposition.

The initiative first announced on Thursday aims to integrate such forces, which were set up unilaterally by some states, into the federal army, regional police or civilian life.

These forces have sparked controversy in the past, particularly during the brutal Tigray war, with security officials operating in Amhara region accused of severe human rights abuses.

Ethiopia’s constitution allows its 11 states, drawn up along linguistic and cultural lines, to operate their own regional police forces.

But over the last 15 years, some states have gradually established separate forces, acting outside these constitutional constraints.

In a statement published on his Twitter account on Sunday, Abiy said “Ethiopia had encountered difficulties… in relation to regional special forces,” pointing out the existence of illegal checkpoints, smuggling and banditry.

Regional forces and local militias bolstered support for federal troops in their two-year war against Tigrayan rebels, until a peace deal was signed in November 2022, angering some Amhara residents who have a long history of border disputes with Tigray.

Reports of localised unrest have also emerged in Amhara where regional forces have begun to disarm, with Abiy saying the government would “try to convince and explain (the decision) to those who oppose without understanding.”

“Law enforcement measures will be taken against those who play deliberate destructive roles,” he warned.

“This decision will be implemented even (if we have to) pay a price, for the sake of Ethiopia’s… unity and for the people’s peace.”

Since war erupted in northern Ethiopia in November 2020, Amhara forces and local militias known as Fano have occupied western Tigray, an area claimed by Amhara and Tigray, which remains inaccessible to journalists.

Following a visit to Ethiopia last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Amhara forces had committed “ethnic cleansing” by forcibly transferring people out of western Tigray.

All parties to the conflict have been accused of possible war crimes by UN investigators.

The war began when Abiy sent troops into Tigray after accusing the TPLF, once the dominant party in Ethiopia, of attacking army bases.
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Latest in Ukraine:  UK Says Russia Attempting to Normalize Illegal Annexation of Areas in Ukraine

Posted on by SeeEU

The British Defense Ministry said Sunday that having Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev deliver the main report at the recent full session of Russia’s Security Council was an attempt to normalize the situation in the illegally annexed areas of Ukraine.

“In reality,” the ministry said in the intelligence update posted on Twitter, “much of the area remains an active combat zone, subject to partisan attacks, and with extremely limited access to basic services for many citizens.”

Russia’s Security Council met last week for the first time since October 2022.

Following the return of 31 children to Ukraine, the head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, emphasized in a phone call Saturday with Amal Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, the importance of returning all the deported children to Ukraine.

Yermak and Clooney, co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, discussed protecting the rights of Ukrainian children and holding Russia accountable for crimes committed against them, according to the official website of the president of Ukraine.

Clooney, who specializes in international criminal law and human rights issues, has addressed the U.N. Security Council calling for justice as evidence of the crimes and atrocities allegedly committed by the Russian military began emerging weeks after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

On behalf of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yermak thanked Clooney.

“People in Ukraine know about your support and appreciate it a lot. Many people heard your speech and everything you said about the war and Ukrainians. This is extremely important indeed,” Yermak said, according to the president’s website.

Clooney reiterated her support for Ukraine and Ukrainians, adding that she and her foundation colleagues remain committed to their work to promote accountability and deliver justice for victims of international crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

Kyiv says thousands taken

Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia in what Ukraine condemns as illegal deportations since Moscow invaded in February of last year. Moscow claims the children were transported away for their own safety.

Earlier Saturday, the head of a humanitarian group said 31 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine after what he described as was one of the group’s most difficult operations to return children from Russia, where they had been taken during the war.

So far, the Save Ukraine humanitarian organization says it has undertaken five missions to return Ukrainian children to their families. The group has helped with the transportation and planning needed to help parents bring their children back.

Mykola Kuleba, the head of Save Ukraine and Ukraine’s former commissioner for children’s rights, told reporters no one in Russia was trying to find the children’s parents.

Missile downed over Crimea

A missile fired from Ukrainian-held territory was shot down over the Black Sea town of Feodosia in Russian-controlled Crimea, the Moscow-installed head of Crimea’s administration said Saturday.

“A missile launched from Ukraine was shot down over Feodosia,” Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram, without providing any detail on the kind of projectile in question.

Feodosia, located in the southeastern part of Crimea, is almost 300 kilometers from the nearest Ukrainian-held area. Kyiv did not comment Saturday, and it is not publicly known to possess missiles with that range. U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets used by Ukraine have a range of 80 kilometers.

Reuters said it could not immediately verify the reports and that it was unclear how Ukraine could have attempted such a strike.

Kramatorsk memorial

Ukrainians placed flowers at a small memorial Saturday to the 61 people killed a year ago when a Russian missile struck the transportation hub as about 4,000 people gathered there to board evacuation trains. Experts said the Tochka-U missile was armed with cluster munitions. More than 160 people were injured.

“What is there to say? My close friend and her daughter and their dog died. What more can be said?” 67-year-old Tetiana Syshchenko told Agence France-Presse, tearing up.

She said she narrowly avoided being killed in the blast.

Residents arrived a few at a time to approach the small plaque topped with flowers and children’s toys at the station.

Russia denied responsibility for the attack.

Tatiana Vorozhko of VOA’s Ukraine Service contributed to this report. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Senegal Harvests Experimental Homegrown Wheat

Posted on by SeeAF

With the whir of a mower under a clear blue sky, Senegalese researchers have begun harvesting a crop of experimental homegrown wheat, the latest step in a yearslong effort to reduce reliance on imports.

The second-most consumed cereal after rice, wheat is an important staple in the bread-loving West African nation.

But Senegal, like many of its neighbors, depends entirely on foreign supplies.

It imports 800,000 metric tons of the grain per year.

Its tropical climate is not naturally suited to wheat, but domestic trials have been underway for years.

Supply chain problems, rising grain prices and inflation caused by the war in Ukraine have added urgency to the country’s efforts to achieve self-sufficiency.

Four varieties

Since late last week, researchers from the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research, a public research institute, have been harvesting four varieties of wheat on a demonstration plot in Sangalkam, 35 kilometers from the capital Dakar.

Three of the varieties are Egyptian and the fourth was developed by the institute.

It operates five demonstration plots in total, two near Dakar and three in the Senegal River Valley, and has tested hundreds of wheat varieties, Amadou Tidiane Sall, one of the researchers, told AFP.

Not all thrive

Many have proved unsuitable.

The Sangalkam crop, one of several successful experiments by the institute, was sown in early January and matured in three months during Senegal’s cold season.

Agriculture Minister Aly Ngouille Ndiaye visited the plot earlier this month.

He said he had requested Egyptian seeds on a visit to the North African country for the United Nations’ COP27 climate conference in November.

“We have significant potential,” the minister said during his visit, promising the government would work with the private sector to expand trial plots.

He acknowledged that a lack of adequate water for irrigation posed a significant challenge.

Not everyone is convinced that wheat can be grown at scale in Senegal.

Amadou Gaye, the president of the National Federation of Bakers of Senegal, who represents about 2,500 bakeries across the country, told AFP he would prefer to see resources dedicated to producing local cereals such as millet, maize and sorghum.
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Islamic State Group Claims DR Congo Attack; About 20 Dead

Posted on by SeeAF

Attack took place on Friday in Musandaba, a village on the outskirts of Beni
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Ben Ferencz, Last Living Nuremberg Prosecutor of Nazis, Dies

Posted on by SeeUS

Ben Ferencz, the last living prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials, who tried Nazis for genocidal war crimes and was among the first outside witnesses to document the atrocities of Nazi labor and concentration camps, has died. He turned 103 in March.

Ferencz died Friday evening in Boynton Beach, Florida, according to St. John’s University law professor John Barrett, who runs a blog about the Nuremberg trials. The death also was confirmed by the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington.

“Today the world lost a leader in the quest for justice for victims of genocide and related crimes,” the museum tweeted.

Born in Transylvania in 1920, Ferencz immigrated as a very young boy with his parents to New York to escape rampant antisemitism. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Ferencz joined the U.S. Army in time to take part in the Normandy invasion during World War II. Using his legal background, he became an investigator of Nazi war crimes against U.S. soldiers as part of a new War Crimes Section of the Judge Advocate’s Office.

When U.S. intelligence reports described soldiers encountering large groups of starving people in Nazi camps watched over by SS guards, Ferencz followed up with visits, first at the Ohrdruf labor camp in Germany and then at the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp. At those camps and later others, he found bodies “piled up like cordwood” and “helpless skeletons with diarrhea, dysentery, typhus, TB, pneumonia, and other ailments, retching in their louse ridden bunks or on the ground with only their pathetic eyes pleading for help,” Ferencz wrote in an account of his life.

“The Buchenwald concentration camp was a charnel house of indescribable horrors,” Ferencz wrote. “There is no doubt that I was indelibly traumatized by my experiences as a war crimes investigator of Nazi extermination centers. I still try not to talk or think about the details.”

At one point toward the end of the war, Ferencz was sent to Adolf Hitler’s mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps to search for incriminating documents but came back empty-handed.

After the war, Ferencz was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army and returned to New York to begin practicing law. But that was short-lived. Because of his experience as a war crimes investigator, he was recruited to help prosecute Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials, which had begun under the leadership of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. Before leaving for Germany, he married his childhood sweetheart, Gertrude.

At the age of 27, with no previous trial experience, Ferencz became chief prosecutor for a 1947 case in which 22 former commanders were charged with murdering more than 1 million Jews, Romani and other enemies of the Third Reich in Eastern Europe.  

Rather than depending on witnesses, Ferencz mostly relied on official German documents to make his case. All the defendants were convicted, and more than a dozen were sentenced to death by hanging even though Ferencz hadn’t asked for the death penalty.

“At the beginning of April 1948, when the long legal judgment was read, I felt vindicated,” he wrote. “Our pleas to protect humanity by the rule of law had been upheld.”

With the war crimes trials winding down, Ferencz went to work for a consortium of Jewish charitable groups to help Holocaust survivors regain properties, homes, businesses, art works, Torah scrolls, and other Jewish religious items that had been confiscated from them by the Nazis. He also later assisted in negotiations that would lead to compensation to the Nazi victims.

In later decades, Ferencz championed the creation of an international court that could prosecute any government’s leaders for war crimes. Those dreams were realized in 2002 with establishment of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, though its effectiveness has been limited by the failure of countries like the United States to participate.

Ferencz is survived by a son and three daughters. His wife died in 2019.
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Memphis Zoo Bids Farewell to Giant Panda

Posted on by SeeUS

Visitors at the Memphis Zoo said goodbye Saturday to giant panda Ya Ya during a farewell party ahead of her departure back to China.

Highlighted by Chinese cultural performances, the sendoff marked the end of a 20-year loan agreement with the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens that landed Ya Ya in Memphis. About 500 people attended the event, which featured a demonstration by the Tennessee Happy Kung Fu School.

Ya Ya was born August 3, 2000, in Beijing. She was joined in Memphis under the loan agreement by Le Le, a male panda who was born July 18, 1998, and died in February ahead of the pair’s planned return to China.

Ya Ya will likely head back to China at the end of month, according to zoo spokesperson Rebecca Winchester.

The zoo says the pandas were key to research and conservation projects and helped people experience some of Chinese culture.

The life expectancy of a giant panda in the wild is about 15 years, but in captivity they have lived to be as old as 38. Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda species from extinction, increasing its population from fewer than 1,000 at one time to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity.

Advocacy groups In Defense of Animals and Panda Voices previously applauded the return to China, saying the pandas had been suffering in the zoo setting. Zoo officials said the groups were spreading false information. Zoo President and CEO Matt Thompson called Le Le and Ya Ya “two of the most spoiled animals on the planet.”

A memorial for Le Le was on display at the zoo Saturday.
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‘Terrorist’ Attacks Kill 44 in Burkina Faso

Posted on by SeeAF

Forty-four civilians have been killed by “armed terrorist groups” in two villages in northeastern Burkina Faso near the Niger border, a regional governor said Saturday.

The provisional toll of “this despicable and barbaric attack” which targeted the villages of Kourakou and Tondibi in northeast Burkina Faso overnight Thursday “is 44 civilians killed and others wounded,” said Rodolphe Sorgho, lieutenant-governor of the Sahel region.

Sorgho said that 31 people had died in Kourakou and 13 in Tondibi.

The regional official said that an army offensive put “out of action the armed terrorist groups” that carried out the killings.

The governor also assured that “actions to stabilize the area are under way.”

The impoverished Sahel country is grappling with a 7-year-old campaign by jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.

A resident of Kourakou told Agence France-Presse that “a large number of terrorists burst into the village” late Thursday.

“All night long, we heard gunfire. It was on Friday morning that we saw that there were several dozen dead,” he said.

Attack was act of retaliation, say locals

Locals said the village had been targeted in retaliation for the lynching of two jihadis a few days earlier who had tried to steal cattle.

It was one of the deadliest attacks since Captain Ibrahim Traore came to power in a coup last September,

In February, 51 soldiers were killed in an attack on Deou, in the far north of the country.

The latest twin attacks happened close to the village of Seytenga, where 86 civilians were killed last June in one of the bloodiest attacks of a long-running insurgency.

Burkina Faso’s new military chief this week vowed to step up a “dynamic offensive” against jihadis following a string of insurgent attacks since the start of the year.

“The dynamic offensive underway in the past few weeks will be stepped up to force armed groups to lay down their weapons,” said Colonel Celestin Simpore after a handover ceremony following his appointment last week.

Thousands killed, millions displaced

Since the jihadis launched their campaign from neighboring Mali in 2015, more than 10,000 civilians, troops and police have been killed, according to one NGO estimate, and at least 2 million people have been displaced.

Official figures say jihadis effectively control about 40% of the country.

Frustration within the military led to two military coups last year. Traore, who came to power in September, has vowed to fight back and recover conquered territory.

But the jihadis have carried out a succession of raids and ambushes since the start of the year, inflicting heavy tolls on civilians and military-escorted convoys.

Burkina’s beleaguered army has recently acquired foreign-made drones, and regularly issues video footage of strikes against purported terrorists and troops described as reconquering and securing lost territory.

Since Traore seized power last year, the activities of all political parties and civil society organizations in the country have been suspended.
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Latest in Ukraine: All Ukrainian Children Must Be Returned, Official Says

Posted on by SeeEU

A missile fired from Ukrainian-held territory was shot down over the Black Sea town of Feodosia in Russian-controlled Crimea, the Moscow-installed head of Crimea’s administration said Saturday.
Russia’s campaign to “severely degrade” Ukraine’s energy system this winter has probably failed, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in a post on Twitter Saturday.
Thirty-one children “kidnapped by the Russians from Kherson and Kharkiv regions” are back in Ukraine after being separated from their parents for several months.

One day after 31 children were returned to Ukraine, the head of Presidential Office of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, emphasized in a phone call with Amal Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, the importance of returning all the deported children to Ukraine.

Yermak and Clooney, co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, discussed protecting the rights of Ukrainian children and holding Russia accountable for crimes committed against them, according to the official website of the president of Ukraine.

Clooney, who specializes in international criminal law and human rights issues, has addressed the United Nations Security Council calling for justice as evidence of the crimes and atrocities allegedly committed by the Russian military began emerging weeks after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

On behalf of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yermak thanked Clooney.

“People in Ukraine know about your support and appreciate it a lot. Many people heard your speech and everything you said about the war and Ukrainians. This is extremely important indeed,” Yermak said, according to the president’s website.

Clooney reiterated her support for Ukraine and Ukrainians, adding that she and her foundation colleagues remain committed to their work to promote accountability and deliver justice for victims of international crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

Kyiv says thousands taken

Kyiv estimates nearly 19,500 children have been taken to Russia in what Ukraine condemns as illegal deportations since Moscow invaded in February of last year. Moscow claims the children were transported away for their own safety.

Earlier Saturday, the head of a humanitarian group said 31 children were reunited with their families in Ukraine after what he described as was one of the group’s most difficult operations to return children from Russia, where they had been taken during the war.

So far, the Save Ukraine humanitarian organization says it has undertaken five missions to return Ukrainian children to their families. The group has helped with the transportation and planning needed to help parents bring their children back.

Mykola Kuleba, the head of Save Ukraine and Ukraine’s former commissioner for children’s rights, told reporters no one in Russia was trying to find the children’s parents.

Missile downed over Crimea

A missile fired from Ukrainian-held territory was shot down over the Black Sea town of Feodosia in Russian-controlled Crimea, the Moscow-installed head of Crimea’s administration said Saturday.

“A missile launched from Ukraine was shot down over Feodosia,” Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram, without providing any detail on the kind of projectile in question.

Feodosia, located in the southeastern part of Crimea, is almost 300 kilometers from the nearest Ukrainian-held area. Kyiv did not comment Saturday, and it is not publicly known to possess missiles with that range. U.S.-supplied HIMARS rockets used by Ukraine have a range of 80 kilometers.

Reuters said it could not immediately verify the reports and that it was unclear how Ukraine could have attempted such a strike.

Kramatorsk memorial

Ukrainians placed flowers at a small memorial Saturday to the 61 people killed a year ago when a Russian missile struck the transportation hub as about 4,000 people gathered there to board evacuation trains. Experts said the Tochka-U missile was armed with cluster munitions. More than 160 people were injured.

“What is there to say? My close friend and her daughter and their dog died. What more can be said?” 67-year-old Tetiana Syshchenko told Agence France-Presse, tearing up.

She said she narrowly avoided being killed in the blast.

Residents arrived a few at a time to approach the small plaque topped with flowers and children’s toys at the station.

Russia denied responsibility for the attack.

Classified documents leaked

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday it has begun an investigation into the leak of several classified U.S. military documents that have been posted on social media.

“We have been in communication with the Department of Defense related to this matter and have begun an investigation. We decline further comment,” a Justice Department spokesperson said Friday.

A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail U.S. national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites Friday, The New York Times reported.

Russia or pro-Russian elements are likely behind an earlier leak of several classified U.S. military documents posted on social media that offer a skewed, month-old snapshot of the war in Ukraine, three U.S. officials told Reuters Friday.

Tatiana Vorozhko of VOA’s Ukraine Service contributed to this report. Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Faithful to Celebrate Easter Sunday, Christianity’s Most Holy Day

Posted on by SeeEU

Millions of Christians around the world are celebrating Easter Sunday, the most holy day on the Christian calendar, commemorating Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis is set to deliver his twice-annual blessing, known by its Latin name “Urbi et Orbi” — “to the city and the world” — from St. Peter’s Basilica.

During the blessing, which will begin at noon on the basilica’s outdoor central balcony, the Roman Catholic leader will address Christians around the world.

Last year, the pope made a plea for an end to the “senseless” war in Ukraine, a conflict that at the time had been less than 2 months old. He also called for peace in other parts of the world plagued by armed conflict, including Syria and Iraq.

The pope, who is recovering from bronchitis, followed his doctor’s advice and skipped the traditional Good Friday nighttime procession at the Colosseum, which usually lasts more than two hours.

Traditions return after pandemic

In some parts of the world, Easter Week traditions are returning after a three-year hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of residents in eastern Indonesia held Mass in the Flores Island town of Larantuka for Good Friday and later attended a night parade to mourn the death of Jesus.

In the Philippines, Good Friday traditions also returned after a three-year absence. An estimated 15,000 people in villages north of Manila watched pilgrims flog themselves in displays of religious devotion.

Christians commemorate Good Friday as the day Jesus died on the cross.

Faithful travel to holy sites

In Jerusalem, Christian faithful have been making pilgrimages to holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the site where they believe Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.

On Palm Sunday — a week before Easter — thousands of worshipers carrying palm fronds and olive branches marched from the top of the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem’s historic Old City, commemorating Jesus’s entry into the city.

Jerusalem is home to Christian, Jewish and Muslim holy sites. This year, Easter coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish festival of Passover.

In Washington, the White House is planning its annual Easter egg roll. About 30,000 people, most of them children, are expected to participate on Monday in the festivities, which date back to 1878.

At the event, first lady Jill Biden will teach children about farming, healthy eating and exercise, according to the White House.

Christians worldwide celebrate Easter by going to church and gathering with family and friends.

The day marks the end of Holy Week, the church’s most solemn week, which begins with Palm Sunday, commemorating Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, and includes Holy Thursday, his last supper with disciples; Good Friday, his crucifixion; and Easter Sunday, his resurrection.

Some information in this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Berlusconi’s Doctor Says He’s Responding Well To Treatment

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Silvio Berlusconi’s doctor, who is treating him for a lung infection, said Saturday that the former Italian premier is responding well to treatment in an intensive care unit at a Milan hospital, an Italian news agency reported.

Alberto Zangrillo, who also heads the ICU at San Raffaele hospital where the Italian media mogul was admitted on Wednesday, said Berlusconi “is used to responding with his best” and that despite the “grave illness in a truly difficult situation, he’s responding well to the treatments,” ANSA reported.

Zangrillo revealed earlier in the week that Berlusconi, 86, has had a chronic form of leukemia for some time.

On Saturday, Berlusconi was visited by a longtime advisor, Gianni Letta, who said, “I found him better than what I thought” and eager to rebound.

“You know how every time he sets an aim, he reaches it,” Letta told reporters outside the hospital.

In remarks to reporters, Zangrillo referred to the infection as a “complication,” given Berlusconi’s chronic leukemia. Earlier in the week, Berlusconi’s doctors said they were treating his lung infection and giving him medicine to “restore preexisting clinical conditions” given the leukemia.

Berlusconi also has a history of heart problems and, in 2020, he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and pneumonia.
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