May 2023 - Page 19 of 25

One Suspect Shot, 6 Arrested; Uganda Police Seize Bomb Materials

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeAF

Six people accused of building explosive devices have been arrested in a joint security operation in Uganda that started Sunday night and ended Monday morning.

Police connected the men to online calls for a nationwide anti-government protest.

The operation in the Central Wakiso district involved the police, the head of military intelligence, the army and Uganda’s internal security organization.

“The suspected terrorists had a camp here where they were assembling and making IEDs [improvised explosive devices],” said Luke Owoyesigyire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police deputy spokesperson. “The suspects we have will be taken to one of our police stations for more interviews and interrogations to ascertain the aim and probably their targets.”

The arrested suspects were identified as Hamidu Ssekidde, Muhammad Kalyango, Abdul Katumba, Arafat Ssali, Emmanuel Asiimwe and Hamidu Muyondi.

According to the deputy spokesperson, Muyondi was mistakenly shot when a police officer forgot to put a safety pin on, and his gun discharged a bullet striking the suspect in the leg. The injury is said to be minor.

Police said the suspects wanted to cause mayhem in Kampala following online posts calling for Ugandans to come out in large numbers and join anti-government protests.

The social media posts had symbols and hashtags normally used by the National Unity Party, the main opposition group to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. However, when called by VOA, party officials said they were not behind the posts and chose not to make a comment about the arrests.

Police have not filed formal charges against the terror suspects. Charges are expected after an investigation, which will attempt to find any collaborators connected to the six.
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House Foreign Affairs Chairman Threatens to Hold Blinken in Contempt

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeUS

The U.S. State Department said Monday it will not fulfill U.S. lawmakers’ request for the full Biden administration report on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“It’s unfortunate that despite having received a classified briefing on the dissent channel cable as well as a written summary that the House Foreign Affairs Committee continues to pursue this unnecessary and unproductive action,” State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.

“Nevertheless, we will continue to respond to appropriate oversight inquiries and provide Congress the information it needs to do its job while protecting the ability of State Department employees to do theirs.”

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul called on U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken last month to release the administration’s after-action report on the chaotic August 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“There is a strong public interest in the Department sharing the results of its After-Action Review to the fullest extent possible,” McCaul wrote, noting large portions of the report are marked as sensitive but unclassified or unclassified.

According to McCaul, the 87-page March 2022 After-Action Review contains numerous unexplained redactions and directly contradicts the Biden administration’s public statements which largely blamed the failures of the withdrawal on the previous administration of President Donald Trump.

McCaul asked the State Department to release the full report by Friday, May 5.

McCaul said Monday the State Department has also failed to comply with its subpoena to release the July 2021 cable from diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul using the “dissent channel.”

“The Department is now in violation of its legal obligation to produce these documents and must do so immediately,” McCaul wrote in a letter to Blinken Monday. “As noted above, should the Department fail to comply with its legal obligation, the Committee is prepared to take the necessary steps to enforce its subpoena, including holding you in contempt of Congress and/or initiating a civil enforcement proceeding.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee has conducted oversight hearings into the withdrawal, including the August 26, 2021 suicide bomb at Kabul Airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghan civilians.

The Biden administration report said decisions made by the Trump administration to negotiate with the Taliban and set a withdrawal date for U.S. troops prevented an orderly U.S. evacuation.

“When you look at what President Biden inherited, the timeline that was required and the agreement that was reached in the Trump administration, the President did everything he could to manage that situation,” Democratic Rep. David Cicilline, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told VOA last month. “But there are a set of decisions made by the prior administration that made that more difficult.”

The U.S. State Department briefed lawmakers late last month on the contents of the cable and the report.

McCaul, a Republican from Texas, told VOA that was not sufficient.

“I think if you redact the names, that Congress has the right to know the content, and that’s all we asked from the Secretary — you can redact the names, we’ll review in a classified setting,” he said. “But I want to know firsthand the content, I don’t want it filtered through your people.”

Nike Ching contributed to this report.
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US Watches With Caution as China Sends Peace Envoy to Ukraine

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeEU

In just a few months, U.S. officials have pivoted from publicly warning Beijing not to provide material support for Russia’s war in Ukraine to acknowledging there is a role for China to play in brokering peace talks.

On February 24, the day that China unveiled its 12-point peace proposal, Blinken voiced skepticism during remarks to the United Nations Security Council Ministerial Meeting on Ukraine.

“No member of this council should call for peace while supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and on the U.N. Charter,” the top U.S. diplomat said one year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

By May 3, Blinken publicly acknowledged that it’s possible China would have a “very beneficial” role to play in peace talks.

Analysts and former American officials told VOA the shift in U.S. tone is partly a response to Washington’s European allies, who view Chinese President Xi Jinping as the only possible leader who can influence Russian President Vladimir Putin’s thinking about the war in Ukraine.

China has since announced it will send a peace envoy to Ukraine, although some remain skeptical that Beijing can be neutral.

China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, is expected to travel to Ukraine and other nations in a bid to bring a cease-fire and a diplomatic resolution to the war.

Li, a fluent Russian speaker, was Beijing’s former envoy to Russia from 2009 to 2019 and was among a few people awarded the Medal of Friendship by Putin.

When asked by VOA if the U.S. thinks China can be bias-free in mediating an end to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, a State Department spokesperson said, “When it comes to diplomacy, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. The other key part of this is obviously Russia. The Kremlin has yet to demonstrate any meaningful interest in ending this war; quite the opposite.”

“No, China cannot be bias-free. China is clearly supportive of President Putin,” said Ambassador William Taylor, vice president for Europe and Russia at the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace. “So, it cannot present itself as a neutral mediator.”

Taylor was charge d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv in 2019 and as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009.

As U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is reported to be weighing whether to work with Beijing to seek a negotiated settlement in Ukraine, Taylor told VOA, “The key caution is to be sure that any conversation with the Chinese about the Russian war on Ukraine has the Ukrainians as participants.”

“The Chinese as a mediator are not terribly forceful,” said Dennis Wilder, an assistant professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University, who from 2009 to 2015 was senior editor of the U.S. President’s Daily Brief, a summary of intelligence from across the government.

“If people are expecting the Chinese to come up with the creative solution, they’ll be disappointed. That’s not the way China operates. If people are looking for China to offer its good offices, China is pretty good at that. But the Chinese very rarely come up with the solution,” Wilder told VOA.

Last Wednesday, when asked by The Washington Post about working with China to achieve a stable outcome in Ukraine and China’s offer to mediate an end to the war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken struck a warmer tone.

“It’s certainly possible that China would have a role to play in that effort, and that could be very beneficial,” he said.

Experts say those remarks reflect the European Union’s belief that there has been some progress in encouraging Xi to oppose the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine and to support Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty. They hope China will do more going forward.

“While agreeing with the U.S. that it is necessary to warn Beijing against supplying lethal aid to Russia, at the same time they want to urge China to use its leverage over Moscow to bring an end to the war,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Others, including former Assistant Secretary for Europe Philip Reeker, who now heads the Global Europe Program at the Wilson Center, believes “working together to help end Putin’s disastrous adventure would give Washington and Beijing an opportunity for engagement that could help in their own strained bilateral relations.”

The debate on whether Washington could work with Beijing in achieving a negotiated settlement in Ukraine came as the White House said Washington and Beijing are discussing a potential trip to China by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Blinken also said he was hopeful to reschedule a visit to China this year.
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USAID Chief Power Heads to Serbia, Kosovo to Lower Tensions

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeEU

The United States’ top international development chief, Samantha Power, is heading to Serbia and Kosovo this week to meet with leaders there, as U.S. and European leaders work to stabilize relations between those two former wartime enemies at a time of heightened tensions.

Power becomes the first head of the U.S. Agency for International Development to travel to Serbia, which maintains close historical and cultural ties with Russia.

Serbia and Kosovo have remained on often hostile terms since Kosovo’s 1990s split from Serbia at the end of the Cold War. Frictions between Serbia and Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority and an ethnic Serb minority, have rebounded in the general tensions since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

Power is to meet with the prime ministers and presidents of both countries, encouraging both to stay on a path of normalizing relations between themselves and to keep moving toward membership in the European Union.

She “will underscore USAID’s support for Serbia’s path to European Union accession through our partnership to foster economic growth and democratic development,” the USAID said in a statement.

Power will be the first senior U.S. government official to travel to the region since the European Union brokered a meeting between heads of the two governments last week in Brussels, encouraging them to get back into peaceful dialogue.

The EU has spent 12 years facilitating negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia does not recognize its statehood.

Brussels and the United States often intervene to calm down tensions between the two capitals, more so in the past year since Russia attacked Ukraine.

The war in Kosovo erupted when separatist ethnic Albanians rebelled against Serbia’s rule, and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. About 13,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died. NATO’s military intervention eventually forced Serbia to pull out of the territory.

Power also will meet in Serbia and Kosovo with members of civil society, business leaders, journalists and others, including Serbian former NBA player Vlade Divac and athletes with disabilities.
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Nigerian Forces Rescue 58 Captives Near Abuja

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeAF

Nigerian security forces have rescued 58 people who were abducted by gunmen in central Kogi state, near the capital, Abuja. Nigerian police say one of those abducted was killed during the rescue operation and the kidnappers escaped.

Police authorities in a statement Sunday said the rescue mission was part of operations by security forces to fight violent crimes, rescue victims and nab offenders around Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and neighboring states.

The captives were held in a forest in Gegu district of nearby Kogi state.

Police said kidnappers fought back hard as security forces arrived but say security agents overpowered and injured many of them before they fled, leaving the victims behind.

The Abuja police commissioner Haruna Garba told VOA via phone that a total of 58 abductees were rescued in the Gegu raid and others.

“Fourteen of the people from Kwali were rescued, then another eight that were taken away from Niger into forests close to our borders were also rescued, that one came after,” he said.

Police said one of the abductees who sustained an injury during the Gegu rescue operation died on the spot. They said the other kidnap victims rescued will be reunited with their families after medical exams.

Nigeria is battling a range of security issues but kidnapping is among the most challenging.

Abuja has maintained relative calm despite states not far from it battling armed violence including more frequent kidnap-for-ransom attacks.

Security analyst Senator Iroegbu says the general insecurity can be traced back to a jailbreak last year in Abuja that that freed hundreds of criminals including terror suspects.

“It’s still linked to the issue of so many unresolved cases of insecurity, one leads to the other,” he said. “There are a lot of sleeper cells around waiting to activate any moment. So what you have now is mixed, from terrorist groups and criminals’ groups.”

Iroegbu says to address the problem, authorities must change their approach to security matters.

“They’ve not yet changed their tactics, they’ve always been reactive, government needs to take more proactive measures,” he added. “Most people are under the excruciating pain of the poor economy, people sleep without food. They should be able to sleep feeling safe.”

Nigeria’s president-elect, Bola Tinubu will be sworn-in on May 29. His predecessor has been widely criticized for not securing the country enough.
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China and US See Need to Stabilize Relations

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeUS

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Monday it is imperative to stabilize Sino-U.S. relations after a series of “erroneous words and deeds” threw ties back into a deep freeze.

Qin, in a meeting in Beijing with U.S. ambassador Nicholas Burns, stressed in particular that the United States must correct its handling of the Taiwan issue and stop the hollowing out of the “one China” principle.

The relationship between the world’s two biggest economies sank to a low last year when then speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi paid an official visit to democratically governed Taiwan, angering China, which claims the island as its territory.

In response, Beijing severed formal communications channels with the United States including one between their militaries.

“The top priority is to stabilize Sino-U.S. relations, avoid a downward spiral and prevent any accidents between China and the United States,” Qin told Burns, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

The tension between the two superpowers had eased last November when U.S. and Chinese leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met at a G20 summit in Indonesia and pledged more frequent dialogue.

But tensions flared again in February when a Chinese high-altitude balloon appeared in U.S. airspace and in response U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a visit to Beijing.

“A series of erroneous words and deeds by the United States since then have undermined the hard-won positive momentum of Sino-U.S. relations,” Qin said.

“The agenda of dialogue and cooperation agreed by the two sides has been disrupted, and the relationship between the two countries has once again encountered cold ice.”

Challenges

Burns, in a post on Twitter about his talks with Qin, also spoke of the need to bring stability to the relationship.

“We discussed challenges in the U.S.-China relationship and the necessity of stabilizing ties and expanding high-level communication,” Burns said.

Last week, Blinken appeared to offer hope of a visit, telling the Washington Post that it was important to re-establish regular lines of communication at all levels.

Also last week, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said China had invited him to visit “in the near term” for talks on averting a global climate crisis, further raising hope of resetting one of the world’s most important state-to-state relationships.

Taiwan remains the thorniest issue in Sino-U.S. ties.

Last month, China staged war games around Taiwan after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

Since 1979, the U.S.-Taiwan relationship has been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act, which gives a legal basis to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but does not mandate that the United States come to Taiwan’s aid if attacked.

As a part of the 2023 budget, U.S. Congress has authorized up to $1 billion worth of weapons aid for Taiwan using a type of authority that expedites security assistance and has helped to deliver arms to Ukraine.
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Ukrainian Fighters to Join International Invictus Games

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeEU

Fighters from Ukraine are expected to take part in the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany this September, even as Russia’s war on their country grinds on. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. VOA footage by Yuriy Dankevych.
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Social Stigma of Fentanyl Abuse Complicates Treatment

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeUS

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says America’s leading cause of overdose deaths is synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, which can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin. U.S. law enforcement says illicit fentanyl is cheaply made from chemicals mostly coming from China, trafficked through Mexico, and then smuggled into the United States. VOA’s Natasha Mozgovaya looks at fentanyl in Washington state in a series that today explores how stigmas about fentanyl abuse complicate treatment for addicts.
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Congo Flood Death Toll Rises to 400

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeAF

The death toll from the floods last week in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to nearly 400.

Officials say many people remain missing.

The heavy rains were especially harsh for the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi.

The numbers of the dead are forcing villages to bury the victims in mass graves.

Congo’s government has declared Monday a national day of mourning.

The heavy rains have also fallen recently in Uganda and Kenya.
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Latest in Ukraine: Zelenskyy Says Russia ‘Will Be Defeated Like Nazi Germany Was Defeated’

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeEU

New developments:  

Fears about the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is growing after the Moscow-installed governor of the Ukrainian region where it is located ordered civilian evacuations.   
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prighozin said his forces will remain in the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. He indicated his soldiers will continue the assault on the city after the Russian military promised more arms and ammunition.    
Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin sent a defiant message to those who attempted to assassinate him. Prilepin is recovering from extensive injuries after a car bomb exploded killing his driver.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russian forces in Ukraine will be defeated like Nazi Germany was defeated in World War II.

“We fought then and we fight now so that no one ever again enslaves other nations and destroys other countries,” Zelenskyy said in a video message. “And all those old evils that modern Russia is bringing back will be defeated just as Nazism was defeated.”

Zelenskyy said Russia’s goal in Ukraine is “enslavement or destruction,” and he compared the support Ukraine has received from other nations to the allied effort to defeat Germany in 1945.

“This enemy once again put aggression and annexation, occupation and deportation, mass murder, and torture, bombing cities and burning villages up against our ideals,” Zelenskyy said. “Our victory will be the answer to all this. The victory of Ukraine and the free world, liberation of our lands, the return of our people, protecting our values and, inevitably, justice.”

The Ukrainian leader’s address also included the announcement of a decree to have the remembrance of the victory of Germany take place on May 8, as Western allies do. That in is contrast to Russia, which holds its celebration on May 9.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will instead use May 9 to honor Europe’s support for Ukraine in the years since Russia annexed Crimea and since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion last year.

“This will be the Day of Europe, which helps us fight in all directions: on the battlefield with weapons and on the diplomatic front – with determination, against missile terror and the winter blackout, in the economy and on the legal front,” Zelenskyy said. “This will be the Day of Europe – our ally. Which gives shelter to Ukrainian women and children. Which does not encroach on our sovereignty and does not call into question our right to choose our own national path.”

Russian attacks

Russian forces have increased attacks in recent days ahead of its Tuesday Victory Day parade, including what Ukrainian officials said was an assault by drones and cruise missiles early Monday on the capital, Kyiv.

First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova tweeted that Ukrainian forces shot down 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones, but that debris had hit apartment buildings in Kyiv and injured five people.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the messaging app Telegram that three people were wounded in blasts in Kyiv’s Solomyanskyi district and two in the Sviatoshyn district, both west of the capital’s center.  

Klitschko also said drone wreckage had fallen on a two-story building in the Sviatoshyn region.      

In the Black Sea city of Odesa, Dzhaparova said Russian missiles hit a food warehouse and a recreation area.

Nuclear plant concerns   

Fears about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in east Ukraine grew Sunday after Russian officials ordered the evacuation of civilians from 18 settlements around the nuclear power plant.      

The plant is near the front line of battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Russia fired more than 30 shells at Nikopol, a Ukrainian-held town neighboring the plant, killing a 72-year-old woman and injuring three others Sunday, according to Ukrainian authorities.         

Ukraine has also mounted attacks in the vicinity of the plant, according to The Associated Press.   

The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency said in a statement Saturday the situation near the plant “is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous.”   

“I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said.  “We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment.”     

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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Sudan Envoys Discuss Humanitarian Relief

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeAF

Envoys from both of Sudan’s warring factions are in Saudi Arabia to arrange for the opening of humanitarian corridors in Sudan. The parties have insisted that they are only sitting across from each other to bring some relief to the humanitarian situation in the North African country and not to negotiate a truce.

The pre-negotiation talks began Saturday. The Saudi kingdom has already pledged that it will provide Sudan with $100 million’s worth of humanitarian aid.

Fighting erupted in Sudan in mid-April. After just a few weeks of fighting between the country’s military and a paramilitary force, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been forced to flee from their homes, with many of the displaced Sudanese seeking refuge in bordering countries.

The two sides – Sudan’s military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo – have not met since the fighting erupted April 15.

Fragile cease-fire agreements have failed to end the conflict or even do much to reduce the violence.

The United Nations migration agency said recently that at least 334,000 people have been internally displaced by the fighting, in addition to the 100,000 who have fled the country. The U.N. refugee agency has warned the fighting could cause more than 800,000 to flee Sudan.

Most aid operations have been suspended or severely scaled back due to the lack of security. Several aid workers have been killed in the fighting.

Looting also has hampered aid operations.

The World Food Program said nearly 17,000 tons of food worth between $13 million and $14 million have been stolen from its warehouses across Sudan.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said recently it has launched an emergency appeal to support the Sudanese Red Crescent Society in its effort to deliver assistance to 200,000 people.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Latest in Ukraine: Fears Grow for Safety of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeEU

New developments:

Fears about the safety of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is growing after the Moscow-installed governor of the Ukrainian region where it is located ordered civilian evacuations.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prighozin said his forces will remain in the besieged Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. He indicated his soldiers will continue the assault on the city after the Russian military promised more arms and ammunition.
Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin sent a defiant message to those who attempted to assassinate him. Prilepin is recovering from extensive injuries after a car bomb exploded killing his driver.

At least five people were injured in Kyiv early Monday when Russia launched a massive strike on the Ukraine capital.

Klitschko also said drone wreckage had fallen on a two-story building in the Sviatoshyn region.

The city administration said debris fell on a parked car, causing the car to catch fire.

Russian missiles also set ablaze a food warehouse in the Black Sea city of Odesa and blasts were reported in several other Ukrainian regions, Reuters reported.

The large-scale attacks come as Moscow prepares for its Victory Day parade on Tuesday.

Moscow reportedly wants a complete capture of Bakhmut to coincide with the country’s upcoming Victory Day, the anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group reversed its intention to withdraw from the besieged eastern Ukrainian city. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces will remain there after Moscow promised to provide more arms to conscripts.

Also Sunday, fears about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in east Ukraine grew after Russian officials ordered the evacuation of civilians from 18 settlements around the nuclear power plant.

Ukraine has also mounted attacks in the vicinity of the plant, according to The Associated Press.

The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency said in a statement Saturday the situation near the plant “is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous.”

“I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said. “We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment.”

Labor shortage

Russia is facing one its worst labor shortages since 1998. In an intelligence update Sunday, the British Defense Ministry wrote that the Russian Central Bank surveyed 14,000 employees and found that its labor force was at its lowest level since 1998.

The British Defense Ministry said the attrition of manpower due to the war in Ukraine as well as the mass exodus of Russians trying to avoid the draft are partially to blame for the labor shortage. The survey also showed that the Russian population has decreased by 2 million in the last three years due to the COVID pandemic and an aging population.

Russian car bombing

The prominent Russian nationalist writer, Zakhar Prilepin, who barely escaped death from a car bomb attack Saturday, sent a defiant message to his attackers.

“To the demons I say: You will scare nobody. There is a God. We will win,” he wrote Sunday on the messaging app Telegram from the hospital in the Nizhny Novgorod region where he is recovering.

Russia’s state Investigative Committee said his Audi Q7 was blown up Saturday in a village, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow. The attacker fled the scene.

Prilepin said both his legs were broken by the explosion that killed his driver. Russia’s Foreign Ministry blamed Ukraine and the Western states backing it, particularly the United States, for the attack on the pro-Russia writer.

Ukraine’s security services neither confirmed nor denied involvement. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he believed Russian authorities had staged the attack.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ukrainian offensive

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Ukrainian officials expressed concerns about outsized international expectations for a planned major offensive by Ukrainian troops and that falling short of those expectations could mean losing military aid.

“Most people are … waiting for something huge,” the Post quoted Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov saying in an interview last week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Post in an interview last week: “I believe that the more victories we have on the battlefield, frankly, the more people will believe in us, which means we will get more help.”

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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White House National Security Adviser Holds Talks with Saudi Crown Prince

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeUS

The White House said national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed efforts to end the war in Yemen as he met Sunday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A White House statement said the two also discussed Saudi Arabia’s support to U.S. citizens who evacuated from Sudan following the outbreak of fighting there last month.

Saudi state media said the talks took place in the port city of Jeddah, and that the discussion involved “strategic relations.”

The White House said the two also took part in wider talks with national security advisers from India and the United Arab Emirates “to advance their shared vision of a more secure and prosperous Middle East region interconnected with India and the world.”

The talks come amid strained relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The sources of that tension include the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and cuts in oil production by the Saudi-led OPEC+ group.

U.S. intelligence agencies assessed the Saudi crown prince approved the operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, which Saudi Arabia has denied.

The war in Yemen began in 2014 when Houthi rebels seized the country’s capital. Saudi Arabia launched a military coalition in early 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Mobilization Underway Ahead of Expected Spring Counteroffensive in Ukraine

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeEU

Ukrainians are on war footing, even if they’re not the ones on the front lines. A much hyped and widely expected spring counteroffensive could come any day now. But Ukraine’s defense minister recently warned against putting too much hope in his country’s counterstrikes. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Gunmen Kill Journalist in Restive Northwest Cameroon, Says Union

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeAF

Gunmen shot dead a journalist late on Sunday in Bamenda, a city in Cameroon’s troubled northwest region, the local journalists’ union said, in at least the third killing of a media worker in the country this year.

Anye Nde Nsoh, the west and northwest region bureau chief for weekly newspaper the Advocate, was in a pub in Bamenda’s Ntarikon neighborhood when unidentified assailants opened fire on him, said colleague Melanie Ndefru, who was close to the scene of the attack.

Earlier this year, a radio presenter and a journalist were killed in two separate attacks in or near the capital Yaounde, prompting the United Nations to express concern about the media environment.

The Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) confirmed Nsoh’s death and called for an investigation.

“This latest attack on a journalist is one too many. The long-drawn conflict in the northwest and southwest regions has pitched journalists into grave danger,” said CAMASEJ President Jude Viban.

A spokesperson for the regional authorities said they were not aware of the attack. There has been no claim of responsibility so far.

Nsoh’s death came amid a conflict between Cameroonian authorities and some separatist factions in English-speaking regions that turned violent in 2017.

Thousands of people have been killed in the fighting between armed separatists and government troops, with atrocities committed on both sides.

Nsoh’s employer said he had just finished working on the Monday edition of the newspaper in which he had a front-page story and two others.

“It was a shock to hear about his demise,” said Tarhyang Enowbikah Tabe, publisher of the Advocate.
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Texas Mall Shooting Prompts Biden to Renew Call for Gun Control

Posted on 05/08/2023 by SeeUS

U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday called on Congress to pass gun control bills in the wake of yet another mass shooting that left nine people dead, including the gunman, at a Texas mall on Saturday.

The Democratic president renewed calls for Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as to enact universal background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers. There is little chance the narrowly divided House and Senate would pass such legislation, although polls show most Americans support background checks.

Biden, who has made similar pleas before, said the assailant at Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, a northern suburb of Dallas, wore tactical gear and was armed with an AR-15 style assault weapon.

The gunman killed eight people, including children, and wounded at least seven, before a police officer killed him, police said on Saturday.

Mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, with at least 199 so far in 2023, the most at this point in the year since at least 2016, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The nonprofit group defines a mass shooting as any in which four or more people are wounded or killed, not including the shooter.

The tragedy in Allen, which happened just over a week after another deadly shooting in the Texas town of Cleveland, reignited the heated debate over gun control in the United States.

The U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms, and that issue is a hot button one for many Republicans, who are backed by millions in donations from gun rights groups and manufacturers.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, called the shooting “devastating” in a Sunday morning interview on Fox News but said that the way to effectively tackle gun violence lies in addressing mental health.

“There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of anger and violence that’s taking place in America,” he said. “We are working to address that anger and violence by going to his root cause, which is addressing the mental health problems behind it.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats stressed the need to pass stronger gun safety legislation to curtail gun violence.

On Saturday, TV aerials showed hundreds of people calmly walking out of the mall, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Dallas, after the violence unfolded, many with their hands up as scores of police stood guard.

One unidentified eyewitness told local ABC affiliate WFAA TV that the gunman was “walking down the sidewalk just … shooting his gun outside.”
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New Twitter Rules Expose Election Offices to Spoof Accounts

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeUS

Tracking down accurate information about Philadelphia’s elections on Twitter used to be easy. The account for the city commissioners who run elections, @phillyvotes, was the only one carrying a blue check mark, a sign of authenticity.

But ever since the social media platform overhauled its verification service last month, the check mark has disappeared. That’s made it harder to distinguish @phillyvotes from a list of random accounts not run by the elections office but with very similar names.

The election commission applied weeks ago for a gray check mark — Twitter’s new symbol to help users identify official government accounts – but has yet to hear back from the Twitter, commission spokesman Nick Custodio said. It’s unclear whether @phillyvotes is an eligible government account under Twitter’s new rules.

That’s troubling, Custodio said, because Pennsylvania has a primary election May 16 and the commission uses its account to share important information with voters in real time. If the account remains unverified, it will be easier to impersonate – and harder for voters to trust – heading into Election Day.

Impostor accounts on social media are among many concerns election security experts have heading into next year’s presidential election. Experts have warned that foreign adversaries or others may try to influence the election, either through online disinformation campaigns or by hacking into election infrastructure.

Election administrators across the country have struggled to figure out the best way to respond after Twitter owner Elon Musk threw the platform’s verification service into disarray, given that Twitter has been among their most effective tools for communicating with the public.

Some are taking other steps allowed by Twitter, such as buying check marks for their profiles or applying for a special label reserved for government entities, but success has been mixed. Election and security experts say the inconsistency of Twitter’s new verification system is a misinformation disaster waiting to happen.

“The lack of clear, at-a-glance verification on Twitter is a ticking time bomb for disinformation,” said Rachel Tobac, CEO of the cybersecurity company SocialProof Security. “That will confuse users – especially on important days like election days.”

The blue check marks that Twitter once doled out to notable celebrities, public figures, government entities and journalists began disappearing from the platform in April. To replace them, Musk told users that anyone could pay $8 a month for an individual blue check mark or $1,000 a month for a gold check mark as a “verified organization.”

The policy change quickly opened the door for pranksters to pose convincingly as celebrities, politicians and government entities, which could no longer be identified as authentic. While some impostor accounts were clear jokes, others created confusion.

Fake accounts posing as Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the city’s Department of Transportation and the Illinois Department of Transportation falsely claimed the city was closing one of its main thoroughfares to private traffic. The fake accounts used the same photos, biographical text and home page links as the real ones. Their posts amassed hundreds of thousands of views before being taken down.

Twitter’s new policy invites government agencies and certain affiliated organizations to apply to be labeled as official with a gray check. But at the state and local level, qualifying agencies are limited to “main executive office accounts and main agency accounts overseeing crisis response, public safety, law enforcement, and regulatory issues,” the policy says.

The rules do not mention agencies that run elections. So while the main Philadelphia city government account quickly received its gray check mark last month, the local election commission has not heard back.

Election offices in four of the country’s five most populous counties — Cook County in Illinois, Harris County in Texas, Maricopa County in Arizona and San Diego County — remain unverified, a Twitter search shows. Maricopa, which includes Phoenix, has been targeted repeatedly by election conspiracy theorists as the most populous and consequential county in one of the most closely divided political battleground states.

Some counties contacted by The Associated Press said they have minimal concerns about impersonation or plan to apply for a gray check later, but others said they already have applied and have not heard back from Twitter.

Even some state election offices are waiting for government labels. Among them is the office of Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.

In an April 24 email to Bellows’ communications director reviewed by The Associated Press, a Twitter representative wrote that there was “nothing to do as we continue to manually process applications from around the world.” The representative added in a later email that Twitter stands “ready to swiftly enforce any impersonation, so please don’t hesitate to flag any problematic accounts.”

An email sent to Twitter’s press office and a company safety officer requesting comment was answered only with an autoreply of a poop emoji.

“Our job is to reinforce public confidence,” Bellows told the AP. “Even a minor setback, like no longer being able to ensure that our information on Twitter is verified, contributes to an environment that is less predictable and less safe.”

Some government accounts, including the one representing Pennsylvania’s second-largest county, have purchased blue checks because they were told it was required to continue advertising on the platform.

Allegheny County posts ads for elections and jobs on Twitter, so the blue check mark “was necessary,” said Amie Downs, the county’s communications director.

When anyone can buy verification and when government accounts are not consistently labeled, the check mark loses its meaning, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said.

Griswold’s office received a gray check mark to maintain trust with voters, but she told the AP she would not buy verification for her personal Twitter account because “it doesn’t carry the same weight” it once did.

Custodio, at the Philadelphia elections commission, said his office would not buy verification either, even if it gets denied a gray check.

“The blue or gold check mark just verifies you as a paid subscriber and does not verify identity,” he said.

Experts and advocates tracking election discourse on social media say Twitter’s changes do not just incentivize bad actors to run disinformation campaigns — they also make it harder for well-meaning users to know what’s safe to share.

“Because Twitter is dropping the ball on verification, the burden will fall on voters to double check that the information they are consuming and sharing is legitimate,” said Jill Greene, voting and elections manager for Common Cause Pennsylvania.

That dampens an aspect of Twitter that until now had been seen as one of its strengths – allowing community members to rally together to elevate authoritative information, said Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public.

“The first rule of a good online community user interface is to ‘help the helpers.’ This is the opposite of that,” Caulfield said. “It takes a community of people who want to help boost good information, and robs them of the tools to make fast, accurate decisions.”
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‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Opens to $114 Million

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeUS

There is nothing like the promise of a chapter closing to draw people to the movie theater, especially when tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This weekend, ” Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which says goodbye to this iteration of the space misfits and its driving creative voice, director James Gunn, earned $114 million in ticket sales from 4,450 locations in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Internationally, where the film opened in 52 territories including China, “Vol. 3” earned $168 million, giving it a $282 million global debut.

Domestically, it’s both an impressive sum for any movie and slightly less than what we’ve come to expect from a Marvel opening. Last year on the same weekend, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” riding on the success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” raked in $187.4 million in its first three days in North America. And in November, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” also opened over $181.3 million.

But things have come back to earth this year, at least by high-flying superhero standards. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” debuted just over $106 million on its way to $474 million worldwide. At rival studio DC/Warner Bros., “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” only made $133.4 million total. The question on some analysts’ minds this weekend is whether it’s because of the specific character or a bigger issue of “superhero fatigue.”

“Guardians Vol. 3″ bumped ” The Super Mario Bros. Movie ” out of first place after four weekends atop the charts and kicked off the summer movie season, a vital and usually profitable corridor for Hollywood that runs through Labor Day and often accounts for 40% of a year’s box office.

For Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, it’s still a solid opening for the summer season, which he said is poised to deliver the most robust profits since 2019.

“Though ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s’ debut may reflect a bit of audience fatigue for the reliable superhero genre, this is just the beginning for what promises to be an irresistible movie marketplace with a killer combination of appealing films for every taste and every audience demographic,” Dergarabedian said.

The next major superhero movie on the schedule is DC’s “The Flash,” set for June 16, which has its own flurry of intrigue around it because of star Ezra Miller’s legal and personal troubles.

“Guardians Vol. 3” sees the return of actors Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Reviews have been mostly positive, but a little more divided than previous installments. And it remains difficult to compare a pre-pandemic opening such as Vol. 2’s $146 million debut (May 2017) with a post-pandemic one.

“Vol. 3” is Gunn’s last Guardians/Marvel movie as he turns his focus to leading DC Studios.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” added $18.6 million in its fifth weekend to take second place, bringing its domestic total to $518.1 million. Globally, it has now surpassed $1.1 billion.

Third place went to “Evil Dead Rise” with $5.7 million, and in fourth place was “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” with $3.4 million — both were holdovers.

Studios left the weekend mostly clear for the superhero behemoth, but Screen Gems and Sony did debut their new Priyanka Chopra Jonas romantic comedy “Love Again” (featuring Celine Dion and some new songs) in 2703 locations. It made a modest $2.4 million to take the fifth place spot.

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

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” $114 million.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” $18.6 million.
“Evil Dead Rise,” $5.7 million.
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” $3.4 million.
“Love Again,” $2.4 million.
“John Wick: Chapter 3,” $2.4 million.
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $1.5 million.
“Air,” $1.4 million.
“Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant,” $1.2 million.
“Sisu,” $1.1 million.
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Landmine Kills 7 Soldiers in Niger

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeAF

Seven soldiers were killed Sunday after their vehicle ran over a landmine in the Niger’s western Tillaberi region, said the National Guard of Niger (GNN).

Jihadist fighters regularly launch attacks in the region.

A vehicle carrying supplies on a weekly delivery run hit the mine late in the morning 6 kilometers (4 miles) from Samira village, said the GNN in a statement.

The village, which lies not far from Niger’s border with Burkina Faso in the southwest, has since 2004 hosted the country’s only industrial-scale gold mine.

This assault was just the latest in a series of attacks against Niger’s soldiers.

The impoverished Sahel country is grappling with an insurgency by jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. In the southwest, they also have to contend with jihadist fighters from Boko Haram.

It is supported by a number of Western countries, including France and the United States, who both have military bases there.
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Fighting in Khartoum as Mediators Seek End to Sudan Conflict

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeAF

Fighting could be heard in south Khartoum Sunday as envoys from Sudan’s warring parties were in Saudi Arabia for talks that international mediators hope will bring an end to a three-week-old conflict that has killed hundreds and triggered an exodus.

The U.S.-Saudi initiative is the first serious attempt to end fighting between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that has turned parts of the Sudanese capital into war zones, derailed an internationally backed plan to usher in civilian rule following years of unrest and uprisings, and created a humanitarian crisis.

Saudi Arabia will allocate $100 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan, Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya television said Sunday.

Battles since mid-April have killed hundreds of people and wounded thousands of others, disrupted aid supplies and sent 100,000 refugees fleeing abroad.

Manahil Salah, a 28-year-old laboratory doctor on an evacuation flight from Port Sudan to the United Arab Emirates, said her family hid for three days in their home close to army headquarters in the capital before eventually travelling to the Red Sea Coast.

“Yes, I am happy to survive,” she said. “But I feel deep sadness because I left my mother and father behind in Sudan, and sad because all this pain is happening in my homeland.”

Thousands of people are pushing to leave from Port Sudan on boats to Saudi Arabia, paying for expensive commercial flights through the country’s only functioning airport, or using evacuation flights.

“We were lucky to travel to Abu Dhabi, but what’s happening in Khartoum, where I spent my whole life, is painful,” said 75-year-old Abdulkader, who also caught an evacuation flight to the UAE. “Leaving your life and your memories is something indescribable.”

Intended aim

While mediators are seeking a path to peace, both sides have made it clear they would only discuss a humanitarian truce, not negotiate an end to the war.

Confirming his group’s attendance, RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, said he hoped the talks would achieve their intended aim of securing safe passage for civilians.

Hemedti has vowed to either capture or kill army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and there was also evidence on the ground that both sides remain unwilling to make compromises to end the bloodshed.

The conflict started April 15 following the collapse of an internationally backed plan for a transition to democracy.

Burhan, a career army officer, heads a ruling council installed after the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir and a 2021 military coup, while Hemedti, a former militia leader who made his name in the Darfur conflict, is his deputy.

Prior to the fighting, Hemedti had been taking steps like moving closer to a civilian coalition that indicated he had political plans. Burhan has blamed the war on his “ambitions.”

The extensive use of explosive ordnance throughout the fighting has increased the danger to civilians, especially children who can mistake the munitions for toys and play with them, said the United Nations Mine Action Service.

Western powers have backed the transition to a civilian government in a country that sits at a strategic crossroads between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the volatile Sahel region.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan was travelling to Saudi Arabia at the weekend for talks with Saudi leaders.
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Serbia Mourns Shooting Victims, Prepares Illegal Gun Amnesty

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeEU

Days after two mass shootings left 17 people dead in Serbia, the European country’s Interior Ministry urged citizens Sunday to turn in all unregistered weapons or run the risk of a prison sentence.

Individuals who hand over illegally owned guns, grenades, ammunition and other weaponry between Monday and June 8 will not face any charges, the ministry said in a statement. Those who ignore the order will face prosecution and if convicted, potentially years behind bars, government officials have warned.

Weekend funerals were held for the victims of the shootings at a Belgrade school Wednesday and in a rural area south of the capital city Thursday night. The violence, which also wounded 21 people, has stunned and anguished the Balkan nation.

While Serbia is awash with weapons and tops the European list of registered arms per capita, it is no stranger to crisis situations following the wars of the 1990s that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The most recent previous mass shooting was in 2013, when a war veteran killed 13 people. The assailant in the country’s first mass school shooting was a 13-year-old boy who opened fire on his fellow students, killing seven girls, a boy and a school guard.

The next day, a 20-year-old man fired randomly in two villages in central Serbia, killing eight people. Both he and the boy in the primary school attack were apprehended.

While the country struggles to come to terms with what happened, authorities promised a gun crackdown and said they would boost security in schools and all over the state.

“We invite all citizens who possess illegal weapons to respond to this call, to go to the nearest police station and hand in weapons for which they do not have proper documents,” police official Jelena Lakicevic said.

The voluntary surrender applies to all firearms, explosive devices, weapon parts and ammunition that people keep illegally in their homes, Lakicevic said.

Serbia has refused to fully face its role in the wars of the 1990s, war criminals are largely regarded as heroes and minority groups routinely face harassment and sometimes physical violence.
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SUV Driver Hits Crowd at Texas Bus Stop Near Border; 7 Dead

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeUS

Seven people were killed and up to six were injured Sunday after they were struck by a vehicle while waiting at a city bus stop outside of a migrant shelter in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, police said.

Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval said the crash happened about 8:30 a.m.

Shelter director Victor Maldonado of the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center said he reviewed the shelter’s surveillance video on Sunday morning after receiving a call about the crash.

The city bus stop is across the street from the shelter and is not marked. There was no bench, and people waiting there were sitting along the curb, Maldonado said. He said most of the victims were Venezuelan men.

“What we see in the video is that this SUV, a Range Rover, just ran the light that was about a hundred feet away and just went through the people who were sitting there in the bus stop,” Maldonado said.

The Ozanam shelter is the only overnight shelter in the city of Brownsville and manages the release of thousands of migrants from federal custody.

“In the last two months, we’ve been getting 250 to 380 a day,” Maldonado said. The shelter can hold 250, but many who arrive leave the same day. In the last several weeks, an uptick in border crossings prompted the city to declare an emergency as local, state and federal resources coordinated the enforcement and humanitarian response.

While the shelter offers migrants transportation during the week, they are also free to use the city’s public transportation.

“Some of them were on the way to the bus station, because they were on their way to their destination,” the director said.
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Dallas Suburb Mourns After 8 Die in Mall Shooting

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeUS

Another American community mourned Sunday for lives lost to a mass shooting — this time at a Dallas-area outlet mall where a gunman stepped out of a sedan and opened fire on shoppers.

Eight people were killed and seven wounded Saturday in suburban Allen before the assailant was killed by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said.

John Mark Caton, senior pastor at Cottonwood Creek Church, about two miles from the mall, offered prayers during his weekly service for victims, first responders and the shoppers and employees who “walked out past things they never should have seen.”

“Some of our people were there. Some perhaps in this room. Some of our students were working in those stores and will be changed forever by this,” Caton said.

Recalling phone conversations with police officers, he said: “There wasn’t an officer that I talked to yesterday that at some point in the call didn’t cry.”

The church planned an evening prayer vigil in the aftermath of the shooting, which was the latest attack to contribute to the unprecedented pace of mass killings this year. Barely a week before, five people were fatally shot in Cleveland, Texas, after a neighbor asked a man to stop firing his weapon while a baby slept, authorities said.

Police did not immediately provide details about the victims at Allen Premium Outlets, a sprawling outdoor shopping center, but witnesses reported seeing children among them. Some said they also saw what appeared to be a police officer and a mall security guard unconscious on the ground.

A 16-year-old pretzel stand employee, Maxwell Gum, described a virtual stampede of shoppers. He and others sheltered in a storage room.

“We started running. Kids were getting trampled,” Gum said. “My co-worker picked up a 4-year-old girl and gave her to her parents.”

Dashcam video circulating online showed the gunman getting out of a car and shooting at people on the sidewalk. More than three dozen shots could be heard as the vehicle that was recording the video drove off.

Allen Fire Chief Jonathan Boyd said seven people, including the shooter, died at the scene. Nine victims were taken to hospitals. Two of them died.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition Saturday evening, and four were stable, Boyd said.

An Allen Police Department officer was in the area on an unrelated call when he heard shots at 3:36 p.m., the department wrote on Facebook.

“The officer engaged the suspect and neutralized the threat. He then called for emergency personnel,” the post said.

Mass killings have happened with staggering frequency in the United States this year, with an average of about one per week, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

In a statement, President Biden said the assailant wore tactical gear and fired an AR-15-style weapon. He urged Congress to enact tighter restrictions on firearms and ammunition.

“Such an attack is too shocking to be so familiar. And yet, American communities have suffered roughly 200 mass shootings already this year, according to leading counts,” said Biden, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff.

Republicans in Congress, he said, “cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug.”

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed laws easing firearms restrictions following past mass shootings, called the mall attack an “unspeakable tragedy.”

Video shared on social media showed people running through a parking lot amid the sound of gunshots.

Fontayne Payton, 35, was at H&M when he heard gunshots through his headphones.

“It was so loud, it sounded like it was right outside,” Payton said.

People in the store scattered before employees ushered the group into the fitting rooms and then a lockable back room, he said. When they were given the all-clear to leave, Payton saw the store had broken windows and a trail of blood to the door. Discarded sandals and bloodied clothes lay nearby.

Once outside, Payton saw bodies.

“I pray it wasn’t kids, but it looked like kids,” he said. The bodies were covered in white towels, slumped over bags on the ground. “It broke me when I walked out to see that.”

Further away, he saw the body of a heavyset man wearing all black. He assumed it was the shooter, Payton said, because unlike the other bodies it had not been covered.

Tarakram Nunna, 25, and Ramakrishna Mullapudi, 26, said they saw what appeared to be three people motionless on the ground, including one who seemed to be a police officer and another who resembled a mall security guard.

Another shopper, Sharkie Mouli, 24, said he hid in a Banana Republic. As he left, he saw someone who looked like a police officer lying unconscious next to another unconscious person outside the store.

“I have seen his gun lying right next to him and a guy who is like passing out right next to him,” Mouli said.

Stan and Mary Ann Greene were browsing in a Columbia sportswear store when the shooting started.

“We had just gotten in, just a couple minutes earlier, and we just heard a lot of loud popping,” Mary Ann Greene told The Associated Press.

Employees rolled down the security gate and brought everyone to the rear of the store until police arrived and escorted them out, the Greenes said.

Eber Romero was at an Under Armour store when a cashier mentioned there was a shooting.

As he left, the mall appeared empty and all the shops had their security gates down, Romero said. That is when he started seeing broken glass and victims of the shooting on the floor of the shopping center.

Allen, a city of 105,000 residents, is about 40 kilometers north of downtown Dallas.
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12 Killed in Multi-Vehicle Crash in Turkey’s Hatay Province

Posted on 05/07/2023 by SeeEU

A multi-vehicle crash in southern Turkey’s Hatay province killed at least 12 people and injured 31 others, including three seriously, officials said.

A truck crossed into opposite lanes after the driver lost control late Saturday, colliding with nine cars and two minibuses, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Many of the vehicles were parked by the roadside near a gas station as friends and relatives said goodbye to men leaving to carry out mandatory military service.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that fires broke out on the Iskenderun-Antakya highway. The minister tweeted that 22 ambulances and three medical rescue teams were sent to the scene in Topbogazli.

“May God have mercy on our citizens who lost their lives, I express my condolences to their relatives,” he tweeted. “We will do our best to ensure that the injured regain their health as soon as possible.”

Hatay was one of the worst hit of the 11 Turkish provinces affected by a Feb. 6 earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria. At least 50,783 died in Turkey, according to the government.

The private Demiroren news agency said that the truck was carrying excavated earthquake rubble and hit another truck before crossing the highway at around 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).

Witness Ali Sarrac said that some of those killed had burned to death, Anadolu reported. Images showed burning vehicles as emergency teams tried to keep people away from the blaze.
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