Republican VP candidate JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and calls for better security

Republican VP candidate JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and calls for better security
For US Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end America's gun violence. (AFP)
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Updated 07 September 2024
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Republican VP candidate JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and calls for better security

Republican VP candidate JD Vance says he laments that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and calls for better security
  • Says further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t stop a psycho who wants to make headlines from going after soft targets such as schools

PHOENIX: Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Thursday that he lamented that school shootings are a “fact of life” and argued the US needs to harden security to prevent more carnage like the shooting this week that left four dead in Georgia.
“If these psychos are going to go after our kids we’ve got to be prepared for it,” Vance said at a rally in Phoenix. “We don’t have to like the reality that we live in, but it is the reality we live in. We’ve got to deal with it.”
The Ohio senator was asked by a journalist what can be done to stop school shootings. He said further restricting access to guns, as many Democrats advocate, won’t end them, noting they happen in states with both lax and strict gun laws. He touted efforts in Congress to give schools more money for security.

“I don’t like that this is a fact of life,” Vance said. “But if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. We’ve got to bolster security so if a psycho wants to walk through the front door and kill a bunch of children they’re not able.”
Vance said he doesn’t like the idea of his own kids going to a school with hardened security, “but that’s increasingly the reality that we live in.”
He called the shooting in Georgia an “awful tragedy,” and said the families in Winder, Georgia, need prayers and sympathy.
Earlier this year, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, toured the bloodstained Florida classroom building where the 2018 Parkland high school massacre happened. She then announced a program to assist states that have laws allowing police to temporarily seize guns from people judges have found to be dangerous.
Harris, who leads the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, has supported both stronger gun controls, such as banning sales of AR-15 and similar rifles, and better school security, like making sure classroom doors don’t lock from the outside as they did in Parkland.


Minority wing of Moldovan Orthodox church accuses priests of lobbying against Europe vote

Minority wing of Moldovan Orthodox church accuses priests of lobbying against Europe vote
Updated 11 sec ago
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Minority wing of Moldovan Orthodox church accuses priests of lobbying against Europe vote

Minority wing of Moldovan Orthodox church accuses priests of lobbying against Europe vote
  • Religion, like politics, is deeply polarized in ex-Soviet Moldova, split between liberals advocating for closer ties with the EU Romania and conservatives seeking to retain longstanding links with Russia

 

CHISINAU: The minority pro-Romanian branch of Moldova’s Orthodox Church accused clergy from the rival Moscow-linked branch of the church of campaigning against a referendum asking voters whether they back the government’s drive to join the European Union.
The minority Metropolis of Bessarabia said rival priests were lobbying against pro-European President Maia Sandu’s campaign to join the 27-nation bloc in “profoundly offensive acts ... clearly directed against the spiritual and national unity” of Moldova.

Why it is important
Religion, like politics, is deeply polarized in ex-Soviet Moldova, split between liberals advocating for closer ties with the EU and neighboring Romania and conservatives seeking to retain longstanding links with Russia.
The majority Moldova Metropolis is subordinate to the Russian Orthodox Church, though the number of priests switching to the minority branch has increased because of the Russian church’s backing for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Moldova’s eastern neighbor.
With more than 90 percent of Moldovans adhering to Orthodox Christianity, church actions could have a major effect on the Oct. 20 referendum — held alongside a presidential election in which Sandu is seeking a second term.

Key quotes
Statement by the minority Metropolis of Bessarabia:
“Priests are openly involved in election political propaganda ... The Bessarabia Metropolis firmly supports Moldova’s Europe policy which reflects Democratic values and respect for the Church and Christianity.”

President Sandu, earlier in September
“Clergy must not permit themselves to be used to destabilize the country. They must in all things work for peace in our society ... My appeal to clergy is not to get involved in politics and leave citizens to choose what they believe in. Let them teach Christian morals.”

Context
The latest opinion poll puts support for EU membership at 56 percent, with 34 percent opposed. Two of 15 parties registered in the referendum campaign are calling for a “no” vote.


Denial of Palestinian state threatens Israelis, Jews everywhere: European Council president

Denial of Palestinian state threatens Israelis, Jews everywhere: European Council president
Updated 16 sec ago
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Denial of Palestinian state threatens Israelis, Jews everywhere: European Council president

Denial of Palestinian state threatens Israelis, Jews everywhere: European Council president
  • Charles Michel calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza, two-state solution
  • Conflict in Sudan a ‘huge humanitarian catastrophe,’ he tells UN General Assembly

NEW YORK CITY: The continued denial of a state for the Palestinian people threatens the security of Israelis and Jews everywhere, the European Council president told the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

Charles Michel said the EU is working hard toward achieving an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and Israel’s security cannot come at the cost of regional peace.

“We want an immediate ceasefire in accordance with the order of the International Court of Justice. The EU is working for a lasting peace within the framework of a two-state solution living freely side by side and in safety,” he added.

“Freedom and solidarity — it’s under these same principles that we condemn the abominable terrorist attacks by Hamas (on Oct. 7 last year).

“Israel has the right to defend itself in accordance with international law and within the principle of proportionality, but ensuring security while neglecting peace is an illusion. There will never be lasting security without peace.

“The Palestinian people have the right to their state. Denying them this right will indefinitely fuel threats to the security of Israelis and of Jews everywhere.”

Remaining on the topic of regional crises, Michel called the conflict in Sudan a “huge humanitarian catastrophe.”

He said the EU will continue its efforts to pressure the warring parties in the country and those who support them to respect humanitarian and international law.


Kremlin says changes in Russia’s nuclear doctrine are intended as a warning to the West

Kremlin says changes in Russia’s nuclear doctrine are intended as a warning to the West
Updated 54 min 19 sec ago
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Kremlin says changes in Russia’s nuclear doctrine are intended as a warning to the West

Kremlin says changes in Russia’s nuclear doctrine are intended as a warning to the West
  • Moscow earlier said any assault on Russia supported by a nuclear power would be considered a joint attack and it could use nuclear weapons in response
  • New doctrine comes as US and UK discuss Ukraine's request for permission to fire conventional Western missiles into Russia
  • US and European Union both denounced the latest statements by the Russian leader as “irresponsible”

MOSCOW: Changes in Russia’s nuclear doctrine that were announced by President Vladimir Putin are intended to discourage Ukraine’s Western allies from supporting attacks on Russia, the Kremlin said Thursday.
The United States and the European Union both denounced the latest statements by the Russian leader as “irresponsible.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the revisions in the document outlined Wednesday by Putin are a “warning signal to those countries about the consequences in case of their involvement in an attack on our country with various assets, not necessarily nuclear ones.”
In the strong, new warning to the West, Putin said that any nation’s conventional attack on Russia that is supported by a nuclear power will be considered a joint attack on his country.
The threat was clearly aimed at discouraging the West from allowing Ukraine to strike Russia with longer-range weapons and appears to significantly lower the threshold for the possible use of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting in Moscow on September 25, 2024. (Sputnik pool photo via AFP)

Speaking at Wednesday’s Security Council meeting that discussed changes in the doctrine, Putin didn’t specify whether the modified document envisages a nuclear response to such an attack. He emphasized, however, that Russia could use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional assault posing a “critical threat to our sovereignty,” a vague formulation that leaves broad room for interpretation.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Putin’s statement as “totally irresponsible,” saying on MSNBC that “many in the world have spoken clearly about that when he’s been rattling the nuclear saber, including China in the past.”
“To do that now while the world’s gathered in New York, including talking about the need for more disarmament, nonproliferation, I think that’s going to play very badly around the world,” Blinken said, referring to the meeting of the UN General Assembly.
European Commission spokesman Peter Stano similarly criticized Putin’s statements about the nuclear doctrine as “a continuation of the very irresponsible and unacceptable behavior” by the Russian leader, showing that “he doesn’t shy away from playing the nuclear gamble over and over again.”
Russia is making slow but steady gains in Ukraine as the conflict grinds through its third year, and the Kremlin is seeking to discourage stronger Western support for Kyiv.
Ukraine has repeatedly struck Russian territory with missiles and drones in response to Moscow’s attacks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pushing the US and other Western allies for permission to use the longer-range Western weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory. The Biden administration has said it hasn’t given Kyiv the go-ahead for strikes with American weapons deep inside Russia.
Zelensky met Thursday with Biden, who announced billions of dollars more in new weapons deliveries, including an additional Patriot missile defense battery and a new shipment of glide bombs that can be deployed from F-16 fighter jets, a few of which already have been supplied to Ukraine.
Putin said the revised doctrine spells out conditions for using nuclear weapons in greater detail, noting that they could be used in case of a massive air attack. The new phrasing holds the door open to a potential nuclear response to any aerial attack — a deliberate ambiguity intended to make the West more reluctant to allow longer-range strikes.
Since Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, he and other Kremlin voices have frequently threatened the West with Russia’s nuclear arsenal to discourage it from ramping up support for Kyiv.
Earlier this month, Putin warned the US and other NATO allies that allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied longer-range weapons to hit Russian territory would put Russia and NATO in a direct conflict.
 


Merchant ship rescues dozens of migrants from yacht in distress off southern Greece

Merchant ship rescues dozens of migrants from yacht in distress off southern Greece
Updated 26 September 2024
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Merchant ship rescues dozens of migrants from yacht in distress off southern Greece

Merchant ship rescues dozens of migrants from yacht in distress off southern Greece
  • The coast guard said about 70 migrants were on the vessel
  • The rescue took place some 17 miles off the southwestern village of Koroni

ATHENS: A merchant ship has rescued dozens of migrants from a yacht in distress off the southwestern coast of Greece, Greek authorities said Thursday.
The coast guard said about 70 migrants were on the vessel, and there were no reports of anyone being in ill health. The migrants were being taken to the southern Greek port of Kalamata.
The rescue took place some 15 nautical miles (17 miles) off the southwestern village of Koroni, the coast guard said.
There was no information immediately available on the nationalities of the migrants, or on where they had left from.
Typically, smuggling gangs cram dozens of migrants into yachts that leave Turkiye for Italy, traveling through the central Aegean Sea. Each passenger is charged several thousands dollars for the trip.
The route skirts eastern Aegean waters that are heavily patrolled by Greece’s coast guard for small migrant boats leaving the Turkish coast for the nearby Greek islands.


Somalia-Ethiopia tensions threaten Horn of Africa

Somalia-Ethiopia tensions threaten Horn of Africa
Updated 26 September 2024
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Somalia-Ethiopia tensions threaten Horn of Africa

Somalia-Ethiopia tensions threaten Horn of Africa
  • Strained relations — heightened by arms shipments— creating opportunities for Al-Shabab, experts say

NAIROBI: Growing tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia, heightened by arms shipments, risk destabilizing the fragile Horn of Africa and creating opportunities for the insurgents of Al-Shabab, experts say.

The region has been on alert since January when Ethiopia announced it would lease a stretch of coastline from Somaliland, a breakaway area of Somalia, to build a naval base and commercial port.

Landlocked Ethiopia has long sought sea access, but the move enraged Somalia, which refuses to recognize Somaliland’s claim to independence, which it first declared in 1991.

Somalia has reacted by growing closer to Ethiopia’s biggest regional rival, Egypt.

Egypt has its bugbears with Ethiopia, notably the vast Grand Renaissance Dam it has been building on the Nile, which Cairo sees as threatening its water supply.

On Aug. 14, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud announced a “historic” military deal with Egypt.

Somalia has received two arms shipments — the most recent one arriving last weekend.

Analysts say that raises concerns.

“Somalia, a country already awash in arms, is currently seeing a spike in (weapons) imports amid the ongoing tensions. Given pervasive mistrust and weak controls, this is a worrying development,” said Omar Mahmood of the International Crisis Group.

Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday it was particularly concerned that weapons would end up in the hands of Al-Shabab militants.

Somalia has additionally threatened to boot out Ethiopian troops deployed for an African Union mission against Al-Shabab since 2007.

The mission is due for a makeover at the end of the year, and Egypt has offered to replace the Ethiopian troops for the first time.

Somalia may also force Ethiopia to remove the estimated 10,000 troops it has stationed along its shared border to prevent incursions by the Islamists.

Samira Gaid, a Mogadishu-based security analyst, said such threats by Somalia were a “wild card” designed to pressure Ethiopia away from becoming the first country to recognize Somaliland.

But the potential loss of experienced Ethiopian troops has already raised fears in southwest Somalia, the area worst affected by the Al-Shabab insurgency.

“If Ethiopia and Somalia are not cooperating, if there is a fundamental breakdown in their security relationship, Al-Shabab is the winner ... they can take advantage of the gaps,” said Mahmood.

Attempts by outside powers to turn down the temperature have made little progress.

Turkiye has hosted two talks between Ethiopia and Somalia in July and August.

But a third round, which was expected last week in Ankara, did not happen.

“It’s hard to see any progress being made because of such rising rhetoric,” said Gaid.

Analysts say full-blown armed conflict remains unlikely, but the tripwires are increasing.

Last weekend, Somalia accused Ethiopia of supplying weapons to its northeastern Puntland region, another breakaway province that unilaterally declared independence in 1998.

“This activity constitutes a grave infringement on Somalia’s sovereignty and poses serious implications for national and regional security,” the Somali Foreign Ministry wrote on X.