Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here’s what he said

Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here’s what he said
President Donald Trump holding a press conference in Florida on January 30, 2025. (AP photo)
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Updated 31 January 2025
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Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here’s what he said

Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here’s what he said
  • Trump on Thursday variously pointed the finger at the helicopter’s pilot, air traffic control, his predecessor, Joe Biden, and other Democrats

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida: President Donald Trump began his White House briefing Thursday with a moment of silence and a prayer for victims of Wednesday’s crash at Reagan National Airport. But his remarks quickly became a diatribe against diversity hiring and his allegation — so far without evidence — that lowered standards were to blame for the crash.
Trump on Thursday variously pointed the finger at the helicopter’s pilot, air traffic control, his predecessor, Joe Biden, and other Democrats including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom he labeled a “disaster.” Buttigieg responded by calling Trump “despicable.”
The cause of the crash is still unknown. Authorities are investigating and have not publicly identified the cause or said who might have been responsible for the collision of an American Airlines plane and a US Army helicopter.
Reporters on Thursday challenged Trump’s claims. Here’s a look at how Trump responded to some of their questions.
Placing blame on diversity hiring
Trump was asked repeatedly to explain why he was blaming federal diversity and inclusion promotion efforts for the crash, at one point alleging that previous leadership had determined that the Federal Aviation Administration workforce was “too white.” He did not back up those claims, while also declaring it was still not clear the FAA or air traffic controllers were responsible for the crash.
Q: “Are you saying this crash was somehow caused as the result of diversity hiring? And what evidence have you seen to support these claims?”
TRUMP: “It just could have been. We have a high standard. We’ve had a much higher standard than anybody else. And there are things where you have to go by brainpower. You have to go by psychological quality, and psychological quality is a very important element of it. These are various, very powerful tests that we put to use. And they were terminated by Biden. And Biden went by a standard that seeks the exact opposite. So we don’t know. But we do know that you had two planes at the same level. You had a helicopter and a plane. That shouldn’t have happened. And, we’ll see. We’re going to look into that, and we’re going to see. But certainly for an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, the smartest, the sharpest. We want somebody that’s psychologically superior. And that’s what we’re going to have.”

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Q: “You have today blamed the diversity elements but then told us that you weren’t sure that the controllers made any mistake. You then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones who made the mistake.”
TRUMP: “It’s all under investigation.”
Q: “I understand that. That’s why I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.”
TRUMP: “Because I have common sense. OK? And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level. When you have 60 planes coming in during a short period of time, and they’re all coming in different directions, and you’re dealing with very high-level computer, computer work and very complex computers.”
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Trump was challenged on his claim that the FAA under Democratic presidents had promoted the hiring of people with disabilities. The page Trump referenced has existed on the FAA’s website for a decade, including his first term.
Q: “The implication that this policy is new or that it stems from efforts that began under President Biden or the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, is demonstrably false. It’s been on the FAA’s website — ”
TRUMP: “Who said that, you?”
Q: “No, it’s on the website, the FAA’s website. It was there from 2013 ... it was there for the entirety, it was there for the entirety of your administration, too. So my question is, why didn’t you change the policy during your first administration?”
TRUMP: “I did change it. I changed the Obama policy, and we had a very good policy. And then Biden came in and he changed it. And then when I came in two days, three days ago, I signed a new order, bringing it to the highest level of intelligence.”
Calling for fast confirmations
Trump agreed it was helpful to have Sean Duffy, his new transportation secretary, sworn and ready to respond when the major crisis hit.
Q: “Is it helpful to have your secretary of transportation confirmed and does this intensify your interest in getting other nominees confirmed quickly as well?”
TRUMP: “For sure, we want fast confirmations. And the Democrats, as you know, are doing everything they can to delay. They’ve taken too long. We’re struggling to get very good people that everybody knows are going to be confirmed. But we’re struggling to get them out faster. We want them out faster.”
Reassuring people it is safe to fly
Trump was asked if Americans should feel safe to fly after the crash.
According to the FAA, Trump is expected to fly to Palm Beach, Florida, where his Mar-a-Lago club is located, for the weekend on Friday.
Trump took another opportunity to criticize diversity hiring efforts for the crash as he wrapped up the news briefing.
Q: “Should people be hesitant to fly right now?”
TRUMP: “No. Not at all. I would not hesitate to fly. This is something that it’s been many years that something like this has happened, and the collision is just something that, we don’t expect ever to happen again. We are going to have the highest-level people. We’ve already hired some of the people that you already hired for that position long before we knew about this. I mean, long before, from the time I came in, we started going out and getting the best people because I said ‘It’s not appropriate what they’re doing.’ I think it’s a tremendous mistake. You know? They like to do things, and they like to take them too far. And this is sometimes what ends up happening.
“Now with that, I’m not blaming the controller. I’m saying there are things that you could question, like the height of the helicopter, the height of the plane being at the same level and going the opposite direction. That’s not a positive. But, no, we’re already hiring people.
“Flying is very safe. We have the safest flying anywhere in the world, and we’ll keep it that way.”
 


Russian response to US truce plans inadequate ‘for too long’: Zelensky

Russian response to US truce plans inadequate ‘for too long’: Zelensky
Updated 6 sec ago
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Russian response to US truce plans inadequate ‘for too long’: Zelensky

Russian response to US truce plans inadequate ‘for too long’: Zelensky
  • “For too long now, America’s proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table without an adequate response from Russia,” Zelensky says

KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Russia’s response to US ceasefire efforts had been inadequate “for too long,” and that Moscow needed to be pressured into a peace deal.
Both Moscow and Kyiv agreed to the concept of a Black Sea truce following talks with US officials earlier this week, but Russia said it would not enter into force until the West lifted certain sanctions.
“For too long now, America’s proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table without an adequate response from Russia,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
“There could already be a ceasefire if there was real pressure on Russia,” he added, thanking those countries “who understand this” and have stepped up sanctions pressure on the Kremlin.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a speedy end to the more than three-year war since taking office, but his administration has failed to reach a breakthrough despite talks with both sides.
Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian plan for a 30-day ceasefire, and on Friday suggested Zelensky be removed from office as part of the peace process, further toughening Moscow’s negotiating position and angering Kyiv.


Italy tries to fill its Albanian migrant center after legal woes

Italy tries to fill its Albanian migrant center after legal woes
Updated 29 March 2025
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Italy tries to fill its Albanian migrant center after legal woes

Italy tries to fill its Albanian migrant center after legal woes
  • Government in attempt to salvage a costly scheme frozen for months amid efforts to curb refugee influx

ROME: Italy’s government said it would use its Albanian migrant centers for people awaiting deportation, the latest attempt to salvage a costly scheme frozen for months by legal challenges.

The two Italian-run facilities, located near the coast in northern Albania, were opened last October as processing centers for potential asylum seekers intercepted at sea, an experimental project closely watched by EU partners.
But Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ministers agreed on Friday that the centers will now primarily serve as repatriation facilities to hold migrants who are due to be sent back to their home countries.

BACKGROUND

The modification means that migrants who have already arrived on Italian shores could be sent across the Adriatic to a non-EU country to await their repatriations.

The modification means that migrants who have already arrived on Italian shores could be sent across the Adriatic to a non-EU country to await their repatriations.
Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party has vowed to cut irregular migration, has cast the scheme as a “courageous, unprecedented” model.
But the plan has run into a series of legal roadblocks, and the centers have stood mainly empty.
Italian judges have repeatedly refused to sign off on the detention in Albania of migrants intercepted by Italian authorities at sea, ordering them to be transferred to Italy instead.
The European Court of Justice, ECJ, is now reviewing the policy.
On Friday, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the new decree modifying the Albania plan “allows us to give immediate reactivation” of the migrant centers.
“The plan is going ahead,” he told journalists, saying the use change “will not cost €1 more.”
The scheme was signed between Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, in November 2023.
Under the plan, Italy would finance and operate the centers, where migrants considered to be from “safe” countries, and therefore unlikely to be eligible for asylum, would have their cases fast-tracked.
The first group of 16 migrants arrived in October, but they were promptly sent to Italy after judges ruled they did not meet the criteria.
Italy responded by modifying its list of so-called “safe countries,” but judges ruled twice more against subsequent detentions and referred the issue to the ECJ, which is expected to issue a ruling after May or June.
Meloni’s coalition government has cast the court rulings as politically motivated.
Italy’s opposition has decried government waste over the experiment, due to it costing an estimated €160 million ($173 million) per year, even as rights groups have worried that migrant protections would not be respected in the centers.
On Friday, former prime minister Matteo Renzi, a centrist, said the facilities would require a further €30 million to €50 million were they to be transformed into repatriation centers, calling them “useless structures, creatures of Giorgia Meloni’s propaganda.”
The leader of the center-left opposition Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, challenged the legal basis of the modification, saying European law “does not allow a repatriation center to be relocated to a third country.”
“The government has no qualms about trampling on fundamental rights and wasting more resources of Italians with its empty and harmful propaganda,” she wrote.
Immigration lawyer Guido Savio said that with the change announced on Friday, the government is trying to show that it can “make them work” while casting itself at the forefront of an “innovative” European policy on migration.
Savio said the changes will allow the government to prepare early for a draft EU regulation that would provide for outsourcing migrant centers to non-EU, so-called third countries, which is not due to take effect before 2027.
But Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, another immigration attorney, predicted an “avalanche of appeals” after the latest government action, which he said has “no legal basis.”
The latest move has “highly symbolic” importance for the government, which “does not want to show the failure of the Albania model,” he said.
Undocumented migration via the Central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy fell by 59 percent last year, with 67,000 migrant arrivals, according to European border agency Frontex, due to fewer departures from Tunisia and Libya.

 


UN condemns killing of peacekeeper in Central African Republic

UN condemns killing of peacekeeper in Central African Republic
Updated 29 March 2025
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UN condemns killing of peacekeeper in Central African Republic

UN condemns killing of peacekeeper in Central African Republic
  • The country has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced then-President François Bozize from office

BANGUI: The UN has condemned the killing of a Kenyan peacekeeper in an ambush of a patrol in the east of the Central African Republic.
Florence Marchal, the spokesperson for MINUSCA, the peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, said the soldier was killed during a UN patrol near the village of Tabant, 24 km northwest of Sémio.
Marchal said Valentine Rugwabiza, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the Central African Republic, “condemns this attack in the strongest possible terms” and is “extremely shocked by this despicable attack on peacekeepers whose mission is to protect civilian populations.”
Government spokesperson Maxime Balalu said that government and law enforcement authorities would do everything possible to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The A Zande Anikpigbe militia carried out the ambush, according to Semio official Amadou Bi Djobdi.
“This is an act that cannot be tolerated. There is no more room for anarchy, and the bandits must face up to the law,” Djobdi said.
Despite its vast mineral wealth, including gold and diamonds, the Central African Republic remains one of the world’s poorest countries.  Rebel groups have often operated with impunity, thwarting mining exploration by foreign companies.
The country has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced then-President François Bozize from office.
Six of the 14 armed groups that signed a 2019 peace deal later left the agreement.
Locals and the government have credited Wagner forces with preventing rebels from taking control of Bangui in 2021.
The country is one of the first in which the Russia-backed mercenary Wagner Group established operations with the pledge of fighting rebel groups and restoring peace. Wagner forces have served as personal bodyguards for President Faustin Archange Touadera, helping him win a constitutional referendum in July 2023 that could extend his power indefinitely.
The A Zande Anikpigbe militia is one of several such groups that Wagner mercenaries have trained in recent years.
Wagner Group regional chief Dimitri Syty said last year that the militia had been committing atrocities “because they’re cut off from the country” and that Wagner’s training has helped integrate it into the national army.

 


Medical supplies shortage hampering Myanmar quake response: UN

Medical supplies shortage hampering Myanmar quake response: UN
Updated 29 March 2025
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Medical supplies shortage hampering Myanmar quake response: UN

Medical supplies shortage hampering Myanmar quake response: UN
  • “As the full scale of the disaster unfolds, urgent humanitarian assistance is needed to support those affected,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said
  • WHO said it had rushed nearly three tons of medical supplies, including trauma kits and multi-purpose tents

GENEVA: A severe lack of medical supplies is hampering efforts to respond to the deadly earthquake in Myanmar, the United Nations said Saturday, adding that those affected needed urgent humanitarian aid.
The UN said it was mobilizing emergency response efforts, alongside humanitarian partner organizations, following the huge earthquake that struck on Friday leaving more than 1,600 people dead in Myanmar and neighboring Thailand.
“As the full scale of the disaster unfolds, urgent humanitarian assistance is needed to support those affected,” the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement.
It said the response was being hindered by a lack of medical supplies, along with damaged roads and communications infrastructure.
“A severe shortage of medical supplies is hampering response efforts, including trauma kits, blood bags, anaesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicines, and tents for health workers,” OCHA said.
The agency said hospitals and health facilities had sustained extensive damage or had been destroyed.
“Telecommunications and Internet disruptions continue to hinder humanitarian communications and operations. Damaged roads and debris are obstructing humanitarian access and complicating needs assessments,” it added.
OCHA said coordination efforts were under way to conduct rapid needs assessments and scale up the emergency response.
“The earthquake caused widespread destruction of homes and severe damage to critical infrastructure,” it said.
“Thousands of people are spending the nights on the streets or open spaces due to the damage and destruction to homes, or fearing further quakes.”
In central and northwestern Myanmar, hospitals in Mandalay, Magway and the capital Naypyidaw “are struggling to cope with the influx of people injured.”
In the southern part of Shan state, multiple townships have been affected, with clothing, blankets, emergency shelters and food assistance needed immediately, OCHA said.
The agency said a convoy of 17 cargo trucks from neighboring China carrying shelters and medical supplies was expected to arrive on Sunday.
Meanwhile the World Health Organization said it had rushed nearly three tons of medical supplies, including trauma kits and multi-purpose tents, from its emergency stockpile in Yangon to hospitals in Mandalay and Naypyidaw treating thousands of people injured in the quake.


“Immediate support is critical to save lives,” its South-East Asia branch said on X.
Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) — the world’s largest humanitarian network — said Red Cross teams in Myanmar were “racing against time” to rescue survivors, provide pre-hospital care and distribute emergency shelter materials.
In a video from Yangon, Marie Manrique, the IFRC’s acting head of delegation in Myanmar, said the numbers of fatalities and injuries were continually increasing.
“We do have some uplifting stories of actually finding people... however, the sad stories will continue to be coming in,” she said.
Besides infrastructure, many houses have collapsed, “and we really need to start thinking of what is going to happen to these people and their long-term housing needs,” she added.


Fitness enthusiasts challenge themselves with pre-iftar hikes in Pakistani capital

Fitness enthusiasts challenge themselves with pre-iftar hikes in Pakistani capital
Updated 29 March 2025
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Fitness enthusiasts challenge themselves with pre-iftar hikes in Pakistani capital

Fitness enthusiasts challenge themselves with pre-iftar hikes in Pakistani capital
  • Hikers set out hour before sunset, break fast on trails on Margalla Hills National Park
  • Participants say pre-iftar hikes help boost fat burning, maintain weight in Ramadan

ISLAMABAD: Zarnab Tahir struggled to catch her breath as the steep incline of the hiking trail at Islamabad’s picturesque Margalla Hills tested her endurance. Hiking can put people through physical exertion, especially when they do it on an empty stomach.

An hour before the sun sets and the call to prayer blares out from various mosques located in Pakistan’s capital city, a group of fitness enthusiasts take to the hiking trails in Margalla Hills National Park.

Participants hike up the mountain at the Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad on March 25, 2025, during an Arab News’ Ramadan special coverage of a pre-iftar hiking trend in Pakistani capital. (Supplied)

Islamabad Run With Us — IRU — which describes itself as Pakistan’s “pioneering running community,” is behind the pre-iftar hiking initiative.

“When you engage in pre-iftar (physical) activities during Ramadan, it gives you extra energy, an extra boost,” Qasim Naz, who founded IRU in 2016, told Arab News on hiking trail number three.

Participants hike up the mountain at the Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad on March 25, 2025, during an Arab News’ Ramadan special coverage of a pre-iftar hiking trend in Pakistani capital. (Supplied)

“And when someone joins in on an activity once or twice, they figure out it’s not that hard and they can sustain it comfortably.”

Naz stresses that staying active during the holy month is essential. The IRU organizes five activities a week, which include two runs and three hikes.

This aerial view shows the Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad on March 25, 2025, during an Arab News’ Ramadan special coverage of a pre-iftar hiking trend in Pakistani capital. (Supplied)

“Either we can maintain our weight, or if our goal is weight loss, we can achieve it by being in a calorie deficit while eating a healthy diet and exercising,” Naz explained.

Tahir, 22, meanwhile, said that she was committed to reaching the top of hiking trail before sunset. This was the second time she was hiking with IRU.

Participants hike up the mountain at the Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad on March 25, 2025, during an Arab News’ Ramadan special coverage of a pre-iftar hiking trend in Pakistani capital. (Supplied)

She agreed with Naz that group activities are “much easier” to sustain.

“I think it is important to go at your own pace and it’s so much easier with the group,” Tahir, a content creator, told Arab News.

Participants hike up the mountain at the Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad on March 25, 2025, during an Arab News’ Ramadan special coverage of a pre-iftar hiking trend in Pakistani capital. (Supplied)

“If you go alone, it’s kind of more difficult and you are, like, really slow but if you go with the group you can maintain that pace and I think it’s much easier that way.”

Mahwish Ashraf, a journalist associated with a foreign diplomatic mission in Islamabad, shared how she struggled the first time that she went on a pre-iftar hike with IRU.

“The first time I was hiking, I returned from in between, I couldn’t complete it,” she admitted. “So, this is my second time hiking with the IRU, and gladly, I’m at the main point, the meeting point.”

Eraj Khan, a commercial specialist visiting from Australia to spend Ramadan with his family, said pre-iftar hikes give one “lots of energy.”

“For fat burning, it’s a great activity,” Khan said. “Especially because the last two hours of fasting are the hardest, most people feel really hungry. But so far, I’m loving it.”

As the clock continued to tick and evening settled in, the hikers began to pick up their pace. For Tahir, reaching the top of the trail before sunset was a victory in itself.

She had pushed past exhaustion, embraced the challenge and proved to herself that she was capable of more than she thought she could achieve.

And according to her, hiking with the group made all the difference.

“The energy of the group keeps you going,” she said. “Even when you feel like stopping, you see everyone else moving forward, and you push through.”