56 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2015
Trump maintains lead in GOP race for White House
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HE Donald Trump bul let train charged full speed ahead, as the unfiltered US presidential hopeful slammed China, Barack Obama’s administration and Republican rival Jeb Bush while reveling in fresh poll results that he said show him “leading everywhere.” Ignoring warning signs that his campaign may be running into trouble, the brash celebrity billionaire held a wide-ranging press conference before a speech in Michigan on Tuesday and lashed out on several subjects but declined to provide policy details.
Donald Trump “We’ll be announcing over the next two weeks numbers and specifics,” he said when asked of his jobs plan. “You have to be flexible on jobs and everything else.” He used his take-noprisoners style to batter Bush in particular, saying the former Florida governor “will not be able to
negotiate against China (or) Mexico.” Trump lit a powder keg during last week’s debut Republican presidential debate, when he refused to pledge he would not run as an independent, clashed with a popular Fox News moderator, and later made comments about her that many interpreted as crudely sexist. But Trump, himself a former reality TV impresario, said he was responsible for drawing millions to that prime-time debate broadcast. “Who do you think they were watching, Jeb Bush? Huh? I don’t think so,” Trump quipped.
Climate change: Pope Francis differ with US Catholic oil interests
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OPE Francis heart ened environmentalists around the world in June when he urged immediate action to save the planet from the effects of climate change, declaring that the use of “highly polluting fossil fuels needs to be progressively replaced without delay.” But some of the largest American Catholic organizations have millions of dollars invested in energy companies,
from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers, according to their own disclosures, through many portfolios intended to fund church operations and pay clergy salaries. This discrepancy between the church’s leadership and its financial activities in the United States has prompted at least one significant review of investments. The Archdiocese of Chicago, America’s third
largest by Catholic population, told Reuters it will reexamine its more than $100 million worth of fossil fuel investments. “We are beginning to evaluate the implications of the encyclical across multiple areas, including investments and also including areas such as energy usage and building materials,” Betsy Bohlen, chief operating officer for the Archdiocese, said in an email.
Boko Haram's new leader ready to negotiate — Deby
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OKO Haram has a new commander willing to negotiate with Nigeria’s new government, Chad’s President Idriss Deby announced Wednesday, fueling speculation the extremist group’s previous commander has been killed. Rumors of the death of Abubakar Shekau have grown since the leader has not appeared for months in videos broadcast by Nigeria’s homegrown Islamic militant group. “There is somebody apparently called Mahamat Daoud who is said to have replaced Abubakar Shekau, and he wants to negotiate with the Nigerian government,” Deby said in comments broadcast by Chad state radio. He did not say where the information came from. “I would not advise negotiating with a terrorist,” said Deby, though he himself led one failed attempt last year. Other attempts under Nigeria’s previous government also failed, partly because the group is believed fractured into several factions. P r e s i d e n t Muhammadu Buhari
Idriss Deby has said his government is open to talks, but also
would pursue the military option. Deby said a five-nation regional army based in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, would be deployed in days and predicted it would destroy Boko Haram by year’s end. He said the group already has been “decapitated.”
Libya chaos deepens as PM threatens resignation
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HE future of Libya’s internationally recognised government was uncertain yesterday after Prime Minister Abdullah alThani threatened to resign, and as the latest UNbrokered peace talks ended amid optimism about a deal. Thani made the resignation threat during an emotional live television appearance in which he faced a barrage of angry questions from citizens, but it was unclear whether he planned to follow through. His remarks added to the political uncertainty as Libya’s rival factions met for a second and final day. A UN statement said the talks in Geneva had been held in a “positive atmosphere” and that there was optimism that the
Abdullah al-Thani, process of dialogue was approaching its final stages. The parties “underscored their determination to conclude the dialogue process as soon as possible”, aiming for the coming three weeks, followed by adoption of a political agreement and formal endorsement at the “beginning of September”.
Protests rock Ferguson on anniversary ..factions end talks with pledge of Police shooting to clinch deal county prosecutor Bob
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HE return of an armed militia group patrolling the streets of Ferguson drew criticism Tuesday from both protesters and the county police chief overseeing security amid ongoing demonstrations marking the anniversary of 18year-old Michael Brown’s shooting death. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said
the overnight presence of the Oath Keepers, wearing camouflage bulletproof vests and openly carrying rifles and pistols on West Florissant Avenue, the hub of marches and protests for the past several days, was “both unnecessary and inflammatory.” Belmar plans to ask
McCulloch about the legality of armed patrols by the far-right anti-government activist group, which largely comprises past and present members of the military, first responders and police officers. But Missouri law allows anyone with a concealed carry permit to openly display a firearm anywhere in the state.
Bush, Clinton trade blame over Iraq war
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decade of anger over the Iraq war resurfaced in the 2016 US election race on Tuesday, with Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton’s campaigns trading blame about that country’s continued instability. Twelve years after president George W. Bush led the United States into an unpopular and troubled conflict, his brother, now
Hillary Clinton a Republican presidential hopeful, accused
Democrats of abandoning Iraq before the job was done. Jeb Bush blamed his Democratic White House rival, former Secretary of State Clinton, for allowing the brutal emergence of the Islamic State group by withdrawing troops from Iraq too fast. “It was a case of blind haste to get out,” Bush told an audience in California,
LIBYA’s warring factions agreed yesterday to end the political crisis and military conflict in the country within weeks, the United Nations said at the end of two days of peace talks in Geneva. Libya is split between two governments backed by armed factions fighting each other, with Islamic State and other armed groups exploiting the resulting security vacuum. Highlighting the risk that the U.N. talks, which have dragged on for almost a year, become irrelevant as the security situation worsens, Libya’s rival governments flew air strikes on Tuesday against suspected Islamic State positions in two cities. But the U.N. Support Mission in Libya
(UNSMIL), headed by special envoy Bernardino Leon, put a brave face on the situation after two days of closed-door talks in Geneva. “The parties
underscored their determination to conclude the dialogue process as soon as possible, with a target date within the coming three weeks,” a UNSMIL statement said.
Ebola: Kenya refuses to accept chimps from Liberia
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ENYA has rejected a request to bring two young chimpanzees rescued in Ebola-hit Liberia to a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary due to fears about the deadly virus, the country’s top veterinarian said on Wednesday. Ebola has killed more than 11,200 people in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since late 2013. Liberia was declared Ebolafree by the World Health Organisation in May, but there have been some new
cases since then. “There is a risk for us to import animals from West Africa because of Ebola,” Kisa Juma Ngeiywa, Kenya’s Director of Veterinary Services, told Reuters. “There is no malice. We do not want to endanger the human and the animal population in this country.” The two-year-old female chimps, Sweet Pea and Guey, were handed over to conservationists in April, and have been cared for by volunteers in the Liberian capital Monrovia.