FORT LAUDERDALE, United States: US President Donald Trump said Saturday the FBI was so caught up in the Russia probe that it failed to heed signs which could have prevented the Parkland school shooting.
His comments came as he faces criticism from survivors of the attack over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, and after several thousand rallied in Florida to demand urgent action on gun control.
“Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable,” he wrote on Twitter.
“They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign — there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!“
US authorities have come under mounting scrutiny for failing to act on a series of warning signs ahead of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 people were killed.
The FBI admitted Friday it received a chilling warning in January from a tipster who said the gunman Nikolas Cruz could be planning a mass shooting, but that agents failed to follow up.
But the attack, the 18th school shooting this year alone, has also renewed calls for greater gun control with several survivors leading the charge.
One of them, 18-year-old Emma Gonzalez delivered a fiery address to a crowd of students, parents and residents in Ft. Lauderdale.
“To every politician taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!” she thundered, assailing Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby. The crowd chanted in turn: “Shame on you!“
“We are going to be the last mass shooting... We are going to change the law,” she vowed — slamming the fact 19-year-old Cruz was able to legally buy a semi-automatic firearm despite a history of troubling and violent behavior.
“The question on whether or not people should be allowed to own an automatic weapon is not a political one. It is question of life or death and it needs to stop being a question of politics,” Gonzalez told AFP following her speech.
In Washington, the political response has made clear that the powerful NRA pro-gun lobby remains formidable, while Trump himself suggested the root cause of mass shootings was a crisis of mental health — making no mention of gun control.
“If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and... how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association,” Gonzalez said in her impassioned address.
“It doesn’t matter because I already know. Thirty million,” she said, citing the sum spent by the NRA to support Trump’s election bid and defeat Hillary Clinton.
She then ran through a list of the pro-gun lobby’s talking points — for example, that “a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun,” that no law could ever stop a madman intent on killing — answering each argument with “We call BS.”
The young woman’s powerful address immediately went viral, with her name a top trending topic on Twitter.
In addition to the FBI’s missteps, Cruz was also known to local police after his mother repeatedly reported him for violent outbursts, while records obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel show authorities investigated Cruz in 2016 after he cut his arms on messaging app Snapchat and threatened to buy a gun.
The newspaper, citing Department of Children and Family Services documents, said the investigation came four days after Cruz turned 18 — legally an adult, and thus able to buy a firearm.
Investigators said there were “some implications” for the teen’s safety, but concluded that his “final level of risk is low as (he) resides with his mother, attends school and receives counseling” as an outpatient at a mental health center, the Sun Sentinel said.
Cruz later passed a background check, allowing him in February 2017 to buy the AR-15 rifle used in the massacre.
Trump spoke by phone Saturday with the Parkland mayor, the county commissioner and the principal of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to express his condolences and offer his support.
He then pivoted to politics late Saturday with his allegations against the FBI — though the federal government’s investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race and collusion with the Trump campaign has been led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller since last May.
There was no immediate response from the FBI to Trump’s latest allegation.
Mueller’s investigation has so far swept up four members of Trump’s campaign, with two agreeing to work for the probe under a plea deal.
On Thursday Mueller indicted 13 Russians for allegedly running a secret campaign to tilt the vote, but did not accuse any Americans of knowingly participating in that effort.
Trump turns on FBI over school shooting after criticism from survivors
Trump turns on FBI over school shooting after criticism from survivors
Putin proposes direct talks with Ukraine "without preconditions"
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, "without preconditions."
His remarks came as the leaders of four major European countries visited Kyiv to push for Moscow to agree to a truce and launch peace talks on ending the nearly three-year war.
(Developing story)
Bangladesh’s interim government bans the former ruling party of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
- The ban would stay in place until a special tribunal completes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students
DHAKA, Bangladesh: The interim government in Bangladesh on Saturday banned all activities of the former ruling Awami League party headed by former influential Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year in a mass uprising.
Asif Nazrul, the country’s law affairs adviser, said late Saturday the interim Cabinet headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus decided to ban the party’s activities online and elsewhere under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act. The ban would stay in place until a special tribunal completes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students and other protesters during an anti-government uprising in July and August last year.
“This decision is aimed at ensuring national security and sovereignty, protection of activists of the July movement, and plaintiffs and witnesses involved in the tribunal proceedings,” Nazrul told reporters after a special Cabinet meeting.
Nazrul said the meeting Saturday also expanded scope for trying any political parties involving charges of killing during the anti-Hasina protest being handled by the International Crimes Tribunal.
He said a government notification regarding the ban would be published soon with details.
Hasina and many of her senior party colleagues have been accused of murder in many cases after her ouster last year. Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5 as her official residence was stormed by protesters soon after she left the country.
The United Nations human rights office in a report said in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during three weeks of anti-Hasina protest.
Saturday night’s dramatic decision came after thousands of protesters, including supporters of a newly formed political party by students, took to the streets in Dhaka and issued an ultimatum to ban the Awami League party by Saturday night. The members of the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party also prominently took part in the protest.
There was no immediate reaction from Hasina or her party, but the chief of the National Citizen Party, Nahid Islam, who is also a student leader, applauded the Yunus-led government for its decision.
The student-led uprising ended Hasina’s 15 years of rule, and three days after her fall Yunus took the helm as interim leader.
France in talks with Britain, Ukraine about potential troops, Macron tells paper
- “We’re working on the presence and strategic footprint of the partner countries,” Macron said
- “The key is to have troops in Ukraine“
PARIS: France is consulting with partners on how to potentially support Ukraine in its struggle with Russia with troops, French President Emmanuel Macron told newspaper Le Parisien on Saturday, without elaborating on what such a presence could include.
“We are working on the presence and strategic footprint of the partner countries. There have been several exchanges between our British, French and Ukrainian chiefs of staff, who have coordinated the work with all their partners, and all this is becoming clearer and making progress,” Macron was cited in the article.
“The key is to have troops in Ukraine,” he added.
Major European powers including France threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire, with the backing of US President Donald Trump.
Macron joined the leaders of Britain, Germany and Poland on a visit to Kyiv on Saturday during which they held a phone call with Trump.
Seven dead after heavy rain hits Mogadishu
- Floodwaters also damaged key infrastructure, halting public transport
MOGADISHU: At least seven people have died, and major roads were cut off after heavy rains led to flooding in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Friday night due to an overwhelmed drainage system and a growing urban population.
The regional administration spokesperson, Abdinasir Hirsi Idle, said on Saturday that rescue efforts were ongoing.
“The death toll could rise because the rains were heavy and lasted for several hours, causing nine houses to collapse across different neighborhoods, and at least six major roads to suffer severe damage,” he said.
Somalia has in the past suffered extreme climate shocks, including prolonged dry seasons that have caused drought and heavy rains that have resulted in floods.
Friday’s rains went on for about eight hours, leaving waist-high waters in neighborhoods where some residents were trapped and others were forced to move to higher ground.
A resident, Mohammed Hassan, said that some older people were still trapped.
“We spent the night on rooftops, shivering from the cold, and I have not even had breakfast,” he said.
Floodwaters also damaged key infrastructure, halting public transport and temporarily disrupting operations at the main airport, Aden Abdulle International Airport.
Officials later confirmed flights had resumed operations.
The Somali Disaster Management Agency has not yet released an official death toll, but said an assessment was underway to determine the extent of the damage.
In a statement on Saturday, the country’s Energy and Water Ministry said: “A substantial amount of rainfall, exceeding 115 mm, was recorded in over 8 consecutive hours” and warned of flash floods in other regions outside the capital.
Marcos camp takes on Duterte clan in key poll
- Most voters back senate candidates who assert Philippine sovereignty: Survey
MANILA: In political rallies, Senate hearings, and voter surveys ahead of Monday’s midterm elections in the Philippines, China has been an overwhelming — and unusual — presence.
The shadow of its giant maritime neighbor has loomed over the Philippines for years.
However, as the country’s two most prominent political clans flex their muscles in the usually low-key process to pick senators and local government leaders, relations with China have emerged as a political lightning rod.
The outcome could shape the country’s strategic positioning over the remaining half of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s six-year term, which began in 2022.
“Will we allow ourselves to return to the time when our leaders wanted us to become a province of China?” Marcos asked voters at a rally in February, in a dig at predecessor Rodrigo Duterte and his daughter Sara, who is currently vice president and a key Marcos rival.
During his 2016 to 2022 term, Duterte shifted foreign policy on China, adopting conciliatory rhetoric and downplaying disputes in the South China Sea.
The strategy drew concern from Washington and raised questions about the Philippines’ longstanding security alliance with the US.
In contrast, Marcos has moved to rekindle and deepen ties with Washington.
“These are hot-button issues that many Filipino voters can relate to, particularly on the issue of China. There was a time in the past when foreign policy did not matter that much during elections,” said Ederson Tapia, professor of public administration at the University of Makati.
“But now it does.”
An April survey found that most voters in the country of 110 million prefer candidates who assert Philippine sovereignty in the South China Sea, where the Marcos-led administration has taken a more assertive stance in its maritime confrontations with Beijing, which continue unabated.
It is a sentiment that Marcos has tapped into since he started his campaign for the slate of Senate candidates that he is backing.
In the February rally, Marcos pointed to his candidates, saying: “None of them were applauding China when our coast guard was being bombed with water, when our fishermen were being blocked, when their catch was stolen, and our islands seized to become part of another country.”
The Duterte camp enjoyed a surge of sympathy when he was arrested by the International Criminal Court in March and taken to The Hague, but Marcos’ candidates remain ahead in polls and appear poised to dominate the Senate race.
A Duterte spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Through a months-long campaign, Marcos has kept up the pressure and focused on China as a key election issue, while his allies have aimed at Sara Duterte for her silence on China’s actions.
Sara, a likely future presidential candidate, was once a Marcos ally but now faces an impeachment trial on charges including a threat to assassinate the president if she were harmed.
In the Philippines, the 24-member Senate acts as the jury in any impeachment trial, making the midterms even more consequential in determining Sara Duterte’s political future.
Sara, who denied wrongdoing, responded to her impeachment with defiance, asking the Supreme Court to nullify the complaint against her.
A strong mandate for Marcos would not only define his ability to govern decisively in the remaining three years of his term but would also shape the 2028 presidential race, said Victor Andres “Dindo” Manhit, a political analyst and founder of Stratbase Group, a research and advisory firm.
Marcos is limited to a single term under the Constitution and is expected to anoint a successor. Sara Duterte would also be eligible to run in 2028 if she survives impeachment.
“Those who will run need to be tested on consistency about these issues,” Manhit said, referring to protecting the Philippines’ maritime rights and sovereignty.
“And one of them is the current vice president. She has not spoken against this coercion by China.”
A spokesperson for Sara Duterte did not respond to a request for comment.
The midterm election comes amid a proliferation of disinformation in the Philippines. Inauthentic accounts have driven up to 45 percent of discussions about the elections on social media, Reuters reported last month.
The use of fake accounts and paid influencers for political operations is widespread in the Philippines, but a top security official and a senator alleged last month that Chinese state-sponsored groups might be attempting to influence Filipinos.
China’s foreign ministry and its embassy in Manila have rejected the accusations.
