DAYTON, Ohio: US President Donald Trump met in Ohio on Wednesday with victims and first responders from one of last weekend’s two deadly mass shootings, while protesters chanting “Do Something!” and “You are why” accused him of inflaming tensions with anti-immigrant and racially charged rhetoric.
Trump visited Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, where the wounded were treated after nine people and the suspect were killed in a rampage early on Sunday, one of two mass shootings 13 hours apart that shocked the country.
Crowds of protesters outside the hospital and in downtown Dayton held signs reading, “Hate not welcome here,” and “Stop this terror.”
White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said on Twitter that Trump stopped by hospital rooms and met with patients while thanking the medical staff for their work.
“You had God watching. I want you to know we’re with you all the way,” she quoted Trump as saying at the hospital.
Later in the day, Trump will visit the Texas city of El Paso, on the border with Mexico, where 22 people were killed at a Walmart store on Saturday by a 21-year-old man who had posted an anti-immigrant manifesto online.
The back-to-back massacres have reopened the national debate over gun safety.
As he left the White House, Trump said he wanted to strengthen background checks for gun purchases and make sure mentally ill people did not carry guns. He predicted congressional support for those two measures but not for banning assault rifles.
“I can tell you that there is no political appetite for that at this moment,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But I will certainly bring that up ... There is a great appetite, and I mean a very strong appetite, for background checks.”
In Dayton, Trump was greeted at the airport by a bipartisan group of state and local officials, including Democratic Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Democratic US Senator Sherrod Brown.
They told reporters afterward that they urged Trump to call on Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to bring the Senate back from its summer recess to work on a House-passed bill that expands background checks on gun buyers.
Brown said he asked Trump to promise he would sign that bill. “He only said that we will get things done,” Brown said, adding the president had been “comforting” to the victims.
Whaley said she agreed with Trump’s decision not to visit the district where the shooting occurred given the high emotions in the community.
“A lot of people that own businesses in that district are not interested in the president being there,” she told reporters. “A lot of the time his talk can be very divisive and that’s the last thing we need in Dayton.”
Democrats say Trump’s anti-immigrant, racially charged language at rallies and on Twitter has done much to fan racist, white nationalist sentiments, creating a political climate more conducive to hate-based violence.
’RACIAL HARMONY’
The El Paso massacre is being investigated as a hate crime and the FBI said the Dayton shooter had explored violent ideologies.
An open letter to Trump on Wednesday in the El Paso Times described the border city as having “a deep tradition of racial harmony” whose people came together after the tragedy. It admonished Trump for calling El Paso one of the country’s most dangerous cities in his February State of the Union address.
Authorities have said they are investigating Saturday’s shooting spree in the predominantly Hispanic city as a hate crime and an act of domestic terrorism. They cited a racist manifesto posted online shortly before the shooting, which they attributed to the suspect.
On Monday, Trump gave a speech focusing on mental health reforms, tighter Internet regulation and wider use of the death penalty. Democrats accuse Trump of hiding behind talk of mental illness and the influence of social media rather than committing to laws they insist are needed to restrict gun ownership and the types of weapons that are legal.
In Iowa, Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden planned to say in a campaign speech, “We have a president with a toxic tongue who has publicly and unapologetically embraced a political strategy of hate, racism, and division.”
In a sign of higher tensions after the shootings, a motorcycle backfiring on Tuesday night in New York’s Times Square sent crowds running for fear of another gun attack.
’SINISTER IDEOLOGIES’
Trump, in his televised White House speech on Monday, condemned “sinister ideologies” and hate. His supporters say Democrats unfairly blame him for the behavior of criminals.
US Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose congressional district includes El Paso, declared that Trump “is not welcome here.”
She said on Twitter on Tuesday she declined a White House invitation to join Trump in El Paso after being told he was too busy to speak with her by phone in advance. “I refuse to be an accessory to his visit,” Escobar later told CNN.
Former Texas congressman and El Paso native Beto O’Rourke, who is seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, said Trump “helped create the hatred that made Saturday’s tragedy possible” and thus “has no place here.”
In an apparent answer to his criticism, Trump said on Twitter late on Tuesday O’Rourke “should respect the victims & law enforcement — & be quiet!“
Not everyone agreed that Trump should stay away.
“This is not a political visit,” El Paso Mayor Dee Margo told reporters. “He is president of the United States. So in that capacity, I will fulfill my obligations as mayor of El Paso to meet with the president and discuss whatever our needs are in this community.”
Trump visits shooting victims in Dayton as protesters shout, ‘Do something!’
Trump visits shooting victims in Dayton as protesters shout, ‘Do something!’
- Trump has been walking a difficult line since the massacres of 31 people over the weekend, in sites he is set to visit
- The visits “will be about honoring victims, comforting communities, and thanking first responders & medical professionals for their heroic actions”
Pakistan threatens to deport Afghans in resettlement programs if cases are not swiftly processed
- An estimated 800,000 Afghans have either gone back voluntarily or been deported since despite criticism from UN agencies, rights groups and the Taliban
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan threatened to deport Afghan refugees awaiting relocation unless their cases are swiftly processed by host governments, officials said Monday.
Tens of thousands of Afghans fled to neighboring Pakistan after the Taliban took over in 2021 and were approved for resettlement in the US through a program that helps people at risk because of their work with the American government, media, aid agencies and rights groups. However, after US President Donald Trump paused US refugee programs last month, around 20,000 Afghans are now in limbo in Pakistan.
The Trump administration also announced the US Refugee Admissions Program would be suspended from Jan. 27 for at least three months, fueling concerns amid Pakistani authorities.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided last week that the refugees would be deported back to Afghanistan unless their cases were processed quickly, according to two security officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to the media on the record.
The two also said March 31 has been set as a deadline to expel Afghan refugees from the capital, Islamabad, and the nearby city of Rawalpindi in preparation for their deportation if they are not relocated to their host countries.
There was no immediate response from Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs.
News about forced deportations has panicked many Afghan nationals who fear for their lives if sent back home.
Ahmad Shah, a member of the Afghan US Refugee Admission Program advocacy group, told The Associated Press that the latest decision by Pakistan comes at a very critical time as Afghan refugees in general and those seeking resettlement are already under emotional stress and trauma.
He asked Pakistan to seek answers from the United States and other countries “if and when they will begin completing the process” for their relocation.
“We appeal to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif not to be deported like this,” said Khalid Khan who has been waiting for relocation to the United States since 2023.
Khan said some Afghans prepared to leave Islamabad and move to other cities to avoid arrest. He also urged the host countries to expedite their cases.
Another Afghan refugee who lives in Islamabad with his family, and who refused to be identified because he is worried about the Taliban reprisals and arrest by Pakistan, urged Trump to revive the refugee program “in the name of humanity.”
Besides those living in Pakistan and the thousands awaiting travel to host countries, there are around 1.45 million Afghan nationals registered with UNHCR as refugees. Their stay has been extended until June.
Pakistan started a crackdown on foreigners who are in the country without proper documentation in November 2023. An estimated 800,000 Afghans have either gone back voluntarily or been deported since despite criticism from UN agencies, rights groups and the Taliban.
The two officials said the crackdown will continue in the coming months.
Last month, Amnesty International expressed its concern over “reports of arbitrary detention and harassment of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers by law enforcement agencies in Islamabad.”
US military flight deporting migrants to India, official says
- President Donald Trump has increasingly turned to the military to help carry out his immigration agenda
- Military flights are a costly way to transport migrants — a military deportation flight to Guatemala likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant
WASHINGTON: A US military plane is deporting migrants to India, a US official said on Monday, the farthest destination of the Trump administration’s military transport flights for migrants.
President Donald Trump has increasingly turned to the military to help carry out his immigration agenda, including sending additional troops to the US-Mexico border, using military aircraft to deport migrants and opening military bases to house them.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the C-17 aircraft had departed for India with migrants aboard but would not arrive for at least 24 hours.
The Pentagon has also started providing flights to deport more than 5,000 immigrants held by US authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
So far, military aircraft have flown migrants to Guatemala, Peru and Honduras.
The military flights are a costly way to transport migrants. Reuters reported that a military deportation flight to Guatemala last week likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant.
Italy PM named in complaint over freed Libya police head: report
- Najim’s repatriation has caused a major political row in Italy, and a special court is considering an investigation into Meloni and her justice and interior ministers for their role into Najim’s release
ROME: A migrant who says he was tortured by a Libyan war crimes suspect has filed a complaint with prosecutors claiming Italy’s prime minister enabled the suspect to go free, news reports said Monday.
The migrant from South Sudan, Lam Magok, alleges he was imprisoned in a Tripoli detention center run by Osama Almasri Najim — who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges including murder, rape and torture.
Najim was detained in the northern Italian city of Turin on January 19 on an ICC warrant, only to be released and flown home to Tripoli on an Italian air force plane two days later.
Magok claims he was beaten and kicked by the police chief and his guards, according to the reports, which said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and two senior ministers were named in his complaint.
The complaint filed in Rome could prompt an investigation from prosecutors.
“The Italian government has made me a victim twice, nullifying the possibility of obtaining justice both for all the people, like me, who survived his violence,” he wrote, according to passages of the lawsuit published by local media.
Neither Magok’s lawyer nor Meloni’s government immediately replied to a request for comment or confirmation.
Najim’s repatriation has caused a major political row in Italy, and a special court is considering an investigation into Meloni and her justice and interior ministers for their role into Najim’s release.
Meloni has called the probe politically motivated.
In a press conference at parliament last week, Magok said he and other migrants were beaten when they tried to flee Tripoli’s Mitiga detention center run by Najim.
The police chied “beat us, tortured us for days,” said Magok, according to Italian news agency Ansa, adding that he was forced to remove dead migrants’ bodies.
“It was something that I will never forget and it is unthinkable that one might be forced to do this. We want justice,” he said.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi are also named in Magok’s complaint, according to reports.
Najim was freed after an Italian appeals court ruled he could not be detained in jail due to a technicality involving Nordio failing to respond in time to the ICC request.
Piantedosi then claimed the government had no choice but to repatriate Najim because he was considered too dangerous to remain in Italy.
Meloni has also defended the expulsion of the Libyan police chief, asking why the ICC only issued the warrant as he entered Italy after “spending a dozen calm days in three other European countries.”
South Africa ‘will not let up’ support for DR Congo
- It is the latest escalation in a mineral-rich region devastated by decades of fighting involving dozens of armed groups and has rattled the continent
JOHANNESBURG: President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed Monday to continue providing support to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the face of nationwide calls to withdraw troops following the death of 14 South African soldiers.
Rwanda-backed M23 fighters have made substantial gains in the eastern DRC, taking the major city of Goma last week and vowing to march across the country to the capital, Kinshasa.
It is the latest escalation in a mineral-rich region devastated by decades of fighting involving dozens of armed groups and has rattled the continent, with regional blocs holding emergency summits over the spiraling tensions.
“Achieving a lasting peace and security for the eastern DRC and the region requires the collective will of the community of nations,” Ramaphosa said in a statement. “South Africa will not let up in its support to the people of the DRC.”
Fourteen soldiers from South Africa have been killed in the conflict, prompting calls for a withdrawal, including from the radical Economic Freedom Fighters party.
Most of the soldiers killed were part of a peacekeeping mission sent to eastern DRC in 2023 by the 16-nation Southern African Development Community, or SADC.
“The deployment ... is reckless and unjustifiable,” EFF leader Julius Malema said Monday.
“With the increasing hostility involving the M23 rebels, it is imperative that South Africa withdraws its troops to ensure their safety.”
Ramaphosa highlighted that the SADC mission had operational time frames and an end date.
“The mission will wind down in accordance with the implementation of various confidence-building measures and when the ceasefire we have called for takes root,” he said.
“For a lasting peace to be secured in the eastern Confo, there must be an immediate end to hostilities and a ceasefire that must be respected by all.”
The SADC last week called for a summit with the eight-country East African Community to “deliberate on the way forward regarding the security situation in Congo.”
The move followed a meeting by SADC that pledged unwavering support for Congo and reiterated backing for mediation efforts led by Angola and Kenya.
The summit in the Zimbabwean capital Harare also dispatched officials to Congo to ensure SADC troops are safe and to facilitate the repatriation of the dead and wounded who are still in the country.
South Africa dominates the SADC force, which is estimated to number around 1,300 troops, but Malawi and Tanzania also contribute soldiers.
Commentators and analysts have questioned the quality of the support and equipment available to the South African National Defense Force, citing budget cuts in the cash-strapped government.
The Democratic Alliance party, which has demanded a debate in parliament over the deployment, said it wanted to know “why our troops were deployed without the required support including air support.”
“The government has kept increasing the SANDF’s mandate while cutting its funding and capabilities,” Guy Martin, editor of an African magazine defenseWeb, wrote in the local Sunday Times newspaper.
Trump says newly created US sovereign wealth fund could buy TikTok
- Trump signed executive order to create sovereign wealth fund
- TikTok, which has about 170 million American users, was briefly taken offline
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing the US to take steps to start developing a government-owned investment fund that he said could be used to profit off of TikTok if he’s successful at finding it an American buyer.
Trump signed an order on his first day office to grant the Chinese-owned TikTok until early April to find a domestic partner or buyer, but he’s said he’s looking for the US to take a 50 percent stake in the massive social media platform. He said Monday in the Oval Office that TikTok was an example of what he could put in a new US sovereign wealth fund.
“We might put that in the sovereign wealth fund, whatever we make or we do a partnership with very wealthy people, a lot of options,” he said of TikTok. “But we could put that as an example in the fund. We have a lot of other things that we could put in the fund.”
Trump noted many other nations have such investment funds and predicted that the US could eventually top Saudi Arabia’s fund size. “Eventually we’ll catch it,” he promised.
Trump put Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in charge of laying the groundwork for creating a the fund, which would likely require congressional approval.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration had studied the possibility of creating a sovereign wealth fund for national security investments, but the idea did not yield any concrete action before he left office last month.
Bessent said the administration’s goal was to have the fund open within the next 12 months, and Lutnick said another use of the fund could have been for the government to take an profit-earning stake in vaccine manufacturers.
“The extraordinary size and scale of the USgovernment and the business it does with companies should create value for American citizens,” Lutnick told reporters.
