Charleston shootings: Obama condemns 'blight' of racism
- 20 June 2015
- US & Canada
Racism remains "a blight" on society, US President Barack Obama says, in the wake of the killing of nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church.
Police are treating the killings at the church in Charleston on Wednesday night as a hate crime.
Earlier, Dylann Roof, 21, appeared in court to face nine murder charges.
He showed no emotion as relatives of the victims addressed him directly. "I forgive you" said one victim's daughter, fighting back tears.
Speaking in San Francisco, Mr Obama said: "The apparent motivations of the shooter remind us that racism remains a blight that we have to combat together.
"We have made great progress, but we have to be vigilant because it still lingers.
"And when it's poisoning the minds of young people, it betrays our ideals and tears our democracy apart."
But the president praised the families of the victims for the forgiveness they had shown.
Japan plans unilateral restart to Antarctic whaling in 2015, says official
A resumption would defy the International Whaling Commission, which says Tokyo has not proven the mammals need to be killed for research
Japan says it plans to resume whale hunts in the Antarctic later in 2015 even though the International Whaling Commission says Tokyo has not proven the mammals need to be killed for research.
The IWC’s scientific committee said in a report on Friday it was not able to determine whether lethal sampling was necessary for whale stock management and conservation. In April an IWC experts’ panel made similar comments about a revised Japanese Antarctic whaling plan submitted after the international court of justice ruled in 2014 that Japan’s hunts were not truly scientific.
The IWC banned commercial whaling in 1986 but Japan continued killing whales under an exemption for research. After the ICJ’s ruling Japan sent a non-lethal expedition to the Antarctic for the 2014 season.
Israel's Minister of Culture Miri Regev vows to withhold funds from artists who 'defame' the state
EXCLUSIVE: South Sudan’s displaced trapped on Nile frontlines
Latest update : 2015-06-20
A fresh wave of fighting near Malakal, capital of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, has displaced and trapped tens of thousands of displaced people, a FRANCE 24 team discovered this week.
Surrounded by her 12 grandchildren, Ayak Ajak Aleng dips a gnarled hand into a bowl of grain and shrugs. It’s going to be another exercise in minuscule divisions.
“I have to divide this small amount between all of them,” she explains as the children gather around her, staring at the camera. “None of us are getting our salaries over here, we have no money and there is no way for us to get food."
The settlement of Wau Shilluk lies just a few kilometers upstream on the River Nile from Malakal, capital of South Sudan's Upper Nile state and the gateway to major oilfields.
Wau Shilluk used to have a well-stocked market, but right now, with the village trapped on the frontlines of a heavily contested fight, the place has been cut off and is running out of food.
War is once again ravaging South Sudan and the people are once again paying a heavy price. Only this time, the war is being waged between rival South Sudanese power camps split largely along ethnic lines, spinning off splinter forces loyal to local commanders – all of which is driving the conflict to more complex heights and the people to more hapless depths.
Ten million of China's 'left-behind' children don't see their parents for a year
June 20, 2015 - 10:14AMCharlotte Middlehurst
Shanghai: Ten million children in rural China go a full year without seeing their parents due to the exodus of adults travelling to cities in search of work, a report into the country's "left behind" generation has found.
The "White Paper on Left Behind Children", published last week by the Beijing Children's Mental Health Care Centre, said children of economic migrants left alone or with elderly relations can suffer serious psychological problems.
The nationwide survey involved 2,000 families and concluded there were 61 million "left behind" children in China. The report said 15.1 per cent of this group go without parental contact for an entire year. Some 4.3 per cent do not even receive a phone call in that time. The report pointed to the growing cases of acute distress and anxiety among children who are forced to fend for themselves. It said girls were at particular risk of psychological problems.
The issue is particularly prevalent in China's poorest regions. Families in north-west China were identified by the report as being most at risk, followed by the south-west. The economically prosperous eastern coastal region was least affected.
Russian ambassador: If Sweden joins NATO, there will be 'consequences'
By Jeremy Bender
Russia's ambassador to Sweden has warned the country of the potential military "consequences" associated with joining NATO in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, The Local reports.
Russian Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev told Dagens Nyheter that Russia does not have any military plans against Sweden, in line with Stockholm's alliance neutrality.
But Tatarintsev warned that this could change if Sweden were to join the NATO alliance.
“I don't think it will become relevant in the near future, even though there has been a certain swing in public opinion. But if it happens there will be countermeasures," Tatarintsev saidaccording to a translation from The Local.
"Putin pointed out that there will be consequences, that Russia will have to resort to a response of the military kind and reorientate our troops and missiles," the ambassador said. "The country that joins NATO needs to be aware of the risks it is exposing itself to."
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