Ilhan Omar: The 9/11 row embroiling the US congresswoman
A Democratic congresswoman says she will not be silenced after facing a barrage of criticism over comments she made about the 9/11 attacks - including from Donald Trump.
The US president tweeted "WE WILL NEVER FORGET" alongside a video showing footage of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks spliced with a speech by Representative Ilhan Omar.
"Some people did something," she is seen saying, in between footage of planes hitting the Twin Towers and people fleeing the buildings.
Republicans have accused her of downplaying the attacks, but Democrats have largely rallied to her defence, saying she had been quoted out of context and some accusing Mr Trump of inciting violence against her and Muslims. Here is how the row developed.
'I won't be silent': Ilhan Omar answers Trump 9/11 attack
Congresswoman says rightwing vitriol cannot threaten her ‘unwavering love for America’ as president pushes video
In the face of attacks from Donald Trump, Republicans and rightwing media outlets, the Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar said on Saturday no one could “threaten” her “unwavering love for America”.
“I did not run for Congress to be silent,” Omar wrote on Twitter, less than a day after the president shared a video that included footage of her speaking and graphic images of the 9/11 terror attacks. Trump retweeted his message on Saturday.
Omar thanked supporters for standing “against an administration that ran on banning Muslims from this country”.
Playing with FireTalk of Shifting Kosovo's Borders Sparks Concern
Twenty years after the end of NATO's intervention in the Balkans, the relationship between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo remains tense. Senior figures are talking about shifting Kosovar borders, setting a potentially dangerous precedent.
By Walter Mayr
These days, his statesman's uniform fits the former rebel commander perfectly: bespoke shoes, dark suit, golden cuff links. Flanked by reverent-looking toadies, Ramush Haradinaj recently sat down for an interview in Pristina, at the seat of the Kosovo government.
If it weren't for Haradinaj and his comrades, Europe's youngest republic might not exist. In the nineties, at the fiercest phase of the ethnic Albanian revolt against the Serbian occupiers in Kosovo, he commanded part of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a paramilitary organization known by its Albanian initials UCK. Haradinaj's nom de guerre was "Smajl." Today he is the head of government in a country searching for its place in Europe.
Sudan protesters present demands to military in talks
Sudanese protest organisers presented demands including the creation of a civilian government in talks with the country's new military rulers late Saturday, the group spearheading demonstrations said.
Thousands remained encamped outside the army headquarters in the capital overnight to keep up the pressure on a military council that took power after ousting veteran leader Omar al-Bashir on Thursday.
A 10-member delegation representing the protesters held talks with the military council and delivered their demands on Saturday, according to a statement by the umbrella group leading the protests, the Alliance for Freedom and Change.
US military mission in Somalia could take seven years to complete
This week President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending a presidential declaration of a national emergency concerning Somalia for another year, calling the Islamist insurgency plaguing that country an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the US.
But even if that is the last extension of the declaration, US defense officials say the mission in the country is likely to take years to complete.
The fight there hinges on US Special Operations Forces being able to train an elite Somali army unit capable of defeating al Qaeda-linked militants on the ground. The commitment to the East African nation comes after the President has signaled a desire to reduce US troop levels across the globe and as the administration is in the process of withdrawing forces from Syria.
What the 'pursuit of Assange' means for press freedom
Journalists fear WikiLeaks founder's case could set precedent and harm media's ability to report government wrongdoing.
Journalists, lawyers, activists and academics have warned that the arrest of Julian Assange could have grave consequences for press freedom if it results in the media's ability to expose government wrongdoings being limited.
The 47-year-old founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks, an Australian citizen, was arrested by British police on Thursday at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, after the South American country revoked his asylum status.
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