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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Joe Parker reporting. Attorney general goes to Orlando.
"It is indeed a cruel irony that a community that is defined almost exclusively by who they love is so often a target of hate" -- the words of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. She visited Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday, nine days after what she called a "shattering attack" at a gay nightclub. "But the message of Orlando goes far beyond one night of unspeakable terror. The message of Orlando that I have seen today and what the American people have seen in the wake of this horrific assault is a message of determination to remove hatred and intolerance from our midst." Lynch also announced a $1 million emergency grant to help Florida law enforcement pay for overtime costs related to the shooting. A British man was arrested Saturday in Las Vegas for what the Secret Service says was an attempt to kill Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. A complaint filed Monday in federal court says Michael Steven Sandford drove across the country last week to attend a Trump rally where he tried to grab a gun from the holster of a Las Vegas police officer who was providing security. A Secret Service agent wrote in court documents that "Sandford claimed he had been planning to kill Trump for about a year but decided to act on this occasion because he finally felt confident about trying it." No motive is mentioned. Ms. Julie Debnam, whose son grew up with Michael Steven Sandford in England: "I still think he has a lot of low esteem. No, I still think he has a lot of low esteem. He needs help rather than, you know, going to prison, basically." He also said that if he were released from custody he would try again, and that if he had not acted in Las Vegas he had already made plans to try again at a rally in Arizona. This is VOA news. North Korea once again has tried but failed to launch a ballistic missile from its east coast. According to South Korean government officials, this launch early Wednesday was believed to be an intermediate-range Musudan missile, capable of reaching U.S. military bases in Asia and the Pacific. North Korea unsuccessfully test-launched a similar missile three times in April. The U.S. said Tuesday it is contributing $20 million in humanitarian aid to the United Nations' effort to help thousands of refugees who have fled fighting in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. Iraqi forces last week retook Fallujah from Islamic State fighters, who had held it for two years. But the U.N. estimates that about 85,000 Fallujah residents who have fled the city west of the capital, Baghdad, urgently need assistance. The U.N. Central Emergency (Response) Relief Fund released $17.5 million on Monday in order to help. The International Criminal Court has sentenced former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba to 18 years in prison for leading a campaign of rape and murder in neighboring Central African Republic. Lisa Bryant has more for VOA from Paris. (The chamber sentences Mr. Bemba ....) Presiding judge Sylvia Steiner read out the sentence at the end of the short hearing as Jean-Pierre Bemba listened intently. The former Congolese vice president was convicted by the International Criminal Court in March of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his troops' brutal campaign in Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003. "Mr. Bemba's failure to take action was deliberately aimed at encouraging the attack directed against the civilian population ... and directly contributed to continuation and further commission of crimes." The prosecution had asked for a minimum 25-year sentence. His defense team says he will appeal. Lisa Bryant, for VOA news, Paris. For more on this story, visit our website at voanews.com. The explosion of a car bomb on Syria's border with Jordan that killed six Jordanian troops and wounded 14 other people is raising fears that violence in Syria is spreading to its neighbors. No group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's border attack, but hours later, Jordan's King Abdullah vowed to strike anyone "with an iron fist" who threatens Jordan or its borders. Somali-based al-Shabaab fighters said that they killed five Kenyan police officers in an ambush of a police convoy as it traveled through the northeastern part of the country. The attack occurred near the town of Elwak, near the southern Somali border. The jihadist group has launched a series of attacks after Kenya sent troops into Somalia to fight the insurgency. This is Joe Parker reporting from Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |