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This is VOA news. I'm David Byrd in Washington.
Tributes continue for the late Kofi Annan, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first black African to serve as secretary-general of the United Nations. Annan died Saturday at the age 80. AP's Ed Donahue reports. Annan was the U.N.'s first black African secretary-general. "Let us make change our ally, not our enemy; seize it as an opportunity, not a threat." Annan took the top job at the U.N. six years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and five years before the 9/11 attacks. The U.S.-led war with Iraq tested Annan as a world diplomatic leader. "Let us not dwell on the divisions of the past, let us confront the realities of the present, however harsh, and look for ways to forge stronger unity in the future." Kofi Annan says his darkest moment was the Iraq War. Former U.S. ambassador to the [U.S.] U.N. Richard Holbrooke called Annan "an international rock star of diplomacy." I'm Ed Donahue. Italy observed a national day of mourning Saturday after Tuesday's collapse of a highway bridge in Genoa killed 42 people. From Rome, Sabina Castelfranco reports. The archbishop of Genoa, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, celebrated the solemn service. Italy's top officials and politicians, including head of state Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, attended the ceremony. Family members of other victims decided to bury the dead in their towns of origin, some declining to participate in the state funerals in anger at having lost their loved ones in an accident that may have been caused by poor design or improper maintenance. The president, who visited the site of the disaster and the injured in the hospital before attending the service, has defined the bridge collapse as "absurd and frightening," saying the tragedy "struck not only Genoa but the whole nation." Sabina Castelfranco, for VOA news, Rome. This is VOA news. Prosecutors are recommending that a former Trump campaign adviser should spend at least some time in prison for lying to the FBI during the Russia probe. AP correspondent Ben Thomas has details. George Papadopoulos served as a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential race. He pled guilty to lying to the FBI during a 2017 interview about Russian election interference. In a court filing, prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller say Papadopoulos's lies cost the FBI an opportunity to properly question a professor Papadopoulos was in contact with. That professor apparently told him the Russians possessed "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of emails. The professor left the U.S. in the month after Papadopoulos's interview with the FBI and he's not returned since. Ben Thomas, Washington. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that everything must be done for Syrian refugees to return to their conflict-torn country. Speaking ahead of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel outside Berlin, Putin said that Syria needed assistance to rebuild and to ensure that refugees who had fled the country could safely return to their homes. Merkel said it was important to avert a humanitarian crisis in Idlib, Syria, and the surrounding region. She said she and Putin had already discussed the issue of constitutional reforms and possible elections when they last met in Sochi in May. Germany has accepted hundreds of thousands of migrants since 2015, which has weakened Angela Merkel politically and split the European Union. Turkey's president said Saturday his country will stand strong against an "attempted economic coup" amid heightened tensions with the United States. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told thousands of supporters in Ankara the country was being "threatened by the economy, sanctions, foreign currency, interest rates and inflation." Turkey is reeling from a massive sell-off of its currency as Washington imposed sanctions and threatened new ones if an American pastor under house arrest isn't released. Evangelical pastor Andrew Craig Brunson faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted of espionage and terror-related charges. He maintains his innocence. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised more than $70 million in aid for flood-affected Kerala state on Saturday as he undertook an aerial survey to see the devastation caused by relentless monsoon floods. More than 190 people have died in little over a week. Much of the state is partially submerged. Modi said that 38 helicopters had been deployed for search and rescue operations in the state, which has a population of more than 33 million. I'm David Byrd, VOA news. |