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VOA news. I'm Christopher Cruise reporting.
U.S.-backed forces fighting to recapture the last Islamic State group outpost in Syria admitted on Sunday that they were facing "difficulties" defeating the extremists. They said they were being slowed by mines, tunnels and concerns over harming women and children who are still among the militants. Facebook is continuing to remove all video of the mass shooting in New Zealand which the perpetrator livestreamed on Friday, the company said Sunday. It said, "We will continue working directly with New Zealand Police as their response and investigation continues." VOA correspondent Steve Miller is in Christchurch, New Zealand now. "There is a very somber mood from everyone at the airport to my cab driver to the folks here at, at the hotel where I'm staying. The liberty that people seem to have when you think of New Zealand, that's evaporated from the community here. But life still goes on. When I was going to one of the mosques where the majority of the people were slammed Friday, just a block away the people were jogging in the park and they were practicing rugby as well." In New Zealand, some of the bodies of the 50 people killed are now being turned over to their families so they can be buried according to the Muslim tradition. The victims of the shooting included immigrants from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia and Malaysia. Ethiopia held funerals Sunday for the 17 Ethiopians killed in a fatal plane crash last week. But the caskets were largely empty as only sparse remains were found at the crash site and those could take up to six months to identify. A preliminary analysis of the black box of the flight shows "clear similarities" to a crash of the same model plane in Indonesia last year, according to the country's transport minister. This is VOA news. The International [Order] Organization for Migration reports Latin America has displaced previous record-holder, the Mediterranean Sea, as the deadliest route for migrants in the world. Correspondent Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from IOM headquarters in Geneva. International Organization for Migration spokesman Joel Millman says since February 1, 79 deaths have been reported along this route. He says this is nearly three times higher than the numbers reported in the Mediterranean. He agrees the rise in deaths is a consequence of increased migration from Latin American countries to the United States. He tells VOA the journey has become more dangerous because of greater reliance by refugees and migrants on smugglers to transport them to the U.S. border. Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Crimea on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine, which has been condemned by the West but is celebrated by most Russians. A Kremlin statement on Sunday said Putin would visit the peninsula and its largest city Sevastopol to attend celebrations marking five years since Crimea "rejoined" Russia. The Russian leader will take part in a ceremony opening a new power station and will meet representatives of civil society during the visit. In Russia, March 18, which is Monday, has been officially proclaimed as the "Day of Crimea's Reunification with Russia." The White House on Sunday rejected any attempt to link President Trump to the white supremacist who's accused of killing two (50) people at two New Zealand mosques. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told "Fox News Sunday" "the president is not a white supremacist. I'm not sure how many times we have to say that." "Well, I think you saw that yesterday in the tweet. The president - I'm not sure what more you want the president to do. You may say you want him to give a national speech to address the nation - that's fine, maybe we do that, maybe we don't - but I think you get down to the basic issue, which is that the president is doing everything that we can to prevent this type of thing from happening here ...." The Fox News weekend host Jeanine Pirro's television show was not broadcast a week after her comments questioning U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar over her wearing of a Muslim head covering. No explanation was given. Her show called "Justice With Judge Jeanine" was replaced Saturday night by other programming. The Fox News schedule for the upcoming weekend doesn't include the show. President Trump tweeted Sunday morning about Pirro's absence. He said she should be brought back. You can find more on these and other late breaking and developing stories, from around the world, around the clock, at voanews.com and on the VOA news mobile app. I'm Christopher Cruise, VOA news. |