WORLD
NEWS
ISRAELI PM 'REGRETS' DEATHS AS TROOPS STORM AID SHIPS
OBAMA PRAISES SIRLEAF'S HEROISM- PLEDGES MORE US COOPERATION,
AID
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP STABBED TO DEATH IN TURKEY
POPE CALLS FOR OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
ISRAELI PM 'REGRETS' DEATHS AS TROOPS STORM AID SHIPS
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed regret after at least nine people died when troops stormed ships trying to break the Gaza blockade. But he said soldiers had been defending themselves after they were "clubbed, beaten and stabbed". Pro-Palestinian campaigners say the soldiers opened fire unprovoked when they landed on the aid-carrying ships. There has been international condemnation of the loss of life, and the UN is holding an emergency session.
But Israeli UN representative Daniel Carmon told the Security Council that some on board the ships had motives other than providing humanitarian assistance, and had tried to lynch Israeli soldiers. Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip after the Islamist movement Hamas took power there in 2007. The six-ship convoy had set out to carry 10,000 tonnes of aid from Cyprus to Gaza, despite repeated Israeli warnings that it would not be allowed to reach the territory. In a statement, Mr Netanyahu defended the Israeli operation, saying troops were attacked when they landed on the largest of the six ships in the flotilla.
"Regrettably, in this exchange... people died. We regret this loss of life. We regret any of the violence." View challenged Organisers of the convoy have strongly denied the Israeli account. Contact with activists on the ships was lost after the raids and no first-hand accounts from them have yet emerged.". The flotilla left the coast of Cyprus on Sunday and had been due to arrive in Gaza on Monday.
Reports say troops boarded the ship about 40 miles (64 km) out to sea in international waters. There has been widespread condemnation of the violence, with several countries summoning their Israeli ambassadors.
OBAMA
PRAISES SIRLEAF'S HEROISM- PLEDGES MORE US COOPERATION, AID
US President Barack Obama said at the White House recently that Liberia has
overcome most its difficulties due to the heroism of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf,
media reports from Washington D.C. said. He said the Liberian President's commitment
to democracy was a legacy that other African leaders ought to adopt in order
to put their countries on the map of unfolding democracy on the African Continent.
. The US President made the observations and commendations when he met President
Sirleaf in the Oval Office. He then pledged the United States' support to Liberia
in every step of the way of its democratic development.
President Sirleaf welcomed the US leader's commendation on behalf of the Liberian people and noted that what President Obama has observed about Liberia would not have been possible without the cooperation and assistance of the United States. She said she was she was proud to have met President Obama and exchanged ideas with him on the progress made in Liberia as well as bilateral relations between the two countries. She thanked the US government and people for continuing to play to come 14,000 Liberia currently living in the US on Temporary Protective Status or TPS and the Obama administration for a recent action taken to extend the delayed enforced departure for another year.
CATHOLIC
ARCHBISHOP STABBED TO DEATH IN TURKEY
A Roman Catholic bishop was stabbed to death in southern Turkey on
Thursday, a day before he was scheduled to leave for Cyprus to meet with the
pope, officials and reports said. Luigi Padovese, 63, the apostolic vicar in
Anatolia, was attacked outside his home in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun.
The killing was not believed to be politically motivated. Dogan news agency
video footage of the scene showed the bishop lying dead in front of a building.
Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz, the governor for the province of Hatay, said police immediately caught the suspected killer. He said the man, identified only as Murat A., was Padovese's driver for the last four and a half years and was mentally unstable. "The initial investigation shows that the incident is not politically motivated," Lekesiz said. "We have learned that the suspect had psychological problems and was receiving treatment."
Padovese, who is the equivalent of the bishop for the Anatolia region, was scheduled to leave for Cyprus on Friday to meet with the pope, who is visiting the island, and fellow bishops from around the region to prepare for a synod of Roman Catholic bishops in the Middle East. The synod is scheduled for October. The Vatican-affiliated Asia News agency cited unnamed witnesses as saying the driver appeared to be "depressed, violent and threatening," in recent days.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told The Associated Press in Rome that the Vatican felt "immense pain, consternation, (and) bewilderment" over the death and noted that it showed the "difficult conditions" of the Catholic community in the region.
POPE
CALLS FOR OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
As the international conference on the challenges of human interactions through
mobility ended on Monday, in the Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI has called
on government authorities across the world to observe human rights and dignity
in their dealings with migrants and itinerant people. The Pope stated this on
Monday while receiving in audience selected plenary speakers at the conference,
including Nigeria's Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety
Corps, Osita Chidoka, who was one of the plenary speakers during the just-concluded
event at the Vatican City.
According to the Pope, the observance of fundamental human rights can be the
focal point of the commitment to shared responsibility of national and international
institutions. ‘In a globalising society, the common good and commitment
to obtain it cannot take the size of whole human family, namely the community
of peoples and nations,' he stated. The future of our society rests on the resolutions
between peoples, dialogue between cultures and respecting the identity of legitimate
differences. In this scenario, the family retains the role,' he said.
The Pope submitted that, 'The Church, with the Gospel of Christ in every area
of life, pursues efforts to promote not only the individual migrant, but also
of its family, place and resource of life factor and the integration of values.'
Earlier at the plenary session, Chidoka called on religious leaders, civil society
groups and non-governmental organisations to join hands with government at all
levels in the fight against road traffic crashes in the spirit of collective
responsibility.
He said this became imperative in view of the increasing rate of road carnage
at the global level, with sub-Saharan Africa alone accounting for 10 per cent
of the statistics, while Nigeria and South Africa account for about 50 per cent
of the figure. Religious institutions, especially the Church must be in the
lead to change people's mindset towards driving. Road accident is no accident,
hence driving to work, school, church or leisure should be devoid of mishaps,'
he stated.
'Road safety is a shared responsibility and we must demonstrate
to the almighty God that we could never allow the beauty of His creation be
destroyed or incapacitated. Through mutual respect and right attitude, achieving
a safe motoring society may not be beyond our collective dream,' he added. The
three-day international conference drew participants from Europe, America and
Africa with Bishops and Priests in attendance. Nigeria's Corps Marshal was the
only plenary speaker from Africa at the occasion.