Who are the youthful vanguard of the US anti-gun campaign?

Yahoo – AFP, Leila MACOR,  February 22, 2018

Survivors of the mass shooting at Majory Stoneman High School in Florida are
leading what's considered an unprecedented youth mobilization against gun
violence in the US (AFP Photo/RHONA WISE)

Miami (AFP) - Young survivors of the Parkland, Florida school shooting have impressed the world with their eloquence as they grab the banner of the fight to end gun violence in America.

Cameron Kasky started the slogan #NeverAgain, David Hogg is now a target of an online smear campaign and Emma Gonzalez moved many in the country with her cry: "Shame on you!"

Who are the fresh-faced leaders of the #NeverAgain campaign to demand stricter gun laws, an issue that sharply divides American society?

In this file photo taken on February 17, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 

School student Cameron Kasky speaks at a rally for gun control in Fort Lauderdale, 

Florida (AFP Photo/RHONA WISE)

Cameron Kasky

The 17-year-old has been described by the New Yorker as a "theater kid" and calls himself the "class clown."

On February 14, the day of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Kasky addressed pro-gun advocates with a scathing Facebook post: "I'm safe... Thank you to all the second amendment warriors who protected me."

Two days after the massacre that left 17 dead at his school, Kasky created the hashtag #NeverAgain, urging his supporters to make it go viral, which it did.

Perhaps his most high-profile moment came on Wednesday, when he confronted US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida at a CNN "town hall" event broadcast on prime time.

Appearing relaxed and confident, the teen confronted the one-time presidential candidate, who has received funding from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) pro-gun lobby: "Senator Rubio, can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?"

Emma Gonzalez rallied the nascent movement with a fiery 

speech that captured widespread attention (AFP Photo/

RHONA WISE)

Emma Gonzalez

"Shame on you!" the 18-year-old declared at an anti-gun rally on February 16th, berating US President Donald Trump and other politicians who accept money from the NRA.

Her fiery speech captured national attention and spurred a nascent movement bringing together student survivors, parents, teachers and other activists.

Gonzalez, whose family has roots in Cuba and is easily recognizable with her shaved head, had written the speech just hours before and her only previous activism was participating in last year's "March for Science."

She and her cohorts called for a "March for Our Lives" in Washington on March 24, saying: "You're either with us, or against us at this point."

The march has since raised at least $2 million in funding from Hollywood A-listers including George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal, talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, director Steven Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw, and film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg.

David Hogg (right) gives his account of surviving the shooting at his high 

school, which left 17 people dead (AFP Photo/MARK WILSON)

David Hogg

The 17-year-old aspiring journalist took refuge in a closet during the school massacre. Despite the terrifying circumstances, his instinct led him to film interviews with his fellow students while in hiding. The video went viral.

Hogg was recruited by Kasky to help lead the #NeverAgain movement.

But his experience in recent days lays bare the politicization of the issue. Hogg's father is a retired FBI agent and right-wing conspiracy theorists believe the agency is behind a shadowy campaign to bring down Trump.

The teen has been attacked and harassed online, and even accused of being a "crisis actor" paid to travel to tragedies to propagate liberal viewpoints.

"I am not a crisis actor," Hogg said. "I'm someone who had to witness this and live through this and I continue to be having to do that. I'm not acting on anybody's behalf."

Delaney Tarr, 17, is among the generation of Americans for whom the threat 

of school shootings has always been a part of life (AFP Photo/RHONA WISE)

Delaney Tarr

The 17-year-old was among hundreds of Florida students who descended on the state legislature this week to demand gun control laws.

"We've had enough of thoughts and prayers," she said. "We are coming after every single one of you and demanding that you take action."

She is among a generation of young Americans who grew up in an era of school shootings, and always carries around her car keys, with the idea that she could hunker down inside the vehicle in such a situation.

When it actually happened, she ended up hiding with her classmates in a closet.

Related Article:

Two thirds of Americans support stricter gun laws: poll

Two thirds of Americans support stricter gun laws: poll

Yahoo – AFP, February 20, 2018

Americans love their guns, but in the wake of a deadly mass shooting at a Florida

 high school, a new poll shows two out of every three voters support stricter gun 

control laws (AFP Photo/Michele Eve Sandberg)

Washington (AFP) - Americans support stricter gun laws by a more-than two-to-one margin, one of the highest levels on record, a polling agency reported Tuesday one week after the latest US school shooting left 17 people dead.

The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has shocked many Americans, inspired students to launch campaigns to reduce gun violence, and put Congress and President Donald Trump's administration in the spotlight as they consider what changes, if any, should be made to the country's gun laws.

Voters support tightening gun laws by 66 to 31 percent, according to Quinnipiac University's national poll, which described the margin as "the highest level of support" since it began surveys on the question in 2008.

The poll also found that a majority of gun owners, 50 percent to 44 percent, backed stricter gun laws, and that their support specifically for universal background checks rose to an overwhelming 97 percent, against just three percent who opposed such checks or expressed no opinion.

"If you think Americans are largely unmoved by the mass shootings, you should think again," Quinnipiac poll assistant director Tim Malloy said in a statement.

"Support for stricter gun laws is up 19 points in little more than two years," he added, referring to December 2015 poll data that showed 47 percent of voters supported tightening such laws.

When broken down by political party, however, the latest results show that just 34 percent of Republicans support stricter gun laws, compared with 86 percent of Democrats.

Trump signaled support Monday for a bipartisan effort to expand and improve a national system of background checks for gun purchases in the wake of the Florida school shooting.

Several legislative proposals were introduced after a shooter killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, including a ban on semi-automatic weapons like the one used last week in Florida, banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets and a universal background check bill.

None has made it into law.

Related Article:

Florida students turn up heat on lawmakers for gun action

Gates says billionaires should pay 'significantly' more taxes

Yahoo – AFP, February 19, 2018

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says billionaires should pay
"significantly" more in taxes (AFP Photo/Etienne LAURENT)

Washington (AFP) - Bill Gates says he has paid more than $10 billion in taxes over a lifetime but billionaires like him should pay "significantly" more because they benefit more from the system.

The Microsoft co-founder, the world's second richest man after Amazon's Jeff Bezos, was critical of a recent US tax overhaul that slashed corporate taxes and lowered the top bracket for individual income.

"I've paid more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require the people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes," he said in an interview Sunday with CNN.

He said the tax overhaul passed in December favors the rich despite Republican claims it will help the middle and working classes.

"People who are wealthier tended to get dramatically more benefits than the middle class or those who are poor, and so it runs counter to the general trend you'd like to see, where the safety net is getting stronger and those at the top are paying higher taxes," he said.

With a sixth of the US population living in what he called "disappointing" conditions, he said US policymakers need to think about rising inequality and ask, "Why aren't we doing a better job for those people?"

Archbishop Tutu quits Oxfam role over charity's sex scandal

Digital Journal – AFP, 15 February 2018

Retired archbishop and Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu announced Thursday that he had quit his role as an ambassador for Oxfam after the British charity was hit by sexual misconduct allegations.

"The Archbishop is deeply disappointed by allegations of immorality and possible criminality involving humanitarian workers linked to the charity," said a statement from his office in South Africa.

"He is also saddened by the impact of the allegations on the many thousands of good people who have supported Oxfam's righteous work."

The statement said that Tutu, 86, was retiring as an Oxfam global ambassador as he withdraws from many of his public commitments.

Senegalese singer Baaba Maal and British actress Minnie Driver have also quit as Oxfam ambassadors after the scandal erupted early this month.

The charity has admitted to a lack of transparency over an internal investigation about the use of prostitutes by staff in Haiti, who were there to assist the country's recovery after a 2010 earthquake.

The investigation led to the dismissal of four employees and three others being allowed to resign.

Tutu became a globally-celebrated moral leader during his role in opposing white-minority apartheid rule in South Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Related Article:

MSF reveals sex abuse cases as Oxfam scandal widens

Former Dutch Prime Minister Rudd Lubbers dies

Deutsche Welle, 14 February 2018

Ruud Lubbers, the Netherlands' longest serving prime minister, has died aged 78. Lubbers also headed the UN refugee agency on a symbolic $1 salary, and, in 1991, hosted the EU's formative Maastricht summit.

Former Dutch prime minister Ruud Lubbers in B/W (picture alliance/ANP/V. Kuypers)

Lubbers, a conservative who argued for "more markets, less government" and a closer European Union, passed away on Wednesday in his home city of Rotterdam, the Dutch government announced. No cause of death was given.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands had "lost a statesman with huge stature" and went on to praise Lubbers for his commitment to Europe and as a "world citizen" who was "intelligent and wise."

"He knew how to find a solution to every problem," Rutte added.

Lubbers, a Christian Democrat from a Rotterdam engineering and machinery family, who studied economics and then headed an employers' federation, formed his first government in 1982 with the liberal VVD party, on a pledge to cut back the Dutch welfare state.

His slogan "more markets, less government" prompted conflict with trade unions but earned him a reputation for the "Dutch model" of spurring the economy to create more jobs.

Key role at Maastricht

In his third consecutive term, he formed a grand coalition with center-left Social Democrats in 1989, and played a key role in late 1991 when the Netherlands hosted an EU summit that formulated the bloc's Maastricht Treaty focused on political integration.

The accord, signed in early 1992, also laid the groundwork for the shared euro currency.

When he stepped down in the Dutch election year 1994, he had become the Netherland's longest-serving prime minister.

His 12 years in office had included his persuading parliament to accept the deployment of NATO European missiles in the Netherlands and ambitious conservation projects across the densely populated low-lying nation.

WWF and then UNHCR

After stints in academia, bids for top jobs at the European Commission and NATO, and criticism of Germany's then-chancellor, Helmut Kohl, Lubbers went on to serve as president of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in 2000, before becoming the head of the UNHCR refugee agency in 2001.

Bombing of Afghanistan wrong

A month after the 9/11 airline hijacker attacks on New York and Washington, Ludders rejected US bombardment of largely Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

He told Germany's Die Zeit newspaper in October 2001 that less US military action, not more, combined with aid agency assistance, would minimize the "danger of a conflagration."

As UNHCR commissioner he had urged the United States: "no revenge, no disproportionate reprisal attacks that will inevitably cause larger refugee flows and human suffering."

Resignation

His UNHCR post was extended in 2003 but in 2005 he was forced to step down over sexual harassment allegations, which he rejected as defamatory.

In latter years, when the Netherlands had difficulties forming coalition governments, Queen Beatrix reportedly called in Lubbers as adviser and intermediary.

Dutch broadcaster NOS said Lubbers had long suffered from an unspecified illness.

ipj/kms (AFP, AP, Reuters, Munzinger-Archive)

Zijlstra admits faking story about Putin’s ‘greater Russia’ ambitions

DutchNews, February 12, 2018

Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl

Foreign affairs minister Halbe Zijlstra has admitted lying about being at a meeting where Vladimir Putin supposedly set out his plans for a ‘Greater Russia’. 

Zijlstra claimed that he had overheard the Russian president talking about his expansionist ambitions during a gathering of businesspeople at Putin’s dacha in 2006. At the time Zijlstra was working for Shell. But in an interview in the Volkskrant at the weekend he admitted that he had not been at the meeting, but ‘borrowed’ the anecdote from someone whose identity he wanted to protect. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte said Zijlstra’s decision was ‘not sensible’, but he would not be seeking Zijlstra’s resignation. Zijlstra and Rutte are colleagues in the right-wing Liberal (VVD) party. 

‘I made the decision that this is an important geopolitical story with serious implications,’ Zijlstra said. ‘I attributed the story to myself to make sure that the revelations weren’t about the person who was actually there. Because that could have had implications for him or his company.’ 

Rutte said it was ‘not a case of fake news, because he wanted to protect a source. I think he is credible because there is no dispute about the content of the story.’ 

In his original version of the story, Zijlstra claimed he had been a back room in the dacha when he heard Putin define ‘Greater Russia’ as ‘Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic states,’ adding that ‘Kazakhstan was nice to have’. 

Doubts about the veracity of the foreign minister’s claims came to light when former senior Shell executive Jeroen van der Veer told the Volkskrant that Zijlstra had not been at the meeting in 2006. Zijlstra admitted he was not present but insisted that the substance of the story was true.

‘Was it sensible to protect my source in the manner that I did? No, it wasn’t. But the information is correct,’ he said. He did not confirm whether Van der Veer was the source.

 The revelation comes at an awkward moment for Zijlstra, who is due to fly out to Moscow on Tuesday for his first official meeting with his Russian opposite number Sergey Lavrov. Geert Wilders’s PVV party has called for a debate so the minister can explain his actions to parliament before he leaves. 

The VVD’s spin doctors used the anecdote in October to counter claims that Zijlstra lacked experience of international affairs when he took office.

Canada makes national anthem gender neutral

Yahoo – AFP, February 2, 2018

Two words were amended in Canada's national anthem, "O Canada," making the 

song gender neutral and incurring the wrath of conservatives and traditionalists

 (AFP Photo/DON EMMERT)

Ottawa (AFP) - Canadians will soon be singing a new tune after parliament passed a bill to change the lyrics of the national anthem to make it gender neutral.

Only one line in O Canada was amended, from "True patriot love in all thy sons command" to "True patriot love in all of us command."

But it has caused quite a stir.

"It's about two words," Senator Frances Lankin told reporters. "But it's huge in terms of one of our major national symbols, the anthem we sing with pride about our country."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the move "another positive step towards gender equality," while feminist author Margaret Atwood, who has been pressing for this since the 1980s, tweeted her thanks to lawmakers.

Others decried the new lyrics and vowed to continue to sing the older version.

"Disappointed to hear the Liberals changed our national anthem. Somethings (sic) shouldn't change," said MP Bob Saroya in a Twitter message.

The late MP Mauril Belanger had proposed the change to the English language version of the anthem.

Belanger was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, shortly after his party, under Trudeau, took power in 2015.

The proposal passed the House two months before Belanger's death in 2016, and late Wednesday the Senate added its support for the bill.

Now it needs only the governor general's signature to become law, which is a formality, but a date for that has not yet been set.

"It will receive royal ascent in due course," Sabrina Atwal, spokeswoman for government House leader Bardish Chagger, told AFP.

The French version of O Canada, which has not been revised, was originally commissioned by Quebec's lieutenant governor in 1880. The English version followed in 1906.

In 1914 the phrase "thou dost in us command" was changed to "in all thy sons command." A verse was added a decade later.

There have been several attempts in recent decades to further amend the lyrics of the song -- which only officially became Canada's anthem in 1980 -- but they all failed largely due to the entrenched opposition of Conservative lawmakers.

Today the anthem is sung at the beginning of sporting events and in schools across Canada at the start of classes, often mixing both French and English versions.