Afghanistan sends team to join Taliban peace talks in UAE

Yahoo – AFP, 18 December 2018

The meetings between the US and the Taliban are the latest in a flurry of diplomatic
efforts as Washington seeks a way out of the conflict, which began with the US
invasion in 2001

An Afghan peace negotiations team has arrived in Abu Dhabi, an official said Tuesday, a day after talks attended by US and Taliban representatives were held in the city aimed at ending the 17-year conflict.

The team, led by chief negotiator Abdul Salam Rahimi, "arrived in Abu Dhabi to begin proximity dialogue with the Taliban delegation and to prepare for a face-to-face meeting between the two sides", the Afghan presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri tweeted.

The 12-person team was first announced in November by President Ashraf Ghani as part of a diplomatic effort to bring the Taliban to the table for peace talks with the government in Kabul.

But the Taliban have not confirmed a meeting, and issued a statement on Monday reiterating their long-standing vow not to speak with Afghan officials.

In a new message released Tuesday the militants said they had held "preliminary talks" with the US State Department's special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Monday, with the discussions to continue.

They also said they had held "extensive" meetings with officials from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and the UAE, repeating demands for international forces to be withdrawn from Afghanistan.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan were the only three countries to recognise the Taliban government during its five-year rule from 1996-2001.

The US did not confirm direct meetings between Khalilzad and the Taliban in Abu Dhabi.

Late Monday Washington said meetings were ongoing in the UAE city "to promote an intra-Afghan dialogue toward ending the conflict", and that Khalilzad was in the region.

Khalilzad "has in the past met, and will continue to meet with all interested parties, including the Taliban, to support a negotiated settlement to the conflict", it continued.

The meetings are the latest in a flurry of diplomatic efforts as Washington seeks a way out of the conflict, which began with the US invasion in 2001.

Khalilzad, who has expressed hopes for a deal to be in place before Afghaninstan's presidential election scheduled for April next year, has made several trips to the region since his appointment in September.

On this trip the State Department said he is also visiting Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Qatar, and Belgium, where he tweeted that he had met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The international community has been optimistic about the possibility of talks.

"The possibility of a negotiated end to the conflict has never been more real in the past 17 years than it is now," the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, told the UN Security Council in New York on Monday.

But the Taliban have upped assaults on Afghan forces even as the US increases diplomatic efforts, with thousands of people displaced by fighting.

Civilians continue to face "extreme levels of harm", a recent UN report said, with 8,050 people killed or wounded in the January to September period this year.

UN conference adopts migration pact despite withdrawals

Yahoo – AFP, Duncan Woodside, December 10, 2018

The UN migration conference is being held in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh
(AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)

Marrakesh (Morocco) (AFP) - A United Nations conference adopted a migration pact in front of leaders and representatives from over 160 countries in Morocco on Monday, despite a string of withdrawals driven by anti-immigrant populism.

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration -- finalised at the UN in July after 18 months of talks -- was formally approved with the bang of a gavel in Marrakesh at the start of a two-day conference.

But the United States and at least 16 other countries either opted out or expressed concerns, with some claiming the pact infringes national sovereignty.

Billed as the first international document on managing migration, it lays out 23 objectives to open up legal migration and discourage illegal border crossings, as the number of people on the move globally has surged to more than 250 million.

Describing it as a "roadmap to prevent suffering and chaos", UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres sought to dispel what he called a number of myths around the pact, including claims it will allow the UN to impose migration policies on member states.

The pact "is not legally binding", he said. "It is a framework for international cooperation."

"We must not succumb to fear and false narratives", he told an audience that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela, Greek premier Alexis Tsipras, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Spain's premier Pedro Sanchez.

Merkel launched an impassioned defence of the pact and multilateralism, saying her country "through Nazism brought incredible pain to humanity".

"The answer to pure nationalism was the foundation of the United Nations and the commitment to jointly searching for answers to our common problems," she said.

She insisted the pact seeks to prevent, rather than encourage, illegal migration. "This is about safe, orderly and regular migration -- it says (this) clearly in the title."

A picture taken on December 10, 2018 shows silhouettes of migrants, part of an 

art installation, at the grounds of the International conference on Global Compact

for Migration in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh (AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)

Draconian measures

On Friday, the US hit out at the pact, labelling it "an effort by the United Nations to advance global governance at the expense of the sovereign right of states".

It was the first country to disavow the negotiations late last year, while Australia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia have all pulled out of the process in recent months and weeks, before Chile withdrew overnight.

Rows over the accord have erupted in several European Union nations, hobbling Belgium's coalition government and pushing Slovakia's foreign minister to tender his resignation.

From the United States to Europe and beyond, right-wing and populist leaders have taken increasingly draconian measures to shut out migrants in recent years.

US President Donald Trump has pledged to build a wall on the US-Mexico border and has focused his recent ire on a migrant caravan from Central America, while a populist coalition government in Italy has clamped down on boats rescuing migrants at sea.

Belgium's liberal premier Charles Michel attended the conference after winning the support of parliament to back the accord, but was left leading a minority government after a Flemish nationalist party said it will quit his coalition over the pact.

"This model of cooperation is complex, sometimes including steps forwards and sometimes banana skins," Michel told delegates.

"But it is the only way forwards for those who want a better world".

The UN migration conference is being held in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh 

(AFP Photo/FADEL SENNA)

The pact has been welcomed by the Catholic Church as an important step towards addressing migrants' needs and reducing their vulnerability.

"The Holy See is convinced that the enormous challenges that migration poses are best faced through multilateral processes rather than isolationist policies," said papal envoy Cardinal Piero Parolin.

Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras also welcomed the accord. These countries have worked on their own regional plan to manage migration, which EL Salvador's foreign minister Carlos Castaneda told reporters represents a first effort to work within the framework of the global compact.

'Should be ethically binding'

The UN's children's agency said the pact could help provide better access to education and health for migrant children and offer "them stronger protection from exploitation and violence".

Other organisations, including Amnesty International and the International Federation of the Red Cross, see the accord as just a first step towards protecting migrants.

"We have heard repeatedly that this compact is not legally binding and does not impact on state sovereignty," said IFRC president Francesco Rocca at a press conference on the sidelines of the main dialogue.

"But if we are serious about fixing this problem, it should at the very least be ethically binding."

In comments by a representative, Morocco's King Mohammed VI -- absent from proceedings -- said the pact offers a way forwards that navigates between the two extremes of closing borders and allowing uncontrolled migration.

After the Marrakesh conference, the UN General Assembly is set to adopt a resolution formally endorsing the deal on December 19.

A United Nations conference adopted a migration pact in front of leaders and representatives from over 160 countries in Morocco on Monday, despite a string of withdrawals driven by anti-immigrant populism https://t.co/2uYHxjzAGF pic.twitter.com/HW2k6qkSyk

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 10, 2018

Nobel laureates challenge world to end sexual violence

France24 – AFP, 9 Dec 2018

Murad and Mukwege will be jointly presented with the prize in Oslo on Monday for
"their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed
conflict"    Oslo (AFP)

Nobel peace laureates Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege said Sunday they hoped their award would help them push the international community to act to end rape in conflict and deliver justice for victims.

Yazidi activist Murad and Congolese doctor Mukwege will be jointly presented with the prize in Oslo on Monday for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict".

Murad, 25, who was taken hostage in Iraq by the Islamic State group (IS) in 2014 but escaped, said the prize was an honour for all of her Yazidi community, and "a sign" for the thousands of women still held by jihadists.

"This prize, one prize cannot remove all the violence and all the attacks on pregnant women, on children, on women and give them justice," she told a press conference in Oslo.

But she said she hoped it would "open doors so that we can approach more governments", to bring the perpetrators to court and "so that we can find a solution and actually stop what is happening".

Fellow laureate Mukwege, who has spent two decades treating rape victims at his hospital in conflict-torn eastern DR Congo, said the Nobel spotlight made it harder for the world to ignore sexual violence.

"We cannot say that we didn't act because we didn't know. Now everyone knows. And I think now the international community has a responsibility to act," he said.

He said the prize was not a "victory", but could be seen "as the start of a new struggle, a new struggle against this type of evil".

Murad has spent the years since her escape campaigning for the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking community that follows an ancient religion and was targeted by IS as it swept through her homeland.

More than 6,800 Yazidis were kidnapped, of whom 4,300 either escaped or were bought as slaves, while 2,500 remain missing, according to a recent report from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).

The United Nations is due to send a team into Iraq next year to investigate atrocities, following a Security Council resolution in September 2017 to bring those responsible for IS war crimes to justice.

The UN has described the massacre of the Yazidis by IS jihadists as possible genocide.

Murad, now a UN ambassador for victims of human trafficking living in Germany, said the "steps towards justice" had given her hope.

But she stressed that "not a single ISIS terrorist" has appeared in court, adding "this injustice will continue in this world if it is not dealt with now".

Washington sets aside divisions for Bush state funeral

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, December 5, 2018

George W. Bush delivers a eulogy beside the flag-draped casket of his father 

George H.W. Bush, during his state funeral at Washington National Cathedral

(AFP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Washington (AFP) - A divided Washington led by the nation's five living presidents put on a show of unity Wednesday at the poignant state funeral of George H.W. Bush, as America bade farewell to its 41st president.

Donald and Melania Trump shared a front row pew at Washington National Cathedral with past presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and their wives as an honor guard brought Bush's flag-draped casket into the packed prayer hall.

George W. Bush delivered a rousing and deeply personal eulogy -- at times punctuated by laughter -- as he sang the praises of his father and predecessor as commander-in-chief, who died Friday at age 94.

"He was born with just two settings -- full throttle, then sleep," Bush said. "To us, his was the brightest of a thousand points of light," he added in reference to his father's signature call to volunteerism.

George W. Bush (R) and his brother Jeb Bush arrive at the state funeral of their 

father, former president George H. W. Bush, at Washington National Cathedral

(AFP Photo/Alex Edelman)

"When the history books are written, they will say that George H.W. Bush was a great president of the United States."

Bush's eulogy followed an uplifting performance by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan -- a friend of Bush who sang to the president in his dying hours.

Wednesday's state funeral caps a day-long homage that saw Bush lie in state for two days in the US Capitol rotunda.

Since Bush's death, Trump has traded his usual provocative posture for one of respect and solemnity, tweeting before heading to the cathedral about "a day of celebration for a great man."

But while the service allowed Washington to hit pause on the toxic rhetoric that has engulfed the country's politics, Trump and his Democratic predecessors appeared locked in an uneasy truce as it got underway.

Presidential couples Donald and Melania Trump, Barack and Michelle Obama, and 

Bill and Hillary Clinton shared a front row pew at the state funeral for George 

H.W. Bush at Washington National Cathedral (AFP Photo/Brendan SMIALOWSKI)

Trump arrived and promptly shook hands with Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. But his greetings stopped there, as he failed to acknowledge Hillary Clinton, his defeated Democratic rival in 2016.

Clinton sat stone faced, looking straight ahead, and the pair did not make eye contact.

Other dignitaries in the cathedral included Britain's Prince Charles, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former Polish president Lech Walesa, former vice presidents Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Joe Biden, and former secretaries of state James Baker, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.

Wednesday was a day of precision, patriotic ritual, and ceremony. George W. Bush and wife Laura stood stoically outside the US Capitol as an honor guard carried his father's flag-draped casket to the hearse.

The flag-draped casket of former US president George H.W. Bush is carried by a 

military honor guard into Washington National Cathedral for his state funeral 

on December 5, 2018 (AFP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

In a show of respect, Pennsylvania Avenue was lined with well-wishers as the cortege proceeded toward the Neo-Gothic cathedral in the first presidential funeral since Gerald Ford died in late 2006.

Earlier, tens of thousands of Americans had quietly filed in to the Capitol to pay their respects to a man who steered the nation through turbulent times including the end of the Cold War -- and in a style dramatically different to the combative current president.

Trump's ascendancy to the head of the Republican Party saw him exchange vitriolic attacks with the Bushes, notably slamming the presidential son's 2003 invasion of Iraq as "one of the worst decisions in the history of our country."

But he has taken pains to demonstrate unity since Bush's death, and made a low-key visit to the Capitol late Monday with First Lady Melania Trump to salute Bush's casket.

Late US President George H. W. Bush's service dog, Sully, sits by the coffin of 

the late president in the US Capitol's rotunda (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

'Civility and good will'

Trump declared Wednesday a national day of mourning. Many federal offices are closed along with Wall Street stock markets.

Congress also suspended votes -- even in the midst of a looming potential shutdown that requires congressional action before midnight Friday.

Bush was a decorated World War II aviator who nearly lost his life when he was shot down on a bombing mission.

He served as a congressman, envoy to China and ambassador to the United Nations, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and vice president to Ronald Reagan before winning the White House.

Profile of George H. W. Bush (AFP Photo/Gillian HANDYSIDE)

At a time of extraordinary and deep political fissures, Bush was looked to this week as a gracious servant of country who aimed to bridge the political divide.

Bush "was America's last great soldier statesman," presidential historian Jon Meacham told the guests.

"His life code, as he said, was tell the truth, don't blame people, be strong, do your best, try hard, forgive, stay the course."

After the Washington service, Bush's casket will be flown back to Houston. The former head of state will lie in repose at St Martin's Episcopal Church, where the Bushes worshipped for decades, until Thursday's funeral.

He will be interred at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library Center in College Station, Texas, next to his wife, who died in April, and their daughter Robin who died of leukemia at age three.

A divided Washington led by the nation's five living presidents put on a show of unity at the poignant state funeral of George H.W. Bush, as America bade farewell to its 41st president https://t.co/YIbN23IHMB pic.twitter.com/IdZAsvQ1vb

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 5, 2018

Trump plane to collect Bush casket for days-long homage

Yahoo – AFP, Loren ELLIOTT, with Brian KNOWLTON in Washington, December 2, 2018

Flags are flying at half-staff in Washington and across the US as the country prepares
for days of mourning for the death of former president George H.W. Bush, who will lie
in state in the US Capitol, seen here (AFP Photo/Alex Edelman)

Houston (AFP) - Solemn preparations were underway Sunday for America's national farewell to George H.W. Bush, whose casket is to be flown from Texas to Washington aboard a presidential aircraft to lie in state at the start of a days-long state homage.

The 41st president died Friday, aged 94, at his home in Texas -- "a very gentle and peaceful passing," his lifelong friend and advisor James Baker said Sunday on ABC.

To commemorate the first former president to die since Gerald Ford in 2006, officials have announced a detailed, four-day schedule of celebratory services and homages, organized with military precision by the Pentagon task force charged with protecting the US capital.

Its culmination will be a state funeral at Washington's National Cathedral on Wednesday, a day President Donald Trump -- who had often clashed with the more staid and centrist Bush family -- has declared a national day of mourning.

A timeline of the life of former president George H.W. Bush (AFP Photo/

Gillian HANDYSIDE)

Lying in state

The week's events begin at 1630 GMT Monday, when Bush's remains are to be flown aboard the presidential Boeing 747 known as Air Force One -- made available at Trump's direction -- from Houston to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

Bush will lie in state in the Rotunda of the US Capitol from Monday evening Wednesday morning, under the watchful gaze of an around-the-clock honors guard.

The casket will then be transported to the cathedral for the funeral service -- the fourth there of a former president.

Trump has said he and wife Melania will attend. Dozens of foreign leaders and US luminaries are expected. Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney told Politico he will deliver one of several eulogies at the service, at Bush's request.

The casket will then be flown back to Houston, where the former head of state will lie in repose at St. Martin's Episcopal Church -- where the Bushes worshiped for decades -- until a funeral service at 1700 GMT Thursday.

The remains will then be transported by train for interment on the grounds of the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas. Bush will be buried next to wife Barbara, who died in April, and daughter Robin, who died of leukemia aged three.

This 2013 file photo shows former president George H.W. Bush (third from left) posing 

with former presidents (left to right) Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and 

Barack Obama) at the George W. Bush presidential library in Dallas, Texas 

(AFP Photo/Paul Morse)

Tributes from friends

Baker, who served Bush as secretary of state, joined others in paying warm tribute on Sunday television shows.

Baker called him "far and away the best one-term president we have ever had," alluding to Bush's single biggest political failure -- his loss in the 1992 election to then-governor Bill Clinton.

Baker instead emphasized his friend's foreign-policy successes: navigating the end of the Cold War, negotiating two nuclear arms-reduction treaties, and summoning a varied global coalition to eject Iraqi troops from Kuwait in the first Gulf War.

Colin Powell, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during that war, said he was confident in Bush's leadership because, as a World War II veteran, "He knew what combat was all about. He knew it meant the death of people...He wanted to avoid a war."

Students are seen on December 1, 2018 holding a candlelight vigil for the late US 

president George H.W. Bush on the campus of Texas A&M University, where he 

is to be buried (AFP Photo/SCOTT OLSON)

Lifelong partnership

Baker was a young lawyer in Houston grieving his wife's untimely death when Bush, his tennis partner, persuaded him to try something new: help Bush run for office. That partnership eventually took Baker to a career as secretary of state and secretary of the Treasury -- and Bush to the White House.

Baker saw his friend several times in his final days.

The former president had struggled for years with Parkinson's disease, which left him wheelchair-bound and repeatedly hospitalized -- including after Barbara's death. After each time "he would bounce back," Baker said on ABC.

But by Friday "he began to go downhill... He hadn't eaten for three or four days."

Still, when an aide told Bush his friend was visiting that day, "he perked up. He opened his eyes. He looked at me, he says, 'Hey, Bake. Where we going?'"

"We're going to heaven," Baker said.

"Good, that's where I want to go," Bush said.

Baker said Bush's last words, in a phone conversation with son George W. Bush, were these: "I love you too."

Pope reveals team picked to organise anti-paedophilia summit

ChannelNewsAsia - AFP, 23 Nov 2018

Pope Francis has picked his team to organise next February's conference on
child protection. (Photo: AFP/Filippo Monteforte)

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis on Friday (Nov 23) revealed the organising team for a special meeting on the protection of children to be held in February, in response to the paedophilia scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church worldwide.

His hand-picked team are all close associates: the archbishop of Malta Charles Scicluna, Father Hans Zollner, US cardinal Blase Cupich and Indian cardinal Oswald Gracias.

Archbishop Scicluna spent 10 years as a Vatican prosecutor investigating cases of paedophilia among the priesthood.

Zollner, a Jesuit priest, is an academic and psychotherapist who has travelled widely as part of his work in child protection. He is already part of the committee of experts advising the pope on the issue.

"The February meeting is unprecedented, and one that shows Pope Francis has made the protection of minors a fundamental priority for the Church," said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.

"This is about keeping children safe from harm worldwide. Pope Francis wants Church leaders to have a full understanding of the devastating impact that clerical sexual abuse has on victims."

Two women with senior positions inside the Vatican will also help organise the event and survivors of abuse will have a role, he said. The event will run from Feb 21 to 24.

"The meeting is primarily one for bishops and they have much of the responsibility for this grave problem," said Burke.

Burke was speaking a day after a French priest was handed a two-year jail term for abusing children - and his superior, the former bishop of Orleans, 83-year-old Andre Fort, received a suspended sentence for having covered up the offences.

The meeting is expected to attract 180 participants, including the presidents of 113 episcopal conferences from around the world.

The Church has had to contend with a wave of scandals involving paedophile priests which have hit the Catholic faith in countries worldwide from Ireland and the United States to Australia.

Trump, Putin absent for leaders' symbolic walk in Paris rain

Yahoo – AFP, Katy Lee, November 11, 2018

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived at the Arc de 

Triomphe with other world leaders (AFP Photo/Ludovic MARIN)

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte arrived at the Arc de Triomphe with other world leaders (AFP Photo/Ludovic MARIN)

Paris (AFP) - United in the rain, world leaders walked slowly up the Champs-Elysees in Paris to mark a century since the end of World War I -- but there were two notable absences, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

The line of black-clad leaders was reminiscent of another moment of unity: after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo jihadist attack, when senior officials from more than 40 countries marched through Paris to denounce terrorism.

But on Sunday both the US and Russian presidents arrived separately for the solemn ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, skipping the bus ride and symbolic walk with other leaders.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump, who wore a cornflower -- France's war remembrance flower -- in his lapel, had arrived separately "due to security protocols".

His trademark bright red tie stood out among the dark coats in the front row as he and Putin stood either side of Macron.

The French president walked alone through the rain to greet veterans to the strains of the national anthem, La Marseillaise.

The moment stood in contrast to Trump's much criticised decision Saturday to call off a US cemetery visit because of rainy weather.

In another stark contrast with Trump, Macron went on to deliver a forceful speech against fear-mongering and isolationism, calling on fellow leaders to fight together for peace.

"Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism," Macron said.

"Let us build our hopes rather than playing our fears against each other."

Around 70 leaders including US and Russian Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin 

marked the centenary of the 1918 Armistice in Paris (AFP Photo/ludovic MARIN)

'Will we ever learn?'

The ceremony, to remember the millions who died in the war, including colonial troops fighting for European powers, had a deliberately international flavour.

The superstar Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed alongside Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo and a European youth orchestra led by a Russian conductor.

High-school students read letters from soldiers at the front in English, French, German and Chinese.

"Am I dreaming?" read one letter from a French soldier upon learning that four years of brutal trench warfare were coming to an end in November 1918.

"I'm so happy, I can hardly believe that the news is true," he wrote.

Another letter, from a British soldier, read: My darling parents, today has been perfectly wonderful. We got news of the armistice at 9.30 this morning... The streets were packed with wildly cheering civilians."

The crowds who braved the rain for the ceremony along the famed Champs-Elysees boulevard in Paris also came from far afield.

Nevan Lancaster, a 47-year-old from New Zealand, extended a work trip to Europe to pay his respects to a grandfather who fought in the war.

"I'm here for him. He didn't speak about the war -- it was his job, it was his duty," Lancaster told AFP.

Keith Evans, a 70-year-old Scot, said he had come "to remember the sacrifice, and the cost" of a conflict that claimed up to 20 million lives.

"I hope that with this event, the leaders here will learn the lesson of what President Macron has just said," Evans said, a remembrance poppy pinned to his raincoat.

"We should do better for peace," he added. "Will we ever learn? I hope so."

After the ceremony, which ended with Macron lighting anew the flame at the Arc de Triomphe's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the leaders headed for lunch at the presidential palace.

As Trump made his way towards his limousine, there was some booing from the crowd.

1915: Europe in the grip of war pic.twitter.com/NKp5goVxD4

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 11, 2018

America's pink wave: women win Congress record

Yahoo – AFP, Jennie MATTHEW, November 7, 2018

Democratic rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made history as the youngest
woman elected to Congress, riding a wave of minority women taking office
 (AFP Photo/Don EMMERT)

New York (AFP) - The US election has swept a record number of women into Congress, fired up by disgust of Donald Trump, emboldened by the #MeToo movement and making the Democratic Party more diverse and younger than ever.

The class of 2019 includes the youngest congressional women in history, 29-year-olds Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York and Abby Finkenauer from Iowa, as well as the first two Native American women, and the first two Muslim women, Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib and Somali-American Ilhan Omar.

With results still trickling in, at least 120 women will serve in Congress, a record 98 in the House of Representatives and 22 in the Senate, says the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

The previous House record was 85. The wins bump up female representation in the lower house to at least 23 percent, still dismal in the world rankings.

"The more Americans who vote, the more our elected leaders look like America," said former president Barack Obama, praising the record number of women, a surge in minority lawmakers and record voter turnout.

More women in office wil likely blaze a trail for others to follow in the future -- 

particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds -- but currently they still 

only make up less than a quarter of Congress (AFP Photo/Gal ROMA)

The vast majority of newly elected women are Democrats. They include veterans, a former CIA operative, a teacher who grew up the daughter of a drug addict, a one-time bartender and dozens of first-time candidates.

Many jumped into politics, outraged that Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, often considered the most qualified presidential candidate in history, while boasting of grope and accused of sexual misconduct.

Many were appalled by what they consider Trump administration abuses -- attempts to roll back health care, restrict abortion rights, separate migrant families at the border and threaten environmental protections.

'Injustices'

"Until this heartless administration is held accountable for their numerous injustices, we will not stop," tweeted Donna Shalala, a former Clinton cabinet minister who defeated a Republican woman in a Florida congressional seat by championing public education, health care and social security.

Distinctive is the success of women of color. Connecticut and Massachusetts each elected their first African American women into Congress.

Distinctive is the success of women of color, with Connecticut and Massachusetts 

electing their first African American women into Congress, the first two Latinas 

elected from Texas, and Muslim Somali refugee Ilhan Omar elected from 

Minnesota (AFP Photo/Kerem Yucel)

Another two Democrats made history as the first Latinas elected to Congress from Texas, a deeply red state. Omar, elected from Minnesota, emigrated to the United States as a child after fleeing war-torn Somalia.

These are totally new voices "that have never been at the federal policy level and federal policy making table," says Kelly Dittmar, associate professor of political science at Rutgers University and a scholar at CAWP.

Women of color "see the benefits of being in office as outweighing the potential costs and challenges," she told AFP.

"Particularly, they see the cost of not being at the table as greater than the cost of mounting the challenges."

Women were also elected governors in Iowa, Maine and South Dakota for the first time, as well as in the territory of Guam. Democrat women flipped Michigan and Kansas, defeating male Republican incumbents.

But what will more women in office mean?

'Temper expectations'

It means that women are better represented. Research shows that women are more likely to raise policies related to women's health and family than men.

Michigan governor elect Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday attributed her success and that of other women to outworking their opponents and "staying focused on the dinner table issues that really matter to families."

"Health care and clean drinking water in my state. Infrastructure. I know that resonated because it's the most obvious challenge we have as a state and we need a governor that will fix it," she told CNN.

Michigan governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer attributed her success and that of other

 women to outworking their opponents and "staying focused on the dinner table 

issues that really matter to families" (AFP Photo/BILL PUGLIANO)

Women are also harder working. A 2010 study by researchers from the universities of Stanford and Chicago found that female legislators brought back $49 million more for their districts per year than male counterparts.

More women in office will likely blaze a trial for others to follow in the future -- particularly those from non-traditional backgrounds.

While notable Republican successes include the first female senator elected from Tennessee and the first female governor of South Dakota, there are concerns that the overt Democrat disparity could fan the partisan divide.

And despite the gains, a 2015 Pew report ranked the United States a dismal 33rd among 49 "high-income" countries and 83rd among a larger group of 137 countries when it came to representation in national legislatures.

"We have to temper our expectations a little bit," cautioned Dittmar. "They will still be less than a quarter than of Congress," she added. "Male Republican leadership is still guiding the agenda."