Unidentified attackers torched three passenger vehicles in southern Rwanda on Saturday, killing two and injuring eight.
Unidentified attackers torched three passenger vehicles in southern Rwanda on Saturday, killing two and injuring eight, the Ministry of Defence said, adding the military was pursuing the attackers who had fled into a forest.
The incident comes days after President Paul Kagame said at least two Rwandan soldiers and an unknown number of rebels were killed when a group of attackers crossed into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo last week.
The defence ministry said in a statement that the Saturday evening incident occurred in Cyitabi Sector of Nyamagabe District, near the border with Burundi, and the attackers had fled to nearby Nyungwe Forest.
"We have been watching the situation in this area for some time now and have a good idea of who is behind today's incident. We are in pursuit of the attackers and action will be taken against those responsible," Lt. Col Innocent Munyengango, the military spokesman, said.
Gunmen on motorbikes have killed more than 40 Tuareg civilians this week in north Mali, where clashes over land and scarce water are common, an official said on Thursday.The violence compounds an already dire security situation in the desert region used by jihadist groups to launch attacks in Mali and across West Africa.The identity of the assailants was unknown, but disputes between the nomadic Tuareg and herder Fulani ethnic groups have killed several hundred and displaced thousands this year.Menaka town mayor Nanout Kotia told Reuters 43 Tuareg died in a village 20 km (12 miles) away over the past two days."Armed men riding motorbikes attacked several nomadic campsites in Tinabaw. They shot indiscriminately at the population," Kotia told Reuters, saying security forces had been sent to the area.Mali's main Tuareg separatist group, the Coordination of Azawad Movements, said 47 Tuareg civilians were killed in the Tinabaw area. Nobody has claimed responsibility.Armed men killed 15 Fulani civilians in Mali's central Mopti region earlier this month.
The military spokesman was not immediately available to give more details on Saturday's attack.
Kagame had said on Friday that the group responsible for the earlier incident may have been carrying out an attack to test Rwanda's defences.
While Kagame did not identify that group, rebel groups among those operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo include the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
A spokesman for FDLR said they were behind the attack.
Kagame left open the possibility that the attack may have been mounted by a new group called RNC, one of several other groups which he said had joined forces with FDLR.
The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling the crimes committed by Myanmar security forces against Rohingya Muslims a genocide. This was the right thing to do.The U.S. lawmakers deserve to be applauded for trying to turn "Never again!" into a concrete U.S. governmental policy, following the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's declaration that Myanmar is indeed committing a genocide and crimes against humanity.The House resolution states that "every government and multilateral body (in the world) should call such atrocities (against Rohingya people) by their rightful names of 'crimes against humanity,' 'war crimes,' and 'genocide'."It contains a call that will resonate very well with many in the rank-and-file of the Armed Forces of Myanmar unhappy with the Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing: it adds the commander-in-chief to the list of military commanders deemed responsible for these crimes.Despite the much-reported decline of U.S. power globally, the United States still retains unparalleled influence and reach, militarily, institutionally, economically, and ideologically, vis-à-vis Russia and China. Against this background, the unequivocal stance that U.S. lawmakers have taken against the Myanmar genocide has enormous potential to really end the unimaginable misery which 1.5 million Rohingya experience, both in refugee camps in Bangladesh and in their own places of origin within the western Myanmar state of Rakhine.However, the calls for the UN Security Council to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court or an ad hoc International Criminal Tribunal on Myanmar, or even economic sanctions alone, will have no appreciable impact on either the Myanmar military, which has institutionalized the intentional destruction of Rohingya as a target population since the 1970s, nor on the majority of the Myanmar public, who have been brainwashed to believe UN or external allegations of atrocities as "fake news" concocted by the liberal West and a Muslim conspiracy financed and coordinated by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).That is, unless the United States is prepared to take forward the idea of military intervention in Myanmar – like the U.S. Pacific Fleet launching surgical missile-strikes from the international waters of the Bay of Bengal on the military headquarters and residences of the senior military commanders in Naypyidaw. The uses of military actions on grounds of humanitarian intervention are not unprecedented. The NATO bombing of Slobodan Milosevic's palace and the "accidental" strike on the Embassy of China in Belgrade spring to mind.In fact, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad openly suggested "going in" to end the atrocities, in a public talk at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York a few months ago.- Unrealistic optionHowever, this may not be a realistic option for a number of reasons: U.S. President Donald Trump has demonstrated absolutely no concern about the news of Myanmar troops burning Rohingya infants and elderly people alive. In fact, Trump has not even once tweeted the word "Rohingya," let alone drawn attention to the hellish conditions they are living in. Additionally, sandwiched between India and China, which are vying for influence in Myanmar through strategic, military, and economic collaboration, Myanmar may not be an ideal place for U.S. drone or missile strikes, lest such acts draw these two Asian rivals into the military action.With respect to the impact of full and biting economic sanctions, in the unlikely event that the United States eventually imposes such severe sanctions, the four largest investors in Myanmar are China, Thailand, Singapore, and Hong Kong, followed by the U.K. The targeted pinch on the generals and the national economy will be significantly mitigated by these countries.None of these governments are likely to follow the U.S.' lead in the current circumstances. China considers Myanmar, a country in its backyard, an integral piece of its One Belt, One Road grand project whereby it is striving to recreate the New World Order with Beijing as its imperial center. Any talk of persuading China, or Russia, with deep military-to-military ties with Myanmar, to support any punitive measures within the existing global justice and governance mechanisms, including the UN Security Council, is nothing short of delusional.The rest of Myanmar's neighbors, including even India, base their Myanmar policies on commercial interests. India is no match for China, how desperately it may try, to curb China's sway over the Myanmar military and civilian leaderships.Desperate to find bilateral trade deals outside the EU amid Brexit, Britain is single-mindedly pursuing British commercial interests while serving as the "penholder" on Myanmar resolutions in multilateral bodies by virtue of the historical fact that it was the country's former colonial master.In a lengthy Dec. 12 interview with the local Mizzima News Group, British Ambassador Daniel Chugg pussyfooted around the genocide and stressed his ambassadorial goal. In Chugg's own words, "we are the fifth-largest investor ever in Myanmar, our total stock of investment here is more than $4 billion, and our trade last year was about $500 million, which was up 20 per cent from the year before. So, it's growing but it's still relatively small in global terms and so I hope those figures will improve while I am here."No matter how powerful it may still remain, U.S. measures will come short of what is needed to end the genocide in Myanmar.- Steps to followWhether the Trump administration makes the legal determination – as the U.S. House Resolution urges – that Myanmar is in fact committing crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes not only against Rohingya but also against other ethnic and religious communities such as the Kachin, Shan, and Ta'ang, is less consequential than what it will concretely do if the determination is made.The painful truth typically overlooked is that no genocide has ever been committed by the perpetrating state alone, from the Nazi genocide to Bosnia to Rwanda. There are always collaborating and "bystanding" states. The real first-step towards ending the genocide in Myanmar will have to be an international conference of states which have expressed their official concerns about the nature of grave crimes that Myanmar is committing.There are 47 member states which voted on the UN Human Rights Council Resolution this fall calling for accountability for the Myanmar perpetrators of international state crimes. Although the U.S. is no longer a member of the council, considering the overwhelming concern about the genocide in Myanmar as evidenced in yesterday's vote at the House of Representatives, the U.S. government is best placed to host such a conference in Washington.The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, which has done extraordinary work in genocide monitoring and research on the situation for Rohingya, would be an ideal civil society partner to facilitate such a conference.One primary conference objective should be to forge a coalition of governments that are prepared to pool their resources, strategic influences, and even military assets to put sufficient pressure on both the Myanmar military and Aung San Suu Kyi's impotent leadership. Without sufficient pressure, Myanmar -- that is, the civilian government and the military -- will not accept the Rohingya as full and equal citizens, nor will they provide any guarantee for the safety of the survivor communities.As a matter of fact, the Myanmar genocide resolution rightly states that "Myanmar's civilian government, led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, has not yet taken the necessary steps to address the violence directed against the Rohingya and has failed to create the necessary conditions for returns, including by actively impeding access to northern Rakhine for UNHCR, UNDP, humanitarian organizations, and journalists." Having aligned the government with Beijing, Aung San Suu Kyi has shown absolutely no sign that she will relent.Against this scenario, only such a counter-alliance of states broadly supported by civil society and human rights movements consisting of Rohingya survivors can put enough concrete pressure on the perpetrating regime and the genocidally racist society to allow Rohingya to live in peace on their own ancestral land of Northern Rakhine.[Maung Zarni is co-author of the "The Slow-Burning Genocide of Myanmar's Rohingya" (Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, 2014) and coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition.]* Opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu Agency.
Rwanda's president said Friday his country has faced several provocations from neighboring Burundi, indicating ties between the two small countries have hit bottom."We have had all kinds of provocation from Burundi and we have not fallen for that. We have not been sucked into these provocations because that would be giving them what they want, to prove their point that they have no other problem except Rwanda," Paul Kagame said in a statement posted on the presidency's official Twitter handle.Kagame's comments come barely two weeks after Pierre Nkurunziza, Burundi's president, wrote a letter to the East African Community head Yoweri Museveni, president of the larger nation of Uganda, accusing Rwanda of harboring Burundian dissidents.In the letter, Burundi claimed that Rwanda supported a 2015 failed coup attempt against his government.But Rwanda denied the claims, instead accusing Burundi of harboring rebels who want to destabilize peace in the tiny nation, which experienced a genocide in 1994 that claimed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.This week, Kagame warned that he will deal resolutely with his country's enemies.At press time, Burundi's government had yet to respond to Kagame's statement.


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The awe-inspiring sunken beauties of the Titanic
The famous liner Titanic sank on April 14, 1912 and carried with it the wonders and the symbol of the art of living of the late 19th century. The fashion at that time was to walk, to appear, to travel, to go to the New World, and these ships were designed to serve a privileged clientele. Everything is done to ensure that she has an unforgettable moment of relaxation ...
Luxury cabins and a moment of relaxation
On the Titanic, seven of the ten decks were designed to accommodate passengers. And for this privileged clientele, the liner offered cabins furnished in Louis XIV, Louis XV, Louis XVI, Italian Renaissance, Empire or Georgian style whose walls were covered with paneling of oak, walnut, mahogany or lemon tree and whose the crystal chandeliers powered by electricity illuminated the whole. You could admire sculptures, rechampis and gilding. The beds were four-poster covered with damask silk. We walked on carpeted floors or soft rugs. In order not to be cold, the central heating was on and the chimneys were roaring. These air-conditioned cabins had their own bathroom with hot water and a toilet. Modular, accommodating one to three people and convertible into an apartment, these cabins were located in the center of the liner, where the boat moved the least, for the comfort of passengers.
For their relaxation, guests bathed in a seawater swimming pool with diving board, accessed by a marble staircase, and could change into individual cabins. Men and women spent some time in the paid Turkish baths, but at different times. These baths were carefully decorated with lamps, tables, Turkish and Syrian divans, coffered ceilings. Some preferred a good massage; others took advantage of lessons from a gymnastics teacher, in a suitable room equipped with rowers, bicycles and weight machines. A squash court was also available, but for a fee.
For a makeover, the Titanic offered a hairdresser and barber shop as well as a souvenir shop selling toys, books, postcards, stationery.
At the end of the day, the men met in the smoking room, the Renaissance style of which was decorated with mahogany paneling and stained glass windows. During this time, the ladies (who were forbidden there) went to the reading room, equipped with sofas and tables for writing their correspondence.
Others settled in the reception rooms at the foot of the grand staircase, the floors of which were carpeted and white and gold walls. Admiring the columns, the moldings and the Aubusson tapestry representing "the hunt of the Duke of Guise" on one of the walls, they savored the tea, installed in the seats covered with red silk, listening to the quintet play from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Always with the aim of satisfying passengers and serving a privileged clientele, the Titanic offered a special à la carte restaurant called "the Ritz", a "Parisian" café and another "Veranda", which rivaled each other in refinement and delicacy, these dining rooms being reserved for First Classes.
The "Ritz" was placed under the fourth "decorative" chimney on deck B, aft of the liner. It was reserved for First Class passengers who wished to change traditional menus and be able to enjoy an à la carte service. Equipped with bay windows and lattice windows, draped in golden brown silk curtains, walnut woodwork, chandeliers and sconces in chiseled gilded brass, wooden columns twisted with bronze ribbons and armchairs covered with tapestry. Aubusson with a Louis XVI rose trellis motif, it offered forty-nine small tables for one hundred and thirty-seven passengers. These beautiful tables were covered with white tablecloths, embellished with bouquets of roses and daisies, provided with mood lighting achieved using crystal floor lamps topped with pink shades. This high-class restaurant had a 190-piece blue table service with a fine golden border resembling "Bleu de Sèvres" and a second white service, adorned with a gold border and a green Louis style garland. XVI. The rest was all silverware and crystal glassware.
The "Café Parisien and Café Véranda" were less stuffy and more convivial places where we met many young passengers who were adept at these places. The walls were covered with trellises (ivy and other climbers), the black and white checkered floor, the white lacquered rattan furniture, the large bay windows allowing a view of the sea, these places accommodating a maximum of 68 people.
A little less pretty, the First Class dining room was the largest ever built on a ship. Its 1,000 m2 could accommodate up to 550 passengers. The floor was tiled with blue linoleum with red and yellow patterns, the white dishes with a scalloped outline of green and brown.
As for the kitchens, they were grandiose and had, among other things, two stoves equipped with 19 ovens each, grills, rotisseries, bain-marie ...
Belly of the Titanic
On that grim day of April 14, 1912, to best serve these 2,200 or so passengers, no less than 885 crew were needed. Carrying with it the 5,892 tons of coal, the Titanic's "belly" also had water tanks designed to deliver 64,000 liters per day and 170 tons of mail. Indeed, besides transporting passengers, transporting mail was one of the liner's major missions. The total of miscellaneous freight and baggage amounted to 900 tonnes. It should be remembered that passengers often carried many trunks of clothes and toiletries like Mrs. Charlotte Drake and her 14 trunks, 4 suitcases and 3 crates: this was nothing exceptional!
To serve passengers, 21,000 pieces of cutlery, more than 3,000 dishes and tureens, 10,000 pieces of cookware, 6,500 serving tea towels, 45,000 napkins, 40,000 fresh eggs, 1,000 sweetbreads and other meats totaling 50 tonnes, 70 brands of champagne, 54 Bordeaux vintages, 850 bottles of alcohol were needed. And these are just a few small examples ...
Last meal at the Ritz on April 14, 1912
Under French influence (the hotel managers being French or having received training in France) and under the leadership of Auguste Escoffier and César Ritz, the Titanic offered the best in the best restaurants of Paris, London, New York. It was only delicate dishes including caviar, lobsters, Egyptian quail, lapwing eggs, in an eleven-course menu for First Classes.
"The last night we had dinner at the Ritz. It was the height of luxury. The tables were happily decorated with roses and daisies, the orchestra's violins played Puccini and Tchaikovsky; the dinner was sumptuous: caviar, lobsters, Egyptian quail, lapwing eggs, greenhouse grapes and fresh peaches, "said Ms. Walter Douglas, a First Class survivor.
The women donned their lovely satin and silk dresses, some wore their double-stranded pearl necklace (insured for $ 600,000 at the time), the immaculately dressed men dressed to the nines.
The menu was presented in eleven courses, with oysters, Olga consomme, poached salmon, filet mignon Lili… saddle of venison, woodcock… a punch on the sixth course, a foie gras on the ninth, coffees and cigars after this gargantuan meal representing the quintessence luxury …
Unusual curiosities declared
Lists of goods were drawn up (for reimbursements and insurance), declarations of losses, insurance taken before departure. We thus discover very heterogeneous objects, showing well the wealth of privileged travelers ... ranging from cases of sardines or shelled walnuts, barrels of tea, through bundles of gutta-percha (gum taken from the rubber tree used as insulation) or cases of rabbit skin or ostrich feathers up to those carrying opium, cases of alarm devices and an automobile case containing the Renault 1912; a marmalade machine, boxes of Egyptian works of art, a bag of diamonds worth $ 300 million, a bagpipe, an Arab costume and a French bulldog champion of competition as well as a mummy ...
Video: Titanic: Why We Remember (January 2022).
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MANISTEE — With frigid temperatures taking over Manistee County next week, city officials set up the Sands Park ice rink on Wednesday morning for the skating season.
Jeff Mikula, director of the Manistee Department of Public Works, said the boards around the perimeter of the ice rink were placed several weeks ago, before the grounds were even frozen.
On Wednesday morning, city workers spent an hour and a half spreading out the liner and then flooding it with water. Crew members had to wait a few days for the wind to die down, before attempting to complete the project.
The next step, said Mikula, is to allow Mother Nature to take her course and freeze the ice before it's open to the public.
According the National Weather Service, temperatures in Manistee County could reach as low as 8 degrees on both Monday and Tuesday. Mikula said the ice rink could be frozen soon with the drop in temperatures.
The ice rink system was first purchased by the city in 2014, but it did not open for the first time in years until 2015.
After purchasing the new system, with a few minor issues along the way, Mikula said the rink is much easier to install and remove at the end of the season, but it still requires plenty of work from the crew.
Although the setup takes some time, Mikula said the rink's removal is much more tedious, as the liner and other parts need to be preserved and folded.
Throughout the season, the city and volunteers monitor the rink for any damage to the liner, which in turn could be both costly and cause problems for skaters.
Placed outside of the Manistee County Community Teen Center, the ice rink is open to all ages and skates are provided free of cost. Anyone who wishes to donate skates can drop them off at the teen center.
During the skating season, the center is open from 3-8 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. on weekends. Residents are welcome to drop by and warm up after a long day of skating.
"The teen center is open as a warming center and for people to put skates on, play games and use restrooms. Once it gets up and running it's pretty nice," said Mikula.
An opening date has yet to be set.
For more information, contact the teen center at (231) 723-1588. Follow Manistee County Teen Center on Facebook for updates on the ice rink's opening date.


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Louisiana lawmakers take up bill to make abortion a homicide crime
Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives are debating legislation that would allow prosecutors to bring murder charges against women who end a pregnancy.
Sabrina Canfield / May 12, 2022
A woman naps, bundled up against the air conditioning, as she waits to have an abortion at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, La., in October 2021. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
NEW ORLEANS (CN) — The Republican-controlled Louisiana House of Representatives is set to debate a bill Thursday afternoon that would make women who end pregnancies subject to criminal homicide prosecution and would ban certain birth control and fertility options.
Despite much opposition – even from those who have long rallied against legalized abortion, including Louisiana Right to Life and the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops – Republican state Representative Danny McCormick of Oil City called for a House floor debate on the legislation he authored, known as House Bill 813.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who has diverged from his party with his anti-abortion stance, issued a statement in opposition to the bill Wednesday, calling it "radical" and saying he ordinarily would not comment on bills before they have made it through the legislative process but could not wait on this one.
"My Catholic Christian faith teaches me to be pro-life, which is something I've been honest and upfront about with the people of Louisiana, who I believe mostly agree with me," Edwards said. "But House Bill 813 is not a pro-life bill. In addition to the fact that this legislation is patently unconstitutional, this bill would criminalize the use of certain types of contraception, as well as parts of the in vetro fertilization process, and it could even serve as a barrier to life-saving medical treatment for a woman who is suffering a miscarriage."
He added, "To suggest that a woman would be jailed for an abortion is simply absurd."
Anti-abortion group Louisiana Right to Life said in a press release that the bill is inconsistent with its mission to protect moms and babies.
"Our longstanding policy is that abortion-vulnerable women should not be treated as criminals. Instead, we should hold accountable the individuals performing the abortion or selling or providing the chemical abortion drugs," the group said. "Because HB 813 does not exempt women from criminalization and is unnecessary to protect the life of babies from abortion, Louisiana Right to Life does not support HB 813."
But McCormick says a woman who has an abortion should face the same legal recourse as a woman who is responsible for taking a child's life after birth.
"When I give equal protection to the unborn, that's the possibility," McCormick told the Associated Press.
Debate on the bill, which was introduced in March, has set off further alarm for those who support abortion rights after a draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision indicating the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade and a woman's constitutional right to abortion was leaked to the press last week.
HB 813, which considers life to start at conception, would rewrite homicide statutes to include abortion. The bill also states that any federal decisions made that are contrary to the state law would not stand, and any judge who blocks enforcement of the bill's provisions could be impeached.
Anti-abortion legislation typically passes easily in the Louisiana Legislature but the heavy opposition from even anti-abortion groups spells trouble for McCormick's bill.
Louisiana currently has laws on the books that would automatically make abortion a crime statewide if the Supreme Court reverses its 1973 decision in Roe that establishes abortion rights. Those statutes do not include prosecution for women getting the procedure, targeting only those who perform or aid an abortion.
McCormick told the AP fetuses should have more protection under the law than what is currently offered.
"This is a debate we need to have in Louisiana," he said. "There are good people on both sides of the debate."
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