Federal officials say a Maryland man used fake passports to facilitate a money laundering conspiracy involving nearly $1 million.

Arinze Michael Ozor, 36, pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges of forgery or false use of a passport, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said in a release Monday. He’s a dual citizen of the U.S. and Nigeria.

Ozor used at least two passports to open eight so-called “drop accounts”, prosecutors said. He took more than $976,000 from business email compromise schemes and romance fraud schemes and put it in those accounts.

Officials say Ozor used a Ghanaian passport to open five bank accounts and a Beninese passport to open three additional accounts. The money was then largely sent to other entities involved in the schemes.

Ozor is expected to be sentenced in May. He could spend up to 10 years in prison.

An attorney representing Ozor didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment, The Baltimore Sun reported.

 

Potential jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s New York sexual assault trial are expected to fill a courtroom Tuesday as the former movie titan’s legal problems deepen with new charges  in Los Angeles.

In New York, jury selection is set to start Tuesday and could take weeks as prosecutors, Weinstein’s lawyers and the judge find people to serve on a lengthy trial in a high-profile case that has fueled societal pressure for accountability for sexual misconduct.

The trial involves charges that Weinstein raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performed a sex act on another woman in the city in 2006.

Weinstein, 67, has said any sexual activity was consensual.

“In this great country, you are innocent until proven guilty,” his lawyer Donna Rotunno said Monday.

Across the street from the courthouse, women who say they were sexually harassed or assaulted by Weinstein branded him a villain undeserving of anyone’s pity.

“This trial is a cultural reckoning regardless of its legal outcome,” said Sarah Ann Masse, a performer and writer who said Weinstein once sexually harassed her in his underwear during a job interview.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.

Once one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers, Weinstein has now been accused of sexual assault, harassment and misconduct by dozens of women, from famous actresses to assistants at his former company. The allegations began surfacing publicly in October 2017 and sparked the (hash)MeToo movement, as well as investigations in multiple places.

Los Angeles prosecutors charged Weinstein Monday with sexually assaulting two women there on successive nights during Oscar week in 2013.

Lawyers for Weinstein had no immediate comment on the new charges, though he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey said the timing of the charges was unrelated to the New York trial. She said the case took more than two years to build because the women were reluctant to provide all the information necessary, and the filing happened on the first business day when all the necessary people could gather.

There is some connection between the cases, though: One of the Los Angeles accusers is expected to testify in the New York case to help prosecutors establish what they say was Weinstein’s pattern of forcing himself on young actresses and women trying to break into Hollywood.

Weinstein is expected to appear in court in California after his New York trial, Lacey said.

A pioneering U.S. company that began before the Civil War has filed for bankruptcy after 164 years in business.

Borden Dairy said Monday it is seeking Chapter 11 protection, saying it is deeply in debt and struggling to keep up its pension payments. It blames the drop of U.S. milk consumption and dairy farmers giving up the profession for deeply hurting its business.

Borden will keep operating, making milk and cheese, while it tries to restructure. However, its future is uncertain.

Borden began in 1856 when its founder, Gail Borden, became the first to successfully can condensed milk. U.S. Civil War soldiers carried cans of Borden Eagle Brand milk in their kits.

Borden’s famed mascot Elsie the Cow — a smiling bovine wearing a necklace of daisies — is one of the world’s most recognizable trademarks. Elsie’s “husband” Elmer can still be seen on bottles of white glue.

Borden is the second major U.S. milk producer to file for bankruptcy since November when Dean Foods, the country’s largest dairy, also sought protection from its creditors.
 

U.S. insurers and providers spent more than $800 billion in 2017 on administration, or nearly $2,500 per person — more than four times the per-capita administrative costs in Canada’s single-payer system, a new study finds.

Over one third of all healthcare costs in the U.S. were due to insurance company overhead and provider time spent on billing, versus about 17% spent on administration in Canada, researchers reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Cutting U.S. administrative costs to the $550 per capita (in 2017 U.S. dollars) level in Canada could save more than $600 billion, the researchers say.

“The average American is paying more than $2,000 a year for useless bureaucracy,” said lead author Dr. David Himmelstein, a distinguished professor of public health at the City University of New York at Hunter College in New York City and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

“That money could be spent for care if we had a ‘Medicare for all program’,” Himmelstein said.

To calculate the difference in administrative costs between the U.S. and Canadian systems, Himmelstein and colleagues examined Medicare filings made by hospitals and nursing homes.

For physicians, the researchers used information from surveys and census data on employment and wages to estimate costs. The Canadian data came from the Canadian Institute for Health Information and an insurance trade association.

United States vs. Canada

When the researchers broke down the 2017 per-capita health administration costs in both countries, they found that insurer overhead accounted for $844 in the U.S. versus $146 in Canada; hospital administration was $933 versus $196; nursing home, home care and hospice administration was $255 versus $123; and physicians’ insurance-related costs were $465 versus $87 They also found there had been a 3.2% increase in U.S. administrative costs since 1999, most of which was ascribed to the expansion of Medicare and Medicaid managed-care plans.

Overhead of private Medicare Advantage plans, which now cover about a third of Medicare enrollees, is six-fold higher than traditional Medicare (12.3% versus 2%), they report. That 2% is comparable to the overhead in the Canadian system.

Why are administrative costs so high in the U.S.?

It’s because the insurance companies and health care providers are engaged in a tug of war, each trying in its own way to game the system, Himmelstein said. How a patient’s treatment is coded can make a huge difference in the amount insurance companies pay. For example, Hammerstein said, if a patient comes in because of heart failure and the visit is coded as an acute exacerbation of the condition, the payment is significantly higher than if the visit is simply coded as heart failure.

More and more paperwork required

This upcoding of patient visits has led insurance companies to require more and more paperwork backing up each diagnosis, Himmelstein said. The result is more hours that healthcare providers need to put in to deal with billing.

“(One study) looked at how many characters were included in an average physician’s note in the U.S. and in other countries,” Himmelstein pointed out. “Notes from U.S. physicians were four times longer to meet the bureaucratic requirements of the payment system.”

The new study is “the first analysis of administrative costs in the U.S. and Canada in almost 20 years,” said Dr. Albert Wu, an internist and professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore. “It’s an important paper.”

‘Inefficient and wasteful’  system

“It’s clear that health costs in the U.S. have soared,” Wu said. “We’re paying for an inefficient and wasteful fee-for-services system.”

“Some folks estimate that the U.S. would save $628 billion if administrative costs were as low as they are in Canada,” said Jamie Daw, an assistant professor of health policy and management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

“That’s a staggering amount,” Daw said in an email. “It’s more than enough to pay for all of Medicaid spending or nearly enough to cover all out-of-pocket and prescription drug spending by Americans.”

Sunday’s attack by the Somali extremist group al-Shabab on a Kenyan military base was aimed at scoring propaganda points, according to some experts, but they also say the assault shows the region needs robust cooperation to defeat the extremists. Authorities say three U.S. personnel were killed and several aircraft and military vehicles were destroyed during the attack on the base which hosts joint U.S. and Kenyan forces in the coastal region of Lamu. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
 

With just weeks to go before Iowans kick off the Democratic presidential nominating contest on Feb. 3, the only certainty about the race seems to be its uncertainty.

At least four contenders — former vice president Joe Biden, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana — are seen as having a shot at winning the crucial early nominating state.

All are betting on a win or strong finish in Iowa to propel them toward the nomination to take on Republican President Donald Trump in November 2020.

With a new poll showing a virtual tie among front-runners and many voters still reluctant to commit to one candidate, all have reason to hope. After record fundraisings in the fourth quarter for several candidates, they have also money to spend.

A CBS News/YouGov poll released on Sunday showed a three-way tie between Biden, Sanders and Buttigieg, at 23% with Warren and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar trailing behind.

Adding to the feeling of uncertainty in Iowa is the prospect that the U.S. senators in the race could be recalled to Washington soon for Trump’s impeachment trial, which could last weeks.

The specter of greater conflict with Iran has also thrust national security into the forefront of the Democratic race, adding to the unsettled nature of the contest.

With a fresh urgency, Biden, Sanders and Warren all campaigned along the Mississippi River towns in eastern Iowa during the weekend, while Klobuchar was not far away. Of the top-tier contenders, only Buttigieg was out of the state, stumping instead in New Hampshire, another early voting state.

“There are still a surprising amount of people who are undecided,” said Steven Drahozal, chairman of the Dubuque County Democratic Party.

After a Sanders event in Muscatine, Mark Butterworth, 73, said that while he supported Sanders in 2016, he was this time also considering the more moderate Buttigieg because of his concerns over Sanders’ push for universal healthcare that would all but eliminate private health insurance.

“I don see either one of them as a bad candidate at all,” said Butterworth, a small business owner.

At a Biden event in Dubuque, Ron Vonnahne, 70, of Asbury, said he, too, had not decided. He praised Buttigieg, but concerns over whether the 37-year-old could beat Trump had him looking at Biden.

Iowa is particularly critical to lesser-known candidates Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Warren, who need to make a splash and have banked on the state’s overwhelmingly white electorate to give their presidential bids an early jolt.

Biden and Sanders, on the other hand, benefit from being better-known names with more solid and diverse bases of support in later primary states such as Nevada and South Carolina.

Either could lose Iowa and stay viable.

Biden has also seized on Trump’s recent actions toward Iran to draw attention to his foreign policy experience.

After winning a high-profile endorsement of Iowa Rep. Abby Finkenauer, a first-term congresswoman who campaigned with him over the weekend, Biden’s campaign on Sunday also announced three endorsements from moderate House Democrats in swing states, who all served in the U.S. military.

For the U.S. senators in the field, every day now matters before a possible impeachment trial later in January. Klobuchar, at one stop, urged attendees to commit to supporting her now.

“This is it. We are like, what, 30 days away? And I know you guys always like to say, ‘You’re in my top three. You’re in my top three.’” she told the crowd. “Just go for it.”

Iraqi forces are pushing ahead with their crackdown on Islamic State’s ongoing insurgency, despite the pause in assistance from the United States and coalition partners.

The Iraqi military’s Security Media Cell published photos Monday of a raid in Salahuddin province claiming to have destroyed three IS hideouts while recovering explosives, bomb-making materials and key documents.

بهدف إلاستمرار في ملاحقة العناصر الإرهابية والمطلوبين فضلا عن البحث والتفتيش عن اوكار الإرهاب، نفذت قيادة عمليات سامراء واجب تفتيش في منطقة شرق سامراء (الكوش)…

“Bottom line is Iraq loses the anti-ISIS fight without U.S. support,” according to Jennifer Cafarella, research director at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW). “The question is merely how badly and how fast.”

US officials: IS threat overstated

Still, some officials have pushed back, arguing that to some extent, the threat from a resurgent IS has been overstated.

In particular, they point to the terror group’s unwillingness or inability to take advantage of the recent U.S. tensions with Iran.

“It’s surprising that they haven’t found a way,” a senior U.S. defense official told VOA. “It says something about what the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] and the Iraqis have done.”
 
Coalition officials also contend that Iraqi forces have not gotten the credit they deserve.

“Daesh has lost the capability to launch large-scale attacks in Iraq,” British Maj. Gen. Gerald Strickland, the coalition’s deputy commander, said in a statement Sunday, using an Arabic acronym for the terror group. “This speaks volumes to the dedication of the Iraq Security Forces and their desire to bring stability back to their country.”

Meanwhile, U.S. officials said the pause in assistance to Iraqi forces does not mean U.S. forces will hesitate to respond to IS threats.

“When and where ISIS presents a threat to our troops, we will conduct operations with our partners to eliminate the threat,” Caggins said.
 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Monday that Turkish forces would do their duty in Libya after being deployed to support the country’s besieged Government of National Accord.

On Sunday, Erdogan confirmed the start of a military deployment to Libya.

“There will be an operation center [in Libya].  There will be a Turkish lieutenant general leading, and they will be managing the situation over there. [Turkish soldiers] are gradually moving there right now,” said Erdogan. “The goal of the Turkish Armed Forces is not to fight, but to ensure a cease-fire in Libya.”

The GNA is currently under siege by forces led by Libyan General Khalif Haftar, who controls eastern Libya. Last month, the Turkish Parliament sanctioned the deployment of military forces to Libya, following Erdogan’s November signing of a military cooperation agreement with the GNA.

Ankara also agreed to a maritime agreement with Tripoli that extends Turkish control over a critical part of the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Turkey is currently embroiled in an increasingly bitter competition with regional countries in the search for hydrocarbons across the Mediterranean Sea. The rivalry is now extending to control over the distribution of natural gas.

“It’s a very strategic move by Turkey to stop the emerging blocks by countries like Israel, Greece, Egypt against Turkey,” said international relations professor Huseyin Bagci of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University. “The deployment of Turkish troops to Libya is legitimate. Strategically speaking, it’s about survival — will Turkey be in the eastern Mediterranean or not?”

There are growing questions over the sustainability of Ankara’s Libya move.

“All these developments have been outright rejected by the international community and countries in the region without exception,” said political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Athens University. “So, Turkey is pretty alone in this venture.”

Mounting diplomatic pressure

Ankara is facing growing diplomatic pressure over its Libya plans. German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed Libya with Erdogan by phone on Monday. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump advised caution to the Turkish president.

Cairo, which is backing Haftar, condemned Ankara, and warned of consequences in any Turkish military cooperation. Erdogan is likely to face further pressure Wednesday when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Istanbul. Russian mercenaries of the Russian paramilitary organization the Wagner Group, which has close ties to the Kremlin, are backing Haftar.

Analysts warn that Ankara’s decision to militarily back the beleaguered Tripoli regime could predicate its demise.

“For sure, we can see efforts accelerate to overthrow this Tripoli government,” Aktar said. “I am afraid we are heading in this direction because the Tripoli government has hardly any ally, except a few on paper. But Haftar forces are controlling most of the country, and for the time being, it looks like they will take over, and appear to have the whole world behind them. And the only country supporting the Tripoli government is Ankara.”

Last month, Haftar declared his forces were ready to overrun Tripoli. On Saturday, a strike on a military academy in the Libyan capital killed at least 30 people and wounded 33 others.

“At the moment, the situation seems to be working on the side of Haftar. He has better weapons. He has jet fighters. He has superiority on the air and in the field,” said Bagci. “I am not sure what kind of soldiers Turkey will send there.”

Bagci added, “Erdogan has played the card.  He will not allow the Tripoli government to fall. He will defend to the last man, because Erdogan has played a big card, a big gamble. But the arrival of Turkish troops may yet change the psychology, the balance of forces in Libya.”

Negotiations?

Former Turkish ambassador Mithat Rende, who is now an energy expert, suggests Ankara may be banking that its Libya move forces regional rivals to the negotiating table.  

“What we have on the ground in the Mediterranean is unilaterally declared exclusive economic zones,” he said. “We have unilaterally declared continental shelves, and they all are overlapping, all conflicting views. So here, international law suggests that you need to negotiate to reach an agreement with a fair agreement, and equitable principle should apply here. And Turkey is prepared to negotiate.”

Aktar disagrees.

“We’ve haven’t seen any diplomatic action in months, if not years, on seeking negotiation,” he said. “The only action we’ve seen (is) aggressive deals and moves by Ankara. So, the final aims can be diplomacy and negotiation, but we’ve seen no concrete moves in this direction.”

Some analysts question how far Erdogan is prepared to provide military support to Tripoli if Turkish forces fail to deter Haftar forces, and regional rivals harden their stances.

“Turkey has no capability for these out-of-area operations,” Aktar said. “It will be extremely dangerous, costly, and deadly to go ahead with this military cooperation if more military forces are needed to sustain this deal with Tripoli.”

 

The 77th Golden Globes were meant to be a coronation for Netflix. Instead, a pair of big-screen epics took top honors Sunday, as Sam Mendes’ technically dazzling World War I tale “1917” won best picture, drama, and Quentin Tarantino’s radiant Los Angeles fable “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” won best film, comedy or musical.

The wins for “1917” were a surprise, besting such favorites as Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” (the leading nominee with six nods) and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.” Both are acclaimed Netflix releases but they collectively took home just one award, for Laura Dern’s supporting performance as a divorce attorney in “Marriage Story.” “The Irishman” was entirely shut out.

“1917” also won best director for Mendes. The film was made in sinuous long takes, giving the impression that the movie unfolds in one lengthy shot.

“I hope this means that people will turn up and see this on the big screen, the way it was intended,” said Mendes, whose film expands nationwide Friday.

Though set around the 1969 Manson murders “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” was classified a comedy and thus had an easier path to victory than the more competitive drama category. Brad Pitt won for best supporting actor, his first acting Globe since winning in 1996 for “12 Monkeys,” padding his front-runner status for the Oscars. Tarantino also won best screenplay.

“I wanted to bring my mom, but I couldn’t because any woman I stand next to they say I am dating so it’d just be awkward,” Pitt said.

Throughout the night, those who took the stage used the moment to speak about current events including the wildfires raging in Australia, rising tensions with Iran, women’s rights, the importance of LGBT trailblazers, even the importance of being on time.

Patricia Arquette, a winner for her performance in Hulu’s “The Act,” referenced the United States’ targeted killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, saying history wouldn’t remember the day for the Globes but will see “a country on the brink of war.” She urged all to vote in November’s presidential election.

Ricky Gervais, hosting the NBC-telecast ceremony for the fifth time, opened the show by stating that Netflix had taken over Hollywood, a fair appraisal given the streaming service’s commanding 34 nominations coming into the Globes. “This show should just be me coming out going: `Well done, Netflix. You win everything tonight,” he said.

As it turned out, he was wrong. Netflix won only two awards: Dern’s win plus one for Olivia Colman’s performance in “The Crown.” It was a definite hiccup for the streaming service, which is aiming for its first best-picture win at the Academy Awards next month.

Instead, the awards were widely spread out among traditional Hollywood studios, indie labels like A24, cable heavyweights like HBO and relative newcomers like Hulu.

Renee Zelleweger (“Judy”) took home best actress in a drama, as expected, notching her fourth Globe. But, as always at the Globes, there were surprises. Taron Egerton, a regular presence on the awards circuit this year, won best actor in a comedy or musical for his Elton John in “Rocketman” – an honor many had pegged for Eddie Murphy (“Dolemite Is My Name”).

Awkwafina, the star of the hit indie family drama “The Farewell,” became the first woman of Asian descent to win best actress in a comedy or musical. “If anything, if I fall upon hard times, I can sell this,” said Awkwafina, holding the award.

The winners were otherwise largely white, something the Globes have been criticized for before – including even in Gervais’ opening monologue, in which he called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association “racist.’’

No other category has been more competitive this year than that for best actor. Joaquin Phoenix won for his loose-limbed performance in the divisive but hugely popular “Joker” in a category that included Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”) and Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”). Phoenix gave a rambling speech that began with crediting the HFPA with the vegan meal served at the ceremony.

Michelle Williams, who won best actress in a limited series for “Fosse/Verdon,” stood up for women’s rights in her acceptance speech.

“When it’s time to vote, please do so in your self interest,” Williams said. “It’s what men have been doing for years, which is why the world looks so much like them.’’

Dern’s best supporting actress award for her performance as a divorce attorney in “Marriage Story,” was her fifth Globe. Her win denied Jennifer Lopez, the “Hustlers” star, her first major acting award.

The first award of the night went to a streaming service series. Ramy Youssef won best actor in a TV series comedy or musical for his Hulu show “Ramy.” Best actor in a limited series went to Russell Crowe for the Showtime series “The Loudest Voice.” He wasn’t in attendance because of raging wildfires in his native Australia.

“Make no mistake, the tragedy unfolding in Australia is climate-changed based,” Crowe said in a statement read by presenters Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge followed up her Emmy haul by winning best comedy series and best actress in a comedy series. She thanked former President Barack Obama for putting “Fleabag” on his best-of-2019 list. With a grin, she added: “As some of you may know, he’s always been on mine.”

Waller-Bridge’s co-star Andrew Scott (of “hot priest” fame) missed out on the category’s supporting actor award, which Stellan Skarsgard took for HBO’s “Chernobyl.”

HBO was also triumphant in best TV drama, where the second season of “Succession” bested Netflix’s “The Crown” and Apple TV Plus’ first Globe nominee, “The Morning Show.” Brian Cox, the Rupert Murdoch-like patriarch of “Succession,” also won best actor in a drama series. “The Crown” took some hardware home, too, with Olivia Colman winning best actress in a drama series, a year after winning for her performance in “The Favourite.’’

Best foreign language film went to Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” the Cannes Palme d’Or winning sensation from South Korea. Despite being an organization of foreign journalists, the HFPA doesn’t include foreign films in its top categories, thus ruling out “Parasite,” a likely best picture nominee at next month’s Oscars.

“Once you overcome the inch-tall-barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films,” Bong said, speaking through a translator.

Tom Hanks, also a nominee for his supporting turn as Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. The Carol Burnett Award, a similar honorary award given for television accomplishment, was given to Ellen DeGeneres. She was movingly introduced by Kate McKinnon who said DeGeneres’ example guided her in her own coming out.

“The only thing that made it less scary was seeing Ellen on TV,” said McKinnon.

Hanks’ speech had its own emotional moment when he caught sight of his wife and four children at a table near the stage and choked up.

“A man is blessed with the family’s sitting down front like that,” Hanks said.

Elton John and Bernie Taupin won the evening’s most heavyweight battle, besting Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Their “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” won best song. “It’s the first time I’ve ever won an award with him,” Elton said of his song-writing partner. “Ever.’’

The Golden Globes, Hollywood’s most freewheeling televised award show, could be unusually influential this year. The roughly 90 voting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have traditionally had little in common with the nearly 9,000 industry professionals that make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The HFPA is known for calculatingly packing its show with as much star power as possible, occasionally rewarding even the likes of “The Tourist” and “Burlesque.’’

Sunday’s show may have added to that history with an unexpected award for “Missing Link” for best animated feature film over films like “Toy Story 4” and “Frozen 2.” No one was more surprised than its director, Chris Butler. “I’m flabbergasted,” he said.

But the condensed time frame of this year’s award season (the Oscars are Feb. 9) brings the Globes and the Academy Awards closer. Balloting for Oscar nominations began Thursday. Voters were sure to be watching.

Five people were killed and about 60 were injured on the Pennsylvania Turnpike early Sunday morning, when a loaded bus went out of control on a hill and rolled over, setting off a chain reaction that involved three tractor-trailers and a passenger car.

The injured victims, ranging from 7 to 67 years old, are all expected to survive, though two patients remain in critical condition, authorities and hospital officials said Sunday afternoon. The crash, which happened at 3:40 a.m. on a mountainous and rural stretch of the interstate about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh, shut down the highway in both directions for several hours before it reopened Sunday evening.

The bus, operated by a New Jersey-based company called Z & D Tours, was traveling from Rockaway, New Jersey, to Cincinnati, Ohio, Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Stephen Limani told reporters.

He said the bus was traveling downhill on a curve, careened up an embankment and rolled over. Two tractor-trailers then struck the bus. A third tractor-trailer then crashed into those trucks. A passenger car was also involved in the pileup.

Photos from the scene show a mangled collision of multiple vehicles including a smashed FedEx truck that left packages sprawled along the highway.

“It was kind of a chain-reaction crash,” Limani said.

FedEx did not provide any other details besides that they are cooperating with authorities. A message seeking comment was left Sunday with the bus company.

Limani would not identify those killed or say which vehicles they were traveling in.

“I haven’t personally witnessed a crash of this magnitude in 20 years,” Pennsylvania Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo told WTAE, calling it the worst accident in his decades-long tenure with the turnpike. “It’s horrible.”

Excela Health Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant said it treated 31 victims, transferring a child and three adults to other facilities.

Hospitals brought in teams of social workers and psychologists to deal with the mental trauma, said Mark Rubino, president of Forbes Hospital, which treated 11 victims.

“The people coming in were not only physically injured but they were traumatized from a mental standpoint as well,” he said. Most were covered in diesel fuel when they arrived. The hospital treated fractured bones, brain bleeds, contusions, abrasions and spinal injuries.

The victims included students and people returning from visiting family in New York City. Many traveling on the bus were from outside the United States, Limani said, some of whom do not speak English and who lost their luggage and passports in the wreckage.

The Tribune-Review reported Leticia Moreta arrived at a hospital about 11:30 a.m. to pick up her children — Jorge Moreta, 24, and Melanie Moreta, 16 — who were on the bus.

She said her children, returning from visiting their father in New York, were in stable condition.

“I was devastated,” she said.

Exactly what caused the crash remains unknown, and Limani said it could take weeks or months to determine. The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team to investigate.

Officials said it was too early to determine if weather was a factor in the crash.

Angela Maynard, a tractor-trailer driver from Kentucky, said the roads were wet from snow but not especially icy. Maynard was traveling eastbound on the turnpike when she came upon the crash site and called 911.

“It was horrible,” she told The Tribune-Review. She saw lots of smoke but no fire. She and her co-driver found one person trapped in their truck and another lying on the ground.

“I tried to keep him occupied, keep talking, until medical help arrived,” Maynard said. “He was in bad shape. He was floating in and out of consciousness.”

The crash left families terrified and scrambling.

“I was crying,” said Omeil Ellis, whose two brothers were on the bus. “I was like crazy crying. I’m still hurt.”

Ellis, from Irvington, New Jersey, told The Tribune-Review that his brothers were traveling to Ohio for work. He was planning to meet them a few days later. But both of his brothers, one of them 39 years old and one 17, were sent to hospitals.

“I’m just weak right now,” he said.

The Golden Globes are famously unpredictable, but a few sure things seem to be in store for Sunday’s awards: Streaming services will play a starring role; five-time host Ricky Gervais will snicker at his own jokes; and Brad Pitt is all but assured of taking home an award.

Plenty of question marks remain for the 77th Golden Globe Awards, though. Will Jennifer Lopez score her first Globe? Who will win best song in the face-off between Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Elton John? Just how many “Cats” jokes are too many?

Stars began arriving Sunday at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, ahead of the ceremony, which is due to start at 8 p.m. EST and be broadcast live on NBC. Among the standouts on the red carpet was, predictably, Billy Porter. The “Pose” star, who made such an impression at last year’s Oscars, arrived in a gleaming white suit with a long feather train that needed an assistant to carry it.

Whatever the cat drags in Sunday, the Golden Globes — Hollywood’s most freewheeling televised award show — should be entertaining. But they also might be unusually influential.

The roughly 90 voting members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have traditionally had little in common with the nearly 9,000 industry professionals that make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The HFPA is known for calculatingly packing its show with as much star power as possible, occasionally rewarding even the likes of “The Tourist” and “Burlesque.”

But the condensed time frame of this year’s award season brings the Globes and the Academy Awards closer. Balloting for Oscar nominations began Thursday and ballots are due on Tuesday. Voters will be watching.

Netflix comes into the Globes with a commanding 34 nods — 17 in film categories and 17 in television categories. Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” leads all movies with six nominations, including best film, drama. Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” with five, is up for the same category. The box-office smash “Joker” may be their stiffest competition.

The path is more certain for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” which is competing in the comedy or musical category. It could easily take home more trophies than any other movie, with possible wins for Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio — a 12-time Globes nominee and three-time winner — and Tarantino’s script. Tarantino is also up for best director, though he faces formidable competition in Scorsese and “Parasite” filmmaker Bong Joon Ho.

The dearth of nominations for female filmmakers has stoked more backlash than anything else at this year’s Globes. Only men were nominated for best director (just five women have ever been nominated in the category), and none of the 10 films up for best picture was directed by a woman, either.

Time’s Up, the activist group that debuted at the black-clad 2018 Globes, has been highly critical of the HFPA for the omission, calling it “unacceptable.”

Last year, eventual Oscar best picture winner “Green Book” took best comedy, while “Bohemian Rhapsody” unexpectedly won best drama. This year, one of the likely best picture nominees at the Academy Awards wasn’t eligible. Despite being an organization of foreign journalists, the HFPA doesn’t include foreign films in its top categories, thus ruling out the South Korean sensation “Parasite.”

On the TV side, series like “Fleabag,” “The Crown,” “Succession” and “Chernobyl” are among the favorites. The recently launched Apple TV Plus also joins its first major awards show with “The Morning Show,” including nominations for both Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

The show will be watchable beyond the traditional NBC broadcast. With a cable or satellite TV login, the three-hour show can be streamed on NBC.com or on Hulu (with live TV), YouTube TV, Sling TV or PlayStation Vue. The official red carpet will be streamed on Facebook, beginning at 6 p.m. EST.

Last year’s telecast, hosted by Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh, held steady in TV ratings, averaging 18.6 million viewers. Along with the returning Gervais, scheduled presenters include Tiffany Haddish, Will Ferrell and last year’s best actress winner, Glenn Close.

Tom Hanks, also a nominee for his supporting turn as Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” will receive the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. The Carol Burnett Award, a similar honorary award given for television accomplishment, will go to Ellen DeGeneres.

 The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said the U.S. military in the Middle East “will pay the price” in response to the death of a powerful Iranian commander in a U.S. strike.

During a televised speech on Sunday marking the death of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and several Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leaders on Friday in a U.S. drone-launched missile that targeted his convoy in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, Hassan Nasrallah said responding to the killing of Soleimani was also the responsibility of Iran’s allies in the region.

“When the coffins of American soldiers and officers begin to be transported… to the United States, [U.S. President Donald] Trump and his administration will realize that they have really lost the region and will lose the [2020 U.S. presidential] elections” Nasrallah added.

The militant leader noted that U.S. civilians in the region “should not be touched.”

The Shi’ite Lebanese group is a close ally of Iran, receiving financial and military support from Tehran.

Iranian leaders, including Supreme leader Ali Khamenei, have vowed a “crushing response” to the killing of Soleimani who led Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Other Iranian-backed militia leaders in Iraq and Yemen have also pledged to retaliate against Soleimani’s death.

Potential attacks on Israel?

Considering Nasrallah’s speech on Sunday, experts said Hezbollah has a wide set of options that it could use for vengeance against the U.S. and its interests in Lebanon, Israel and the broader region.

Hezbollah “has a rocket arsenal of over a hundred and thirty rockets and mortars and a history of conducting attacks both against the U.S. and other targets within Lebanon and elsewhere,” said Thomas Abi-Hanna, a global security analyst at  Stratfor, an intelligence firm based in Austin, Texas.

“Potential attacks against U.S. interests, diplomatic personnel and others in Lebanon are one potential threat they could pose,” Abi-Hanna told VOA, adding that Hezbollah could also choose to launch attacks against neighboring Israel.

“Given the group’s animosity towards Israel and Israel’s close alliance with the U.S., they could attempt to strike either American or Israeli targets within Israel using that same set of rockets,” he said.  

Since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the two sides occasionally have exchanged attacks. In the wake of Syria’s civil war, Israel has also hit Hezbollah targets inside Syria, where the Lebanese group has been fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

On Saturday, Gholamali Abuhamzeh, a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said Iran has identified 35 U.S. targets across the Middle East, including in Israel, which could potentially be attacked by Tehran and its proxy forces.

But Israeli security analyst Eli Nisan told the U.S.-funded Alhurra TV Sunday that Israel has taken all precautionary measures in this regard.

“Israeli intelligence and air force are ready to defend the country and will respond to any assault from Iran, Hezbollah or [the Palestinian] Islamic Jihad,” he said.  

Lebanon at risk

Other experts said that Nasrallah’s threats could be seen as a “declaration of war” against the United States and its allies.

“Using such a language by the head of the Hezbollah militia puts Lebanon at stake,” Lebanese affairs analyst Luqman Selim told Alhurra Sunday.

“What Nasrallah is doing is basically throwing Lebanon’s people and its institutions into an unpredictable labyrinth,” Selim said, noting that “Hezbollah is a non-state actor and its actions are not sanctioned by the will of the Lebanese people.”

Hezbollah was designated by the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997.

Ezel Sahinkaya contributed to this story from Washington.

 

Hollywood’s biggest party, the Golden Globes, kicks off the showbiz awards season Sunday, with streaming giant Netflix expected to be popping champagne corks through the night.

Stars will don couture gowns and extravagant jewels before they hit the red carpet at the luxury Beverly Hills hotel where the calendar’s second-most important — but rowdiest — prize-giving gala takes place.

Victory at the Globes ensures key momentum for the Oscars, which are a little more than a month away.

Netflix and its expensively assembled roster of A-listers are far ahead of the traditional studios with 17 Globe film nominations.

The streaming giant secured an equal number of nods in the often-overlooked television categories, where it also leads the pack, ahead of HBO at 15.

Netflix has two frontrunners to scoop the night’s most prestigious film prize, best drama — Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic “The Irishman” and heart-wrenching divorce saga “Marriage Story.”

“Certainly Netflix is pouring everything they can into this and has a good shot in the drama category,” said Deadline’s awards columnist Pete Hammond.

“That would be a big deal for Netflix, definitely.”

Vatican drama “The Two Popes” is also in contention for the streamer, while Warner Bros. dark comic tale “Joker” and Universal war epic “1917” round out the category.

Netflix only began producing original movies in 2015, but has spent billions to lure the industry’s top filmmaking talent — and to fund lavish awards season campaigns.

It also has Eddie Murphy’s comeback vehicle “Dolemite Is My Name” in the best comedy or musical race — unlike the Oscars, Globes organizers split films into two categories.

But “Dolemite” is expected to face stiff competition from frontrunner “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”

Quentin Tarantino’s homage to 1960s Tinseltown has resonated with the 90-odd veteran entertainment reporters of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which doles out the prizes.

In 2019, they correctly picked the Oscar winner in every film category except for best musical score.

“Last year, they had by far the best track record of any other show,” said Hammond.

Oscar nominations voting is already under way, but does not close until Tuesday, meaning Academy members may be tempted to wait for the Globes to conclude before casting their ballots.

“Momentum is ready to be built out of this,” added Hammond.

Firing line

British comedian Ricky Gervais returns for a record fifth time as Globes host.

His provocative barbs have both riled and delighted Hollywood stars in previous years.

This time, he has promised to “go after the general community” rather than individuals, telling the Hollywood Reporter that “pretension and hypocrisy” will be in his firing line.

The starry list of award presenters include nominees Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio (both from “Once Upon a Time…”) and Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”).

In the drama acting categories, Joaquin Phoenix is leading a crowded field for his radical portrayal of the villainous anti-hero in “Joker.”

But Adam Driver’s intense turn in “Marriage Story” has generated significant buzz, while the ever-popular Antonio Banderas has been hailed for a career-best performance in “Pain and Glory.”

“I’m very happy to be a nominee and to be with all of these wonderful actors in a pack, and we’ll see what happens,” Banderas told AFP at a pre-Globes event in Beverly Hills.

Renee Zellweger looks in a formidable position to pick up the best actress gong with Judy Garland biopic “Judy.”

Newcomer Apple will be hoping to make waves in the television categories, where its #MeToo drama “The Morning Show” has multiple nominations.

But it must fend off Netflix’s flagship “The Crown,” boasting a new cast led by Oscar winner Olivia Colman.

Hollywood heavyweights

And early signs suggest a breakthrough year for Asian filmmaking.

Asian-American actress Awkwafina is favorite to collect best comedy actress for “The Farewell,” while South Korean black comedy “Parasite” is expected to bag the award for best foreign language film.

Bong Joon-ho, the filmmaker behind “Parasite,” goes head-to-head with Hollywood heavyweights Tarantino and Scorsese in the best director category.

But the HFPA drew stinging criticism for its failure to nominate any female directors.

HFPA president Lorenzo Soria defended the all-male list, insisting that members of his organization “don’t vote by gender” but “by film and accomplishment.”

Sam Mendes (“1917”) and Todd Phillips (“Joker”) round out the category.

 

 

 

No one knows where Iran may strike to avenge the killing Friday of its top general in a U.S. drone strike, but few believe Tehran won’t retaliate, and it has plenty of possible targets to pick proxies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen to carry out reprisals, warn analysts.

U.S. allies – some of whom complain they weren’t forewarned of the plan to eliminate Gen. Qassem Soleimani — are drafting contingency plans to cope with the fallout. President Donald Trump has warned the U.S. will strike Iran “very fast and very hard,” if it takes retaliatory action, saying the Pentagon has identified 52 Iranian targets, including some “very high level” cultural sites.  

British military chiefs are counseling Downing Street to consider dispatching more soldiers to bolster security for the 400 servicemen the country already has in Iraq, and the more than one thousand stationed across the Gulf.   

That advice so far has been rejected with Prime Minister Boris Johnson instead ordering British troops in Iraq to be given heavier weaponry and for their mission to be switched from training local forces to guarding British diplomats from revenge strikes by Iran after the assassination of Soleimani, who was seen in Washington and London as a terror chief.  London fears that Iranian proxies could storm the British embassy compound in Baghdad to kill or abduct British citizens.  

Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, ordered Sunday two Royal Navy warships in the Gulf to begin “close escort” of oil tankers amid fears that Iran could seize or sink western ships. “We have a plan A and a plan B and a break the glass’ plan, if it all kicks off. Our forces in the region have been told to reorientate towards force protection,” a senior British official said.  

France and the Netherlands have followed the U.S. example and ordered its citizens to leave Iraq, where on Saturday rockets landed near the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. At various levels Washington’s European allies have expressed frustration with the strike against Soleimani, while acknowledging, too, that he was directly involved in terrorist activity. U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo said Saturday that Britain and other European allies were not “as helpful as I would wish,” adding, “the Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did saved lives in Europe as well.”  

Israeli military chiefs are tightening their defenses and are bracing for Hezbollah to respond to the killing of Soleimani, Iran’s master-fixer in the region and head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Threats from Hezbollah

A Lebanese Hezbollah official, like other Iranian clients in a chorus of angry threats, said Saturday the response of the Iran-backed “axis of resistance” would be decisive. His threats echoed the words of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who says Tehran will react with “harsh revenge” to the killing of Soleimani, a personal friend and a man he once dubbed a “living martyr.”  

Most analysts suspect Iran will take a leaf out of Soleimani’s own playbook and aim to target Americans across the Middle East and Afghanistan, where Iran has been observing a marriage of convenience with the Taliban. Soleimani was a master-manipulator of Iranian-backed forces in the region and strove to drive up the death toll of U.S. troops in  the Mideast in a bid to drain the American resolve to fight.   

Gen. Gholamali Abuhamzeh, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Soleimani’s native province of Kerman, in southern Iran, raised the prospect Saturday of a possible renewal of an offensive against oil ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz.    

“The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there,” he told an Iranian broadcaster. But like Iran’s para-military proxies in the region, who appear to be lining up to exact revenge, he painted the a grim picture of reprisals across the region. “Vital American targets in the region have been identified by Iran since a long time ago … some 35 U.S. targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv are within our reach,” he said.  

Immediate retaliation

The most immediate arena will likely be in Iraq, where Tehran and its Iraqi Shi’ite proxies have already made clear they want to force U.S. troops to abandon the country.   

That effort was underway before the drone assassination of Soleimani with Shi’ite militias launching a dozen attacks on U.S. troops since October. Those attacks — including an assault no the U.S. embassy in Baghdad — was the trigger for Friday’s assassination of Soleimani, according to U.S. officials. Qais al-Khazali, a powerful pro-Iranian Iraqi militia leader, has ordered his fighters to be on high alert, saying on Iranian television the price for the drone strike must be “the complete end to American military presence in Iraq.”

“Retaliation, in the first instance, is likely to be focused on Iraq,” said Toby Dodge, a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics. But Western troops stationed in Syria’s Kurdish regions in the north are also vulnerable to attacks from Iran-commanded Shi’ite militias, fear Western officials.   

But outside Iraq and Syria, the target list is worryingly long and military and intelligence officials on both sides of the Atlantic are scrambling to assess when and where Tehran will most likely strike amid the heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran,. Western companies are operating in the Gulf are restricting their employees travel in the region, say security consultants.  

Unnamed U.S. officials told the broadcaster CNN Saturday that they’re seeing signs of Iran stepping up readiness to launch short and medium-range ballistic missiles.   

Other analysts predict Iran will want to lash out, too, at U.S. allies in the region, to make their backing of Washington as costly and disruptive as possible.   

Qatar dispatched Saturday its foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Tehran, seemingly in a bid to mollify Iran. The Reaper drone that fired a Hellfire missile killing Soleimani flew from a U.S. military base in Qatar. “No such similar action was taken in the past, which is why we are very uncomfortable and worried,” Al Thani told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani according to official reports.   

Rouhani in statement after the meeting said Tehran expects neighboring countries explicitly condemn this murder by the U.S.   America’s Gulf allies, notably Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, privately have welcomed Soleimani’s death, say Western diplomats. They have long condemned him role in the region, and see his slaying a blow to Iran. But diplomats based in the region say their official reaction is reserved as trey are nervous about Iran’s response. Washington and Riyadh blamed Iran for missile and drone attacks in September on Saudi oil facilities.  

Iranian targets

Qatar is unlikely to be on an Iranian target list as Doha has been supportive of various Iranian diplomatic initiatives in the region, say Western officials and analysts. But both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, sworn enemies of Iran’s Shi’ite regime, are braced for attacks.    

“Beyond the immediate environment [of Iraq], Israel may reap serious security repercussions and U.S. allies in the Gulf, particularly Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi, could all fall victim to Iranian retaliatory measures,” says Charles Lister, an analyst the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank.   

Any reprisals on Saudi Arabia and UAE would likely come from Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen, where Iran and Saudi Arabia have been engaged in a long-running proxy war.

European intelligence officials are also fearful of Iranian cyber-attacks. In 2017 Iran was suspected of being behind a cyber-attack on the British parliament’s computer system, which compromised the email accounts of British ministers.   

At this stage the European ally likely to be singled is Britain, a British intelligence official told VOA. “I don’t think Tehran will want to hit out at other European states — Iran is more interested in widening transatlantic rifts between Washington and the Europeans,” he said.  

 

Australia continues to battle wildfires that have scorched millions of hectares across three states.

Cooler temperatures and lighter winds Sunday brought little relief from the fires that firefighters have battled for weeks, but New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fizsimmons warned residents against complacency as nearly 150 fires continue to burn across the state.

“We’re in uncharted territory,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.  “We can’t pretend that this is something that we have experienced before.  It’s not.”

Thousands of people are living in campsites and an estimated two thousand homes have been destroyed. Twenty-four people have died since the blazes began.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been criticized for his handling of the emergency, especially after traveling to Hawaii for a family vacation during the emergency. On Sunday, he said  the blame game is unproductive and “now is the time to focus on the response that is being made.”

Morrison has also been criticized for not adequately consulting local authorities before deploying 3,000 Australian Defense Force reservists to New South Wales in an effort to help combat the devastating fires. Morrison also committed $14 million to lease fire-fighting aircraft from other countries.

A Bushfire Recovery Agency has been established to help Australians recover from the disaster.

Pop star Pink and Australian actress Nicole Kidman have both pledged to donate $500,000 to support the fire-affected communities.

Spain’s Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez failed on Sunday in a first attempt to get parliament’s backing to form a government, leaving him two days to secure support to end an eight-month political gridlock.

Sanchez has been acting prime minister since a first inconclusive election in April and November did not produce a conclusive result. He needed an absolute majority of at least 176 votes in his favor in the 350-seat house to be confirmed as prime minister but failed to get it.

He obtained 166 votes in favor and 165 against, with 18 abstentions, while one lawmaker did not attend.

On Tuesday, Sanchez will only need a simple majority – more “yes” than “no” votes. He is likely to get that after securing a commitment from the 13 lawmakers of Catalonia’s largest separatist party, Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), to abstain.

Earlier this week, Socialist Party leader Sanchez and Pablo Iglesias, head of the far-left party Unidas Podemos, restated their intention to form the first coalition government in Spain’s recent history.

The two parties together have 155 seats, short of a majority, so Sanchez is reliant on the votes of small regional parties.

In a sign of how close the race could be on Tuesday, a member from the small regional party Coalicion Canaria, Ana Oramas, voted against Sanchez instead of abstaining as her party had agreed on Friday.

During Sunday morning’s debate, Sanchez stressed that a Socialist-Podemos coalition would take a progressive approach.

Sanchez and Iglesias have said they will push for tax hikes on high-income earners and companies and also intend to roll back a labor reform passed by a previous conservative government.

The morning was marked by tension during the speech of Mertxe Aizpurua of pro-independence Basque party EH Bildu.

Aizpurua called the conservative and right wing parties People’s Party, Vox and Ciudadanos “Francoists”, a reference to late dictator Francisco Franco, and criticized the Constitution and King Felipe.
She was met with boos and shouts of “murderers”.

 

The French general who is overseeing the reconstruction of the fire-devastated Notre Dame Cathedral says the Paris landmark is not saved yet.

Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin told French broadcaster CNews on Sunday that “the cathedral is still in a state of peril” after last year’s fire, which destroyed its roof and collapsed its spire as the cathedral was undergoing renovations.

“Notre Dame is not saved because … there is an extremely important step ahead, which is to remove the scaffolding that had been built around the spire” before the fire, he said.

The rector of Notre Dame, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet, told the AP last month that the cathedral is still so fragile there’s a “50% chance” the structure might not be saved, because the scaffolding may fall onto its fragile vaults.

A former chief of staff of France’s armed forces, Georgelin was named by French President Emmanuel Macron to lead the reconstruction effort for Notre Dame.

He said the actual condition of the cathedral’s vaults is not fully known, which means he could not guarantee that “it won’t fall apart.”

Still, Georgelin says “reassuring” observations have been made on the 12th-century cathedral since the April 15 inferno, he said.

“So we feel quite confident,” he added.

The scaffolding on Notre Dame should be removed by mid-2020 and the restoration work should start next year, he said.

 

Seven children and four women were among 14 civilians, killed when a roadside bomb blew up their bus in northwestern Burkina Faso, the government said.

“The provisional toll is 14 dead,” a statement said, adding that 19 more people were hurt, three of them seriously in Saturday’s blast.

The explosion happened in Sourou province near the Mali border as students returned to school after the Christmas holidays, a security source said.

“The vehicle hit a homemade bomb on the Toeni-Tougan road,” the source told AFP.

“The government strongly condemns this cowardly and barbaric act,” the statement said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack but jihadist violence in Burkina Faso has been blamed on combatants linked to both al-Qaida and Islamic State groups.

Meanwhile, the army reported an assault against gendarmes at Inata in the north on Friday, saying “a dozen terrorists were neutralized.”

The deaths came the week after 35 people, most of them women, died in an attack on the northern city of Arbinda and seven Burkinabe troops were killed in a raid on their army base nearby.

Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and Niger, has seen frequent jihadist attacks which have left hundreds of people dead since the start of 2015 when Islamist extremist violence began to spread across the Sahel region.

In a televised address on Tuesday President Roch Marc Christian Kabore insisted that “victory” against “terrorism” was assured.

The entire Sahel region is fighting a jihadist insurgency with help from Western countries, but has not managed to stem the bloodshed.

Five Sahel states — Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad — have joined forces to combat terrorism in the fragile region that lies between the Sahara and the Atlantic.

Increasingly deadly Islamist attacks in Burkina have killed more than 750 people since 2015, according to an AFP count, and forced 560,000 people from their homes, U.N. figures show.

 

 

 

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke publicly Saturday about the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.  It was the first time the president has spoken about Soleimani,  the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, since U.S. defense officials confirmed Soleimani had been killed in a U.S. airstrke late Friday in Iraq at Baghdad’s airport.  

Trump said  Soleimani’s killing was long overdue and warned Iran it risked more strikes if it continues to target Americans.

“We took action last night to stop a war,” Trump said at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. “However, the Iranian regime’s aggression in the region, including the use of proxy fighters to destabilize its neighbors must end and it must end now.”

Trump tweeted Saturday that the U.S. has identified 52 sites in Iran, representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago, that it would strike “very fast and very hard” should Iran attack any U.S. personnel or assets.

Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Funeral Procession

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Baghdad Saturday to mourn the deaths of Soleimani and the  Iraqi military leaders, who were killed in the airstrike, which has significantly increased tensions in the volatile Middle East region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi joined marchers in a funeral procession, many of whom chanted slogans such as “Death to America” and “America is the Great Satan.”

Also among the mourners were many men dressed in black military fatigues who were fiercely loyal to Soleimani.  

After being transported Saturday to the Iranian province of Khuzestan, Soleimani’s body goes to Iran’s holy Shi’ite city of Mashhad on Sunday and then to Tehran before he is buried Tuesday in his hometown of Kerman.

Soleimani’s background

The 62-year-old was Iran’s most distinguished military commander and the architect of Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East.

His killing has forced Washington and its allies in the region, primarily Israel and Saudi Arabia, into uncharted territory on how to confront Iran and its proxy militia groups throughout the region.

NATO, which has been training Iraqi security forces on how to prevent the Islamic State militant group from regaining strength, has suspended its training missions in Iraq. 

NATO spokesman Dylan White said in a statement Saturday, “The safety of our personnel in Iraq is paramount,” without specifying why the training activities were suspended.

Amid escalating tensions in the region, the Pentagon said more than 3,500 additional U.S. troops would be dispatched to Kuwait, joining some 14,000 U.S. troops already in the region.

On Saturday, hundreds of soldiers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, filed into planes and deployed to Kuwait. Video released by the Army showed soldiers filing into planes, while Humvees were seen being loaded and chained in place, according to an Associated Press report.

Details

U.S. officials have yet to provide details about the attack that killed Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told reporters late Friday that Soleimani’s travel plans played a role in the timing of the airstrike.

O’Brien said Soleimani had just come from Damascus where he was planning attacks on U.S. military personnel diplomats.

U.S. Democratic lawmakers question whether the attack was intended to deflect attention from Trump’s expected impeachment trial and whether it was legal.