Foreign Tit Bits Today
By Yadnom Awu/ Asaba
America
Epstein Saga:
Victims Calls For Full Release of Files
A victim of alleged sex offences, Annie Farmer, has called for the full release of the Epstein Files.
Fielding questions with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC )today, Annie said there was the need for the books to be fully opened in the Jeffrey Epstein Saga not only to avoid a repeat, but also for justice to be served.
Her call echoes a growing trend in America where even associates of President Donald Trump and members of his Republican Party are seeking a transparent reopening of the case and the declassification of the files related to it.
Trump, once a close associate of Epstein at his Florida Club, has ordered the release of the files, but critics say his move is insufficient, and have, instead, called for the full declassification of the files.
Public interest in the matter spiked after the Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert Murdoch and edited by Emma Tucker, published a letter allegedly written by Trump to Epstein , a multiple sex offences suspect, to mark his (Epstein ‘s) 50th birthday.
In the letter was drawn
the image of a stark naked woman, and it also had the curious words, ” another day of wonderful secrets”.
Trump denied authorship of the letter.
Despite that, the matter is still raising dust, and Farmer today, said that ,in spite of mounting calls for transparency, she had great doubts in the capacity of Trump for openness.
She described Trump as a close associate of Epstein but added that she lacked confidence in the ability of Trump to act aright.
The White House has described Farmer ‘s charge as “old fake news”, adding that Trump long kicked Epstein out of his Florida Club for allegedly being a ” crip”.
United Kingdom
Lammy Slams Israel for Gaza Conduct
The Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom (UK),David Lammy, today strongly criticised Israel for its conduct in Gaza and other parts of the United Kingdom.
He said the sight of children, women and other civilians being killed by Israeli troops while accessing food in Gaza were appalling and sickening.
Lammy spoke just a day after the foreign Ministers of nearly 30 countries issued a joint statement condemning Israel ‘ s actions and calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza.
The group included members of the influential G-7, which houses the seven most advanced democracies and economies in the world.
Speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) today, Lammy said the image presented by the killings was grotesque, and said Britain would continue to pressure Israel to end the war and improve the humanitarian and other circumstances of Gazans.
According to him, the UK government would continue to pressure Israel to end its actions in Gaza and to let Palestinians be.
Latest polls indicate that the vast majority of Britons support Palestinian freedom and Statehood.
Britain recently adopted a string of diplomatic measures against a few right wing members of the Israeli Cabinet for their active support for Israeli settlers’ violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank
Palestine
Humanitarian Situation Dips As srael Consolidates Central Gaza Offensive
The humanitarian situation in Deir-Al Balah, Central Gaza, Palestine, has worsened dramatically over the past two days following Israel ‘s ground military campaign in the district.
The offensive began Monday after the previous day,’s forced evacuation order on Palestinians living in the area.
The aerial and ground assault on the area which had largely been unaffected by the war, has exponentially increased the already distressed humanitarian situation in the area..
Food has become not only more difficult to access, but also more expensive, as have water and fuel at the few markets and stores still able to stock them, mainly allegedly from stolen humanitarian aid stocks.
As a result, the United Nations (UN) has warned that the situation had become catastrophic and that its humanitarian services had been grossly negatively impacted by the actions of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF)
.
The UN echoed its earlier calls for an end to the war and for an immediate end to the war and the significant upscale of aid deliveries.
The UN had alleged that the IDF had, in the course of its ongoing campaign in the Deir-Al Balah neighbourhood of Central Gaza, targeted and damaged its warehouse , following which it was looted by starving Gazans.
Meanwhile, the Save The Children, a humanitarian group, has called for an immediate end to the war and for the full restoration of humanitarian supplies to the embattled enclave.
Rachael Cummings, a flower of the group, said all Gazans ,starved by Israel of food, water, medicines, electricity and fuel, were barfly surviving.
She said in an interview on Al Jazeera, that the situation in Gaza called for an immediate end to the war and for the full restoration of the supplies.
She said that there was no justification for the imposition of needless suffering on Palestinians while the rest of the world kept mum.
Bangladeshi
Bangladeshi Mourns as Death Toll in Military Plane Crash Reaches 27
Bangladeshi is observing its first full day of mourning for the victims of its deadly plane crash yesterday.
The military aircraft, a training asset, crashed just minutes after take- off on its first solo training flight.
The government declared a period of national mourning following the crash in which 27 persons, all but two of them children, died when their school took a direct hit from the troubled giant trainer aircraft.
Emergency sources said that , as if this .morning, around 100 other victims if the crash remained in hospital, some with severe injuries from burns from the fire triggered by the explosion caused by the crashed aircraft on impact.
The big jet reportedly lost power minutes after take off, and seconds later, crashed into a school in session in Dhaka, the capital.
An investigation is underway, and protests were held today in the city as the public demanded a far- fetched probe of the incident which they say dented the image of the country’s Air Force.
America
Harvard Seeks Reversal of Trump’s Research Fund Freeze Order
Authorities of Harvard University are asking a judge to order President Donald Trump to reverse his order freezing its research grants.
It said the order breached the American Constitution and, that if left , could severely undermine its research capability.
In all, the freeze,which Trump imposed, following his failure to get the university to comply with his instructions, affects more than $2.3billiln fund.
Trump had, early this year, had instructed Harvard, an ivy tower, as well as a few other universities, to cease to admit all foreign students, and to immediately withdraw the admission of all the existing students.
He said this was to curb Anti-American and Israeli hate, the latter of which it tags Anti-Semitism.
The Trump move followed a wave of Pro- Palestine rallies across cities and schools in America as the Israeli war in Gaza, now nearly two years old, was just in infancy and was generating momentum in the global media space.
But the management of Harvard failed, refused and or neglected to comply, thus prompting the freeze.
On the heels of the freeze, it instituted a stiff legal challenge to the presidential order , praying the court to order a reversal of the order.
Harvard claimed that aside from negating the principle of university autonomy and amount to a needless interference in the internal affairs of university, the move would grossly impair the capacity of the institution to mount relevant research in legion fields.
Harvard is the world ‘s leading research university, with engagements in sundry fields, including artificial intelligence, aviation, astronomy, medicine, agriculture, military and intelligence.
United Kingdom
More Americans Seek Admission Into UK Schools
More Americans sought higher education this academic year, than had been the case.
Official records released today in Britain showed that 7,930 Americans were admitted into British higher schools for the 2925 academic year.
This is a significant 14 per cent increase on last year’s figures, and represents the single highest annual record since 2006, when data collection on the subject began.
Mark Bennet, an education data analyst, said the development, which he said, was good for the country, was the result of multiple factors, including the high quality of higher education in Britain, the consistency of the government ‘s education policy, and the good ambience of the British society for effective learning
