NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
1 Africa aid: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sought to mend fences with Africa on Tuesday as he embarked on a five-nation tour across the continent, promising $533 million in new aid just months after President Trump disparaged some African countries with a vulgar term. In a speech before leaving Washington, Tillerson trumpeted American efforts to improve access to electricity across Africa and provide critical drugs for millions of people to treat HIV/AIDS. He did not mention, however, that the Trump administration has proposed slashing funding for both programs, along with other aid efforts seen as vital in Africa. Tillerson is scheduled to visit Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria. The United States now has about 6,000 troops in Africa.
2 Italy politics: The former Italian premier, Matteo Renzi, has challenged members of his defeated Democrats to publicly declare if they’ll support the 5-Star Movement, throwing down the gauntlet as he tries to prevent his party from fracturing and backing its political nemesis. Renzi took to Facebook on Tuesday after national election results showed his once-dominant Democratic Party had brought the center-left to its worst showing ever, with the coalition taking less than 23 percent of the vote. The center-right coalition had 37 percent and the antiestablishment 5-Stars 32 percent. Neither obtained enough votes to govern.
3 Shipwreck found: A piece of prized World War II U.S. naval history, the wreckage of the aircraft carrier Lexington, which was sunk by the Japanese in a crucial sea battle, has been discovered by an expedition funded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen. The expedition team announced that the wreckage of the Lexington, crippled by the enemy and then scuttled on May 8, 1942, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, was found Sunday on the seabed in waters about 2 miles deep, more than 500 miles off Australia’s east coast.
4 Rohingya refugees: The senior U.N. official for human rights said Tuesday that it is impossible to safely send Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh back to Myanmar because widespread and systematic violence appears to be continuing against them in Myanmar, amounting to “ethnic cleansing.” U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour said in a statement that during a four-day visit to Bangladesh, refugees told him “credible accounts of continued killings, rape, torture and abductions, as well as forced starvation” in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine. Myanmar’s government denies such abuses and announced in January that it was ready to accept the refugees back.
5 Sri Lanka violence: Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena declared a state of emergency Tuesday amid fears that anti-Muslim attacks in several central hill towns could spread. Details of the emergency decree were not immediately announced, and it was unclear how it would affect life on the South Asian island nation, where Buddhist-Muslim tensions have flared in recent years with the growth of extremist Buddhist organizations. The emergency announcement came after Buddhist mobs swept through the towns outside Kandy, burning at least 11 Muslim-owned shops and homes. The attacks followed reports that a Buddhist man had been killed by a group of Muslims. Police later announced a curfew in the town. So far no violence has been reported in other parts of the island nation.