MADRID – President Barack Obama on Sunday urged respect and restraint from Americans angered by the killing of black men by police, saying anything less does a “disservice to the cause” of ridding the criminal justice system of racial bias.
He also urged law enforcement to treat seriously complaints that they are heavy-handed and intolerant, particularly toward minorities.
“I’d like all sides to listen to each other,” Obama said in response to a reporter’s question after he met with Spain’s acting prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, during an abbreviated first visit to Spain as president.
Obama’s appeal for greater understanding from opposing sides of the emotionally charged debate over police practices followed the weekend arrests of scores of people in Louisiana and Minnesota who protested the shooting deaths by police of black men in both states last week.
MALAKAL, South Sudan - South Sudanese forces struck two United Nations compounds as clashes between two factions continued for a third day, shattering a fragile peace agreement that was meant to end a bloody, 31-month civil war.
The United Nations mission here said in a statement that the two bases in Juba, the capital, “have sustained impacts from small arms and heavy weapons fire.”
That fighting on Sunday prompted about 1,000 internally displaced people to flee a designated protection site for civilians and rush to a compound where UN staff live and work, the statement said.
The violence between forces led by the country’s president, Salva Kiir, and its vice president, Riek Machar, has spread across Juba since Friday, when members of the two groups clashed in front of the presidential palace. Radio Tamazuj, a local news outlet, reported on Sunday that as many as 271 people may have died so far. Col. William Gatjiath, Machar’s military spokesman, told the BBC that “hundreds” of Machar’s troops had died on Sunday. Many civilians are also expected to be among the dead.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declared victory in Australia’s election, though more than a week after voting day it remains unclear if his Liberal-National coalition has enough seats to form a majority government.
“This is a great day,” Turnbull, 61, told reporters in Sydney on Sunday, hours after opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten phoned him to concede. “It is vital that this parliament works.”
The nation has been politically paralyzed since the July 2 ballot failed to produce a clear winner, and electoral officials are still combing through postal votes to determine the final tally. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. predicts the coalition will get 76 seats, scraping it to a majority in the 150-member lower house. As a fall back, Turnbull spent the past week negotiating the support of independent lawmakers.
Either way, the election has raised questions about Turnbull’s leadership, and left him without a strong mandate for much-needed economic and fiscal reforms. S&P Global Ratings lowered the outlook on Australia’s AAA credit rating to negative from stable on Thursday, saying the result potentially dented the government’s prospects for reining in a budget deficit forecast to reach $28.1 billion in the year through June 2017.
Associated Press & Washington Post
