The mother of a backpacker killed in Australia has slammed US President Donald Trump for including the stabbing death on a list of supposedly under-reported terrorist attacks, claiming the president was using her daughter to demonize Muslims.
Trump this week accused “dishonest” media of purposefully failing to report on attacks by radicals, for which he provided no evidence, in the wake of his contentious travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority nations.
The White House distributed a list of 78 incidents it said were “executed or inspired by” the Islamic State (IS) group, saying most “have not received the media attention they deserved.”
Five Australian attacks were included, including a cafe siege in Sydney in 2014 that received global headlines and the stabbing deaths of British backpackers Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 21, and Tom Jackson, 30, last year.
Agence France-Presse filed five stories on the backpacker killings which were also widely covered by the British media, and other media in Australia and around the world.
In an open letter to Trump posted on social media, Ayliffe-Chung’s mother, Rosie Ayliffe, said it was wrong to connect her death with Islamic fundamentalism.
“The possibility of Mia and Tom’s deaths being consequent to an Islamic terror attack was discounted in the early stages of the police investigation,” she said.
Frenchman Smail Ayad has been charged with their murders at a backpacker hostel in Home Hill, a rural town in north Queensland State, Australia.
Police said they had found no signs of radicalization despite Ayad saying “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) during the attack, and ruled out any terror links.
“There has been no indication whatsoever that any radicalization or any political motives existed that caused him to attack the people that he did,” Detective Superintendent Ray Rohweder told a news conference in August last year.
Rosie Ayliffe said “any fool can shout ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they commit a crime” and said she had traveled extensively in Muslim-majority nations and “encountered nothing but respect and hospitality.”
“This vilification of whole nation states and their people based on religion is a terrifying reminder of the horror that can ensue when we allow ourselves to be led by ignorant people into darkness and hatred,” she added in the letter. “My daughter’s death will not be used to further this insane persecution of innocent people.”
Also on the Trump list of atrocities he claimed were under-reported were the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, the Nice, France, truck-attack on June 14, last year, and the San Bernardino mass shooting in California in December 2015.
All dominated global headlines for days.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of