• Bundibugyo
• Reston
• Sudan
• Tai Forest (Ivory Coast)
• Zaire

• chimpanzees
• forest antelopes
• gorillas
• monkeys
• porcupines

• blood
• sweat
• saliva
• semen
• urine
• breast milk
• feces
• vomit

• extreme fatigue
• diarrhea
• fever
• headache
• muscle pain
• stomach pain
• unexplained bleeding or bruising
• vomiting
• hair loss
• delirium
• inflammation of liver and eyes
• sensory changes
• jaundice
• failure of multiple organs
• coma
• shock

The young many further stated that he was free to roam about, although he was in attendance with, and in the area of his African American friends.  That he was not handcuffed or made to sit down, because he "was one of the only white people" nearby.  In fact, when the officer saw him filming, he waved the boy away.

Loretta Lynch, Harvard Law School graduate (1984), has served as a United States District Attorney, for a great portion of her career, along with being a partner in a law firm.

On November 8, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated her to succeed Eric Holder as Attorney General.

On February 26, 2015, the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate confirmed her appointment by a 12-8 vote, with all Democrats of the committee and three Republicans in favor.

On April 23, 2015, Lynch was confirmed by the Senate by a 56 – 43 vote.

On April 27, 2015, Vice President Joseph Biden swore her in as Attorney General.

Highlights of Other Accomplishments While Lynch was US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, she supervised the investigation into senior FIFA officials from its earliest stages. The investigation culminated in the indictment of 14 senior FIFA officials and sports marketing executives. For her work in the 2015 FIFA corruption case, Lynch was presented with the 3rd annual Golden Blazer by Roger Bennett and Michael Davies. The Golden Blazer award honor one person whose distinguished service leaves an indelible mark on soccer and the culture of soccer.


In July 2015, after the Charleston church shooting, Lynch announced the suspected shooter Dylann Roof would be charged with a hate crime.  On May 24, 2016, she further announced that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty for Roof.


On December 7, 2015, Lynch stated the Justice Department would be investigating the Chicago Police Department to see if there was a potential violation of civil rights in the case of Laquan McDonald.


In April 2016, Lynch took an active role in addressing what she called the difficulty of re-entry into society by felons, writing an op-ed and making public appearances in support of raising awareness of this blight on their transition, also calling on governors to make it easier for released felons to achieve state-issued identification.
In October 2016, Lynch removed the Brooklyn FBI agents and federal prosecutors from the death of Eric Garner case, replacing them with agents from outside New York.  The local FBI agents and federal prosecutors had determined that charges should not be brought in the case, prompting strong disagreement from attorneys in the Washington, D.C. office of the Department’s Civil Rights Division. Lynch’s intervention has been called “highly unusual

September 10, 2015.  For several weeks Japan has been experiencing daily rainfall, and within the past week, up to two feet of rain has fallen.  All of this rain has resulted in such heavy flooding that houses have been ripped from their foundations. Deaths have been minimal, but more than 100,000 people have been forced from their homes, and up to 800,000 people have been advised to evacuate.

The Obama administration abandoned its efforts to build up a new rebel force inside Syria to combat the Islamic State, acknowledging the failure of its $500 million campaign to train thousands of fighters and announcing that it will instead use the money to provide ammunition and weapons for groups already engaged in the battle.

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Professor Eddie Glaude is widely regarded as one of the brightest young intellectuals in the United States.  He is known for offering critical and insightful views on the problems faced by African-descended people in America, and has been noted as “one of the most visionary thinkers of our time”.


According to Cornel West, “Eddie Glaude is the towering intellectual of his generation. There is simply no one else like him emerging on the intellectual scene!

He is the author of several books, including his latest award winning book, “In a Shade of Blue: Pragmatism and the Politics of Black America”.

Glaude is a 1989 graduate of Morehouse College where he was the Student Government President. He holds a master's degree in African-American studies from Temple University and a master's degree in religion from Princeton University.


Glaude earned his Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University and is a founding member and Senior Fellow of the Jamestown Project.

A noted scholar, Glaude began his teaching career at Bowdoin College where he served as chair of the Department of Religion. Dr. Glaude has received numerous awards including the Carl A. Fields Award, and was a Visiting Scholar in African-American Studies at Harvard University and Amherst College.

His first book, Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early 19th Century Black America, won the Modern Language Association's William Sanders Scarborough Book Prize.

Thoughts on Black Academics
The political significance of their ideas has been weakened or worse, banished to the shadows, and we’re left, as my grandmother would say, “bumping our gums.”

Thoughts on Black Intellectuals
I do believe that intellectuals generally ought to aspire to be the moral conscience of their societies: that what we write, say and do should reflect intelligent efforts to provide a critical account of who we take ourselves to be as a nation.  Black intellectuals take up this task in the context of black communities and the ever-shifting regime of race that undermines democratic possibility in this country. (And remember that the folks who do this kind of labor do not have to work in universities or colleges.)

That’s what they ought to do. Instead, today we are experiencing a “new nadir.” Too many black intellectuals have given up the hard work of thinking carefully in public about the crisis facing black America. We have either become cheerleaders for President Obama or self-serving pundits. Our celebration of his singular achievement and our crazed desire for access have made many of us “born-again patriots.”

Thoughts on Black Intellectual Selling Their Souls
All too often what stands in for the black intellectual these days are folks who can spin a phrase and offer a soundbite. The idea of the intellectual who reads widely and deeply and who critically engages the complexity of our times has been supplanted by the fast-talking “black Ph.D. pundit” who strives to be on CNN, Fox or MSNBC. This same pundit has found new career opportunities within universities and colleges by thinking about black people in ways that conform to the current liberal consensus about racial matters.

The combination turns out to be a deadly one. I am reminded of what the sociologist C. Wright Mills wrote in 1948: “The two together, for the liberal ideology, as now used by intellectuals, acts as a device whereby he can take advantage of the new career chances but retain the illusion that his soul remains his own.” Put another way, too many black intellectuals have sold their souls "for a mess of pottage,” while the misery in black America deepens. And there is a tragic story to tell about how we arrived at this point.

Hope for the Future:
Critical Conversations and Thinking Using Social Networks
(and Not Just Those Created by White America)
Even given this state of affairs, I remain hopeful. Those of us committed to the work of thinking carefully in public with others must model the value of seriousness amid the white noise of our current media landscape. This involves using various social networks to push critical conversations and thinking among our fellows; it entails recommitting ourselves to build reading and writing communities that cultivate the habits of public intellectual work; it means bringing our skills to bear on the problems of our day through interpretations that single out our failings and point the way forward to what needs to be done to, as James Baldwin wrote, “achieve our country.”

June 23, 2016 Voting Result The result of voting was 51.8% in favor of leaving the EU and 48.2% in favor of maintaining membership. Although the results were close, following this mandate of the people, David Cameron, fighting back tears, announced his resignation as Prime Minister, stating "I think the country requires fresh leadership. I do not think I can be the captain to take the country to its next destination."

Every since Britain was accepted into the European Union, there has been contention and opposition to its membership among the British people.   David Cameron, who was appointed Prime Minister by the Queen in 2010,  issued a pledge, during his 2015 election campaign, to renegotiate the EU membership and bring the controversial issue of exiting from the European Union before voters, although he rejected doing the same in 2012.

Britain Prime Minister In the United Kingdom, the monarchy primarily plays a ceremonial role, while the prime minister is the actual head of the government and executive branch operations. Historically, this position was not created, but evolved , over 300 years, as political power gradually shifted from the Sovereign to Parliament. Legally, the Sovereign remains the head of government and the Prime Minister accountable to them for their policies and actions, but the politics of running the government remains with Parliament.

On February 20, 2016, after the completion of a two-day summit in Brussels, renegotiating the United Kingdom’s membership in the European Union, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that on Thursday, June 23, 2016, registered voters  would be given the opportunity to decide on whether they should remain in the European Union or exit.

Britain Forced to Wait 10
Years Before Membership into
European Union Accepted
In its early form, the United Kingdom was not a member of the European Union, which only included Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany.  In 1957, with the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the organization’s name was changed to the European Economic Community.  Six years after the signing of the treaty, and updating its name, the United Kingdom applied to join, but their membership was vetoed by then President of France, Charles de Gaulle.  When they applied four years later, in 1967, de Gaulle once again vetoed their appeal.

Ten years after their original application for membership, after de Gaulle left the French presidency, Britain’s application for membershp was finally accepted, in 1973.

1975 Registered Voters Polled on Whether Britain Should Withdraw From  or Stay in
the European Union
On June 5, 1975, registered voters were asked to voke YES or NO on the question: “Do you think the UK should stay in the European Economic Community?”  After a majority of YES votes, the United Kingdom remained a member of the EEC.

1993 Persistent Opposition Against Membership in European Union
By 1993, the European Economic Community had evolved from purely economic concerns into political concerns, and after the signing of the Maastrict Treaty, changed its name to the European Union to reflect the broader focus. 

From the time of acceptance into the EEC in 1973 to the signing of the Maastrict Treaty, their has been consistent, organized opposition to Britain’s membership, and active campaigning to exit.  Many of the conservative British Members of Parliament (MPs), believe that the European Union has changed too far from its original mission, and is far too intrusive in the daily lives of British citizens.  And, although some of these groups have been influential, they have been unable to make significant political gain by seating any of their supporters in Parliament to influence the membership status.

Public Opinion Evenly Split
On Britain’s Exit from the EU
Pro. Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the European Union argue that being a member undermines Parliamentary sovereignty.  They also believe that the UK would be in a better position to control immigration and conduct its own trade negotiations, free from unncessary EU regulations and bureaucracy.

Con.  Those opposed to leaving the European Union, fearing loss of jobs, believe that the UK’s prosperity would be at risk, that its influence would diminish over world affairs, that national security would be placed in jeopardy due to more limited access to the common European criminal databases,   and that trade barriers between the UK and EU would be inevitable.

April 2016: Voting Rights 
Restored by Gov. McAuliffe 
Disenfranchising people with criminal convictions was one of many vote-suppressing tools deployed in the Virginia's 1902 constitution.  And, on April 22, 2016, Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe, signed an executive order restoring voting rights to more than 200,000 people with previous felony convictions.  

May 2016: Gov. McAuliffe
Under Investigation by FBI
On May 23, 2016, it was reported that McAuliffe was under investigation by the FBI for the use of possible illegal campaign donations during his race for governor.

July 2016: Gov. McAuliffe's
Executive Order Overturned
by Virginia Supreme Court
On July 22, 2016, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s executive order, ruling that it violated the Virginia Constitution and that the Virginia governor does not have the authority to grant blanket pardons and restoration of rights. 

The court’s opinion mentioned Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential running mate, Senator Tim Kaine (and former Virginia governor), noting that when he was governor he contemplated a similar executive order but in the end was advised that he couldn’t issue such a sweeping action.

2007: McAuliffe Publishes
Memoir of Life in Politics
Terry McAuliffe's memoir, What a Party! My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators, and Other Wild Animals, was published in 2007 with Steve Kettmann, and made the New York Times Best Seller List, debuting at #5 in February 2007.

Venezuela is on the northern coast of South America, borded by Colombian on the west, Brazil on the south, and Guyana on the east.  It has an estimated population of about 33 thousand.  It was colonized by Sapin in 1522, but was one of the first Spanish-American colonies to declare its independence, in 1811, although not securely established until 1821.  It gained full independence as a separate country in 1830.

Throughout the years of independence, Venezuela has suffered political turmoil and an autocracy dominated by military strongmen, or its regional caudillos.

Autocracy (aw TOC rah see) A system of government by one person with absolute power, or dictatorship Caudillos Military landowners possessed with political power exercised in an authoritarian manner

However, since the late 1950s, Venezuela has had a series of democratic governments, each faced with turmoil and unrest, due to various economic crisis, including embezzlement of public funds.  Disfavor with the existing parties reached a peak, and in 1998, a former coup-involved career officer, Hugo Chavez, was elected President, launching the Bolivarian Revolution and developing a new Constitution of Venezuela.  In addition, Chavez changed Venezuela's official name to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
 
Since the discovery of oil in the early 1900s, oil has dominated Venezuela's government revenues. Venezuela is distinguished by having the world's largest oil reserves and being one of the world’s leading exporters of oil.

A 1990s oil glut led to an external debt crisis for Venezuela, where their foreign debt exceeded their earning power.  The impact of this downturn in economics lasted over a decade, with their inflation peaking at 100% in 1996 and poverty rates rising to 66% in 1995.

In the early 2000s, oil prices made a massive recovery, boosting the the Venezuelan economy.  In response, the Venezuelan government spent heavily on social programs, resulting in stark reductions in economic inequality and poverty.

But, in the long run, because of the Bolivarian government’s large dependence on oil sales, poverty and inflation began to increase once again in the 2010s.


Prior to his death in March 2013, the government of Hugo Chavez devalued the currency of Venezuela, due to rising shortages, which included milk, flour, and other necessities.  This led to an increase in malnutrition, especially among children.


Nicolás Maduro Moros, commonly known as Nicolas Maduro, assumed office as President of Venezuel on April 19,2013. Previously he served under President Hugo Chávez as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2013 and as Vice President of Venezuela from 2012 to 2013.

A former bus driver, for the Caracas Metro company, Maduro rose to become a trade union leader, before being elected to the National Assembly in 2000. He was appointed to a number of positions within the Venezuelan Governmentunder Chávez, ultimately being made Foreign Minister in 2006.

After Chávez's death was announced on 5 March 2013, Maduro assumed the powers and responsibilities of the president. A special election was held on 14 April 2013 to elect a new president, and Nicolas Maduro won with 50.62 % of the votes as the candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

He is married to Cilia Flores, a lawyer and politician who replaced Maduro as President of the National Assembly in August 2006, when he resigned to become Minister of Foreign Affairs, becoming the first woman to serve as President of the National Assembly.

Nicolas Maduro was born to Nicolas Maduro Garcia, a union leader, and Teresa de Jesús Moros in Venezuela, into a working-class neighborhood. He was the only son, with three sisters. Racially, Maduro has indicated that he identifies as mestizo (or mixed race), stating that he includes as a part of his mestizaje ("racial mixture") admixture from the Indigenous peoples of the Americas and Africans. He was raised as a Roman Catholic, although in 2012 it was reported that he was a follower of Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba.

He attended a public high school, the Liceo José Ávalos, in El Valle. His introduction to politics was when he became a member of his high school's student union.[8] According to school records, Maduro never graduated from high school.

At 24 years of age, "Maduro travelled through the streets of Havana with other militants of leftist organizations inSouth America that moved to Cuba in 1986, to attend a one year course in the Escuela Nacional de Cuadros Julio Antonio Mella, a centre of political formation directed by the Union of Communist Youth."

According to Professor Ramón Piñango, a sociologist from the Venezuelan University of IESA, "Maduro has a very strong ideological orientatio, close to the communist ideology."

Communist Ideology in Brief The communist ideology, in general, states that the current order and disorder of society stems from the economic system of captialism, where there are two major social classes – (1) the working class, who must work to survive and who make up the majority of society, and the (2) capitalist class, a minority that privately own the means of production and derive profit from the labor of the majority. It believes that all citizens of the world should have a common, shared ownership in the means of production and that there should not be social classes or states, where only the few receive the majority of economic benefit.

On November 19, 2013, the National Assembly granted Maduro the power to rule by decree for one year, until November 19, 2014.  He requested this ruling a year earlier, as being need to fight corruption and build economic power. 

In 2014, Venezuela entered an economic recession.

In 2015, Venezuela had the world’s highest inflation rate with the rate surpassing 100%, and suffered many deadly protests due to its economic problems, as well as crime and corruption.

On March 15, 2015, the National Assembly granted Maduro power to rule by decree, once again, until December 31, 2015.  He requested this ruling to “confront the aggression of the most powerful country in the world, the United States.”

Rule by Decree Rule by decree is a style of governance that allows for quick, unchallenged creation of law by a single person or group, and is used primarily by dictators and absolute monarchs. It allows the ruler to arbitrarily create law, without approval by a legislative assembly.

On January 15, 2016, Maduro declared an economic emergency and issued a decree granting himself extraordinary powers for 60 days, or until March 15, 2016. 

Upon expiration of the the January 2016 rule of decree, the Supreme Court granted Maduro the power to rule by decree for an additional 60 days, until May 17, 2016.

On May 11, 2016, just priory to the May 17, 2016 end of the March 2016 rule of decree, granted by the Supreme Court, Maduro announced that he would continue to rule by decree through the rest of the year, until 2017. 

He cited, what he called plots from within the OPEC country and the United States to topple his leftist government.  On sate-wide television, he has accused the United States of instigating a coup against him, by Venezuela’s “facist right”.  In 2002, the U.S. supported a short-lived coup against late leader Hugo Chavez.

 The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is responsible for the enforcement of laws for the city of Los Angeles, California.  It has nearly 10,000 officers, and is the third-largest police department in the United States, after New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department, serving a population of nearly 4 million.  Charles L. Beck ,  has served as the 56th Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, for over six years, since November 2009.

The area served by the LAPD has been plagued by chronic underfunding, low patrol staffing levels and a citywide rise in crime, which has seen violent crime rise 20.2%, property crime rise 10.7%, robbery rise 12.5%, and auto theft rise 17.1% from 2014 to 2015.  In recent years, the department has been conducting a massive recruiting effort, with a goal of hiring an additional 1,500 police officers, to reduce its officer to resident ratio, which is currently 1:426 (1 officer for every 426 residents).

Office of Operations
The majority of the approximate 10,000 officers are assigned within the Office of Operations, commanded by an Assistant Chief, currently Jorge Villegas, who reports directly to the chief of police.

The LAPD Office of Operations comprises 21 police stations, known officially as “areas” but also commonly referred to as “divisions”.

The 21 police stations or “divisions” are grouped geographically into four command areas, each known as a “bureau”.

Central Bureau Hollenbeck Harbor Newton  Northeast Rampart	South Bureau 77th Street Harbor Southeast Southwest
Valley Bureau Devonshire Foothill  Mission North Hollywood Van Nuys West Valley Topanga	West Bureau Hollywood Olympic Pacific West Los Angeles Wilshire

The Los Angeles Police Protective League is an union organization that advocates for Los Angeles police, to “…protect, promote, and improve the working conditions, legal rights, compensation and benefits of Los Angeles Police Officers”.  The organization started in 1922, as the Police and Fire Protective League, when L.A. police and firefighters banned together to establish one retirement system for their departments.  However, in 1973, this organization separated into two entities, now the Los Angeles Police Protective League fights for collective bargaining and police rights.

Officers and Union
Representatives in Conflict
Officers have not always been pleased with how the League represented them, as their negotiations often fell short of truly benefiting their salary goals.  As early as 2014, some wrangled for a harder edge  to be taken with the city in contract negotiations, and even considered affiliating with the Teamsters to handle such negotiations.

Union to File Fedaral Lawsuit for
Constituional Rights Violations
by Disciplinary Review Board 

Chief Charles Beck, Speaking

On May 19, 2016, the Los Angeles Police Protective League released a statement that it would file a federal lawsuit against the city, the LAPD and police Chief Charles Beck over what it called the “unconstitutional structure of the body that decides discipline issues involving officers”.

The LAPD Board of Rights, a three-person panel (2 senior LAPD officers and 1 civilian) charged with deciding discipline cases for officers facing long-term suspension or termination.  The suit alleges that Chief Beck's direct command staff exerts improper and manipulative influence over the two
police members of the LAPD Board of Rights during the review process, resulting in a violation of their 14th Amendment Rights. 

 

Millions of dollars worth of weapons shipped into Jordan by the United States C.I.A. and Saudi Arabia government, intended for Syrian rebels to fight against the Bashar al-Assad government, were stolen and put on the black market for resale.

Jordanian rebels were accused of the theft, but Mohammad H. al-Momani, Jordan's minister of state for media affairs, said the allegations of Jordanian involvement were "absolutely incorrect".

In 2013, a training program was established in Jordan, run by the C.I.A. and several Arab intelligence services, to build forces to fight against Bashar al-Assad.  These groups were being provided mortars, antitank guided missiles and other weapons.

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On Wednesday, September 28, 2015, Congress overwhelmingly voted to override President Obama’s veto of bill that allows families of those killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for any role in the plot.

A large number of democrats, and some of Obama’s strongest allies, sided with Republicans to deliver the rebuke to the president.  The vote was 97-to-1 in the Senate and 348-to-77 in the House.  President Obama angrily denounced the outcome as a “dangerous precedent” with implications they did not understand and never debated.

With the override, the new law, fiercely objected to by the White House, immediately alters the legal landscape.  American courts could seize Saudi assets to pay for any judgment obtained by the Sept. 11 families, while Saudi officials have warned they might need to sell off hundreds of billions of dollars in holdings in the United States to avoid such an outcome.

The Saudi government has long and vigorously denied that it had any part in the Sept. 11 attacks, and the commission investigating the plot found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded” Al Qaeda, the terror group that carried out the attacks. But the commission left open the possibility that some Saudi officials may have played roles.

2017 U.S. Defense
Spending Signed into Law
On December 23, 2016, outgoing President Barack Obama passed the 55th consecutive National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  The NDAA is a United States purposed federal bill which specifies the budget and expenditures of the United States Department of Defense (DOD) for any given year.  With his signing of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2017, the bill became law, authorizing the DOD to spend $618.7 billion in the 2017 Fiscal Year.

The 2017 NDAA also authorized the Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016 to counter the spread of Russian propaganda of biased information.


China Objects to U.S. Defense Bill
Immediately after Obama signed the NDAA bill into law, China lodged a protest against the bill, citing that it included a plan to conduct high-level military exchanges with self-ruled Taiwan. 


Russia Objects to U.S. Defense Bill
In the day following China’s objections, Russia joined the global opposition to the US defense policy because of the easing of restrictions on arming Syrian rebels, stating that any delivery of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles would directly threaten Russian forces in Syria. 

For over a year, the Russian government has led a campaign of air strikes in Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad and his forces retake territory lost to rebels.  And the Russian government said that the U.S. participating in supplying rebel forces with weapons, particularly shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles was a direct threat to Russian forces in Syria.

However, State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, dismissed Russian charges, saying that the administration remains opposed to providing portable anti-aircraft missles (MANPADS) to Syrian opposition groups.

Just two days after the United States fired dozens of missiles at a Syrian air base, in response to Syria’s reported use of chemical weapons, a joint command center of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad supporters, made up of:

• Russian forces
• Iranian forces
• Shi’ite militia groups sponsored by Iran (an led by Lebanon’s Hezbollah group)

published the following statement:


Russia and Iran Accuse U.S. of Violating International Law
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani said in a phone call that aggressive U.S. actions against Syria were not permissible and violated international law. 

U.S. Secretary of State
Blames Russia
U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, blamed Russia for failing to carry out the 2013 Geneva agreement, struck with President Obama, to secure and destroy chemical weapons in Syria.

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Along with representation of the European Union, the Group of 7 (G7) consists of:

1. Canada
2. France
3. Germany
4. Italy
5. Japan
6. United Kingdom
7. United States

Seven Major World Economies
The G7 are the seven major advanced economies in the world, representing 64% of the net global wealth of $263 trillion.  To become a member of the group, a country must have a very high national wealth and advanced human development in the areas of life expectancy, education, and income production.

Primary Concern: Healthy Global Economy
The organization was founded to deal with the collapse of the 1971 exchange rate, 1970s energy crisis and the recession that followed, which sent ripples throughout the international economic community.

G7 Meets Annually to Discuss Economic Policies
The G7 meets annually at a summit site to discuss economic policies, while G7 finance ministers meet from 2 to 4 times a year at stand-alone meetings.  The 43rd G7 summit has been scheduled for May 26, 2017 in Taormina, Sicily, Italy, where the major topics are expected to be Africa and Migration.

April 10, 2017
Special G7 Meeting Called for Foreign Affairs Ministers
In response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and the U.S. missile attack against that country a few days ago, a special G7 Meeting for Foreign Affairs Ministers was called by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano, to be held on August 10, 2017.  In addition to standard member attendance, invitation was extended to the Foreign Ministers of:

• Turkey
• United Arab Emirates
• Saudi Arabia
• Jordan
• Qatar

U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was in attendance.

On the Syrian-Jordanian border, coalition forces engaged in battle against an ISIS bomb and suicide vest attacks.  Some American forces were already in place at the point of attack and were aided by Syrian opposition forces, known as VSO.

U.S. Working with Vetted Syrian Forces in Fight Against ISIS
The U.S. government put out a statement that they are free to work with Syrian government opposition forces because they have been vetted and primarily assigned to operations to clear ISIS from the Hamad Desert, and have proven effective in countering the ISIS threat in southern Syria and maintaining security along the Syria-Jordan border.

Some of the countries participating in the US-led coalition battling ISIS include:

• United Kingdom
• France
• Australia
• Saudi Arabia
• Turkey
• Jordon

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The United Nations Security Council resolution condeming and ordering the investigation of the suspected use of chemical weapon by Syria was vetoed by Russia and Bolivia.  China, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia abstained.

The resolution was drafted by Britain, France and the United States.

It is the eight veto by Russia, in defense of its close ally, Bashar al-Assad.  China, also allied with al-Assad by vetoing six resolutions.

A convoy of buses with thousands of Syrian evacuees on board, fleeing villages under siege by anti-government rebels, was struck by a car bomb, killing 126, including 68 children.  At least 100 of those killed were pro-Assad, while the rest were humanitarian aid workers, and rebel escorts.