Author: chicagoinquirer

by Jake Bleiberg An Oklahoma judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, dashing an effort to obtain some measure of legal justice by survivors of the deadly racist rampage. Judge Caroline Wall on Friday dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit trying to force the city and others to make recompense for the destruction of the once-thriving Black district known as Greenwood. The order comes in a case by three survivors of the attack, who are all now over 100 years old and sued in 2020 with the hope of seeing what their attorney called “justice in their lifetime.”…

MADRID – At least 300 people who were travelling on three migrant boats from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands have disappeared, migrant aid group Walking Borders said on Sunday. Two boats, one carrying about 65 people and the other with between 50 and 60 on board, have been missing for 15 days since they left Senegal to try to reach Spain, Helena Maleno of Walking Borders told Reuters. A third boat left Senegal on June 27 with about 200 people aboard. The families of those on board have not heard from them since they left, Maleno said. All three boats…

by Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON  –     The U.S. assistant secretary of State for African affairs, Molly Phee, will travel to Addis Ababa on Monday and Tuesday to meet with African leaders and Sudanese civilians on how to end the conflict in Sudan, the State Department said on Sunday. Diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have so far proved ineffective, with competing initiatives creating confusion over how the warring parties might be brought to negotiate. The fighting that erupted on April 15 in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, has driven more than 2.9…

by Joe McDonald BEIJING — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said she agreed Washington will listen to Chinese complaints about security-related curbs on U.S. technology exports and might “respond to unintended consequences” as she ended a visit to Beijing aimed at reviving strained relations. Yellen defended “targeted measures” on trade that China’s leaders complain are aimed at hurting its fledgling tech industries. She said the Biden administration wants to “avoid unnecessary repercussions” but gave no indication of possible changes. Relations between the two biggest economies are at their lowest level in decades due to disputes about technology, security and…

TRIPOLI  -Italy has lifted a 10-year-long ban on Libyan civil aviation using Italian airspace, with flights due to resume from September, the Libyan government said on Sunday. There are currently few airlines operating flights in and out of Libya, a country that has suffered more than a decade of chaos and conflict since Muammar Gaddafi’s downfall in 2011. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni informed her Libyan counterpart Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah of the decision on Sunday, the Libyan government said in a statement. The decision was announced after a meeting between Libyan and Italian officials and after technical teams from both…

ABUJA  –     A Nigerian court has directed President Bola Tinubu’s government to disclose how much in stolen funds it has recovered from late military ruler Sani Abacha and how the money was used, court documents showed on Sunday. Abacha ruled Africa’s most populous nation and top oil exporter from 1993 until his death in 1998, during which time Transparency International estimated that he took up to $5 billion of public money. He was never charged. A Nigerian rights group asked the High Court in the federal capital Abuja to force the government to account for Abacha’s loot since…

by Philip Pullella Pope Francis on Sunday announced that he would elevate 21 churchmen to the high rank of cardinal, again putting his mark on the group that will one day choose his successor after his death or resignation. The ceremony to install them, known as a consistory, will be held on Sept. 30, the 86-year-old Francis announced during his noon prayer to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square. It will be the ninth consistory called by the pope since his election 10 years ago as the first pontiff from Latin America. The new cardinals come from countries…

by Tim Reynolds LAS VEGAS  — The final numbers for Victor Wembanyama in his Summer League debut: nine points on 2-for-13 shooting, eight rebounds, five blocked shots, three assists. Not on the stat sheet: countless pictures and videos captured on phones, the couple dozen times he applauded teammates, and all the autographs that a very friendly San Antonio Spurs coach named Gregg Popovich signed at halftime for kids and other fans. The Wemby Show is underway. The outcome on Friday night doesn’t matter much and will be forgotten in the next couple days — for the record, the Spurs beat…

YAOUNDE  – Paris St Germain forward Kylian Mbappe is touring his father’s native Cameroon for the first time this week as doubts swirl over his future at the French club. Excited fans gathered at the airport in the capital Yaounde, where the 24-year-old star touched down on Thursday for a three-day tour of the central African nation. “It is an honour for me to be here, to be in the country of my origin, to be with my family and to see the people out there. They have shown me some love,” Mbappe said on Friday after meeting Cameroon’s Prime…

ABUJA  –     Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has ordered the suspension of a newly introduced 10% tax on single-use plastics and excise duty on some locally manufactured products to reduce business costs in Africa’s biggest economy, his spokesman said on Thursday. Nigeria is one of the biggest plastic polluters on the continent, contributing some 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, some of which ends up in the sea, official data shows. Dele Alake said Tinubu signed executive orders suspending a green tax on single-use plastics, including plastic containers and bottles, that was introduced in March.…