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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2017
WORLD IN BRIEF
Cheering Zimbabweans
greet country’s new
leader Mnangagwa
Associated Press
Egypt: Militants kill at
least 235 in attack on
Sinai mosque
EL-ARISH, Egypt — Militants attacked a
crowded mosque during prayers in the Sinai
Peninsula today, setting off explosives, spraying
worshippers with gunfire and killing at least 235
people in the deadliest ever attack by Islamic
extremists in Egypt.
The attack targeted a mosque frequented
by Sufis, members of Islam’s mystical move-
ment, in the north Sinai town of Bir al-Abd.
Islamic militants, including the local affiliate of
the Islamic State group, consider Sufis heretics
because of their less literal interpretations of the
faith.
The startling bloodshed, which also wounded
at least 109, was the latest sign of how more than
three years of fighting in Sinai has been unable
to crush an insurgency waged by the IS affiliate.
Seeking to spread the violence, the militants the
past year have carried out deadly bombings on
churches in the capital, Cairo, and other cities,
killing dozens of Christians. The affiliate also is
believed to have been behind the 2016 down-
ing of a Russian passenger jet that killed 226
people.
But this was the first major militant attack
on a Muslim mosque, and it eclipsed any past
attacks of its kind, even dating back to a pre-
vious Islamic militant insurgency in the 1990s.
Trump signals welfare
reform is next, with
details to come
WASHINGTON — Welfare reform was one
of the defining issues of President Bill Clinton’s
presidency, starting with a campaign promise to
“end welfare as we know it,” continuing with
a bitter policy fight and producing an overhaul
law that remains hotly debated 20 years later.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
President Donald Trump prepares to hand
out sandwiches to U.S. Coast Guard mem-
bers at the Lake Worth Inlet Station on
Thanksgiving in Riviera Beach, Fla.
Now, President Donald Trump wants to put
his stamp on the welfare system.
Trump, who has been signaling interest in
the issue for some time, said today at a Cabinet
meeting that he wants to tackle welfare reform
after the tax overhaul he is seeking by the end
of the year. He said changes were “desperately
needed in our country” and that his administra-
tion would soon offer plans.
For now, the president has not offered details.
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said
more specifics were likely early next year. But
the groundwork has already begun at the White
House and Trump has made his interest known
to Republican lawmakers.
Paul Winfree, director of budget policy and
deputy director of the Domestic Policy Coun-
cil, told a gathering at the conservative Heri-
tage Foundation last week that he and another
staffer had been charged with “working on a
major welfare reform proposal,” adding that
they have drafted an executive order on the
topic that would outline administration prin-
ciples and direct agencies to come up with
recommendations.
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Exuberant Zimba-
bweans greeted the swearing-in today of new
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who takes
power after an extraordinary series of events
that ousted the world’s oldest head of state.
Mnangagwa, fired earlier this month as
vice president, will lead after the resignation of
93-year-old Robert Mugabe, who succumbed
to pressure to quit from the military, the ruling
party and massive demonstrations amid fears
his unpopular wife would succeed him.
A smiling Mnangagwa greeted a stadium
crowd of tens of thousands with a raised fist, and
he promised to devote himself to the well-be-
ing of the people. The military, fresh from put-
ting Mugabe under house arrest just days ago,
quickly swore its loyalty to the new leader.
Mnangagwa, a former justice and defense
minister, was a key Mugabe confidant for
decades until they fell out because of the pres-
idential ambitions of Mugabe’s wife, Grace.
Despite his long association with the govern-
ment that has presided over Zimbabwe’s decline,
including economic collapse and human rights
abuses, Mnangagwa has promised democracy
and reached out to other countries for help.
Mugabe, one of Africa’s last remaining liber-
ation leaders, quit Tuesday amid impeachment
proceedings. In the end, he was isolated and
showing few of the political skills that kept him
in power for 37 years and made him a promi-
nent but polarizing figure on the world stage. He
had led since Zimbabwe’s independence from
white minority rule in 1980.
Pakistan releases US-
wanted militant suspect
on court order
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities
acting on a court order released a U.S.-wanted
militant today who allegedly founded a banned
group linked to the 2008 Mumbai, India attack
that killed 168 people, his spokesman and offi-
cials said.
Hafiz Saeed, who has been designated a terror-
ist by the U.S. Justice Department and has a $10
million bounty on his head, was released before
dawn after the court this week ended his detention
in the eastern city of Lahore.
The move outraged Indian authorities, but
Saeed’s spokesman Yahya Mujahid confirmed his
release, calling it a “victory of truth.”
“Hafiz Saeed was under house arrest on base-
less allegations and jail officials came to his home
last night and told him that he is now free,” he
said.
Saeed ran the Jamaat-ud-Dawa organization,
widely believed to be a front for the Lashkar-e-
Taiba militant group, which India believes was
behind the deadly attack in Mumbai.
Sound heard in
Argentine sub search
was likely explosion
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — An appar-
ent explosion occurred near the time and place an
Argentine submarine went missing, the country’s
navy reported Thursday, prompting relatives of
the vessel’s 44 crew members to burst into tears
and some to say they had lost hope of a rescue.
Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the search
will continue until there is full certainty about the
fate of the ARA San Juan, despite the evidence of
an explosion and with more than a week having
passed since the submarine disappeared. It was
originally scheduled to arrive Monday at Argen-
tina’s Mar del Plata Navy Base.
The U.S. Navy and an international nuclear test-
ban monitoring organization said a “hydro-acous-
tic anomaly” was produced just hours after the
navy lost contact with the sub on Nov. 15. It was
near the submarine’s last known location.
“According to this report, there was an explo-
sion,” Balbi told reporters. “We don’t know what
caused an explosion of these characteristics at this
site on this date.”
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