President Obama says the United States needs to do some soul-searching a week after the acquittal of George Zimmerman who shot dead an unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Jurors decided he was acting in self-defence. The case has led to a nationwide discussion about race and self-defence laws in the US. At a news conference, Mr Obama said he himself could have been Trayvon Martin 35 years ago and there were good reasons why there was a lot of pain in the black community.
"I think it’s important to recognise that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and history that doesn’t go away.”
Mr Obama also said it raised questions about racial profiling.
"If a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.”
Inter-ethnic violence in South Sudan has caused a humanitarian crisis forcing at least 100, 000 refugees to flee their homes, according to estimates by Médecins sans Frontières. A video filmed by a UN peacekeeper shows a huge column of men allegedly returning from fighting stretching from horizon to horizon. Fighting between the Lou Nuer and Murle communities began earlier this month in Jonglei state.
World News from the BBC
Three associates of the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have been found guilty of procuring prostitutes for his parties. They were sentenced by a court in Milan for finding young women willing to have sex for money on what became known as “bunga bunga” evenings at Mr Berlusconi’s home. The three, a television presenter, a showgirl-turned-politician and a failed showbusiness agent were given prison sentences of between five and seven years.