LONDON: The mother of a backpacker slain in an Australian hostel wrote an open letter to US President Donald Trump, rejecting the decision to label her daughter’s death as a terror attack.
The August slayings of Mia Ayliffe-Chung, 20, and fellow Briton Tom Jackson, 30, were on a list of 78 attacks the White House says were “executed or inspired by” the Daesh militant group — and under-reported by the media.
Rosie Ayliffe says the possibility of terrorism was discounted early in the investigation.
“My daughter’s death will not be used to further this insane persecution of innocent people,” she wrote.
Police in Australia said there was no indication the assault was motivated by extremism. They have said they are investigating whether Ayad, who is French and was 29 years old at the time of killing, had a romantic obsession with Ayliffe-Chung.
Ayad’s lawyer told a court in October that her client had been given a preliminary diagnosis of schizophrenia. The case has been referred to the Queensland state Mental Health Court, which determines whether a person is competent to stand trial.
The attack took place in front of dozens of backpackers at a hostel in northern Queensland. Ayliffe-Chung was found dead at the scene. Jackson tried to stop the attack and was fatally wounded.
“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,” Ayliffe wrote.
Mother of backpacker slain in Australia criticizes Trump
Mother of backpacker slain in Australia criticizes Trump
Single ‘digital nation-state’ is not a far-fetched notion, Melania Trump tells UN Security Council
- US first lady argues that AI and global connectivity could reshape education, help reduce conflict and empower children worldwide
- Societies rooted in knowledge foster innovation, tolerance and moral reasoning, while those shaped by ignorance risk disorder and conflict, she says
NEW YORK CITY: The idea of a single digital nation-state is “not so far-fetched,” US First Lady Melania Trump told the UN Security Council on Monday.
She argued that artificial intelligence and global connectivity could reshape education, help reduce conflict and empower children worldwide.
The US holds the rotating presidency of the council for March, and as she presided over its first meeting of the month Trump said technology was erasing borders and creating what she described as a shared intellectual future.
“Perhaps this idea isn’t so far-fetched,” she said, pointing to the rise of digital currencies, blockchain-based payment systems, and AI-driven databases she argued were already transforming media and financial markets.
Trump thanked the US’s fellow council members — the UK, France, Russia, China, Greece, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Panama, Liberia, Somalia, Colombia, Pakistan, Bahrain and Latvia — for their role in efforts to maintain international security.
The responsibility for preventing conflict “must be applied evenly and should never be carried out lightly,” she said. Her remarks focused in particular on the role of education as the foundation of peace and stability.
“A nation that makes learning sacred protects its books, its language, its science and its mathematics. It protects its future,” Trump said, arguing that societies rooted in knowledge foster innovation, tolerance and moral reasoning, while those shaped by ignorance risk disorder and conflict.
Education is widely recognized as a fundamental human right, she added, yet many children and young adults around the world remain barred from the chance to attend high school or university. The losses arising from this squandered potential, from potential medical breakthroughs to possible advances in food security and technology, are borne not only by the individual countries involved but by humanity as a whole, she said.
Trump called for the expansion of global access to technology to help bridge the digital divide, noting that about 6 billion people, 70 percent of the world’s population, now use mobile devices and the internet.
“If our nations band together, we can close the technological divide,” she said, describing a world in which a farmer on a remote Greek island, a student in Somalia and a resident of New York City can all tap into centuries of accumulated human knowledge.
AI was democratizing access to information once confined to university libraries, she added, and redefining participation in the global “economy of ideas.”
She continued: “Conflict arises from ignorance. Knowledge creates understanding, replacing fear with peace and unity.”
Trump called on council members to safeguard learning and promote access to higher education, urging them to “build a future generation of leaders who embrace peace through education.”
She added: “The path to peace depends on us taking responsibility to empower our children through education and technology.”
