POMPANO BEACH, UNITED STATES: US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited a Florida hospital Friday to offer their respects to the victims of a mass shooting that claimed 17 lives at a nearby high school.
The first couple visited Broward Health North Hospital, where a White House official said they would thank medical staff “for their life-saving assistance.”
The pair are also expected to visit the Broward County sheriff’s office “to meet with the law enforcement officials whose bravery helped save lives.”
Trump’s visit to the hospital had not been announced in advance.
The US leader is spending the long President’s Day holiday weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort, which is only about a 45-minute drive from Parkland, where the Valentine’s Day shooting rampage took place.
A troubled former student, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, has confessed to gunning down 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School north on Wednesday, in the country’s worst school massacre since the horror at Sandy Hook six years ago.
In the wake of the attack, Trump has vowed to tackle mental health and school safety, but has yet to make any mention of gun control.
While the latest atrocity has reignited questions about US gun laws, Trump — the first president to have addressed the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby — staunchly opposes any additional controls.
In a televised address to the nation on Thursday, Trump suggested the root cause of the mass shootings that regularly stun the United States was a crisis of mental health — an argument regularly made by opponents of gun curbs.
Since January 2013, there have been at least 291 school shootings across the country — an average of one a week, according to the non-profit group Everytown for Gun Safety
Since the shooting, Trump has faced teary pleas from some relatives of the dead including Lori Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed.
“We need action! Action! Action!” Alhadeff urged in an interview with CNN, addressing Trump as the father of an 11-year-old son of his own.
“Let’s protect Barron, and let’s also protect all these other kids here in Parkland, in Florida, and everyone everywhere else,” she said.
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Trump visits Florida hospital to pay respects after shooting
Trump visits Florida hospital to pay respects after shooting
Moderate candidate wins emphatically over a populist in Portugal’s presidential runoff
LISBON: Center-left Socialist candidate António José Seguro recorded a thumping victory over hard-right populist André Ventura in Portugal’s runoff presidential election Sunday, according to official results with 99 percent of votes counted.
Seguro won a five-year term in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with 66.7 percent of votes, compared with 33.3 percent for Ventura.
The ballot was an opportunity to test the depth of support for Ventura’s brash style, which has struck a chord with voters and helped make his Chega (Enough) party the second-biggest in the Portuguese parliament, as well as gauge the public appetite for Europe’s increasing shift to the right in recent years.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Seguro and said on social media that “Portugal’s voice for our shared European values remains strong.”
Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, positioned himself as a moderate candidate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority government, repudiating Ventura’s anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades.
He won the backing of other mainstream politicians on the left and right who want to halt the rising populist tide.
In Portugal, the president is largely a figurehead with no executive power. Traditionally, the head of state stands above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.
However, the president is an influential voice and possesses some powerful tools, being able to veto legislation from parliament, although the veto can be overturned. The head of state also possesses what in Portuguese political jargon is called an “atomic bomb,” the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections.
In May, Portugal held its third general election in three years in the country’s worst bout of political instability for decades, and steadying the ship is a key challenge for the next president.
Ventura, an eloquent and theatrical politician, rejected political accommodation in favor of a more combative stance.
Ventura said he will keep working to bring about a political “transformation” in Portugal.
“I tried to show there’s a different way … that we needed a different kind of president,” he told reporters.
Making it through to the runoff was already a milestone for Ventura and his party, which have recalibrated Portuguese politics.
One of Ventura’s main targets has been what he calls excessive immigration, as foreign workers have become more conspicuous in Portugal in recent years.
“Portugal is ours,” he said.
During the campaign, Ventura put up billboards across the country saying, “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare.”
Although he founded his party less than seven years ago, its surge in public support made it the second-largest party in Portugal’s parliament in the May 18 general election.
Seguro will next month replace center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the constitutional limit of two five-year terms.
Seguro won a five-year term in Lisbon’s riverside “pink palace” with 66.7 percent of votes, compared with 33.3 percent for Ventura.
The ballot was an opportunity to test the depth of support for Ventura’s brash style, which has struck a chord with voters and helped make his Chega (Enough) party the second-biggest in the Portuguese parliament, as well as gauge the public appetite for Europe’s increasing shift to the right in recent years.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Seguro and said on social media that “Portugal’s voice for our shared European values remains strong.”
Seguro, a longstanding Socialist politician, positioned himself as a moderate candidate who will cooperate with Portugal’s center-right minority government, repudiating Ventura’s anti-establishment and anti-immigrant tirades.
He won the backing of other mainstream politicians on the left and right who want to halt the rising populist tide.
In Portugal, the president is largely a figurehead with no executive power. Traditionally, the head of state stands above the political fray, mediating disputes and defusing tensions.
However, the president is an influential voice and possesses some powerful tools, being able to veto legislation from parliament, although the veto can be overturned. The head of state also possesses what in Portuguese political jargon is called an “atomic bomb,” the power to dissolve parliament and call early elections.
In May, Portugal held its third general election in three years in the country’s worst bout of political instability for decades, and steadying the ship is a key challenge for the next president.
Ventura, an eloquent and theatrical politician, rejected political accommodation in favor of a more combative stance.
Ventura said he will keep working to bring about a political “transformation” in Portugal.
“I tried to show there’s a different way … that we needed a different kind of president,” he told reporters.
Making it through to the runoff was already a milestone for Ventura and his party, which have recalibrated Portuguese politics.
One of Ventura’s main targets has been what he calls excessive immigration, as foreign workers have become more conspicuous in Portugal in recent years.
“Portugal is ours,” he said.
During the campaign, Ventura put up billboards across the country saying, “This isn’t Bangladesh” and “Immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to live on welfare.”
Although he founded his party less than seven years ago, its surge in public support made it the second-largest party in Portugal’s parliament in the May 18 general election.
Seguro will next month replace center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has served the constitutional limit of two five-year terms.
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