WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has praised the contributions of Muslim immigrants to the US, saying any effort to discriminate against the Islamic faith plays into the hands of terrorists.
“Muslim Americans are as patriotic, as integrated, as American as any other members of the American family,” Obama said at a White House reception.
“Whether your family has been here for generations or you’re a new arrival, you’re an essential part of the fabric of our country,” he said.
The Obama administration has faced criticism for its plan to admit as many as 10,000 Syrian refugees to the US this year, with some Republicans warning that violent militants could enter the country posing as refugees.
While not naming Donald Trump specifically, Obama said that discriminatory policies against Muslims are an affront the “values that already make our nation great.”
Trump, who will be giving his official acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, has used “make America great again” as his campaign slogan.
“Singling out Muslim Americans, moreover, feeds the lie of terrorists like Daesh, that the West is somehow at war with a religion that includes over a billion adherents,” Obama said. “That’s not smart national security.”
Discrimination against US Muslims an affront of our values: Obama
Discrimination against US Muslims an affront of our values: Obama
Ukraine says received 1,003 bodies from Russia
- The Russian side had received the remains of 26 killed Russian soldiers
KYIV: Kyiv said on Friday that it had received from Russia more than 1,000 remains of people that Moscow said were Ukrainian soldiers killed fighting the Kremlin’s army.
The exchange of prisoners of war and the remains of killed soldiers is one of the few remaining areas of cooperation between Kyiv and Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
“Today, repatriation activities took place. 1,003 bodies, which the Russian side claims belong to Ukrainian servicemen, have been returned to Ukraine,” Kyiv’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said in a statement on social media.
Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky confirmed an exchange between Moscow and Kyiv had taken place, writing on Telegram that the Russian side had received the remains of 26 killed Russian soldiers.
Medinsky said the exchange was made possible as part of agreements struck between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul earlier this year.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since Russia invaded, though neither side regularly publishes data on their own casualties.
