• Britain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, along with their infant son, Archie, are set to take their first official tour as a family, starting Monday in South Africa, whose president says women and children are "under siege" by violence. South Africa is still shaken by the rape and murder of a university student, carried out in a post office, that sparked protests by thousands of women tired of abuse and impunity in a country where more than 100 rapes are reported every day. This is "one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman," President Cyril Ramaphosa said Wednesday. Empowering women is one of the problems Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will address on a 10-day, multicountry visit, along with wildlife protection, entrepreneurship, mental health and landmine clearance -- a topic given global attention by Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, when she walked through an active mine field during an Africa visit years ago. Some in South Africa said they are happy to see the arrival of Meghan, who has been vocal about women's rights and is likely to speak out again. The government has reported that more than 2,700 women were murdered last year as well as more than 1,000 children. It also reports that one in five women over age 18 has faced physical violence from a partner. Despite the recent unrest, the royal family likely will focus on the positive. Harry and Meghan also will visit the oldest mosque in South Africa and meet with Nobel Peace Prize winner and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A "rare privilege and honor," Tutu and his wife, Leah, said Thursday.
• Madeleine Albright said during a Missouri speech that democracy worldwide "appears to be in retreat." The 82-year-old former secretary of state who served during President Bill Clinton's administration spoke Thursday at Westminster College in Fulton, the site of Winston Churchill's famous "Iron Curtain" speech in 1946. Albright said the United States should engage with the world, not isolate itself, adding that President Donald Trump is helping to dismantle a world order embraced by presidents of both political parties since the end of World War II. "Because Missouri is the Show-Me State, I feel I must be blunt: Today we have a president who has become a source of comfort to anti-democratic forces across the globe, instead of rebutting and challenging them," Albright said to applause. Albright said current U.S. foreign policy echoes its post-World War I attitude, when many "embraced protectionism, downplayed the rise of fascism, opposed help to the victims of oppression and ultimately endangered our world's security."
A Section on 09/21/2019