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“Everything Will Be Revealed,” Trump Orders Release Of Last JFK, RFK, King Assassination Files

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US President Donald Trump ordered the declassification Thursday of the last secret files on the assassination of president John F. Kennedy, a case that still fuels conspiracy theories more than 60 years after his death.

Trump signed an executive order that will also release documents on the 1960s assassinations of JFK’s younger brother Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

That’s big one, huh? A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Trump told reporters as he signed the order in the Oval Office of the White House.

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Everything will be revealed.”

After signing the order, Trump passed the pen he used to an aide, saying “Give that to RFK Jr.,” JFK’s nephew and the current president’s nominee to become secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

READ ALSO: Trump Fires Linda Fagan, First Woman To Lead A US Military Service

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The order Trump signed requires the “full and complete release” of the JFK files, without redactions that he accepted back in 2017 when releasing most of the documents.

“It is in the national interest to finally release all records related to these assassinations without delay,” the order said.

Trump had previously promised to release the last of the files, most recently at his inauguration on Monday.

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– ‘Overwhelming evidence’ –

The US National Archives has released tens of thousands of records in recent years related to the November 22, 1963 assassination of president Kennedy but held thousands back, citing national security concerns.

READ ALSO: Trump To World Business Leaders: Make Your Products In America Or Pay Tariffs

It said at the time of the latest large-scale release, in December 2022, that 97 percent of the Kennedy records — which total five million pages — had now been made public.

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The Warren Commission that investigated the shooting of the charismatic 46-year-old president determined that it was carried out by a former Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone.

But that formal conclusion has done little to quell speculation that a more sinister plot was behind Kennedy’s murder in Dallas, Texas, and the slow release of the government files has added fuel to various conspiracy theories.

Trump’s move is partly a gesture to one of the most prominent backers of those conspiracies — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. himself.

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RFK Jr. said in 2023 there was “overwhelming evidence the CIA was involved” in his uncle JFK’s murder and “very convincing” evidence the agency was also behind the 1968 assassination of his own father, Robert F. Kennedy.

READ ALSO: Trump Vows To Appeal Birthright Citizenship Ruling

The former attorney general was killed while campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian-born Jordanian, was convicted of his murder.

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Anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. was rewarded with the health nod in Trump’s cabinet for dropping his independent presidential bid and backing the Republican, but he faces a rocky nomination process.

– Conspiracy theories –

Thousands of Kennedy assassination-related documents from the National Archives were released during Trump’s first term in office, but he also held some back on national security grounds.

Then-president Joe Biden said at the time of the December 2022 documents release that a “limited” number of files would continue to be held back at the request of unspecified “agencies.”

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Previous requests to withhold documents have come from the CIA and FBI.

READ ALSO: Trump Vows To Appeal Birthright Citizenship Ruling

Kennedy scholars have said the documents still held by the archives are unlikely to contain any bombshell revelations or put to rest the rampant conspiracy theories about the assassination of the 35th US president.

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Oswald, who had at one point defected to the Soviet Union, was shot to death two days after killing Kennedy by a nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, as he was being transferred from the city jail.

Hundreds of books and movies such as the 1991 Oliver Stone film “JFK” have fueled the conspiracy industry, pointing the finger at Cold War rivals Russia or Cuba, the Mafia and even Kennedy’s vice president, Lyndon Johnson.

Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

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James Earl Ray was convicted of the murder and died in prison in 1998 but King’s children have expressed doubts in the past that Ray was the assassins.

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Netanyahu’s Plane Takes Unusual Route To UN Summit

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plane took an unusual route to New York on Thursday, skirting several European countries en route to the United Nations General Assembly.

Although France had authorised Israeli use of its airspace, according to a French diplomatic source who spoke to AFP, flight-tracking data showed Netanyahu’s aircraft instead took a southern path.

It crossed Greece and Italy, then veered south through the Strait of Gibraltar before heading across the Atlantic.

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READ ALSO:Netanyahu Has Become ‘A Problem’, Says Danish PM

Britain, France and Portugal were among a string of countries to recognise a Palestinian state this week, a move Netanyahu bitterly opposes. Ireland and Spain announced their recognition in May.

Israeli media, meanwhile, reported that the detour by Netanyahu’s plane was intended to avoid countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute, which could enforce an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in case of an emergency landing.

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The ICC in November issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes committed during Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

READ ALSO:Fresh World Trouble Looms As Netanyahu Tells Western Leaders ‘There Will Be No Palestinian State’

Spain last week announced it would support the ICC investigation and had set up a team to probe alleged human rights violations in Gaza, as part of its broader push to pressure Israel to end the war.

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Netanyahu is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Friday. He is also slated to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House next week.

AFP

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Japan Scraps ‘Africa Hometown’ Project After Visa Confusion

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The Japan International Cooperation Agency has cancelled its ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ initiative, citing “misunderstandings and confusion” over the programme.

JICA announced the withdrawal in a statement on its website on Thursday, weeks after reports claimed Japan would create a special visa category for Nigerians who wished to relocate to Kisarazu, a city designated as “hometown” to Nigerians and other Africans under the scheme.

On August 26, the Japanese government denied the visa plan after the Director of Information at the State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, issued a statement relaying that Japan would introduce a “special visa category” for highly skilled, innovative, and talented young Nigerians who want to move to Kisarazu to live and work.

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Clarifying its position, JICA said the use of the term “hometown” and the idea of “designating” Japanese municipalities as such led to “misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities.”

READ ALSO:Two Japanese Boxers Die From Brain Injuries At Same Event

The statement read, “Originally, under this initiative, it was envisioned that exchange programs would be coordinated and implemented among the Japanese local governments, relevant African countries, and JICA. The specific details were to be determined later.

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“However, JICA believes that the very nature of this initiative—namely, the term “hometown” and the fact that JICA would ‘designate’ Japanese local Governments as “hometowns”—led to misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities. JICA sincerely apologizes to the municipalities involved for causing such situation.

“JICA takes this situation seriously. After consulting with all parties involved, JICA has decided to withdraw the “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative.”

The initiative was launched in August during the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development with the goal of promoting exchanges between four Japanese municipalities and four African countries through cultural and educational programmes.

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READ ALSO:Japan City Mulls Two-hour Daily Smartphone Limit

JICA, however, stressed that it had never undertaken initiatives to promote immigration and has “no plans to do so in the future,” adding that it would continue supporting other forms of international exchange.

In August, confusion arose after the State House announced that Japan had designated Kisarazu city as the “hometown” for Nigerians and would introduce a special visa category for young, skilled Nigerians wishing to live and work there.

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However, the Japanese government quickly dismissed the claim.

READ ALSO:Japan’s Petabit: What To Know About Internet Speed That Can Download 67 Million Songs In A second

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan clarified that while the JICA Africa Hometown initiative aimed to promote cultural and developmental exchanges between selected African countries and four Japanese cities, it did not involve immigration benefits or special visas.

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The clarification came after Nigeria’s Chargé d’Affaires in Japan, Florence Akinyemi Adeseke, and Kisarazu’s Mayor, Yoshikuni Watanabe, publicly received a certificate naming the city the “hometown” of Nigerians, further fuelling reports of migration opportunities.

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17 African Countries Back Electricity Reforms—World Bank

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The World Bank said seventeen African governments have committed to reforms and actionable plans to expand electricity access as part of Mission 300, an ambitious partnership led by the lender and the African Development Bank Group that aims to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.

The lender said in a statement on Wednesday that governments from Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Comoros, the Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, and Togo endorsed National Energy Compacts at the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum.

The Bank described the compacts as policy blueprints intended to guide public spending, drive reforms, and attract private investment, while serving as a model for the rest of the world.

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Nigeria was not part of the latest group; it had joined earlier this year alongside Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia. Collectively, those countries pledged more than 400 policy actions to strengthen utilities, reduce investor risk, and remove bottlenecks.

READ ALSO:World Bank Appoints Africa’s Richest Man, Dangote

Electricity is the bedrock of jobs, opportunity, and economic growth.

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“That’s why Mission 300 is more than a target; it is forging enduring reforms that slash costs, strengthen utilities, and draw in private investment,” World Bank Group President Ajay Banga said.

Since the launch of Mission 300, 30 million people have already been connected, with more than 100 million in the pipeline.

African Development Bank Group President Dr Sidi Ould Tah said, “Reliable, affordable power is the fastest multiplier for small and medium enterprises, agro-processing, digital work, and industrial value-addition.
“Give a young entrepreneur power, and you’ve given them a paycheck,” he added.

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READ ALSO:FBI Places $10,000 Bounty On Nigerian Wanted For Bank Fraud

National Energy Compacts are at the core of Mission 300, developed and endorsed by governments with technical support from development partners. Tailored to each country’s context, these practical blueprints integrate three core tracks: infrastructure, financing, and policy.

The World Bank Group and the African Development Bank Group are working with partners, including the Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Sustainable Energy for All, and the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program trust fund, to align efforts in support of powering Africa. Many development partners and development finance institutions are also supporting Mission 300 projects through co-financing and technical assistance.

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President of Botswana, Duma Boko, said, “This National Compact is our shared pledge to ensure accessible, reliable and affordable energy as a basic human need, to transform our economy and create jobs, and to electrify our journey to an inclusive high-income country.”

President of the Republic of Cameroon, Paul Biya, said, “The government of the Republic of Cameroon is committed, through its Energy Compact, to a determined transition towards renewable energies, promoting inclusive universal access and sustainable development based on partnerships and ambitious reforms to build a low-carbon future.”

READ ALSO:Police Restores Peace After Bomb Explosion Rocks Imo Community

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President of the Union of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani, noted, “The Comoros Energy Compact is a call for collective action to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030, to ensure the country’s emergence in dignity, equity, and shared progress.”

President of Ethiopia, Taye Atske Selassie, noted, “Our National Energy Compact exemplifies Ethiopia’s unwavering dedication to ensuring universal, affordable, and sustainable energy access for all.

“By unlocking our vast renewable resources and strengthening regional interconnections, we aim to foster inclusive growth domestically and propel Africa’s collective momentum toward ending energy poverty. Together, we are committed to building a resilient, equitable, and sustainable energy future for generations to come.”

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