WASHINGTON — US President Donald J. Trump suggested arming teachers to deter future mass shootings as he held an emotional meeting Wednesday at the White House with survivors of the gun rampage that left 17 people dead at a Florida high school.

Mr. Trump also promised “very strong” background checks on gun owners during the poignant “listening session,” in which he heard first-hand accounts from bereaved parents and friends, and schoolchildren who narrowly escaped with their own lives.

“A gun-free zone, to a maniac — because they are all cowards — a gun-free zone is ‘Let’s go in and let’s attack,” Mr. Trump said.

“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly,” Mr. Trump said, suggesting that 20% of a school’s teachers could be trained to carry concealed weapons.

“This would only be obviously for people who are very adept at handling a gun,” Mr. Trump added.

The televised White House meeting came as students staged street protests across the country to demand stricter gun laws following the murder of 14 teens and three teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Holding signs reading “Never Again” and “Be The Adults, Do Something,” teenaged survivors of last Wednesday’s shooting rallied outside the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee.

“No longer can I walk the halls I walked millions of times before without fear and sadness,” Stoneman Douglas student Florence Yared told a crowd that included thousands of supporters.

‘MY DAUGHTER HAS NO VOICE’
“No longer can I walk the halls without imagining bloodstains and dead bodies,” the 17-year-old junior said. “All because of the damage that a single AR-15 rifle caused.”

The White House meeting was attended by Stoneman Douglas students, their parents and also the parents of victims of the Columbine, Sandy Hook and other shootings.

Andrew Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow was among the Stoneman Douglas victims, told Mr. Trump it was far too easy for people such as the 19-year-old shooter gunman Nikolas Cruz to acquire weapons.

“I’m here because my daughter has no voice. She was murdered last week and she was taken from us, shot nine times,” he said. “We as a country failed our children. This shouldn’t happen.

“We protect airports. We protect concerts, stadiums, embassies,” Mr. Pollack said, his voice seething with rage. “I can’t get on a plane with a bottle of water, but we leave some animal to walk into a school.”

Justin Gruber, a 15-year-old Stoneman Douglas student, said “there needs to be significant change in this country because this has to never happen again.

“People should be able to feel that when they go to school they can be safe,” Mr. Gruber said.

Samuel Zeif, who lost a close friend at Stoneman Douglas last Wednesday, said it was important to “be strong for the fallen who don’t have a voice to speak anymore.”

“Let’s never let this happen again. Please,” he told the president, later adding: “I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war.”

Urgent calls for action following the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, which left 20 children and six teachers dead, had failed to break the national deadlock on gun control.

But students have vowed to make the Parkland tragedy a turning point, with youths inspired on social media by the activism of their peers staging walkouts from high schools in Florida and elsewhere on Wednesday.

‘NRA HAS GOT TO GO’
Hundreds of students descended on city hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and marched in other cities, including Chicago, the Midwestern metropolis racked by gun violence.

In Washington, hundreds more gathered outside the White House chanting slogans against the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful gun lobby, and demanding action from Trump.

“Hey hey, ho ho, the NRA has got to go,” they chanted.

Students are planning a march on Washington on March 24, with sister rallies planned across the country.

Mr. Trump — who received strong backing from the NRA during his White House run — has shown a new-found willingness to take at least some steps on gun control following the Parkland shooting.

The president threw his support Tuesday behind moves to ban “bump stocks” — an accessory that allows a semi-automatic rifle to be fired nearly as fast as an automatic weapon.

But his suggestion of arming teachers drew immediate scorn from the founder of the advocacy group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

“I’m honestly gobsmacked that the President just used a forum with gun violence survivors to pimp the @NRA’s priority legislation and to suggest arming teachers,” tweeted Shannon Watts.

The idea of countering school shootings with additional weapons is already being put in place in Broward County, where Stoneman Douglas is located.

Sheriff Scott Israel announced Tuesday that “deputies who are qualified and trained will be carrying rifles on school grounds from this point forward.”

The US Congress has long been deadlocked on the gun debate, accomplishing nothing despite a spate of mass shootings and polls showing that Americans support stricter gun laws by a two-to-one margin. — AFP

TOKYO — Oil that reached islands in southern Japan earlier this month is highly likely to have come from the sunken Iranian tanker Sanchi, the Japan Coast Guard said on Thursday.

Samples of oily matter that washed up on Feb. 8 on the shores of the Okinoerabu and Yoron islands in the Amami chain were found to be linked to the Sanchi’s sinking, the Coast Guard said.

The Sanchi sank on Jan. 14 after colliding with a freighter on Jan. 6 in the world’s worst oil tanker disaster in decades.

“Oily matter that arrived at the shores of the two islands is extremely likely to be linked to the Sanchi tanker incident, considering the similarity of the oil and the fact that there has not been any marine disaster involving oil spill in the nearby sea area,” a Coast Guard official told Reuters by phone on Thursday.

Black clumps of oily matter first washed up on the shores of Takarajima island on Jan. 28 and other matter has since arrived at 21 other islands in southwestern Japan that are part of a chain of islands that includes Amami-Oshima and Okinawa, areas famous for pristine beaches and reef systems.

The Sanchi, which the Coast Guard said was carrying 111,000 tons, or about 810,000 barrels, of condensate — an ultra-light, highly flammable crude oil — sank after several explosions weakened the hull following the collision.

Most of the fuel evaporated after the ship caught fire.

The bodies of two sailors were recovered from the ship while a third body was pulled from the sea near the vessel. The remaining 29 crew of the ship are presumed dead.

On Jan. 17, the Chinese government said the sunken tanker had created two oil slicks.

Japan’s environment ministry said in January it saw little chance that the spill would reach Japanese shores.

Seawater samples taken from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 at 14 different locations offshore southern Japan detected no oil pollution from the sunken tanker, the Coast Guard said in a statement on Wednesday.

An oil slick continues to be seen near where the Sanchi sank. The slick is located about 315 km (197 miles) west of Amami-Oshima island and is about 700 meters long and 20 meters wide, though oil has been evaporating from the fringes, the Coast Guard said in a statement on Thursday.

Japanese and Chinese patrol boats have been searching for the missing crew in the area and sailing over the slick to try to dissipate the oil, it added. — Reuters

SEOUL — North Korea will send another high-level delegation to South Korea for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics closing ceremony, officials said on Thursday, including the man blamed for the 2010 sinking of a South Korean navy ship that killed 46 sailors.

The latest visit by officials from the normally reclusive North will coincide with a US delegation led by President Donald J. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.

The North Korean delegation will be led by Kim Yong Chol, vice-chairman of the Party Central Committee, and will stay for three days from Sunday, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said in a statement.

Kim Yong Chol is in charge of inter-Korean affairs in the North. He was also chief of the North’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, a top military intelligence body, which Seoul blamed for the deadly sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean navy corvette, in 2010.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the North’s nuclear and missile programs in 2010 and 2016 respectively. However, South Korea decided to accept the North’s Olympics delegations for the good of the Games, a presidential official in Seoul said on condition of anonymity.

The official said South Korea had informed the US of the pending visit and they were in talks about Kim Yong Chol’s entry into the South.

Ri Son Gwon will travel with Kim Yong Chol for the Games closing ceremony. Mr. Ri, also involved in inter-Korean affairs, accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister on her visit for the Games opening ceremony this month.

The eight-member delegation, including six staffers, will travel by road and will meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in during their visit, the Blue House official said, without specifying when.

Ivanka Trump will dine with Mr. Moon at the Blue House on Friday night and she has no plans to meet North Korean officials, a senior US administration official said.

“There is no official opportunity for them to meet,” the official said.

US Vice-President Mike Pence attended the Games opening ceremony and had been scheduled to meet Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, before the North Koreans canceled at the last minute, US officials said. — Reuters