A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces fires a weapon in Baghouz, Deir Al Zor province, March 3. U.S.-backed fighters have slowed an offensive to take Islamic State's last enclave in eastern Syria because a small number of civilians remain there, though fierce fighting continues, they said on Monday. REUTERS/Rodi Said
In 2014, Russia-backed separatists made their grab for power in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula as well as the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, sparking a conflict in the southeast of the country that has left some 13,000 dead, 30,000 wounded, and more than 1 million displaced.
In those early days and years, these were some of the figures wielding influence on the Russia-backed side. What has been their fate five years later?
WNU Editor: Other separatist leaders include Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), who was assassinated last August. Commander Mikhail Tolstykh, better known by his nom de guerre Givi, who was assassinated in 2017. The more interesting story is who has replaced all of these leaders. Unfortunately, coverage on those people have been very sparse, and probably deliberately so.
Leader of opposition Batkivshchyna party and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko attends an interview with Reuters in Kiev, Ukraine February 28, 2019. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Yulia Tymoshenko was once Europe's best-known political prisoner. Now, five years after the revolution in Ukraine, she is hoping to win the country's presidential election. Is she too rooted in the old system to win?
Yulia Tymoshenko scares people, and she knows it. In early February, the Ukrainian politician spoke to European business representatives in Kiev. She was clad in a gray outfit with her hair tied up in a bun, as she prefers wearing it these days. Addressing the audience for a full hour, she explained why she wants to become president of Ukraine. She spoke about her plans to amend the constitution and touched on issues such as taxes, real estate and foreign policy. At the end of the meeting, Tymoshenko took the floor again to make a couple of additional points. First, she said, I don't eat small children. Second, I don't act illogically.
WNU Editor: She is presently running third in the polls, and I do not see her gaining enough support that would put her in one of the top two positions for the final run-off election in April. I also do not see her having enough votes to play a "king-maker" role, where her support may swing the balance in the second and final run-off election. But I should remind everyone (including myself) that this is Ukraine. Corruption and politics walk hand to hand in Ukraine, and anything is possible.
A Hsiung Feng-3 anti-ship missile is fired from the Tuo Jiang stealth corvette, one of the many missiles the US is determined to have the technology to intercept. Photo: Handout
There is evidence that points in that direction, but foreign cooperation is being ruled out for now.
There is growing evidence that the US Defense Department is reviving space-based missile defense, ostensibly to counter the rise in hypersonic missiles, which can allegedly bypass conventional missile defense systems including Patriot, THAAD, Ground-Based Mid-Course Interceptor and sea and land-based SM-3 Aegis-type interceptors.
That's because of the speed and maneuverability of hypersonic missiles such as Russia's Zircon 3M22 sub or ship-launched hypersonic missile and others that may be in the Russian pipeline. China also is actively testing hypersonic platforms.
Last year China tested three hypersonic models – labeled D18-1S, D-18-2S and D-18-3S – and a hypersonic glider that can be launched by a rocket, called Starry Sky 2 (Xing-Kong-2), a "wave-rider" platform that rides its own shock waves.
WNU Editor: Developments in hypersonic missile defense has changed the playing field. I would be surprised if the U.S. is not seriously looking at reviving space-based missile defense.
The U.S. military has hired Microsoft to develop an augmented reality technology that would help soldiers find and kill targets. (The U.S. Army/YouTube)
Google, Microsoft and others are building products with military applications
Last Sunday, Microsoft unveiled HoloLens 2, a set of goggles that can project interactive holographic images in front of the user.
The tech giant is pitching it as a tool for education and training in medicine and manufacturing. But another purpose for the tool has some within the company up in arms.
A group of Microsoft workers is protesting the contract their employer signed with the U.S. military to provide the HoloLens technology for use in combat. The deal is worth $480 million US.
WNU Editor: Here is an easy prediction. Even though many Silicon Valley employees are against developing tech with military applications, it is going to continue to grow.
China has accused detained Canadian citizen Michael Kovrig of stealing state secrets that were passed on to him from another detained Canadian, Michael Spavor, in what is likely to further ramp up tension between Ottawa and Beijing.
Businessman Mr Spavor, who worked with North Korea, and former diplomat Mr Kovrig were picked up in early December, shortly after Canada arrested Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who faces extradition to the United States.
China has repeatedly demanded Ms Meng be released, and reacted angrily last week when Canada's Government approved extradition proceedings against her.
As confrontation on the ground escalated, India and Pakistan scrambled to control domestic and international narratives.
The military escalation between India and Pakistan appears to be winding down for now. On Friday, Islamabad handed over Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, whose plane the Pakistan Air Force had shot down two days earlier.
New Delhi declared it is committed to "maintaining peace and stability in the region", suggesting it is not planning any more air attacks deep in Pakistan's territory.
Meanwhile, crossfire on the Line of Control (LoC), which divides Indian- from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, has also decreased.
DEIR AL-ZOR PROVINCE, Syria (Reuters) - Some 200 Islamic State fighters surrendered after a ferocious battle over their last shred of territory in eastern Syria, but around 1,000 may still be holding out, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed Syrian force battling them said on Monday.
The jihadist group faces defeat in Baghouz on the banks of the Euphrates, but it still holds remote pockets of land further west and has launched guerrilla attacks in other areas where it has lost control.
Baghouz, a collection of hamlets and farmland near the border with Iraq, is the last patch of populated territory Islamic State (IS) still holds in the area straddling the two countries where it declared a caliphate in 2014.
President Hugo Chávez may have died six years ago but he is still watching over the Venezuelan capital. Wherever you go, you spot abstract images of his eyes graffitied on buildings.
In the poor neighbourhood of 23 de enero, in the east of Caracas, his presence is even greater. It was here that the former leader organised a failed coup attempt in 1992.
It is known as a traditional Chavista stronghold. Chávez graffiti and propaganda are sprayed on to many a wall.
Marcos Lobos, 58, is one of Hugo Chávez's biggest fans. He lives in a 14-storey block of flats that is overlooked by the barracks where Chávez launched his coup and where the late leader was laid to rest after dying of cancer in 2013.
Born and brought up in 23 de enero, Mr Lobos' entire family lives in the same block. On the building's front wall, there's a stencil that reads "Chávez, the heart of my homeland".
WNU Editor: Aside from those who are over 50 and profiled in the above BBC post, senior military officers and elite forces, local militia leaders and their followers, and those who have high positions in the government and/or in Maduro's political party .... no one else is going to stand by and support this government. The breaking point will arrive when military officers below the rank of Colonel start to rebel and join the mob, and militia leaders and their armed followers decide that it would be best to flee when they lose their military backing. And as for the die-hard Chavez supporters .... they are on the wrong side of history, and they will never acknowledge it.
A Burkinabe police officer with the Special Intervention Unit fires his AK-47 rifle during a simulated terrorist attack as part of exercise Flintlock 2019 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Feb. 27, 2019.
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO — The United States and its allies are not winning the counterterrorism war for the Sahel, the head of U.S. special operations forces in Africa told VOA Thursday.
"I would tell you at this time, we are not winning," U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Marcus Hicks, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command Africa, said Thursday on the sidelines of Flintlock, a major U.S.-led military exercise in the region. The exercise involves about 2,000 commandoes from more than 30 African and Western countries.
The host of this year's exercise, Burkina Faso, is battling an insurgency from several al-Qaida-linked groups, particularly in the past several months.
* The Kurdish SDF say the battle for Baghouz 'will be over soon' despite the use of human shields by ISIS * A fire storm rained down over the weekend as the Kurds resumed their shelling of the last stronghold in Syria * Hundreds of ISIS extremists are cowering behind women and children in the starving, disease-riddled town * Some 150 militants, including foreign jihadists, are now understood to have surrendered to US-backed forces
ISIS militants are using civilians as human shields in the fight against US-backed troops in their last remaining Syrian stronghold.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its allies from the US-led coalition rained down a fire storm over the weekend on the dregs of the regime at Baghouz in eastern Syria.
Spokesman for the Kurdish SDF forces Mustafa Bali said that the battle 'will be over soon' despite a painstaking effort to evacuate women and children from the town.
An SDF official said today that some 500 people, including ISIS fighters, have surrendered and evacuated the village and its surrounding areas, with 200 more expected to leave later on.
Much the West's chagrin, Pakistan's decision to release a captured Indian fighter pilot did surprisingly little to de-escalate tensions with India. And as deadly shelling along the heavily militarized "line of control" continues, it's becoming apparent that the most anxiety-provoking outbreak of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors isn't just going to resolve itself.
And as world powers jockey to mediate the conflict, the opening of a factory in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where hundreds of thousands of AK-203s will be produced might portend an important development in the conflict: As Washington urges New Delhi to embrace a more peaceful tact, and other Western powers (like the UK) have tried to pressure Pakistan, Moscow is aligning itself closer to India.
1. @nytimesworld you can draw your own conclusions, but dont basic reporting guidelines mean you at least report the detailed Indian claim that the IAF MiG 21 Bison shot down an F-16 before being downed itself ? https://t.co/7qNPw5F9qs
The aerial clash, the first by the South Asian rivals in nearly five decades, was a rare test for the Indian military — and it left observers a bit dumbfounded.
NEW DELHI: It was an inauspicious moment for a military the United States is banking on to help keep an expanding China in check.
An Indian Air Force pilot found himself in a dogfight last week with a warplane from the Pakistani Air Force, and ended up a prisoner behind enemy lines for a brief time.
The pilot made it home in one piece, however bruised and shaken, but the plane, an aging Soviet-era MiG-21, was less lucky.
The aerial clash, the first by the South Asian rivals in nearly five decades, was a rare test for the Indian military — and it left observers a bit dumbfounded. While the challenges faced by the India's armed forces are no secret, its loss of a plane last week to a country whose military is about half the size and receives a quarter of the funding was still telling.
If intense warfare broke out tomorrow, India could supply its troops with only 10 days of ammunition, according to government estimates. And 68 percent of the army's equipment is so old, it is officially considered "vintage."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in the Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty with the United States, the Kremlin said. Key points:
Russia announced last month it was suspending the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty after the United States said it would withdraw because of violations by Moscow.
Russia denies flouting the accord and has accused Washington of breaking the accord itself, allegations rejected by the United States.
It's not the U.S., even if Moscow's chief military strategist thinks the Pentagon's goal is regime change.
Russian and U.S. generals have made no secret lately of the fact that they each view other as their No. 1 adversary.
Modern weaponry plays a big role in these mutual threats. But Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov is now fretting that the U.S. will deploy a "Trojan horse" strategy of fostering a fifth column within Russia and its allies. That the general should be looking so publicly over his shoulder at his own people should trouble citizens.
Read more .... WNU Editor: From the Kremlin perspective, there has been nothing but regime change in eastern Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. So why not Russia? Coupled with the Kremlin position that it is the West that is responsible for all of this change in Eastern Europe, including former states of the Soviet Union breaking away from Moscow, the fear of history repeating itself but this time within Russia is very real. I personally find this view point among many of my generation (I am in my late 50s) very frustrating, and definitely short-sighted. But there is hope for the future. Russia's younger generations do not have this viewpoint, and they certainly do not have the fear that permeates from the Kremlin that they may lose power. Fortunately. For the moment this type of discussion and speculation is moot. The country is enjoying full employment and Russians feel that their lives are improving, and because of the economic situation there is no real opposition to Putin. But if a time should arrive where opposition grows and calls for change get loud, and the Kremlin adopts the view that "we have met the enemy and it is us", while blaming the West for it, the end result is not going to be pretty for Russia.
Large crowds gathered to welcome the Venezuelan opposition leader after his trip round Latin America. The US has warned of a "swift response" to any threats against Juan Guaido.
Speaking to a crowd who had come to the airport to greet him, Guaido said: "We are here in Venezuela and will continue moving forward."
Large crowds had gathered to welcome him home.
The Venezuelan opposition leader traveled despite a court-imposed travel ban ordering him not to leave the country.
This photo taken on October 24, 2018, shows Thai sailors visiting Chinese guided missile destroyer Guangzhou during the ASEAN-China Maritime Exercise at a military port in Zhanjiang, in China's southern Guangdong province. China is on the cusp of fielding some of the world's most advanced weapons systems — and in some cases already has surpassed its rivals, a Pentagon assessment released Tuesday found. AFP
* Defence budget's annual increases have slowed to single digits since 2016 after cuts in personnel as part of modernisation drive * Spending 'solely for safeguarding China's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity' and 'is not threat to other countries', says legislature spokesman
China is expected to announce single-digit growth in its defence budget for the coming year – the fourth year in a row of increases in single figures, the spokesman of the country's top legislative body revealed on Monday.
Zhang Yesui, spokesman of the National People's Congress, did not disclose the total figure, but added that the rise in China's defence spending had slowed from its previous double-digit growth to a single-digit increase since 2016.
North Korea's relationship with China has been historically described as akin to "lips and teeth", in that the nations cannot function without each other.
The Chinese saying refers to the country's 70-year relationship dating back to the Korean War of 1950-1953, when the Soviet Union and China supported North Korea as its army invaded South Korea.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, China has been described by analysts as "the most important country sustaining North Korea", but the historic "blood alliance" — a term used to describe their relationship dating back to North Korean supreme leader Kim Il-sung, and Chairman Mao Zedong — has been far more complicated.
WNU Editor: What China and Kim Jong-un may want is one thing. What the people in North Korea may want is another. For the moment the status quo is being maintained through threats and force, but if history is any guide, when a population wants something else they usually get it. The North Koreans are now being exposed to the outside world, and I am sure there is a hunger to live that type of life instead of the one that they have been living through all their lives. The question is .... when will that happen, and the role that South Korea will play.
If this post in Watts Up With That? is correct, an inadvertent, serendipitous scientific discovery is responsible for reshaping the modern world of geopolitics to America's advantage – and nobody noticed.
Fracking is usually credited with being the critical technology for the reshaping to which I refer: the rather sudden conversion of the United Sates from a huge net energy importer to (currently) self-sufficient, and clearly heading toward a major net energy exporter. This is far more than a simple balance-of-trade issue, through that is very important. It even transcends the millions of jobs and economic prosperity that has blessed the United States. We and our allies are now almost free of the economic extortion of oil exporters, that started in 1973 with the first oil boycott, gas lines, and soaring prices.
Data reveals much bleaker picture than anyone anticipated with weakness extending well beyond the energy sector
Canada's economy practically came to a halt in the final three months of 2018, in a much deeper-than-expected slowdown that brings the underlying strength of the expansion into doubt.
The country's economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, for an annualized pace of 0.4 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday from Ottawa. That's the worst quarterly performance in two and a half years, down from annualized 2 per cent in the third quarter and well below economist expectations for a 1 per cent annualized increase.
WNU Editor: In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau boasted about leading the strongest economy in the Group of Seven. But now he is overseeing one of the weakest. My analysis on what is happening is simple. The federal government's energy/resource policies have stopped any growth in this vital economic sector, and in fact has contracted it to a level not seen for a long time. What is also more worrying to the Federal government is that income growth for individual Canadians has stopped. The political consequences are obvious. These type of numbers .... if they continue .... will guarantee an election loss to Prime Minister Trudeau when Canadians go to the polls later this year.
It appears that ISIS may have hit a regime convoy with a buried IED in the #DeirEzzor desert. Absolutely tears apart the Technical.
If this is the case, it seems that IS activity in the area is confimed and may even be stepping up a notchpic.twitter.com/OysRmGV6v5
— Cᴀʟɪʙʀᴇ OĘ™sᴄᴜʀᴀ (@CalibreObscura) March 4, 2019
WNU Editor: A very graphic video. No indication on when and where this IED attack occurred, but it shows how destructive an IED can be. As for the soldier who video taped it .... you can see on his face the look of extreme sadness and shock on what had just happened to his comrades.
Iraqi lawmaker Hassan Salem earlier stated that the leader of Daesh* has been hiding in the deserts of Anbar Province in Iraq, and is being protected by the US military.
One of the Daesh* fighters captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mohammed Ali, has told The Sunday Times that the militants believe the caliphate leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is not present in the sliver of land still held by the terrorist group, but is hiding somewhere in the desert. The Daesh* fighter added that the fact that their leader hasn't joined other militants for a last stand has been a source of great frustration to them.
"He's hiding somewhere. People were angry", he said.
WNU Editor: I am still surprised that the last photograph of him is from a few years back. You would think with so many ISIS fighters captured or dead, their cell phones would reveal at least one image. Or .... the coalition does have multiple pictures of him, and have chosen to not publicly post them.
EMMANUEL Macron has lost his closest ally in Italy's Matteo Renzi after the former Italian prime minister suffered another blow to his waning influence.
NORTH Korean hackers are targeting banks and critical infrastructure as part of a global campaign of sophisticated cyber-attacks, according to cyber-security experts McAfee.
MELANIA Trump has ignored a heartfelt apology from her husband's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who said he deeply regrets not telling her the truth about Stormy Daniels.
CANADIAN Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet suffered another serious blow yesteday when one of his most trusted ministers over an escalating scandal.
On a summer night in 2017, I stayed over at a close friend’s house in Copenhagen after a late meeting as I had done before. In the middle of the night, I awoke to find a man climbing into my bed. He put his arm around my throat and then climbed on top of me. Pinning me roughly to the mattress, he raped me. That man was my friend.
We had known each other for several years, since I was in my early thirties, and I trusted him. Sometimes if I was in Copenhagen, I would stay at friends’ houses to save myself the 160-mile drive back to my home in Jutland just as I did a year and a half ago. That night changed my life.
The next day I was in shock.
It took me a whole day to even say the word “rape.” Instead I found myself using the word “accident,” and in many ways the sensation at the time was not that dissimilar to the disorientation one feels after having been involved in a violent car crash. And the trauma does not go away.
Sadly, my experience of rape is not uncommon. Paradoxically, despite its image as a land of gender equality, the reality for women in Denmark is starkly different. As revealed in a report by Amnesty International published Tuesday, there is a pervasive “rape culture” in Denmark withshockingly high levels of impunity for sexual violence and antiquated rape laws, which fail to meet international legal standards.
Rape in Denmark is hugely under-reported and even when women do go to the police, the chances of prosecution or conviction are very slim. Of the women who experienced rape or attempted rape in 2017 (estimates vary from 5,100 according to the Ministry of Justice to 24,000 according to a recent study.) just 890 rapes were reported to the police. Of these, 535 resulted in prosecutions and only 94 in convictions.
As I have found out first hand through my experience of trying to navigate the justice system over the last year and a half, women and girls are being failed by dangerous and outdated laws.
Rape is often not reported through fear of not being believed, stigma and a lack of trust in the justice system. Even when it is, the barriers to justice can prove insurmountable. The reason for the low conviction rates lies in deeply-entrenched biases within the justice system, and lack of trust in that system contributes to under-reporting.
In my case, it took me two-and-a-half days before I attempted to file a report to the police. But that was not straightforward.
When I phoned my local police station I was told I should report it in Copenhagen, since that was where the rape took place. The police in Copenhagen told me to go to my local police station, because they were too busy.
At the local station, a policeman warned me that if I was lying I could go to prison. After I had finished describing my ordeal, he told me that cases in which victims and perpetrators know each other rarely get anywhere. He also admitted that, since he had never taken a rape report before, I would have to go to another police station about 12 miles away to make my report, so I had to tell my story to yet another stranger.
I drove the 12 miles in tears. I was in my late 30s at the time, but had I been 20 years old, I probably would have given up at that stage. Despite the fear, shame and humiliation I was determined to get justice. Eventually, after several subsequent police interviews in Copenhagen, my case was finally taken forward. But there were many more obstacles to overcome.
The process was slow. The victim’s counsel lawyer initially assigned to me by the state had specialized in real estate, so I had to find one who had some knowledge of sexual violence cases myself. I had to repeat my story to each of them. My case was marked by a catalog of failures, including the police’s failure to collect vital evidence, visit the crime scene or interview the suspect for almost a month after my report was made. When I finally got to court the judge allowed the defense lawyer to bring up my past sexual history to suggest that this was evidence of “promiscuous behavior.”
But the worst aspect of the entire experience was the focus by the police, the lawyers and the judge on whether there was evidence of physical violence: on whether I had resisted, rather than whether I had consented.
Although I had told my rapist many times to stop, I was repeatedly asked questions about the physical evidence that I had resisted.
This focus reflects the fact that Danish law still does not define rape on the basis of lack of consent. Instead, it uses a definition based on whether physical violence, threat or coercion is involved or if the victim is found to have been unable to resist. The assumption that a victim gives her consent because she has not physically resisted is deeply problematic since “involuntary paralysis” or “freezing” has been recognized by experts as a very common physiological and psychological response to sexual assault.
This focus on resistance and violence rather than on consent has an impact not only on reporting of rape but also on wider awareness of sexual violence, both of which are key aspects in the prevention of rape and tackling impunity. Now, a man can claim that a woman did not say “no” but the question should be whether she said “yes.”
The simple truth is that sex without consent is rape. Failure to recognise this in law leaves women like me exposed to sexual violence and fuels a dangerous culture of victim blaming and impunity reinforced by myths and stereotypes that pervadeDanish society.
Last year, I found out that the man — my former friend — had been acquitted under Danish law, because rape could not be proven “beyond reasonable doubt.”
The government has announced that they are looking into changing the definition of rape in Denmark and that consent is one possibility they are looking at incorporating. Changing the law will not solve the problem overnight. But it will be an important step that, combined with education and a cultural shift in the way we think about rape, will hopefully mean that other women will not have to experience the trauma I went through that summer night in Copenhagen.
(JAKARTA, Indonesia) — Facebook says it will not allow foreign-funded advertisements for upcoming presidential and legislative elections in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, hoping to allay concerns that its platform is being used to manipulate voting behavior.
The announcement on Facebook’s website said the restriction in Indonesia took effect Monday morning and is part of “safeguarding election integrity on our platform.”
Facebook and other internet companies are facing increased scrutiny over how they handle private user data and have been lambasted for not doing enough to stop misuse of their platforms by groups trying to sway elections. Critics say foreign interests, and Russia in particular, used Facebook to harvest private data and disseminate paid ads that may have influenced the outcomes of the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the U.K. referendum on leaving the European Union.
Indonesians vote for president and national and regional legislatures on April 17. The presidential campaign pits incumbent leader Joko Widodo against ultranationalist former Gen. Prabowo Subianto, who was narrowly defeated by Widodo in 2014.
The social media company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp and has about 2.3 billion users for its Facebook site alone, said it’s using a mix of automated and human intervention to identify foreign-funded election ads.
It said the restriction applies to any ads coming from an advertiser based outside of the country “if it references politicians or political parties or attempts to encourage or suppress voting.”
The company said it had also prohibited foreign-funded advertisements for Nigeria’s elections in February and for Ukraine’s elections later this month.
For upcoming elections for the European Parliament and India, it has said advertisers will need to be authorized to buy political ads and a new tool will provide information about an ad’s budget, the number of people it reached and demographics about who saw the ad, including age, gender and location.
Customs officials seized 1,529 live turtles in Manila’s main airport on Sunday.
An unidentified Filipino passenger left four bags carrying the reptiles unclaimed in the arrival area, the Philippines Bureau of Customs said in a statement on their website. He had traveled to Pinoy Aquino International Airport on a Philippine Airlines flight from Hong Kong.
The bags contained several varieties of exotic turtles, including red-eared slider turtles and star, redfoot and Sulcata tortoises.
The turtles were turned over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit.
A video on the Bureau of Custom’s Twitter account shows the animals bound by duct tape and packed into a suitcase among shoes and other personal items.
#BalitangCustoms The Bureau of Customs – Port of NAIA turned over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit (DENR-WTMU) 1,529 live exotic turtles on 3 March 2019 at the NAIA Terminal 2, Pasay City. pic.twitter.com/5BPy6ZmvzH
Authorities intercepted a total of 560 “wildlife and endangered species” including 250 geckos, 254 corals and other reptiles that smugglers tried to bring into the country in 2018, according to the statement.
Wildlife smuggling is illegal in the Philippines and punishable with up to 2 years in prison and fines between about $380 and $3,800 (P20,000.00 to P200,000.00).
A second minister from Justin Trudeau’s administration has resigned in the wake of an unfolding corruption scandal, dealing additional damage to the Canadian prime minister’s already slipping popularity.
Treasury Board President Jane Philpott announced her resignation on Monday, writing in a statement that she has been “considering the events that have shaken the federal government in recent weeks” and has made the decision to quit “after serious reflection.”
Trudeau’s government has been swept up in controversy since his former attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, accused the administration of trying to stop a criminal case against Quebec-based firm SNC-Lavalin, one of the world’s largest engineering and construction companies.
The firm is facing corruption charges for allegedly paying C$48m (US$36m) worth of bribes in Libya in order to secure lucrative contracts, according to the BBC.
Trudeau and top aides have been accused of pursuing a months-long campaign to silence the trial. Trudeau has maintained that his government acted in the interest of preventing job losses that could result from a guilty verdict for SNC-Lavalin.
The firm employs close to 9,000 employees across Canada, according to SNC-Lavlin’s website.
In her statement, Philpott said efforts to “pressure the former Attorney General to intervene” in the case raised “serious concerns” for her.
Philpott previously served as Canada’s Minister of Health, Minister of Indigenous Services, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government.
“It grieves me to leave a portfolio where I was at work to deliver on an important mandate,” Philpott wrote. “But I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities and constitutional obligations.”
According to a February poll conducted by Canadian analytics company Leger, 36% of respondents indicated they were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the government led by Trudeau, down from 45% in November 2018.
U.S. lawmakers have appealed to the Trump Administration to take action against “egregious human rights abuses” in western China, where it is believed that at least one million ethnic Uighur and other minority Muslims are being held in secretive internment camps.
In a letter addressed to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs said Monday that the Administration had taken “no meaningful action” since the body sent a request in August calling for sanctions that would freeze the travel and assets of officials responsible for abuse.
“The United States must stand up for the oppressed and, at every opportunity, make clear to the Chinese government that the situation [in Xinjiang] is a priority for the U.S. Government,” the letter said.
The committee said it received a reply from the State Department in September pledging to look into the request, but that nothing had since been done and the global response to the crisis has to date been “insufficient.”
The letter also called for controls on the export of technology used to both detain and surveil the minority, which resides predominantly in China’s western Xinjiang Province. Recent reports claiming that U.S. companies have contributed to their persecution are of “particular concern,” the letter said.
Lawmakers singled out Chinese tech firms Hikvision and Dahua as having “profited from the surge of security spending in Xinjiang.”
China claims that its policy of sending Muslims to so-called “re-education camps” has been an effective means of preventing homegrown terrorism.
Diplomats from 12 countries were invited to tour a detention center in Xinjiang late last year in the face of mounting international criticism.
Approximately 8 million Uighurs live in China’s northwestern Xinjiang Province.
On Monday, Pope Francis announced a decision that promises to shed light on a controversial period of Vatican history: starting on March 2, 2020 — years ahead of schedule — the Vatican will let historians access sealed documents about Pope Pius XII, who led the Church during the Holocaust.
Eight decades after Pius XII was elevated to Pontiff on March 2, 1939, his legacy has become the subject of great debate. He has been portrayed as having not done enough to publicly condemn the Nazi genocide of Jewish people in Italy and throughout Europe, and his critics hope historians studying the archive will be able to figure out exactly what his role was in the Church’s approach to that issue. On the other hand, those who say Pius XII privately helped save Jews in other ways hope the new batch of unsealed documents will contain more evidence of this kind, especially anything that could bolster his case for sainthood.
“The church is not afraid of history,” Pope Francis said on Monday, while acknowledging that Pope Pius XII’s legacy includes “moments of grave difficulties, tormented decisions of human and Christian prudence, that to some could appear as reticence.”
Before he became Pius XII, the Pope in question was Eugenio Pacelli, son of a Vatican lawyer. Before he became pope, he served as both the Vatican’s ambassador to Germany and the Vatican’s Secretary of State. During his tenure, he supported General Franco during the Spanish Civil War and the harmonious Vatican-Mussolini alliance led to the creation of the sovereign state of Vatican City in 1929. It was during Italian dictator Benito Mussolini‘s Fascist rule that Pacelli was declared Pope. From the beginning, the world had many questions about the nature of the working relationship between the Vatican and the Fascist regime. “In general the most serious charges against the Church concern the skill with which the Vatican and its hierarchs have fished and swum in the Fascist sea surrounding them,” TIME noted in an Aug. 16, 1943, cover story on the issue.
And yet, feeling about the Pope was perceived as generally positive during the war. Though he never publicly condemned the Nazis for the murder of Europe’s Jew, Pius XII would often speak in general terms about protecting minorities and hating war. In 1942, a Vatican official said Pope Pius XII “neither understands nor approves” of the persecutions of French Jews, and the Church as an institution was often seen as contrary to the values of Fascism. “No matter what critics might say, it is scarcely deniable that the Church Apostolic, through the encyclicals and other papal pronouncements, has been fighting against totalitarianism more knowingly, devoutly and authoritatively, and for a longer time, than any other organized power,” TIME noted back in 1943. The Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, praised his efforts in 1944.
That praise came in a complicated context. After all, the Pope wasn’t the only one who had to make calculations about how to reach his goals in that war-torn era.
“Everyone wanted to claim the Pope was on their side, so political leaders weren’t going to publicly chastise the Pope or accuse him of cozying up to fascists or Nazis,” says David I. Kertzer, who wrote about this period in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe. For example, in the U.S., the government wanted to “win over” any Catholics in America, especially any who might support Mussolini, to the Allied cause.
But after the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, debate about his actions — or inactions — increased. Rolf Hochhuth’s 1963 play The Deputy accused the Pope of not openly condemning Hitler’s anti-Semitism because he saw Nazi Germany as a barrier between Christians and communists. Here’s how TIME summed up what was then known about the issue:
Pius ignored Allied pressure to speak out against Nazi genocide. In the autumn of 1942, Myron C. Taylor, Franklin Roosevelt’s personal representative to the Vatican, gave the Holy See evidence of the anti-Jewish campaign, and the U.S. Minister to Switzerland warned the Vatican that failure to condemn these atrocities “is undermining faith both in the church and in the Holy Father himself.” Baron Ernst von Weizsaecker, who claimed that he tried to protect the Pope from Hitler’s wrath while serving as German envoy to the Holy See, cabled his Foreign Ministry superiors: “The Pope has not allowed himself to be forced into any demonstrative utterances against the deportation of the Jews.”
[German Jesuit Robert Leiber, Pius XII’s secretary,] admits that Pius “found it difficult” to speak out clearly against the murders, but adds, “This was providential. Otherwise, I fear greater harm would have been the result.” Catholics point out that after the Dutch bishops issued a joint pastoral letter attacking the deportation of Jews, the Nazis retaliated by arresting Catholic converts from Judaism. In 1942 Cracow’s Archbishop Adam Sapieha pleaded with the Vatican not to broadcast accounts of German atrocities since it would only make things harder for his people.
The best evidence of Pius’ own judgment is his 1943 letter to Berlin’s Bishop Konrad von Preysing: “We leave it to the pastoral leaders on the spot to weigh whether and to what degree the danger of retaliation and pressure in case of remonstration by bishops make it appear advisable to exercise restraint to prevent greater evil, despite the listed grievances. Here lies one of the reasons why we ourselves impose limitations on ourselves in our public utterances.”
Over the next decade, at least a half-dozen books came out on the subject. “If anything,” TIME reported, the books, specifically a volume on the Vatican’s efforts to help Jews in eastern Europe, only “heightened the debate rather than resolved it.”
In the 1999 book Hitler’s Pope, British journalist John Cornwell argued that Pope Pius XII’s career as a diplomat helps explain why he didn’t openly condemn the Nazi persecution of Jews. Crucially, he had helped orchestrate the concordat — a word used to describe the Vatican’s agreements with secular governments — approved by his predecessor Pope Pius XI and Hitler’s government. Cornwell’s research popularized a theory that this agreement gave Vatican near-total control over churches in the country in exchange for the disbandment of the predominantly Catholic, anti-Nazi German Center Party, leading Cornwell to argue that the agreement “imposed a moral duty on Catholics to obey the Nazi rulers.” However, that timeline is controversial because there is no direct evidence of such an exchange occurring, and it is not clear exactly what led to that series of events and those decisions.
Kertzer sees things a bit differently. Despite the concordat, which was viewed as favorable to Hitler, Pius XII did not have a good working relationship with the Nazi dictator. “There was really strong tension between the Vatican and the Nazi regime,” he says.
To Kertzer, one of the main factors to consider is how the pontiff would have seen the state of the world outside the Vatican. At the beginning of the war, when it seemed like the Axis would win, Kertzer argues, Pius was reluctant to condemn the Nazis despite that tension, not “because he was pro-Nazi, by any means” but because, in part, he was anxious not to “endanger the position of Catholics in the Axis countries, that they would be discriminated against by the Nazi governments.” (Catholics were a minority among German Christians.) Later in the war, when it became clear the Allies would win, his goal was the same and he strove not to be “compromised” by his earlier decisions. For example, in that later period, after Mussolini was overthrown by his fellow Italian Fascists and installed as the leader of a puppet regime by the Germans subsequently, the Pope refused to recognize that regime despite having kept up an alliance with Mussolini in the past.
“The general contours of this picture we already know, but the archives will flesh out that picture,” says Kertzer. “For much of the war, the Pope was hoping to play the role of unbiased mediator between the two sides, and that’s part of the rationale for not taking a stand against the Nazis. He saw his main obligation as supreme pontiff as protecting the reputation of the church. If you look at it that way, that explains a lot of his actions.”
It’s up to a current pope to decide when to open a past pope’s archives, so the time that has passed between a death and the opening of such archives has varied; right after Pius XI’s archives were opened in 2006 the Vatican turned to the effort already underway to prepare Pius XII’s archive, per the German-born Pope Benedict XVI’s orders. But over the last two decades especially, Jewish groups have pushed for a shorter timeline, while Holocaust survivors seeking clarity are still alive.
“It is long overdue for speculation to be replaced by rigorous scholarship, which is only possible once scholars have full access to all of these records,” Sara J. Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, said in a statement.
So far, arguments about why the Pope would have been reluctant to speak out have been based primarily on studies of the 12 volumes from the archives that the Vatican has already released between 1965 and 1981 and the reports of discussion with people in the Pope’s inner circle. Historians hope that the new documents released next year will shed light on internal discussions that may have taken place at the Vatican.
Pope Francis has said that Pope Pius XII has to be evaluated in the context of the time in which he was serving, when it was arguably “better for him not to speak so that more Jews would not be killed.” Kertzer says that’s “the main narrative for his defenders,” but that the flip side is that a massive number of European Jews were already being killed, and by people who were theoretically Christian. “The idea that the Pope, by not speaking out, saved Jewish lives, I find hard to credit seriously,” he says. Some of Pope Pius XII’s defenders hope that there is evidence for specific behind-the-scenes efforts he may have taken to save the Jews, such as confirmation of claims that he quietly ordered convents to take in Jews. Historians also hope that the new documents will shed light on the fears throughout the 1950s of a Communist takeover of Italy during the Cold War.
But matter what the records show, they will likely underline the paradox of the papacy as it relates to foreign relations — a paradox that has long been apparent.
“As symbol PiusXII is a spiritual autocrat of incalculable power,” TIME observed in 1943. “But despite the massiveness of the symbol, the Pope is also supremely important as a man. Pope (when he speaks ex cathedra), he is infallible. But as a man, he is fallible like any other. And this fallibility determines his place among the ‘good’ Popes or the ‘bad’ Popes, and hence his influence upon history.”
(TORONTO) — China accused two detained Canadians on Monday of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada announced it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive.
China arrested the two Canadians on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.
Meng’s arrest set off a diplomatic furor and has severely strained Canadian relations with China.
The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei’s founder, to face charges she misled banks about the company’s business with Iran.
China’s official Xinhua News Agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor. It was the first time the two men’s cases have been linked.
It said Kovrig often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas, and acquired information from Spavor, his “main contact.”
“Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security,” Xinhua said.
The same information was posted on the official news blog of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
No other details were given and Xinhua said further judicial proceedings would “take place based on the case’s progress.”
“We are obviously very concerned by this position that China has taken,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions.”
Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank. Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un.
Rob Malley, president of the International Crisis Group, said the accusations against Kovrig are unsubstantiated and unfounded.
“Michael worked transparently and openly, keeping Chinese authorities informed of what he did and of his mandate: to advise all parties, Beijing included, on steps they could take to resolve and prevent deadly conflict around the world,” Malley said.
“But false accusations aside, the reality is clear for all to see. The timing of Michael’s detention and his citizenship leave little doubt as to why he is being arbitrarily detained. We continue to hope that China will do the right thing and release him so that he can be reunited with his family.”
After Meng’s arrest, a Chinese court also sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial, overturning a 15-year prison term handed down earlier. Kovrig and Spavor haven’t had access to a lawyer or to their families since being arrested.
Canada said Friday that it will allow court hearings for the U.S. extradition request for Meng to proceed.
David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said the new allegations against Kovrig and Spavor are a response to that action.
“Every step in the process will be matched by a step by China. The desire is to raise the raise the pressure to extent that we simply give in,” Mulroney said.
Meng is due in court on Wednesday to set a date for the extradition proceedings to start. It could be several months or even years before her case is resolved
Guy Saint-Jacques, also a former Canadian ambassador to China, said Beijing is clearly putting additional pressure on Canada.
“It’s a predicable escalation in the crisis,” he said. “They are probably hoping it will convince the prime minister to free Meng.”
Lawyers for Meng, who is staying at a property she owns in Vancouver after her release on bail, said Sunday she is suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force, alleging she was detained, searched and interrogated before she was told she was under arrest.
Meng’s lawsuit alleges that instead of immediately arresting her, they interrogated her “under the guise of a routine customs” examination and used the opportunity to “compel her to provide evidence and information.”
Also Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang accused Canada and the U.S. of abusing their bilateral extradition treaty. He reiterated Beijing’s demand that Washington withdraw its accusations against Meng.
The U.S. has been lobbying its allies to shun Huawei’s products on national security grounds, saying Chinese law requires the company to provide the government with intelligence on its foreign clients whenever requested.
A Chinese government spokesman took issue Monday with the U.S. claims that Huawei poses a threat to other countries’ information security.
Spokesman Zhang Yesui said U.S. officials were taking China’s national security law out of context and “playing up the so-called security risks” associated with Chinese companies.
Every year, thousands of families are thrust into a state of limbo when a loved one suddenly goes missing. In one of the most eerie instances, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished from the skies exactly five years ago this March, a lack of clues kept investigators from making sense of the tragedy, depriving more than 200 families of closure.
It’s one of the many inexplicable incidents that continue to puzzle authorities and haunt the relatives left behind. Other unsolved cases range from those the FBI has abandoned, like the nearly 50-year-old hunt for the notorious criminal known as D.B. Cooper, to those still ongoing, like the search for Indiana University student Lauren Spierer, who vanished in 2011. Out of a century’s worth of unsolved disappearances that TIME has revisited, here are five of the most mysterious cases:
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
Jason Lee—Reuters. A family member cries as she and other relatives pray during a candlelight vigil for passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 at Lido Hotel, in Beijing, on April 8, 2014, after a month of searching for the missing aircraft
In what is perhaps the most baffling and tragic aviation mystery of all time, more than 200 people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 appeared to vanish mid-air on March 8, 2014. Despite government officials setting out on what they called an “unprecedented” search by air and sea that involved multiple countries and spanned at least three years, the aircraft and the remains of the 239 passengers remain missing. It’s also still unclear what caused the commercial plane to suddenly veer off course.
The trip began as usual when the Beijing-bound Boeing 777 aircraft departed as scheduled from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers. But it went missing soon after a routine handover between air traffic control systems. Instead of heading to its planned destination, the aircraft flew back across the Malaysian Peninsula and made its way to the southern Indian Ocean, officials said.
During a news conference last summer, after the release of the latest safety investigation report into the incident, lead investigator Kok Soo Chon said no cause could be confirmed or ruled out. “Due to the significant lack of evidence available to the team,” he said, “we are unable to determine with any certainty the reason that the aircraft diverted.” At some point, the aircraft systems were manually turned off. But Kok said signs did not appear to indicate that the flight’s pilots had maliciously cut off communication. (Some aviation experts had contradicted this conclusion in a 60 MinutesAustralia special in May 2018.) There was also the possibility that a third party illegally interfered, investigators said. However, Kok pointed out the unusual fact that no one has since claimed responsibility for the act. “Who would do it just for nothing?” he said.
D.B. Cooper
The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images. FBI sketch of hijacker D.B. Cooper
Nearly 50 years ago, an unidentified passenger hijacked a Seattle-bound flight before leaping out of the moving plane with a parachute and $200,000 in ransom money. The daredevil—a man who became known as D.B. Cooper—has since eluded authorities and has almost faded into legend.
On Nov. 24, 1971, Cooper bought a one-way plane ticket on Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 at an airport counter in Portland, Ore., according to FBI records. Dressed in a suit and tie, the traveler didn’t appear to arouse any suspicion as he ordered a bourbon and soda while waiting for the plane to take off. Shortly after the plane was in the air, Cooper handed one of the flight attendants a note that said he had a bomb in his briefcase. He demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills, which he received once the 36 other passengers on board were freed when the flight landed in Seattle. Keeping several members of the flight crew on the plane, Cooper ordered them to fly to Mexico City. But then the hijacker surprised his hostages and federal investigators when he suddenly jumped out of the back of the plane long before reaching Mexico.
The FBI does not believe Cooper survived, though that theory has never been confirmed. Investigators say he did not appear to be an expert skydiver since he made the jump at more than 5,000 feet in risky conditions. He was also not dressed suitably for a safe landing. According to FBI records, Cooper leaped into a wooded area at night while it was raining with 200-mph winds, wearing loafers and a trench coat.
The infamous crime is still a subject of intrigue among law enforcement experts and amateur internet sleuths alike. But his identity and fate may forever be shrouded in mystery. In 2016, the FBI announced it would no longer actively investigate the cold case, backing off one of the longest and most exhaustive U.S. investigations of all time.
Jimmy Hoffa
Hank Walker—TIME & LIFE Pictures
When notorious labor leader Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975, it triggered one of the FBI’s longest-running organized crime cases in Detroit. For decades, his disappearance has sparked widespread public interest and has become the subject of many Hollywood films. But more than 40 years later, he remains missing.
Hoffa, an ex-convict, was most famous for leading the Teamsters union—which represents freight drivers, warehouse employees and other U.S. workers—and receiving clemency from President Richard Nixon. In 1971, the former commander-in-chief commuted Hoffa’s 13-year prison sentence, springing him from a federal penitentiary in Pennsylvania, where he was serving time for jury tampering and fraud, TIME previously reported. He was only free for about four years before he vanished from a Michigan restaurant, where he reportedly went to meet with Mafia leaders.
Many speculators believe the powerful union boss was murdered, pointing to his criminal record and the likelihood that he had enemies. (The upcoming new Netflix film, The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, centers around a mob hitman’s possible involvement with Hoffa’s death.)
While Hoffa was officially declared dead in 1982, which allowed his children to inherit his estate, his body was never recovered, and an FBI spokeswoman recently told TIME his case is still an “open investigation.” Federal investigators were still searching for his remains as recent as 2013 when they excavated a field near Detroit for three days, hoping to unearth any new evidence. The hunt was again unsuccessful. “Of course we’re disappointed,” Robert Foley, then-head of the FBI’s Detroit field office, said at the time, according to Reuters.
Amelia Earhart
Getty Images. A June 1928 photo of Amelia Earhart in front of the bi-plane called ‘Friendship’ in Newfoundland.
More than 80 years after Amelia Earhart vanished while trying to fly around the world, historians and explorers are still trying to solve the vexing disappearance of the pioneering American pilot. Earhart had already broken barriers as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean when she and navigator Fred Noonan embarked on what they hoped would be the first around-the-world flight in 1937.
The pair had set off for a remote island in the Pacific Ocean called Howland Island from Lae, New Guinea, traveling more than 22,000 miles and completing nearly two-thirds of the historic trip before running dangerously low on fuel. They disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937. Rescuers looked for the pair for about two weeks, but Earhart and her companion were never found.
In 1939, despite a lack of major breaks in the case, Earhart was officially declared dead by a court order. (One expert previously told TIME that her death might have been legally declared so that Earhart’s husband could remarry.) To this day, her fate remains a mystery and a topic of debate.
Lauren Spierer
Aaron Bernstein—AP. Charlene and Robert Spierer speak to reporters near a poster alerting people to their missing daughter, Lauren, in Bloomington, Ind. on Aug. 15, 2011
The disappearance of Indiana University student Lauren Spierer in 2011 sent shockwaves across many college campuses in America. Authorities said the 20-year-old vanished after spending the early morning partying at a downtown bar in Bloomington, Ind. She was last seen walking alone outside a classmate’s off-campus apartment around 4:30 a.m. on June 3, 2011.
It sparked a national manhunt, prompting several celebrities—including comedian Stephen Colbert and reality star Kim Kardashian—to spread awareness about the young woman’s disappearance on social media. But almost eight years later, investigators have still been unable to locate her, and many tips have led to dead ends. “It’s a difficult case from every angle,” said private investigator Michael Ciravolo, who was hired by Spierer’s family in 2011.
Help find missing Indiana U student Lauren Spierer. For more info, go to http://t.co/tJ15BOl
“Everything that could make it tougher has popped up in front of us,” Ciravolo told TIME.
Among the many roadblocks Ciravolo said his team faced was a lack of cooperation from the local police department and a group of young men who Spierer spent most of her time with the day she disappeared. Ciravolo said private investigators are still following up on major leads as they surface, but they have not seen significant progress. At this point, he said, there are no signs indicating that Spierer is still alive. Still, the bleak prognosis doesn’t change how much he and Spierer’s parents want to know the truth of what happened to her.
“I’m never going to give up,” Ciravolo said. “I feel like I’m looking for a family member. It’s become very, very personal and close to my heart. I just wish I could give them closure.”
Meanwhile, Spierer’s parents yearn for their daughter, who they said loved to play lacrosse and celebrate Valentine’s Day. On what would have been Spierer’s 28th birthday this January, her mother Charlene penned a heartfelt message to her daughter on Facebook, just as she does every year on the same day. “I miss you with every breath,” she wrote.
It would appear they have had it: the British royals are making moves to block social media trolls, publishing a set of “social media community guidelines” this week to help aim to make the official Kensington Palace and royal accounts stay hate-free.
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex and Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge have come in for their fare share of online abuse over the past few years. Neither of the Duchesses maintain personal social media accounts, but rather share news and updates through the official royal platforms, which have millions of followers and rack up tens of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments per post.
“We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities,” the new rules ask. Spam, defamation, obscenity, offensive language, threats and explicit material are all off-limits, as are comments that “promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.” The royal team is reserving the right to hide, delete, block and report comments and users that deviate from these new norms.
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) March 4, 2019
This is not the first time the Palace has taken steps to protect its royals from online abuse. When Prince Harry went public with his relationship with Meghan Markle in 2016, he issued an official statement condemning the “wave of abuse and harassment” experienced.
(CARACAS, Venezuela) — A defiant Juan Guaido returned home to Venezuela on Monday despite concerns the opposition leader might be detained and urged supporters at a rally to intensify their campaign to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
The 35-year-old leader of Venezuela’s National Assembly showed off his passport before climbing onto scaffolding and pumping his fist during the demonstration in Caracas, delighting euphoric followers whose efforts to oust Maduro have fallen short in a nation gripped by a humanitarian crisis.
Ya en nuestra tierra amada! Venezuela, acabamos de pasar migración y nos movilizaremos a dónde está nuestro pueblo!#VamosJuntosALaCalle
There were few security forces nearby and no immediate comment from Maduro’s government, which has tried to divert the public’s attention to carnival festivities Monday and Tuesday. While thousands of Venezuelans heeded Guaido’s call for protests coinciding with his return, many wonder whether he can maintain momentum against a government that, while under extreme pressure itself, has relentlessly cracked down on opponents in the past, jailing or driving into exile top opposition leaders.
“We know the risks that we face. That’s never stopped us,” Guaido said after arriving at Venezuela’s main airport and going through immigration checks. He was greeted by top diplomats from the United States, Germany, Spain and other countries who possibly hoped to head off any move to detain Guaido by bearing witness to his return.
“We hope there won’t be any escalation and that parliamentary immunity is respected,” said Spanish Ambassador Jesus Silva Fernandez.
The United States and some 50 other countries have recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was invalid because popular opposition candidates were barred from running.
At the rally, Guaido called for massive protests on Saturday and said he would meet Tuesday with public employee unions controlled by the government of Maduro, who retains the support of military generals despite the desertion of hundreds of lower-ranking military personnel.
“The regime must understand, the dictatorship must understand… that we’re stronger than ever. We’ll continue protesting, we’ll continue mobilizing,” said Guaido, who had ignored an official ban on foreign travel to leave Venezuela last month.
Guaido visited Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador over the past week — all countries that support his claim to be Venezuela’s interim president and call on Maduro to resign so that the country can prepare for free and fair elections.
The United States, which has warned Maduro not to act against Guaido, congratulated the opposition leader on his return to Venezuela.
“The international community must unite and push for the end of Maduro’s brutal regime and the peaceful restoration of democracy in Venezuela,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. Colombian President Ivan Duque tweeted that Guaido’s homecoming was part of the “irreversible path that Venezuela has taken toward democracy.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for dialogue by all parties to end the political impasse.
“We obviously remain very concerned about the situation in Venezuela,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “It’s important from the secretary-general’s viewpoint that all actors — all political actors in Venezuela and abroad — make all efforts to lower tensions.”
Maduro has said he is the target of a U.S.-backed coup plot after the Trump administration joined dozens of other countries in backing Guaido. The United States has also imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserves.
Guaido’s return is a moment of reckoning not only for the opposition leader, whose presence in Venezuela was essential for his movement to regain momentum, but also for Maduro, analysts said. The fact that Guaido was not detained, at least so far, reflects the pressure Maduro faces not to intervene, said Luis Vicente Leon, head of the Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis. “But it seems to indicate the beginning of a negotiation, local and international, whose details are not yet clear,” Leon said in a tweet.
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, did not directly address a question about whether Guaido could face arrest during an interview with Russian state-owned TV channel RT. But she left open the possibility, saying Guaido had broken the law and is “a Venezuelan who conspires with foreign governments to overthrow a constitutional government.”
The Maduro government has in the past jailed and driven into exile some of Venezuela’s most prominent opposition leaders, including Leopoldo Lopez, who lives under house arrest and another lawmaker holed up at the home of Chile’s ambassador in the Venezuelan capital.
For his part, Maduro has somewhat incongruously urged Venezuelans to enjoy the carnival season, even though most people don’t have the resources to travel to beaches or other holiday spots. On Sunday, he tweeted that Venezuelans nationwide were enjoying carnival “in peace and happiness.”
Among the demonstrators who waited for Guaido at the Caracas rally was Wilfredo Moya, a 55-year-old former construction worker who said Venezuelans hoping for change should be patient.
“It’s a long process,” he said.
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