Ugandan troops face sexual abuse charges in central Africa. Human Rights Watch says Ugandan soldiers in Central African Republic have sexually exploited or abused at least 13 women and girls since 2015, including at least one rape. The rights group said in a report on Monday that two of the women were girls when the abuse happened. News24
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18 May 2017
When you use mercenaries, er, 'peacekeepers' from countries with human rights issues, this can't be a surprise
Next, the robots take over
Officials across the globe scrambled over the weekend to catch the culprits behind a massive ransomware worm that disrupted operations at car factories, hospitals, shops and schools, while Microsoft on Sunday pinned blame on the U.S. government for not disclosing more software vulnerabilities. Cyber security experts said the spread of the worm dubbed WannaCry - "ransomware" that locked up more than 200,000 computers in more than 150 countries - had slowed but that the respite might only be brief amid fears new versions of the worm will strike. Reuters
No idea what this means, but it sounds so intriguing!
Security experts are investigating the possibility of a connection between the recent spate of WannaCry ransomware attacks and the notorious Lazarus Group, which has been linked to North Korea. Google researcher Neel Mehta posted an intriguing message to Twitter yesterday: a string of numbers and letters followed by #WannaCryptAttribution. Kaspersky Lab then confirmed in a blog post that the tweet in question is of two samples with shared code: a WannaCry cryptor sample from February 2017 which looks like a very early variant and a Lazarus Group sample from February 2015. Info Security Magazine
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Did they think this would be less obvious?
A Kazakh journalist and civic activist has been hospitalized after he was reportedly stabbed in the stomach before he planned to meet European officials to discuss media freedoms. A nurse at a hospital in the southern Kazakh city of Shu told RFE/RL on May 14 that Ramazan Yesergepov, the former editor in chief of the independent newspaper Alma-Ata Info, was in serious but stable condition after arriving in the morning. Radio Free Europe
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It's like perpetual 1922 down there...
Italian mafia have infiltrated one of Europe's largest reception centers for migrants, creaming off state funds that were earmarked for the care of new arrivals, prosecutors said on Monday. Police arrested 68 people in early morning raids in the southern toe of Italy, including a priest and the head of a Roman Catholic association that runs the Sant'Anna Cara immigrant center in the town of Isola Capo Rizzuto. Reuters
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You can't defend the indefensible, but there are notes of truth in madness
Nuon Chea Defense Goes On Attack in Closing Brief The second trial of the two highest-ranking surviving Khmer Rouge leaders was a biased, “disheartening sham” rife with political interference that stood in the way of ascertaining the truth, argues the closing brief in the defense of Nuon Chea, the regime’s second-in-command. Scathing, fierce and at times sarcastic, the mammoth 550-page confidential document, which The Cambodia Daily obtained this week, lambasts the court for what it describes as its “blatant disinterest in the truth” and lets few of those connected to the prosecution off the hook. Cambodia Daily
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Cooperation DOES work, go figure
11 arrested in Va. after nationwide anti-gang operation led by ICE. A recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement anti-gang operation resulted in over a thousand arrests nationwide, and some were in Virginia. Eleven members of MS-13 were arrested at a Falls Church residence on April 26 with the help of Fairfax County police. Investigators had been watching the house, they said, after reports that it was allegedly being used for sex trafficking. Two people in the home had outstanding deportation orders, officials said. Nationwide, the operation by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations targeted gang members and associates involved in such activity as drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human smuggling and sex trafficking, and murder and racketeering. It netted a total of 1,378 arrested from March 26 to May 6 and brought in not only members of MS-13, but also members of the Bloods, Crips and Sureños gangs. WTOP
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The world's a little busy right now, simmer down
Lebanese Hezbollah said on Thursday that any future conflict between the Shi'ite group and Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, as tensions rise between the arch foes. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, also said in a speech televised live that the group was dismantling all its military positions along Lebanon's eastern border with Syria, and this area would now be patrolled just by the Lebanese army. Hezbollah, an ally of Tehran and Damascus, has been fighting for years in Syria's conflict against an array of rebels and Sunni Islamist fighters. The Syrian conflict has also been an arena where tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have ramped up. Recent Israeli air strikes against Hezbollah targets in Syria appeared to mark a more assertive stance toward the group. Reuters
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Let's not count our chickens just yet...
Mosul battle will be finished within days - Iraqi army chief. Iraqi security forces are only days away from completing the operation to recapture Mosul from so-called Islamic State, the army's chief of staff says. Lt Gen Othman al-Ghanimi told the BBC he hoped the jihadist group would be defeated in the city before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins on 26 May. Recent gains in the north meant the remaining militants were being squeezed into an ever smaller area, he added. Mosul fell to IS in 2014 and is its last major urban stronghold in Iraq. Pro-government forces launched a major offensive to retake the city in October with the support of US-led coalition air strikes. BBC
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One of too many
A human rights activist who represented more than 600 families affected by drug-related violence in San Fernando, a city in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, was killed by gunmen, a state official told EFE on Thursday. Miriam Rodriguez Martinez was gunned down around 10:15 pm Wednesday at her home in the southern section of San Fernando, a Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office spokesman said. The gunmen called Rodriguez by name and then opened fire, hitting her about 12 times, the AG’s office spokesman said. Latin American Herald Tribune
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Now let's work on 'constructive' communication
North Korea sends rare letter of protest over new U.S. sanctions. North Korea sent a rare letter of protest to the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday warning that a new package of tougher sanctions would only spur its development of nuclear weapons, North Korea's state media reported. The protest was lodged by the recently revived Foreign Affairs Committee of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, which said the U.S. House of Representatives was "obsessed" with a sense of disapproval and warned it of dire consequences. "The U.S. House of Representatives should think twice," the committee said in its letter, a copy of which was published by the KCNA state news agency. Reuters
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Rule of law problem, human rights problem, absolute travesty problem -- take your pick
Anti-Muslim Violence in Myanmar is ‘Rule of Law’ Problem. Calling Myanmar “a new democracy,” the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar told VOA the latest manifestation of increasing anti-Muslim sentiment in the Southeast Asian nation is a problem rooted in “the rule of law.” The early morning confrontation Wednesday began late Tuesday night when a group of nationalists complained to police that several Rohingya were illegally hiding in a house in a Yangon neighborhood, according to local press accounts. Police who investigated refused to arrest the men, saying they were local, non-Rohingya Muslims allowed to be there. VOA
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Off the GD rails
The leader of a powerful Indonesian Islamist organization that led the push to jail Jakarta's Christian governor has laid out plans for a new, racially charged campaign targeting economic inequality and foreign investment. In a rare interview, Bachtiar Nasir said the wealth of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority was a problem and advocated an affirmative action program for native Indonesians, comments that could stoke tensions already running high in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation. Reuters
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17 May 2017
People don't make this choice because it is easy. They make this choice because they have no choice.
Seventy per cent of migrants to US suffer violence en route, MSF says Bertrand Rossier, MSF’s head of mission in Mexico, said: “The unrelenting violence and emotional suffering endured by a significant number of people on the move from the Northern Triangle of Central America is not unlike what is experienced by people in conflict zones where MSF has been working for decades.
“Attempts to stem migration by strengthening national borders and increased detention or deportation, as we have seen in Mexico and in the US, ignore a genuine humanitarian crisis and do not curb smuggling and trafficking. These strategies have devastating consequences on the lives and health of people on the move.
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It's that bad.
South Sudanese refugees are pouring across the border into neighboring Sudan, seeking safety in the country from which South Sudan seceded a few years ago. Sovereignty was achieved in 2011 after 99 per cent of South Sudanese voted to break away from Sudan following a decades-long war for independence. Daily Nation
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Prolly not.
Somalia's president has called on the international community to lift an arms embargo on his country as government soldiers battle to regain territory from the armed group al-Shabab. Speaking on Thursday at a Somalia conference held in London and attended by world leaders, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, said government forces would defeat the al-Qaeda linked group in "a few years" - but troops had to be better equipped. All Africa
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News?
Security situation in Afghanistan likely to get worse: U.S. intel chief. The security situation in Afghanistan will further deteriorate even if there is a modest increase in U.S. military support for the war-torn country, the top U.S. intelligence official said on Thursday, as President Donald Trump's administration weighs sending more forces to Afghanistan. Afghan army units are pulling back, and in some cases have been forced to abandon more scattered and rural bases, and the government can claim to control or influence only 57 percent of the country, according to U.S. military estimates from earlier this year. Reuters
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Sometimes paranoia is real
Saudis paid for US veteran trips against 9/11 lawsuit law. After Congress passed a new law allowing Sept. 11 victims’ families to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts, opponents mounted an expensive political campaign, including paying American military veterans to visit Capitol Hill and warn lawmakers about what they said could be unintended consequences. What few people knew, including some of the recruited veterans themselves, was that Saudi Arabia’s government was largely paying for the effort, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. WTOP
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In 1999, who had money on 2017 for Belgrade as refugee destination? Anyone??
Serbia moves migrants out of Belgrade. Serbian authorities say they have moved to asylum centers most of the migrants who were staying in parks and abandoned warehouses in downtown Belgrade. The government’s refugee agency says several hundred migrants have been transported by buses to asylum centers outside the capital. Aid workers at the scene say a few hundred have fled to avoid leaving the city. WTOP
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2 million signatures are hard to ignore...unless you just make them disappear
Several activists have been detained in Moscow as they prepared to submit signatures they have collected to protest arbitrary detentions and torture of gay men in Chechnya. LGBT activist Igor Yasin said five people were detained Thursday morning outside the Prosecutor General's Office as they brought about 2 million signatures collected to protest the treatment of gay people in Chechnya in Russia's south. Associated Press
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'I believe the children are our future'
The European Union's statistical agency says that more than 63,000 children traveling without adult company applied for asylum last year, more than half of them Afghan and Syrian nationals. Eurostat said Thursday that 63,300 unaccompanied minors applied for international protection in the 28 EU nations plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. New York Times
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Aging infrastructure: Not just bridges and trains
The collapse of an underground tunnel containing radioactive waste that forced workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to shelter in place is the latest incident to raise safety concerns at the sprawling site that made plutonium for nuclear bombs for decades after World War II. Officials detected no release of radiation Tuesday and no workers were injured, said Randy Bradbury, a spokesman for the Washington state Department of Ecology. Associated Press
Didn't this just happen a few months ago? Are cool explosive light thingys really worth as much as human life?
At least 14 people were killed and about 30 others injured in an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Puebla, a state in central Mexico, officials said Tuesday. The explosion occurred Monday night in San Isidro, a town outside the city of Chilchotla, while dozens of residents were working on preparations for the celebration of the feast day of the town’s patron saint on May 15, the Puebla state government said in a statement. People in the street fired a rocket that hit a two-story house being used to store fireworks next to San Isidro’s main church, setting off the blast, investigators said. Latin American Herald Tribune
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Tit for tat -- OR, Children know this game
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday criticized what he called a destabilizing Russian military build-up near Baltic states and officials suggested the United States could deploy Patriot missiles in the region for NATO exercises in the summer. U.S. allies are jittery ahead of war games by Russia and Belarus in September that could involve up to 100,000 troops and include nuclear weapons training -- the biggest such exercise since 2013. Reuters
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Good luck with that
South Korea's new liberal President Moon Jae-in was sworn in on Wednesday and vowed to immediately tackle the difficult tasks of addressing North Korea's advancing nuclear ambitions and soothing tensions with the United States and China. Moon said in his first speech as president he would immediately begin efforts to defuse security tensions on the Korean peninsula and negotiate with Washington and Beijing to ease the row over a U.S. missile defense system being deployed in the South. Reuters
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And who comes after?
South Sudan's army chief of staff, who had been proposed for UN sanctions and accused of directing last year's fighting in the capital that left hundreds dead, has been removed from his post, a presidential spokesperson said on Tuesday. Paul Malong's removal comes after months of government infighting and as ethnic violence in the country's civil war has dramatically increased. Malong has long been considered a hardliner in the government of President Salva Kiir, and diplomats repeatedly have accused him of undermining the country's 2015 peace agreement. News 24
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So many interpretations, so little popular interest...
One of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 and who had the opportunity to be released on Saturday chose to stay with her husband, the spokesman for Nigeria's president said Tuesday. Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said officials originally had been negotiating for the release of 83 girls, but one said she wanted to remain.
Quite the logical leap...
Cambodia’s Hun Sen Alludes to Peacekeeper Killings as Warning of Civil War Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday condemned the killing of four Cambodian United Nations peacekeepers in Central African Republic (CAR) earlier this week, and warned similar violence and civil war is likely to descend on Cambodia if his ruling party loses local elections in June. Radio Free Asia
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Technology and/vs. Democracy
The National Security Agency in Washington picked up the signs. So did Emmanuel Macron’s bare-bones technology team. And mindful of what happened in the American presidential campaign, the team created dozens of false email accounts, complete with phony documents, to confuse the attackers. The Russians, for their part, were rushed and a bit sloppy, leaving a trail of evidence that was not enough to prove for certain they were working for the government of President Vladimir V. Putin but which strongly suggested they were part of his broader “information warfare” campaign. New York Times
If you want to fix your 'problems,' you have to start at the beginning
Central American turmoil fuels many illegal US border crossings United States security is generally tied to the actions of countries like North Korea and Syria. But the American people also have a direct stake in what happens in Central America’s Northern Triangle — Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Being some of our closest neighbors, their fate and prosperity bear immediate repercussions on U.S. interests, from unauthorized migration to the transit of illegal drugs. The Hill
Sure, a neutral party would be just silly here
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem said on Monday his country would reject any UN role in monitoring the implementation of four “de-escalation” zones. “We do not accept a role for the UN or international forces to monitor the agreement,” Al-Moallem told reporters in Damascus. Arab News
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How retro
Germany arrests second soldier in alleged far-right plot. German authorities have arrested a second soldier on allegations he was part of a far-right plot to assassinate prominent political figures and blame the attack on refugees. Federal prosecutor’s spokeswoman Frauke Koehler said that 27-year-old Maximilian T. was arrested in the southwestern city of Kehl on Tuesday on charges of preparing an act of violence. WTOP
PS: This kept going...
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Not sure that's a compliment
China’s No. 3 official lauded Macau’s anti-subversion legislation during a visit to the city Tuesday in a message that appeared aimed at nearby Hong Kong. Similar legislation proposed there has stalled because of opposition from pro-democracy supporters. Zhang Dejiang made the comments to local officials and business leaders in the former Portuguese colony, which has been a special Chinese administrative region since 1999. Washington Post
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If this was test, it got an F
Jakarta's Christian governor was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy against Islam on Tuesday, a harsher than expected ruling in a trial that was seen as a test of religious tolerance in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation. The guilty verdict comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass demonstrations during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama losing his bid for another term as governor. Reuters
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Anyone else missing Condee right about now?
Condoleezza Rice's new book, Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom, is a full-throated endorsement of overseas engagement and democracy building. It comes at a time of widespread distrust of government and institutions. NPR
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This is a real problem, but this will be the 210th effort to solve it, so...bonn chans, mezami
A recent report advocates increasing legal assistance for Haiti's prisoners awaiting trial, an initiative that could lessen some of the human and financial losses incurred by the island nation's broken justice system. The research, published by the Copenhagen Consensus Center's Haiti Priorise project, argues that targeting Haiti's pretrial detention issue could incur financial benefits worth nearly three times the cost of the program. Insight Crime
EuroVision is very serious business!!
Ukraine has blocked entry to the country of two Russian journalists who were going to Kyiv to cover the Eurovision Song Contest. Two reporters from the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, both accredited to work at the contest, were detained at the border and eventually turned away and barred from entering Ukraine for three years, according to border service spokesman Oleh Slobodyan. Radio Free Europe
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'Alternative facts' goes global
There has been no new wave of killings prompted by the Philippines' war on drugs, and reports to the contrary are "alternative facts", an ally of President Rodrigo Duterte told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday. Duterte has received widespread condemnation in the West for failing to curtail the killings and address activists' allegations of systematic, state-sponsored murders by police of drug users and dealers, which the authorities reject. Reuters
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People don't make this choice b/c it is easy. They make this choice b/c they have no choice.
In just one county [of Texas], the bodies and remains of more than 500 migrants have been found since 2009. NYTimes
The bodies and remains of more than 550 undocumented migrants have been discovered in Brooks County since January 2009. Those bodies were only those reported to the authorities.
“I would say for every one we find, we’re probably missing five,” said Sheriff Urbino Martinez, adding that the scale of the problem often gets overlooked “because it doesn’t happen all in one bulk. It’s spread out through months, years.” NYTimes
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Maybe no one else in Southeast Asia has a press corps??
How was Cambodia ever #1 in press freedom for the region???
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Cost-saving gone awry
Recent comments on television by Venezuela's head of the penitentiary system blatantly exposed the extent to which prisons have been left under the inmates' control, to the point where authorities now appear to rely on prisoners to supply internal security. The insight comes from an April 30 television interview of Venezuela's Minister of Popular Power for the Penitentiary Service (Ministra del Poder Popular para el Servicio Penitenciario), María Iris Varela Rangel, which was posted and transcribed by Panorama. Insight Crime
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'You want to make what kind of video?'
Venezuela opposition leader Lopez in 'proof of life' video. Following rumors that jailed Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez had been moved from his cell to a military hospital, a government lawmaker showed a "proof of life" video of him in his cell. In the video, Mr. Lopez says he is well and that he does not know why he is being asked for "a proof of life." BBC
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Can we literally break the Internet now?
IS developing own social media platform. IS militants are developing their own social media platform to avoid security crackdowns on their communications and propaganda, the head of the European Union’s police agency said on Wednesday. Europol Director Rob Wainwright said the new online platform had been uncovered during a 48-hour operation against internet extremism last week. WTOP
Maybe they thought this was what that whole 'transparency' thing was about?
More than 2,000 people gathered outside Romania's government offices in Bucharest on May 3 to protest a move by lawmakers to pardon acts of corruption. Demonstrators waved Romanian, EU, NATO, and U.S. flags, chanting, "Resign," "This can't go on anymore," and "We have to defend the country from thieves!" Radio Free Europe
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Biting the hand that feeds
North Korea issues direct criticism of China amid nuke dispute. North Korea has issued a rare direct criticism of China through a commentary saying its “reckless remarks” on the North’s nuclear program are testing its patience and could trigger unspecified “grave” consequences. WTOP
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Could be dementia...
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is denying his country is in a fragile state and insists it is one of Africa's most developed despite its plunging economy. The 93-year-old was speaking Thursday at the Africa leg of the World Economic Forum. New York Times
Dystopia Redux
As Afghanistan slides back into chaos, with a resurgent Taliban and dwindling international aid, many fear that the country's women's shelters could be forced to close, leaving those who rely on them at the mercy of an often harshly conservative society. Nearly 30 shelters across the country - a legacy of the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban - provide food, refuge and education for women abused by their husbands or male relatives. The shelters also offer safety to women at risk of so-called honor killings, or of being sold into marriage to repay debts, a still-common practice. Associated Press
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Recycling is not a good idea in all cases
Africa's former child soldiers used as cheap labor in Iraq, Afghanistan. Former child soldiers from Sierra Leone and Uganda are being used as cheap labor for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new documentary on Al Jazeera. Child Soldiers Reloaded features interviews with several of these former child soldiers, most of who were recruited to work for Aegis, the private military company that signed an estimated $293 million deal with the United States (US) Department of Defense in 2004 to execute operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. News24
03 May 2017
Was OKCupid/DC really so awful?
An FBI translator with a top-secret security clearance traveled to Syria in 2014 and married a key ISIS operative she had been assigned to investigate, CNN has learned. The rogue employee, Daniela Greene, lied to the FBI about where she was going and warned her new husband he was under investigation, according to federal court records. CNN
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Because there aren't jobs for accountants anywhere else in the world?
North Korea on Wednesday confirmed the detention of another American citizen for alleged acts of hostility aimed at overthrowing the country. Kim Sang Dok, an accounting instructor at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, was "intercepted" at Pyongyang International Airport on April 22, according to the Korean Central News Agency. It said he was being detained while authorities conduct a detailed investigation into his alleged crime. Associated Press
Wait, what century is it?
Indian police have detained three members of a Hindu militia for suspected involvement in the killing of a Muslim man who they blamed for helping an interfaith couple elope. Police officer Muni Raj said Wednesday that Ghulam Mohammad was beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh state a day earlier. The killing came days after a man related to Mohammad eloped with a Hindu girl. Washington Post
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So, not quite the end of history.
In fairness to Dr. Fukuyama, he has recently admitted that he may have called that one too soon.
Russia has succeeded in sowing political discord in the United States by interfering in the 2016 presidential election, which will likely prompt Moscow to try it again, two former top U.S. intelligence figures say. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers agreed during a Harvard University panel discussion that Russia likely has concluded it achieved its goals and could attempt to repeat its success in elections in France and Germany this year. Radio Free Europe
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Guns, people...Good grief.
Police shot and killed a 49-year-old man suspected of shooting seven people Sunday at a birthday pool party in an apartment complex near the University of California, San Diego, authorities said. Authorities said the suspect, a white man identified as Peter Selis, shot four black women, two black men and one Latino man, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Associated Press
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Tights and a cape are definitely called for. A mask might be titch too much...
Tony Blair announces return to politics to fight Brexit. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced on Monday his comeback into domestic politics in order to fight against Brexit. Blair, who led the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, will not be standing in the June 8 general election. But he said he wanted to build a political movement to shape the policy debate as Britain starts its negotiations to leave the European Union. Daily Times
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Lookin' good (for nothing)!
Tensions rise between Turkey, US along Syrian border. Tensions rose Saturday along the Turkish-Syrian border as both Turkey and the U.S. moved armored vehicles to the region and Turkey’s leader once again demanded that the United States stop supporting the Syrian Kurdish militants there. The relocation of Turkish troops to an area near the border with Syria comes a day after U.S. troops were seen patrolling the tense border in Syria. Those patrols followed a Turkish airstrike against bases of Syrian Kurdish militia, Washington’s main ally in combating Islamic State militants in Syria. WTOP
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Not enough Pepto in the world for that bellyache
Dozens detained as protesters say 'sick of Putin.' Police detained over 100 activists in Saint Petersburg on Saturday as hundreds of Russian opposition supporters turned out to protest against President Vladimir Putin's expected candidacy in elections next year. Protests in several cities were called by the Open Russia movement founded by arch-Putin foe and former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky. News24
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There's a reason you weren't authorized to share with the media, sir
A security clearance well-deserved, clearly.
America's CIA director is making an unannounced visit to South Korea, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul confirmed Monday, amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. An embassy official said Mike Pompeo and his wife were in the South Korean capital on Monday, but wouldn't say for how long. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Associated Press
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Voting: The least-appreciated human right
Algeria voter apathy could mar legislative election. Algerians go to the polls on Thursday to elect a new parliament amid concerns that a low turnout will mar a vote which officials say is necessary to maintain stability. The election comes as the North African country grapples with a deep financial crisis because of a drop in oil revenues and amid criticism from people who say the government has failed to keep its promises. News24
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(Could not be a less) Fine day for a new constitution
Venezuela's Maduro calls for new constitution as protests rage. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for a new constitution on Monday in a bid to quell a crisis that has led to more than a month of protests against him and deadly street violence. His announcement, to thousands of supporters in Caracas marking May Day, came as security forces sprayed tear gas and water cannon at anti-government demonstrators elsewhere in the capital. News24
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Good luck with that
A new database compiled by a Washington, DC-based advocacy group aims to increase transparency surrounding US security assistance programs across Latin America, with the hope that this will lead to improved monitoring and evaluation of those initiatives. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has created the "Defense Oversight Research Database," a platform that lists the programs the United States is currently implementing to assist military and police forces abroad in an effort to help assess their impact in Latin America. Insight Crime
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Cabo Blah-o
Shootout leaves eight dead near Mexico's Los Cabos tourist hub. A shootout near the Mexican beach resort of Los Cabos early on Monday between suspected gang members and navy forces has left eight dead, including one soldier. The incident took place before dawn on the outskirts of San Jose del Cabo, about 20 miles (30 km) northeast of the area's main tourist hub of Cabo San Lucas. Security forces later recovered unspecified drugs, vehicles, communications equipment, military-issued weapons and uniforms, the navy said in a statement. Reuters
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For some better news: Hungary. No, really.
Thousands of Hungarians marched across central Budapest on May 1 in a show of support for the European Union, protesting against what they described as a rise in Russian influence under Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The rally follows a series of major demonstrations in Budapest in recent weeks, triggered by a new law inspired by Russia that would drive out of Hungary a top university founded by U.S. financier George Soros. Radio Free Europe
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Glad someone noticed this is a real thing
Germany pledges $76m to aid Somalia fight hunger. Germany says it will double the $76m it has already pledged to help Somalia cope with the severe drought and hunger that is threatening millions of people across this Horn of Africa nation. The promise was made during a surprise visit by Germany's Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Monday. News24
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For those who really, really want a fresh Parisian baguette, but may not have read the news in the past two years
The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Europe on May 1, saying U.S. citizens should be aware of a continued threat of terrorist attacks throughout the continent. In the alert, the State Department cited recent incidents in France, Russia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom and said Islamic State and Al-Qaeda "have the ability to plan and execute terrorist attacks in Europe." Radio Free Europe
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Seriously, you arrested NPR? At least they bothered to show up...
Journalist freed in South Sudan after 3 nights in jail. South Sudan detained an NPR journalist for nearly four days before releasing him on Monday, a spokesperson for the organization said. Eyder Peralta has returned to his base in Kenya but his South Sudanese assistant is still being held by authorities, Isabel Lara told The Associated Press in an email. News24
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Think of this next time you think registering to vote is no big deal
DRC postpones voter registration in 2 provinces after 'brutal' killing. The Democratic Republic of Congo said on Monday it had indefinitely postponed voter registration in two provinces of its troubled central Kasai region after the brutal killing of an electoral official. On April 3, Philippe Iyidimbe, of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), "was decapitated by militias of Chief Kamwina Nsapu in Ndekesha", in central DRC, the CENI said in a statement. News24
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It's not like he needs it, but God bless Pope Francis
Pope Francis is brushing off security concerns to forge ahead on Friday with a two-day trip to Egypt aimed at presenting a united Christian-Muslim front that repudiates violence committed in God's name. Three weeks after Islamic militants staged twin Palm Sunday church attacks, Francis is to lands in Cairo in the early afternoon for a series of deeply symbolic encounters with Egypt's religious and political leadership. Associated Press
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With friends like these...
The Turkish government gave the United States less than an hour’s notice before conducting strikes on partner forces in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, stepping up its criticism of airstrikes the United States said endangered American personnel. Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. military spokesman, said the lead time failed to provide adequate notice to reposition American forces or warn Kurdish groups with whom the United States is partnering against the Islamic States. “That’s not enough time. And this was notification, certainly not coordination as you would expect from a partner and an ally in the fight against ISIS,” he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. The Washington Post
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Fighting graft -- good. Having masked, armed men whisk people out of government buildings -- little weird.
Moldovan Transport and Roads Infrastructure Minister Lurie Chirinciuc has been detained on corruption charges, the latest in a string of arrests on suspicion of graft in the economically struggling country. Masked officers from Moldova's National Anticorruption Center removed Chirinciuc from the ministry building in the capital, Chisinau, on April 27. Radio Free Europe
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'Dangit, the Game of Thrones extras went to the wrong location!'
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov called an emergency meeting of political leaders Friday, hours after demonstrators - mostly supporters of the country's dominant conservative party - invaded parliament and assaulted opposition lawmakers. But it was unclear whether opposition leaders would attend, and political tension remained high after the riot in which 77 people were injured, mostly lightly. Associated Press
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Are we sure this wasn't a really poorly thought-out LARP?
A 23-year-old man, alleged founder of the Anti-State Capture Death Squad Alliance, has been arrested by the Hawks police unit. The man is accused of appealing to donors to fund an operation to assassinate Cabinet ministers using undercover coup plot snipers. All Africa
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Neverending/How many lives does it take?
Two U.S. service members were killed during operations against the Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Thursday, the latest sign of the security challenges the Trump administration faces in America’s longest and most costly war. Military officials said the deaths occurred during a joint U.S.-Afghan raid on Wednesday evening in Nangahar province, where a small but virulent Islamic State cell poses a threat to Afghan and U.S. coalition forces. A third service member was wounded in the same operation, the U.S. military command in Afghanistan said in a statement. The Pentagon declined to immediately identify those killed. Washington Post
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