Video: Red Poncho protesters in Bolivia clash with police
NewsFeed Members of Bolivian social movement the Red Ponchos broke through a line of police in riot gear who responded with tear gas and rubber-coated bullets, during protests over the state of the country’s economy. Published On 3 Sep 20243 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
US says it seizes Venezuela leader Maduro’s plane, citing sanctions breach
Justice Department says $13m aircraft bought through shell company, ‘smuggled’ out of US for Maduro’s use. United States authorities say they have seized a $13m aircraft allegedly bought for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in violation of sanctions. The Dassault Falcon 900EX was seized in the Dominican Republic on Monday and has been brought to the US state of Florida, according to the US Department of Justice. Maduro was not on board. The seizure comes as the US has increased pressure on Maduro’s government after contested elections in July. In a statement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the aircraft had been “illegally purchased … through a shell company and smuggled out” of the US. Such a transaction would violate sanctions imposed by Washington in 2019 that prohibit US citizens from engaging in sales to individuals acting indirectly or directly on behalf of Maduro’s government. “The department will continue to pursue those who violate our sanctions and export controls to prevent them from using American resources to undermine the national security of the United States,” Garland said in a statement. Matthew Axelrod, the Department of Commerce’s assistant secretary for export enforcement, added: “It doesn’t matter how fancy the private jet or how powerful the officials – we will work relentlessly with our partners here and across the globe to identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled outside of the United States.” Authorities said the aircraft was purchased from a Florida-based company in late 2022 and early 2023 by a Caribbean-based shell company to evade the sanctions. They said the plane has “flown almost exclusively” to and from a military base in Venezuela and has been used to transport Maduro on foreign visits. Venezuela’s government, in a statement, decried the move as “a repeated criminal practice that cannot be described as anything other than piracy”. Contested elections The US has imposed sanctions on Venezuelan individuals and entities since 2005, but the administration of former President Donald Trump vastly expanded the programme in an effort to destabilise Maduro, who replaced socialist President Hugo Chavez when he died in 2013. The sanctions as well as economic mismanagement from the government have been blamed for worsening the country’s overlapping economic and humanitarian crises while fuelling mass migration from the Latin American country. US President Joe Biden’s administration had relaxed some sanctions to try to motivate Maduro to hold free and fair elections this year. However, many of those sanctions were soon reimposed after repeated allegations of violations. Maduro later claimed victory in the July 28 election despite opposition allegations of widespread fraud. Regional leaders and organisations have raised doubts over the outcome while the European Union has rejected the results. Washington has taken a step further, recognising opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the victor. At least 27 people have been killed and 192 have been wounded as weeks of protests have racked the country. Speaking to reporters on background on Monday, a White House National Security Council spokesperson directly connected the plane’s seizure to the election. “Maduro and his representatives have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory and carried out widespread repression to maintain power by force,” the spokesperson said. The seizure of the plane “is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela”, the spokesperson added. Maduro has repeatedly decried the role of the US in Venezuela and, after the elections, said he would call for a “new revolution” if forced to do so by “North American imperialism and fascist criminals”. Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas says Gaza captives will return ‘in coffins’ if Israel continues raids
Group’s armed wing Qassam Brigades issues statement, two days after bodies of six captives are recovered from a Gaza tunnel by Israeli forces. The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas says captives held in Gaza would return to Israel “in coffins” if Israeli military pressure continues, warning that “new instructions” had been given to its fighters guarding the captives in case Israeli troops approach. “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s insistence on freeing the captives through military pressure instead of reaching a deal means they will go back to their families in coffins. Their families have to choose between receiving them dead or alive,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement on Monday, two days after the bodies of six captives were recovered by Israel. “Netanyahu and the army are fully responsible for the death of the captives after they intentionally hindered any prisoners’ exchange deal,” it said. The statement from the Qassam Brigades came shortly after Netanyahu said the six captives whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah area had been “executed” by Hamas. “I ask for your forgiveness for not bringing them back alive,” Netanyahu said during a televised news conference earlier on Monday as protests over the deaths continued for a second day in Israel. “We were close, but we didn’t succeed. Hamas will pay a very heavy price for this,” he added. Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq said the six captives were killed in Israeli air strikes. Families and supporters of Israeli captives held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7 hold a rally calling for their release in Tel Aviv on September 2, 2024 [Jack Guez/AFP] Meanwhile, protests in Israel over the deaths of the captives continued with angry demonstrators saying they could have been returned alive if Netanyahu’s government had signed a ceasefire with Hamas. However, political analyst Akiva Eldar told Al Jazeera that a nationwide strike in Israel on Monday and rising public anger will not make a real difference to end the war in Gaza and free the captives. “It seems that for Netanyahu, the alternative – which is his personal, political and personal life – is more important than the lives of the Israeli captives,” Eldar said, adding that despite a large number of protesters, “the Israeli right and radical right” who support the government “have the upper hand”. “The government and the prime minister are now on the defensive,” Ori Goldberg, an expert on Israeli politics, told Al Jazeera. “This is about momentum now.” Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden also said Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of the captives. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, Biden was asked whether he thought Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a deal. Biden said, “No.” He did not elaborate. Months of stop-start negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to reach an accord on a Gaza ceasefire proposal laid out by Biden in May. Hamas wants an agreement to end the war and get Israeli forces out of Gaza while Netanyahu says the war can only end once Hamas is defeated. Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli ambassador and government adviser, told Al Jazeera that it is Netanyahu who “absolutely has no interest in a hostage deal or ceasefire”. “Those who are shocked and devastated and angered about what happened should not be surprised because this is exactly what the [Israeli] defence minister [Yoav Gallant] and all of us were warning would happen,” Pinkas said. “His [Netanyahu’s] and only his reluctance to engage in a deal is what made all this happen.” Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinian dies an hour after Israel arrests him from occupied West Bank
The 58-year-old man’s body is handed over to the Palestine Red Crescent Society amid intensified Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territory. Israeli troops have handed to the Palestinian health authorities the body of a Palestinian man arrested about an hour earlier in the occupied West Bank. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Monday that it had received the body of 58-year-old Ayman Rajeh Abed, who belonged to Kafr Dan village outside Jenin, shortly after he was arrested at dawn on Monday. The director of the Jenin Government Hospital said the body bore signs of beatings and torture. The Israeli military said Abed was detained during “counterterrorism” operations and experienced a “cardiac event” on arrival at a detention facility. He was given initial treatment by medical staff from the military before being transferred to the hospital in Jenin. “[Israel’s army] is aware of reports that the suspect died during his evacuation by the Red Crescent,” the military said in a statement, adding that details of the incident were under review. Israeli military vehicles are stationed along a street as a plume of smoke rises during an ongoing raid in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp on September 1, 2024 [Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP] The incident came as the Israeli forces expanded their operations in the flashpoint city of Jenin and the surrounding areas for a sixth day. Bulldozers continued to dig up streets and major thoroughfares to find roadside bombs on Monday. Israel launched the operation, one of the largest in months, last Wednesday, saying Iranian-backed fighter groups were planning to attack civilian targets. Hundreds of Israeli troops backed by drones and helicopters have taken part in the operation, which has caused extensive damage to houses and infrastructure in Jenin and the densely-packed refugee camp adjacent to the city. ‘Collective punishment’ Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Kafr Dan, said the Palestinians in Jenin kept repeating that what has been happening over the past six days is “collective punishment”. “They say Israel wants to show that Palestinians would pay a heavy price for supporting armed fighters – those who pick up arms and try to combat Israeli forces while they are raiding Palestinian homes, refugee camps and cities,” she said. At least 29 Palestinians have been killed in less than a week, with Israel claiming they were members of armed factions including Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Another 121 people have been wounded, according to Palestinian health authorities. Late on Sunday, a man was killed in the west of Jenin city. On Monday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said another man was hit in the chest by gunfire in Qabatiya near Jenin. His condition was described as serious. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia launches barrage of drones and missiles at Kyiv
Russia launched a barrage of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv, as well as other cities across the country. A series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Monday, sending residents into bomb shelters, said Ukraine’s air force. Air strikes also targeted Kharkiv and other cities. Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency services were called to the Holosiivskyi and Solomianskyi districts of Kyiv. One person was reportedly injured by falling debris in Shevchenkivskyi district. Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said more than 10 cruise missiles, about 10 ballistic missiles and a drone fired at the Ukrainian capital and its suburbs were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defences. Ukrainian forces said that overall they destroyed 22 out of 35 missiles and 20 out of 23 attack drones over the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region, confirmed an early morning strike on the Industrialnyi district. The barrage comes a day after Russia’s military reported intercepting and destroying 158 Ukrainian drones targeting multiple Russian regions in one of the biggest Ukrainian attacks of the war that has raged for more than two years. Adblock test (Why?)
Israelis erupt in protest to demand Gaza ceasefire
Tens of thousands of grieving and angry Israelis have surged into the streets after six captives were found dead in Gaza. Chanting “Now! Now!”, the crowds demanded on Sunday night that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home. The mass outpouring of anger appeared to be the largest such demonstration in 11 months of war. Protesters said it felt like a possible turning point, although the country remains deeply divided. Israel’s largest trade union, Histadrut, sought to raise the pressure further as it called a general strike for Monday. It aims to shut down or disrupt the main sectors of the economy, including banking, healthcare and the country’s main airport. Ceasefire negotiations have dragged on for months. Many blame Netanyahu for failing to reach a deal, which opinion polls show a majority of Israelis favour. Three of the six captives who were found dead — including an Israeli American — were reportedly scheduled to be released in the first phase of a proposed ceasefire deal that was discussed in July. This fuelled fury and frustration among the protesters. The military said all six captives were killed shortly before Israeli forces reached. Netanyahu blamed Hamas for the stalled negotiations. “Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal,” he said. Hamas has offered to release the captives in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile members of Gaza’s armed groups. Top security officials say the intense pressure on Hamas has created favourable conditions for a ceasefire deal. The army, noting the difficulty of rescue operations, has acknowledged that a deal is the only way to bring home large numbers of captives safely. Adblock test (Why?)
Ex-daycare worker in Australia admits sexually abusing dozens of girls
Ashley Paul Griffith pleads guilty to 307 offences against some 60 children who were in his care. A former childcare worker in Australia has admitted to sexually abusing dozens of girls in one of the worst paedophile cases in the country’s history. Ashley Paul Griffith on Monday pleaded guilty to 307 charges involving children in his care, including 28 counts of rape, 90 counts of indecent treatment and 67 counts of making child exploitation material. The offences were carried out against some 60 children, many of them under 12, at childcare centres in Australia and Italy over a span of more than 19 years. The judge’s associate at the District Court in Brisbane took more than two hours to read out the charges against Griffith, 46, who appeared emotionless as he pleaded guilty to every charge, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. Griffith was arrested in 2022 and originally charged with several child exploitation material offences. Prosecutors later charged the Gold Coast, Queensland man with more than 1,600 offences against 91 girls, but most of those charges were dropped before Monday’s hearing. New South Wales state police Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald last year described the case as “one of the most horrific cases of alleged child abuse our detectives have seen”. Police said they had been searching for Griffith since discovering a collection of child exploitation images and videos circulating on the dark web in 2014. Griffith, who is due to be sentenced at a later date, did not seek bail and was returned to custody after his arraignment. Adblock test (Why?)
Israelis protest, union calls strike after six more captives killed in Gaza
Thousands of Israelis have hit the streets demanding a ceasefire deal and Israel’s main labour union has called for a strike after six more captives were found dead in Gaza. Scuffles between the protesters and security forces were reported on Sunday night in one of the largest anti-government demonstrations in Israel since the Gaza war began nearly 11 months ago. The protesters chanted “Now! Now!” and demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach a ceasefire with Palestinian group Hamas to bring the remaining captives home. Many Israelis blocked roads in Tel Aviv and demonstrated outside Netanyahu’s office in West Jerusalem. Relatives and supporters of Israelis taken captive in Gaza protest outside PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in West Jerusalem [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP] In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of captives held in Gaza, said the death of the six hostages was the direct result of Netanyahu’s failure to secure a deal to halt the fighting and bring their loved ones home. “They were all murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity,” the forum said. Gil Dickmann, a cousin of Carmel Gat, whose body was among those returned, urged Israelis to put more pressure on their government. “Take to the streets and shut down the country until everyone returns. They can still be saved,” Dickmann posted on X. Israelis protest outside the prime minister’s office in West Jerusalem [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP] Gideon Levy, a columnist with Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu has been defending the right-wing parties in his government that are against any concessions to Hamas. “They [the parties] could not care less about the hostages,” he said. Levy stressed that within Netanyahu’s Likud Party, the largest group in the government, Netanyahu wields a lot of power and the party supports him. “Therefore the challenges from within the government are very limited,” he said. “The real, only possible, challenge would be the streets, but … it is too early to judge.” Union calls for general strike Meanwhile, in a first since October 7, Israel’s largest trades union federation, the Histadrut, has called for a general strike to pressure the government into signing a ceasefire deal. The union said Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, would be closed from 8am (05:00 GMT) on Monday, as it aimed to shut down or disrupt major sectors of Israel’s economy, including banking and healthcare. “A deal is more important than anything else,” said Histadrut chief Arnon Bar-David. “We are getting body bags instead of a deal.” He said he was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector. The alliance of some of the most powerful voices in Israel’s economy reflected the scale of public anger over the deaths of the six captives. A woman shouts slogans as thousands of Israelis protest in West Jerusalem [Ahmad Gharabli/AFP] Municipal services in Israel’s economic hub Tel Aviv will also be shut for part of Monday. The Manufacturers Association of Israel said it backed the strike and accused the government of failing in its “moral duty” to bring the captives back alive. “Without the return of the hostages, we will not be able to end the war, we will not be able to rehabilitate ourselves as a society and we will not be able to begin to rehabilitate the Israeli economy,” said association head Ron Tomer. Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid said he supported the strike. Truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas have dragged on for months, and many blame Netanyahu for failing to reach a deal. The Israeli military has killed at least 40,738 people and wounded 94,154 in its war on Gaza since October 7. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, with some 250 people seized by the group. Israel’s army has acknowledged the difficulty of rescuing dozens of remaining captives and said only a deal can bring a large-scale return. Adblock test (Why?)
Iraq to impose two-day curfew for first census in decades
Iraq has postponed censuses several times in almost three decades because of the security situation in the country. Iraq will impose a two-day curfew in November for the country’s first census in 27 years, officials said. “[The] curfew will be imposed in all provinces of Iraq on November 20 and 21 to conduct a population census,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement on Sunday. Local media reports said various measures have been approved for the process, including finalising coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for the training of statistical staff. Also, the process will receive support from multiple ministries in providing classrooms and youth centres for staff training, reports added. Ravaged by decades of conflict and violence, Iraq has postponed a census several times, most notably in 2010 because of tensions over disputed territories. The last general census was held in 1997 in 15 Iraqi provinces – excluding the three northern provinces that make up the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Iraq has regained some semblance of stability in recent years, despite sporadic violence and political turmoil. Current estimates put the country’s population at about 43 million. Iraqi authorities have partnered with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the upcoming census. The initiative “plays a crucial role in equipping Iraq with accurate demographic information, facilitating effective policymaking, and promoting inclusive growth,” the agency has said. In the past, Iraq held a census every 10 years. A count could not be organised in 2007, when the country was embroiled in sectarian violence. Adblock test (Why?)
Is Brazil’s ban of social media platform X legal or political?
Site failed to comply with court order to block accounts linked to disinformation. Social media giant X has been banned in Brazil. It is the latest development in a months-long dispute between a Supreme Court judge and tech billionaire Elon Musk over censorship and disinformation. Brazil isn’t the first country to restrict access to the platform. The ban is reigniting a debate about the role social media plays in politics, freedom of speech and the spread of misinformation. How should social media giants be regulated? And is censorship being used as a political tool? Presenter: Dareen Abughaida Guests: Flora Rebello Arduini – Senior adviser on technology and human rights who focuses on disinformation and social media regulation Chris Stokel-Walker – Technology and digital culture journalist who hosts a podcast called Techtonic examining freedom of expression online Vinicius de Carvalho – Reader in Brazilian Studies at King’s College London and founder of the Observatory of Democracy in Latin America Adblock test (Why?)