Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum addresses supporters during a rally in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, on her inauguration day, 1 Oct 2024. Photo: AP
Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in Tuesday as Mexico’s new president, becoming the country’s first female president and the first president of Jewish descent in the largely Roman Catholic country. Her win comes 70 years after women in Mexico won the right to vote. President Sheinbaum is also the first woman to lead a government in North America. Should Kamala Harris win the US election next month, the continent will have two women in charge of their nations, another first.
The daughter of activist academics, Sheinbaum (62) was also the first female mayor of Mexico City, Mexico’s capital. She stepped down from that position last year for her presidential campaign, which had the support of her predecessor and political mentor, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
She has promised to continue the social welfare programs for the country’s poor that Lopez Obrador initiated, despite Mexico’s current massive budget deficit and sluggish economy.
Sheinbaum is also facing a country beset with violence, such as battles between drug cartels that often erupt onto the streets of the northwest city of Culiacan, where many cartels are located. Local security forces have had little luck in quelling the violence.
As mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum was applauded for reducing the city’s homicide rate by increasing the salaries of an expanded police force, a strategy she has promised to duplicate across the country.
Sheinbaum is also assuming Mexico’s helm just as the country is implementing a judicial overhaul, a move spearheaded by Lopez Obrador. The controversial reform will eventually replace all of Mexico’s judges with new ones elected by popular vote.
Former President Ernesto Zedillo, who has been critical of the overhaul, said in a recent guest essay in Britain’s Economist magazine that “our hard-won democracy will be transformed, for all practical purposes, into a one-party autocracy.”
Sheinbaum, however, said, “The reforms to the judicial system will not affect our commercial relations, nor private Mexican investments, nor foreign ones. Rather, the opposite. There will be a greater and better rule of law and democracy for everyone.”
The first trip for the new president, a former climate scientist who has a doctorate in energy engineering, will be to Acapulco, the resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, which was brutalized last week by the rains of Category III Hurricane John, after being devastated last year by Hurricane Otis.
Population of Mexico: 130,739,927; GDP per capita: $22,400 (2023 est.) Data and map: CIA
Sources:
Mexico’s first female president takes oath of office, promises to help poor (voanews.com)
Mexico Factsheet – The World Factbook (cia.gov)
Russian Forces Execute 16 Ukrainian POWs Near Pokrovsk
In 2022, Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander, was sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in Ukraine’s first war crime trial following Russia’s invasion. He had pleaded guilty to killing a 62-year-old citizen in north-eastern Ukraine. There will be more war crimes trials in the future. Photo Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Russian forces appear to have shot 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Donetsk Oblast, the largest recorded case of mass execution of surrendered soldiers on the battlefield, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on 1 Oct.
Evidence of the execution appeared on social media earlier on 1 Oct. The POWs were reportedly killed after surrendering on the front line near Pokrovsk. The Prosecutor General’s Office said it was verifying the material published online and investigating the circumstances around the case.
The execution of POWs is a “cynical and gross violation of the Geneva Conventions,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
“This is the most massive known case of execution of Ukrainian POWs on the front line,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said.
“The murders and torture of prisoners are not an accident, but a purposeful policy of the Russian military and political leadership,” he added.
In early September, Russian forces executed three Ukrainian POWs near Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast. The Prosecutor General’s Office said earlier this year that it was investigating more than 50 cases of execution of Ukrainian POWs.
The US Department of Justice has been investigating Russian war crimes as well. Last year the DOJ charged four Russian soldiers with torture, inhumane treatment, and unlawful confinement of a US national in Ukraine.
Sources:
Russian forces execute 16 Ukrainian POWs near Pokrovsk, prosecutors say (kyivindependent.com)
Russian soldier jailed for life in Ukraine’s first war crime trial (brusselstimes.com)
Iran Counterattacks Israel on Behalf of Lebanese Hezbollah with Ballistic Missiles
Photo: AP
Iran launched a massive ballistic missile attack at Israel on 1 Oct in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Lebanon’s Hezbollah in a new escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed resistance group.
Israeli air defenses intercepted many of the estimated 180 missiles that were fired, though some landed in central and southern Israel. There were no reports of any injuries and after about an hour after the attack was launched it was safe for them to leave their bomb shelters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a big mistake” and said Tehran “will pay for it.” He added: “Whoever attacks us, we attack them.”
US President Joe Biden said he would discuss a response with Netanyahu. Asked what the response would be, Biden replied: “That’s in active discussion right now. That remains to be seen.”
He added that the attack appears to have been “defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military” and said the US is “fully supportive of Israel.”
Israeli police reported that at least six people were killed and nine wounded in a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv. Police said it was a “terrorist” attack carried out at a light rail station and the two attackers were later killed by civilians and inspectors using their own firearms. There has been no claim of responsibility.
While the missile attack sent Israelis scurrying to take cover in bomb shelters, it prompted people in Iran to celebrate. State television broadcast images from the city of Mashhad showing people in the streets waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah and portraits of the group’s slain chief, Hassan Nasrallah. Similar celebrations also took place in the capital Tehran and in several provincial cities.
World leaders urged Iran and Israel to step back from the brink and negotiate a cease-fire.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East” following fighting in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
To a hammer, everything is a nail as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is demonstrating. He has ignored the entreaties of the UN and world leaders for a cease-fire, as well as the pleas of his citizens to make a deal to release the remaining hostages. The widening conflict will keep Netanyahu’s bribery and corruption trial in abeyance while casualties begin to mount. In this “David versus Goliath” conflict, Israel and her supporters should expect asymmetric attacks or lone-actor reprisals against soft civilian targets, ranging from runamok knife attacks (like in Germany earlier this year), vandalism against synagogues, or bomb threats against Jewish hospitals (like earlier this year in Canada).
Lebanese man stands in remains of a building destroyed by the IDF in Beirut on 1 Oct 2024. The Lebanese economy was already in shambles before the Israeli onslaught. Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI.
A French naval ship is deploying to Lebanon to assist with any evacuations of French citizens. Approximately 23,000 French and Franco-Lebanese residents live in Lebanon. The French embassy in Beirut has established a hotline and started coordinating evacuation options for civilians who wish to leave. Two French nationals have already been killed by the IDF.
Sources:
Iran Launches Massive Ballistic Missile Attack On Israel (rferl.org)French navy deploys near Lebanon as Israel launches ground raids on Hezbollah (rfi.fr)
Florida Man Found Guilty of Felony Destruction of Property and Other Charges During 6 Jan Capitol Breach
Supporters of then-US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol’s Rotunda on 6 Jan 2021, in Washington, DC. Photo: NBC News.
A federal jury in the District of Columbia found Marcus Smith (47) of Fleming Island, FL, guilty of a felony offense of destruction of government property and several misdemeanor charges during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Joining the mob that stormed the US Capitol, Smith noticed some rioters trying to breach a locked door inside the building. The defendant joined them in breaking down the door. The Architect of the Capitol later determined that the value of the damage to the door, which was part of the original construction of the Senate Wing of the Capitol and dated back to the 1850s, necessitated the door being replaced at a cost of approximately $21,000.
After further trespassing within the US Capitol, this runamok finally departed at approximately 2:50 PM. The FBI arrested Smith on 26 Jan 2024, in Fleming Island.
This brontosaurus represents America’s Fedayeen Saddam (FS), dead-ender white supremacists clinging on to the last vestiges of white privilege in the US. Marcus Smith is lucky that he wasn’t charged with any crimes of violence against USCP officers. The Honorable US District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich will sentence Smith on 10 Jan 2025.
In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.
Source:
US Targets Israeli-Occupied West Bank Settler Violence with Sanctions
Hilltop Youth settlers in West Bank (Photo credit: REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen)
The US sanctioned one informal organization and two people as the Biden administration continues to tighten its financial grip on those it accuses of perpetrating violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The US Treasury designated Hilltop Youth, an extremist group of West Bank settlers accused of attacking Palestinians and destroying their homes and property. The US government listed Hilltop Youth as a “criminal organization.”
The Treasury said the group of settlers has “conducted a campaign of violence against Palestinians,” which includes killings, arson, assaults and intimidation, with the goal of driving Palestinians out of the West Bank. It conducts what are called “price tag” assaults, which are revenge attacks conducted in reprisal for actions carried out against settlers.
The late author and Israel Prize laureate Amos Oz who was known as: “The humane heart of Israel.”
In 2014, the late Amos Oz condemned the perpetrators of “price tag” attacks, saying “‘Price tag’ and ‘Hilltop Youth’ are cute nicknames for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups.” Oz went on to say that the only difference between neo-Nazis around the world and those who commit hate crimes in Israel is that “our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo- religious justification.”
The State Department sanctioned Eitan Yardeni and Avichai Suissa, who leads Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli non-government organization the US sanctioned in late August.
Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory and the establishment of settlements are widely viewed as illegal under international law and have attracted the repeated criticism and condemnation of the UN and the wider international community.
The US has been a critic of Israel’s occupation and has said it represents an obstacle to a two-state solution. The Biden administration has sanctioned 27 individuals and entities accused of perpetuating violence there under an executive order that President Joe Biden signed in February.
The Biden administration has used the sanctions to criticize Israel for not doing more to curb violence in the West Bank, while critics have called on the administration to use its sanctioning power against those in the Israeli government who enable the violence against Palestinians.
“The Biden administration imposes more sanctions on settlers for violence against West Bank Palestinians but still hasn’t imposed sanctions on any of the Israeli officials who are encouraging the settler violence,” Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and current visiting professor at Princeton, said on X.
According to an update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been some 1,390 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians between the start of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 Oct and 23 Sep.
Of those attacks, 135 involved the killing and wounding of Palestinians, 1,110 saw Palestinian property damaged and about 150 caused both casualties and property damage. The report added that some 1,628 Palestinians, including 794 children, have been displaced by the settler violence. The AP reported that 623 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank.
Sources:
Sanctions List Search (treas.gov)
U.S. targets Israeli-occupied West Bank settler violence with sanctions – UPI.com
Amos Oz: Hilltop youth are Hebrew neo-Nazis – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen on Trial for Misusing EU funds
Marine Le Pen sits in the European Parliament, Strasbourg, in Jan 2017. She looks quite pleased with herself. Photo: AP / Jean-Francois Badias
Marine Le Pen, her father, and 25 colleagues – including current and former French lawmakers and MEPs – are accused of embezzling public funds and collusion. Prosecutors claim that the defendants set up a fake jobs scheme using European parliamentary funds to pay for assistants who in fact worked for her National Rally party, formerly called the National Front, rather than on European affairs.
The scheme, which ran from 2004 to 2016, was in breach of EU rules.
The EU Parliament estimated in 2018 that 6.8 million euros had been embezzled. Marine Le Pen has always denied any wrongdoing.
The trial runs through to 27 Nov. If found guilty, Le Pen could face a maximum ten years behind bars and a €1 million fine. That’s unlikely, but she also faces a possible five-year ban on standing for public office. This would rule her out of the 2027 presidential election she is preparing for, and which a recent poll suggests she has a stronger than ever chance of winning.
A total of 11 members of the European Parliament, 12 of their parliamentary assistants and four party collaborators are to be tried as well, while the RN party itself faces charges of concealing the wrongdoing. Among the high-profile figures are Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front, her former partner Louis Aliot – the mayor of the southern city of Perpignan – and RN spokesperson Julien Odoul.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is 96 years old, will not be present in court after a medical report in July diagnosed him as “unfit” to stand trial.
The National Rally is not the only party to be accused of misappropriating MEP funds.
In February this year the centrist MoDem party, currently part of President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble coalition, was fined €350,000 for similar charges.
MoDem’s leader, Francois Bayrou, was acquitted due to reasonable doubt, but the eight people found guilty were ordered to pay fines, sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 18 months and were banned from serving in public office.
Sources:
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on trial for misuse of EU funds (rfi.fr)
Far right election gains ensure a financial jackpot for Le Pen’s National Rally
Germany Arrests Chinese Woman Accused of Spying
German police arrested a Chinese woman accused of spying on the country’s defence industry while working in a logistics company.
Named only as Yaqi X., she allegedly reported to another suspected Beijing agent now under arrest, Jian G., who was working in the office of a German far-right member of the European Parliament, Maximilian Krah. The woman arrested on Monday is “strongly suspected of acting as an intelligence agent for a Chinese secret service.”
Yaqi X. worked for a company that provides logistics services at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany.
She allegedly used her position to gather information on “the transport of military equipment and persons with connections to a German arms company.”
Between mid-2023 and February, she “repeatedly sent information on flights, cargo and passengers at the airport to an employee of a Chinese secret service — namely Jian G., who is being prosecuted separately,” prosecutors said.
Jian G., a German national, was arrested in April on suspicion of spying while working in the Brussels office of German MEP Krah of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Her Leipzig home and workplace were also searched.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told Bild daily that “the arrest of a suspected Chinese spy in Leipzig shows us once again that foreign intelligence services have long had Germany in their sights.
Citing unnamed security sources, news site Der Spiegel reported that Yaqi X., a 38-year-old, in particular had targeted the arms giant Rheinmetall, which is involved in making Leopard tanks and which uses Leipzig airport for cargo flights.
Her alleged handler Jian G. was arrested on suspicion of sharing European Parliament information with a Chinese intelligence service and of spying on Chinese opposition figures in Germany.
The European Union assembly, which had listed Jian Guo as an accredited assistant to Krah, moved to suspend him earlier this year. Krah posted on X at the time that prosecutors had confirmed to his lawyer that he was “not a suspect in the investigation”. The allegations involving China were among a series of controversies to hit Germany’s AfD, including claims that some of its members have links to Russia.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the allegations against Guo “very serious” and said that, if confirmed, it was “an attack on European democracy from within”.
According to German broadcasters ARD, RBB, and SWR, Guo was no stranger to German intelligence. He had reportedly offered his services as an informer at least a decade ago but was turned away on suspicion he might be a Chinese double agent.
Source:
Germany Arrests Chinese Woman Accused Of Spying | Barron’s (barrons.com)
California Wildfires One Million Hectares This Year
Map: FIRMS US / NASA
The total hectares burned in California this year surpassed one million as spiking temperatures Tuesday added to the challenges facing firefighters struggling to contain a stubborn blaze in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles that flared up over the weekend.
Evacuation orders were expanded again Monday for remote communities northeast of Los Angeles as the Line Fire that has been burning for nearly a month spread over nearly 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) of the San Bernardino Mountains, and containment dropped from 83% to 76%.
“The dry vegetation, steep slopes and wind aligned … to create conditions for the rapid fire spread,” according to a statement late Monday from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
The risk of wildfires increased across California as an autumn heat wave scorched much of the state. Some inland areas could see temperatures up to 20 degrees above average for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service.
San Francisco, where residents typically break out the sweaters in October, could hit 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), while triple digits 38 C were predicted for Sacramento. The weather service office in the state’s capital urged residents to stay indoors during the heat of the day on Tuesday.
Dry, hot winds in the northern part of the state prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to pre-emptively cut power to small clusters of customers in high-risk areas. The utility routinely stops electricity service in counties where weather conditions increase the probability of fires.
In Southern California, the Line Fire’s surge pushed the total hectares burned across the state in 2024 to 405,492 (1,001,993 acres) as of Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire. The milestone surpasses the total scorched during the same time last year — 118,719 hectares (293,362 acres) — but is roughly on par with the five-year average for the period, the Los Angeles Times reported.
At its height, the blaze threatened more than 65,000 homes in and around the Big Bear Lake area.
A 34-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to starting the Line Fire on 5 Sep. Justin Wayne Halstenberg of Norco, CA, was charged with 11 arson-related crimes.
Firefighters monitor the advancing Line Fire in Angelus Oaks, CA, 9 Sep 2024.
Sources:
Wildfires in California have burned 1 million hectares so far this year (voanews.com)
NASA | LANCE | FIRMS US/Canada
Vietnam: 25 Students Suspected of Poisoning After Drinking Free Soft Drinks; Other Cases of Possible Food Poisoning Reported This Summer
Pediatric patient treated at the hospital. Photo: BVCC
After drinking free soft drinks at the gate of Binh Minh Secondary School, Thanh Oai, 25 students showed signs of poisoning; 12 were hospitalized with headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Physicians suspect food poisoning. Three more serious patients were transferred to Intensive Care, the rest were treated at the Infectious Diseases Department. The children drank free bottled soft drinks outside the school gate. There is no information yet regarding the brand or the ingredients, but the product was distributed for free for advertising purposes.
Authorities recommend that schools in the area, as well as parents, educate their children not to eat snacks outside the school gate and absolutely not to accept food from strangers.
On 21 Sep, 70 people at Primary and Secondary School in Nong Thuong commune, Bac Kan city vomited, had abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, and were hospitalized. The day before, 88 students and five teachers ate rice, fried chicken, vegetable soup with melons, stir-fried potatoes, and watermelon.
The next morning, 20 students appeared with hot fever, abdominal pain, headache, diarrhea, and were admitted to the emergency city health center. The number of sick patients increased to 70 with similar symptoms. The cause is unknown.
On 16 Sep, 34 students of Ton Duc Thang Secondary School in Pleiku drank milk tea at the Mid-Autumn Festival. Within a few hours, 21 students had abdominal pain, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. They received emergency medical treatment and doctors suspected food poisoning.
The City Health Center took food samples for testing to find the cause.
Without further information, these incidents appear to be isolated examples of poor quality control over food and beverage production in Vietnam, and not a sinister plot to murder innocent children.
Sources:
21 students suspected of poisoning after the Mid-Autumn Festival party – VnExpress Health Newspaper
Used Baby Incubators Help Save Orphaned Kangaroos by Imitating Their Mother’s Pouch
Story: Andy Corbley; Photo: Mandy Watson
When an Australian nurse working at a hospital with outdated incubators happened upon a kangaroo rescue center, she realized she could help save lives.
Once used to help save premature human babies, the incubators are now mimicking the conditions of a mother kangaroo’s pouch, where her joey will live for the first eight months of its life.
Every year dozens of orphaned joeys and pinkies, or marsupial pups who haven’t opened their eyes yet, are brought into Kununurra Kangaroo Rescue Haven in East Kimberly, Australia.
Since they are the largest terrestrial animal in Australia, an adult kangaroo rarely has to worry about predators and their populations can balloon quite dramatically. This, unfortunately, renders them much like whitetail deer in the US—at extreme risk of becoming roadkill.
Mandy Watson, director of the Kununurra Haven, has saved hundreds of orphaned joeys from their moms who have been hunted or struck by vehicles. Young, pinky joeys can struggle to survive without the warmth and humidity of their mother’s pouch. She has seen hundreds of orphans return to the wild, but thousands not make it to adulthood.
“In 20 years, we’ve released 823 back into the wild. It’s really hard, especially in the dry season, for us to keep up that constant temperature,” Watson told ABC News Down Under. “The humidicrib (incubator) is going to be a constant temperature that’s going to dramatically help [to] save a few more lives.”
The humidicribs were donated by nurse Jane Darlington, a clinical pediatric nurse at the Kununurra District Hospital. The hospital needed to get rid of them as the rapid march of medical technology had seen them become obsolete.
Darlington got the idea while shopping in town. She saw a volunteer from the rescue center helping to raise awareness of their work by walking around in a wallaby costume, holding one of their orphaned joeys.
Mandy Watson (left) and a volunteer play with some joeys next to their truck-mounted incubator. Photo: Jane Darlington
Source:
Old Incubators Help Save Orphaned Kangaroos by Imitating Their Mother’s Pouch (goodnewsnetwork.org)
“What? The right-wing in Europe is linked to Russian and Chinese intelligence? And involved in financial chicanery? Who knew?!”
Coriolanus 