Six stand trial for spectacular German museum jewel heist

Dresden's Green Vault museum was the site of a brazen night raid in 2019 (AFP/Sebastian Kahnert)
Sebastian Kahnert

Femke COLBORNE
Thu, January 27, 2022

Six members of a notorious criminal gang go on trial in Germany on Friday over a spectacular heist in which 18th-century jewels were snatched from a state museum in Dresden.

The suspects, aged 22 to 28, are accused of gang robbery and arson after the brazen night raid on the Green Vault museum in Dresden's Royal Palace on November 25, 2019.

To this day, there is still no trace of the jewels, including a sword with a diamond-encrusted hilt and a shoulderpiece which contains the famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond.

While charging the men last year, prosecutors described the museum pieces as "extremely important in terms of art and cultural history".

The robbers took just eight minutes, cutting the power and breaking in through a window with which they had previously tampered.

Two men armed with an axe then stormed into the showroom and stole the jewels before fleeing in a car, which they torched in an underground car park.

The thieves grabbed 21 pieces of jewellery and other valuables from the collection of the Saxon ruler August the Strong, encrusted with more than 4,300 individual diamonds.

- Operation Epaulette -

Insurance experts say the loot is worth at least 113.8 million euros ($128 million), with German media dubbing it the biggest art heist in modern history.

However, the director of Dresden's state art collection, Marion Ackermann, had refused to put a value on the stolen items, calling them "priceless".

The stunt also caused around a million euros' worth of damage to the museum and car park.

Police combed through CCTV footage to identify the suspects, who are all members of the so-called "Remmo clan", an extended family notorious for ties to organised crime in Germany.

The investigation was codenamed "Epaulette" after the glittering shoulderpiece.

Three of the suspects were arrested after 1,600 police raided 18 Berlin properties in November 2020.

Another two -- twin brothers named by police as Mohammed and Abdul Majed Remmo -- were on the run for several months, but were caught in December 2020 and May 2021 respectively.

A final suspect was arrested last summer.

- Gold coin -

The Remmos were previously implicated in another stunning museum robbery in the heart of Berlin in 2017, when a 100-kilogramme (220-pound) gold coin was stolen.

Two of the suspects on trial for the Dresden heist are still serving out juvenile sentences for involvement in the theft of the gold coin -- which has also never been found.

The "Big Maple Leaf", considered the world's second-largest gold coin after the one-tonne Australian Kangaroo, was snatched from Berlin's prestigious Bode Museum.

Investigators in 2020 targeted the Remmo family with the seizure of 77 properties worth a total of 9.3 million euros, charging that they were purchased with the proceeds of various crimes, including a 2014 bank robbery.

The Dresden trial, which is expected to run until October, is being heard in a juvenile court because two of the suspects were minors at the time of the crime.

In addition to the six main suspects, four other men are being investigated on suspicion of aiding and abetting by scoping out the crime scene the previous day.

Founded by Augustus, Elector of Saxony, in 1723, the Green Vault is one of Europe's oldest museums.

After the Royal Palace suffered severe damage in World War Two, the museum remained closed for decades before it was restored and reopened in 2006.

Experts have warned that the chances of recovering the stolen jewels are slim, with the precious stones likely re-cut in the time that has lapsed since the crime.

bur-fec/dlc/bp

CTHULHU STUDIES
New scientific paper claims octopuses are actually aliens from outer space

Joshua Hawkins
Wed, January 26, 2022


Octopuses are from space. I know, that sounds like the opening line of a cheesy science fiction movie from the black and white days of Hollywood. But it’s actually the main part of the argument behind a research paper published in an actual peer-reviewed journal. The paper was published in the journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology. Titled Cause of the Cambrian Explosion – Terrestrial or Cosmic?, the paper digs deep into the origin of life on Earth.

As a result, it posits that life began thanks to a rain of retroviruses, which literally fell from space. Those retroviruses then added new DNA sequences to terrestrial genomes, which the paper says further drove mutagenic change.

Paper claims octopuses are from space

wunderpus

Where things start to get really interesting, though, is when the paper starts to discuss the arrival of cephalopods. The paper itself claims that certain cephalopods like octopuses, squid, and others arrived on the planet by falling from space, frozen in a kind of stasis.

“Thus the possibility that cryopreserved squid and/or octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted,” the paper reads. The authors of the paper say that the octopus and other creatures benefit from biological features that appear to have been derived from “some type of pre-existence.”

The idea that life originated beyond Earth isn’t exactly a new one. As Stephen Fleischfresser points out in a post about the paper from 2018, the theory of panspermia has been around since Ancient Greece. However, this is perhaps one of the first times that we’ve seen scientists claiming that octopuses are from space.

Raising eyebrows

An octopus on the sea floor

It is, honestly, an exciting idea, that octopuses are from space. After all, there’s still a lot that we don’t know about the origin of life. Or even whether life exists beyond our own planet. Sure, we’re slowly discovering more about the universe. But this paper fails to put itself above any of the other theories we have out there.

Keith Baverstock, a medical researcher with the University of Eastern Finland, reviewed the paper. In his review, Baverstock stated that there is indeed a lot of evidence that makes the thesis plausible. However, he said that this isn’t how science advances. Because so much of the evidence is not definitive, this thesis only adds to the mystery surrounding the origin of life. In fact, nothing in the paper’s summary really helps us better understand the history of life on our planet. It only adds more conjectures to the already overflowing pot of theories that science has birthed over the years. (via ScienceAlert)

Still, there’s something interesting about the possibility that octopuses are from space. Sure, it might sound crazy, but the authors of this paper have presented a lot of interesting evidence for other scientists to mull over. Of course, it’s going to take a lot to actually prove it, too. And, singling out one specific group of animals could be making the focus far too narrow to actually prove anything. For now, all we can do is look back at the paper and watch to see what other evidence these scientists might bring forward in the future.

See the original version of this article on BGR.com

Australia pumps cash into Great Barrier Reef protection



Australia pumps cash into Great Barrier Reef protectionA recent study found bleaching had affected 98 percent of the Great Barrier Reef since 1998, leaving just a fraction of the world's largest reef system untouched

 (AFP/Scott Ling)


Thu, January 27, 2022

Australia unveiled a billion-dollar package to protect the climate-ravaged Great Barrier Reef on Friday, hoping to prevent the vast network of corals from being removed from UNESCO's World Heritage list.

Conservative prime minister Scott Morrison announced the Aus$1 billion (US$700 million) nine-year plan, months after narrowly avoiding the reef being placed on UNESCO's "in danger" list.

"We are backing the health of the reef and the economic future of tourism operators, hospitality providers and Queensland communities that are at the heart of the reef economy," Morrison said.

The move comes ahead of a general election expected in May, when Morrison will have to win key Queensland seats near the reef to remain in power.

When the UN previously threatened to downgrade the reef's World Heritage listing in 2015, Australia created a "Reef 2050" plan and poured billions of dollars into protection.

The measures are believed to have arrested the pace of decline, but much of the world's largest reef system has already been damaged.

A recent study found bleaching had affected 98 percent of the reef since 1998, leaving just a fraction of it untouched.

The Morrison government's support for coal and reluctance to tackle climate change has seen the party bleed support in major cities and prompted the emergence of a string of electoral challenges from climate-focused independents.

Australians are overwhelmingly in favour of action to limit climate change, having experienced a string of global warming-worsened disasters such as bushfires, droughts and floods.

A 2021 poll by Sydney's Lowy Institute found 60 percent of Australians believed "global warming is a serious and pressing problem".

Eight in 10 Australians supported a net-zero emissions target by 2050, which the government reluctantly adopted ahead of a landmark United Nations climate summit in Scotland last year.

One of the world's biggest exporters of coal and gas, Australia's economy is heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Its political parties also receive significant funds from coal and gas-linked donors.

- 'Band-Aid on a broken leg' -

The Climate Council pressure group said this latest package of funding was like putting "a Band-Aid on a broken leg".

"Unless you are cutting emissions deeply this decade the situation on the reef will only get worse," said the Council's Lesley Hughes, a professor of biology at Macquarie University.

"Handing out cash for the Great Barrier Reef with one hand, while funding the very industry -- fossil fuels -- that's driving devastating climate impacts like marine heatwaves and coral bleaching, means they are adding to the very problem they are claiming they want to fix."

Bleaching occurs when healthy corals become stressed by spikes in ocean temperatures, causing them to expel algae living in their tissues, which drains them of their vibrant colours.

The Great Barrier Reef has suffered three mass bleaching events during heatwaves in 2016, 2017 and 2020, leaving many affected corals struggling to survive.

Much of the government's latest package will be spent on preventing damaging agricultural runoff from polluting the reef.

About a quarter of the funds will be channelled to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority "to reduce threats from Crown of Thorns Starfish", which eat coral.

arb/dva

EDMONTON ARTIST

Here's why Todd McFarlane's 'The Scorched,' his first team comic in decades, is a huge hit

Mike Avila
Thu, January 27, 2022

Todd McFarlane has done almost everything a cartoonist could hope to do in the comic book business. He's drawn the biggest characters at Marvel and DC (Spider-Man and Batman), set sales records (Spider-Man #1, Spawn #1), and helped change the industry with the creator-owned company Image Comics.

One thing the iconic artist hadn't done since the start of his career was tackle a monthly superhero book. Until now.

Scorched 1 Cover D Todd Mcfarlane

Photo: Todd McFarlane courtesy of Image Comics/Todd McFarlane Productions


The Scorched, which just debuted with a first issue that 270,000 copies — the biggest debut for a team comic from any publisher in the past 30 years — marks McFarlane's first foray into an ongoing team book since Infinity, Inc. for DC Comics in the 80s. That title, starring the offspring of the Justice Society of America, marked McFarlane's first significant work in the business. But it also happened to be what scared him off team books until now.

"I remember when I was done with Infinity, Inc. I just said to myself, 'I'll never do another team book,'" McFarlane recalls during a Zoom interview with SYFY WIRE. "And the reason was, is I felt like when I was doing it, that I was doing a lot of, like, little headshots just to get everybody in. You couldn't sort of pull the camera back too often and just sort of focus on a character here and there. Everybody had to sort of get equal billing and everybody had to have five lines. And then when I went to do a regular book like Hulk, and then after that, Spider-Man, I saw at least for me, the joy of drawing was when you could just sort of focus on one character and make it your own and not have to feel like you had to keep cutting away from them."

"People who can do team books," he continues. "I have this huge jealousy and admiration for because I... I think I can usually do anything, but [team books] is one of the things that I just go, "No, I don't have it in me."

Having interviewed the man countless times over the years, on and off camera, I can say with certainty that McFarlane is never lacking in confidence. So hearing him admit to a certain degree of insecurity about anything to do with comics was surprising. To that end, it may explain why he hedged his bets with the fourth pillar of his shared universe master plan by bringing in writer Sean Lewis to helm the scripting. Lewis is co-creator of Image books like Saints, The Few, as well as the writer on King Spawn. Artists Stephen Segovia and Paulo Sequeria round out the team, along with colorists Ulises Arreola and Nikos Koutsis and letterer Andworld Design. McFarlane says his role is to big-picture the series and helping set the scene for the stories the creative team tells.

"I want to make sure that when I'm dealing with a writer — and Sean's obviously super talented — I give him as much leeway to drive as possible. I sort of say, 'Let me download you with 30 years of Spawn mythology, because you're probably not up to speed on 90 percent of it,'" McFarlane says. "Now with all that information, what can you build upon and what gaps can you fill in? Because there's a ton of gaps [in the Spawn mythos]. I don't have all the answers. I defined some things, but not all of it, even simple questions, like where does the clown [Violator] go at night? Nobody's ever wrote that story, myself included. I want to give all that freedom there. And I want it to feel like there's a reason why these people are coming together."

E - King Spawn 1 Capullo McFarlane COVER



Credit: Todd McFarlane / Todd McFarlane Productions



The, ahem... scorching hot debut of the latest expansion block of the Spawn Universe has allowed McFarlane to notch another record. The Year of Spawn was supposed to be 2021, when a trio of number one issues, Spawn's Universe, King Spawn, and Gunslinger Spawn all debuted to blockbuster sales numbers. But now with the stellar opening sales figures for The Scorched, McFarlane seems to have accomplished his goal of launching his own expanded comics universe. Just as important, he's done it by not just relying on the MVP of the whole shebang. While Spawn (Al Simmons) is obviously a key part of the overall strategy — he has two ongoing books of his own — the original Spawn takes a back seat in the new team comic to She-Spawn, Redeemer, Gunslinger, and Medieval Spawn. That is strictly by design, according to McFarlane, who used another popular superhero team comic as an example of the type of dynamic he wants for his new title.

"So just like when you have Batman in the JLA, it doesn't mean that everything has to be taken place in an alleyway or on top of a building at night. He's just part of the group," he says. "So is Spawn. And so every [character] in this book should be equally uncomfortable that they're out of their comfort zone."

Part of the conflict in the new supernatural team will come from two of its alpha members, Spawn and Gunslinger Spawn. "It's always gonna be trouble whenever you've got two people playing and want to be the starting quarterback," McFarlane says. "Usually everybody seems to sort of have their spots predefined from a character point of view. I'm the strong man, I'm the fast man, you know, the thinker or whatever. So we're going to get into a little bit of a conflict with Al Simmons and Gunslinger because they're both a bit of the same [type] of character."

Scorched 1 04

Photo: Stephen Segovia and Paulo Sequeria courtesy of Image Comics/Todd McFarlane Productions

He also hints that the lineup that we see in the first issue of the book will not be the same in the near future. "Some of them are going to leave and we're going to rotate them," he says. "And while they're here, like a family reunion or something like that, you don't have to like everybody in the family. I'm not saying you have to love 'em and I'm not saying you have to hate 'em."

It is rare a conversation with McFarlane doesn't somehow veer off into sports. And predictably, he views team sports as being analogous to superhero teams. "There should be two components to being on a team. Number one, when it's game time you play as a single team, right? That's rule number one of any sort of competitive sports. You put all personalities to the side when it's game time, and then after the game's over, then you decide who you're gonna go have a drink with at the bar, or have a picnic with, or a barbecue. I think all of that is completely doable and essentially it's part of the makeup of any good team book."

When McFarlane was just a comics fan, he was often drawn to superhero titles. In the SYFY WIRE documentary Todd McFarlane: Like Hell I Won't, he talked about the impact John Byrne had on his future career plans. That's because Byrne was penciler and co-plotter on X-Men as it was becoming Marvel's top team comic. But that wasn't the only one he enjoyed. "Obviously X-Men was sort of the top of most everybody's list, right? But also The Avengers was always the coolest, especially when George Perez was drawing it," he notes. "I always quite enjoyed The Fantastic Four, too. There was always that fun relationship between Johnny and Ben Grimm. On the DC side, I don't really remember being smitten by the JLA per se. But I was a fan of the Legion of Superheroes, especially when Keith Giffin was doing it."

Before our talk ended, McFarlane shared his thoughts on the man widely thought to be the ultimate superhero team artist, George Perez. The iconic artist, who revealed in December he was suffering from stage 3 pancreatic cancer, has been on the minds of countless comics fans and creators. "Some of the levels that George hit artistically and put on paper, it's hard for me to imagine that I'm gonna see that ever again," he says. "I mean, it's a staggering thing that he was doing and... Greg Capullo did a little bit with Dark Night: Metals, but George was doing it on a sustained level for years. Ask Greg Capullo how long he could keep Metals up for."

"George just seemed to be able to just do it on a monthly basis. And look, there are just certain things that have to be done to get books out. And some of them are just Herculean and once you've tried it, you know how big the effort is. And what George has done in his career is amazing," McFarlane says. "George was bouncing between multiple books. He did the Teen Titans and Avengers and FF, and then the Crisis on Infinite Earths books and the JLA... he was all over. He painted both companies with his stroke. And it's hard for me to imagine anybody that can even hold a candle to that in the next 10 years, maybe ever. Especially given that we all want to sort of pencil link our own stuff and whatever else. His legacy is... it's going to be hard to have anybody come along and come close to that."

Elizabeth Warren said canceling $50,000 in student debt would give 36 million borrowers 'permanent total relief'

Lauren Frias
Thu, January 27, 2022

Sen. Elizabeth Warren at a press conference on July 23, 2019, in Washington, DC.Win McNamee/Getty Images

Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke at a town hall Thursday as part of a push for student-debt forgiveness.

She repeated arguments from a letter Democrats sent urging President Joe Biden to act "immediately."

The letter argued Biden should forgive up to $50,000 a borrower before the end of the payment pause.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Thursday said canceling $50,000 in student-loan debt could give 36 million borrowers "permanent total relief."

Warren appeared at a virtual town hall with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Ayanna Pressley to continue Democrats' push for broad student-loan forgiveness.

The Massachusetts senator reiterated her call on President Joe Biden and his administration to "do the right thing" and offer relief to student-loan borrowers.


"Canceling $50,000 of student-loan debt would give 36 million Americans permanent total relief," Warren said during the town hall. "That would be the end of their debt burden. And it would aid millions more by significantly reducing the principal on their debt."

Federal student-loan debt totaled $1.6 trillion in 2021, held by more than 43 million borrowers.

The Biden administration has faced mounting pressure to fulfill his campaign promise and cancel at least $10,000 in student-loan debt — a figure some Democrats have been urging him to raise significantly.

More than 80 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter this week urging Biden to "immediately" cancel student debt before May, when the pause on payments is scheduled to end.

The letter, which mentioned the $50,000 and 36 million figures that Warren cited at the town hall, also urged the administration to publicly release a memo outlining its authority to provide student-loan relief to borrowers; thus far the administration has instead asked Congress to send a student-debt bill to Biden's desk.

"When Elizabeth and I started on this, they denied that they had the authority to do it — they don't deny that anymore," Schumer said during the Thursday town hall. "We've made the conclusive case."

"The president can do it with a flick of the pen — all he has to do is sign an executive order. He doesn't need a single Congress member on his side — he just has to do it," he continued, adding: "And if the administration signs this, it will provide immediate relief to millions of Americans currently saddled with this awful debt."

Jen Psaki responds to a question about Democrats' demands for student-debt cancellation by saying 'no one has been required to pay a single dime' in federal loans under Biden

Ayelet Sheffey
Wed, January 26, 2022, 2:26 PM·3 min read

Democratic lawmakers urged Biden to release a memo on his legal ability to cancel student debt.

Psaki touted the two-year pause in student-loan repayment in response to a letter from 85 Democrats.

The White House remains near silent on the memo and Biden's promise to forgive student debt broadly.

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers asked the White House for answers on the student-debt crisis on Wednesday, and the White House responded by touting already implemented relief.

During a press briefing, a reporter asked Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, about a letter that 85 Democratic lawmakers sent to President Joe Biden on Wednesday demanding the release of a memo that outlines his legal ability to cancel student debt broadly and the forgiveness of up to $50,000 in student debt for every federal borrower.

When asked if Biden planned to release the contents of the memo, Psaki responded:

"No one has been required to pay a single dime in federal student loans since the president took office over a year ago, and I'll also add that our country is seeing one of the strongest economic recoveries in history, and the pause announced in December gives some breathing room for several more months to borrowers who are still coping with the pandemic."

She added that "the president supports Congress sending him a bill that would provide $10,000 in debt relief, and he continues to look into what debt relief can be taken administratively."

Psaki was referring to the three extensions of the student-loan-payment pause under Biden, with the most recent extension being through May 1.

Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, told Politico last April that Biden asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to create a memo on the president's legal authority to forgive $50,000 in student loans per person. As Insider reported in November, redacted documents obtained by the Debt Collective, the nation's first debtors union, indicated that the memo has existed since April 5, and that White House officials have seen its contents but haven't made them public.

The White House has yet to acknowledge those documents and has stayed relatively quiet about Biden's campaign promise to approve $10,000 in student-debt forgiveness for every federal borrower. For example, during his first solo press conference of the year, Biden ignored a question from a reporter who asked if he planned to fulfill that promise.

And in December, Psaki reiterated her Wednesday comments on the matter, telling reporters that if Congress sent Biden a bill to cancel student debt broadly, he would be "happy to sign it."

But Democratic lawmakers are growing restless and want answers from the White House. New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez said during a virtual roundtable on Wednesday that "it would be good to be publicly known" whether Biden has the legal authority to cancel student debt.

"I have not read the memo," he added, "but it is my view that the memo should ultimately certify that the president has the authority to do exactly what we're advocating for."

Xiomara Castro: Honduras' first female president sworn in

Thu., January 27, 2022

Xiomara Castro has been sworn in as Honduras' first female president, amid a political crisis that threatens her plans for the impoverished nation.

Speaking at the ceremony, the leftist leader said she was taking the lead of a "broken" country - but vowed to pursue social justice and transparency.

Ms Castro, 62, has promised to tackle powerful drug trafficking gangs and liberalise strict abortion laws.

But her agenda has been undermined by a feud in her Libre (Free) Party.

Ms Castro's husband, Manuel Zelaya, ruled the country from 2006 until 2009, when he was ousted by a coup. She ran for office twice in the years following his removal from power, before her victory in the election last November.

Since then, Ms Castro has enjoyed a wave of positivity among the public. Her arrival marks the end to the 12-year reign of the right-wing National Party, which has been plagued by scandals and corruption accusations.

Thousands of people joined the inauguration ceremony at the national stadium in the capital, Tegucigalpa.

"The economic catastrophe that I'm inheriting is unparalleled in the history of our country," she said in her speech, highlighting the need to restructure the national debt.

But she promised: "My government will not continue the maelstrom of looting that has condemned generations of young people to pay the debt they incurred behind their back."

US Vice-President Kamala Harris was among the foreign officials who attended the inauguration - receiving a huge wave of applause from the gathered crowd.

Ms Harris received a red-carpet welcome in Honduras

The Biden administration hopes Ms Castro will fight corruption, poverty and violence, long-standing problems that have helped fuel illegal immigration from the Central American country to the US.

Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai was also at the ceremony, as Honduras is one of the few countries in the world to have diplomatic ties with Taipei.

Ms Castro replaces the divisive President Juan Orlando Hernández, who has been dogged by allegations of ties to the drugs trade after his brother was jailed for trafficking in the US - claims he has repeatedly denied.

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Has Honduras become a 'narco-state'?

The presidential sash was placed upon her by her preferred choice for leader of the congress, Luis Redondo.

But she takes office amid a dispute with dissidents in her own party.

Ms Castro had reached an agreement with another candidate, Salvador Nasralla, who stood down from the race to strengthen her chances of victory.

In return, Ms Castro pledged to support Mr Redondo, who is from Mr Nasralla's party, as Congress leader. But a group of Libre lawmakers rebelled against the proposed candidate, and aligned with the National Party to vote for one of its members to head Congress.

As a result, the rival candidates have each declared themselves head of Congress - and the deadlock could result in legislative paralysis.

Xiomara Castro Takes Office Today in Honduras

January 27, 2022

Xiomara Castro de Zelaya asume hoy la presidencia de Honduras. (27.01.2022).
By La Prensa

HAVANA TIMES – Xiomara Castro, the first woman ever to govern Honduras, will assume her mandate this Thursday, January 27, in a country hit hard by poverty, emigration, drug trafficking and corruption. Meanwhile, she also must quench the crisis in the Honduran Parliament.

In a message on Twitter, the new Honduran president announced: “it’s the beginning of the Government of the People.”

“Twelve years of struggle and twelve years of resistance. Today begins the Government of the People. Good morning, Honduras!” tweeted 62-year-old Castro. Xiomara Castro is the wife of former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, whose government was overturned by a military coup on June 28, 2009.

The new leader will officially assume power at 12 noon local time, in a ceremony to be held at the remodeled Honduran National Stadium in Tegucigalpa. Stadium doors opened at 4 am. She’ll take the oath before 29,000 spectators, including guests of honor US Vice President Kamala Harris and Felipe VI, King of Spain.

Thousands of Hondurans from different regions of the country formed long lines beginning in the wee hours of the morning to witness Castro’s inauguration. Castro won a decisive victory last November 28 in Honduras’ eleventh consecutive general elections, following their return to Constitutional rule in 1980.

Castro will be the first woman in the country’s history to assume the Honduran presidency. In addition, her victory under the banner of the Libertad y Refundacion [“Freedom and Rededication”] or LIBRE Party, founded in 2011, marks the first time that a left-leaning party has won power in Honduras.

“God willing that Mrs. Xiomara makes the situation better for the poorest people. (…) Women are our mothers, and a conscientious mother will get the country moving forward,” stated Santos Barahona, a retired Honduran, in downtown Tegucigalpa.
Facing a rocky start in Congress

Deputies from Xiomara Castro’s LIBRE party dissented with her tactical choice for Head of Congress. On January 23, a splinter group met separately, in an effort to forge their own Congressional majority. Photo: La Prensa

Castro won the presidency, but not a majority of seats in the 128-seat legislature. The Honduran Congress remains split between several factions, including the outgoing National Party. In order to move forward with her plans, Castro will need the support of Parliament.

However, her first attempts to cement a Congressional alliance met with disaster, when a group of deputies from her party split off. Two “Congresses” then met separately last weekend, each electing their own Parliamentary President.

Castro supported the candidacy of Luis Redondo from the Honduran Salvation Party (PSH). This had been part of a previous agreement, in order to forge an alliance with that party. The former PSH candidate for the presidency, Salvador Nasralla, had agreed to step down prior to the November election, in order to become Castro’s running mate and thus further assure her victory.

With 30 of the 50 LIBRE deputies supporting Castro’s choice, a reduced group of deputies and alternates met last weekend to ratify Redondo as Congressional Head. Castro then invited him to preside over the inauguration ceremony.

Meanwhile, on the same weekend of January 21–23, a dissenting group of 20 elected LIBRE deputies convened at an alternate site, along with deputies from the rival National Party and the Liberal Party. That group endorsed Jorge Calix, a LIBRE deputy, to lead the Congress.

Calix, who received support from over 70 of the 128 members of Congress, continues to insist that he, not Redondo, is the legally elected President of Congress.

Jorge Calix, deputy for the Libertad y Refundacion (LIBRE) party.

In an attempt to put an end to the crisis, Castro has now offered Calix the position of Cabinet Leader in her new government, but he has yet to accept her offer.

On Friday, January 21, the new president expelled 18 dissident LIBRE deputies from the party, accusing them of allying with the National Party of outgoing president Juan Orlando Hernandez to block the transformations that Castro has promised. Hernandez has been accused by prosecutors in New York of maintaining ties to narcotrafficking. His brother, former Congressman “Tony” Hernandez is serving a life sentence in the United States for that crime. Both brothers deny the charges against them.

“It’s key that Castro be able to form a cabinet made up of those who have honest trajectories. There’s a long history of corruption and ties to organized crime within the outgoing party,” commented the National University professor and political analyst Eugenio Sosa.

Read more feature reports here on Havana Times.

Xiomara Castro inaugurated as first woman president of Honduras, with US pledging support

Xiomara Castro was sworn in as Honduras’ first woman president on Thursday in front of a cheering crowd including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who pledged U.S. government support to stem migration and fight corruption.

© Luis Acosta, AFP

Castro’s inauguration ends the eight-year rule of Juan Orlando Hernandez, a one-time U.S. ally who has been accused in U.S. courts of corruption and links to drug traffickers. It comes as her government faces tests over a sharply divided Congress, rising debt and relations with China.

Castro, flanked by her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya, was sworn in at a packed soccer stadium where supporters applauded her vows to fix the country’s massive debt burden.

“The economic catastrophe that I’m inheriting is unparalleled in the history of our country,” a somber Castro said in her inaugural address.

Harris, who was loudly applauded when introduced during the inauguration, congratulated Castro over her “democratic election.”

In a meeting shortly after the ceremony, Harris promised to collaborate on migration issues, economic development and fighting impunity, and said she welcomed Castro’s plans to request United Nations help to establish an anti-corruption commission.

Harris has been tasked with addressing the “root causes” of migration in Central America’s impoverished Northern Triangle of countries, but her trip comes as U.S. President Joe Biden’s popularity at home has waned and his immigration strategy has stalled.

“We do very much want and intend to do what we can to support this new president,” said one administration official.

Castro tweeted that she appreciated Harris’ visit and the Biden administration’s willingness to support the Honduran government.

Sostuve un encuentro con la @VP Kamala Harris. Abordamos temas de interés común, como la migración, la lucha contra la corrupción y el narcotráfico. Agradezco su visita al país y la disposición de los EEUU de apoyar a nuestro gobierno en asuntos prioritarios para nuestro pueblo. pic.twitter.com/yj1DBKF3kv— Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (@XiomaraCastroZ) January 27, 2022

Harris also pledged to send Honduras several hundred thousand more COVID-19 vaccine doses along with 500,000 syringes and $1.3 million for health and educational facilities.

The two did not discuss China, she told reporters.

U.S. officials want to work with Castro both to curb illegal immigration from Central America and shore up international support for Taiwan as part of its efforts to stem China’s influence.

Honduras is one of the few countries maintaining diplomatic ties with Taipei instead of Beijing, and Castro during her campaign backtracked on comments that she might switch allegiance to China as president.

Taiwanese Vice President William Lai attended the inauguration in a bid to bolster ties with Castro’s government. Harris said the two spoke over their common interest in Central America.

Luis Leon, director of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy in Central America, said Harris’ arrival was a boost for Castro in the dispute over control of Congress and in addressing Honduras’ weak economy.
“Maelstrom of looting”

Castro said it was “practically impossible” to make current debt payments without a restructuring, after debt jumped sevenfold under her two conservative predecessors.

The country’s total debt stands at about $15.5 billion, or nearly 60% of gross domestic product, an economic problem Castro frequently highlighted ahead of her landslide win in November.

“My government will not continue the maelstrom of looting that has condemned generations of young people to pay the debt they incurred behind their back,” she added.

She vowed to immediately give more than 1 million poor Hondurans free electricity, with bigger consumers subsidizing the cost.

Castro, who describes herself as a democratic socialist, has vowed to tackle corruption, poverty and violence, chronic problems that have fueled U.S.-bound migrants.

But her legislative program has been jeopardized by renegade politicians from her leftist Libre party who allied with the opposition National Party to vote for one of its members to head Congress, breaking a pact with a key electoral ally.

Castro also takes office at a time of controversy for her predecessor Hernandez, who had been a longstanding U.S. ally in immigration and anti-narcotics operations.

U.S. Congresswoman Norma Torres has called for Hernandez’s indictment on drug charges, and for U.S. officials to request his extradition.

But Hernandez may be shielded from extradition for up to four years as a new member of the Central American parliament. He has repeatedly denied accusations of corruption and links to drug traffickers.

Hernandez’s brother last year was sentenced by a U.S. judge to life in prison plus 30 years for drug trafficking.

(REUTERS)

'Living in a dark era': one year since Myanmar's coup



'Living in a dark era': one year since Myanmar's coupA year after Myanmar's coup, the junta is struggling to contain the backlash unleashed by its power grab, with daily clashes and swathes of the country outside of its control (AFP/STR)

Thu, January 27, 2022

Hours before Myanmar's new parliament was due to convene last February, troops rounded up lawmakers in dawn raids, ending a brief democratic interlude and setting the stage for months of bloodshed.

A year later the country's latest junta is struggling to contain the backlash unleashed by its power grab, with daily clashes and swathes of the country outside of its control.

Almost 1,500 civilians have been killed and over 11,000 arrested in its ongoing crackdown, according to a local monitor, with rights groups accusing junta troops of torture and extrajudicial killings.

But for a pro-democracy movement angered by the military's power-grab, ending its decades-long entanglement in Myanmar politics once and for all is the only option.

That means, analysts say, there is no end in sight to the crisis that has devastated the economy, emptied schools and hospitals across the country and sent thousands fleeing to neighbouring Thailand and India.

"We are still living in a dark era," said Htoo Aung -- using a pseudonym for fear of reprisal -- at a market in commercial hub Yangon.

"We have to think how we can struggle on through our daily lives under this military dictatorship rather than about our goals, our dreams in the future."

In Yangon and other cities, the junta is projecting a return to normality as traffic jams return and shopping malls slowly fill up again.

But, days before the February 1 anniversary, it is taking no chances.

Authorities recently announced that those honking car horns or banging pots and pans -- popular protests in cities following the coup -- could be charged with treason or under an anti-terror law.

But daily clashes between the dozens of "people's defence forces" (PDFs) that have sprung up across the country to fight back against the putsch show no sign of abating.

The ex-protesters and villagers that fill their ranks have dealt some painful blows to junta troops with guerilla ambushes and mine attacks, even as they struggle to secure heavy weapons.

A shadow group of lawmakers claims almost 3,000 junta troops died in fighting with PDFs between June and November -- the junta says 168 soldiers and police were killed between February and late October.

- Air strikes -

The year of conflict has taken a toll on the military, which is facing morale and recruitment problems, said International Crisis Group's Myanmar senior advisor Richard Horsey.

"But these challenges are very unlikely to force the military to capitulate or lose its grip on state power," Horsey said.

Junta troops were blamed for a Christmas Eve massacre that left the charred remains of more than 30 people on a highway in the east of the country, including two staff members of the Save the Children charity.

Earlier in January it ordered air and artillery strikes on a state capital in the east to prevent anti-coup fights from seizing ground in the town.

Myanmar's myriad ethnic armed groups have largely held back from throwing their lot in with the democracy movement thanks to a longstanding mistrust of the majority Bamar elite -- epitomised by Aung San Suu Kyi and her ousted National League for Democracy.

It is a trust deficit that a shadow "National Unity Government" dominated by lawmakers from her party, and which has widespread support, is trying to overcome.

Suu Kyi's closed-door trial in the military-built capital continues, and in the coming months she will likely be sentenced on a clutch of corruption charges -- each of which carries a maximum 15-year jail term.

- 'Knockout blow' -

With the generals shielded at the United Nations by China and Russia -- and the crisis jostling for attention with wars in Ethiopia, Yemen and Ukraine -- many in Myanmar have given up on help arriving from the international community.

The military is killing protesters almost daily "without the world noticing," said Htoo Aung.

The generals have promised a return to multiparty democracy and fresh elections by 2023.

But "it is impossible to see how they could do so given their tenuous control of much of the country," said the Crisis Group's Horsey.

It seems "very unlikely that either side will be able to deliver a knockout blow", he said.

"The stage is set for months, possibly years of violent confrontation."

bur-rma/je/dva

Ex-government workers mine for salvation in Afghan mountains

Issued on: 28/01/2022 -

A tiny piece of emerald from Afghanistan's Mikeni Valley can be all that separates miners from extreme poverty

 Mohd RASFAN AFP

Mikeni (Afghanistan) (AFP) – In the bone-splitting chill of the Afghan mountains, Mohammad Israr Muradi digs through coarse earth spilling from the open mouth of an emerald mine.

With an improvised sieve and a few splashes of water, the former police officer scours a slag heap for fragments of the green gemstone, swarmed by dozens of others vying for the same prize.

Measured in a dusty open palm, the emerald pieces, pried from the bowels of the Mikeni Valley 130 kilometres (about 80 miles) northeast of Kabul, are no bigger than peanuts.

But they are just about enough to assuage total poverty in a nation mired in humanitarian catastrophe.

"The emeralds we find, we sell them for 50, 80, 100 or 150 Afghanis (between 50 cents and US$1.50)," Muradi said



Afghan workers perform clean raw stones with water before searching for emeralds in the bitter cold of the Mikeni Valley in Panjshir province 

Mohd RASFAN AFP

He was once head of the anti-terrorism police in neighbouring Paryan district.

Unemployed when the Taliban overran Kabul in mid-August, he initially tried his hand as a secondhand clothing salesman on the streets of the Afghan capital.

"It didn't work out," said the 25-year-old. Without any source of income, he was "forced" to head for the hills.

- Glimmer of hope -

Echoing booms roll across the valley, 3,000 metres above sea level, as blasting teams carve out shafts crisscrossing the innards of the mountains.

Systematic mining in the Mikeni Valley only began in the 1970s and remains largely artisanal 

Mohd RASFAN AFP

Locals have known about the presence of emeralds in Panjshir province for thousands of years.

Systematic mining only began in the 1970s and remains largely artisanal, but the gems found here are compared to Colombian emeralds, the most sought-after on the planet.

Each shaft is co-owned by several dozen partners and manned by a team of about 10 miners, digging lengths of more than 500 metres in search of glimmering veins of quartz.

But the last workers to arrive at the camp are relegated to the thankless, tedious and low-paid work at the mine entrances, where rickety trolleys tip out mounds of rubble.

Emeralds found by the Mikeni Valley's miners are often sold for as little as 50 cents Mohd RASFAN AFP

It is a far cry from the decent job 27-year-old Gulabuddin Mohammadi previously had earning 35,000 Afghanis ($340) per month in the now defunct army.

The mines are a two-hour hike from the bottom of the valley up precarious paths of grimy ice, cresting at a mud hut village supplied by donkeys and powered by petrol generators.

But its far-flung location is part of the attraction for Mohammadi, a seven-year veteran who was looking for sanctuary when the army crumbled as US troops withdrew in August.

Many former soldiers and police officers have come here to eke out a living while evading potential reprisals for their roles in the previous Western-backed regime.

The Taliban have publicly proclaimed an amnesty, but human rights groups warn more than 100 people from those groups have been executed or "disappeared".

Living conditions around the mines are harsh, with workers complaining of a lack of water and access to medical treatment 

Mohd RASFAN AFP

But for the moment, the squalor of the camp seems like the greatest injustice on Mohammadi's mind.

"We are treated like cattle," he sighed. "We have no real place to live, we are in tents. We have no water, no fire, no clinic if we get sick."

The withered Afghan economy means he has little choice of how else to feed his 25 family members.

Since their chaotic withdrawal, Western powers have frozen billions of dollars in overseas Afghan assets and aid, which propped up the country.

- Return to Kabul -

The mountainous redoubt of Panjshir has historically been a nest of resistance against outside forces.

The anti-Soviet mujahideen mustered here in the 1980s, and anti-Taliban forces rallied among the ridges when the hardline Islamists first ruled the country from 1996 to 2001.

The emeralds found in Afghanistan's Mikeni Valley are often compared to those found in Colombia, the most sought-after on the planet

 Mohd RASFAN AFP

But this time, the Mikeni Valley has not escaped the Taliban's touch.

The province was the last to fall in September, but when Taliban soldiers arrived there was little resistance.

Fighters travelled up to the mine a few days later, recalled Mohammad Riyah Nizami, a former senior Kabul police officer who worked there at the time.

They examined men's hands to identify newcomers with skin not yet roughened by mine work, and rounded up 20 who were later released.

"Nobody told them we were police, army or security services," said Nizami.

The Taliban, it turned out, were looking for fighters mobilising against their new government.

Nizami was lucky during his time at the mine. His job, secured through a friend, was to haul a cart through the mineshafts, a posting with a 400 Afghani (almost $4) daily salary.

Now he is back in Kabul, at the request of Taliban officials seeking his computer skills.

Muradi is ready to do the same.

The Taliban want to rebuild Afghanistan's army and police force.

For years, it was his task to chase them down. Now, he says, "If they call me back to work, I will go."

© 2022 AFP

Remembrance of 1962 Isly massacre: 'A really difficult period in French history'

 

Dr. Fiona Barclay, Senior Lecturer at the University of Stirling, joins France 24 on a day of remembrance, marking the 1962 Isly massacre in Algiers. "It really marks the moment," explains Dr. Barclay, "at which point the conflict slips from being an official conflict between France and the FLN (National Liberation Front), and the Algerians fighting for independence, to become almost a Franco-French war." During the commemoration, she believes that French President Emmanuel Macron struck the right tone for the community of former French settlers in Algeria, "but he's always walking a tightrope between the different constituencies who have a stake in the Algerian War and its aftermath."  As Dr. Barclay points out, "There is this history of appealing to the 'Pied-Noir' community in the weeks running up to presidential elections."

Nietzsche's Antichrist: The Birth of Modern Science out of the Spirit of Religion

Babette Babich

2014, Jahrbuch für Religionsphilosophie

57 Views21 Pages

1 File ▾

Friedrich Nietzsche,

Hellenism,

Greek Architecture,

Anaximander,

Ancient Greek Science and Philosophy

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Text is a pre-correction proof copy. Abstract Nietzsche argued that the Greeks were in possessions of every theoretical, mathematical, logical, and technological antecedent for the development of what could be modern science. But if they had all these necessary prerequisites what else could they have needed? Not only had the ancient Greeks no religious world-view antagonistic to scientific inquiry, they also lacked the Judeo-Christian promissory ideal of salvation in a future life (after death). Subsequently, when Greek culture had been irretrievably lost, what Nietzsche regarded as the "decadent" Socratic ideal of reason ultimately and in connection with the preludes of religion and alchemy developed into modern science and its attendant ideal of progress and redemption not in the afterlife but in "the future."

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