SpaceX launches new batch of Space Defense Agency missile tracking satellites


A SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., on Saturday, carrying the Space Development Agency’s second round of 'Tranche 0' satellites for its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. 

Photo by Airman 1st Class Ryan Quijas/U.S. Space Force


Sept. 2 (UPI) -- SpaceX on Saturday successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Space Development Agency's newest batch of tiny missile defense satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The launch vehicle lifted off at 10:26 a.m. from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 4E before separating from the rest of the launch platform and landing back at Vandenberg about 7.5 minutes after liftoff.

The mission was initially slated for Thursday but had to be pushed back due to an issue with the launch vehicle's engines. It was rescheduled for Friday but had to be pushed back once more due to an issue with equipment on the ground.

With Saturday's successful launch, the Falcon 9 carried 13 of the SDA's "Tranche 0" mission, which eventually see the deployment of a "swarm" of 28 small satellites that are intended to help the SDA create more efficient means of communication for the military.

"The space vehicles launched during this mission will serve a part of SDA's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a new layered network of satellites in low-Earth orbit and supporting elements that will provide global military communication and missile warning, indication, and tracking capabilities," SpaceX said of the mission.

A third and final group of four Tranche 0 satellites are scheduled to launch aboard a planned Missile Defense Agency launch later this year, the SDA said.

"I'm very pleased with the initial operation of the first group of satellites we launched in April," SDA director Derek Tournear said in statement. "Through these first two T0 launches, we've demonstrated that SDA can keep a schedule to deliver enhanced capabilities every two years."

Saturday's mission was the 13th time the Falcon 9 booster used in the launch has carried a payload to space. The booster has launched eight Starlink missions as well as the Iridium OneWeb, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART and Transporter-7 missions.

SpaceX broadcast the initial stages of the launch but cut off the broadcast after first stage separation due to the sensitive nature of the payload.

Shark chasing seal rams New Zealand kayaker twice

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A New Zealand kayaker recording video of a shark chasing a seal captured video when the shark rammed into his boat -- twice.

Greg Potter said he was fishing in his pedal-powered kayak a few miles off the coast of Waihau Bay when he saw a commotion in the water that he initially thought was some tuna.

Potter got closer to the splashing and soon discovered it was actually a seal being chased through the water by a shark.

Potter said it appeared to be a young great white shark, but experts who reviewed the footage said it may have been a mako shark.

The fisherman said he tried to stay a safe distance away from the chase, but the seal sped toward his kayak with the shark in hot pursuit.

The seal attempted to hide under his kayak.

"When the seal hid under the kayak, the shark came crashing up from underneath and smashed into the bottom of the kayak," Potter told the New Zealand Herald. "Then they did another few laps around the kayak, and then a second time, the shark again smashed the underside of the kayak."

Potter said he nearly fell out from the second impact, spurring him to pedal quickly away from the scene.

"If it had managed to get me out of the kayak, that that could have been a pretty disastrous ending," he said.

$500,000 lottery winner shares the wealth with store worker

Daniel Refitt won a $500,000 prize from a Kentucky Lottery scratch-off ticket and celebrated by handing out $100 each to some nearby store employees. Photo courtesy of the Kentucky Lottery

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who won a $500,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket celebrated his good fortune by handing out $100 each to some workers at the store where he bought the ticket.

Daniel Refitt of Union told Kentucky Lottery officials he was originally going to buy a Fast Play ticket from the vending machine at Meijer on Houston Road in Florence, but at the last moment he changed his mind and bought a Precious Metals Titanium scratch-off ticket.

"I was reaching to press the button to buy the Fast Play ticket, then I thought, 'Never mind,' and bought the other ticket," Reffitt said.

Refitt revealed the $500,000 prize while still at the store and decided to share his good fortune with some nearby store workers.

"I saw a few guys sitting down and gave them $100 each and told them, 'Merry Christmas,'" he recalled.

Refitt said some of his winnings will go toward paying off his bills.

Mental health issues can affect physical health, experts say


People with mental health disorders can reduce their risk for physical diseases by eating a healthy diet and exercising, among other steps, according to cardiologist Dr. Sandeer Al-Kindi.

 Photo courtesy of University Hospitals

NEW YORK, Aug. 31(UPI) -- Research that links mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety to physical maladies, including cancer, diabetes and heart disease, has raised an important question: Can people think themselves sick?

The answer is it's complicated, experts told UPI.

Given how many people are affected by these disorders, interest has been growing within the medical research community about how they may affect a person's physical health, cardiologist Dr. Sadeer Al-Kindi, who has studied the topic, told UPI in an email.

For example, "there is mounting evidence that anxiety and depression are risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and strokes," said Al-Kindi, who practices at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in Houston.

"These associations seem to be independent of established risk factors, such as diabetes and smoking," he said.

People with depression and anxiety need to know about their risk for certain physical illnesses and what can they do about it, the experts said.

Symptoms of anxiety

Up to 40% of adults in the United States have experienced "recent symptoms of an anxiety or a depressive disorder," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This figure rose during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21, but the disorders were common even before the public health emergency, the agency says.

About 5% of adults in the United States have been formally diagnosed with depression, agency data suggests.

A 2017 analysis found that people with major depressive disorder, the clinical name for depression, have a 72% higher risk for heart disease compared with those who don't have the mental health condition.

A separate study published in 2010 found that people with depression had only a 4% higher risk for heart disease, but that the risk was more than twice as great among those with anxiety.

Similarly, a study involving more than 72,000 people published in July by Diabetic Medicine found that people with depressive symptoms were more than eight times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes compared with those who had prediabetes alone.

Those with anxiety symptoms were more than six times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes compared with those who had only prediabetes, a condition the CDC defines as blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be Type 2 diabetes, the researchers added.

Also, a review published in May by the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology noted links between depression and anxiety and psoriatic disorders.

Examples of these autoimmune diseases include psoriasis, a skin disease that causes a rash with itchy, scaly patches, and psoriatic arthritis, which causes joint pain and swelling, according to the Mayo Clinic.

However, the data on any association between the mental health disorders and cancer is mixed.

A 2020 study suggested that depression and anxiety increased a person's risk for a cancer diagnosis by 13%, but an analysis published Aug. 7 by the journal Cancer found no links between depression or anxiety and breast, prostate, colorectal and alcohol-related cancers, some of the most common forms of the disease.

"We know individuals with physical health conditions have a higher rate of anxiety and depression," psychiatrist Dr. Jesse Fann, director of psychosocial oncology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, told UPI in an email.

"However, there is also evidence that the association is bi-directional, that is, anxiety and depression can also increase the risk of physical health conditions," he said.

What people experience

Bonnie Von Dohre, of Brooksville, Fla., a 43-year-old military veteran and content creator at notsomodern.com saw this "bi-directional" relationship firsthand.

Having suffered from depression and anxiety for years, she developed and was diagnosed with psoriasis in 2018 "after a period of extreme stress," Von Dohre told UPI in an email.

Although new treatments called biologics, which are designed to offset the immune system dysfunction that causes psoriasis, have helped, she said she is still "far from ... whole."

"Unfortunately, the physical symptoms of psoriasis have at times had an even greater negative impact on my mental health as treatments have so far been unsuccessful at eliminating my symptoms," she explained.

Similarly, Amiyah Watts, a 30-year-old from San Francisco, was diagnosed with depression in her early 20s and was diagnosed with heart disease "a few years later."

"During my struggle with depression, I noticed how the emotional toll it took on me seemed to impact my overall lifestyle and I had difficulty maintaining a healthy diet, regular exercise routine and proper sleep patterns," she told UPI in an email.

"The constant stress and anxiety seemed to contribute to this downward spiral and, while I cannot definitively claim that my mental health issues directly caused my heart disease, I do believe they played a role," she said.

"It's not necessarily true that a person's psychological status can cause [physical illness," cancer prevention specialist Dr. Patricia A. Ganz, one of the experts who described the complex relationship, said in a phone interview.

However, "people who are depressed, for example, often neglect their health -- they may not get routine cancer screenings, they smoke or drink to excess," said Ganz, who is director of cancer prevention and control research at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

But, "There are a number of behavior risk factors that could lead to an increased risk" for certain physical diseases, she added.

What to do

Watts' story is common among people with depression and anxiety -- two disorders that often occur together, according to Ganz and Fred Hutchinson's Fann.

For people who experience symptoms of these disorders, such as avoiding activities, isolating, frequently thinking negative thoughts and recurring feelings of sadness, it's important to get diagnosed and treated, added Al-Kindi, of the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in Houston.

This includes taking medications for depression and anxiety as prescribed and reporting any side effects promptly, as well as getting non-drug treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy, he said.

"Untreated symptoms may be worse for physical health," Al-Kindi added.

"Most medications for anxiety and depression are very safe and well-tolerated when prescribed and monitored by an experienced clinician," Fann said.

As for everyone, taking steps to ensure overall health -- including regular exercise, healthy diet, stress reduction and adequate sleep -- are important, according to Al-Kindi.

However, because many people with depression and anxiety experience a lack of "activation energy," or motivation to engage in certain activities, support from friends and family may be needed, Ganz said.

Watts said she found support from others dealing with depression and heart disease, adding that "shared stories" helped motivate her to make necessary changes and take an active role in her health.

Support networks should also help encourage people with depression and anxiety to keep up with routine cancer screenings and other healthcare appointments, according to Ganz.

"About 50% to 60% of breast and prostate cancers, the two most common cancers in women and men, are related to exposures, including diet and lifestyle," she said.

"People who are depressed may be less physically active, and they also may be smoking and drinking to excess," she added.

A study published in May by the Journal of Gerontology found that older adults who felt they had adequate support from family, friends and neighbors had better overall health and were more likely to engage in steps needed to maintain it.

Those with depression and anxiety should also be sure to work with their care team to control blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels to reduce their risk for heart disease and diabetes, Al-Kindi said.

"It's also important to discuss any underlying personal or family history of health problems with your healthcare provider so that they can provide the most effective and safe treatment," Fann said.

"Close coordination among your different healthcare providers is particularly important if you have multiple medical conditions that are being managed by different medical specialists," he said.

THE RIGHT'S WAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS
S.D. transgender bans follow national legal groups' playbook

South Dakota has been a testing ground for anti-transgender legislation pushed by conservative groups since Gov.Kristi Noem signed a law banning transgender women and girls from competing in women's sports in 2021. 

File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Growing efforts to enact laws restricting transgender rights across the United States have largely been orchestrated by national conservative organizations determined to dismantle "gender ideology."

Few of the proposals originate within the states' borders as a result of concerns from constituents. Instead, many come from a playbook that includes advice on how to write the laws so they will hold up in court.

Representatives from the American Principles Project and the Alliance Defending Freedom -- two organizations pushing anti-transgender legislation in states including South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, Montana, Florida and Tennessee -- told UPI in interviews about the overarching goal of their concerted effort: to block transgender people from protections under civil rights law.

APP policy director Jon Schweppe opposes "gender ideology," which he describes as "the belief that sex and gender are different. That gender is not immutable, it is something that you can determine for yourself."

"Ultimately, we believe this gender identity stuff is delusional," he said.

In contrast, a study from the University of Melbourne found gender-affirming therapy to be potentially lifesaving. Endocrinologist Brendan Nolan said people who begin hormone therapy earlier experienced significant reductions in gender dysphoria, depression and suicidal ideation.

The number of patients in the study that experienced suicidal ideation prior to the therapy was cut in half within the first three months after starting.

Outside influences

Among the first laws to target transgender youth in multiple states was a ban on transgender girls from women's sports.

South Dakota, where the GOP holds 94 of 105 legislative seats, has been a testing ground for such restrictions, said state Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, becoming one of the first states to enact the women's sports laws in 2022.

Though Wittman was aware of the uphill battle she and her 10 Democratic colleagues faced in resisting a persistent wave of bills focused on banning items like gender-affirming healthcare, she was surprised to learn how much her Republican colleagues were coordinating with forces outside the state.

In March, more than 2,600 emails between state Rep. Fred Deutsch, R-Florence, other Republican lawmakers across the country and a slew of anti-transgender activists and organizations were leaked to Mother Jones.

"I was surprised by the breadth of the impact Rep. Deutsch had been having," Wittman told UPI. "The conversations he was having with individuals who could not be less connected to South Dakota. It read like a decades-long playbook on how to strip trans community members of their rights."

Wittman said these types of conversations between lawmakers and out-of-state organizations are "absolutely not" common.

The whistleblower in the email chain, former anti-transgender activist Elisa Rae Shupe, exposed the coordinated effort to enact copycat laws throughout the United States.

"When all of that came out, more people realized this is not coming from South Dakota," Rachel Polan, newly elected president of Sioux Falls Pride, told UPI.

"People in South Dakota really value individual liberty. That is fair to say no matter where they are on the political spectrum. Were it left up to a simple majority, I don't think South Dakota would be voting to ban trans people from sports or to make trans people use the bathroom of their assigned gender at birth."

Matt Sharp, director of legislative advocacy for the ADF, is one of the reported 18 people that Deutsch was coordinating with in 2019, mostly on efforts to keep transgender athletes out of women's sports.

His group was one of the first legal organizations to be involved in litigation on this issue, specifically in Soule vs. Connecticut Association of Schools in which four female high school track athletes challenged the state's policy to allow transgender girls to compete in girls' sports. The case was dismissed in 2021 and the court of appeals upheld that judgment.

"Since then, we have been receiving inquiries from legislatures that have wanted to see what we could do to protect fairness in their states," Sharp said.

The ADF uses its litigation expertise to advise state and federal lawmakers on bills, evaluate their viability and ensure the laws would hold up in court.

APP was also active on the transgender sports issue in South Dakota. The group found that it was important for Republicans to carefully frame their stance as "for women" rather than "against transgender athletes," Schweppe said.

South Dakota first attempted to pass a bill in 2021, but it was vetoed by Gov. Kristi Noem. She advised the legislature to rework the language to avoid conflict between the state's public universities and the NCAA. The following year, a reworked version of the bill was signed into law.

"I would point to South Dakota as a state we have had wild success in," Schweppe said.

Gender-affirming care

Sharp said the ADF has worked closely with many of the 22 states that have gender-affirming healthcare bans in effect.

"Alliance Defending Freedom is committed to protecting children from harmful and unnecessary medical procedures being pushed by politicized medical associations and interest groups," he said. "We look forward to even more states joining the effort to protect vulnerable children in their states."

ADF and similar organizations often cite Dutch research to support their claims that gender-affirming healthcare is harmful, particularly to children. Sharp cited a study from the Endocrine Society, which states that gender dysphoria resolves for 85% of youth who go through puberty without gender-affirming care.

This study was also cited in an expert opinion by James Cantor in the case of Boe vs. Marshall in Alabama. In that case, the court ruled against the state's law that would have imposed criminal penalties on parents and healthcare providers who facilitated gender-affirming care for minors.

Researchers from Emory University, led by Dr. Vin Tangpricha, dispute the assertion that gender dysphoria resolves at such a high rate naturally. The research team tracked 82 transgender and gender-non-conforming teens over the course of several years.

"The vast majority of transgender and gender diverse people seeking gender-affirming hormone therapy continue on these therapies. This indicates that these gender identities are persistent and sustained," Tangpricha said.

According to the Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide and are at much greater risk to have suicidal ideation. About 20% of transgender and nonbinary youth attempted suicide, according to the organization's 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.

Sharp said his group is working with people who have "detransitioned."

"They sadly went through these procedures and now regret it."

Shupe once worked to oppose gender-affirming care alongside organizations like ADF. She has since renounced such organizations for using her as a "pawn."

"That fact should serve as a cautionary tale for others who may choose to get involved with these groups at their own peril," Shupe wrote in a 2022 blog. "By doing so, you will simply become a useful idiot: a pawn in their injurious war against the transgender population."

Shupe, a U.S. Army veteran, became the first legally recognized non-binary person in the United States in 2016.

House Bill 1080, called the "Help Not Harm" law, went into effect in South Dakota on July 1. It bars healthcare providers from administering surgery, prescribing drugs that delay or stop puberty and prescribing hormones at amounts "greater than would be normally produced" to anyone under age 18.

'NRA for families'

The APP has been billed as the "NRA for families," Schweppe said, as the organization runs ad campaigns and works on bills that "defend the family."

"We run ads to show Republican politicians that these are winning issues," Schweppe said. "We also worked with lawmakers to push bills across the finish line."

What would be described as winning issues changed in the eyes of Republicans for a time, Schweppe said. After a failed "bathroom bill" in North Carolina in 2016, he saw Republicans turn away from such legislation.

"We frankly lost that issue. What we did was we wanted to counter gender ideology. That was the long-term goal of ours," he said.

Women's sports bills became the next target. Then, bans on gender-affirming healthcare.

APP had also worked against same-sex marriage. Schweppe said he still "institutionally opposes" it, but the issue has fallen to the wayside because the organization is focused on "where we can actually win," like bans on gender-affirming care for kids.

Its next battle is to prevent the Equality Act from becoming federal law. The act would codify gender identity into civil rights law, protecting transgender and non-binary people from discrimination.

The bill has passed the U.S. House but has died in committee in the Senate in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.

Aussie researcher in need of care evacuated from remote Antarctic base


An Australian researcher has been rescued from a base in Antarctica and is being transported for care by the Australian icebreaking ship RSV Nuyina after developing an urgent medical condition while working at the remote outpost.

 Photo courtesy of Australian Antarctic Division

Sept. 4 (UPI) -- An Australian researcher has been evacuated from a base in Antarctica and is being transported for care after developing an urgent medical condition while working at the remote outpost, officials confirmed Monday.

The unnamed expedition member was picked up from the Casey Research Station in the eastern part of the world's southernmost continent by the Australian icebreaking ship RSV Nuyina.

The 5-year-old icebreaker traveled over 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) from Hobart, Tasmania to pick up the researcher, who required urgent medical care.

Officials did not specify the nature of the medical emergency.

The ship "is the main lifeline to Australia's Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations and the central platform of our Antarctic and Southern Ocean scientific research," according to an Australian government website.

Flights into the research station using an ice runway are only possible during Antarctica's summer months because of the extreme winter weather, including gale-force winds.

The ship anchored at the submarine Peterson Bank in the Mawson Sea. From there, it deployed two helicopters to travel the remaining 89.5 miles (144 kilometers) to the Casey Research Station. Officials described it as a "complex operation."

The flights took approximately an hour in each direction.

With the researcher now on board, the Nuyina will travel back to Tasmania, a journey that will run into next week, depending on sea conditions.

"Getting this expeditioner back to Tasmania for the specialist medical care required is our priority," Robb Clifton, the acting general manager of operations and logistics for the Australian Antarctic Division said in a statement Monday.

"The expeditioner will be looked after in the Nuyina's specially equipped and designed medical facility by our polar medicine doctors and Royal Hobart Hospital medical staff."

The research station is one of three bases manned by Australia on a full-time basis. Typical staffing sees it house around 150 expeditioners during the summer months, but only 16 to 20 remain during the winter.

In November 2022, a COVID-19 outbreak caused the National Science Foundation to halt travel to and from the McMurdo station, the largest on the continent.

In March 2022, an Australian rescue team from the AAD helped airlift an American researcher to safety from the same base after they developed a medical problem. In that case, the expeditioner was flown directly to New Zealand, as weather allowed an Airbus A319 to safely land on an ice runway.

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on efforts to restore endangered red wolves to the wild

BY ALLEN G. BREED
 September 3, 2023

ALLIGATOR RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, N.C. (AP)

 — The red wolf’s journey from extinction in the wild to conservation poster child and back to the brink has been swift and stunning.

The only wolf species unique to the United States, Canis rufus once roamed from Texas to Long Island, New York. Today, the last wild populations, totaling about two dozen animals, are clinging to existence on two federal wildlife refuges in eastern North Carolina.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing an updated recovery plan to ensure the species’ survival in the wild. But the plan counts on private landowners to tolerate the wolves, and history is not on the side of “America’s wolf.”

Here are the key takeaways from the AP’s reporting:


WHY WERE RED WOLVES DECLARED EXTINCT IN THE WILD?

After generations of killings, habitat loss and pressure from human development, the red wolf was declared “threatened with extinction” under the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. With the signing of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, the last known families were pulled from the coasts of Texas and Louisiana and placed in captive breeding programs. The species was declared extinct in the wild in 1980.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER RED WOLVES WERE REINTRODUCED TO THE WILD?

By 1987, the captive population was considered robust enough to try to reintroduce Canis rufus to the wild. Populations were established at Alligator River Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina and later in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The mountain experiment was terminated due to low pup survival and failure to thrive, but the coastal population eventually grew from eight animals to about 120 in 2012.

WHY DID THE EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA WOLF POPULATION COLLAPSE?

A combination of vehicle strikes and gunshots, coupled with the interbreeding of the wolves and invasive coyotes and pressure from private landowners, led Fish and Wildlife to suspend releases from the captive population. Conservationists sued the agency, claiming it had abandoned its duty under the Endangered Species Act. The wild numbers dropped to as low as seven known wolves before the agency resumed captive-bred releases.

HOW CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A COYOTE AND A RED WOLF?

Red wolves are substantially larger, weighing up to 80 pounds (36.2 kilograms), while the largest coyotes in the area weigh in at around 35 pounds (15.8 kilograms), says Joe Madison, North Carolina manager for the Red Wolf Recovery Program. The wolves’ heads also are larger, with broader muzzles. “Red wolves, a lot of times look like they’re walking on stilts because their legs are so long,” Madison says, noting they even move across the landscape differently. While a coyote will slink along the edges of woods and brush, the wolves walk down the middle of the road. “They know they’re the apex predator,” he says. “They’re the top dog.”

WHAT IS THE AGENCY DOING TO AVOID A REPEAT OF THE LAST COLLAPSE?


Fish and Wildlife has stepped up public education about the wolves, placing orange collars on them to keep them from being mistaken for coyotes, erecting road signs warning motorists to drive with caution and partnering with private landowners to share their property with the wolves. They are sterilizing coyotes in the area and euthanizing coyote-wolf hybrids when they’re found.

IS IT EVER LEGAL TO SHOOT A RED WOLF?

The ’intentional or willful” killing of a red wolf is against federal law, although landowners are allowed to remove a “nuisance” wolf if it attacks people, their livestock or pets. The killing of a wolf may also be legal if it is “incidental” to otherwise legal activities, such as trapping coyotes. Any killing must be reported to Fish and Wildlife within 24 hours. There have been no known red wolf attacks on people, and only nine suspected attacks on farm animals or pets, Madison says.

Endangered red wolves need space to stay wild. But there’s another predator in the way — humans

1 of 29 

A red wolf crosses a road on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday, March 23, 2023, near Manns Harbor, N.C. Over the course of 25 years, the red wolf went from being declared extinct in the wild to becoming hailed as an Endangered Species Act success story. But the only wolf species unique to the United States is once again at the brink. The last wild populations of Canis rufus are clinging to life on two federal refuges in eastern North Carolina. 

(AP Photo/David Goldman)

Jeff Akin stands next to a sign declaring his property is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Prey for the Pack program, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Hyde County, N.C. The program provides sanctuary for the endangered red wolf on private land, something Akin suspects his neighbors aren’t too happy about. “It’s not nature that’s taken the red wolf out,” he says. “It’s us. I just philosophically believe it’s our responsibility, that we should try to help those that we damage,” he says. “Nature really just needs a chance.” (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed)

Ron Sutherland, a biologist with the Wildlands Network, looks at a map while out installing wildlife cameras on the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, near Columbia, N.C. “The red wolf program was a tremendous conservation success,” says Sutherland. “It was the first time that a large carnivore had been returned to the wild after being driven extinct, anywhere in the world.” 

(AP Photo/David Goldman)

LONG READ

BY ALLEN G. BREED
September 3, 2023

ALLIGATOR RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, N.C. (AP) — Jeff Akin had to bite his tongue.

He was chatting with a neighbor about efforts to protect and grow the area’s red wolf population. The endangered wolves are equipped with bright orange radio collars to help locals distinguish the federally protected species from invasive, prolific coyotes.

“If I see one of those wolves with a collar on, I’m going to shoot it in the gut, so it runs off and dies,” Akin says the neighbor told him. “Because if it dies near you, and they come out and find the collar, they can arrest you.”

Akin is a hunter and the walls of his country house are lined with photos of the animals he’s killed. But what he heard made him sick.


Takeaways from AP’s reporting on efforts to restore endangered red wolves to the wild

“I wouldn’t shoot a squirrel in the stomach if I was hungry,” he says. “It’s just not humane.”

In a way, the anecdote sums up the plight of this uniquely American species.

Once declared extinct in the wild, Canis rufus — the only wolf species found solely in the United States — was reintroduced in the late 1980s on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, just across the sound from eastern North Carolina’s famed Outer Banks. Over the next quarter century, it became a poster child for the Endangered Species Act and a model for efforts to bring back other species.

The red wolf came howling back from being declared extinct in the wild, making it a poster child for the Endangered Species Act. The only wolf unique to the U.S. is again clawing its way back from the brink, but will humans make room for “America’s wolf?”


“The red wolf program was a tremendous conservation success,” says Ron Sutherland, a biologist with the Wildlands Network. “It was the first time that a large carnivore had been returned to the wild after being driven extinct, anywhere in the world.”

But the wild population is now back to the brink of oblivion, decimated by gunshots, vehicle strikes, suspected poisonings and, some have argued, government neglect.

For the first time in nearly three decades, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is poised to release an updated recovery plan for the red wolf. According to a draft, the agency proposes spending a quarter billion dollars over the next 50 years to rebuild and expand the wild wolf population.

“It was done once before,” says Joe Madison, North Carolina manager for the Red Wolf Recovery Program. “And we can do it again.”

A red wolf roams across the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge as the sun sets, Thursday, March 23, 2023, near Manns Harbor, N.C. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

But the effort depends heavily on cooperation from private landowners. And the passage of 36 years seems to have done little to soften locals’ hearts toward the apex predator.

Out here, farming and leasing land to hunters are big business. The red wolf is seen by some as competition, and a threat to a way of life on a fragile landscape already imperiled by climate change.

“They don’t belong here!” a woman shouted at agency staff during a recent public meeting on the program.

Add to that a widespread mistrust of government and the road ahead looks long and perilous for “America’s wolf.” But allies like Akin and Sutherland say they have to try.

“The red wolf, it’s ours,” Sutherland says. “It’s ours to save.”

___

On a recent visit to Alligator River, Madison parks his truck beside a canal, climbs out and hoists an H-shaped antenna into the air. Faint beeps emanate from a radio in his left hand as he slowly swivels from side to side.

“Based on the radio telemetry, there are six red wolves hunkered down in there,” says Madison, motioning to a patch of brush between two cleared farm fields. His bushy red-and-grey beard lends him an uncanny resemblance to his quarry.

That’s roughly half of the world’s total known wild red wolf population.

The red wolf once roamed from central Texas to southern Iowa and as far northeast as Long Island, New York. But generations of persecution, encroachment and habitat loss reduced them to just a remnant clinging to the ragged Gulf coast along the Texas-Louisiana border.

Starting in 1973, the year Congress passed the Endangered Species Act, the last wolves were pulled from the wild and placed in a captive-breeding program.

“By 1980,” Madison says, “they had declared red wolves extinct in the wild.”

But the captive breeding program did so well that, after just a few years, officials felt it was time to try restoring the red wolf to the wild.

They chose Alligator River, a 158,000-acre (63,940-hectare) expanse of upland swamp on North Carolina’s Albermarle Peninsula, not far from Sir Walter Raleigh’s doomed “lost colony” of Roanoke.

A group of red wolves stretch out on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday, March 23, 2023, near Manns Harbor, N.C. The wolves are outfitted with orange, reflective collars to make them more visible at night and distinguish them from coyotes, which wear white ones. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

The program started in 1987 with four breeding pairs. Five years later, a second group was placed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — 522,427 acres (211,418 hectares) of forest straddling the border of North Carolina and Tennessee.

The inland experiment was ended in 1998, due to “low prey availability, extremely low pup survival, disease, and the inability of red wolves to maintain stable territories within the Park,” the government said at the time.

But with the releases of adults and fostering of captive-born pups into wild family groups, the Alligator River population thrived.

“It was the model for how gray wolves were returned to Yellowstone,” Sutherland says of the Western species, which has since been taken off the endangered list. “And it’s been the model since then for all kinds of re-wilding of projects all over the world.”

By 2012, the population in the five-county restoration area reached a peak of about 120 animals. Then the bottom fell out.

Shootings and vehicle strikes — busy U.S. 64 to the Outer Banks runs through the middle of the refuge — were the leading causes of death.

Meanwhile, coyotes moved into the area and began mating with the depleted wolf stock. Around the same time, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission allowed nighttime spotlight hunting of coyotes, which are much smaller, but look similar to red wolves.

A sign warns motorists on U.S. 64 to watch out for crossing red wolves on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, near Manns Harbor, N.C. By 2012, the population of wild red wolves reached a peak of about 120 animals. Shootings and vehicle strikes - busy U.S. 64 to the Outer Banks runs through the middle of the refuge - were the leading causes of death. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

In January 2015, the state commission asked Fish and Wildlife to end the program and once again declare the red wolf extinct in the wild. The federal agency suspended releases from the captive population while it re-evaluated the “feasibility” of species recovery.

A 2018 species status assessment declared the wild population would likely disappear within six years “without substantial intervention.”

With no new releases, the wild population eventually dipped to just seven known animals.

In 2020, conservationists sued the agency, alleging the suspension of captive releases violated the Endangered Species Act. Releases and pup fostering resumed the following year.

In early August, the agency settled with the groups, promising regular releases from the captive population, which currently stands at around 270, over the next eight years. Meanwhile, a new recovery plan and population viability analysis are due out this fall.

The most recent draft called for spending of more than $256 million over the next 50 years. The red wolf could be delisted by 2072, the agency concluded, providing “all actions are fully funded and implemented” and with “full cooperation of all partners.”

The service has yet to identify suitable locations for other wild populations and it’s unclear whether the North Carolina wolves have a half century.

If Greenland continues to melt at the current rate, the East Coast could see more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) of sea level rise in the next 50 years, says Jeffress Williams, a senior scientist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey. The average elevation at Alligator River: about 3 feet (0.9 meters).

“They ought to be factoring that in,” says Williams, who works at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center in Massachusetts. “Because within 50 years, a lot of the habitat areas that they’re looking at will very likely be underwater due to sea level rise or, certainly, underwater during the storm surge events such as such as hurricanes.”

So, the wolves will have to roam farther and farther inland, into more densely populated areas. And that is only going to put them in more competition with what Akin calls the real “apex predator” — Homo sapiens.
___

One of the big complaints around here is that the wolves will gobble up all the game, especially white-tailed deer, the main food source of Canis rufus. And that would eat into landowner profits.

Although exact numbers for the recovery zone are hard to come by, the wildlife commission says hunting generated $1 billion statewide last year. Recent hunting leases posted online ranged from $861 for a 22-acre (8.9-hectare) property to $3,050 on 167 acres (67.5 hectares) with “everything deer need,” the site boasted.

Sutherland believes fears of “a wildlife disaster” are unfounded, and he’s out to prove it.

Braving snakes and brushing feeder ticks from his clothes and gear, he kneels beside a pine tree on the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and starts drilling holes. He bolts a wildlife camera about a foot up the trunk, secures it with a lock and cable, then uses pruning shears to cut down any brush that might obscure the camera’s view.

“The animals the wolves eat, like rabbits and rats and deer and things and species like that, they like this kind of habitat,” he says. “Our job is to document whether this fire break is ... creating more local abundance of these different wildlife species.”

As for the wolves, their numbers are in constant flux.

Two litters of four pups each were born in April at Pocosin Lakes, followed in May by five pups at Alligator River. Coupled with recent releases of captive-bred adults and the fostering of pups, one might assume the population is growing.

But as of August, Fish and Wildlife said the known/collared wild population was 13, with a total estimated wild population of 23 to 25. That’s down from June, when the numbers were 16 and 32 to 34.

“It’s certainly trending in the right direction,” says Ramona McGee, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which filed the lawsuit to restart the captive release program. “Although the population remains in dire straits.”

“We’ve got a long way to go,” Madison concedes.

Fish and Wildlife has launched numerous initiatives to cut down on human-caused deaths. Gunshots are top of the list.

The wolves are outfitted with orange, reflective collars to make them more visible at night.

“Most hunters and the general public know that bright orange, hunter orange, means, ‘Don’t shoot,’” says Madison. “It’s a safety color.”

He also reminds people at public meetings it’s illegal to intentionally kill an endangered wolf that is not threatening humans, pets or livestock. The death must be reported to Fish and Wildlife within 24 hours.

The agency enlists landowners to help trap, but preferably not shoot, coyotes.

“You can’t kill your way out of a coyote problem,” Madison says.

The coyotes are sterilized, but left hormonally intact. That way, they can act as “placeholders” for the wolves, Madison says.

“They will continue to defend their territory,” he says. “They’ll hold that space for the rest of their lives and they won’t allow other coyotes to move in, but they also can’t reproduce.”

Those coyotes get white collars, to further differentiate them from the wolves.

To cut down on road kills, officials have placed flashing signs at both ends of the Alligator River preserve to warn motorists on US 64 to watch out for endangered wolves and “drive with caution.”

But the biggest hurdle to red wolf recovery is space.

The two refuges’ combined 270,000 acres (109,265 hectares) — roughly 422 square miles (1,093 kilometers) — of federal land might sound like a lot. But Madison says a single pack’s territory can be as much as 80 square miles (207 square kilometers), depending on prey availability.

“There’s not a large enough land mass of public land in the Southeast within the historic range that can fully support a viable red wolf population,” he says. “We’re going to have to rely somewhat on private land for reintroduction.”

That’s where Prey for the Pack comes in.
___

Started in 2020, the program offers landowners incentives to make habitat improvements. The government will reimburse people up to 80% of the cost of thinning woods and planting the kinds of vegetation that will attract the types of prey red wolves prefer, says Luke Lolies, who runs the program.

In exchange, Fish and Wildlife gets access to do such things as install wildlife cameras or come onto their land to capture coyotes.

Basically, Lolies says, “They allow red wolves to peacefully live on their property.”

But if a recent public meeting is any indication, Lolies and the wolves are facing an uphill battle.

A crowd of about 60 braved thunderstorms and torrential rains to gather in the gymnasium of Mattamuskeet High School in Swanquarter, North Carolina.

They listened politely as Madison and others gave an update on the program. But no sooner had the floor been opened to questions than things got heated.

One man referred to the wolves as a “hybrid predator,” repeating a common belief here that all the animals are now mixed with coyotes. That’s despite a 2019 National Academy of Sciences report confirming the red wolf was a “distinct” and “taxonomically valid” species.

Madison noted two hybrid litters were discovered last year and euthanized.

Another concern was safety for humans and animals.

There has never been a documented attack by a red wolf on a human, Madison says. And a “depredation fund” set up by the Red Wolf Coalition to reimburse people for animals killed by a wolf has only paid out one claim, coalition director Kim Wheeler says.

A bearded man in a camouflage jacket questioned the program’s costs versus the number of jobs created in the five counties. Another wondered how landowners who make money off hunting would be compensated for all the game the wolves will eat.

“If you do not get landowner cooperation in the five-county area, will you stop the program?” asked one man, who farms 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares) in the wolf-recovery area.

An exasperated Madison says it wasn’t for him to say.

“We all know what the answer is,” the farmer replies sarcastically. “You just can’t say it out loud.”

Aspen Stalls, who recently started a wildlife guiding business in the area, says the wolves can benefit the local economy, but that’s not the point.

“They have been here for a very, very, very long time, long before us,” says Stalls, who studied canid ecology in college and sports a wolf tattoo on her left arm. “And they are a vital part of keeping this ecosystem balanced.”

The five-county wolf recovery area covers 2,765 square miles (7,161 square kilometers), which is nearly 1.8 million acres (728,434 hectares). But in three years, Prey for the Pack has managed to sign up only four landowners, for a total of just 915 acres (370 hectares).

Of the four Prey participants, only one agreed to be identified: Jeff Akin.
___

About eight years ago, the retired Raleigh real estate developer built a hunting and fishing getaway on 80 acres (32 hectares) of what he calls “Hyde County thicket: Sucker pines, loblolly pines, wax myrtles and briers.”

“I had to use a machete to walk through it the first time to find the edges,” he says. “Snakes and mosquitoes love it.”

With help from Lolies and his staff, he hopes the wolves will love it, too.

Riding through the woods on an all-terrain vehicle, he points to areas of scorched scrub and tree stumps.

“This has been thinned and burned,” he says. “And the burning should release the seeds, and the sunlight will grow the types of grass and plants that’ll bring in small mammals and game animals that would be ultimately prey for a pack of wolves.”

New grasses and wildflowers are already coming up. Recently planted blackberry bushes are ready to bear fruit.

A white sign bolted to a tree along the main road declares Akin a member of “Partners for Fish & Wildlife.” He suspects his neighbors aren’t too happy about it.

Lee Williams, who lives just down the road, can’t believe the government is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to protect what he considers “a mongrel.”

“I never had it around here when I was growing up, and I really didn’t miss it,” the 74-year-old retired state marine patrol officer says. “I didn’t miss a dinosaur and I wouldn’t miss them.”

About a week after the public meeting, a red wolf was found dead along a fence line in neighboring Washington County, shot in the torso.

After witnessing the hostility in the school gym, Akin got together with another wolf supporter to try to develop a better “sales pitch” for fellow landowners.

“We need to break down some resistance to wolf recovery and some existing fears about putting your land in a government program of any kind,” he says.

He knows his 80 acres (32 hectares) are just “a drop in the bucket.” But he can’t just do nothing.

“It’s not nature that’s taken the red wolf out,” he says. “It’s us. So, we are the ones to help them get back.”

TWO YEARS TOO LATE

Haitian judge interviews Colombian suspects for the first time since the president was assassinated




Unidentified Colombian suspects sit in a van in handcuffs as they arrive to appear before the investigating judge appointed to the case of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021, when he was shot a dozen times at his private home in an attack that also seriously injured his wife. 

AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph


Police stand guard as Colombian suspects arrive in a van to appear before the investigating judge appointed to the case of the assassination of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021, when he was shot a dozen times at his private home in an attack that also seriously injured his wife. 

Police stand guard as journalists take photos of Colombian suspects who were brought in a van to appear before the investigating judge appointed to the case of the assassination of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021, when he was shot a dozen times at his private home in an attack that also seriously injured his wife. 

BY EVENS SANON
August 30, 2023

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A judge in Haiti is for the first time interrogating some of the 18 Colombian suspects arrested more than two years ago and accused of being part of a mercenary squad that assassinated President Jovenel Moïse, a judicial official said Wednesday.

The former Colombian soldiers earlier had refused to talk when questioned by a judge who previously had been assigned to the case, magistrate Bernard Saint-Vil, who appoints judges in the case, told The Associated Press.

The first two suspects were transported on Monday and Tuesday from Haiti’s main penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince to a government office in nearby Petion-Ville where they were undergoing interrogations by Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire, the magistrate said.

The 18 Colombians are among more than 40 suspects including elite Haitian police officers who were arrested in Haiti after Moïse was fatally shot in July 2021 in his private residence. The investigation in Haiti has moved very slowly, in part due to a high turnover of judges overseeing the case and because gang violence has disrupted court proceedings in the capital and beyond.

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On Wednesday, the U.S. embassy in Haiti urged all U.S. citizens to leave the Caribbean country as soon as possible, “given the current security situation and infrastructure challenges.

Voltaire is the fifth judge to oversee the investigation, with previous judges stepping down for various reasons. One judge said his family pressured him not to take the case because they feared he would be killed.

Meanwhile, authorities in the U.S. have filed charges against 11 suspects extradited over the past couple of years.

U.S. prosecutors have described a broad conspiracy among parties both in Haiti and South Florida who aimed to benefit from lucrative contracts under a successor to Moïse, after he was either kidnapped or killed.

A Haitian-Chilean businessman in June became the first suspect to be convicted and sentenced in the case, with 10 others in Florida awaiting trial.

In Haiti, it’s unclear what, if anything the two Colombian suspects told Voltaire this week. The hearings are held behind closed doors, and the judge has said he would not discuss the case publicly because the investigation is ongoing.

An attorney for the suspects who is based in Miami did not return messages for comment.

The suspects in Haiti are languishing in the country’s main penitentiary, with only a handful of hearings taking place so far. A trial has yet to be scheduled.
___

Associated Press reporters Manuel Rueda in Bogota, Colombia and Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed.

Mexican mothers mark day of the disappeared with protest and demands for the government to do more


A protester holds a portrait of a missing person demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Mothers of some of 111,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over decades of violence, most believed to have been abducted by drug cartels or kidnapped by gangs, marched on Wednesday down Reforma Avenue. 

A woman pastes a portrait of a missing person on a roundabout barrier along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 

BY MARK STEVENSON

August 30, 2023

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mothers of some of 111,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over decades of violence on Wednesday marked the International Day of the Disappeared with protests and demands that the government do more to locate their loved ones.

Most of those missing are believed to have been abducted by drug cartels or kidnappers, and their bodies buried in shallow graves or burned.

Some marching down Mexico City’s main boulevard were also protesting an apparent government effort to minimize the problem.

About 200 protesters — almost all women — chanted: “Where are they? Where are our Children?”

Edith Pérez Rodríguez, one of the marchers, wore a T-shirt with photos of her two sons, Alexis and José Arturo Domínguez Pérez. They vanished without a trace a decade ago in the northern state of San Luis Potosi.

Lack of funding and manpower have left police and prosecutors unable to conduct even the most basic searches — leaving it to volunteer groups made up of mothers, who often walk through suspected body dumping grounds with shovels, plunging long steel rods into the earth to detect the odor of cadavers.

“If we don’t search for our children, nobody will do it,” said Pérez Rodríguez.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has claimed the number of missing has been inflated and that many may have returned home and not bothered to notify authorities. He has launched a massive door-to-door effort by military and unqualified civilian personnel asking residents whether their missing relatives have returned, and checking their names against vaccination rolls.

Activists say that money and effort could be better spent looking for the missing, or at least their remains.

“What are they going to do,” said Pérez Rodríguez, noting that each agent has to handle about 250 missing persons cases, leaving them no time to really investigate.

“That is why we are here,” she said, “to tell the president these numbers are not inflated. This is the reality,” she said, pointing to dozens of other protesting mothers.

Similar marches were held in several other cities in Mexico.

Irma Guerrero has been looking for her son, David, who disappeared in San Luis Potosi on Jan. 13, 2022. Since then, she said she has received “nothing, not from anyone” in the way of help.

Asked about the resignation of Mexico’s top search official, Karla Quintana, last week, Guerrero said she did not care. “None of the officials have helped us.”

“Only the bad guys know, and they don’t help us,” Guerrero said.

Quintana, who did not explain the motives for her resignation, reportedly objected to sending unqualified personnel around to interview victims’ families. Such questioning of already-traumatized families could be damaging, activists say.

Few doubt there may be people listed as missing who have returned home. But many also believe that a similarly large number of missing people in Mexico’s most violent regions may never have been reported by their relatives, either because of fear of reprisals or distrust of authorities.

That distrust is widespread.

Jessica Martinez Cervantes is still looking for her brother Esteban, who also went missing in San Luis Potosi in July 2020.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” she said when asked what help she has received from the government.

A woman pastes posters of missing persons on a roundabout barrier along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 

A woman pastes a portrait of a missing person on a roundabout barrier along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 


A woman hangs a portrait of a missing person on a makeshift line along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 

A woman hangs a portrait of a missing person on a makeshift line along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 

A woman hangs a portrait of a missing person on a makeshift line along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 

A woman unfolds a poster of a missing person to display on a barrier wall along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 

An embroidered heart with a message that reads in Spanish: “Your daughters are looking for you” hangs from a tent during a gathering of mostly mothers demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. 

AP Photos/Eduardo Verdugo

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; KLEPTOCRAT
Brazil’s Bolsonaro questioned on gifts of jewelry and watches from Saudi Arabia while in office


BY DIANE JEANTET
, August 31, 2023

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian federal police questioned former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday about attempting to sneak in diamond jewelry reportedly worth $3 million and the sale of two luxury watches he received as gifts from Saudi Arabia while in office, federal authorities said.

Bolsonaro arrived Thursday morning at the federal police in Brasilia, Brazil’s capital, a federal police spokesperson confirmed to journalists waiting outside the premises, including one from The Associated Press.

Another federal police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the ongoing investigation, confirmed to the AP that he and seven others also were summoned to answer questions about the jewelry


Aside from Bolsonaro, police also questioned his wife Michelle, two lawyers, former aide Lt. Col. Mauro Cid, Cid’s father, Osmar Crivelatti and Marcelo Câmara, the officer said. The simultaneous sessions were reportedly designed to prevent the individuals from exchanging information on the line of questioning.


Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro in hospital for routine exams

Brazil’s Bolsonaro accused by ex-aide’s lawyer of ordering sale of jewelry given as official gift

According to newspaper Folha de S.Paulo and other local media, Bolsonaro and his wife Michelle chose to remain silent. The outlets cited the couple’s lawyers, who did not respond to several requests for comments from the AP.

The hearings pose another potential blow for the embattled far-right leader, who is also the target of several other investigations.

Earlier this month, federal police raided the homes and offices of several people purportedly involved in the jewelry case and alleged Bolsonaro received nearly $70,000 for the sale of two luxury watches gifted from Saudi Arabia.

Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing.

The investigation into the undeclared jewelry is just one of many legal headaches Bolsonaro faces.

Earlier this year, he was ruled ineligible to run for office until 2030 after a panel of judges concluded he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country’s electronic voting system.

Another investigation revolves around Cid’s arrest in May for allegedly falsifying COVID-19 vaccine cards for his own family and Bolsonaro’s family during the pandemic.

A parliamentary commission of inquiry is also investigating whether Bolsonaro incited the Jan. 8 riots in which his supporters ransacked the Supreme Court, the presidential palace and Congress one week after leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated as president.


Federal Police agents stand at Federal Police headquarters minutes before the arrival of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro who will testify in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. Bolsonaro and seven others were summoned to answer questions about the sale of luxury goods reportedly worth millions, that the former leader received as gifts from Saudi Arabia while in office, according to a Brasilia federal police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

A Federal Police agent stands at Federal Police headquarters minutes before the arrival of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro who will testify in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. Bolsonaro and seven others were summoned to answer questions about the sale of luxury goods reportedly worth millions, that the former leader received as gifts from Saudi Arabia while in office, according to a Brasilia federal police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. 

Photojournalists cover the arrival of the vehicle carrying Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro at Federal Police headquarters where he will testify in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. Bolsonaro and seven others were summoned to answer questions about the sale of luxury goods reportedly worth millions, that the former leader received as gifts from Saudi Arabia while in office, according to a Brasilia federal police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. 

AP Photo/Eraldo Peres