Sri Lanka court bars ex-prime minister from leaving country

Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped down as prime minister this week, has been blocked from leaving Sri Lanka. The court has ordered an investigation into attacks against anti-government protesters.

Mahinda Rajapaksa has been holed up at a naval facility since stepping down as prime minister

A court in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Thursday imposed a ban on former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and several of his key allies from leaving the country.

Rajapaksa stepped down as prime minister on Monday following weeks of intense anti-government protests amid an ongoing financial and economic crisis.

The court order targeted the ex-prime minister and his son Namal — also a lawmaker — along with 15 other allies. Additionally, police were ordered to launch an investigation into attacks against anti-government protesters.

The attack triggered a wave of violence and destruction across the country. At least nine people lost their lives since the unrest started.

Why are people protesting in Sri Lanka?

Rajapaksa, who has also previously served as president, is the elder brother of the current president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The monthlong protests have consistently called for the Rajapaksas to leave power. A recent cabinet shift, seen as an offer of compromise, removed a few family members from ministerial positions in the cabinet, including Mahinda's son Namal.

The prime minister only stepped down on Monday after a mob of loyalist supporters came out of his compound to confront the peaceful protesters camped out in front of it with clubs and sticks.

The violence left at least 225 people hospitalized. After resigning, the 76-year-old Rajapaksa was whisked off by heavily armed soldiers to a naval base on the east of the island.

What is the state of Sri Lanka's economy?

Sri Lanka is currently suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from the British Empire in 1948.

Low foreign currency reserves, soaring inflation and rising prices have led to severe shortages of key imports such as fuel, medicine and other essential goods.

Blackouts across the island country have become a regular occurrence.

Colombo is in talks with the IMF after defaulting on its foreign debt, in part accrued thanks to a series of largescale, financially unsustainable projects taken on during the previous two decades that have been dominated by the Rajapaksa family.

Leaders of various political parties are set to meet later on Thursday to discuss the worsening situation. The opposition has repeatedly refused to join a unity government until President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns.

ab/dj (AFP, Reuters)

Sri Lanka president set to name new PM

Amal JAYASINGHE
Wed, 11 May 2022


A protester in Colombo watches an address to the nation by Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa near the president's office

 (AFP/Ishara S. KODIKARA)

Beleaguered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was set to name a new prime minister Thursday to try to steer Sri Lanka out of its dire economic crisis after days of violence, officials said.

Respected five-time former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe was the frontrunner to head a "unity government" with cross-party support in the 225-member parliament and replace Rajapaksa's elder brother Mahinda who stepped down on Monday.

"A swearing-in is likely today unless there is a last-minute hiccup," a senior official close to the president told AFP.

In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday night, Rajapaksa stopped short of yielding to weeks of nationwide protests calling for him to resign.

The country of 22 million people is in its worst economic crisis since independence with severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines and long power cuts.

But in a bid to win over the opposition who wanted Rajapaksa to quit, the 72-year-old pledged to give up most of his executive powers and set up a new cabinet this week.

"I will name a prime minister who will command a majority in parliament and the confidence of the people," Rajapaksa said in the televised speech.

Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister on Monday after his supporters attacked anti-government supporters and ran riot in Colombo.

This unleashed several days of violence that killed at least nine people and injured more than 200, with dozens of Rajapaksa loyalist homes set on fire.

Security forces patrolling in armoured personnel carriers with orders to shoot on sight anyone engaged in looting or violence have since cracked down on public disorder.

A curfew was lifted Thursday morning only to be reimposed after a six-hour break allowing people to stock up on essentials.

The main opposition SJB party was initially invited to lead a new government, but its leader Sajith Premadasa insisted that the president first step down.

However, about a dozen MPs from the SJB pledged support to Wickremesinghe, 73, who has been prime minister five times since 1993 and is seen as a pro-West free-market reformist.

Wickremesinghe is the only legislator from his United National Party (UNP) which was routed at the August 2020 election that gave Rajapaksa a two-thirds majority.

With the economic crisis, the Rajapaksa government began to unravel with mass defections to the opposition, but since April no group in the 225-member assembly enjoys an absolute majority.

Sri Lanka is in talks with the International Monetary Fund and others about a bailout package after a shortage of foreign currency forced it to default on its foreign debts last month.

The island nation's central bank chief warned Wednesday that the economy will "collapse" unless a new government was urgently appointed.

aj/stu/ssy

Almost $US1 billion tentative settlement for families of victims in deadly Florida condo collapse

Remnants of the Champlain Towers building after its partial collapse in 2021.(AP: Mark Humphrey)

Survivors and families of victims of last June's condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, reach a tentative, nearly $US1 billion settlement in their class-action lawsuit, an attorney says.

Key points:The settlement was agreed with developers of an adjacent building, insurance companies and other defendants, and is pending court approval
Champlain Towers South, a 12-storey condominium, partially collapsed on June 24, 2021, killing 98 people and destroying dozens of units

Lawsuits from victims, families and condo owners were triggered by the building's collapse in Surfside, north of Miami Beach, and prompted state and federal investigations

Attorney Harley S Tropin announced the $997 million ($1.4 billion) settlement during a hearing before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman.

Still pending final approval, the settlement was agreed with developers of an adjacent building, insurance companies and other defendants.

"Our clients are a victim of a tragedy. If you lost a loved one, no amount of money [is enough]," Ms Tropin said. "But the clients are pleased with this recovery. Really pleased."

Earlier this year, Judge Hanzman approved an $83 million settlement to compensate people who suffered economic losses, such as condominium units and personal property.

A key question from the beginning has been how to allocate money from the property's sale, insurance proceeds and damages from lawsuits among wrongful death cases and property claims.

The 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium partially collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24, almost instantly destroying dozens of individual condo units and burying victims under tonnes of rubble.

Rescuers spent weeks carefully digging through mountains of rubble to find survivors and recover the remains of those who died.(AP: Miami Herald/Matias J Ocner)

Rescuers spent weeks carefully digging through mountains of concrete, first to find survivors and, later, to recover the remains of those who died.

Some 10 days after the initial collapse, demolition crews used explosives to bring down the remaining portion of the building, to give searchers access to additional areas where survivors might have been located.

A total of 98 people were killed.

The tragedy — in the town of Surfside, just north of Miami Beach — triggered lawsuits from victims, families and condo owners, and prompted state and federal investigations.

In October, a coalition of engineers and architects said the Florida should consider requiring high-rise buildings near the coast to undergo safety inspections every 20 years.

Surfside's Wall of Hope and temporary memorial honouring those who lost their lives.

(AP: Miami Herald/Al Diaz)

And, in December, a Florida grand jury issued a lengthy list of recommendations aimed at preventing another condominium collapse, including earlier and more frequent inspections and better waterproofing.

At the time of the collapse, Miami-Dade and Broward were the only two of the state's 67 counties that had condominium recertification programs.

The main lawsuit — filed on behalf of Champlain Towers South victims, survivors and family members — contends that work on the adjacent Eighty Seven Park tower damaged and destabilised the Champlain Towers building, which was in need of major structural repair.

The condo was built in 1981 and was in the midst of its 40-year structural review when it partially crumbled to the ground.

(AP: Mark Humphrey)
Investigators find evidence of extensive corrosion and other issues

Champlain Towers was in the midst of its 40-year structural review when it partially crumbled to the ground.

Florida's condo catastrophe

Theories are emerging about how a Florida apartment building collapsed.

Video released by a team of federal investigators showed evidence of extensive corrosion and overcrowded concrete reinforcement in the building.

Seven months after the collapse, temporary structural supports were added to areas in the underground garage of Champlain Towers South's sister tower, Champlain Towers North, in what the building's condo board called "an abundance of caution".

That condo was built in 1981 and has a nearly identical design as the Champlain Towers South.

The little-known enclave of Surfside comprises a mix of older homes and condos similar to the collapsed tower, built decades ago for the middle-class, and recently erected luxury condos drawing the wealthy.

They include former first daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, who live about a block north of the collapsed condo.

Residents of Champlain Towers South were an international mix: South American immigrants, Orthodox Jews and foreign retirees.

AP/Reuters

New Cuban penal code 'turning the screw' on dissent, critics say


New Cuban penal code 'turning the screw' on dissent, critics sayLast July, thousands of Cubans spontaneously spilled into the streets of numerous cities and towns, demanding "freedom" and denouncing their plight as the country reeled from its worst economic crisis in nearly three decades (AFP/Yamil LAGE)More

Carlos BATISTA
Wed, May 11, 2022,

Ten months after unprecedented anti-government protests rocked Cuba, the government is pushing through a penal reform opponents say is designed to pre-emptively quell any future displays of growing public discontent.

The new code, set to be approved at an extraordinary session of parliament Saturday, will criminalize "propaganda" spreading and foreign funding for activities that threaten the "security of the state."

Also punishable by up to two years in prison will be demonstrations by one or more people "in breach of provisions."

Why?

To "protect the political and state socialist system from all actions and activities that are committed against the constitutional order and with the purpose of creating a climate of social instability and a state of ungovernability," states the draft published on the website of the public prosecutor's office.

The penal code reform is part of a slew of laws that need to be passed to give execution to Cuba's new constitution, approved in 2019.

But unlike other draft laws -- including a new family code that will legalize same-sex marriage and surrogacy -- there was no public consultation, and there will be no referendum.

"It is striking that... this new body of legislation was drafted in secret," Rene Gomez Manzano, a 77-year-old lawyer, former political prisoner and dissident activist, told AFP.

With the code, "the regime is turning the screw, intensifying the repression of citizens," said Gomez, who heads a body of dissident Cuban lawyers.

- Communications offenses -

The code creates 37 brand new offenses related to the use of "telecommunications, information and communication technologies."

This is an apparent response to the arrival of the mobile internet on the island in 2018, which has revolutionized the way people express discontent and organize themselves in a one-party state known for its dislike of dissent.

Last July, thousands of Cubans spontaneously spilled into the streets of numerous cities and towns, demanding "freedom" and denouncing their plight as the country reeled from its worst economic crisis in nearly three decades.

Such a mass public outpouring of dissent had never been seen in the 60 years since Fidel Castro's revolution.

The response by security forces left one person dead, dozens injured and more than 1,300 people detained.

Hundreds have since been sentenced, some to jail terms of as much as 30 years for crimes such as public disorder and sedition -- both of which remain on the statute book.

- 'Propaganda' -

The draft penal code foresees a prohibition on foreign funding of activities perceived as being targeted "against the security of the state"

This means independent or opposition media, activists and dissident groups will become punishable as "mercenaries" for receiving money from agencies and NGOs abroad.

They will risk prison sentences ranging from four to 10 years.

"In a country where private media is illegal and journalists have no possibility of obtaining local funding, prohibiting foreign funding is a death sentence to independent journalism," said the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The existing crime of "enemy propaganda" will be changed to "propaganda against the constitutional order," and the "dissemination of false news or malicious predictions with the aim of causing alarm, discontent or disinformation" will also become punishable.

The code's "hardening of penalties... is designed to have a notable impact on Cuban political activism," said jurist Harold Bertot, a Cuban law professor now in Madrid for research.

He pointed out that it comes "in a time of political and social tension in Cuba" and was clearly "designed to have a notable impact on Cuban political activism".

Bertot said the draft text foresees "a significant number of crimes punishable by the death penalty" -- a punishment not meted out in almost 20 years.

Cuba has maintained a de facto moratorium on capital punishment -- previously carried out by shooting -- since 2000, broken only in 2003 with the execution of three Cubans who had hijacked a passenger boat to escape the island.

cb/ka/mlr/caw

Colombia's Gulf Clan sows terror ahead of presidential vote

Juan Sebastian SERRANO
Wed, 11 May 2022, 



'Gulf Clan' boss 'Otoniel' faces drug trafficking charges in the United States 

(AFP/-)

With dozens of villages under siege and as many as two dozen people killed in a week, Colombia's largest drug cartel is sowing terror among civilians, flexing its muscle with days to go to presidential elections.

The Gulf Clan, which moves 30 to 60 percent -- some 700 tons -- of all the cocaine exported from Colombia, is exacting revenge for the extradition of its boss, known as "Otoniel," to the United States last week for trial.

In a show of force, it called a so-called "armed strike" that has forced shops and schools to close and brought transport to a standstill in 141 of Colombia's 1,100 municipalities, according to official data.

Dozens of roads were blockaded despite the best efforts of some 52,000 soldiers and police deployed to restore order.

The government says the clan has killed eight people, including five security forces personnel, in a week.

But according to the JEP, a special entity set up under Colombia's 2016 peace deal with the leftist rebel group FARC, the toll is even higher.

It reports 24 dead, 178 municipalities affected in 10 departments out of 36, as well as 22 attacks on uniformed personnel. Nearly 200 vehicles including trucks have been burnt.

When "Otoniel" was arrested last October, President Ivan Duque rejoiced: "It is a blow that marks the end of the Gulf Clan" -- the biggest cartel in the world's largest cocaine exporting country.

Seven months later, the group still operates with a large degree of impunity under replacement leaders "Siopas" and "Chiquito Malo."

- Situation 'very serious' -

"The State no longer knows what to do," analyst Kyle Johnson of the Conflict Response Foundation, a Colombian think-tank, told AFP.

Its actions to date, "have made little difference on the ground," he said.

According to the Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation, a monitoring group, the gang is now present in 241 municipalities -- 31 more than last year -- and has some 3,200 members, half of them armed.

For its "armed strike," the clan has targeted areas in Colombia's north that have been largely untouched by the violence that has long plagued the south in fighting over resources and territory between leftist guerrillas, drug gangs and other armed groups.

The situation in the north is now "very serious," said Johnson.

Hector Espinosa, governor of the Sucre region, hard hit by the clan's activities, said it was also waging a campaign of cyber terror -- scaring civilians with threats on WhatsApp and Facebook.

Despite the mass security deployment, people in these areas "don't want to go out because they receive messages on WhatsApp and Facebook telling them not to," said Espinosa.

In doing so, the clan portrays the state as weak and itself as being in charge.

A journalist in one of the affected regions told AFP he was forced to diffuse a clan pamphlet on the Facebook page of his outlet under threat of death.

With just days to go to the first round of presidential elections on May 29, the violence that has persisted in Colombia despite its historic 2016 peace accord, features prominently in the political campaign.

Leftist Gustavo Petro, ahead in the polls, has heavily criticized the "failure of the security option" of the outgoing government for addressing the matter.

He has, instead, mooted a "collective amnesty" for traffickers, with legal guarantees in exchange for abandoning the lucrative trade in a country battling growing poverty and unemployment.

His main rival on the right, Federico Gutierrez, is in favor of a strong-arm security response.

According to Johnson, an amnesty agreement can work only if the state manages to regain control of territories dominated by the clan.

This is something it failed to do with regions formerly under control of the disbanded FARC guerrilla group, now the scene of a territorial war.

jss/vel/mlr/dw

Saudi Aramco becomes world's most valuable stock as Apple drops

Ryan Vlastelica and Matt Turner, Bloomberg News

Saudi Aramco overtook Apple Inc. as the world’s most valuable company, stoked by a surge in oil prices that is buoying the crude producer while adding to an inflation surge that is throttling demand for technology stocks.

Aramco is near its highest level on record and with a market capitalization of about US$2.43 trillion, surpassed that of Apple for the first time since 2020. The iPhone maker fell 3.9 per cent in New York to US$148.50, giving it a valuation of US$2.41 trillion at 1:05 p.m. in New York   

Even if the move proves short-lived and Apple retakes the top spot again, the role reversal underscores the power of major forces coursing through the global economy. Soaring oil prices, while great for profits at Aramco, are exacerbating rising inflation that is forcing the Federal Reserve to rise interest rates at the fastest pace in decades. The higher rates go, the more investors discount the value of future revenue flows from tech companies and push down their stock prices.

Earlier this year, Apple boasted a market value of US$3 trillion, about US$1 trillion more than Aramco’s. Since then, however, Apple has fallen by 16 per cent while Aramco is up 27 per cent. 

With the Fed on pace to further raise rates by at least another 150 basis points this year and with no prospects yet of a resolution for the conflict in Ukraine, it may be a while until tech regains dominance, according to Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder. 

“There’s panic selling in a lot of tech and other high-multiple names, and the money coming out of there seems headed in particular for energy, which for now has a favorable outlook, given commodity prices,” he said. “Companies like Aramco are benefitting significantly from this environment.”

The year’s weakness in technology shares has come amid concerns over inflation and a more aggressive policy stance from the Fed. Apple’s recent results also underlined the difficulties it is facing from supply constraints. However, the stock is still seen as a relative safety play within the sector, given its steady growth and balance-sheet strength -- factors that have limited its decline this year. The stock’s year-to-date drop is smaller than the 24.8 per cent decline of the Nasdaq 100 Index.

Apple remains the largest stock among U.S. companies. Microsoft Corp., in second place, has a market capitalization of US$1.96 trillion.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Energy sector has soared 39 per cent this year, supported by a rally in the price of Brent crude oil which has gone from about US$78 a barrel at the start of the year to US$108.

Five things to know about the Montreal minke whale and why saving it isn't easy


Concerns for whale in Montreal


Spotted: Minke whale in Montreal's Old Port

New video: Minke whale spotted in Montreal


Man spots whale near Montreal

Stephane Blais
The Canadian Press
Staff
Contact
Published May 11, 2022 

There appears to be little that humans can do to help the minke whale that has been spotted in the St. Lawrence River near Montreal find its way back home. Here are five things to help understand the situation:

THE WHALE'S ARRIVAL

Robert Michaud of the Reseau quebecois d'urgences pour les mammiferes marins said the whale was first seen on Sunday near the city's Parc Jean-Drapeau. The whale is about 450 kilometres upstream from its natural habitat, but Michaud said the plan is not to try to rescue it.

His network, which works to protect marine mammals in the St. Lawrence River, only considers intervening in certain situations, such as when an endangered species is involved -- which is not the case with minke whales -- or when a whale is threatened by human activities, such as entanglement in fishing gear.

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'It's not supposed to be here': Wayward minke whale spotted near Montreal sparks worries

 

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT MINKE WHALES

The minke whale can reach almost eight metres in length as an adult. Michaud said the Montreal whale, which was spotted again on Tuesday, hasn't been observed long enough to assess its size, although it seems to be young.

"These animals usually live in salt water," Michaud said. "If they are exposed to fresh water for a long time, they can develop physiological problems. The less time it stays in Montreal, the better its chances of survival."

Michaud explained minke whales migrate during the spring and summer to the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, which is home to hundreds of marine species. Minke whales usually stay in the area to feed before returning to the Atlantic Ocean in the fall.

PAST ENCOUNTERS

This is not the first time in Quebec a whale has strayed from its natural habitat. A humpback whale spent several days near Montreal's Old Port in 2020. Despite its apparent good health, that whale was later found dead, and a necropsy suggested the 10-metre-long animal may have been hit by a boat.

Michaud said his team receives about 700 calls a year for situations involving endangered or dead animals.

"In every species, there are animals that once in a while venture out," said Michaud, noting that in 2012 a beluga spent a few weeks in the water off Montreal's Old Port before leaving.

WHEN TO RESCUE LOST WHALES

Michaud said his team has decided to intervene in specific cases only. "For example, if a whale is caught in a fishing net," he said.

Interventions can also occur if the animal is becoming a threat to humans. Michaud referred to situations where seals wandered onto a highway, a schoolyard and an airstrip in Quebec.

HOW TO INTERVENE

Michaud said the techniques that could help get the whale back to its natural habitat all have risks. In some cases, sounds have been used to repel or attract an animal, but he said they have been very ineffective. He said one attempt to scare away a humpback whale with loud sounds caused the animal to start breaching before it beached itself.

Nets have been used for belugas, narwhals and dolphins but very rarely with large whales, and Michaud said all netting techniques carry risks.

"Do we want to play God and save all the animals that are in trouble to have a clear conscience?" the researcher asked. "There are animals that die every day; it's normal. It's sometimes hard for humans to accept, especially for urbanites."

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 11, 2022.

A whale is seen in the waters of the St. Lawrence River, near Montreal, Monday, May 9, 2022. A marine mammal group said a minke whale was first spotted near the city's Parc Jean-Drapeau on Sunday.

 THE CANADIAN PRESS/Morgan Lowrie

AT LEAST HALF ARE THANKS TO TRUMP

One million dead: Five things to know about America's pandemic

Wed, 11 May 2022, 

Registered Nurse Mariam Salaam administers the Pfizer booster shot at a Covid vaccination and testing site in Los Angeles on May 5, 2022 (AFP/Frederic J. BROWN) (Frederic J. BROWN)


One million dead from Covid-19: two years ago it would have been unimaginable, but now the United States is on the verge of surpassing this terrible milestone.

It will be the first country known to do so, although experts warn that the true death toll is likely to be far higher.

Here are five things to know about the US pandemic.

- By the numbers -

One million dead works out to around one in every 330 Americans -- one of the highest death rates in the developed world. Britain has seen around one in 380 people die of Covid, while in France it has been one in 456.

In all, more than 203,000 children in the United States have lost a parent or caregiver, according to a study that underscores the profound impact of the pandemic on American youth.

At the height of the Omicron wave, the United States recorded an average of more than 800,000 cases per day, pushing the total since the pandemic began to nearly 82 million cases.

But this again is probably an underestimate, especially given the lack of tests at the beginning of the pandemic and now the success of self-tests, which are not systematically reported to the authorities.

- New York shuts down -

The virus was first reported in the northwest United States -- but it swiftly reached New York, a global transportation hub, which briefly became the epicenter of the first wave.

The Big Apple went from being the city that never sleeps to a ghost town, with its dead piled into refrigerated trucks and its streets deserted.

Its most affluent inhabitants simply left, while the less privileged confined themselves in cramped quarantines.

The megalopolis has so far suffered more than 40,000 deaths from Covid-19, most of which occurred in the spring of 2020.

- Vaccine rush -

Donald Trump, president when the pandemic hit, was criticized for his slow response, how he played down the scale of the coming disaster, and his contribution to misinformation surrounding the pandemic in the weeks and months to come.

He also launched "Operation Warp Speed," pumping billions of dollars of public money into vaccine research, allowing pharmaceutical companies to conduct expensive clinical trials.

The result? The first vaccines in the US -- from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna -- were available in mid-December, less than a year after the first cases were reported in China.

- The mask divide -

In the politically polarized United States, few social issues have been as divisive as masks or vaccines.

Between progressives defending physical distancing, masks and inoculations, and conservatives rejecting any intrusion into their individual freedoms, the battle raged all the way to the top, where Trump only reluctantly wore a mask while his successor Joe Biden scrupulously followed protocols and championed vaccinations.

From schools to airplanes to businesses, the mask issue has led to numerous clashes, sometimes even resulting in violence.

The latest development is that in April, a Trump-appointed judge in Louisiana lifted the requirement to wear masks on public transport, a decision that the federal government has appealed.

- No end in sight -

More than two years since the pandemic reached the United States, the rate of infection is rising yet again, due to sub-variants of the very contagious variant Omicron.

From a low of 25,000 daily cases in March, the country now has a seven-day daily average of some 78,000 cases, according to the main US health agency.

vgr/st/wd

Cardinal's arrest deepens alarm over Hong Kong crackdown

Jerome Taylor, Su Xinqi and Florian Mueller
Wed, May 11, 2022

The arrest of a 90-year-old Catholic cardinal under Hong Kong's national security law has triggered international outrage and deepened concerns over China's crackdown on freedoms in the financial hub.

Retired cardinal Joseph Zen, one of the most senior Catholic clerics in Asia, was among a group of veteran democracy advocates arrested Wednesday for "colluding with foreign forces".


Denise Ho
Canada - Hong Kong singer and social activist

Cantonese pop singer Denise Ho, veteran barrister Margaret Ng and prominent cultural studies scholar Hui Po-keung were also arrested, the latter as he attempted to fly to Europe to take up an academic post.

The four were detained for their involvement in a now-disbanded defence fund that helped pay legal and medical costs for those arrested during the huge and sometimes violent wave of democracy protests three years ago.

China responded with a broad campaign to crush the movement and transform the once-outspoken city into something more closely resembling the authoritarian mainland.

Zen and his colleagues, who were released on bail late Wednesday, join more than 180 Hong Kongers arrested to date under the national security law Beijing imposed to stop the protests.

Those charged are typically denied bail and can face up to life in prison if convicted.

- 'Deeply troubling' -

Criticism came from Western nations who have accused China of eviscerating the freedoms it once promised Hong Kong could maintain.

The United States, which has previously sanctioned key Chinese officials over the ongoing crackdown, called on Beijing to "cease targeting Hong Kong's advocates".

Canada said consular officials were trying to access Ho, a popular Hong Kong singer and LGTBQ campaigner who is also a Canadian national.

Foreign minister Melanie Joly called the arrests "deeply troubling".

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was following the arrests with "great concern", while Human Rights Watch called it a "shocking new low for Hong Kong".

"Even by Hong Kong's recent standards of worsening repression, these arrests represent a shocking escalation," added Amnesty International.

The Vatican said it was concerned by Zen's arrest and "following the development of the situation very closely".

- 'Damocles sword' -

Cardinal Zen fled Shanghai for Hong Kong after the communists took power in China in 1949 and rose to become bishop of the city.

A long-term advocate for Hong Kong's democracy movement, Zen has also been critical of the Vatican for reaching a compromise with China over the appointment of bishops on the mainland.

Hong Kong's Catholic hierarchy, including Zen's successors, has become far less outspoken about Beijing in recent years.

His arrest has sent shockwaves through the city's Catholic community who, unlike on the mainland, have been free to practice their faith without state control.

"The arrest of cardinal Zen is a blow for the entire church in Hong Kong, China and the world," Hong Kong-based Italian missionary Franco Mella, 73, told AFP.

"It has become obvious that there is a Damocles sword above Zen and other church people."

A church visitor on Thursday who gave her name as Laura said congregants feared mainland-style suppression of religion could be coming to Hong Kong.

"The space for religious freedom has apparently shrunk because even a Catholic cardinal is now under arrest," she said.

Those arrested Wednesday were suspected of endangering national security because they allegedly asked foreign nations or overseas organisations to impose sanctions on Hong Kong, police said.

Ta Kung Pao, a nationalist newspaper that answers to Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, published an article Thursday accusing the group of "six crimes".

They included funding lobbying trips and activist meetings with British lawmakers, providing financial aid to Hong Kong "rioters" who had fled to Canada and Taiwan, and accepting donations from overseas.

It also listed a HK$1.3 million (US$165,000) donation from Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy tabloid that collapsed last year after its assets were frozen under the security law.

But most of the alleged actions cited by Ta Kung Pao took place before the enactment of the law, which is not supposed to be retroactive.

The fund disbanded last year after national security police demanded it hand over operational details including information about its donors and beneficiaries.

jta-su/qan

Charlatan, psychopath, saint: who was the real Mother Teresa?

Anita Singh
Mon, May 9, 2022

Mother Teresa, pictured in 1993 - AP

Mother Teresa: For The Love of God? (Sky Documentaries) featured quite a spectrum of opinion. “She was a modern-day Jesus.” “She was a charlatan, pure and simple.” “The most admired woman in the world.” “A bit of a psychopath, to be honest with you.”

Documentary-makers often take a position against the prevailing orthodoxy. But that has already been done in the case of Mother Teresa. Christopher Hitchens performed a demolition job on her saintly reputation in the 1990s, both in writing and in a film, Hell’s Angel. Instead, For The Love of God? remains faithful to the question mark in its title. Over three parts, it features interviews with supporters and detractors, inviting the viewer to make up their own mind. The result is a comprehensive and balanced assessment of Mother Teresa’s life, portraying her as a complex figure.

She devoted herself to the poor and worked indefatigably into her eighties. She rescued the destitute from the streets of Kolkata, taking in orphaned children and opening a home for the dying. None of that is in doubt.

But her public image obscured some uncomfortable truths. Jack Preger, a British doctor who went to work in Kolkata, was appalled by the conditions he found at her institutions. Patients were not being provided with decent medical care or pain relief, because the sisters preferred simply to pray for the alleviation of pain. Much of the money donated by well-wishers did not find its way to the poor, but was instead handed over to the Vatican.

She ran the Missionaries of Charity almost as a cult, according to one former member, with sisters instructed to cease contact with their families. Perhaps most damningly of all, she appeared to turn a blind eye to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. (The Missionaries of Charity told the programme that Mother Teresa had no knowledge of abuse.)

Her critics included Dr Aroup Chatterjee, who moved to London from Kolkata and was amazed by the extent to which her role had been mythologised in the West. “People kept telling me that Mother Teresa was feeding Kolkata, clothing Kolkata… I just couldn’t believe that this level of lies, misinformation and fantasy could pervade the world in such a way.”

But the Hitchens-level criticism felt as overdone as the blind loyalty displayed by some of her fiercest supporters. While Mother Teresa clearly had many faults, there was nothing here to back up the “charlatan” claim (made by the filmmaker and activist Tariq Ali). Most likely, she was neither saint nor sinner, but something in between.

Monica Ali on George Orwell, 'Anna Karenina,' and the Book She'd Pass on to Her Kid


Riza Cruz

Elle
Tue, May 10, 2022

Photo credit: ILLUSTRATION BY YOUSRA ATTIA

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

Monica Ali has been open about the loss of confidence and resulting depression that kept her from bookstores, new novels, literary festivals, speaking invitations and writing for years. A little more than 10 years have passed since her last novel and nearly 20 since her Booker Prize-shortlisted debut, Brick Lane. Love Marriage (Scribner), about two doctors from different cultures engaged to be married, marks her fifth book and as an instant Sunday Times bestseller, welcome return.

Born in Dhaka to a Bengali father and English mother, Ali fled with her brother and mother (who she remembers reading The Story of Ferdinand to them on the flight out) when civil war broke out. Her father would eventually reunite with his family in the UK, and she would earn a philosophy, politics, and economics degree at Oxford University.

The London-based author taught creative writing at Columbia University and was Distinguished Writer in Residence at the University of Surrey. She is a fellow at the Royal Society of Literature and patron of women and girls’ empowerment organization Hopscotch Women’s Centre.

She has two children; worked as a sales and marketing manager at small publishers including Verso and at a design and branding agency; spends time at her summer house in Portugal (where her second novel Alentejo Blue takes place); and is adapting Love Marriage for a BBC television series.

Practices: Transcendental Meditation. Listens to: Esther Perel’s “Where Should We Begin?” podcast. Intrigued by: Therapy as an alternate career and communal living. She shares her book picks below.
The book that:
…made me weep uncontrollably:

A Gesture Life by Chang Rae Lee. It tells the story of a Japanese-American man’s love for a Korean “comfort girl” during World War II when he was in the Japanese army stationed in Burma. “Comfort girls” were basically sex slaves, raped every day by numerous soldiers. It is a story that is simultaneously brutal and unbearably tender.
…I recommend over and over again:

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul because it is the best tragi-comedy ever written. It’s also a sideways look at colonialism, race, and religion. And the story of one man’s struggle to carve out, against the odds, his own place in the world.

...shaped my worldview:

1984 by George Orwell. I first read it when I was 13, and it had a profound impact. I heard doublespeak all around me. Naturally, as a teenager, you’re inclined to think that adults are hypocritical. But it also made me think about the news in a different, more questioning, way.
...made me rethink a long-held belief:

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté. I read it as part of my research for Love Marriage, because Maté is a physician specializing in addiction, and one of my characters is a sex addict. I’d previously thought only an unfortunate small minority of people suffer from addictions. But Maté reveals how addiction actually runs on a continuum through our society. We can be addicted to so many things - social media, stress, power, shopping - in order to medicate and conceal our fears or pain.
…I swear I'll finish one day:

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It’s a searing record of Soviet terror and oppression, and it is a masterpiece. But I had to stop two-thirds of the way through because I couldn’t take it anymore.
...I read in one sitting, it was that good:

Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg, a fictionalized memoir of childhood in Italy in the 1920s and 30s, and fighting fascism when Mussolini comes to power. It’s life-changingly good. It’s a lesson in how to live.

…currently sits on my nightstand:

The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. I’m 600 pages in, and I really don’t want it to end.
…I’d pass on to my kid:

My daughter, who’s 21, has read all my books. My son, who is two years older, hasn’t read any of them. But I live in hope, so I’d pass on a copy of Love Marriage, and maybe he’ll check it out after I’m dead and gone.
...has the best opening line:

“In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together.” From The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. One mute is interesting, but two? That’s so intriguing, it pulls you in fast. What are they doing together? You immediately want to know.
…has a sex scene that will make you blush:

The Group by Mary McCarthy. I’d so often heard about the book (published in the 1960s) as an absolute must-read, but I’ve never got around to it until now. It’s a book about love and heartbreak, marriage and careers. And sex. McCarthy is superbly adroit at writing about real, painful, messy, complicated sex.
…should be on every college syllabus:

Natalia Ginzburg’s collection of essays, The Little Virtues. It contains everything you need to prepare yourself for adulthood and how to raise children. “As far as the education of children is concerned I think they should be taught not the little virtues but the great ones. Not thrift but generosity and an indifference to money; not caution but courage and a contempt for danger; not shrewdness but frankness and a love of truth; not tact but love for one’s neighbor and self-denial; not a desire for success but a desire to be and to know.”
...I’ve re-read the most:

Probably Anna Karenina by Tolstoy. Although it could equally well be any one of Jane Austen’s novels. I couldn’t imagine life without either Tolstoy or Austen.
...I consider literary comfort food:

The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard - five volumes of sprawling family saga spanning from the 1930s to 1950s. Howard is a sharp observer of human drama and psychology, and she writes about pain, loss and longing superbly well. Somehow - for me - this works like some kind of balm.

#METOO

Minnie Driver Almost Lost ‘Good Will Hunting’ After Being Told ‘Nobody Would Want to F— Her’

Zack Sharf
Mon, May 9, 2022


Minnie Driver was only 26 years old when she auditioned for the role of Skylar in Gus Van Sant’s “Good Will Hunting.” It’s a performance that would earn Driver an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress, but it’s one she recently told The Telegraph almost never happened because producer Harvey Weinstein believed “nobody would want to fuck her.” Driver said Weinstein sent a sexist note along to the film’s casting director.

“I remember feeling so devastated until I realized, ‘Hold on, just consider the source for a minute. That is an unutterable pig — why on earth are you worried about this fuck saying that you are not sexy?’” Driver said. “But there are ramifications of that: that maybe I am not going to be hired because people don’t think I have the sexual quality that is required.”

More from Variety
Harvey Weinstein Caught With Contraband Milk Duds in L.A. Jail

Driver added, “How awful to think that I was one of the lucky ones [who escaped him] because he didn’t think I was fuckable. And how amazing and wonderful that it has turned around and young men and women in my industry are not going to experience that.”

Weinstein claims he wanted to cast Ashley Judd in “Good Will Hunting,” hence overlooking Driver. A spokesperson for Weinstein added, “Harvey believes that Minnie Driver is an excellent actor, but it is true he had championed Judd for the role. He admits when he is wrong and Minnie was fantastic. He claimed to have never said anything regrettable about Ms. Driver and had hired her for several films. He wishes her luck and success on her memoir.”

Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence due to first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape. Judd is also suing Weinstein for blacklisting her after she rejected his sexual advances. Weinstein denies those allegations. It wasn’t only the disgraced film producer who took issue with Driver’s look during the “Good Will Hunting” casting search. The actor recently told The Cut that a producer on the film also didn’t think she was sexy enough for “Good Will Hunting,” which Driver found similarly “devastating.”

“To be told at 26 that you’re not sexy when you maybe just got over all your teenage angst, and started to think, you know, ‘Maybe in the right light and the right shoes and the right dress, I’m all right,'” Driver said. “When a producer — a man or woman or nonbinary person — distills an actor down to what they perceive as their sexiness, it’s so dismissive of that person.”

Driver has been making the press rounds in support of her new memoir “Managing Expectations,” which was published May 3.

David Cronenberg Expects ‘Crimes of the Future’ Walkouts at Cannes ‘Within the First Five Minutes’


Samantha Bergeson

IndieWire
Tue, May 10, 2022


David Cronenberg doesn’t want you to look away from the gruesome surgery scenes in “Crimes of the Future,” but the director certainly knows you will.

Cronenberg’s first feature in eight years brings him back to his body horror roots with Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux playing surgical performance artists who publicly showcase the metamorphosis of human organs in avant-garde performances. When their acts capture the attention of a National Organ Registry investigator (Kristen Stewart), the true government mission becomes clear: Organ transplants will lead to the next phase of human evolution. “Crimes of the Future” premieres at Cannes this month before Neon releases it stateside on June 3.

The trailer famously teased that “surgery is the new sex,” and showed — among other graphic moments — a man’s eyelids being sewn shut.

“I do expect walkouts in Cannes, and that’s a very special thing. There are some very strong scenes,” Cronenberg told Deadline. “I mean, I’m sure that we will have walkouts within the first five minutes of the movie. I’m sure of that.”

And the ending isn’t much better: “Some people who have seen the film have said that they think the last 20 minutes will be very hard on people, and that there’ll be a lot of walkouts. Some guy said that he almost had a panic attack,” the “Fly” filmmaker added. “People always walk out, and the seats notoriously clack as you get up, because the seats fold back and hit the back of the seat. So, you hear clack, clack, clack.”

Cronenberg penned the screenplay, originally titled “Painkillers,” over 20 years ago. The “History of Violence” director revisited the story during the COVID-19 lockdowns and found that the future is even more horrifying now than it was then. Cronenberg swapped the title, borrowing from his 63-minute film “Crimes of the Future” in 1970; however, the two works are not related.

“Crimes of the Future” has already made waves following the Neon presentation at 2022 CinemaCon, but Cronenberg hopes the Cannes audience goes into screenings… well, blind.

“It will be the first time I will have seen it with an audience that knows very little about the movie, and therefore I will get laughs where I think they should be or not,” Cronenberg explained, maintaining the graphic film will retain his signature humor. “Of course, there’s also the question of language and the subtitles and so on, but French viewers who have seen the film, certainly, they get the humor. A lot of the humor is derived from the dialogue, so you need to know what the dialogue is to get the humor. But, yes, like all my films, it’s funny. It’s a funny film. It’s not only funny, but it’s definitely funny.”

Just don’t expect the same reaction as when Cronenberg’s sex-fueled “Crash” premiered at the festival in 1996.

“For one thing, there’s really no sex in the movie. I mean, there’s eroticism and there’s sensuality, but of course, part of what the movie says — and one of the characters says it very straightforwardly — is that surgery is the new sex. If you accept that, then, yeah, there’s sex in the movie, because there’s surgery! So, people might be put off by that,” Cronenberg said.

He continued, “Whether they’ll be outraged the way they were with ‘Crash,’ I somehow don’t think so. They might be revulsed to the point that they want to leave, but that’s not the same as being outraged. However, I have no idea really what’s going to happen. I guess that is the description of this movie: It’s going to either attract or repel people.”

It’s all relative, as Cronenberg added.

“My understanding of what is extreme, what is too violent, what is too sexual, really has to do with what the tone of the movie is, within the world of the movie. That’s my purview. That’s where I’m operating,” he said. “Now, once you’ve done that, you can have distributors say, ‘I cannot distribute this movie in my country,’ because it’s too this, or it’s too that. And at that point, you say, ‘Well, OK, too bad. You don’t get to see it. That’s fine.'”

And Cronenberg isn’t going to “neuter” the film by worrying about how it will be received on the international scale in countries like Jordan, Hungary, France, or even the U.S.

“I mean, there are so many approaches to censorship around the world — subtle and not subtle — that you would drive yourself crazy,” Cronenberg said. “I mean, if you take all of the censorship possible to heart, you will not say a word. You can’t speak. The way that the #MeToo movement can be used as a tool of censorship, for example, is a new approach, a new little arabesque on censorship, and it is used politically that way or is resisted as a censorious movement rather than a movement of some kind of liberation. So, you get all of these complexities involved.”

He concluded, “Once again, you are best to ignore it, and then you take the hits, I mean, you’re out there. You are very vulnerable. You are exposing yourself as an artist. Part of what you do is to expose yourself, and you are therefore susceptible to all kinds of criticism and anger and outrage and everything else.”

Yes, that also means walkouts.

Ted Cruz and Fox News Are Desperate to Convince America That Conservatives Are the Real Victims in the War on Abortion


William Vaillancourt
Tue, May 10, 2022

Ted Cruz - Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Images

Fox News hosts and Republican politicians have spent the past year plus downplaying the attack on the Capitol last Jan. 6, a familiar refrain being that the breach of Congress that resulted in five deaths and dozens of injuries was a “peaceful protest.”

The same conservative hosts and politicians have responded to the actually peaceful protests following the leak of the Supreme Court’s drafted plan to overturn Roe v. Wade with outrage and disgust, part of an effort to convince Americans that they — not the nation’s women — are the real victims of the push to do away with reproductive rights.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was front and center Monday night, describing the riot at the Capitol last Jan. 6 as a “peaceful protest” while bashing Democrats for not calling off the “goons” protesting for reproductive rights.

Cruz in January called what happened last Jan. 6 a “violent terrorist attack,” getting himself eviscerated by Tucker Carlson. Cruz responded by going on Carlson’s show and begging for forgiveness, and now, just a few months later, he’s call the insurrection “peaceful” while labeling pro-choice protests “mob violence.”

Fox News displayed images of the “goons” as Cruz spoke. They were actually just a bunch of people standing around on a street outside the homes of conservative justices.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was determined not to be outdone when it came to making absurd comparisons between the attack on the Capitol and the protests since the Supreme Court draft leaked. Hannity later deflected blame for the violence on Jan. 6 away from former President Trump and onto those who supposedly “had the authority” to call up National Guard troops but “didn’t,” leading Graham to blurt out, “[Trump] said, ‘Leave.’ He told them to leave the Capitol.” (Trump waited about three hours after the attack until he posted a video telling his supporters, “Go home. We love you. You’re very special.”)

“Will Biden tell them to leave the judges alone at home?” Graham added. “Do what Trump did. Tell them to leave. He knew to tell them to leave.”


Tucker Carlson may have been more disgusted than either of them. “We hesitate to even bring you these pictures because they’re so awful, but it’s happening and you should see what it looks like,” he said alongside images of demonstrators standing still, holding signs and candles. “These are protesters, this is the mob, outside Justice Samuel Alito’s home in Virginia. They’re disgusting.”

Carlson brought on a guest to discuss the “disgusting” protesters, before one of them held up a middle finger. Carlson couldn’t bear to watch. “Let’s turn that off,” he said. “It’s too much.”


Jesse Watters and Laura Ingraham, the remaining two cogs of Fox News’ primetime propaganda machine, pushed a similar narrative. “This is what happens in third world countries,” Ingraham said.

The narrative pushed into Tuesday morning, with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) bashing Biden for not condemning the reproductive rights protests.


“He has been silent, he has encouraged it,” said Hawley, who cheered on Trump supporters as they prepared to storm the Capitol last Jan. 6.

UK's Morrisons clinches deal for convenience chain McColl's


Mon, May 9, 2022

FILE PHOTO: A view of a Morrisons supermarket in Birtley

(Reuters) -British supermarket group Morrisons has won a battle against the owners of rival Asda to buy collapsed convenience store chain McColl's.

In a deal structured through a so called pre-pack administration, Morrisons, which has a wholesale supply deal with McColl's, will take on all its 1,160 stores, including 270 Morrisons Daily format stores.

Morrisons will also take on all of McColl's workforce of 16,000 and its two pension schemes, which have over 2,000 members.

It said McColl's' secured lenders and preferential creditors would be paid in full with a distribution also expected to unsecured creditors.

McColl's went into administration with debt of just under 170 million pounds ($210 million).

EG Group, the petrol station and food retail business owned by brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity group TDR Capital, was set to seize control of McColls after its lenders rejected a rescue deal from Morrisons on Friday. The brothers and TDR also own Asda.

However, over the weekend, Morrisons came back with a fresh proposal.

“Although we are disappointed that the business was put into administration, we believe this is a good outcome for McColl’s and all its stakeholders," said Morrisons CEO David Potts.

"This transaction offers stability and continuity for the McColl’s business and, in particular, a better outcome for its colleagues and pensioners."

Morrisons, which trails market leader Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, has been owned since October by U.S. private equity group Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R).

McColl's had been in talks with its lenders for weeks to try to resolve its funding woes. Its shareholders had seen the value of their investment virtually wiped out over the last year.

The retailer's stock was suspended from trading on Friday.

The sale to Morrisons was conducted by administrator PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

($1 = 0.8103 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey in London and Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Bernadette Baum)

SO IT'S TRUE

Ethiopia's Gondar University denies aiding grave destruction in west Tigray

Tue, May 10, 2022,

All sides in the 19-month civil war have been accused of war crimes

Ethiopia's Gondar University has denied reports that some of its experts helped Amhara militia destroy evidence of mass graves containing bodies of Tigrayans.

Witnesses told the BBC that they had seen the experts advise militia members.

In a letter to the BBC, the university described this as an "unsubstantiated accusation".

It also denied that there was any evidence that the bodies of Tigrayans had been found in mass graves.

If anything like that had been discovered then the "research team... would have been the first to acknowledge and provide the evidence", the university said.

"The university is one of the most respected research-based educational institutions in Ethiopia which is devoted to solving some of society's most pressing issues," it added.

As part of its research, Gondar University's experts have found mass grave sites in the area, but it has discovered that these were the result of the killing of thousands of ethnic Amharas carried out by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) since the mid-1990s.

The TPLF was once the dominant political party in Ethiopia, but that changed when Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in 2018.

In November 2020, the political tension between the federal government and the TPLF, which controls most of the northern Tigray region, led to the outbreak of civil war.

All sides in the on-going conflict have been accused of carrying out mass killings.

Witnesses had described to the BBC how, in western Tigray, an area under the control of forces from the neighbouring Amhara region, the bodies of ethnic Tigrayans in freshly dug mass graves had been exhumed and destroyed. This came ahead of a possible visit by UN investigators looking into war crimes.

ONE HELL OF A HANGOVER

A Russian oil tycoon was found dead after reportedly being treated with toad venom to cure a hangover


Gabrielle Bienasz
Mon, May 9, 2022

A general view shows a natural and associated petroleum gas processing plant in the Yarakta Oil Field, owned by Irkutsk Oil Company (INK), in Irkutsk Region, Russia March 11, 2019.Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters

Former oil exec Alexander Subbotin was found dead over the weekend, according to Newsweek and Russian media outlets.

TASS, a state-owned news agency, said that he was discovered in a shaman's home in Mytishchi.

Subbotin is the latest in a grim trend: Russian business people who have died under strange circumstances.

Russian media outlets reported that an oil tycoon was found dead over the weekend at the house of a shaman, according to Newsweek.

TASS, a state-owned news agency, said that he was discovered in a shaman's home in Mytishchi, and authorities are investigating, Newsweek reported.

The Moscow Times, an independent Russian news site, also reported on the topic.

Per TASS, it seemed that he suffered from a heart attack, and a source told the Russian outlet that he was highly intoxicated when he showed up at the house, Newsweek noted.

Another source, telegram channel Mash—though this has not been verified by police, Newsweek noted—said that he was there to get a hangover cure in the form of toad venom, having been friendly with the shaman and his wife for some time, The Independent reported.

Alexander Subbotin used to be high up at Lukoil, Newsweek and others have reported.

Lukoil is the country's second-largest oil producer, according to Reuters. It employs over 110,000 people, according to the company's website.

Subbotin's brother, Valerie, who also worked in the upper reaches of Lukoil, owns the 184-foot Galvas yacht, and is worth an estimated $100 million, according to SuperYachtFan.

As Newsweek and other outlets noted, Subbotin is one of several Russian business people and members of their families who have died under weird circumstances in the last few months.

At least six have as of late April, Insider has reported, many of whom were linked to large Russian energy companies.

"In all cases, there are widespread suspicions that the deaths may have been staged as suicides, but who did this and why?" Grzegorz Kuczyński, director of the Warsaw Institute's Eurasia Program, told Fortune, Insider noted.

One was Sergey Protosenya, whose wife and daughter were found dead, too.

His son, Fedor, who is still alive, told MailOnline he does not believe local police's theory that it was a murder-suicide, Insider previously wrote.

Lukoil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.