US seizes Venezuela leader Maduro’s plane

US seizes Venezuela leader Maduro’s plane
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 900EX private jet, after being seized by US law enforcement officials is seen in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (AFP)
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Updated 03 September 2024
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US seizes Venezuela leader Maduro’s plane

US seizes Venezuela leader Maduro’s plane
  • US Justice Department said the plane was ‘illegally purchased’

MIAMI:  The United States on Monday seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s plane in the Dominican Republic and flew the jet to Florida, saying it acted over violation of US sanctions.

United States officials moved to take the aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 900EX private jet used by Maduro and members of his government, with the Justice Department saying the plane was “illegally purchased.”

“The Justice Department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolas Maduro and his cronies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Aircraft tracking site Flightradar24 showed that the jet flew from Santo Domingo to Fort Lauderdale on Monday morning.

The US says that in late 2022 and early 2023, individuals affiliated with Maduro allegedly used a Caribbean-based shell company to conceal their involvement in the illegal purchase of the jet.

The aircraft was then illegally exported from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean in April 2023.

Since May 2023, the plane has flown almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela.

Anthony Salisbury, special agent in charge at the Homeland Security Investigations Miami office, said “this plane was predominantly utilized by Nicolas Maduro on numerous state visits.”

The South American country was rocked by protests when Maduro was declared the winner of a disputed July 28 election, with dozens killed and more than 2,400 people arrested.

The opposition claims it won by a landslide and that it has the voting records to prove it.

The leftist Maduro government, brushing off accusations of authoritarianism, has resisted international pressure to release vote tally numbers to back up its claim of victory.

“Maduro and his representatives’ have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory, and carried out wide-spread repression to maintain power by force,” a US National Security Council spokesperson said.

The seizure of the plane “is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela,” they added.

The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro as having won without seeing detailed voting results.

Violence that accompanied the protests left 27 people dead and at least 192 wounded.

Since 2005, Washington has imposed sanctions on Venezuela that target individuals and entities “that have engaged in criminal, antidemocratic, or corrupt actions,” according to a Congressional briefing document.

“In response to increasing human rights abuses and corruption by the government of Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, the Trump Administration expanded US sanctions to include financial sanctions, sectoral sanctions, and sanctions on the government.”

Caracas has not yet commented on the seizure.


Harris trolls Trump at an LA fundraiser full of celebrities, says her crowds ‘are pretty big’

Harris trolls Trump at an LA fundraiser full of celebrities, says her crowds ‘are pretty big’
Updated 1 min 4 sec ago
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Harris trolls Trump at an LA fundraiser full of celebrities, says her crowds ‘are pretty big’

Harris trolls Trump at an LA fundraiser full of celebrities, says her crowds ‘are pretty big’
  • Trump has spent two days railing about Harris, upping his personal attacks against her, claiming she was responsible for a border “invasion,” and stirring up unfounded fears that she’d usher in lawlessness if elected

LOS ANGELES: Vice President Kamala Harris poked at Republican Donald Trump during a fancy fundraiser on Sunday, telling donors that as she campaigns around the country her “crowds are pretty big” — before heading to Nevada for a rally at the same venue where the GOP nominee appeared two weeks ago.
During the presidential debate, Harris appeared to get under Trump’s skin when she said people were leaving his rallies early because of his rambling speeches. And she’s kept it up on the campaign trail.
She also has moved into what Trump considers his terrain — immigration — with a Friday visit to the border town of Douglas, Arizona. It was her first trip to the US-Mexico border since taking over for President Joe Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket.
Harris’ four-day West Coast trip has been crafted with dual purposes: She was opening and closing with stops in Sun Belt battlegrounds — Arizona and Nevada — where the vice president is trying to shore up support as Trump pounds her relentlessly over illegal migration. And her mid-stay in California was devoted to hauling in campaign contributions from donors in her blue home state.
Harris’ border visit in Arizona seemed to irk Trump. The GOP leader has spent two days railing about the vice president during his rallies, upping his personal attacks against her, claiming she was responsible for a border “invasion,” and stirring up unfounded fears that she’d usher in lawlessness if elected.
Harris gave the same response she usually does to his insults, even despite Trump calling her “mentally impaired.”
“We just see the same old tired show from the same old tired playbook,” she told a Los Angeles crowd of donors, some who shouted “boring!” in response.
Harris has warned the race is as close as it could possibly be, a “margin-of-error” race. But on Sunday in Los Angeles, she added: “The election is here and let me be clear. We are going to win.”
The fundraiser was full of celebrities: Stevie Wonder, Keegan Michael-Key, Sterling K. Brown, Demi Lovato, Jessica Alba and Lily Tomlin. Performing for the crowd: Halle Bailey and Alanis Morissette.
The Los Angeles fundraiser and one a day earlier in San Francisco raised a combined $55 million for Harris’ campaign.
The vice president is continuing to notch Republican support. Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake became the latest to endorse her. He credited Harris with a “fine character and love of country” and said he wants a president who does not treat political adversaries as enemies or try to subvert the will of voters.
Flake, a longtime critic of the former president, joins a list of anti-Trump Republicans who have said they will vote for the Democratic ticket, including Dick Cheney, the deeply conservative former vice president, and his daughter, Liz.
But Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor and a sharp critic of Trump, said Harris has yet to earn his vote, though Trump won’t get it.
In Nevada, where Harris was holding a rally Sunday night, all voters automatically receive ballots by mail unless they opt out — a pandemic-era change that was set in state law. That means most ballots could start going out in a matter of weeks.
Harris will be back in Las Vegas on Oct. 10 for a town hall with Hispanic voters. Both she and Trump have campaigned frequently in the city, highlighting the critical role that Nevada’s six electoral votes could play in deciding an election expected to be exceedingly close.
Trump held his own Las Vegas rally on Sept. 13 at the Expo World Market Center, where Harris was to speak on Sunday. She’s also held events at the same venues that Trump used in Milwaukee, Atlanta and suburban Phoenix.
During a campaign stop in Las Vegas in June, Trump promised to eliminate taxes on tips received by waiters, hotel workers and thousands of other service industry employees. Harris used her own Las Vegas rally in August to make the same promise.
Fully doing away with federal taxes on tips would probably require an act of Congress. Still, Nevada’s Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, has endorsed Harris.
Ted Pappageorge, the culinary union’s secretary-treasurer, said the difference between the dueling no-taxes-on-tips proposals is that Harris has also pledged to tackle what his union calls “sub-minimum wage,” where employers pay service industry workers small salaries and meet minimum wage thresholds by expecting employees to supplement those with tips.
“That shows us she’s serious,” Pappageorge said.
 


Russia launches several waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says

Russia launches several waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says
Updated 15 min 19 sec ago
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Russia launches several waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says

Russia launches several waves of drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine’s military says
  • The attack followed Sunday's strikes targetting civilian homes in Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, killing at least 11 people

KYIV: Russia launched several waves of drone attacks targeting Kyiv early on Monday, with air defense units engaged in repelling the strikes for several hours, Ukraine’s military said.
Reuters’ witnesses heard numerous blasts in Kyiv in what sounded like air defense systems in operation and saw objects being hit in the air.
Kyiv, its surrounding region and all eastern part of Ukraine have been under air raid alerts since around 1 a.m. on Monday (2200 GMT on Sunday).
“Several enemy UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles) are over and near the capital,” Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s air force said earlier on Telegram that several groups of Russian drone attacks were heading toward Kyiv and Ukraine’s west. It also said it detected the launch of several guided bombs from Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine at around 04:40 a.m. (0140 GMT).
There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which has launched multiple air attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine throughout September, targeting Ukraine’s energy, military and transport infrastructure in which dozens of civilians have died.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties as a result of the attacks.


‘Angry’ Trump escalates attacks on Harris’ mental fitness and suggests she should be prosecuted

‘Angry’ Trump escalates attacks on Harris’ mental fitness and suggests she should be prosecuted
Updated 53 min 41 sec ago
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‘Angry’ Trump escalates attacks on Harris’ mental fitness and suggests she should be prosecuted

‘Angry’ Trump escalates attacks on Harris’ mental fitness and suggests she should be prosecuted
  • Trump, who has lost his composure when Harris became the Democratic nominee, said he is "very angry at Harris" because of "what she’s done to the country”
  • The Republican nominee has brushed aside concerns raised by his partymates to just stick to issues and avoid personal insults

ERIE, Pennsylvania: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump escalated his personal attacks on his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, on Sunday by repeating an insult that she was “mentally impaired” while also saying she should be “impeached and prosecuted.”
Trump’s rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, took on similar themes as an event one day earlier that he himself described as a “dark speech.” He told a cheering crowd Sunday that Harris was responsible for an “invasion” at the US-Mexico border and “she should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions.”
“Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired,” he added. “Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There’s something wrong with Kamala. And I just don’t know what it is, but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it.”
With just over a month until the election, Trump is intensifying his use of personal and offensive attacks, even as some Republicans say he’d be better off sticking to the issues.
His suggestions that political enemies be prosecuted are particularly notable for their departure from norms in the US in which the justice system is supposed to be protected from political influence. In recent weeks, Trump has threatened prosecutions of Google for allegedly giving priority to “good stories” about Harris and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Trump has long threatened legal action against his rivals, including President Joe Biden and his 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. This month he vowed to jail those “involved in unscrupulous behavior” this election, including election workers, lawyers, political operatives, donors, and voters, yet again attempting to sow doubt about the integrity of the election.
But he also has many legal problems of his own. He was convicted in May of falsifying business records in a hush money case in New York, with a sentencing scheduled for Nov. 26. Two other cases are pending — a federal case for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and a state case in Georgia for his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss there to Biden. Prosecutors are appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of a case involving his handling of classified documents.
Trump argues federal and state prosecutors are targeting him for political reasons, though there is no evidence to suggest that is true. If he wins the election, Trump could potentially pardon himself on the federal cases or order the Justice Department to shut down their investigations of him.
On Sunday, he acknowledged he might lose in November: “If she wins, it’s not going to be so pleasant for me, but I don’t care.”
Trump has derided Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party ticket, as “stupid,” “weak,” “dumb as a rock” and “lazy.” His allies have pushed him publicly and privately to talk instead about the economy, immigration and other issues.
“I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday when asked about Trump’s comments. “They’re crazy liberal.”
When asked whether he approved of the personal attacks on Harris, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, sidestepped during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I think Kamala Harris is the wrong choice for America,” said Emmer, who is helping Trump’s running mate JD Vance prepare for Tuesday’s vice presidential debate. “I think Kamala Harris is actually as bad or worse as the administration that we’ve witnessed for the last four years.”
When pressed, Emmer said: “I think we should stick to the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. He’s going to fix it again. Those are the issues.”
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, running for the Senate as a moderate Republican, brought up Trump’s false claims that Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, had previously played down her Black heritage. Harris attended Howard University, a historically Black institution, and has identified as both Black and South Asian consistently throughout her political career.
“I’ve already called him out when he had the one interview where he was questioning her racial identity, and now he’s questioning her mental competence,” Hogan told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And I think that’s insulting not only to the vice president but to people who actually do have mental disabilities.”
Harris has not commented on Trump’s recent attacks but has said when asked about other comments that it was the ” same old show. The same tired playbook we’ve heard for years with no plan on on how he would address the needs of the American people.”
Ahead of the rally on Sunday, some of Trump’s supporters said he often makes offensive remarks. Still, they support his proposals to restrict immigration and said he would have a better handle on the economy.
“He says what’s on his mind, and again, sometimes how he says it isn’t appropriate,” said Jeffrey Balogh, 56, who attended the rally with two friends. “But he did the job. He did very well at it.”
Tamara Molnar said she thinks Trump is very strong on immigration. As for his insults, Molnar said: “I think everybody has to have some decorum when speaking about other candidates, and I don’t think either side is necessarily innocent on that. There’s a lot of slinging both ways.”
At the rally in Erie, Trump said the “invasion” would end and deportations would begin if he took office.
“Thousands of migrants from the most dangerous countries are destroying the character of small towns and leaving local communities in anguish and in despair,” he said, talking about communities in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Last month, the GOP leader said he was “entitled” to personal attacks against Harris.
“As far as the personal attacks, I’m very angry at her because of what she’s done to the country,” he told a news conference then. “I’m very angry at her that she would weaponize the justice system against me and other people, very angry at her. I think I’m entitled to personal attacks.”
 


Red Cross urges states to recommit to international law

Updated 30 September 2024
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Red Cross urges states to recommit to international law

  • The ICRC is the caretaker of the Geneva Conventions which strives to act as a neutral intermediary in conflicts

GENEVA: The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross sounded the alarm over the blatant disregard shown for the Geneva Conventions in conflicts worldwide, in an interview published Sunday.
Mirjana Spoljaric called on countries to urgently recommit to respecting international law in an interview with Swiss daily Le Temps.
International humanitarian law (IHL) was being “systematically trampled underfoot by those who lead military operations,” she said.
She pointed to “the number of wounded and dead during the conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine,” which she said was “beyond our imagination.”
The ICRC is the caretaker of the Geneva Conventions which strives to act as a neutral intermediary in conflicts.
But it was finding its access to populations in need “increasingly constrained (and) instrumentalized,” said Spoljaric.
It is “indispensible to act now,” she said, in support of international humanitarian law — the function of which is to limit the effects of armed conflict and protect civilians.
On Friday the ICRC launched an initiative with six countries — Brazil, China, France, Jordan, Kazakhstan and South Africa — in a bid to galvanizing political support for IHL.
The Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1949 in the wake of World War II, “embody humanity’s shared conscience, values that transcend borders and creeds,” they said in a joint statement.
“Yet, the suffering we witness today in armed conflicts around the world is proof that respect for and compliance with their most fundamental rules are not being upheld.”
The initiative will strive to develop concrete recommendations for ways to prevent IHL violations and promote increased protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, said the IHRC.
It is working toward a high-level international meeting in 2026 focused on how to “Uphold Humanity in War,” ICRC said.
“The current situation is extremely dangerous,” said Spoljaric. “The trauma created by ongoing conflicts risks haunting us for decades.”
She added: “The idea is not reinvent the Geneva Conventions, which remain solid legal texts, but to urge States to apply them.”
“Countries must make the implementation of IHL a political priority.”
 

 


US boosts air support and hikes troop readiness to deploy for Middle East

The Pentagon is seen from Air Force One as it flies over Washington, March 2, 2022. (AP file photo)
The Pentagon is seen from Air Force One as it flies over Washington, March 2, 2022. (AP file photo)
Updated 29 September 2024
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US boosts air support and hikes troop readiness to deploy for Middle East

The Pentagon is seen from Air Force One as it flies over Washington, March 2, 2022. (AP file photo)
  • Israel struck more targets in Lebanon on Sunday, pressing Hezbollah with new attacks after killing the group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a string of its other top commanders in an escalating military campaign

WASHINGTON: The US military said on Sunday it was increasing its air support capabilities in the Middle East and putting troops on a heightened readiness to deploy to the region as it warned Iran against expanding the ongoing conflict.
The announcement came two days after President Joe Biden directed the Pentagon to adjust US force posture in the Middle East amid intensifying concern that Israel’s killing of the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah could prompt Tehran to retaliate.
“The US is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict,” Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement.
He also cautioned that if Iran or groups Tehran backs “use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the US will take every necessary measure to defend our people.” The Pentagon statement offered few clues as to the size or scope of the new air deployment, saying only that “we will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities in the coming days.”
Israel struck more targets in Lebanon on Sunday, pressing Hezbollah with new attacks after killing the group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a string of its other top commanders in an escalating military campaign.
The strikes have dealt a stunning succession of blows to Hezbollah after almost a year of cross-border fire, killing much of its leadership and revealing gaping security holes.
However, it has also raised questions about Washington’s publicly declared goals of containing the conflict and safeguarding US personnel throughout the Middle East.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Sunday that the US was watching to see what Hezbollah does to try to fill its leadership vacuum “and is continuing to talk to the Israelis about what the right next steps are.”
The US State Department has yet to order an evacuation from Lebanon.
But last week, US officials told Reuters the Pentagon was sending a few dozen additional troops to Cyprus to help the military prepare for scenarios including an evacuation of Americans from Lebanon.
The Pentagon said US forces were being made ready to deploy if needed.
“(Austin) increased the readiness of additional US forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies,” Ryder said in a statement.