International
Venezuela political prisoner dies of Covid
AFP
An army general who aligned with Venezuela’s late Hugo Chavez but later broke ranks with the socialist strongman and spent years as a prominent political prisoner has died of Covid-19 while in custody, officials said Tuesday.
“We regret the death of Raul Isaias Baduel from cardiorespiratory arrest as a consequence of Covid-19,” prosecutor general Tarek Saab posted on Twitter.
Baduel, 66, had received an initial Covid-19 vaccination and “was receiving appropriate medical care,” Saab added.
Baduel’s family said they learned of his death via Twitter.
“I have not received a call from any person in the government,” his wife Cruz Zambrano de Baduel told the EVTV internet channel.
She was skeptical that her husband, whom she had last seen four weeks ago, had contracted Covid at all.
“It is not true,” she said, pointing to his recent vaccination.
Baduel was Chavez’s defense minister, and helped reinstate the president after the April 2002 coup that briefly removed him from power.
The minister served almost eight years on corruption charges. After his release in 2015, he was jailed again on charges of conspiracy against current President Nicolas Maduro.
Baduel’s death means “there are now 10 political prisoners who have died in custody” since 2015, said Gonzalo Himiob, a lawyer for the human rights NGO Foro Penal.
“The responsibility for the life and health of any detainee rests with the state. Medical treatment is continuously required for prisoners,” Himiob tweeted.
Two of Baduel’s sons have also been arrested on allegations of conspiracy. One, Raul Emilio, is at large.
The other, Josnars Adolfo Baduel, was arrested for alleged participation in a failed maritime invasion in 2019 that sought to overthrow Maduro. He is still in custody.
International
Israeli strike targets Iran’s state news agency amid escalating conflict

The fourth day of armed conflict between Israel and Iran has been marked by an Israeli attack on Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, which oversees a pair of television channels controlled by the Shiite theocracy and forms part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) media apparatus.
The bombing occurred during a live broadcast of the channels. Iranian local media report that several employees present at the complex have died. In a video released by IRNA itself, presenter Sahar Emami is seen having to leave the studio as the bombing takes place.
Both Iran and Israel have issued warnings for their citizens in Tehran and Tel Aviv to evacuate certain areas. Israel ordered an immediate evacuation of Tehran’s District 3, where most foreign diplomats reside. The National Library of Iran is also located in this neighborhood. Meanwhile, Iran mirrored its systemic rival by advising residents of the ultra-Orthodox Bnei Brak district in Tel Aviv to prepare for further attacks.
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”

The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants

The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
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