International
Rio vows to revitalize two crime-racked slums
AFP
The governor of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state announced plans Saturday for massive investments aimed at revitalizing two long crime-infested slum districts.
The announcement came just three days after 1,300 police swept through the Jacarezinho and Muzema favelas in a “reconquering” operation that authorities said aimed to wrest control back from organized crime groups.
Governor Claudio Castro told reporters the state would spend 500 million real (about $90 million) over coming weeks to attack social problems in the two districts after decades of governmental neglect.
“It’s a program to reconquer the territory and return it to its rightful owners: the people of these favelas,” Castro said.
He promised efforts both to improve sewage in the two favelas and to establish social and educational programs aimed primarily at young people and families.
Castro told reporters that work on other favelas would come only after the revitalization effort in Jacarezinho and Muzema is “functioning fully.”
Jacarezinho, in northern Rio near the international airport, was the scene in May of the bloodiest police raid in city history, leaving 28 people dead. It is considered a bastion of the Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil’s biggest drugs-trafficking gangs.
“After what happened, we had to intervene,” said Castro, a member of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
And in June 2019, Muzema, in the city’s west, saw the collapse of two illegally built apartment buildings. Twenty-four people died.
That district is controlled by powerful militias that regularly extort local residents.
Castro said the government would extend 30 million real in micro-credits to residents to spare them having to borrow from criminal groups at usurious rates.
But some security specialists say they fear the program will suffer from the same errors as a 2008 program that initially helped reduce violence but later prompted complaints of police abuse or corruption.
International
Meta Says Russia Seeks to Ban WhatsApp for Defending Secure Communication
U.S. tech giant Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, said that Russia is seeking to ban the messaging app because it “challenges government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication.”
Russian authorities have encouraged citizens to switch to state-backed applications, and in August they already blocked WhatsApp’s calling feature.
On Friday, the communications regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that the platform was being used to “organize and carry out terrorist acts in the country, recruit perpetrators, and facilitate fraud and other crimes.”
“If the messaging service does not comply with Russian law, it will be completely blocked,” the regulator warned.
WhatsApp remains one of Russia’s most widely used messaging services, alongside Telegram.
Moscow is pressuring both platforms to grant authorities access to user data upon request for investigations into fraud and activities the government labels as “terrorist.”
Human rights advocates fear the demand could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin, or the war in Ukraine.
International
Archbishop Wenski criticizes Trump’s deportation policies, calls for stronger push for reform
The Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, has called for increased pressure on the U.S. Congress to advance comprehensive immigration reform and criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies, arguing that they “do nothing to help.”
“We need to apply more pressure on Congress so lawmakers can make the necessary changes. It is also important for the Administration to listen to our voice. We do not want to be anyone’s enemy—we are Americans,” Wenski said in an interview with EFE.
The religious leader, who heads one of the dioceses with the largest Latino and Haitian populations in the United States, issued a call to defend the rights of migrants. He also emphasized that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has maintained a strong and public stance in favor of migrants for decades.
International
Trump relaunches diplomatic push to finalize U.S.-Backed peace plan for Ukraine War
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his diplomatic team will resume meetings with delegations from Russia and Ukraine in an effort to pressure both sides to accept the peace plan proposed by Washington to end the war in Ukraine.
As part of this new round of talks, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will hold discussions with Ukrainian representatives to narrow differences on the remaining points of the agreement.
Trump also confirmed his intention to meet personally with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and with Putin, though he emphasized that such meetings will only take place “when the agreement is fully finalized or in its final stage.”
The president claimed that his administration has made “tremendous progress” toward resolving the conflict and reiterated that the war “never would have started” if he had been in the White House at the onset of the crisis.
The U.S.-backed peace plan consists of 28 points and has been revised following feedback from both sides. According to Trump, only “a few points of disagreement” remain under active discussion.
One of the most controversial aspects of the proposal is the suggestion that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region to Russia and limit the size of its armed forces. Kyiv is working closely with Washington to soften these clauses in search of an arrangement that does not compromise its sovereignty or security.
With this diplomatic push, Trump aims to solidify his role as the main mediator in the conflict and steer the war toward a political resolution after years of devastation, humanitarian crisis, and rising global geopolitical tensions.
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