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.

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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.

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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

Iran Reports 201 Dead, 747 Injured After U.S. and Israeli Strikes

The Iranian Red Crescent Society reported Sunday night (local time) that at least 201 people were killed and 747 injured following attacks carried out by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic.

A spokesperson for the humanitarian organization said more than 220 rescue teams have been deployed across affected areas and that relief operations are continuing without interruption. The official highlighted the difficulty of treating the large number of wounded and the urgent need for additional resources in impacted provinces.

Out of Iran’s 31 provinces, 24 have reported damage, according to a statement carried by the Isna news agency. This marks the first overall casualty toll released by Iranian state-affiliated media since the launch of the offensive.

Among the dead are 85 schoolgirls from a school in the southern city of Minab, according to the country’s judiciary. “The number of martyrs at the Minab girls’ school has risen to 85,” the local prosecutor’s office said, as quoted by the judiciary’s website, Mizan Online.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian described the attack as a “savagery” that “constitutes a new black page in the record of countless crimes committed by the aggressors.”

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Meanwhile, the international community continues to monitor the situation closely amid concerns about possible further reprisals and the broader impact on Middle East stability, energy markets, and global security.

AFP noted that it was unable to independently verify the casualty figures or the circumstances surrounding the events.

International

Pope Leo XIV Urges End to ‘Spiral of Violence’ in Middle East

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for an end to the “spiral of violence” in the Middle East, following military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran and subsequent retaliatory bombardments in the region.

“Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions, I urge the parties involved to assume their moral responsibility and stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” the pontiff told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Speaking during the Angelus prayer, the U.S.-born pope said stability and peace cannot be achieved through threats or weapons. “Stability and peace are not built with reciprocal threats or with arms that sow destruction, suffering and death, but only through reasonable, sincere and responsible dialogue,” he declared.

The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics also called for diplomacy to “regain its role” amid escalating tensions.

In addition, the pope urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to urgently resume dialogue after several days of clashes between the two countries.

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International

Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting on Middle East Crisis

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday condemned the “military escalation in the Middle East” following attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes, just hours before an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

“I call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,” Guterres said in a statement.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet on Saturday at 21:00 GMT (4:00 p.m. in New York) to address “the situation in the Middle East,” the United Nations announced.

The meeting, during which Guterres will deliver remarks, was convened at the request of France, Bahrain, Colombia, Russia and China, according to a diplomatic source.