World
Mexican president defends sharing NYT reporter's number; says privacy laws don't apply to him
- Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador defended Friday his decision to publicly disclose a New York Times reporter’s phone number.
- López Obrador subsequently claimed “the political and moral authority of the president of Mexico is above” a law guaranteeing privacy, and that “no law can be above the sublime principle of liberty.”
- López Obrador, a leftist firebrand, frequently accuses the media of partaking in a right-wing conspiracy to undermine him.
Mexico’s president on Friday defended his decision to disclose a reporter’s telephone number, saying a law that prohibits officials from releasing personal information doesn’t apply to him.
Press freedom groups said the president’s decision to make public the phone number of a New York Times reporter Thursday was an attempt to punish critical reporting, and exposed the reporter to potential danger.
Mexico’s law on Protection of Personal Data states “the government will guarantee individuals’ privacy” and sets out punishments for officials and others for “improperly using, taking, publishing, hiding, altering or destroying, fully or partially, personal data.”
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President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that “the political and moral authority of the president of Mexico is above that law,” adding that “no law can be above the sublime principle of liberty.” He also accused U.S. media of acting with “arrogance.”
He also downplayed the risks to journalists, saying it was “an old song that you (reporters) use to discredit our government,” and suggesting the Times reporter should just “change her telephone number.”
Mexico is one of the deadliest places in the world for reporters outside of war zones. The Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, has documented the killings of at least 55 journalists in Mexico since 2018, when López Obrador took office.
Jan-Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative for the CPJ, noted the publication of a reporter’s phone number in Mexico can be dangerous.
“The vast majority of threats and harassment and intimidation that reporters in this country, both foreign and domestic, receive, are conveyed through messages on messaging apps to mobile phones,” Hootsen said.
The situation began Thursday when López Obrador denied allegations contained in a New York Times story about a U.S. investigation into claims that people close to him took money from drug traffickers shortly before his 2018 election and again after he was president.
The story cited unidentified U.S. officials familiar with the now shelved inquiry and noted that a formal investigation was not opened, nor was it known how much of the informants’ allegations were independently confirmed.
As is common practice, the Times reporter had sent a letter to López Obrador’s spokesman asking for the president’s comment on the story before it was published, and included her telephone number as a means of contacting her.
At his daily press briefing that day, the president displayed the letter on a large screen and read it aloud, including her phone number.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gives his daily briefing on June 10, 2020, in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
In a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter, the New York Times wrote that “This is a troubling and unacceptable tactic from a world leader at a time when threats against journalists are on the rise.”
Asked about the issue Friday at a White House press briefing, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said “obviously, that’s not something we support.”
“It is important for the press to be able to report on issues that matter to the American people freely and in a way that, obviously, you all feel secure and safe and in a way that you’re not being doxed or attacked. That is, you know, that is something that we will obviously reject,” she said,
Mexico’s National Institute for Transparency and Information Access, the agency charged with upholding personal data laws, announced Thursday it is launching an investigation into the president’s actions.
But it is unclear how much good that will do: López Obrador has frequently criticized the institute and has proposed abolishing it.
Leopoldo Maldonado, of the press freedom group Article 19, said “Obviously, he is doing it with the intention of inhibiting the work of journalists and trying to prevent the publication of issues of public interest concerning his administration and the people around him.”
“This is something the president has done before,” Maldonado noted.
In 2022, López Obrador published a chart showing the income of Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist who had written stories critical of the president.
The president said he got such information — which Loret de Mola has said is wrong — “from the people,” but later said he based the chart in part on tax receipts, which would have been available only to the party who wrote them or the government tax agency.
López Obrador regularly lashes out at the media, claiming they treat him unfairly and are part of a conservative conspiracy to undermine his administration.
He has also expressed anger at what he claims is U.S. tolerance for such media reports. It is the second time in recent weeks that the foreign press has published stories signaling that the U.S. government has looked into alleged contacts between López Obrador allies and drug cartels.
In late January, ProPublica, Deutsche Welle and InSight Crime published stories describing an earlier U.S. investigation into whether López Obrador campaign aides took money from drug traffickers in exchange for facilitating their operations during an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 2006.
In that instance, López Obrador placed blame squarely at the feet of the U.S. government and wondered aloud why he should continue discussing issues like immigration with a government that was trying to damage him.
On Thursday U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, “There is no investigation into President López Obrador.”
Hungary’s Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar will meet Italian PM Giorgia Meloni for talks on Thursday, Rome said in a statement on Wednesday but gave no further details about what the pair would talk about.
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The lack of information has led to speculation about what Magyar and Meloni could discuss and how relations between Budapest and Rome might look different after 16 years of government under previous PM Viktor Orbán.
Orbán and Meloni, who both sit on the political right, were allies, although Italy did not have the same degree of close cooperation with Hungary as it did to Robert Fico’s Slovakia or Poland under previous premier, Mateusz Morawiecki.
While both Meloni and Orbán were united in the fight against immigration and are key figures in the illiberal, right-wing camp, Italy’s PM has a far more pragmatic and less confrontational approach to the European Union than Orbán did.
And Meloni is far more pro-Ukraine as it continues to fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion than Orbán, widely seen as the most Moscow-friendly leader in Europe, ever was.
Moreover, the two parties belong to different blocs in the European Parliament.
Orbán’s Fidesz is a member of the Patriots for Europe group, while Meloni’s Brothers of Italy are the dominant force in the European Conservatives and Reformists.
Fidesz tried to join that party group in 2024 but there was pushback from several leaders, including Meloni, and the Hungarians ultimately abandoned the idea.
Hungary’s incoming governing party, Tisza, is a member of a third group in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party.
Nevertheless, it seems possible that Meloni will also be able to establish a working relationship with Magyar.
In recent weeks, several of Orbán’s allies have expressed an openness to working with the new Hungarian government, with US President Donald Trump saying he thinks Magyar is a good man and that he will do a good job.
Magyar: ‘We had to fight a different kind of mafia in Hungary’
Magyar left Hungary for Italy on Tuesday to attend the Riviera Film Festival. At the festival in Sestri Levante, the documentary film Spring Wind – The Awakening, which depicts the rise of the future prime minister, was screened.
Magyar credited that film with helping him get elected, saying it was seen online by millions of people helped them “get to know me” despite state propaganda.
“Spring Wind – The Awakening” directed by Tamas Yvan Topolanszky, chronicles the two-year campaign leading up to Magyar’s crushing victory in parliamentary elections in early April that forced Viktor Orban out of office after 16 years in power.
Before the film, voters “didn’t have the chance to get to know our goals…like my kids, watching the propaganda, they didn’t have the chance to meet with the truth,” Magyar told journalists at the Riviera International Film Festival in the Italian city of Sestri Levante.
During production, the future prime minister said he had not been able to tell whether the film would make an impact on voters ahead of elections.
But after the film’s first limited theatrical release in Hungary “I saw the result in the movie, the emotions and everything and in that moment I felt that it could have been an impact, a strong impact,” he added.
He said he had later tried to convince the filmmakers to try to show it to a wider audience. It was eventually shown on YouTube for a few days over the Easter weekend and viewed by 3.4 million people, according to producers.
“This (Easter) is the weekend when the Hungarian families are together, the younger generation, the elderly, and I hoped, and maybe I was right, that that’s the right moment for the family to sit together, to watch the film, and then to speak to each other,” he said.
Magyar said he hoped viewers would understand that the film was not about his conservative pro-EU Tisza party, but “rather about the two years of our nation, the past and the possible future of our nation.”
Magyar is due to be sworn in as prime minister in Budapest on Saturday.
World
Stefon Diggs’ acquittal clears path for return to the field but he could still face NFL discipline
Stefon Diggs’ acquittal in court clears a path for the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver to return to the field.
He still could face discipline from the NFL.
“We have been monitoring all developments in the matter which remains under review of the personal conduct policy,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Tuesday.
Diggs was found not guilty Tuesday of assaulting his personal chef. The charges stemmed from a Dec. 2 incident at his house in Massachusetts where Jamila Adams, a former live-in personal chef, testified that Diggs slapped and choked her during an argument. He had pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before clearing Diggs of all charges.
“The evidence has shown what we’ve maintained from day one: Mr. Diggs was wrongly accused, and this case represents exactly the kind of opportunistic targeting that players can face the moment they step off the field,” Diggs’ attorney, Mitch Schuster, said in a statement.
Diggs spent last season with the New England Patriots, helping them reach the Super Bowl, where they lost to Seattle. He was released in March and remains a unsigned.
That could change in the coming weeks, though league discipline is still a possibility.
Several NFL players, including Ben Roethlisberger, Jameis Winston and Ezekiel Elliott, have been suspended for violating the personal-conduct policy despite not being arrested or charged with a crime.
Roethlisberger, the former Steelers quarterback was suspended six games — it was later reduced to four after an appeal — in 2010 following sexual assault accusations.
Winston was in his fourth season with the Buccaneers when he was suspended three games in 2018 following a sexual assault allegation.
Elliott, a three-time Pro Bowl running back, was in his second season with the Cowboys when he was suspended six games in 2017 following a league investigation into domestic violence allegations. An arbitrator upheld the six games following an appeal.
Diggs led New England with 85 receptions and 1,013 yards receiving with four touchdowns in his only season with the team. He was the go-to option for Drake Maye, who finished runner-up to Matthew Stafford for the AP NFL MVP award.
Diggs, who turns 33 on Nov. 29, has played for three teams in the last three seasons. He began his career in Minnesota in 2015 and went from fifth-round pick to No. 1 receiver in five seasons with the Vikings.
He was traded to Buffalo for a first-round pick in 2020 and had an All-Pro season that year. Diggs spent four seasons with the Bills before he wore out his welcome. He played for the Texans in 2024.
Here are five potential landing spots for Diggs going forward:
Baltimore Ravens
Despite drafting Ja’Kobi Lane in the third round and Elijah Sarratt in the fourth, Baltimore could use another veteran receiver to pair with Zay Flowers and give Lamar Jackson more options.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers acquired Michael Pittman Jr. in a trade to join DK Metcalf and tried to select Makai Lemon in the first round before the Eagles swooped in and took him instead. The Steelers ended up taking wideout Germie Bernard in the second round but Aaron Rodgers, if he returns, prefers veterans and Diggs would be a fit.
Los Angeles Chargers
Fourth-round pick Brenen Thompson joins a group that’s led by Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston and includes Tre’ Harris. Diggs would give Justin Herbert a dependable target.
Los Angeles Rams
After exploring the possibility of a trade for A.J. Brown earlier in the offseason, the Rams could still be in the market for another veteran to add to a formidable unit led by All-Pro Puka Nacua and six-time Pro Bowl pick Davante Adams.
New England Patriots
They’re likely going to acquire Brown from the Eagles after June 1. However, bringing Diggs back if the price is right could be an option. He knows the offense and didn’t hold any grudges after being informed he was going to be released. Diggs posted his appreciation for the organization, saying: “We family forever.”
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Authorities in South Africa carried out a high-risk recovery operation over the weekend, airlifting a massive crocodile suspected of eating a local resident.
The operation followed last month’s disappearance of a 59-year-old businessman from Gauteng, South African Police Service (SAPS) said. Local media Smile FM identified him as Gabriel Batista, the owner of the Border Country Inn located a short drive from the river.
A specialized task force eventually tracked down the reptile Saturday along the Komati River, where it was euthanized and removed from the area, officials reported. Upon examination, they said human remains were discovered in its digestive system.
The operation was also captured on camera and has since spread widely on social media, showing personnel hoisting the massive crocodile from the water by helicopter.
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A wildlife specialist dangles alongside a euthanized crocodile during an aerial relocation in South Africa. (Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Mpumalanga Provincial Office)
According to the police, the local businessman went missing late last month after his Ford Ranger became stranded at a flooded low-lying river crossing near crocodile-infested waters.
State media SABCNews reported that the vehicle was swept away as he attempted to cross the bridge.
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Following a weeklong search, the team reportedly identified a large crocodile nearby that they believed may have attacked and consumed the victim.
According to officials who monitored the reptile for several days, the reptile appeared to show signs it had recently fed, including prolonged periods of inactivity, South African outlet ENCA said.
A massive crocodile was spotted near a river in South Africa. (Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Mpumalanga Provincial Office)
“During the search, we saw that this particular crocodile was only about 150 meters away from where the person had washed off the bridge. This crocodile stayed there the whole time. When the helicopter went over it, it wouldn’t move away,” SAPS Captain Johan “Pottie” Potgieter said.
“We know from experience that if crocodiles have had a big meal, they’re not very active, and need to lie in the sun for their digestive system to start working.”
After authorities euthanized the animal with the necessary permissions, Potgieter operated under “extremely dangerous conditions,” being lowered from a helicopter into crocodile-infested waters.
It was then secured with a rope, hoisted from the water, and airlifted away, SAPS said.
Authorities used a helicopter to transport a massive crocodile from a river in South Africa. (Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Mpumalanga Provincial Office)
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During the examination, officials reportedly discovered human remains, as well as six pairs of sandals inside the animal’s stomach, SABC News reported.
The remains have been submitted for DNA testing to confirm the victim’s identity.
It remains unclear whether the shoes are linked to any missing residents or villagers in the area.
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