World
Ortega-led Nicaraguan government accused of abuses 'tantamount to crimes against humanity'
- A U.N.-backed human rights panel on Thursday accused the Nicaraguan government of abuses “tantamount to crimes against humanity.”
- Violent crackdowns on political dissent by Daniel Ortega’s government, which has since expanded to a campaign aimed at “incapacitating any kind of opposition in the long term,” have been subject to investigation since 2022.
- Nicaragua has been subject to the on-and-off leadership of Ortega, a figurehead of the socialist Sandinista movement, for over four decades.
A panel of U.N.-backed human rights experts on Thursday accused Nicaragua ’s government of systematic human rights abuses “tantamount to crimes against humanity,” implicating a range of high-ranking officials in the government of President Daniel Ortega.
The allegations, fiercely rejected by Nicaragua’s government, follow an investigation into the country’s expanding crackdown on political dissent. The Ortega government has gone after opponents for years, but it hit a turning point with mass protests against the government in 2018 that resulted in violent repression by authorities.
In the past year, repression has expanded to large swaths of society with a focus on “incapacitating any kind of opposition in the long term,” according to the independent group of U.N. experts investigating the issue since March 2022.
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The experts do not speak for the world body, but work under a mandate from the Human Rights Council.
“Serious systematic human rights violations, tantamount to crimes against humanity, continue to be perpetrated by the Nicaraguan government for political reasons,” the group said in a statement.
Jan Simon, an expert who headed the investigation, said at a news conference Thursday in Geneva that the Nicaraguan government’s persecution targets “all forms of opposition, whether real or perceived, both domestically and abroad.”
The state has targeted civilians, including university students, Indigenous and Black Nicaraguans, and members of the Catholic Church. Children and family members are now targeted simply for being related to people who raise their voices against the government.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega arrives for the inauguration of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 10, 2019. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Ortega’s government has repeatedly said that the mass demonstrations against it in 2018 constituted a failed coup attempt orchestrated by the United States, and typically defends any repression as a crackdown on anti-government plots.
The government responded to the report Thursday by saying it was “manipulated” by a group of imperialist powers paid to “distort the reality of our country.”
“We will not accept these self-proclaimed human rights experts,” Attorney General Wendy Morales said in a video, accusing them of bias and of basing their conclusions on “unreal and irrational” criteria.
The human rights report, which came after hundreds of interviews, implicated a number of high ranking officials in crackdowns that have firmly consolidated power in the hands of Ortega and his Vice President Rosario Murillo.
The report says Gustavo Porras, the head of the country’s National Assembly, pushes through legislation to facilitate repression. It says Marvin Aguilar García, the head of the Supreme Court, takes direct orders from Ortega’s government, and commands lower level judges to fall in line. Meanwhile, Chief Prosecutor Ana Julia Guido Ochoa’s office fabricates evidence against real or perceived opponents, the report says.
The experts also cite high-ranking officials in the country’s interior ministry, the governmental body regulating migration and the body regulating non-governmental organizations.
Yader Morazán, an exiled former official of the Nicaraguan judiciary, hailed the report saying it could help combat impunity in Nicaragua.
“This report presents a well-documented work that for the first time identifies the main perpetrators of abuses and crimes against humanity” and “reveals the structure and chain of command of the repression from State institutions,” Morazán said.
ln December, police charged the director of the Miss Nicaragua pageant of a “beauty queen coup” plot, saying she rigged the competition against pro-government beauty queens. In February, the government shut down yet another round of social groups, including the country’s scouting organization and a rotary club.
The report says the crackdown has expanded past Nicaragua’s borders to the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled government repression, largely landing in the United States and Costa Rica. Hundreds of Nicaraguans have been stripped of their citizenship and left stateless, unable to access fundamental rights.
The U.N. report urges the Ortega government to release “arbitrarily” detained Nicaraguans and calls on global leaders to expand sanctions on “individuals and institutions involved in human rights violations.”
World
Tourist dies at luxury resort after cobra from snake show climbs up pants, bites him: police
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A German tourist has died after a venomous cobra featured in a snake show reportedly slithered up his pants and bit him on the leg, authorities said.
The freak accident occurred early April at a luxury resort destination in Egypt, according to the Bavarian State Police in Germany, which released details Monday.
“During the snake charmer’s performance, one of the snakes crawled into the trousers of a 57-year-old man, resulting in a bite to the German tourist’s leg,” officials said.
Police said the victim, whose identity was not released, was on vacation with two family members from the Unterallgäu region of Germany.
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A King Cobra stis up freely while inside a building in April 2010. (Patrick Aventurier)
Authorities said the snake charmer event was part of a hotel entertainment program in the resort city of Hurghada, a popular Red Sea destination known for its upscale all-inclusive packages, as well as nearby desert and water excursions.
Two snakes, believed to be cobras, were used in the show, officials said.
Investigators indicated that it is not uncommon for performers to allow snakes to interact closely with audience members, as some of the snakes were reportedly placed around guests’ necks during the act.
However, during one segment of the performance, a snake reportedly bit the German tourist after crawling into his clothing.
“He subsequently exhibited clear symptoms of poisoning and required resuscitation,” officials said.
He reportedly died shortly after arriving at a local hospital.
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Tourists swim in the Sunny Days Elpalacio beach in the Egyptian Red Sea resort city of Hurghada. (MOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP)
The results of a toxicological examination are still pending, Bavarian police said.
The investigation is being handled by Germany’s Memmingen Criminal Police Inspectorate under the direction of the Memmingen Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPPO).
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Tourists swimming at the Red Sea Egyptian resort of Hurghada on June 18, 2020 (KHALED DESOUKI/AFP)
Cobras are known for being highly venomous snakes. Their bite can lead to rapid respiratory failure and paralysis without prompt medical treatment.
Fox News Digital has reached out to MPPO for more information.
World
US appeals court rejects Trump’s immigration detention policy
In a 3-0 ruling, court says Trump administration misread a decades-old immigration law to justify mandatory detention.
A United States federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration’s practice of subjecting most people arrested in its immigration crackdown to mandatory detention without the opportunity to seek release on bond.
In a 3-0 ruling on Tuesday, a panel of the New York-based US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said the administration relied on a novel but incorrect interpretation of a decades-old immigration law to justify the policy.
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Writing for the panel, US Circuit Judge Joseph F Bianco, a Trump appointee, warned that the government’s reading “would send a seismic shock through our immigration detention system and society”, straining already overcrowded facilities, separating families and disrupting communities.
Lawyers for the Trump administration say the mandatory detention policy is legal under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, passed in 1996.
But Bianco said the government had made “an attempt to muddy” the law’s “textually clear waters”, arguing that the administration’s interpretation “defies the statute’s context, structure, history, and purpose” and contradicts “longstanding executive branch practice”.
Under the Trump administration policy, the Department of Homeland Security last year took the position that non-citizens already living in the US, not just those arriving at the border, qualify as “applicants for admission” and are subject to mandatory detention.
Under federal immigration law, “applicants for admission” to the US are detained while their cases proceed in immigration courts and are ineligible for bond hearings.
The Department of Homeland Security has been denying bond hearings to immigrants arrested across the country, including those who have been living in the US for years without any criminal history, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reports.
That is a departure from the practice under previous US administrations, when most non-citizens with no criminal record who were arrested away from the border were given the opportunity to request a bond while their cases moved through immigration court, according to AP.
In such cases, bonds were often granted to people who were deemed not to be flight risks, and mandatory detention was limited to those who had just entered the country.
Amy Belsher, director of immigrants rights’ litigation at the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the appeals court ruling affirmed “that the Trump administration’s policy of detaining immigrants without any process is unlawful and cannot stand”.
“The government cannot mandatorily detain millions of noncitizens, many of whom have lived here for decades, without an opportunity to seek release. It defies the Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and basic human decency,” Belsher said in a statement.
Conflicting rulings set stage for Supreme Court review
The New York court’s decision comes after two other appeals courts ruled in favour of the Trump administration’s policy.
Acknowledging the opposing rulings, Judge Bianco said the panel was parting ways with them and instead aligning with more than 370 lower-court judges nationwide who have rejected the administration’s position as a misreading of the law.
The split among the courts increases the likelihood that the US Supreme Court will weigh in.
The latest ruling also upheld an order by a New York judge that led to the release of Brazilian national Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, who was arrested by immigration officials last year while driving to work after living in the US for more than 20 years.
“The court was right to conclude the Trump administration can’t just reinterpret the law at its own whim,” Michael Tan, a lawyer for Barbosa at the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
The Department of Justice, which is defending the mandatory detention policy in court, did not respond to a request for comment.
World
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ First Reactions Say the Sequel Is ‘Charming,’ ‘Genuinely Heartwarming’ and Destined to ‘Be a Massive Hit’
Gird your loins, because “The Devil Wears Prada 2” has finally been unveiled to members of the film press and first reactions are trickling in for highly-anticipated sequel. The movie, which marks the return of Meryl Streep to her Oscar-nominated role of fashion magazine powerhouse Miranda Priestly, is being called “charming and fun” and destined to be a “massive hit.”
Entertainment journalist Daniel Baptista wrote on X that “The Devil Wears Prada 2” is a “fun and fierce sequel” that ushers a natural return for stars Streep and Anne Hathaway, adding: “It feels familiar in the best way, timely in the right ways, and is well worth the wait.”
Variety‘s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay echoed the praise, writing on X that “‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ is “phenomenal” and “the perfect sequel that exceeded all expectations. Aline Brosh McKenna’s script is sharp and witty. We’ll be quoting this for years to come. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt are still great. Stunning costumes, and that soundtrack slaps hard.”
THR senior editor Alex Werpin called the sequel a “biting media parody wrapped up in high fashion,” adding: “Every journalist who sees it will cringe from recognition.”
“‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ has no right to be as good as it is,” adds Awards Watch’s Erik Anderson. “Just the right kind and number of callbacks and earned nostalgia, Anne Hathaway continues to be our most vibrant star. It’s funny and deeper, and we get the return of ‘Vogue.’”
Meryl Streep returns for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” alongside original cast members Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, plus director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. New cast members include Kenneth Branagh, who is set to play Miranda Priestly’s husband, as well as Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B.J. Novak and more.
While plot details for the sequel have remained under wraps, trailers for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” have revealed that Hathaway’s Andy Sachs returns to Runway to be the magazine’s features editor. In the original, which opened in 2006 and grossed $326 million worldwide, Hathaway’s Andy is an aspiring journalist who becomes the personal assistant to Streep’s Miranda.
The film’s popularity has only skyrocketed in the 20 years since its release, so much so that filming “The Devil Wears Prada 2” on the streets of New York City proved difficult for the cast and crew as fans and paparazzi stormed the shot to follow their every move. Streep told Harper’s Bazaar that she “unnerved” while the filming because of what a sensation it caused.
“Even though we were aware of the impact of the first film two decades ago, I think none of us were prepared for the ambush of both goodwill and avid attention that engulfed us,” Streep said. “We needed police barriers and crowd control. Buses of fans turned up, and paparazzi swarmed and in one case kept jumping in front of the camera and the shot and got in a kerfuffle with crew. Annie kept her cool, but I was unnerved.”
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” kicks off this year’s summer movie season when it opens in theaters May 1 from 20th Century Studios and Disney.
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