The city of Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine has been the scene of heavy bombardment by Russian forces. Ukrainian officials say at least eight people were wounded and scores of buildings damaged in airstrikes Monday. Despite the attacks, the strategically important city is holding steady. VOA’s Myroslava Gongadze has this on the scene report from Dnipro.
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A Lebanese judge has banned the country’s central bank governor Riad Salameh from travelling, days after Beirut received an Interpol Red Notice following a French arrest warrant, a judicial official said Wednesday. 

Salameh has been the target of a series of judicial investigations both at home and abroad on allegations including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and illicit enrichment, which he denies.   

French investigators suspect that during his three decades as central bank chief, Salameh misused public funds to accumulate real estate and banking assets concealed through a complex and fraudulent financial network.   

On Wednesday, judge Imad Qabalan questioned Salameh and “decided to release him pending investigation, ban him from travelling, and confiscate his Lebanese and French passports,” the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.   

Activists say the travel ban on the central bank chief helps shield him from being brought to justice abroad — and from potentially bringing down others in Lebanon’s entrenched political class.   

“The Lebanese judiciary, with the exception of a few judges, has shown that it is not independent. It is biased for politicians who steer it the way they want,” charged lawyer and activist Karim Daher.   

“The corrupt Lebanese regime… has no interest in Salameh being tried abroad and spilling the beans” about the political class’s financial activities, he told AFP.   

Interpol circulated a Red Notice last week after a French magistrate issued a warrant for Salameh, who failed to appear for questioning in Paris before investigators probing his sizeable assets across Europe.   

An Interpol Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant but asks authorities worldwide to provisionally detain people pending possible extradition or other legal actions.   

Lebanon does not extradite its nationals, but Salameh could go on trial in Lebanon if local judicial authorities decide the accusations against him are founded, an official previously told AFP.   

Qabalan asked the French judiciary to refer Salameh’s file to Beirut in order to “determine whether the Lebanese judiciary will prosecute him for the crimes he is accused of in France or not,” the official added.   

Salameh “asked the judge to try him in Lebanon and not to extradite him to France,” the official said. 

Also Wednesday, Germany notified Lebanon’s general prosecutor that it too had issued an arrest warrant for Salameh, the judicial official said, adding that Munich’s public prosecutor would submit the warrant to Interpol shortly.   

Salameh has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and continues to serve as central bank governor. His mandate ends in July.   

In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth $130 million in a move linked to a probe into Salameh’s wealth.   

In February, Lebanon charged Salameh with embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion as part of its own investigations.   

The domestic probe was opened following a request for assistance from Switzerland’s public prosecutor looking into more than $300 million in fund movements by Salameh and his brother.   

This year, European investigators have questioned Salameh in Beirut, also hearing from his assistant Marianne Hoayek, his brother Raja, a Lebanese minister and central bank audit firms.   

The judicial official said Wednesday that a judge had notified Raja Salameh and Hoayek that they were due to appear before the French judiciary respectively on May 31 and June 13.   

Since 2019, Lebanon has plunged into an economic crisis deemed by the World Bank as one of the planet’s worst since the mid-19th century.
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As a Chinese envoy continues talks in Europe after meetings in Ukraine, a senior U.S. State Department official said there is not much indication that China is willing to use its influence in Moscow to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. A Czech lawmaker is also skeptical of China’s peacemaking efforts. VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching has more.
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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is urging African countries to abandon their stances of neutrality towards his country’s war with Russia.

Many African countries have refused to take sides in the European conflict, with several abstaining from votes at the United Nations General Assembly condemning Russia’s invasion. Ethiopia is one of them.

Speaking in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on Wednesday, Kuleba said Ukraine was “very upset that some African countries chose to abstain” and called them to lend Ukraine diplomatic support “in the face of Russian aggression.”

“Neutrality is not the answer,” he told reporters. “By being neutral towards Russian aggression against Ukraine, you project neutrality to the violations of borders and mass crimes that may occur very close to you.”

Russia has built a substantial presence in several parts of Africa, where Russian private military contractor Wagner is active, and recently held joint military drills with South Africa. Russia plans to hold an Africa-Russia summit in July.

Kuleba also called on African countries to endorse the “ten-point peace formula” proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in December and emphasized Ukraine’s wish to build “mutually beneficial” relations with Africa, based on trade in energy, technology and pharmaceuticals.

“We have to remind each other of the importance of Africa to Ukraine and the importance of Ukraine to Africa,” Kuleba said, admitting that Ukraine’s previous attitude towards the continent was characterized by “inertia.”

Both Ukraine and Russia supply a significant amount of grain to Africa.

Kuleba is currently on an African tour that also includes visits to Morocco and Rwanda. In Ethiopia, he held discussions with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat and Azali Assoumani, the president of the Comoros and current chair of the continent-wide body.

Kuleba made his first trip to Africa in October when he visited Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya. The trip was cut short after Russia launched strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure.

His Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, has also been active in shoring up ties with African countries since the Ukraine war broke out, touring the continent once in 2022 and making at least two visits so far this year.
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German police raided 15 properties linked to the Last Generation climate activist group Wednesday, seizing assets as part of an investigation into its finances in a sign of growing impatience with disruptive protest tactics also seen in other European countries.

Members of the group have repeatedly blocked roads across Germany in an effort to pressure the government to take more drastic action against climate change. In recent weeks, they have brought traffic to a halt on an almost daily basis in Berlin, gluing themselves to busy intersections and highways. Over the past year, they have also targeted various artworks and exhibits.

The raids, ordered by Munich prosecutors, come days after Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that he thought it was “completely nutty to somehow stick yourself to a painting or on the street.” Leading figures with the environmentalist Green party, part of his governing coalition, have also said the group’s actions are counterproductive.

A spokesperson for Last Generation said that the police searches had hit the group and its supporters hard, but that it wouldn’t let up its activities.

“They make us afraid, but we must not be frozen by fear,” Aimee van Baalen told reporters in Berlin.

“The German government is right now driving us toward climate hell with its eyes wide open. It is even stepping on the gas pedal,” she said. “We must continue to resist now, because we need to loudly demand that lives be protected.”

She called for the public to support upcoming protest marches in Berlin and other German cities.

Last Generation has acknowledged in the past that its protests are provocative, but argues that by stirring friction it can encourage debate within society about climate change and the policies necessary to stop it.

Germany’s top court ruled two years ago that the previous government was placing too much of the burden from global warming on young people, prompting then Chancellor Angela Merkel to sharpen climate targets. Experts say that while Germany now has some of the most ambitious targets for cutting emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gas, the country isn’t on track to meet them.

The investigation by Munich prosecutors is focused on seven people, ranging in age from 22 to 38, who are suspected of forming or supporting a criminal organization. The investigation was launched following numerous criminal complaints from the public over the past year, prosecutors said.

The Bavarian inquiry adds to an investigation launched last year by prosecutors in Neuruppin, outside Berlin, over actions against an oil refinery in eastern Germany. That investigation is also considering suspicions that Last Generation activists formed a criminal organization, a label that some conservative-leaning regional officials have backed.

Munich prosecutors said that the people under investigation are accused of organizing and promoting a campaign to “finance further criminal offenses” by the group, and collecting at least 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million). Two of them also are suspected of trying to sabotage an oil pipeline that connects the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt with the Italian port of Trieste in April 2022.

Wednesday’s searches, accompanied by orders to seize two bank accounts and other assets, aimed to secure evidence on the membership structure of Last Generation and on its financing. There were no arrests.

Another climate activist group, Extinction Rebellion, voiced solidarity with Last Generation. It contended in a tweet that the main aim of conducting raids on suspicion of forming a criminal organization was “to distract attention from the true criminals.”

But Germany’s top security official insisted that the raids were necessary.

“Legitimate protest always ends where crimes are committed and the rights of others are infringed,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said, noting that police registered 1,600 criminal complaints in connection with climate protests in 2022, many of them during road blockades conducted by Last Generation.

Climate activists have received support from various corners, including some Christian groups. A Jesuit priest was fined earlier this month for taking part in road blockades, and Wednesday’s news conference by Last Generation was hosted by the Protestant Reformation Church in Berlin.

A representative of the congregation, Steve Rauhut, praised Last Generation for keeping its protests peaceful.

“The climate disaster and environmental destruction not only justify civil disobedience, they make it an imperative,” he said.

Similar nonviolent climate protests elsewhere in Europe have also met with crackdowns recently.

In Britain, two protesters from the group Just Stop Oil who climbed a major bridge in London were sentenced to five years in prison for causing a public nuisance.

In Italy, three members of the group Ultima Generazione face up to three years’ imprisonment and fines for gluing their hands to the base of a sculpture in the Vatican Museums and ignoring gendarmes’ orders to leave last year. This week the group staged other protests, including in front of the Italian Senate where two topless women poured mud over themselves in reference to the devastating recent floods in the country.

The Italian group’s name also translates as Last Generation. It is part of the international A22 activist network that includes its namesake in Germany and which receives support from the U.S.-based Climate Emergency Fund.

The fund, which counts oil heiress Aileen Getty and ‘Don’t Look Up’ filmmaker Adam McKay on its board, says on its website that it gave more than $5.1 million to 44 organizations last year “that are leading the way, galvanizing progress on climate through disruptive nonviolent activism around the world.”

 
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Visiting Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has praised his country’s ties with China, saying relations “are at an unprecedented high level.” 

Mishustin made the comment during a meeting Wednesday in Bejiing with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Mishustin also met with President Xi Jinping, and reports say Xi offered Beijing’s support on Moscow’s “core interests.”

Mishustin said the bilateral relationship is “characterized by mutual respect of each other’s interests, the desire to jointly respond to challenges, which is associated with increased turbulence in the international arena and the pattern of sensational pressure from the collective West.” According to the Associated Press, Mishustin did not mention Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Mishustin and Li signed several agreements involving cooperation on trade services, Russian exports of agricultural products to China, and sports. 

Mishustin is the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Beijing since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. China has become Russia’s biggest customer of oil and gas exports due to sanctions by Western nations in response to the invasion. Russian state media recently said that Russian exports to China will increase by 40% this year.  

China has refrained from publicly criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beijing maintains it is neutral in the conflict. 

The United States has cautioned China against providing military support to Russia for the war.
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Geneva’s airport was briefly closed to flights on Tuesday as climate activists stormed a private jet fair on a nearby tarmac by ripping down or scaling fences, handcuffing themselves to landing gear and other material, and scuffling with police and security before being hauled away. City police said about 80 people were detained. 

The protest involved about 100 activists from 17 countries and groups, including Greenpeace, Scientist Rebellion, Stay Grounded and Extinction Rebellion, who disrupted the annual European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition — one of the industry’s premier events, which is taking place in Geneva this week. 

Video images showed yellow-vested protesters pulling down a wire fence as police tried to tackle them or douse them with pepper spray while an alarm sounded. Others, arriving by bicycle and wielding ladders, scaled a fence in a separate area with less security to access the tarmac. 

Some demonstrators were spotted smiling as they took cellphone images of the incursion onto the static displays on the fringes of the Geneva airport. 

Once inside, demonstrators stuck warning labels on planes with messages such as “Private jets burn our future” or chanted “Climate justice!” 

Sandy Bouchat, spokeswoman for the Geneva airport, said it was shut to both outbound and inbound flights for about an hour, for security reasons. Seven flights were diverted, and others were delayed. 

Airport operators said they planned to file criminal complaints, adding that four people, including activists and private security staff, were injured in the protest. 

The protest comes months after climate activists blocked private jets at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, arguing that the super-rich should be stopped from causing vastly more greenhouse gas emissions than the rest of the world’s population. 

“Whilst many can’t afford food and rent anymore, the super-rich wreck our planet, unless we put an end to it,” said Mira Kapfinger of the group Stay Grounded. “Apart from banning private jets, it’s also time to end air miles schemes which reward frequent flying, and instead tax frequent flyers. We need fair climate solutions.” 

Added Joel Perret, a spokesperson from Extinction Rebellion: “Geneva is home to one of the airports with the most private jet traffic in Europe. This is where change must begin: We need to drastically reduce aviation to halt climate catastrophe and the destruction of life.” 

The Brussels-based environmental think tank Transport & Environment said that emissions from private jets increased faster than those from other forms of aviation between 2005 and 2019. In a report published two years ago, it found that private jets generate between five and 14 times more pollution per passenger than regular passenger planes. 

Top officials of the European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) and Washington-based National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), which jointly organized the expo, said the protesters missed a chance for “constructive dialogue” about sustainability in the sector. 

“This is a completely unacceptable form of protest,” NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen and EBAA Chairman Juergen Wiese said in a statement. They insisted business aviation was “deeply committed to climate action” and said the industry has cut its carbon emissions by 40% over the past 40 years and is working toward achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. 

Organizers of the show also suggested that visitors could support sustainability by using recycling bins and Geneva public transportation; bringing their favorite reusable water bottle or utensils; asking their hotel not to replace towels every day; and encouraging them to “opt for a vegetarian meal at least once during each day of the show.” 
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The Dutch government said on Tuesday it would hold U.S. industrial group 3M Co. liable for polluting the Western Scheldt river with potentially harmful substances known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals.” 

3M said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters that it had received a letter from the Dutch government’s legal representative on Tuesday and was studying its contents. 

The Netherlands said it would hold the company responsible for pollution in the Dutch part of the river, allegedly caused by its nearby Belgian plant. 

Higher than acceptable pollutant levels have resulted in financial damages for the fishing fleet and the government, the Netherlands said. 

“I think polluters should pay … Holding 3M liable is in line with that basic position,” Dutch Infrastructure and Water Management Minister Mark Harbers said in a statement. 

3M said it had already invited the Dutch authorities to have a meeting about the PFAS situation in the Western Scheldt. 

“(We) welcome the opportunity for conversation with the Dutch government and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management,” it said in its statement. 

3M’s website shows it has a plant that makes products that contain PFAS on the Belgian side of the Scheldt river, which originates in France. 

Last December 3M set itself a 2025 deadline to stop producing PFAS. The European Union is considering a ban on the chemicals. 

Perfluoralkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) do not break down quickly and have in recent years been found in dangerous concentrations in drinking water, soils and foods. 

SEE ALSO: A related video by VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias

The chemicals have been used in everything from cars to medical gear and nonstick pans due to their long-term resistance to extreme temperature and corrosion. 

But they have also been linked to health risks including cancer, hormonal dysfunction and a weakened immune system as well as environmental damage. 

The Dutch government said there would be an assessment of how much of the alleged PFAS damages 3M could be held liable for. 
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U.S. forces are expected to start training Ukrainians on M1A1 Abrams tanks “in the next week or so,” Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder told VOA on Tuesday.

About 250 Ukrainians are arriving in Germany this week for the training, a senior military official familiar with the training told VOA on the condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.

The Ukrainians will train on 31 Abrams tanks that arrived in Germany earlier this month. U.S. officials have said that a different set of 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks are being refurbished in the United States and will be delivered to Ukraine by the fall.

Training in Germany is expected to last about 10 weeks and will focus on how to operate the tanks, how to maneuver the tanks in a combined arms fight and tank maintenance, the official said.

The course structure will be similar to previous U.S.-led training on armored Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker vehicles, which were provided to Ukraine earlier this year, according to the official.

Abrams tanks, in particular, have been a long-awaited addition to the fight. The tank’s thick armor and 1,500-horsepower turbine engine make it much more advanced than the Soviet-era tanks Ukraine has been using since the war’s beginning.

The Biden administration announced in January that it would send a newer version of the Abrams tanks, known as M1A2, to Ukraine after they were procured and built, a process that could potentially take years.

In March, the administration pivoted to provide M1A1 Abrams tanks instead, to get the tanks “into the hands of the Ukrainians sooner rather than later,” Ryder said at the time.

F-16s on agenda

The news of the Abrams tank training comes as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is set to host another virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Thursday.

Military and defense leaders from more than 50 nations are expected to focus on ground-based air defense, ammunition needs and F-16 training, Ryder told reporters at the Pentagon earlier Tuesday.

Ryder said F-16 training would be conducted outside of Ukraine at European sites, but it could be weeks or months before the training begins.

“F-16s for Ukraine are about the long term. These F-16s will not be relevant to the upcoming counteroffensive,” he added.

After months of Ukraine pleading for Western fighter jets, U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday said the U.S. would support a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on modern fighter aircrafts, including F-16s.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko responded to the news on Saturday with a warning that Western countries would run “colossal risks” if they supplied Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, according to the TASS news agency.
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The U.N. Secretary-General said Tuesday that the world is failing to live up to its commitments to protect civilians, an obligation that is preserved in international humanitarian law.

“Peace is the best form of protection,” Antonio Guterres told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the topic. “We must intensify our efforts to prevent conflict, protect civilians, preserve peace and find political solutions to war.”

Guterres said where there is war, countries must comply with international humanitarian law.

“It is the difference between life and death. Between restraint and anarchy. Between losing ourselves in horror and retaining our humanity,” he said. “But law overlooked is law undermined.”

Guterres pointed to the newest conflict, the five-week-old fighting between rival generals in Sudan, that has already killed hundreds, displaced more than a million and sent 250,000 people fleeing to neighboring countries. Food, water and fuel are all in short supply, and the country’s health system is on the brink of collapse.

“Terrible as this picture is, it is far from being unique,” he said, noting that 100 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced last year due to war, violence, human rights abuses or persecution.

Guterres said the effects of war include rising food insecurity — more than 117 million people faced acute hunger in 2022 primarily because of war and instability.

“This is an outrage,” the U.N. chief said. “Damage to critical infrastructure hampers food production, blocks distribution and deprives people of safe water.”

He welcomed the recent extension for another 60 days of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has facilitated the export of more than 30 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain via Black Sea routes since early August, stabilizing world food prices since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Guterres said he hopes outstanding issues with the implementation of a corresponding deal for Russia’s export of food and fertilizer will be resolved.

Swiss President Alain Berset chaired the debate, the signature event of his government’s month-long presidency of the 15-nation Security Council. More than 80 countries were scheduled to speak.

“Respect for international humanitarian law is a priority for all of us here around this table,” Berset told council members. “And of course, as the depository of the Geneva Conventions and the seat of the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross], we feel in particular bound by this humanitarian imperative.”

Switzerland is the depository for the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which are the basis for international humanitarian law. They set out the rules of armed conflict and seek to protect civilians, medical and aid workers, the wounded and prisoners of war.

Switzerland is also home to the ICRC, which has protection of civilians at the core of its mandate.

“ICRC’s figures show that the number of non-international armed conflicts has, over the past 20 years, more than tripled from less than 30 to over 90,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said. “Many of these are protracted conflicts, bringing ceaseless suffering — suffering that is compounded by climate shocks, food insecurity and economic hardship.”

She said civilians suffer attacks, threats and political stalemates that make peace less achievable.

“Compliance with the law protects civilians. It prevents violations and abuses,” she said. “It reduces the cost of war while maintaining a pathway to cease-fire agreements, and eventually to lasting peace, functioning economies, and a healthy natural environment.”
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The United States has called for Russia to immediately release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after Moscow sought to extend his pre-trial detention by three months.

Gershkovich’s original pre-trial detention was set to expire on May 29. But a Russian court on Tuesday lengthened that period until August 30 after Russia’s intelligence agency, the FSB, requested an extension.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday that the U.S. is working hard to bring the U.S. journalist home.

“He shouldn’t be detained at all. Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately,” Kirby told CNN.

Gershkovich was arrested on March 29 while on assignment in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

Russian authorities accused the Moscow-based reporter of espionage, which carries a possible 20-year sentence. Gershkovich, the Journal, and the U.S. government deny the charges.

A CNN reporter tweeted that Gershkovich’s parents, who both fled the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, were present at the hearing at Moscow’s Lefortovo court.

Before Tuesday’s ruling, the U.S. State Department had sought a meeting for Thursday with Gershkovich, but Moscow denied the request, the Journal reported.

Kirby on Tuesday said there were “no grounds for denying consular access.”

The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.

Clayton Weimers of the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, said, “Russia’s pretense for detaining Evan is already flimsy.”

Denying consular access “just betrays that Evan has become collateral damage in the Kremlin’s war on media freedom and its ongoing arguments with Washington,” Weimers said in an email to VOA on Monday.
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Four men suspected of hanging an effigy of Real Madrid player Vinícius Júnior off a highway bridge in Madrid in January have been arrested, Spanish police said Tuesday.

The arrests come two days after the latest case of racial abuse against the Brazil forward in a Spanish league game against Valencia.

The effigy was hanged by the neck the morning of a derby between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey. Along with it was a banner with the words “Madrid hates Real.”

The perpetrators used a black figure with Vinícius’ name on it, tied a rope around its neck and hanged it from an overpass while still dark in the Spanish capital.

Police said three of those arrested belonged to one of Atletico’s fan groups, and the other was a follower of the group. Some had prior bookings with police for other crimes.

The hate message on the banner is often used by Atletico’s ultras, though at the time they denied being responsible for the display.

The men arrested are between the ages of 19 and 24. Authorities said some were previously identified during matches considered at high risk of violence. Police showed images of them arriving in handcuffs and escorted by agents on Tuesday.

Spanish media said police had used security cameras to identify the perpetrators but no action had been taken until now. Police did not say if the timing of the arrests had to do with the widespread attention being received by the latest abuse against Vinícius on Sunday.

Spain has been criticized worldwide for its lack of action in racism cases in soccer. Brazilian government officials, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had publicly expressed their concerns.

Vinícius, who is Black, has been subjected to repeated racist taunts in Spain, especially this season after he began celebrating his goals by dancing.

The match against Valencia was temporarily stopped after Vinícius said a fan behind one of the goals called him a monkey and made monkey gestures toward him. Vinícius considered leaving the field but eventually continued playing.

The Brazilian received support from officials and athletes around the world and heavily criticized Spanish soccer for not doing more to stop racism.

The lights at the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro were turned off Monday night in a show of solidarity for Vinícius.

“It’s an action of solidarity that is moving,” Vinícius said on Twitter. “But more than everything, what I want is to inspire and bring more light to our fight.”

Vinícius thanked all the support he has received in the last months in Brazil and abroad.

“I know who you are,” he said. “Count on me, because the good ones are the majority and I’m not going to give up. I have a purpose in life, and if I have to keep suffering so that future generations won’t have to go through these types of situations, I’m ready and prepared.”

Valencia banned for life a fan identified of insulting Vinícius during the game. Real Madrid took the case to prosecutors as a hate crime.

The Spanish league has filed nine criminal complaints of cases of racial abuse against Vinícius in the last two seasons, with most of them being shelved by prosecutors.

The league said Tuesday it will seek to increase its authority to issue sanctions in cases of hate crimes during games. It had been saying it can only detect and denounce incidents to authorities and the country’s soccer federation.

Supporters have been fined and banned from stadiums for their abuse against Vinícius, but so far only a Mallorca fan may end up going on trial for allegedly racially insulting the Brazilian during a game.

The first trial against a fan accused of racial abuse in Spanish professional soccer is expected to happen at some point this year; the case involved Athletic Bilbao forward Iñaki Williams, who was insulted by an Espanyol supporter in a match in 2020.
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Germany’s federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that criminal police have detained three more suspected far-right extremists who are linked to an alleged plot by the Reichsbuerger, or Reich Citizens, movement to topple the country’s government. 

The three suspects, who were only identified as Johanna F.-J., Hans-Joachim H. and Steffen W. in line with German privacy rules, were detained Monday evening in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. 

The defendants are suspected of membership in a terrorist organization, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. 

In December, German police detained 25 people including a self-styled prince, a retired paratrooper and a former judge who are accused of plotting the violent overthrow of the government. 

Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government. 

Authorities say the three people who were arrested Monday evening were linked in different ways to the suspects of the alleged coup attempt. 

Johanna F.J. is suspected of having been active in the association since May 2022, participating in several meetings with members of the leadership, during which the goals and organization of the group were discussed. In addition, she allegedly sought contact with a Russian consul general and subsequently met with him twice. The talks were intended to obtain support for the association’s actions, prosecutors say. 

Hans-Joachim H. is suspected of having been active for the group from the very beginning, providing it with financial contributions totaling more than $151,000. In addition, he allegedly actively participated in conspiratorial meetings, in events to recruit new members and in so-called sponsor meetings. 

Steffen W. is suspected of having joined the association no later than July 2022 and to have assumed a leading role in a so-called homeland security company, in which he assumed the function of a military officer. The defendant allegedly participated in several coordination meetings. His task was to recruit personnel for his area of responsibility and to train them militarily, prosecutors said. 

German security agencies have disrupted several plots in recent years by small groups linked to the Reich Citizens movement accused of planning attacks on critical infrastructure, government officials and even the national parliament. While it is unclear how far advanced such plans were, authorities have expressed alarm that the alleged plotters had acquired weapons and included people who aren’t usually on the radar of security agencies, such as judges and police officers. 

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, the head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned of a rise in anti-government extremism. 

Thomas Haldenwang told the AP that coup plots such as those disrupted last year likely won’t be the last as some “are again talking about a ‘Day X’ when certain things are meant to happen.” 

“We are monitoring such efforts very intensively, very carefully, and I’m certain that we will be able to intervene in time together with other security agencies,” he said. “But I can’t completely rule out that groups will forms under the radar of the security agencies.” 
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Interpol, the international police organization founded in 1923 to facilitate cooperation among law enforcement agencies, has transformed into a formidable crime fighting force in recent years. 

However, recent controversies over the misuse of its alert system have cast a shadow over its reputation as an indispensable tool for global law enforcement cooperation.  

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, speaking on Monday at a Justice Department event marking Interpol’s centennial, praised the organization’s role in fighting pressing global threats, from terrorism to cybercrime and human trafficking.   

“Over the past 100 years, Interpol has evolved to meet each one of those threats, and in doing so has made the world a safer place,” Monaco told the attendees.   

The ceremony in the Justice Department’s famed Great Hall featured presentations by a pipes and drums band and a local police department honor guard. Top Interpol officials as well as senior officials from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, the two agencies that co-manage Interpol’s U.S. National Central Bureau, were in attendance. 

As part of its mission, Interpol publishes so-called red notices, which are requests for police forces worldwide to locate and arrest a suspect pending extradition. 

Only Interpol’s 195 member countries can request a red notice as long as it complies with Interpol’s rules.  

Interpol says a task force of lawyers and police officers, established in 2017, conducts a thorough review of all red notice requests received. 

In addition, Interpol has an independent body, known as Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files, that removes disputed red notices and other alerts from its system. The commission is an additional oversight body whose members are mostly lawyers. 

Despite the agency’s efforts to ensure compliance, however, countries such as Russia and China have in recent years been accused of misusing Interpol’s alert system for political purposes.  

Interpol Secretary-General Jurgen Stock defended his agency’s “robust” review system during the Justice Department ceremony.  

“When repeated non-compliance occurs, preventive and corrective measures are applied to those member countries to protect the integrity of our channels,” Stock said. 

In 2021, Interpol published nearly 24,000 red notices and wanted persons alerts and rejected nearly 1,300 for non-compliance. 

Monaco lauded Interpol’s increased scrutiny of alert requests in order “to ensure that Interpol isn’t misused in furtherance of transnational repression” by autocratic regimes. 

But critics say authoritarian regimes continue to abuse the system.   

In 2021, Uyghur activist Idris Hasan was arrested in Morocco based on a red notice issued by Interpol at China’s request.  

Though Interpol classified the red notice as “noncompliant” after Hasan’s arrest and release, the case highlights “the inherent dangers of an international policing organization cooperating with non-rule of law countries prone to abuse such instruments for persecution that run counter to Interpol’s constitution,” human rights non-profit Safeguard Defenders wrote in a report.  

Other critics have leveled similar criticism at China. 

“In recent years, China has increasingly used the Interpol red notice system to stifle dissent,” Human Rights Watch wrote in a 2022 report.  

Critics say Russia is another chronic abuser of Interpol. 

In 2018, Bill Browder, an American human rights activist and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested in Spain on an Interpol red notice requested by Russia.  The notice was later rescinded, and Bowder was released.  

Ted Bromund, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said Interpol operates on the presumption that its member states act in good faith.   

“As a result, there continues to be a lot of Interpol abuse through notices, through diffusions and through other mechanisms,” Bromund said in an interview. Diffusions are alerts sent by a member country to other member countries.  

Bromund said that Interpol’s own data suggests that its review task force is failing to prevent questionable red notices filed by countries such as China and Russia. 

The number of notices deleted by the Commission for the Control of Interpol Files remains “historically high,” he noted.  

“If the Notices and Diffusions Task Force were actually preventing all abuse, the commission … should not have to keep on deleting so many red notices,” he said. 

Both China and Russia have denied abusing Interpol.  

Despite the criticisms, Interpol retains an essential role in global law enforcement cooperation.  Its role in fighting crime has grown in recent years, as criminals increasingly operate across borders and online.   

Interpol says police departments worldwide query its databases more than 20 million times a day, or roughly 250 searches per second. 
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Pope Francis will travel to Portugal for World Youth Day in the first week of August and include a stop at the popular Marian shrine in Fatima, the Vatican said Monday.

The August 2-6 visit is longer than originally expected and covers almost the entire week of the big Catholic rally that St. John Paul II inaugurated to try to invigorate young people in their faith.

Francis is staying in Lisbon for the length of the visit but will make a day trip to Fatima on August 5. Francis previously traveled there in 2017 to mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most unique events of the 20th century Catholic Church: the visions of the Virgin Mary reported by three shepherd children and the “secrets” she told them.

Francis’ visit this time around comes as war is raging in Ukraine, providing a comparison to when the original visions were reported when Europe was in the throes of World War I.

The visit comes as the Portuguese Catholic Church is reckoning with its legacy of clergy sexual abuse. Earlier this year, an independent report found that more than 4,800 people may have been victims starting in 1950. Previously, senior Portuguese church officials had claimed only a handful of cases had occurred.

There was no word on whether Francis would meet with victims, as he has done on several occasions elsewhere.

The Portuguese Bishops Conference expressed “huge joy” at the Vatican announcement of Francis’ visit and said hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world are expected in Lisbon. The rally was originally scheduled for 2022 but was postponed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic; the last international World Youth Day was held in 2019 in Panama.

“We hope that the presence of Pope Francis among us, and which includes a significant pilgrimage to the Fatima shrine, will provide a powerful sense of renewal and grace for the church in Portugal,” the Bishops Conference said in a statement.

Francis’ other travel this year is expected to include a quick trip to Marseille, France, on September 23 to address a meeting of Mediterranean bishops. Also under study is a proposed visit to Mongolia starting in late August.
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Ray Stevenson, who played the villainous British governor in “RRR,” an Asgardian warrior in the “Thor” films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBO’s “Rome,” has died. He was 58.  

Representatives for Stevenson told The Associated Press that he died Sunday but had no other details to share Monday.  

Stevenson was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in 1964. After attending the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and years of working in British television, he made his film debut in Paul Greengrass’s 1998 film “The Theory of Flight.” In 2004, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s “King Arthur” as a knight of the round table and several years later played the lead in the pre-Disney Marvel adaptation “Punisher: War Zone.” 

Though “Punisher” was not the best-reviewed film, he’d get another taste of Marvel in the first three “Thor” films, in which he played Volstagg. Other prominent film roles included the “Divergent” trilogy, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “The Transporter: Refueled.” 

A looming presence at 6-foot-4, Stevenson, who played his share of soldiers past and present, once said in an interview, “I guess I’m an old warrior at heart.” 

On the small screen, he was the roguish Titus Pullo in “Rome,” a role that really got his career going in the United States and got him a SAG card, at the age of 44. The popular series ran from 2005 to 2007. 

“That was one of the major years of my life,” Stevenson said in an interview. “It made me sit down in my own skin and say, just do the job. The job’s enough.” 

In the Variety review of “Rome,” Brian Lowery wrote that “the imposing Stevenson certainly stands out as a brawling, whoring and none-too-bright warrior — a force of nature who, despite his excesses, somehow keeps landing on his feet.” 

He was Blackbeard in the Starz series “Black Sails,” Commander Jack Swinburne in the German television series “Das Boot,” and Othere in “Vikings.” 

Stevenson also did voice work in “Star Wars Rebels” and “The Clone Wars,” as Gar Saxon, and has a role in the upcoming Star Wars live-action series “Ahsoka,” in which he plays a bad guy, Baylan Skoll. The eight-episode season is expected on Disney+ in August. 

In an interview with Backstage in 2020, Stevenson said his acting idols were, “The likes of Lee Marvin (and) Gene Hackman.” 

“Never a bad performance, and brave and fearless within that caliber,” Stevenson said. “It was never the young, hot leading man; it was men who I could identify with.” 

Stevenson has three sons with Italian anthropologist Elisabetta Caraccia, who he met while working on “Rome.” 
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Portuguese police have said they will resume searching for Madeleine McCann, the British toddler who disappeared in the country’s Algarve region in 2007, in the next few days.

Portugal’s Judicial Police released a statement confirming local media reports that they would conduct the search at the request of the German authorities and in the presence of British officials.

Early Monday, police were seen erecting tents and cordons in an area by the Arade dam, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Praia da Luz, where the 3-year-old was last seen alive.

British, Portuguese and German police are still piecing together what happened when the toddler disappeared from her bed in the southern Portuguese resort May 3, 2007. She was in the same room as her 2-year-old twin brother and sister while her parents had dinner with friends at a nearby restaurant.

In mid-2020, Germany’s police identified Christian Brueckner, a 45-year-old German citizen who was in the Algarve in 2007, as a suspect in the case. Brueckner has denied any involvement.

The suspect is under investigation on suspicion of murder in the McCann case but hasn’t been charged. He spent many years in Portugal, including in Praia da Luz around the time of Madeleine’s disappearance.

Prosecutors in the northern German city of Braunschweig in October have charged Brueckner in several separate cases involving sexual offenses allegedly committed in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.

Braunschweig prosecutor Christian Wolter said Monday his office would release a statement about the case Tuesday morning.

Madeleine’s disappearance stirred worldwide interest, with public claims of having spotted her stretching as far away as Australia, along with a slew of books and television documentaries about the case.

Rewards for finding Madeleine reached several million dollars.
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The European Union on Monday imposed an asset freeze on the investment arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, over Tehran’s brutal crackdown on protests over the death of Mahsa Amini. 

The latest round of sanctions — the eighth imposed by the EU over the repression — came after Iran hanged three more men convicted in relation to the demonstrations.

The 27-nation bloc added the IRGC Cooperative Foundation, which handles the Guards’ investments, to an EU asset freeze and visa ban blacklist for “funneling money into the regime’s brutal repression.”

The economic conglomerate, accused of serving as a slush fund for the paramilitary armed wing of Tehran’s Islamic revolution, was sanctioned by the United States in January. 

The EU also blacklisted the Student Basij Organization, which it said acts as enforcers for the Revolutionary Guards on university campuses.

Five regime figures, including three senior police commanders, a top cyber official and a regional prosecutor were also added to the list. 

The Iranian authorities brutally cracked down on protests that sprang up after the death in custody on September 16 of Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd who was arrested in Tehran for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic’s strict dress rules for women.

The latest three men to be hanged were convicted on charges of killing security force members at a demonstration in the city of Isfahan in November.

Their executions on Friday brought to seven the number of Iranians executed in connection with the protests.

Brussels’ latest blacklistings bring to about 160 the number of individuals, companies and agencies targeted by EU asset freezes and travel bans over the crackdown.

Some EU capitals have pushed to list the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group.

European officials say it is proving complicated to demonstrate the legal basis for such a blanket designation. 
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