World Archives - Page 1572 of 1962

Ten dead in attack on bars, hotel in central Mexico

24 May 2022 24 May 2022

Gunmen killed 10 people in an attack on a hotel and two bars in Mexico’s central city of Celaya, with calling cards claiming the massacre left behind by a known criminal group, authorities said Tuesday.

The attack late Monday claimed the lives of seven women and three men and left two people injured, according to the security secretariat in Celaya, in the central Guanajuato state.

Officials found the dead bodies upon arrival in the neighborhood of Valle Hermoso after reports of gunfire, the unit said in a statement.

Witnesses said the victims were shot, after which the attackers poured gasoline to set the establishments on fire.

They said the bodies were scattered among plastic tables and chairs, and one was lying on the sidewalk.

Guanajuato, a thriving industrial region that hosts a refinery and a major pipeline, has become one of Mexico’s most violent states due to a dispute between the Santa Rosa de Lima and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

The gangs fight for control of trafficking routes for drugs and stolen fuel.

Authorities did not say which crime group was suspected in the latest attack.

In March, the charred bodies of seven people were found abandoned in a pick-up truck in Celaya.

And in January, six members of a family were murdered in a rural community in Guanajuato state — the fifth such attack in the municipality of Silao in four months.

Since December 2006, when the government launched a controversial military anti-drug operation, Mexico has recorded more than 340,000 murders, according to official figures.

Authorities have blamed most of the killings on organized crime.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has championed a “hugs not bullets” strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots by fighting poverty and inequality with social programs, rather than with the army.

Kerry warns against letting Ukraine war thwart climate efforts

24 May 2022 24 May 2022

US climate envoy John Kerry warned Tuesday against using the energy crisis stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an excuse to build up more fossil fuel infrastructure.

Kerry made the plea at the World Economic Forum of global business and political leaders in the Swiss ski village of Davos, where the climate crisis is among the top concerns.

“We should not allow a false narrative to be created that what has happened in Ukraine somehow obviates the need to continue forward and to accelerate even what we are trying to do to address the crisis of the climate,” Kerry said.

“No one should believe that the crisis of Ukraine is an excuse to suddenly build out the old kind of infrastructure that we had,” he told a news conference.

Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has sent energy prices soaring over supply concerns as Russia is among the world’s top producers of oil, natural gas and coal.

The European Union is aiming to cut Russian gas imports by two-thirds this year, and the bloc is debating whether to impose an oil embargo on the country.

The EU fears that Russia could seize on the bloc’s dependence on its gas supplies to hold countries hostage over their opposition to the Ukraine war.

Kerry later told a panel discussion that the war had fuelled the argument that it “means you’re going to drill a lot more and pump a lot more” to meet Europe’s gas needs.

While Europe needs to find alternative gas supplies, it can be done in ways that do not require massive new infrastructure, including by investing in renewable technologies and tapping shale gas, Kerry said.

“We can meet… the crisis of Ukraine and the energy crisis of Europe and still deal, as we must, with the climate crisis,” he said.

Kerry appeared on the panel alongside China’s climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, who warned that the world is “facing greater challenge than before.”

“Here we would like to urge all countries to work together to overcome the challenges in front of us,” Xie said. “We have to turn our pledges into concrete action.”

– ‘Wrong direction’ –

The United States and China — the world’s two top economies and biggest polluters — unveiled a joint pact on the sidelines of the Glasgow climate summit last year to accelerate action against greenhouse gas emissions.

The US has said it plans to be carbon neutral by 2050, while China has set a net-zero target for 2060 with coal consumption to peak at 2030.

The Glasgow summit resulted in nearly 200 nations pledging to speed up the fight against rising temperatures, though the agreement was criticised by activists as falling short of what is needed to save the planet.

Scientists say capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius requires a 45-percent drop in emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by mid-century.

Noting that emissions rose six percent last year and coal use jumped nine percent, Kerry said: “Wrong direction folks, (and) that’s before Ukraine.”

'Martyrdom is normal': Catholic cardinal holds mass after court appearance

24 May 2022 24 May 2022

On a drizzly Tuesday night in Hong Kong, hundreds of Catholics packed into church for a mass turned into an act of resolve by its host — the retired cardinal Joseph Zen, fresh from a day in court.

The 90-year-old, who was arrested this month with other democracy advocates under the city’s national security law, pleaded not guilty earlier on Tuesday to failing to properly register a protest defence fund.

The now-defunct fund had helped pay legal and medical costs for those arrested during huge and sometimes violent democracy demonstrations three years ago.

Many who came to see Zen preach at the unobtrusive beige church on the east of Hong Kong Island were unimpressed by the authorities’ case against him.

“We of course must respect rule of law but wielding law as a weapon to oppress is by no means the goal of rule of law,” Louise, an educator, told AFP.

Philip, a health professional, disagreed with fellow churchgoers who believed Zen had brought the arrest on himself by being too outspoken.

“I cannot agree with that,” he said. “When a man is prosecuted by unjust laws, isn’t it basic human decency to pay him some respect?”

Western nations reacted with outrage to Zen’s arrest, accusing China of destroying the freedoms it had once promised Hong Kong — criticism dismissed by the city’s security minister as a “classic smearing campaign”.

“If we did not act in accordance with the law because of one’s role in the Holy See, then I think it would actually breach the Vatican’s principle of justice,” Chris Tang said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

But when Tang’s interpretation was put to some of the churchgoers, they rejected it.

“Who is he to tell? He is not even a Catholic,” said Philip.

– ‘Colluding with God’s Kingdom’ –

Dressed in gold robes and standing under a large effigy of Christ on the cross, Zen did not mention his case or the Hong Kong authorities directly.

He dedicated the mass to churches in China, where believers are split between so-called underground parishes and those officially sanctioned by the atheist Communist Party, which only allows religious institutions to function under its strict controls.

In his sermon, Zen again criticised a deal between China and the Vatican which allows Beijing to nominate bishops for the pope’s approval, calling it “unwise” despite being made with “good intention”.

“There is an urge to unify those above the ground and those underground but it seems that time is not ripe yet,” he said.

The attendees that AFP spoke to were stoic when asked if they were worried that their religion might make them targets as Beijing seeks to remould Hong Kong in its own authoritarian image.

“The Bible has taught us that a true believer will find God as he is being suppressed for his belief,” said Louise. “I am totally fine if one day they charge me of colluding with God’s Kingdom.”

“We have no idea where the government draws its red line — it can be whatever they said,” said Molly, an office clerk. “There is nothing we can do about it except for guarding our peace of mind.”

Addressing the congregation of around 300, Zen asked the worshippers to pray for “our brothers and sisters who cannot attend the mass today because they are not free”.

Zen, whose trial is set to begin September 19, alluded to difficult times ahead.

“Martyrdom is normal in our Church,” he said. “We may not have to do that but we may have to bear some pain and steel ourselves for our loyalty to our faith.”

Zimbabwe rallies allies to push for legal ivory trade

24 May 2022 26 May 2022

Zimbabwe will this week press a drive to legalise the ivory trade, inviting officials from 15 nations to meet in a national park that’s a beacon of success in protecting elephants.

Hwange National Park is overflowing with elephants, which now routinely wander outside the boundaries to feed, sometimes running into deadly conflicts with people living in the surrounds.

Zimbabwe and its neighbours in southern Africa have seen their elephant herds thrive in recent years and are now home to about 70 percent of the continent’s elephants.

That’s a markedly different story than in the rest of Africa, where poaching and habitat loss have seen numbers declining.

Zimbabwe, by contrast, is home to 100,000 elephants — nearly double the number that conservationists say the country’s parks can support.

Elephants require vast areas for feeding. Even Hwange, a park nearly half the size of Belgium, isn’t big enough to support its population.

Zimbabwe and other countries with large herds say they’re left protecting vast stockpiles of ivory they can’t sell to raise funds for either conservation work or to support communities affected by the growing elephant numbers.

“These are pertinent issues that are difficult to address in a balanced manner,” Tourism and Environment Minister Mangaliso Ndhlovu said in a statement.

Zimbabwe last week urged European ambassadors to allow a one-off sale of $600 million worth of elephant ivory, kept in a warehouse outside central Harare.

International trade in ivory and elephants has been banned since 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). One-off sales were allowed in 1999 and 2008, despite fierce opposition.

Countries in southern Africa say the ban prevents them even from supporting each other’s conservation efforts, for example, by moving elephants from Zimbabwe to countries that want to repopulate.

The conference brings together countries likely to support a legalisation move, including China and Japan, where ivory is highly prized.

Kenya and Tanzania, which fear legalisation will encourage more poaching, were not invited. But the island nations of Seychelles and Madagascar, which have no elephants, are attending.

– Dangerous signal –

A collection of 50 anti-ivory trade organisations issued a statement warning that opening the ivory market would decimate the African herd, which in some regions is near extinction.

“The conference is sending a dangerous signal to poachers and criminal syndicates that elephants are mere commodities, and that ivory trade could be resumed heightening the threat to the species,” they said.

But growing elephant herds pose real dangers to nearby communities.

Zimbabwe says 60 people have been killed by elephants so far this year, compared with 72 in all of last year.

“Governments of elephant range states are faced with social and political pressures on why elephants are prioritised over their own life and livelihoods,” Ndhlovu said.

Zimbabwe rallies allies to push for legal ivory trade

24 May 2022 25 May 2022