World
Ecuador’s President Faces Gang Threats Despite taking on the Army
(V.News) – In response to the deployment of troops to combat armed gangs, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa has challenged them to fight the military rather than civilians. As a result of gang violence sweeping through the Andes on Monday, Noboa declared a state of emergency.
Armed men assaulted a television station and threatened its employees during a live broadcast in the most dramatic event. The state of emergency has resulted in the arrest of over 300 people.
Mr. Noboa’s tone in Wednesday’s radio interview was rather rebellious. Even though he has only been president for two months, the 36-year-old president took a stand against the gangs.
He admonished them, “Be brave, fight the soldiers,” alluding to the reality that the majority of gang victims have been defenseless citizens or parolees. Gang members have been responsible for the recent explosions, car fires, and kidnappings of at least fourteen people, including police officers who were on duty.
According to authorities, 158 prison guards and 20 personnel of the jail system have also been kidnapped. No hostages have been murdered thus far, according to an army officer who announced this on Wednesday.
Despite stating that Ecuador is going through “a very tough moment,” President Noboa threatened retaliation against gangs and “any judges or prosecutors who back these gangs” if continued.
An effort to transfer the notorious gang leader known as “Fito” from the jail he mostly controlled to a more secure facility appears to be what sparked the recent increase in attacks. However, when authorities entered his cell at the Regional Jail on Sunday, they discovered it abandoned.
The news of his escape sparked rioting in neighboring jails, and Fabricio Colón Pico, one of the Los Lobos gang’s commanders, also fled. Fito (Adolfo Macías Villareal) and Colón Pico have yet to be located. The Ecuadorian government has offered a reward for information that leads to their capture.
They’re also giving incentives to 17 additional gang bosses. Ecuador, which was previously considered a reasonably secure country in comparison to the rest of the region, had its murder rate more than double between 2018 and 2022 as drug-trafficking gangs grew in power.
Ecuadorian President Noboa designated 22 of these groups
On Tuesday, President Noboa designated 22 of these groups “terrorist gangs” and said that his country was embroiled in an “internal armed conflict.”. Ecuador’s Congress overwhelmingly passed the proposal, which authorizes soldiers to patrol the streets and search residences for weapons and suspects.
Residents of Guayaquil, the port city struck the hardest by the recent violence, are still trying to make sense of the gang rampage, according to the BBC’s Will Grant, who is in Guayaquil.
Primicias, an Ecuadorean news site, spoke with a journalist who was present during the invasion of the TC television studios in Guayaquil and described the threats made by the assailants.
She went on to say that the host was forced to announce in front of an armed crowd. “They wanted my colleague to say: ‘The mafia is in power; the president can’t beat us.'”
The assailants, she said, did not have any further specific requests. The police ultimately subdued the group and took 18 members into custody.
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Trump Appoints Robert F. Kennedy Jr to Head HHS
President-elect Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr) to run the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), sending Democrats and Big Pharma allies into a tailspin.
“I am delighted to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and medicine firms, which have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation regarding public health,” Trump stated in his announcement.
“The safety and health of all Americans is the most important role of any administration, and HHS will play an important role in ensuring that everyone is safe from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to this country’s overwhelming health crisis.
Mr. Kennedy will restore these agencies to gold-standard scientific Research and Transparency traditions, stopping the Chronic Disease Epidemic and making America Great and Healthy Again!” Trump added.
Reactions to RFK Jr HHS Appointment
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Medicare, Medicaid, and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy is a former environmental justice lawyer who has recently started an anti-vaccine nonprofit. He ran for president as an independent candidate in 2024 but dropped out to join Trump’s closest circle.
House Republicans have reacted to Donald Trump’s nomination of former presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.
Chip Roy, a Texas congressman, calls it “great news”. He tells me, “We need disruption throughout the federal government.” He’ll be fantastic at HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] to do that.”
Roy adds that he expects Kennedy’s candidacy will clear the Senate.
“There’s been a few Kennedy’s in the Senate in the past so maybe there’ll be some legacy there that they will want to move him through,” he speculates.
South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman concurs with Roy on Kennedy’s confirmation in the Senate: “I believe he was an excellent choice by the president, as have all of them. Kennedy is interested in, and passionate about, the medical industry. He will do a terrific job with it.”
According to Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit group focused on consumer protection, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “is a clear and present danger to the nation’s health.”
He should not be allowed to enter the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), let alone be appointed director of the nation’s public health agency.”
“Donald Trump’s mishandling of public health policies during the Covid outbreak resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. “By appointing Kennedy as secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another policy-driven public health disaster,” the organization continued.
Apu Akkad, an infectious disease physician at the University of Southern California, described the statement as a “scary day for public health”.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical stocks such as Pfizer and Moderna plummeted following news of Kennedy’s nomination for HHS Secretary, as investors considered his potential impact on vaccine sales.
Novavax and BioNTech finished down more than 7%, with almost all losses occurring when word of the selection broke—Novavax shares fell to $7.22, and BioNTech shares fell to $103.56.
Moderna’s stock closed 5.6% at $39.77, reaching its lowest point of the year.
Sanofi’s stock fell 3.4% to $47.82, continuing a weeks-long share price decline that began after the company’s latest earnings report last month.
Pfizer lost less than its competitors on Thursday, closing down 2.6% at $26.02, despite having its sharpest drop of the day immediately following the RFK Jr. announcement.
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UK Police Visit Journalist Allison Pearson Over Old Tweet
Police in Essex, England, have been criticized for sending two cops to the home of Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson over an X tweet that was more than a year old.
On Remembrance Sunday, at 9:40 a.m., two police officers went to Allison Pearson’s home to inform her that she was under investigation and asked for a voluntary interview.
She was informed, however, that officers were not permitted to discuss the exact focus of an investigation. They stated that the claimed offense was being investigated as a criminal matter under Section 17 of the Public Order Act of 1986.
Despite Pearson’s claim that she was told it was an alleged non-crime hate incident, the police have emphasized that it is not being examined as such. Since the terrible occurrence, the Essex Police have been under intense global scrutiny for their actions.
Elon Musk and key British lawmakers are leading a rising protest against the police for probing a Telegraph journalist’s social media remark.
Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter/X, spearheaded the reaction, calling it “crazy”.
Crazy https://t.co/sgfqogullh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2024
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has also stated that this is Orwellian. I’m disgusted that Allison Pearson and others like her have to live in fear for months without knowing what has been said against them.
The former prime minister, Boris Johnson, tweeted that it was “appalling.”
This is appalling. How can Starmer’s Britain lecture other countries about free speech when an innocent journalist gets a knock on the door – for a tweet? Our police have their hands full of burglaries and violent crime. They are being forced to behave like a woke Securitate -… https://t.co/HaXc1tsokW
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 13, 2024
This is appalling. How can Starmer’s Britain lecture other countries about free speech when an innocent journalist gets a knock on the door – for a tweet? Our police have their hands full of burglaries and violent crime.
They are being forced to behave like a woke Securitate – and it has to stop!
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss described the incident as “yet another affront to free speech,” adding, “We must speak out and fight back against this appalling bullying of Allison Pearson.”
Meanwhile, the Home Office announced that it was evaluating how police record non-crime hate incidents to ensure that they are “proportionate” and preserve free speech, following the controversy surrounding an investigation into a Telegraph journalist.
Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman stated that it is critical that police record non-crime hate events where “proportionate and necessary” to help prevent severe crimes from occurring in the future.
He did, however, disclose that the Home Office was examining current instructions for police officers on recording non-crime hate events to maintain people’s right to free speech while not diverting officers’ attention away from other crimes.
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Archbishop of Canterbury Resigns Over Christian Camp Abuse
Archbishop of Canterbury resigned on Tuesday, claiming he failed to oversee a thorough inquiry into allegations of abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.
Justin Welby, the senior bishop of the Church of England and spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, faced calls to quit after a report last week revealed that he had taken insufficient action to stop a man characterized as the Church’s most frequent serial abuser.
“The last few days have renewed my long felt and profound sense of shame at the historic safeguarding failures of the Church of England,” Welby said in a news release.
“I hope this decision demonstrates how seriously the Church of England takes the need for reform and our deep commitment to building a safer church. As I step down, I do so with grief for all victims and survivors of abuse.”
Welby’s term spanned a decade of considerable change, during which he had to navigate disagreements over homosexual rights and women clergy between liberal churches, primarily in North America and Britain, and their conservative counterparts, particularly in Africa.
The Anglican churches in African countries such as Uganda and Nigeria will likely celebrate Welby’s resignation, having stated last year that they no longer trusted him. His successor’s key responsibilities will be to unite the more divided global Anglican Church and reverse a fivefold decrease in church attendance in Britain since 2019.
Archbishop resigned after Makin Report.
Welby resigned five days after the independent Makin Report singled him out for criticism of his treatment of abuse complaints dating back to the 1970s. According to the investigation, John Smyth, a British lawyer, subjected over 100 boys and young men to “brutal and horrific” physical and sexual abuse over 40 years.
According to the investigation, Smyth beat some victims with a cane for up to 800 strokes and provided diapers to absorb the bleeding. He would then drape himself over his victims, occasionally kissing them on the neck or back.
Smyth chaired the Iwerne Trust, which financed Christian camps in Dorset, England, and Welby worked as a dormitory officer there before becoming an ordained minister.
According to the study, Smyth moved to Africa in 1984 and continued to torture people until shortly before he died in 2018.
In 2013, the Church of England was fully aware of sexual abuse allegations at the camps. According to the study, Welby became aware of the claims at least in the same year, months after becoming archbishop.
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If the claims had been brought to the police in 2013, there may have been a thorough investigation, and Smyth could have faced prosecution before his death, according to the study. The Makin Report was commissioned in 2019.
Welby apologized for “failures and omissions” but stated that he had “no idea or suspicion” of the claims before 2013. The report stated that this was improbable and accused him of failing to uphold his “personal and moral responsibility” to conduct a thorough investigation.
Church protocols for appointing a new archbishop of Canterbury involve a committee of clerics and a chair, selected by the British prime minister, to recommend two candidates to him.
Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich, and Guli Francis-Dehqani, Bishop of Chelmsford, are expected to follow Welby and become the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.
Usher supports homosexual rights and has been outspoken on the need to address climate change.
Francis-Dehqani was born in Iran and has spoken about her brother’s assassination following the Iranian Revolution. She would be the first woman to hold the position.
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