International
Alarm is growing in Russia for crimes of convicts pardoned by Putin to fight in Ukraine

The increase in crimes committed by convicts pardoned to fight in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has triggered the social alarm among Russians.
“The murder of a 12-year-old girl in the Kémerovo region has revealed a terrible threat (…) A man tried on several occasions, convicted of homicide, was released from prison to participate in the war and returned to civilian life committed a new brutal crime,” Russian deputy Nina Ostánina denounced on Telegram.
The crime, which has impacted Russian society, came to light on Wednesday, when the lifeless body of the minor was found with signs of a violent death.
The authorities attributed it to a former war combatant who had been recruited from prison, where he was serving a sentence of 13 and a half years for the murder of a woman, after having been tried at least six times for various crimes.
The legislator, responsible for the committee for the protection of the family and children of the Russian Duma or chamber of deputies, warned that “there will be more crimes like this.”
“When returning from the front, these people turned out not to be ready for their social reintegration and represent a threat to society,” he said.
Therefore, he called on the Russian authorities to “assume the responsibility of protecting citizens from criminals like these” through “constant control” and help their reintegration into labor.
In addition, he made the preparations for a bill that would regulate this matter.
“We must act without delay. Nightmares like this cannot be allowed to repeat. Our children deserve a safe life and protection from ruthless criminals,” he said.
After the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the call to the ranks of inmates, a practice promoted by the Russian mercenary company Wagner, Russia has been affected by a wave of crimes and crimes committed by these people upon their return from the battlefield.
This same Thursday, the digital media Gazeta.ru reported the case of a pregnant young woman who lost her child as a result of a beating by a member of Wagner who had also been recruited from between bars.
The doctors found that the woman suffered head injuries, fracture of ribs and phalanges of the hands, as well as multiple bruises and cardinals, however, despite the fact that the culprit was arrested, he managed to avoid the trial when he returned to the front.
In April of this year, another Wagnerite killed a woman in the Leningrad region and dismembered her; and in March, another ex-convict and member of Wagner stabbed at least 15 times to the woman he lived with and later cut her ear, just two examples from a long list.
According to the independent digital media Viorstka, in the last two years about fifty people have died at the hands of veterans of war in Ukraine recruited from Russian prisons.
Most of the victims turn out to be the relatives or neighbors of these people for domestic reasons and are usually crimes related to the consumption of alcoholic beverages
International
Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.
Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.
However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.
International
Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.
“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.
The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.
His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”
International
Miyazaki’s style goes viral with AI but at what cost?

This week, you may have noticed that everything—from historical photos and classic movie scenes to internet memes and recent political moments—has been reimagined on social media as Studio Ghibli-style portraits. The trend quickly went viral thanks to ChatGPT and the latest update of OpenAI’s chatbot, released on Tuesday, March 25.
The newest addition to GPT-4o has allowed users to replicate the distinctive artistic style of the legendary Japanese filmmaker and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away). “Today is a great day on the internet,” one user declared while sharing popular memes in Ghibli format.
While the trend has captivated users worldwide, it has also highlighted ethical concerns about AI tools trained on copyrighted creative works—and what this means for the livelihoods of human artists.
Not that this concerns OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has actively encouraged the “Ghiblification”experiments. Its CEO, Sam Altman, even changed his profile picture on the social media platform X to a Ghibli-style portrait.
Miyazaki, now 84 years old, is known for his hand-drawn animation approach and whimsical storytelling. He has long expressed skepticism about AI’s role in animation. His past remarks on AI-generated animation have resurfaced and gone viral again, particularly when he once said he was “utterly disgusted” by an AI demonstration.
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