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Pope rails against vaccine ‘denier’ cardinals

AFP

Pope Francis on Wednesday spoke out against “denier” cardinals who refused the coronavirus vaccine, in an apparent swipe at his main opponent who recently contracted Covid-19.

“In the College of Cardinals, there are a few deniers. One of them, the poor man, contracted the virus,” the pontiff told reporters as he flew home from a trip to Slovakia.

The 84-year-old did not name the man he was referring to, but conservative US Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of Francis’ fiercest and most vocal critics in the Catholic Church, was recently admitted to hospital in the United States with Covid-19.

The pope said that in the heart of the Vatican, “everyone is vaccinated, with the exception of a small group”.

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“We are studying how to help them,” he said during a press conference onboard the papal plane.

The pope is a strong advocate of coronavirus vaccines and has previously expressed his incomprehension with those who refuse to take it.

“It’s a bit strange because humanity has a history of friendship with vaccines,” Francis said, highlighting the jabs that have for decades protected children against measles or polio.

“We should clarify things and speak calmly,” he advised, while also conceding that the debates over the different anti-coronavirus vaccines could create uncertainty or fear.

The pope made a brief stopover in Budapest on Sunday before visiting Slovakia, and held a private meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

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He is at odds with the populist leader’s hardline stance on migration, but said Wednesday they did not discuss the issue.

Hungarian President Janos Ader did most of the talking during the three-way meeting, the pope said, and they focused on ecology as well as Hungary’s support for couples hoping to have children.

For his part, Orban — who has claimed Europe is threatened by a Muslim “invasion” — said on Facebook that he had asked the pope in their meeting “not to let Christian Hungary perish”.

During his press conference, the pope repeated his call for Europe to return to the principles of solidarity on which it was founded, warning of “the danger that it has become just a managerial office. And that is not good.”

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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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.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

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.”

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