International
First albino joins Malawi’s parliament

AFP
An albino activist was sworn in to Malawi’s parliament on Thursday, a first in a country where people with albinism have suffered discrimination and killings.
Overstone Kondowe won a by-election last month in central Malawi, a milestone after years of victimisation.
“Being the first person with albinism elected in this kind of office, there is high expectation, not only in Malawi, but the whole world is looking forward to what I would do,” he told AFP soon after his swearing-in.
“My last word to persons with disability, and in particular persons with albinism, they need not to underrate themselves,” he said.
“And they need to work hard towards their goal. I remain a model to them and I will inspire them more so that they aim higher,” he added.
Malawi suffered a wave of assaults against albinos from late 2014.
At the height of the attacks in 2016, Kondowe founded the Association of People with Albinism in Malawi to push the government to take action.
Amnesty International says more than 20 albinos have been killed in Malawi since 2014.
In the last four months, Amnesty said seven attacks against albinos have been recorded, ranging from killings, tampering of graves, attempted abductions, and physical violence.
As in other countries in the region, albinos’ body parts are used in rituals to bring wealth and luck.
Some albinos are also accused of being “vampires” who seek human blood for rituals, sometimes triggering vigilante violence in retaliation.
President Lazarus Chakwera has named Kondowe as his special adviser on people with disability. Kondowe is also the current chairperson of the African Union for Persons with Albinism.
Former UN independent expert on albinism Ikponwosa Ero told AFP she was elated by Kondowe’s election.
“Overstone’s election is a giant step forward in the protection of human rights of people with albinism in Malawi and the Africa region as a whole,” she said.
“It shows that the context of discrimination is changing for the better for people with albinism in Malawi.”
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.
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.”
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