International
South Africa sees ‘deeply disturbing’ crime increase
AFP
South Africa has experienced a “deeply disturbing” increase in rape and murder, partially explained by deadly riots in July, the police minister said on Friday.
Twenty percent more murders were committed between July and September, compared to the same period last year, police minister Bheki Cele said.
“Among the many other factors that contributed to the increase in murders, was the July unrests which affected mostly the KwaZulu-Natal province and Gauteng,” he said.
At least 350 people died four months ago when riots and looting, sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma, degenerated into wider unrest driven by South Africa’s staggering levels of inequality.
In KwaZulu-Natal province, which suffered the brunt of the violence, the number of murders rose 44.4 percent, to 1,744 cases.
Gauteng, which includes Johannesburg, saw 229 more murders, compared to the same quarter last year.
The number of reported rapes also increased 7.1 percent, to 9,556 cases, the majority committed in the home of either the rapist or the victim.
“Almost 10,000 people being brutalised and sexually violated in just three months in South Africa is a disgrace and deeply disturbing,” Cele said.
South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world, with a murder on average every 25 minutes, and 115 rapes reported daily.
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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