International
Russia assures that Ukraine will lose the war despite the new US military aid package
Russia assured today that Ukraine will lose the war despite the new military aid package of $61 billion approved on Saturday by the US House of Representatives.
“But this will not alter the situation on the battlefield. The criminal regime of Kiev will be defeated,” wrote Viacheslav Volodin, president of the Duma or chamber of deputies of Russia, on his Telegram channel.
Russia warned the United States, which on Saturday approved a new $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine, that its current support for Kiev will end in a “fiasco” as well-nound as in the Vietnam and Afghanistan wars.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg celebrated last night that the United States House of Representatives has approved “a new and important” aid package to Ukraine and assured that this will contribute to “making us all safer, both in Europe and in North America.”
“I am pleased that the United States House of Representatives has approved a new and important aid package for Ukraine. Ukraine is using the weapons provided by NATO allies to destroy Russian combat capabilities. This makes us all safer, in Europe and North America,” Stoltenberg said on social network X.
The leaders of the main institutions of the European Union (EU) also welcomed the fact that the United States House of Representatives has approved a new aid package for Ukraine and called for the preservation of unity between Europeans and Americans to continue supporting Kiev.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that Ukraine “deserves all possible support against Russia” and, after the affirmative vote of the House of Representatives, urged the US Senate to ratify this package “as soon as possible”, because “there are lives at stake.”
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, stressed that the approval of this aid package “sends a clear message to the Kremlin,” and that is that “those who believe in freedom and the Charter of the United Nations will continue to support Ukraine and its people.”
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, added that, with the package approved this Saturday by the US House of Representatives, Ukraine “will have the transatlantic support it needs to face Russian aggression.”
The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, pointed out that “the only way to peace is to help the Ukrainian people defend themselves” and stressed the value of the EU and the United States remaining “united for freedom and against aggression.”
The US House of Representatives approved on Saturday a package of 95 billion dollars (about 89 billion euros) of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, after the bill has remained stagnant for months due to the blocking of a group of Republican legislators opposed to continuing to finance Kiev.
Each item has been voted independently and the 61 billion (about 57 billion euros) for Ukraine have received the green light with 311 votes in favor, among which there were both Democratic and Republican congressmen, compared to 112 against, in a session in which the Democrats cheered and waved Ukrainian flags.
In recent months, both Stoltenberg and other European NATO leaders had been pressing the United States to unblock this aid package as soon as possible, at one point in the Ukrainian Army it has been in trouble to defend itself against Russia’s offensive due to the shortage of weapons and ammunition.
The president of Ukraine himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, had previously stated that it would depend on this package of US aid that the Kiev forces could maintain their positions or be forced to withdraw gradually.
Now, the bill endorsed this Saturday by the House of Representatives will have to be validated by the Senate, where the Democratic Party has a tight majority.
After the approval, President Joe Biden celebrated in a statement that legislators have voted to promote “the national security interests” of the country and to “send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the global stage.”
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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