International

US lawmakers threaten reprisals to the ICC if it issues orders against Israel

The president of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has described as “shameful” and “illegal” the arrest warrants of Israeli officials that are allegedly prepared by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and several Republican Party legislators work in retaliation by the legislative way against the court.

That international court, based in The Hague (Netherlands), has been investigating since 2014 the allegations of war crimes committed by Israel’s military forces and Palestinian militias and could issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials for his role in the death of civilians in the Hamas offensive in Gaza.

Johnson, in a press release, advocated that the Government of President Joe Biden oppose those orders, which he considers “shameful” and “illegal,” and that he “use all available instruments to prevent such an abomination.”

The Louisiana legislator maintained that if the U.S. Government does not oppose the alleged arrest warrants, “the ICC could create and assume unprecedented powers to issue arrest warrants against U.S. political, diplomatic and military leaders.”

The chairman of the Committee of the Lower House for Foreign Affairs, Republican Michael McCaul, assured Axios that they are working on a bill to sanction ICC officials investigating the United States and its allies in this international court that pursues serious violations of international humanitarian law.

20250301_vacunacion_vph-728x90

20241211_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

domfuturo_netview-728x90

20240604_dom_728x90

CEL

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that Biden’s government does not support the ICC investigation and does not believe that that court has jurisdiction in this situation.

The ICC, founded in 2002 under the Rome Statute, has more than 123 members and in 2000 the Government of then Democratic President Bill Clinton signed the statute, but did not submit the pact to Senate ratification.

In 2002, the Government of Republican President George W. Bush withdrew the signature and indicated that he would not proceed with the ratification of the Rome Statute.

Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, was quoted by the Axios platform saying that “the United States should consider whether we continue as signatories” of the Rome Statute.

“We have to think about discussing with some of the countries that have ratified (the Statute) and see if they want to support that organization,” he added.

20250301_vacunacion_vph-728x90

20241211_mh_noexigencia_dui_728x90

20231124_etesal_728x90_1

20230601_agenda_primera_infancia_728X90

domfuturo_netview-728x90

20240604_dom_728x90

CEL

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”

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.”

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.