BEIJING, China – Top US and Chinese trade negotiators held productive talks in Beijing on Wednesday, May 1, the American side said, as the economic superpowers head towards an endgame in a dispute that has hit businesses with bruising tariffs.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, a close aide to President Xi Jinping on economic matters, met with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ahead of possibly decisive talks in the US next week.
The world's two leading economies have exchanged tariffs on $360 billion worth of goods since President Donald Trump launched a trade war last year.
"Ambassador Lighthizer and I just concluded productive meetings with China's Vice Premier Liu He. We will continue our talks in Washington, DC next week," Mnuchin wrote on Twitter.
The US and Chinese officials posed for pictures but made no statements to journalists about the outcome of the talks after they emerged from their hours-long meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house.
Liu and the Americans exchanged pleasantries before and after the behind-closed-door talks, joking about wearing the same colour red ties. The Chinese vice premier gave US Ambassador Terry Branstad a blue album with the Chinese state crest on it.
Mnuchin told reporters earlier that he had a "nice" working dinner with Liu on Tuesday night.
Deal or no deal
Liu is due in Washington on May 8 for the next round of talks.
Mnuchin said earlier this week that the negotiations were in a decisive phase, telling the Fox Business channel "there's a strong desire from both sides to see if we can wrap this up or move on".
"We hope within the next two rounds – in China and in DC – to be at the point where we can either recommend to the president we have a deal or make a recommendation that we don't," he said.
Mnuchin said negotiators were close to agreement on tough enforcement provisions in any trade pact.
The US side is pressing China to overhaul its industrial policy by further opening its market to foreign firms, stopping massive subsidies to domestic companies and curbing the alleged theft of American technology.
Beijing has made public displays of concessions, with Xi last week saying China would abolish "unjustified regulations, subsidies and practices that impede fair competition and distort the market."
China has also passed a foreign investment law that promises to protect the intellectual property of overseas companies.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Trump was dropping a key demand in the negotiations, with the US likely to accept a watered-down commitment from China on commercial cyber theft.
Such a concession could remove a major obstacle for a final deal in the fraught talks. – Rappler.com
LONDON, United Kingdom – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be sentenced Wednesday, May 1, for breaching a British court order 7 years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.
The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador gave him up, could face a 12-month prison sentence when he appears at Southwark Crown Court at 10:30am (0930 GMT).
Assange fled to the embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.
He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.
There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed.
However, the 47-year-old is facing a US extradition request, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest, when he was dragged shouting from the embassy by police.
US hearing on Thursday
Assange appeared in court within hours of his arrest, and a judge found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions.
Any sentence handed down on Wednesday is likely to take into account the past few weeks spent in jail.
The biggest concern for his lawyers is the US extradition request. An initial hearing in the case is set for this Thursday.
The US indictment charges him with "conspiracy" for working with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password stored on Department of Defence computers in March 2010.
Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing US military wrongdoing in the Iraq war and diplomatic secrets about scores of countries around the world.
Assange could face up to 5 years in jail if found guilty, although his team is fighting his extradition and the process could take years.
The charge has raised serious concerns among organisations advocating free speech, including politicians such as British opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
WikiLeaks is also back in the news in the United States, over its alleged role in the leak of Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 US presidential election.
The Swedish claims against Assange date back to 2010, when he was at the centre of a global storm over WikiLeaks' exposures.
The sexual assault claim expired in 2015, but while the rape claim was dropped in 2017, the alleged victim wants the case reopened.
If Stockholm makes a formal extradition request, Britain must decide whether to consider it before or after that of the United States.
A group of British lawmakers have urged the Swedish case to take precedence, saying the rights of the alleged victims must not be lost in the political row. – Rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines – Three United Nations experts on Wednesday, May 1, condemned the continuous attacks and allegations linking one of their own to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).
The UN special rapporteurs said that the new accusations against UN special rapporteur Victoria Tauli-Corpuz “are clearly in retaliation for her invaluable work defending the human rights of indigenous peoples worldwide, and in the Philippines.”
The UN special rapporteurs are the following:
Michel Forst, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
David Kaye, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to rreedom of opinion and expression
Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
“We call on the Philippine Government to immediately stop these unacceptable attacks on the human rights work of Corpuz, and to ensure her physical safety,” they said, adding that the accusations are “without grounding in fact or law.”
“The criminalizing discourse used by Philippine public officials undermines the value of the vital work of human rights defenders, denigrates them in the eyes of the public and may put them at risk of threats, violence or other forms of harassment,” they said.
Brigadier General Antonio Parlade Jr had earlier claimed that the UN was infiltrated by the CPP through Corpuz, a veteran Filipino human rights worker.
“May IP Rapporteur sila doon at actually, iyong rapporteur na iyon, nasa listahan iyan ng… as a member of the Communist Party noong pinaylan [filed] natin ng kaso iyong Communist Party as a terrorist organization,” Parlade said in a press conference on March 13,
(They have an IP rapporteur there and that rapporteur, she’s in the list filed before the court tagging the Communist Party as a terrorist organization.)
Corpuz was indeed one of 649 people the Department of Justice sought to tag as terrorists in 2018. The Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19, however, eventually cleared her and 3 others.
Parlade’s statement was in line with the government’s offensive against progressive groups that they alleged were fronts for the CPP.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr shad written the European Union, asking it to stop funding non-governmental organizations on the government list, claiming that they were being used to recruit for the CPP.
Human rights groups have denounced the government for red-tagging, profiling, and surveillance.– Rappler.com
MUMBAI, India – A suspected bomb attack by Maoist rebels killed 16 Indian elite commandos on Wednesday, May 1, police said, the latest incident of election-time violence in a decades-long insurgency.
"Maoists attacked a team of commandos travelling in a private vehicle to inspect an earlier attack. So far 16 men have died," an official at police headquarters in the western state of Maharashtra told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"More teams have been sent to site for rescue and combat operations," said the officer, who did not want to give his name.
India is holding elections and attacks by Maoist rebels, who are active in several states, often spike as the country goes to the polls.
A second police official put the death toll in the latest incident in the Gadchiroli region of Maharashtra at 15.
"Maoists torched over 30 vehicles in Gadchiroli today at 12.30pm (0700 GMT). In another blast, 15 security officers were killed and rescue operations are ongoing to ascertain the damage," Gadchiroli police official Prashant Dute told AFP.
Indian forces have been fighting Maoists rebels for decades in several areas, in an insurgency that has killed tens of thousands.
The Maoists are believed to be present in at least 20 Indian states but are most active in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand – and Maharashtra.
India's nationwide election began on April 11 and runs until May 19.
Last weekend rebels opened fire on Indian police, killing two constables and wounding a villager in the central state of Chhattisgarh, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.
One constable and an assistant constable died at the scene and the villager, shot in the chest, was taken by local residents for treatment, PTI reported.
A roadside bomb attack on a political convoy in early April killed 5 people in Chhattisgarh, two days before the world's biggest election began.
"Strongly condemn the despicable attack on our security personnel in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. I salute all the brave personnel," Modi tweeted.
"Their sacrifices will never be forgotten. My thoughts & solidarity are with the bereaved families. The perpetrators of such violence will not be spared," he added.
Devendra Fadnavis, chief minister of Maharashtra and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally of Modi, confirmed the attack on Twitter.
"Anguished to know that our 16 police personnel from Gadchiroli C-60 force got martyred in a cowardly attack by naxals (Maoists) today. My thoughts and prayers are with the martyrs' families," Fadnavis said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh called the attack "an act of cowardice and desperation."
"We are extremely proud of the valor of our police personnel," he said. "Their supreme sacrifice while serving the nation will not go in vain." – Rappler.com
MOSCOW, Russia – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new decree fast-tracking Russian citizenship for some Ukrainians despite concerns the move will exacerbate the crisis between the countries.
Under a decree published Wednesday, May 1, several categories of Ukrainian nationals will have the right to a simplified nationality process including those who already have Russian residence permits.
Other categories include Ukrainian citizens who were born in Crimea but left the peninsula before Russia annexed it in March, 2014.
The fast-track procedure is implemented to protect "rights and human and civil freedoms," said the decree which Putin signed on Monday.
The move comes after a comedian with no political experience, Volodymyr Zelensky, won a landslide victory in presidential elections in Ukraine last month.
The Kremlin has not congratulated Zelensky while Putin said Moscow was thinking of making it easier for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship.
Putin had already signed a decree on April 24 allowing people living in breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine to receive a Russian passport within three months of applying for one.
President-elect Zelensky, in response, pledged to grant Ukrainian citizenship to Russians who "suffer" under Kremlin rule.
There were hopes bilateral ties might improve under a Zelensky presidency but that is now looking unlikely, analysts say.
Kiev and the West have condemned the Kremlin, accusing Putin of seeking to further destabilise Ukraine, while critics at home say the moves would be a major burden for the already-struggling Russian economy.
After a pro-Western uprising in Kiev ousted a Kremlin- backed regime in 2014 Moscow annexed Crimea and extended support to Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Some in Kiev and the West worry that Moscow's offer of citizenship to Ukrainians would give the Kremlin a justification to move troops across the border under the pretext of protecting the interests of Russian nationals. – Rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines – You know a natural park ranger when you see one.
Uniformed, geared up, and armed – that's what an equipped ranger should be, ideally. But not all rangers have these job essentials.
Take for instance the tamaraw rangers in Mindoro. They don't have complete uniforms, and with no GPS device, they rely on two old binoculars and a point-and-shoot camera while patrolling the Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP).
The MIBNP is home to tamaraws (Bubalus mindorensis), which are not only endemic in the Philippines (especially in Mindoro) but also critically endangered according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
From a population of around 10,000 in the 1900s, they are now down to a significantly low count of 523 heads, according to the United Nations Development Program Biodiversity Finance Initiative (UNDP BioFin).
The rinderpest outbreak during the 1930s, coupled with biodiversity loss, hunting, and poaching caused a huge decline in their population.
Protecting the tamaraws from these threats are the rangers who have devoted their lives to this job despite lack of tenure, lack of proper tools and gear, and the dangers that come with the job.
Tamaraw rangers
Field operations officer Eduardo Bata has been a ranger for decades under a contractual employment. His contract is renewed every 6 months.
According to Nella Lomotan, a travel and conservation enthusiast who had talked to him when they visited the site, 15 rangers would patrol the MIBNP for 22 days straight, keeping it safe from hunters and poachers.
He told her that while on duty, they had encountered lowlanders who fired at them.
Yet the biggest challenge of this job, according to Eduardo, is being away from their families. It made him miss moments at home when he's needed the most, like when his child is sick.
For 32 years, his job arrangement has remained the same.
In her disbelief, Lomotan had to ask him: "After all these years?"
"Yes," the ranger answered.
Lomotan said the rangers are aware of the nature of their job, but they choose to stay because they consider it their calling.
According to an article contributed to Eco Explorations – an environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) that has an ongoing tie-up with the Tamaraw Conservation Program (TCP) – some rangers had also encountered "slipping down the mountain because they were patrolling without lights, and chased off poachers with firecrackers because they had no guns."
Tamaraw Conservation Program
The TCP was established in 1979 through Executive Order No. 544, due to the pressing need to conserve these only endemic bovine in the country.
As a special government project under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, its aim is to protect the remaining tamaraws, whose population in the MIBNP has increased in the last 16 years.
Key to this success is the patrolling and monitoring in the MIBNP, according to a summary report from D'Aboville, a foundation that helps the TCP.
Celine Murillo of The Poor Traveler who was with Lomotan during their MIBPN visit said that majority of the Mangyans, whose hunting practices contributed to the decline of the tamaraws, are also now part of this conservation program. These tribes live in the area and depend on its biodiversity for sustenance.
Through negotiations, the Mangyans agreed with the TCP to designate a hunting season and a hunting area in order to protect the tamaraws. Some of them are now rangers, she added.
Challenges and support
A limited budget fund is the root of the TCPs many challenges. Murillo said the TCP has to rely on agencies like the BioFin and D'Aboville Foundation, as well as private individuals, for support.
She said wardens, who are additional manpower in the MIBNP, receive a P3,000 allowance for 11 days of duty from D'Aboville Foundation.
The World Wildlife Fund, together with the Red Cross, also grant a one-year accident insurance to 20 rangers, she added.
Last year, BioFin co-organized the second Biodiversity Campin the MIBNP to help raise funds for the TCP. The camp is held annually by the TCP to raise awareness on the plight of the tamaraws and mobilize resources for species protection.
According to Murillo, TCP project coordinator June Pineda David sometimes shell out her own money and find ways to provide the rangers with uniforms and proper hiking bags.
Funding and legislation
But David and everyone in the TCP team are worried about the budget cut.
"They wondered if the increase in the tamaraw population – the largest being recorded – is not enough to warrant them better funding," Murillo said.
She said there are fears that the years of conservation efforts will be undone along with the slash in their budget.
According to Angelique Ogena of UNDP BioFin, David had said that the approved 2019 budget for TCP is P3,300,000. Back in 2008, the program's approved budget was P4,200,000.
Ogena added that the budget has a net of P2,790,000, which is less the mandatories and 10% share to the provincial office.
Ogena said that according to David, the budget is not enough especially since the TCP needs P2,952,120 for the wages of 25 rangers and 3 office staff.
The rangers' salary depends on their roles (e.g. team leaders) and length of service. New rangers receive P6,000, while those in service for 33 years receive P11,000, Ogena added.
Last year, 30 tamaraws were spotted in Mt Gimparay in Naujan, Occidental Mindoro, affirming once more the need for conservation attention in these areas.
To date, there are only 25 rangers and a few wardens in the MIBNP, and they're only able to patrol the 25,000 hectares of the protected area.
Under the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP) 2015-2028, P24 billion is required annually for biodiversity conservation in the country.
"However, the current level of spending on biodiversity is only at P5 billion per year, which leaves an 80% financing gap," according to BioFin, which helped mainstream the PBSAP into the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022.
BioFin is also exploring policy reforms through Congress. This partnership resulted in House Bill 4604, filed in the 17th Congress by Occidental Mindoro Representative Josephine Ramirez Sato. The bill aims to tap the Malampaya Fund for biodiversity conservation and renewable energy development.
Ultimately, the institutionalization of the TCP is crucial for it to have a permanent office with permanent items and benefits for the rangers.
Other ways to help
According to BioFin, local governments can adopt the PBSAP and create their own local version, as it is proven effective in increasing financing for biodiversity at the local government level.
Private sector investments in biodiversity-friendly enterprises are also being explored, while the TCP's existing private sector partnerships help the team get by.
They receive help in terms of research and technical assistance from NGOs, donations (including in kind) from guests, two units of desktop computers from the academe, and 6 Android phones from an international NGO. The rangers use the phones for spatial monitoring and patrolling.
Conservation-focused tour providers like the Eco Explorations include the MIBNP in their destinations and provide a portion of the fee to the TCP. Ogena said the TCP plans to implement ecotourism strategies in the MIBNP that are similar to their tie-up with Eco Explorations. – Rappler.com
If you want to help rangers and wardens of Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park, please contact Angelique Ogena at angelique.ogena@undp.org. You can also get involved with the TCP through Eco Explorations.
PARIS, France – Riot police clashed with anti-capitalist protesters in Paris on Wednesday, May 1, firing tear gas to disperse them as thousands gathered for a May Day march in the city's south.
In a tense atmosphere, hundreds of so-called "black bloc" activists pushed to the front of the gathering crowd on Montparnasse Boulevard, hurling bottles and other projectiles at police in a confrontation some 90 minutes before the march was to start.
One protester suffered a head injury, an AFP journalist said.
Riot police also used stingball grenades to disperse the crowd.
A controversial riot control device, the grenade is thrown at ground level, releasing scores of rubber pellets that cause an intense stinging to the legs within a 15-metre (50-foot) range.
By late morning, police said some 88 people had been detained for questioning.
Six armored vehicles and 6 water cannons were also on standby to be brought in if needed, a police source told AFP. – Rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines – The construction of what's believed to be the first hospital devoted to overseas Filipino workers (OFW) began on Wednesday, May 1, in San Fernando City, Pampanga.
The P400-million hospital broke ground on Labor Day, in a ceremony attended by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, House Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda.
The construction costs will be shouldered by Bloomberry Cultural Foundation Incorporated (BCFI), the corporate social responsibility arm of the Razon-led Bloomberry Resorts Corporation, which owns and operates Solaire Resort and Casino.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation will be donating P200 million worth of hospital equipment to the facility.
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) head Hans Cacdac, in an interview with reporters on Wednesday, said the hospital is targetted for completion in one and a half years, or by 2020.
But he refused to disclose other details, as some of them were still subject to negotiations with other stakeholders.
"There are some details that are still being discussed, like what type of hospital this is, the plantilla staffing, as well as the budget and OWWA subsidy programs for the families. I can't disclose it yet because it's not yet final," Cacdac said.
"There's a planned MOU to be crafted among stakeholders," he added.
In 2014, BCFI donated P250 million to the Department of Health to build a facility of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City in Leyte. It was turned over in 2016. – Rappler.com
BANGKOK, Thailand – Thailand announced Wednesday, May 1, that King Maha Vajiralongkorn's long-time consort had become his fourth wife, bestowed with the title Queen Suthida – a surprise move just days before his coronation.
The Royal Gazette published an announcement saying Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, a former flight attendant, had "legally married" the king in accordance with royal traditions.
"Therefore, he bestows (the title) on General Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya from Queen Consort to Queen Suthida as of now," the announcement said.
The ceremony was overseen by Vajiralongkorn wearing a white uniform in Bangkok's Dusit Palace Wednesday, according to a broadcast of the announcement, which showed Queen Suthida in a traditional Thai silk dress.
Long seen trailing the king in public events as part of his personal security retinue, Suthida, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, was given the rank of "general" in 2016.
Vajiralongkorn, who has been married 3 times, is frequently abroad in Germany.
Harsh lese-majeste laws have shielded public scrutiny of his colorful private life, and all media in Thailand must self-censor.
This weekend's coronation will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago.
It was not immediately clear what role Queen Suthida will play in the ceremony. – Rappler.com
WASHINGTON DC, USA – US Attorney General Bill Barr faces tough questions in the Senate Wednesday, May 1, after the explosive revelation that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had objected to his downplaying of the Russia investigation report's allegations against President Donald Trump.
Barr appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee amid an uproar over revelations that Mueller felt that Barr, in declaring in late March that the Russia report cleared Trump of wrongdoing, had misrepresented the evidence and conclusions of the nearly two-year investigation.
Three days after Barr's March 24 summary of the report allowed Trump to declare that he was completely exonerated, Mueller wrote that his summary generated "public confusion" about the report's results.
Barr's four-page summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance," of the investigation's conclusions, the letter said.
The 448-page report, finally released on April 18, said it did not find evidence that Trump's campaign conspired with Russians interfering in the 2016 presidential election.
On a second focus, Mueller declined to rule whether Trump himself had committed a crime of obstruction in his interference and pressure on the investigation.
But Mueller laid out a large body of evidence showing repeated efforts by the Trump team to collude with the Russians, and a damning pattern of obstructive behavior by the president that Mueller suggested Congress itself should investigate.
Mueller's letter indicated what many critics said of Barr once the full report was finally released – that he had deliberately downplayed the evidence Mueller's team had compiled in order to declare Trump free of suspicion.
"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller wrote.
"This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the (Justice)Department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."
That warning has proven true: while Barr's distillation has encouraged the Republican White House to declare Trump exonerated, many Democrats are claiming the opposite and the party is debating whether to open impeachment proceedings against the president.
After the revelation of the Mueller letter, a number of Democrats in Congress called for an investigation and possibly impeachment of Barr himself.
Several alleged Barr had lied on two occasions to Congress in April on the substance of his communications with Mueller about the report.
Barr "whitewashed the report," Senator Dick Durbin, a member of the Judiciary Committee, told CNN ahead of the hearing.
"He clearly misled" Congress, he said, and "virtually disqualified himself" from any more involvement in the Mueller investigation.
"Attorney General Barr should resign," said Democratic Representative Adam Schiff.
"He misled the American people with his inaccurate summary of Mueller's report. Then he misled the Congress when he denied knowledge of Mueller's concerns."
The White House has not commented on the Mueller letter.
But Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani told CNN that Mueller "should have made a decision and shouldn't be complaining or whining now that he didn't get described correctly" on the obstruction issue. – Rappler.com
CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called for huge May Day protests on Wednesday, May 1, to pile pressure on President Nicolas Maduro as the United States said it was prepared to take military action to stem the crisis in the South American nation.
Pro- and anti-government rallies were due to take place, a day after violent clashes erupted in the capital following Guido's call on the military to rise up against Maduro, who claimed the insurrection had failed.
Guaido said Wednesday's opposition rally would be "the biggest in the history of Venezuela" as he presses his attempt to unseat the president.
"Across all of Venezuela, we will be in the streets," said the National Assembly leader, recognized as interim president by more than 50 countries, as he repeated his call for the armed forces to join "Operation Freedom" to overthrow the socialist president.
Maduro, who is also due to lead a May Day rally in Caracas, congratulated the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes."
"This will not go unpunished," Maduro said in an address broadcast on television and radio.
"(Prosecutors) will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace."
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned however that US President Donald Trump is adamant the possibility of a military intervention in the South American nation is not simple bluster.
"The president has been crystal clear and incredibly consistent. Military action is possible. If that's what's required, that's what the United States will do," Pompeo told Fox Business Network.
Tensions in Venezuela have been ratcheted up to a critical level this year, after Guaido announced on January 23 that he was the acting president under the constitution. He said Maduro had been fraudulently re-elected last year.
'No turning back'
Guaido published a list on Twitter of gathering points for protesters on Wednesday, adding the message: "We continue with greater strength than ever Venezuela."
He had rallied his supporters with a video message early on Tuesday that showed him – for the first time – with armed troops he said had heeded months of urging to join his campaign to oust Maduro.
He claimed the move was the "beginning of the end" of Maduro's regime, and there was "no turning back."
"We showed there are soldiers willing to defend the constitution, and there are many more," Guaido said in the video message.
The 35-year-old opposition leader was filmed outside the La Carlota air base, where he asked the armed forces inside to join him.
Guaido was immediately backed by the US, where Trump said in a tweet on Tuesday that Washington was standing behind the Venezuelan people and their "freedom."
Thousands of opposition supporters flocked onto a highway near the air base, many waving Venezuelan flags, but they were met with gunfire and tear-gas fired by soldiers at the compound's perimeter.
Soldiers backing Guaido wore blue armbands to demonstrate their allegiance to the opposition leader but there appeared to be few of them.
Riots also erupted in several other cities across the country, with dozens injured and one death reported, according to human rights groups.
Brazil said at least 25 Venezuelan troops had sought asylum at its Caracas embassy.
Maduro had called on his forces to show "nerves of steel" and troops in riot gear, backed by armored vehicles and water tankers, lined up against the demonstrators.
Hours after the revolt by military officers appeared to be fizzling out, Pompeo told CNN he believed Maduro was ready to flee to ally Cuba before he was dissuaded by Russia – a claim Maduro later refuted as "a joke."
'Another sunrise'
Speaking late on Tuesday to business executives in Washington, Pompeo voiced hope that Maduro would still choose exile in the coming days.
"I must say, there will be another sunrise tomorrow. The opportunity for Venezuelan democracy, I am confident, will remain," Pompeo said.
Moscow, Maduro's main backer and creditor alongside China, accused Guaido of "fueling conflict" in the oil-rich country while the Syrian government condemned the "failed coup attempt."
Maduro's leftist Latin American allies Bolivia and Cuba also condemned Guaido.
As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appealed to all sides to avoid violence, Venezuela's army chief and defense minister General Vladimir Padrino issued a stark warning of possible "bloodshed" – adding that he would hold the opposition responsible.
The US, meanwhile, called on the military to protect the people and support "legitimate institutions" including the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
Trump threatened a "full and complete embargo" and tougher sanctions against Cuba if it does not end military support for Venezuela. – Rappler.com
BHUBANESWAR, India – India deployed emergency personnel Wednesday, May 1, and ordered the navy on standby as it braced for an extremely severe cyclonic storm barrelling towards the eastern coast.
Tropical Cyclone Fani, located in the Bay of Bengal and packing wind speeds up to 205 kilometers (127 miles) per hour, is expected to make landfall at Odisha state Friday, May 3.
Authorities have also ordered the evacuation of thousands of people from coastal districts likely to bear the brunt of the storm.
The neighboring coastal states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also been put on a high alert.
India's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said sea conditions were "phenomenal" over the west-central Bay of Bengal area.
"Fishermen are advised not to venture into these areas," NDMA warned on Twitter.
The office of the state's special relief commissioner said local authorities had been told to identify "all vulnerable people...and shift them to multipurpose cyclone/flood shelters."
"Arrangements have already been made for free kitchen, safe drinking water, lighting, health and sanitation," it said in a statement.
Local media reports say there are over 850 shelters in the state that can accommodate around one million people.
H.R Biswas, director of the meteorological center in state capital Bhubaneshwar, said at least 11 districts would be affected by severe rainfall.
"We have suggested people to stay indoors," he told reporters.
Coastal Puri town, some 62 kms (40 miles) from Bhubaneshwar, has also been put a high alert.
Puri is home to Shree Jagannath, one of Hinduism's holiest temples, which receives millions of pilgrims each year.
The government also advised the pilgrims to leave the holy town, if possible, and to reschedule any non-essential travel in the region.
India's weather department, in an advisory, asked all fishermen in the state to return to shore by late Wednesday.
The department warned of "potential threat of flying objects... Extensive uprooting of communication and power poles...Disruption of rail, road."
One local agency said that it had kept around 300 boats and crew on standby for rescue or relief work in the next 48 to 72 hours.
India's election commission has eased its restrictions in Odisha's coastal districts to allow the state authorities to carry out swift relief and rehabilitation work.
The rules, which apply during elections, suspend certain powers of the incumbent government to announce new schemes or take fresh administrative decisions.
Odisha, which has a population of around 46 million, has already voted in India's ongoing election, which started on April 11.
The seventh and final phase of voting will be held on May 19, with counting and results due May 23.
Odisha had to evacuate some 300,000 people last October when its coastal districts were battered by cyclone Titli, with winds up to 150 kms (95 miles) per hour and heavy rains.
At least two people were killed in the cyclone.
Storms regularly hit eastern and southeastern India between April and December. In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi left nearly 250 people dead in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states.
Odisha's worst-ever cyclone, in 1999, killed over 8,000 people. – Rappler.com
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka's police Wednesday, May 1, named 9 people who staged Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 253 people, and said the attackers' assets will be confiscated in line with anti-terror laws.
Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera confirmed that two of the luxury hotels were bombed by two brothers from a wealthy Colombo family involved in spice exports.
The group of Islamists had used one bomber at each of the locations hit on Easter Sunday, except at Shangri-La hotel where there were two suicide explosions.
One of the Shangri-La bombers was Zahran Hashim, the leader of the local jihadist group responsible for the audacious attacks that were claimed by the Islamic State groupo.
Hashim headed the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) which has since been banned. He attacked the Shangri-La in the company of fellow Islamist Ilham Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim.
Ilham's elder brother Inshaf Ahmed was the man who bombed the nearby Cinnamon Grand hotel.
The third hotel to be targeted, the Kingsbury, was bombed by a man identified as Mohamed Azzam Mubarak Mohamed. His wife was now in police custody, Gunasekera said.
The St. Anthony's Church was targeted by a local resident named Ahmed Muaz. His brother has been arrested. The St. Sebastian bomber was Mohamed Hasthun, a resident from the island's east where Hashim was based.
The Christian Zion church in the eastern district of Batticaloa was hit by a local resident, Mohamed Nasser Mohamed Asad.
Another man who failed to set a bomb off at a deluxe hotel, but blasted his explosives at a guest house near the capital. He was identified as Abdul Latheef who had studied both in Britain and Australia.
Shortly after the hotel bomb attacks, Fathima Ilham, the wife of the younger of the two brothers, blasted explosives strapped to herself, killing her two children and 3 police officers who rushed to the family home in Colombo.
"We are going to use prevention of terrorist financing laws to confiscate their property," Gunasekera said. – Rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines – A Human Rights Commission investigator for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and his driver were shot dead while they were riding a motorcycle in Cotabato City on Wednesday, May 1.
A police report said that Archad Ayao, 28, and his driver Pio Orteza were "traversing" in front of the Office of the District Engineer along Don Ramon Rabago Street in Barangay Rosary Heights 4 at around 6:10 pm when a man riding a black Honda XRM 125 motorcycle shot them before fleeing.
According to the police, both victims were hit in the head by the assailant. Ayao and Orteza were brought to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center by responding cops but both were pronounced dead on arrival.
Cops said they still could not confirm the direction where the suspect fled, but were able to identify the motorbike’s plate number: 1810 MR. Recovered from the crime scene were two spent cartridge cases from a caliber .45 pistol.
The motive of the killing, police said in their report, was “still to be determined.”– Rappler.com
KATHMANDU, Nepal – A dedicated clean-up team sent to Mount Everest has collected 3 tons of garbage in its first two weeks, officials said Wednesday, May 1, in an ambitious plan to clean the world's highest rubbish dump.
Decades of commercial mountaineering have left the pristine mountain polluted as an increasing number of big-spending climbers pay little attention to the ugly footprint they leave behind.
Fluorescent tents, discarded climbing equipment, empty gas canisters and even human excrement litter the well-trodden route to the summit of the 8,848-meter (29,029-foot) peak.
As this year's spring climbing season kicked off last month, the Nepal government sent a 14-member team with a target to bring back 10,000 kilograms (10 tons) of trash from Everest within a month and a half.
The team has collected and bundled the 3 tons of rubbish, including empty cans, bottles, plastic and discarded climbing gear from the base camp and surrounding areas bustling with climbers preparing and acclimatizing to summit Everest.
"The clean-up campaign team has just started and members have ascended to higher camps to collect more garbage," said Dandu Raj Ghimire, chief of Nepal's tourism department.
An army helicopter transported a third of the collected trash to Kathmandu for recycling. The remaining biodegradable trash was taken to the neighboring Okhaldhunga district for proper disposal.
Eight members are now cleaning Camp 2 at 6,400 meters and teams of 3 will take turns to go up to Camp 4 at 7,950 metres, where they will spend 15 days litter-picking on the snowy slopes.
"The clean-up campaign will be continued in the coming seasons as well to make the world's tallest mountain clean. It is our responsibility to keep our mountains clean," Ghimire said.
Governments on both sides of the mountain have been battling the human waste and trash left by an increasing number of climbers.
Six years ago, Nepal implemented a $4,000 rubbish deposit per team that would be refunded if each climber brought down at least 8 kilos (18 pounds) of waste, but only half of the climbers returned with their trash.
In February, China banned non-climbers from accessing its Everest base camp in Tibet in an attempt to clean up its side of the mountain.
Over 4,000 people have climbed Everest so far, and last year saw a record 807 climbers reach the summit.
Melting glaciers caused by global warming are exposing trash and even bodies that have accumulated on the mountain since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first successful summit 66 years ago. – Rappler.com
WASHINGTON, USA – US Attorney General Bill Barr rejected allegations in a Senate hearing Wednesday, May 1, that he had whitewashed the Mueller Russian interference report to protect President Donald Trump, but then refused to appear before the House to answer similar questions.
Barr underwent tough questioning in the Senate Judiciary Committee over his decision last month to declare that Trump had been fully cleared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation – a move which Mueller himself objected to days later in a letter.
Democratic members of the committee accused Barr of skewing the truth and deliberately downplaying disturbing behavior by the president, even if it did not add up to a crime.
But Barr rejected the criticisms, saying that after Mueller submitted his final report, it was his "baby" and his prerogative as head of the Department of Justice to sum up its conclusions.
Barr refuses to testify to House
After more than 4 hours before the Senate panel, Barr was scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, May 2, where he likely faced more rigorous questioning, including by a committee lawyer.
But late Wednesday the Justice Department announced he wouldn't appear, and would also not turn over to Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler a complete, unredacted version of the Mueller report.
"Unfortunately, even after the Attorney General volunteered to testify, Chairman Nadler placed conditions on the House Judiciary Committee hearing that are unprecedented and unnecessary," said department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.
"Chairman Nadler's insistence on having staff question the Attorney General, a Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, is inappropriate."
Impeachment debate
Democrats are debating whether Trump should be impeached for obstruction of justice based on the evidence set out in Mueller's 448-page report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Ahead of its release, on March 24 Barr announced that the report found no evidence of crimes of conspiracy with the Russians and inadequate evidence to support obstruction charges.
Barr's summary allowed Trump to declare "complete and total exoneration" over accusations of conspiracy with Russia and obstruction of justice, and to claim that it proved the Mueller probe was a politicized "witch hunt."
But the full report released on April 18 painted an altogether more damaging picture of the president's conduct.
Mueller said his team did not find evidence that Trump's campaign criminally conspired with Russians, but the report detailed repeated efforts by the Trump team to engage with Russians and to benefit from the sabotage.
Mueller also laid out a damning pattern of obstructive behavior by the president and suggested Congress itself should investigate. But he declined to give his own opinion on whether Trump had committed a crime.
Explaining his summary, Barr said it would have been "irresponsible and unfair" to release the report without reaching a conclusion, and he had attempted to "notify the people of the bottom-line conclusion."
'It was my decision'
But Barr's stance drew more criticism after the release Wednesday of a previously unknown March 27 letter in which Mueller criticized Barr's four-page summary of the report.
Mueller complained that Barr "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his conclusions, and had generated "public confusion."
The letter also made clear that at least twice in March Mueller proposed that Barr release the investigation's own summaries first, and that Barr had ignored that idea to put out his own version.
In testy exchanges with Democrats, Barr branded Mueller's letter as "a bit snitty" and "probably written by one of his staff people."
"It was my decision how and when to make it public, not Bob Mueller's," he said of the report.
Two Democratic senators seeking the party's 2020 presidential nomination lashed into Barr.
Corey Booker assailed Barr for not criticizing the behavior of Trump and his campaign documented by Mueller even if it did not rise up to a crime.
"You seem to be excusing a campaign that had hundreds of contacts with a foreign adversary," Booker said.
"Your conduct seems to be trying to normalize that behavior."
Kamala Harris alleged that Barr had conflicts of interest that should have prevented his involvement in the investigation.
Another Democratic senator, Maizie Hirono, accused Barr of a "public relations effort" to protect Trump.
"You used every advantage of your office to create the impression that the president was cleared of misconduct," she said. – Rappler.com
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested a person who allegedly uploaded the controversial "Bikoy" online videos, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Thursday, May 2.
"It was the person who uploaded the video who was arrested for a cybercrime offense, specifically cyberlibel," DOJ Undersecretary Markk Perete told reporters Thursday.
"Bikoy" is a series of online videos that linked President Rodrigo Duterte's family and those close to him to the illegal drug trade.
The DOJ as well as the police have launched a manhunt for Bikoy, the pseudonym of the person in the online video series who claimed to have firsthand knowledge of the allegations in the videos.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed the arrest. "Yes, arrest incidental to the service of a search warrant."
Guevarra said he is still awaiting for the full NBI report.
LONDON, United Kingdom – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces an initial hearing in London on Thursday, May 2, over an extradition request from the United States, a day after he was jailed for 50 weeks for jumping bail.
The US wants to extradite the Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on April 11 after spending 7 years in Ecuador's London embassy, to face charges of "conspiracy" for working with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
The US indictment, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest for breaching bail, accuses him of helping crack a password stored on Department of Defense computers in March 2010.
The charge carries a maximum sentence of 5 years.
Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing US military wrongdoing in the Iraq war and diplomatic secrets about scores of countries.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said on Wednesday, May 1, that all efforts would now be focussed on preventing Assange's extradition to the US.
"It will be a question of life and death," he warned.
Assange's supporters believe that more serious charges could be filed if he is transferred to the US, and he fears the death penalty.
Hrafnsson was speaking outside London's Southwark Crown Court, where a British judge handed Assange a 50-week jail term for breaching a British court order when he sought refuge in the embassy in June 2012.
'I apologize unreservedly'
At the time, Swedish authorities wanted to extradite Assange over claims of sexual assault and rape, which he denied.
He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States.
There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed, but Assange was still accountable for breaching British law, leading to him being dragged shouting from the embassy by police when Ecuador gave him up last month.
The 47-year-old, his shaggy beard neatly trimmed, raised his fist to supporters in the public gallery at Southwark Crown Court as he was taken down to the cells.
In a letter read out on his behalf, Assange expressed regret, saying: "I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done."
"I apologize unreservedly," he said.
Assange's team is fighting his extradition and the process could take years.
WikiLeaks is also back in the news in the United States, over its alleged role in the leak of Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 US presidential election.
The Swedish claims against Assange date back to 2010, when he was at the center of a global storm over WikiLeaks' exposures.
The sexual assault claim expired in 2015, but while the rape claim was dropped in 2017, the alleged victim wants the case reopened.
If Stockholm makes a formal extradition request, Britain must decide whether to consider it before or after that of the United States. – Rappler.com
DOHA, Qatar – Iran said Wednesday, May 1, it hopes to have good relations with arch-rival Saudi Arabia and its allies, and called for an end to their bitter dispute with Gulf neighbor Qatar.
Riyadh broke off relations with Tehran in 2016 after protesters angry at its execution of a top Shiite cleric torched its diplomatic missions in Iran.
The following year the kingdom and its allies Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates imposed a trade and travel boycott on Qatar, demanding that it mirror their hardline policies towards Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.
"We have extremely good relations with Qatar, Kuwait, Oman," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, referring to the two Gulf Arab countries which remained neutral in the dispute.
"We hope to have the same type of relations with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates," Zarif told reporters on the sidelines of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue in Doha.
"We also hope that countries within the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) could resolve their differences peacefully.
"We were against pressure on Qatar, we still believe that pressure on Qatar is against international law."
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have repeatedly accused Qatar of posing a threat to Gulf security through its support for "extremism".
Doha has consistently denied the allegation accusing its former allies of seeking a pretext for regime change.
In April, Qatar said it filed 3 lawsuits in London and New York against Saudi and UAE banks for allegedly plotting to undermine its currency and bonds.
Qatar has already taken legal action against Saudi Arabia and its allies before the International Court of Justice, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the World Trade Organization.
Meanwhile Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani called for a "dialogue" between Iran and the United States to resolve the crisis between their countries.
Referring to a spate of US sanctions against Tehran, he said "we urge the parties of the crisis, Iran and the United States, to sit around the table and find sustainable solutions... because the region can't bear more crises". – Rappler.com
