World
Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor
C4
SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017
Lynching up in Venezuela CARACAS―Swearing in fury, the crowd strips the man naked and stomps on his head as he sprawls on the ground. “You want things that come easy? Then take this, you bastard.” In Venezuela, this is what robbers get when they are caught by passers-by. It is not just the country’s economy and political system that are sick, but society itself, experts say. An epidemic of lynchings is one of the most gruesome symptoms. AFP journalists filmed a lynching closeup in a busy street in the capital Caracas. A witness says he stopped the man who had tried to rob a woman at gunpoint in a bakery. Then the mob took over. “You’re lucky we didn’t burn you,” a voice yells, as police lug the man, limp but still breathing, into the back of their car. The crowd yells in satisfaction―but not at the man’s arrest. They think they are the ones who have done justice here. “Their aim is to kill the person before the police arrive,” says Marco Ponce, coordinator of the Venezuelan Social Conflict Observatory. The body says some 60 people were recorded as killed in lynchings in the first five months of this year alone. Last year there were 126 such killings―a surge from the 20 reported in the previous year, coinciding with the worsening of political tensions and economic chaos. “In lynchings, citizens let out their anger in the face of a state that is not defending their right to justice,” says Ponce. “They think they are dispensing justice, and they do so with anger, so they go as far as killing the person.” AFP
China: Deadly blast a bomb LIGHTING CEREMONY. Thisis a general view of the atmosphere during The City of Los Angeles and DC Entertainment Bat-Signal Lighting Ceremony honoring Adam West at the Los Angeles City Hall on June 15, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. AFP
Trump slams reports he is target of Russia probe W
ASHINGTON―President Donald Trump responded angrily to reports that he is under criminal investigation Thursday, deriding a “witch hunt” against him led by some “very bad” people. He was answering accounts that he is personally being investigated for obstruction of justice with a characteristic scorched-earth defense: claiming mistreatment of historic proportions and calling into question the probity of his accusers. “You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history―led by some very bad and conflicted people!” he said in an early morning tweet. Trump did not directly address the allegations that he is being probed for possibly obstructing justice―a potentially impeachable offense. Nor did he deny that he has entered the minuscule ranks of sitting presidents who have become subjects of criminal investigations. “They made up a phony collusion
with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” he wrote. Trump’s young presidency has been battered by allegations-under investigation both by Congress and the FBI― that Russia interfered to sway the 2016 election in his favor, in possible collusion with Trump’s campaign team. The FBI probe, now in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller, shifted its focus to allegations of obstruction in the days after Trump fired the agency’s then-director James Comey on May 9. The new allegations against Trump center on his own admission that he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation, and suggestions he asked several top intelligence officials for their
help altering the inquiry’s direction. The Washington Post reported Thursday evening that Mueller’s team is also focusing on the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law. The widened Russia probe could have far-reaching repercussions for Trump’s presidency, transforming his closest aides into witnesses and sucking yet more political oxygen out of the West Wing. An aide to Vice President Mike Pence revealed on Thursday that he was hiring Richard Cullen―a veteran of the IranContra investigation, Watergate and the 2000 vote recount in Florida―as a private lawyer. The latest White House crisis struck on the evening of Trump’s 71st birthday, after a day in which he had won plaudits for his handling of the shooting of Republican Congressman Steve Scalise. In an address to the country, Trump struck a notably less partisan tone in response to his first major domestic crisis.
Ditching derogatory rhetoric about the Washington “swamp,” he rallied in support of his fellow politicians and called on the country to pull together. “We may have our differences, but we do well, in times like these, to remember that everyone who serves in our nation’s capital is here because, above all, they love our country,” Trump said. But his tweets virtually ensure that the political focus swings back to the Russia scandal. The president has long vehemently denied any collusion with Moscow. But as the legal rope has tightened, his allies have gone on the offensive, questioning the credibility of the special investigator Mueller, a respected former FBI director who served under Republican president George W. Bush. Allies have even floated the idea that Mueller may be fired. On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz suggested―without providing evidence―that the FBI had leaked details of the criminal probe. AFP
FENGXIAN, China―The blast that killed eight people and injured dozens outside a kindergarten in eastern China was triggered by a makeshift bomb whose maker was among the dead, authorities said Friday. The public security ministry said in a statement that the suspect was a 22-year-old man with health problems who rented a room near the kindergarten in Fengxian, where Thursday’s blast occurred. Police found material to make a homemade explosive device at the apartment, which had the words “die”, “death” and “destroy” written on the wall. The statement said the man, surnamed Xu, suffered from dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, a disorder that can cause heart and blood pressure problems. He had dropped out of school but was employed. The motive was not immediately known and police did not say whether the kindergarten was the target. The explosion in Jiangsu province left victims bleeding and weeping, with images posted on state media showing some had their clothes torn off by the force of the explosion. A survivor told broadcaster CCTV from her hospital bed that the school gate had just opened for kids to leave, though none had come out when the fireball erupted. The woman, who was holding a baby during the interview as she sat on her bed, said she blacked out and only woke up while being treated. The Fengxian county government said class had not yet been dismissed and that no teachers or students were among the casualties. At least eight people were killed and 65 injured, including eight seriously, according to authorities. Two died at the site of the explosion and six while being treated. AFP
Manhunt snares escaped inmates WASHINGTON―A pair of US convicts who overpowered and killed their guards in a brazen jailbreak in the southern state of Georgia were recaptured Thursday after a two-day manhunt, authorities said. The felons, Donnie Rowe, 43, and Ricky Dubose, 24, had been described as “dangerous beyond description” by Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who coordinated the search. The pair shot to death two prison officers during the escape in the early hours of Tuesday, as they were being moved between two penal facilities. Rowe, considered a sociopath by authorities, was described as a recidivist with a long list of convictions and was serving a life sentence for armed robbery and other crimes. Officials said Dubose is also a hardened criminal despite his relative youth, as well as being a member of the notorious “Ghostface Gangsters” white supremacist group. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said on Twitter that they had been captured and the state’s governor indicated that they had been detained in the neighboring state of Tennessee. “CAPTURED: Fugitives in custody following car chase in TN. More info will be forthcoming,” Governor Nathan Deal tweeted. The convicts were among 30 inmates being transported by bus when the drama unfolded Tuesday. The rear of the vehicle was equipped with a caged area where inmates were secured, with the guards in a separate compartment at the front. Somehow, the pair managed to free themselves and force their way into the front of the vehicle, overpowering the guards and killing them with their own firearms. AFP
POSE. From left, Argentinian actress Dolores Fonzi, Argentinian actor Ricardo Darin and Argentinian actress Erica Rivas pose on May 24, 2017 during a photocall for the film ‘La Cordillera - El Presidente’ (The Summit) at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. AFP