Day: May 3, 2023

Russia reserves the right to retaliate “anywhere and anytime it deems necessary” in response to the drone attack on President Vladimir Putin’s residence, the Kremlin has said.

Officials claimed two Ukrainian drones attempted to strike the Kremlin early on Wednesday morning, but the raid was thwarted.

The president was not hurt in the “terrorist attack,” and the Kremlin complex did not suffer any damage, Putin’s office said.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti that the Russian leader was not in the Kremlin when the raid happened. He added that Putin was working at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow on Wednesday.

The attack took place as Russia prepares for Victory Day celebrations on May 9. The centerpiece of the commemoration of the victory against Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II is the annual military parade on Red Square, just outside the Kremlin walls.

Putin and other top officials, as well as foreign guests, will attend the event. Peskov said the parade would take place as scheduled.

Source: Russia Today

The UN chief said Wednesday that freedom of the press is under attack in every corner of the world and urged all nations to stop threats and attacks on journalists on World Press Freedom Day. ‘At least 67 media workers were killed in 2022, an unbelievable 50% increase over the previous year.’ Antonio Guterres said in a video message. ‘Nearly three-quarters of women journalists have experienced violence online and one in four have been threatened physically.’ He said: ‘Our freedom depends on press freedom” and that freedom ”represents the very lifeblood of human rights.’ Guterres said the financial collapse of scores of independent news organizations and an increase of national laws and regulations that stifle journalists are further expanding censorship and threatening freedom of expression as he criticized the increased concentration of the media industry into the hands of a few. ‘Stop the threats and attacks. Stop detaining and imprisoning journalists for doing their jobs. Stop the lies and disinformation. Stop targeting truth and truth-tellers.’ he said. ‘As journalists stand up for truth, the world stands with them.’

Source: Anadolu Agency

Brazilian federal police raided the home of former President Jair Bolsonaro early Wednesday looking for evidence on allegations that he tampered with coronavirus documents. Bolsonaro is a target of Operation Venire, a federal investigation into the alleged forgery of vaccine certificates. The former president allegedly falsified his vaccination certificate and the vaccination cards of relatives and advisors to gain entry to the US. The investigation led to the raid and the seizure of his cell phone. “I never mentioned that I had taken the vaccine. I was never asked for a vaccination card in the United States. There is no manipulation on my part,” Bolsonaro said outside his residence in Brasilia, according to Agencia Brasil. Authorities executed six arrest warrants and 16 raids in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro as part of the operation. Among those arrested was a former advisor to Bolsonaro, Lieut. Col. Mauro Cid. The forgery happened between November 2021 and December 2022, according to the investigation. “With that, such persons were able to issue the respective vaccination certificates and use them to circumvent the sanitary restrictions in force imposed by public authorities (Brazil and the United States) aimed at preventing the spread of contagious diseases,” said Federal Police. During the height of the pandemic, then-President Bolsonaro was ironclad in dismissing the severity of the virus and the effectiveness of the vaccine. Bolsonaro has had different clashes with Brazilian authorities. The right-wing politician has faced accusations and testified before Federal Police for purposefully spreading false information regarding the legitimacy of current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s election win and gifts of jewelry from the Saudi Arabian crown prince.

Source: Anadolu Agency

A series of intrusion and trespassing attempts have so far occurred at Buckingham Palace, as well as some other criminal acts near the Palace. A man was arrested on Tuesday after he approached the gates of Buckingham Palace and threw suspected shotgun cartridges into the Palace grounds, according to Metropolitan Police. A controlled explosion was conducted as a precaution as the man was also found to be in possession of a suspicious bag. In 2017, a man was detained after he drove a car at police outside Buckingham Palace, and then “reached for a four-foot sword.” Three officers were slightly injured while struggling to arrest him, police said. Meanwhile, trespassing via climbing a wall of Buckingham Palace took place multiple times and raised questions about the security of the Royal Family. The well-known intrusion case took place in 1982, when Michael Fagan, a 34-year-old unemployed man, intruded into Buckingham Palace twice. In his second attempt, he even entered the bedroom of Queen Elizabeth II, while she was sleeping. One of the most shocking breaches of royal security was reimagined in the fifth episode of season 4 of The Crown, a historical Netflix drama series about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. 2000s The last two decades saw a series of trespassing incidents and no harm came to any of the royal family members. Here are some of the trespassing attempts. In 2004, a protester dressed as “Batman” climbed a wall of Buckingham Palace, and reached a ledge adjacent to a balcony used by the royal family on ceremonial occasions. No member of the royal family was at the residence at that time. Jason Hatch, the protester, stood on the balcony with a banner, reading: “Superdads of Fathers 4 Justice, Fighting for Your Right to See Your Kid.” The group was founded in 2011, aiming to champion the causes of equal parenting, family law reform, and equal contact for divorced parents with children. Meanwhile, in September 2013, a security review was launched after an intruder was able to scale a fence and get inside the palace before being arrested. In May 2016, another man was arrested after climbing a Buckingham Palace wall. The 41-year-old man was detained on suspicion of trespassing on a protected site, said the police. Two years later, a homeless man was found sleeping on the grounds of Buckingham. 44-year-old Steven Lawlor broke poster boards and the display cabinet to use as bedding. In 2019, an intruder was arrested after allegedly climbing into the grounds of Buckingham Palace while the queen was sleeping. According to police, the 22-year-old man scaled the front gates of the palace and was arrested on suspicion of trespassing. In another trespassing attempt, Cameron Kalani, 44, armed with a knife and cocaine, was spotted by security guards climbing over the fence of the Royal Mews in May 2021. A year later appearing at the court, Kalani claimed he was in a “state of psychosis” and did not realize he was climbing Buckingham Palace wall. In December 2021, American tourist Joseph Huang Kang, 25, was caught in the toilets at the Royal Mews after trespassing into the palace.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Individual rights were violated by police detaining people in Paris after a protest against the government’s pension reform, said a report released on Wednesday by France’s independent public body on places of deprivation of liberty. Controller-General for Places of Deprivation of Liberty Dominique Simonnot in the report criticized human rights violations and preventive arrests. According to the report, three units of the organization visited nine police stations in the French capital on March 24 and 25, following the day’s mass protest against the pension reform. They inspected detention facilities and detainee treatment. On April 17, Simonnot also wrote to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, criticizing the physical conditions of detainees as well as violations of fundamental rights during their detention. The organization also released the letter’s details, in which it reminded the government that under the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence, people can only be arrested on suspicion of a crime or criminal attempt. “My units observed that some arresting agents received instructions and hierarchical orders to arrest people in this or that district of the capital without any distinction,” the controller-general stated in the report. Simonnot added that 80% of the people are classified as non-case, with the rest being equated by the court. However, most of them spent 24 hours in custody. Her organization can only question its true purpose, she said. She noted that “this approach of policing not only reveals manipulation of police custody measures for repressive purposes.” Since January, French workers and trade unions have been mobilizing and expressing growing outrage at the government’s pension reform. Police have been heavily criticized for their brutal intervention and mistreatment of protesters, particularly in Paris. Government officials, including spokesperson Olivier Veran, voice support for law enforcement and blame the protesters for being violent. Pension reform law President Emmanuel Macron signed the pension reform into law late on April 14 after the Constitutional Council completed its review, despite demands from trade unions to drop the measure that has triggered weeks of protests. The law will raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030, requiring at least 43 years of service to be eligible for a full pension. The government unveiled the proposal in January and it was taken up for a parliamentary debate the following month even as millions took to the streets to oppose it. Unrest intensified when Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, after consulting with Macron, decided to use special constitutional powers to adopt the bill without parliamentary approval in March. The decision was motivated by concerns that lawmakers would be able to stymie the reforms because the government lacked an absolute majority in parliament. The law is set to go into effect on Sept. 1.

Source: Anadolu Agency