Pope Francis met Argentine veterans of the Falklands War on Wednesday, posing for a photograph and signing a placard calling for peace in the South Atlantic, amid speculation that the future of the islands may be discussed when he meets the Queen on her visit to Rome next month.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Canada backs tougher U.S. measures on Russia
OTTAWA — Canada did not object Thursday to new U.S. sanctions that could harm the global economy to protest Russia's takeover of Crimea and discourage any military incursion into mainland Ukraine.
The U.S. upped the ante with the toughest measures to date after weeks of featherweight initiatives announced by Canada, the U.S. and European countries were ignored and mocked by Russian officials.
President Barack Obama said Thursday the White House now plans to go after key sectors of the Russian economy -- likely oil and gas -- and a bank and wealthy Russians with holdings in the U.S., on top of Kremlin officials who had already been targeted.
"This is not our preferred outcome," Obama said. "These sanctions would not only have a significant impact on the Russian economy, but could also be disruptive to the global economy." Moscow responded to the U.S. blacklist by slapping travel restrictions on American legislators, including House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, a trio of White House officials and others.
"We have repeatedly warned that sanctions are a double-edged instrument and would hit the United States like a boomerang," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "There must be no doubt: We will respond adequately to every hostile thrust."
Canada has been in lockstep with its allies on the rhetoric front and has endorsed all U.S. efforts to date since troops were deployed to the Black Sea peninsula and the subsequent annexation of Crimea.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to Ukraine on Saturday to provide moral support to the interim government.
He'll also make stops in The Netherlands and Germany to rally his counterparts, including G7 leaders attending an emergency meeting in The Hague, to take a tougher stance against Russia because, unlike Canada, they have the muscle to do so.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is accompanying Harper to Kiev.
"First and foremost we've got to stand up for freedom," Baird told Sun News. "All freedom-loving countries have got to stand together.
"It's tremendously important that we speak loudly and clearly. This is not a time for moral relativism. It's a time for tough talk."
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel received assurances on Thursday from his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, that Russian troops along Ukraine's eastern border had no plans to enter the country, a Pentagon spokesman said.
Rear Admiral John Kirby said Hagel spoke to Shoigu for nearly an hour by telephone and was "clear and firm" in telling him that with Russian forces in control in Crimea, they were responsible for any incidents there.
During the call, Hagel asked for an explanation of why Russia was deploying forces along Ukraine's eastern and southern borders and was assured by Shoigu they were conducting exercises and had no intention of crossing the border, the spokesman said.
Still, Ukrainian paratroopers with armoured vehicles were digging in on Thursday near the Russian border as the military demonstrated its presence in the east.
Obama Walks The Talk On Ukraine
Washington (CNN) - It must have been at least a little satisfying Thursday for President Barack Obama
He had repeatedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against annexing Crimea from Ukraine, threatening tougher sanctions aimed at the Russian economy.
Keeping Promise to Companion who Perished
(CNN) -- It was a promise the castaway made to a dying man: He vowed the man's mother would learn how he perished and hear his last words.
Jose Salvador Alvarenga flew from El Salvador to Mexico this week to keep his word -- more than a month after the stunning story of his survival at sea captured international attention.
"It's a promise that we both had made," Alvarenga said after landing in Mexico City, "and now I'm here to fulfill it."
Alvarenga was found in an atoll in the Marshall Islands in late January. He told authorities there he had drifted on a small fishing boat for 13 months all the way from Mexico, more than 6,000 miles away.
because he couldn't manage to drink turtle blood and eat raw fish.
While Alvarenga, 37, returned to his native El Salvador last month,
Cordoba's family was left demanding answers.
This week, they got some.
Roselia Diaz, Cordoba's mother, said she was grateful that Alvarenga had traveled to the coastal Mexican town where she lives.
"For me, it would have been sadder if both had died, because I never would have known what happened to my son," she said. "So I'm very happy to see him again."
Alvarenga told reporters that Cordoba often spoke about his mother.
"He told me a lot about her, that she was a very good person with everybody, and that she was very loving," he said.
Cordoba, an Evangelical Christian, told the Salvadoran fisherman about his faith as they both clung to the hope of being found alive and rescued in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.Alvarenga also told Cordoba's mother how the two fishermen passed the time while drifting in the open sea.
"He taught me how to pray," Alvarenga said. "He taught me to sing."
The castaway said there were some things Cordoba told him that only the dead fisherman's mother must know.
"To reveal them publicly," he said, "would be to betray his memory."
Falkland Islands will be ours, says Argentina's new minister
Daniel Filmus, Argentina's 'Malvinas Secretary,' says he believes one day the Falklands will belong to Argentina – and that the negotiations would not be 'mission impossible'
7:00AM GMT 19 Mar 2014
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Argentina's newly appointed Falklands Islands secretary has said he is convinced that the islands will one day be returned to Argentine rule – and denounced Britain's "aggressive moves" in the region.
Daniel Filmus said the issue was "a question that runs deep in the hearts of the Argentine people," speaking two days after Cristina Kirchner, the Argentine president, met with the Pope and is thought to have asked him – as a fellow Argentine – to champion their cause.
Mexico Confirms Killing of a "Dead" Drug Lord
A Mexican drug lord said to have been killed more than three years ago has been shot dead in a clash with authorities.
A man who died in a shootout in western Michoacan state "has been identified as Nazario Moreno," also known as "El Chayo," a government official said ahead of a press conference set to take place at 7:00pm (0100 GMT Monday).
The previous Mexican government reported that Moreno, a leader of the La Familia cartel, was killed in December 2010. But his body was never located and reported sightings fuelled speculation he was alive.
"All signs point to this being 'El Chayo,'" a government official had said earlier on condition of anonymity about the suspect.
Nazario Moreno (Getty Images)
Nazario Moreno (Getty Images)
The government deployed more than 9,000 troops and federal police in Michoacan's Tierra Caliente region in January after new gunfights erupted between the cartel and vigilantes.
Michoacan is known as Mexico's lime-and-avocado heartland, but it is also the country's top producer of iron ore, extracting four million tonnes in 2012, or 27 per cent of national output, according to the economy ministry.
The Knights Templar gang snatched the underground riches to diversify its business, which includes the production of crystal meth and extortion rackets against fruit growers, tortilla makers and municipal officials.
The drug cartel has illegally extracted iron ore, using the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas to export the mineral to China, officials say.
At the same time, the gang imports chemical precursors from Asia to make crystal meth in makeshift mountain labs.
Moreno was a founder of La Familia Michoacana, which spawned the Knights Templar after his presumed death.
He was considered the cartel's spiritual leader, having penned a "bible" used to indoctrinate recruits.
The Knights' current leader is Servando "La Tuta" Gomez.
A comparison of the alleged fingerprints of Nazario Moreno (AFP)
A comparison of the alleged fingerprints of Nazario Moreno (AFP)
After Moreno's alleged death in 2010, he was turned into a saintly figure in Michoacan, with shrines built in his honour.
Yet people in Michoacan were always convinced that Moreno had survived the 2010 shootout with federal police. Vigilante militias that formed last year pressed the government to arrest him.
A US security official several weeks ago had told AFP privately: "El Chayo is alive, hiding in the mountains and leading the Knights Templar.
"He sees himself as Che Guevara, dresses up in Knights Templar outfit with the Maltese cross and even a sword," the official added.
Asked why Chayo had kept himself out of the limelight, the official said: "If he showed is face, it would be so humiliating for the government that it would have to go after him."
Death Toll Climbs as Protests Still Rage in Venezuela
- 31 people have died in more than a month of protests
- Another 461 have been injured
- Protesters and government officials trade blame for the violence
(CNN) -- At least 31 people have died in Venezuela and 461 have been injured in violent clashes between opposition demonstrators and government forces that began last month, an official said Thursday.
Another 1,854 people have been detained during the unrest, according to Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres.
The weeks of protests across Venezuela mark the biggest threat President Nicolas Maduro has faced since his election last year. Demonstrators say they have taken to the streets to protest shortages of goods, high inflation and high crime.
Protesters and government officials trade blame for the violence.
"Nicolas threw gas on the fire. He and he alone will be responsible for how the situation develops," opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski said in a Twitter post Thursday.
"It's clear you want more confrontation and to promote violence," he tweeted earlier.
In an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour this month week, Maduro was unapologetic about his government's response to opposition protesters.
Think about what the U.S. government would do if a political group laid out a road map for overthrowing President Barack Obama, Maduro said.
"What would happen in the United States if a group said they were going to start something in the United States so that President Obama leaves, resigns, to change the constitutional government of the United States?" Maduro said. "Surely, the state would react, would use all the force that the law gives it to re-establish order and to put those who are against the Constitution where they belong."
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