Mexico has just rejected Ukraine’s request to arrest Vladimir Putin if he visits the North American country later this year.
The Russian president may defy the international arrest warrant out against him and attend the inauguration of Mexico’s next president in October.
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Kyiv asked Mexico to arrest him if he did turn up when president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum is sworn in.
It comes after Sheinbaum’s team invited Putin to the ceremony, along with all countries it has a diplomatic relationship with.
After all, Putin appears to be on positive terms with the incoming president.
When Sheinbaum was elected in June, he called her to congratulate her and said the country was a “historically friendly partner of Russia in Latin America”.
Outgoing Mexican president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that the country would not arrest Putin if he did visit, adding: “We can’t do that. It’s not up to us.”
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The remark comes after Ukraine’s Mexican embassy wrote to the central government on August 7.
“We hope the Mexican government is aware that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal with an arrest warrant against him,” the embassy said in a statement.
Mexican lawmakers heard testimony that “we are not alone” in the universe and saw the alleged remains of non-human beings in an extraordinary hearing marking the Latin American country’s first congressional event on UFOs.
In the hearing on Tuesday on FANI, the Spanish acronym for what are usually now termed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), politicians were shown two artifacts that Mexican journalist and long-time UFO enthusiast Jaime Maussan claimed were the corpses of extraterrestrials.
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The specimens were not related to any life on Earth, Maussan said.
The two tiny “bodies,” displayed in cases, have three fingers on each hand and elongated heads.
Maussan said they were recovered in Peru near the ancient Nazca Lines in 2017.
He said that they were about 1,000 years old, analysed through a carbon dating process by Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM).
Similar such finds in the past have turned out to be the remains of mummified children.
Maussan said it was the first time such evidence had been presented.
“I think there is a clear demonstration that we are dealing with non-human specimens that are not related to any other species in our world and that all possibilities are open for any scientific institution… to investigate it,” Maussan said.
“We are not alone,” he added.
Jose de Jesus Zalce Benitez, Director of the Scientific Institute for Health of the Mexican navy, said X-rays, 3-D reconstruction and DNA analysis had been carried out on the remains.
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“I can affirm that these bodies have no relation to human beings,” he said.
UNAM on Thursday republished a statement first issued in 2017, saying the work by its National Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry with Accelerators (LEMA) was only intended to determine the age of the samples.
“In no case do we make conclusions about the origin of said samples,” the statement said.
Lawmakers also heard from former US Navy pilot Ryan Graves, who has participated in US Congressional hearings about his personal experience with UAP and the stigma around reporting such sightings.
Congressman Sergio Gutierrez, from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling Morena party, said he hoped the hearing would be the first of other similar events in Mexico.
“We are left with reflections, with concerns and with the path to continue talking about this,” Gutierrez said.
In recent years, the US government has done an about-face on public information on UAP after decades of stonewalling and deflecting.
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The Pentagon has been actively investigating reported sightings in recent years by military aviators, while an independent NASA panel studying UFOs is the first of its kind by the space agency.
NASA is set to discuss findings from the study on Thursday.
Maussan faced swift backlash and criticism from sceptics on Wednesday who questioned the authenticity of his presentation.
“This could really hurt efforts to take the issue seriously,” said a user of X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. “Why didn’t they wait until a scientific paper was ready to publish it?”
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Reuters TV, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
So, as the country comes out of this period of national mourning, here’s a list of essential news stories you might have missed altogether over the last 11 days.
1. Community tensions soar in Leicester
Leicester is famous for its multicultural population, but a spate of clashes in recent weeks has shaken the city to its core.
Violence first broke out after the India vs Pakistan cricket match a month ago, on Sunday, August 28, and more scuffles followed in the next few weeks.
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But, locals claim that the tensions began rising long before the match, with members of both the local Hindu and Muslim communities allegedly squaring up against one another, although the exact cause is still unclear.
The tensions seemed to come to a head on the night of September 17, when around 200 people – mainly masked or hooded men – gathered for an unauthorised protests in the east of the city.
All local officers available were called to the scene, and a stand-off followed, with police having to separate rival groups as they threw bottles at one another.
Police officers were even diverted from the Queen’s funeral in London to provide back up to the force in Leicestershire. They made 47 arrests in total and 16 officers were injured in the violence on Saturday night alone.
Claudia Webb, independent MP for Leicester East, said tensions had been simmering for “months”, and has previously claimed that some social media accounts were “preying on this unease” by “spreading misinformation”.
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In a Twitter post, she wrote: “There are reports of incitement to hate being targeted at those of Muslim and Hindu faith, which is being shared on social media to cause fear.
“Places like Facebook and via WhatsApp designed to ‘entrap’ members of the local community to attend a protest, sparked by hate.”
She claimed such posts were “designed to provoke additional clashes and to cause disharmony and distrust”.
This weekend we have seen unacceptable hate-driven violence.
Ours is a community of deep faith. Our unique cultural diversity is our strength.
Right-wing fascism and toxic extremism have no place in a civil society. Our communities in Leicester stand united against it.
Mayor of Leicester Sir Peter Soulsby has said these recent events have left him “baffled”, while Labour MP for Leicester South, Jonathan Ashworth, said the troubles were a “dark episode” where he and residents “rightly pride ourselves on celebrating our diversity”.
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Extremists, territorial rivalries and the influence of people from outside the city have all been blamed for supposedly inciting violence.
Webb also warned on Tuesday that the violence could spread beyond Leicester without central government intervention.
The Hindu and Muslim communities in Leicester released a joint statement two days after the violence at the weekend, saying: “We are from one family. We settled here in this city together, we fought the racists together, we build it up together. The recent violence is not who we are as a city.”
The Indian government has also released a statement, strongly condemning the violence.
“We have strongly taken up this matter with the UK authorities and have sought immediate action against those involved in these attacks.”
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2. Mahsa Amini’s death
Protests have broken out across Iran’s capital Tehran, following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, last Friday.
She had been in a coma for three days after “morality” police held her for supposedly breaking hijab rules. She was detained outside a Tehran metro station, as part of the police’s clampdown on clothing.
Witnesses said officers beat her inside a police van which later took her to a detention centre, although police brigadier-general Hossein Rahimi dismissed such claims as “cowardly accusations”.
Police also claimed that Amini had suffered from “sudden heart failure” while at the detention centre where she was to be “educated” with other women.
Mahsa Amini, 22 yr old Iranian woman has passed away after being severely beaten by Iran’s “morality” police for improper veiling. Meanwhile, Iran w/its notorious brand of gender apartheid was elected in 2021 by the UN to its Commission on Women’s Rights.#MahsaAmini#مهساامینیpic.twitter.com/nVqZC7xngW
The authorities later released footage showing a woman they claim is Amini talking to a female official, who had tried to reach for her clothing. Amini then holds her head with her hands and falls to the floor.
The police, who described her death as “unfortunate”, said that Amini had “previous physical problems”, but her father denied such a claim, and claimed the CCTV footage is edited.
In protest to Amini’s death and the strict regime of Iran, women have since been seen removing their headscarves and cutting their hair while shouting “death to the dictator”, in what is believed to be a reference to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Demonstrations in Tehran and western Iran over the weekend reportedly led to the death of two people during a clash with riot police.
Protests in Saqez, a western part of Iran, led security forces to allegedly open fire on a crowd as they tried to move towards the local governor’s office.
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Further demonstrators took place in Kurdistan’s capita, Sanandaj. Amini was an ethnic Kurd from Saqez.
Waving headscarves in #Iran’s protests is a brave act of defiance by women who are fed up of 44 yrs of suppression & abuse. Today, they are leading the protests. I’ve heard many mothers joined their daughters today to shout their anger and to say: enough is enough… #Mahsa_Aminipic.twitter.com/EddK4gnU0F
A devastating storm, Hurricane Fiona, has swept across parts of the Caribbean in recent weeks – and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down any time soon.
Residents on the Turks and Caicos Islands were urged to seek shelter on Tuesday, after Fiona had already wrecked havoc in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The hurricane is expected to reach the southern Bahamas too, and the eastern Bahamas by Wednesday.
In Puerto Rico, the storm killed at least three people and caused significant flooding with more than 75cm of rain falling.
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It also caused a total blackout which isn’t expected to be fixed any time soon, especially as the territory is still struggling with its power grid after the brutal category 5 storm, Hurricane Maria, which knocked out 80% of power lines in 2017.
The weather in the US territory was still chaotic on Monday, with frequent lightning and rain. Torrential rain and wind then hit the Dominican Republic too, and it now seems to be building up in power.
The category 2 storm is expected to become a category 3 with winds beyond 111mph, which will make it the first “major hurricane” of the 2022 season, according to the National Hurricane Centre. By the time it reaches the eastern Bahamas, it could be category 4.
4. Typhoon Nanmadol
At least two people were killed as record winds and rain hit the west of Japan on Monday.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida even delayed his flight to New York for the UN General Assembly so that he could look at the damage of the 14th typhoon Japan has faced this season.
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There was major landfall near Kagoshima city on Sunday, before it hit the islands of Kyusha and Honshu, while rivers overflowed and roofs were ripped off by the strong wind.
“We need to remain highly vigilant for heavy rains, gales, high waves and storm surges,” a Japanese Meteorological Agency official said, according to Reuters news agency. At least 115 people have been reported injured and around 340,000 households lost power.
5. Putin moves submarines away from Crimea – but nuclear fears continue
Russian president Vladimir Putin has allegedly moved the country’s submarines away from the annexed peninsula Crimea.
As Crimea was seized by Russia in 2014 (and seen by some as the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine), it was thought to be secured under Moscow’s rule.
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But, as the UK’s defence ministry tweeted on Tuesday, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet “has almost certainly relocated” its submarines from Crimea to southern Russia.
The officials explained: “This is highly likely due to the recent change in the local security threat level in the face of increased Ukrainian long-range strike capability. In the last two months, the fleet headquarters and its main naval aviation airfield have been attacked.
“Guaranteeing the Black Sea Fleet’s Crimea basing was likely one of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s motivations for annexing the peninsula in 2014. Base security has now been directly undermined by Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine.”
“The occupiers are clearly in a panic,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed on Monday.
Russia has also sparked fears of a nuclear war once again, after a missile exploded less than 900 feet from reactors of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, the second largest nuclear plant in the country.
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This is separate to the worries around the Zaporizhzhia power plant, which sits on the frontline of the fight between Ukraine and Russia.
The South Ukraine plant is far from the frontline, but the attack demonstrates the extent of Russia’s reach (if it did indeed come from Moscow).
Still, there was no damage to safety equipment, and the exact source of the explosion could not be independently confirmed.
Last night russian terrorists attempted to strike the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the Mykolaiv region. A missile fell 300 meters from the plant. kremlin’s nuclear terrorism continues. russia is the threat to the whole world. pic.twitter.com/aWhz8yNXWp
On the anniversary of two other significant earthquakes, dating back to 1985 and 2017, Mexico was hit by yet another earthquake which killed at least two people.
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The National Autonomous University of Mexico said there is no scientific explanation for why all three quakes would happen on the same day.
A 7.6 magnitude hit western Mexico on Monday, knocking out power and leaving people in Mexico City desperately seeking safety.
Hospitals were damaged, and other buildings collapsed onto the people within.
The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre also issued a warning for coastal areas, saying waves reaching up to three metres above the tide level were possible.
The September 19, 1985 earthquake killed thousands, and more than 350 died in September 19, 2017.
Danny DeVito is revealing the truth behind his heroic tale about saving Michael Douglas from a poisonous snake in Mexico.
DeVito told The Talk four years ago that Douglas allowed a snake to go onto his arm while filming the 1984 flick Romancing The Stone, People reported. Douglas, he said, claimed the snake was “no big deal.”
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Then it bit him on the hand.
“And I always heard the best thing to do is suck the poison out, right away, so I did,” DeVito claimed. “I grabbed his hand and I’m spitting all over the place, and I say, ‘Boy, it’s a good thing this didn’t bite you on the balls man — you would be a dead man.’”
A lie detector test, however, determined that was a lie.
Actor Lucy DeVito asked her father about the story in a video posted by Vanity Fair on Thursday.
Samantha Barrios, who was operating a lie detector, told DeVito her dad wasn’t being honest and that’s when he fessed up.
You can watch the father-daughter interview, with lie detector tests, below.
","type":"video","meta":{"url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q3YTQn8h1c","type":"video","version":"1.0","title":"Danny DeVito & Lucy DeVito Take Lie Detector Tests | Vanity Fair","author":"Vanity Fair","author_url":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIsbLox_y9dCIMLd8tdC6qg","provider_name":"YouTube","description":"Danny DeVito and his daughter Lucy DeVito each take Vanity Fair’s infamous lie detector test. Is Lucy Danny’s favorite kid? Which boy band does Danny stan? Has Lucy seen all of her dad’s movies? \r\n\r\nDirector: Funmi Sunmonu \r\nDirector of Photography: AJ Young \r\nEditor: Sammy Cortino\r\nTalent: Danny DeVito and Lucy DeVito \r\nLie Detector Operator: Samantha Barrios\r\nProducer: Adam Lance Garcia\r\nLine Producer: Jen Santos\r\nAssociate Producer: Clarissa Davis \r\nProduction Manager: Andressa Pelachi, Peter Brunette \r\nProduction Coordinator: Carolina Wachockier\r\nTalent Booker: Mica Medoff \r\nCamera Operator: Malcolm Cook \r\nAudio: Kara Johnson\r\nProduction Assistant: Fernando Barajas and William Lott \r\nArt Department: Leah Waters-Katz \r\nPost Production Supervisor: Marco Glinbizzi \r\nAssistant Editor: Billy Ward \n\nStill haven’t subscribed to Vanity Fair on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2z6Ya9M\r\n\r\nWant to stay in the know? Subscribe to Vanity Fair Magazine and be exquisitely informed ►► http://vntyfr.com/2RuQGW2\r\n\r\nABOUT VANITY FAIR\r\nArts and entertainment, business and media, politics, and world affairs—Vanity Fair’s features and exclusive videos capture the people, places, and ideas that define modern culture.","thumbnail_url":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3q3YTQn8h1c/maxresdefault.jpg","thumbnail_width":1280,"thumbnail_height":720,"cache_age":86400,"options":{"_start":{"label":"Start from","value":"","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s"},"_end":{"label":"End on","value":"","placeholder":"ex.: 11, 1m10s"},"_cc_load_policy":{"label":"Closed captions","value":false},"click_to_play":{"label":"Hold load & play until clicked","value":false}}},"fullBleed":false,"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"options":{"theme":"news","device":"desktop","editionInfo":{"id":"uk","name":"U.K.","link":"https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk","locale":"en_GB"},"slideshowAd":{"scriptTags":[],"otherHtml":""},"slideshowEndCard":{"scriptTags":[{"attribs":{},"scriptBody":"\r\n (function(){\r\n var c = document.getElementById(‘taboola-endslate-thumbnails’);\r\n c.id += ‘-‘ + Math.round(Math.random()*1e16);\r\n \r\n var taboolaParams = {\r\n loader: \"//cdn.taboola.com/libtrc/aol-huffingtonpost/loader.js\",\r\n mode: \"thumbnails-b\",\r\n container: c.id,\r\n placement: \"Endslate Thumbnails\",\r\n target_type: \"mix\"\r\n };\r\n \r\n if (typeof window.modulousQueue === \"function\") {\r\n \twindow.modulousQueue.add(function(){ doTaboola(taboolaParams); });\r\n } else {\r\n \tdoTaboola(taboolaParams);\r\n }\r\n }());\r\n"}],"otherHtml":"
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