SONOYTA: They are not “bad hombres,” as Donald Trump might say — or any kind of hombres at all.
But like the human migrants targeted by the US president, the jaguars, bighorn sheep and deer-like Sonoran pronghorns of northern Mexico have a lot to lose from his planned border wall. Such species currently roam at will back and forth across the border of Mexico and the US in reserves specially protected by both countries’ governments.
Conservationists fear Trump’s vow to build a wall the length of the border to keep criminals out of the US will doom the beasts to extinction.
It would stop them getting where they need to go to feed and mate.
“Caution, fauna crossing,” reads a sign among the cactus and wild bushes in the northeastern desert, where deer, wild cats, coyotes and wolves crisscross the frontier.
The habitat spans the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona and the Pinacate and Gran Altar Desert over in the Mexican state of Sonora. The latter is certified as a world heritage site by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The reserve is divided only by a simple fence with gaps big enough for the animals to pass through.
“It was designed specially so as not to hurt the animals and so they would have no problem crossing,” said Miguel Angel Grageda, head of natural resources at El Pinacate.
Rain is scarce in the parched desert, where the heat soars as high as 55 degrees Celsius (131 Fahrenheit).
The animals have to trot long distances to look for water, food and shelter. They must also be mobile to keep their numbers up when drought or sickness kill off the species in certain areas.
“If you just go and put a giant border wall between their habitat then you can cut movements off for some species which will prevent them from recolonizing their habitat,” said Aaron Flesch, an environmental specialist at the University of Arizona.
“When animals have trouble moving across the landscape to recolonize those places, the population in those places will never be restored.”
Gerardo Ceballos of the Ecological Institute at Mexico’s National Autonomous University estimates there are only about five jaguars left on the US side. They rely on partners from the Mexican side to mate.
If the animal populations were split in two and each group left to reproduce only with the limited number of mates on its side, the species would degenerate.
“If we divide the population of the species in two, there will start to be crosses between related animals,” said Grageda.
“Later on, we could have problems of inbreeding.”
It is not clear when the US will start putting up Trump’s wall or how exactly its course might be plotted through protected zones such as this one. But conservationists are imagining the worst.
“We don’t know exactly what the results are going to be,” said Flesch. “But we know they won’t be too good.”
Ceballos said various Mexican and US non-governmental groups are preparing a challenge to the wall plan.
“Over here it would require a political decision at the level of Congress” to block it, said Grageda.
“We may not be able to convince Donald Trump.”
It is not just the animals who would suffer from a wall, experts say, but the whole desert ecosystem.
Desert mammals break up the sun-baked ground with their hoofs so that when it does rain, the water drains underground.
By tearing up the vegetation to eat it, they help spread the seeds so that desert flowers bloom anew.
A wall could have “a big impact” by blocking and shifting watercourses, Ceballos said.
That, and the untold impact on the soil and atmosphere, could affect humans too.
“When you put up a wall, you destroy everything,” he warned.
Trump wall threatens Mexico’s animals without borders
Trump wall threatens Mexico’s animals without borders
German police launch manhunt after 2 people shot dead
- There was no information yet about the "circumstances, or the motive of the perpetrators", they said.
BERLIN: A large police operation was under way in Germany on Sunday to find one or more shooters who killed two men the day before in the center of the country, police said.
The bodies of the two victims, both with gunshot wounds, were found in front of a residential address in Bad Nauheim, a town north of Frankfurt, on Saturday afternoon, Giessen city police said.
“A big force deployment” of police from uniformed, plain clothes and special forces branches have fanned out, backed by a helicopter, to find the perpetrator or perpetrators, it said.
“The current understanding is that there is no danger for inhabitants or other people,” police said.
There was no information yet about the “circumstances, or the motive of the perpetrators,” they said.
Police and prosecutors have opened an investigation.
Bad Nauheim is 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Frankfurt and has a population of around 33,000. It was famous for being where Elvis Presley did US military service between 1958 and 1960 and where he met his future wife, Priscilla Presley.
South Korea, US, to hold trade talks this week, Seoul says
- South Korea hopes to lower the 25% "reciprocal" tariff that President Donald Trump has announced for the country.
SEOUL: South Korea and the United States will hold trade consultations this week in Washington at the suggestion of the United States, Seoul’s trade ministry said on Sunday.
Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun will meet with Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the ministry said in a statement.
South Korea hopes to lower the 25 percent “reciprocal” tariff that President Donald Trump has announced for the country, which he has since paused along with high tariffs slapped on a string of countries.
Ahn will leave on Wednesday, the statement said. It did not specify the agenda or give other details.
China’s US envoy urges end to trade war, but warns Beijing ready to fight
- The trade war has all but frozen the mammoth trade between the world's two largest economies
- Trump said on Friday the U.S. is having good conversations privately with China amid the two countries' trade war.
DUBAI: China’s ambassador to the United States, Xie Feng, has urged Washington to seek common ground with Beijing and pursue peaceful coexistence while warning that China stood ready to retaliate in the escalating trade war.
Speaking at a public event in Washington on Saturday, details of which were posted on the Chinese embassy’s web site, Xie said tariffs would devastate the global economy and drew a parallel between the Great Depression and tariffs imposed by the US in 1930.
Referring to concepts in traditional Chinese medicine like the need to balance the opposing forces of yin and yang, Xie said harmony should guide relations between the world’s two largest economies.
“A good traditional Chinese medicine recipe usually combines many different ingredients which reinforce one another and creates the best medical effect,” he said.
“Likewise, the earth is big enough to accommodate both China and the US,” he said. “We should pursue peaceful coexistence rather than collide head-on, and help each other succeed rather than get caught in a lose-lose scenario.”
The trade war has all but frozen the mammoth trade between the world’s two largest economies with tariffs over 100 percent in each direction and a suite of trade, investment and cultural restrictions.
China’s top shipbuilding association on Saturday attacked a US plan to apply port fees on China-linked ships.
While Japan, Taiwan and others are already in talks or preparing to negotiate with Washington over President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, there is currently no high-level dialogue planned with China.
Trump said on Friday the US is having good conversations privately with China amid the two countries’ trade war.
“By the way, we have nice conversations going with China,” he told reporters at the White House. “It’s, like, really very good.” He did not offer additional details.
China has said the US should show respect before any talks can take place.
Xie said China opposed the trade war and would retaliate to any country imposing tariffs on it.
Putin attends Orthodox Easter service after declaring ceasefire in Ukraine
- The traditionally sung service starts late on a Saturday and lasts into the early hours of Sunday
- Zelensky says Russian army ‘trying to create impression’ of Easter ceasefire
President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin joined other worshippers for an Easter service led by the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, a faithful backer of the Russian leader and an advocate for the war in Ukraine.
Hours after declaring a unilateral Easter ceasefire that Kyiv said was just words as fighting continued, Putin and Sobyanin stood in Moscow’s main church, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, while Kirill led a procession, video of the service showed.
Holding a lit thin red candle and donning a dark suit, white shirt and a red tie as in years past, the Russian leader crossed himself several times when Kirill announced “Christ is risen.”
The traditionally sung service starts late on a Saturday and lasts into the early hours of Sunday.
For Putin, the Orthodox faith is central to his world view and he always attends services during major church holidays. For Orthodox Russians, Easter is the most important religious holiday.
At the service, Krill called for “lasting and just peace can be established in the vast expanses of historical Rus,” RIA state news agency reported, in what was a reference to a medieval territory that encompassed parts of what is now Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. “How wonderfully it was said, do not do evil to another and do not treat others as you would not want them to treat you,” TASS agency cited Kirill as saying.
“If people adhered to this holiday commandment, then life would be completely different: family and social life and — let me say this — inter-governmental.”
Kirill has strongly backed the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Thousands have been killed, the vast majority of them Ukrainians, and millions driven from their homes since Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Zelensky says Russian army ‘trying to create impression’ of Easter ceasefire
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the Russian army is making a pretense of an Easter ceasefire declared by President Vladimir Putin, continuing overnight attempts to inflict front-line losses on Ukraine.
“In general, as of Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places it does not abandon individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Zelensky said in a post on social media.
Early on Sunday, Ukrainian forces reported 59 instances of shelling and five assault attempts along the front line, he said.
“Russia must fully comply with the conditions of silence,” Zelensky said.
He reiterated that Kyiv was willing to extend the ceasefire for 30 days but said that if Russia kept fighting on Sunday, so would Ukraine.
“Ukraine will continue to act in a mirror manner,” he said.
Zelensky says Ukraine will observe Putin’s Easter truce but claims violations
- The order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US President Donald Trump to get Moscow and Kyiv to agree a ceasefire
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine: Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday his forces would observe a surprise Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin set to last until midnight on Sunday, even as air-raid sirens sounded in Kyiv.
The 30-hour truce would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.
But just hours after the order was meant to have come into effect, air-raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital and Zelensky accused Russia of having maintained its artillery fire and assaults on the frontline.
Also on Saturday, Russia and Ukraine held a large exchange of prisoners, each side saying they had handed back more than 240 captured fighters.
The order to halt all combat over the Easter weekend came after months of efforts by US President Donald Trump to get Moscow and Kyiv to agree a ceasefire. On Friday, Washington even threatened to withdraw from talks if no progress was made.
“Today from 1800 (1500 GMT Saturday) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin said in televised comments during a meeting with the Russian chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.
Zelensky responded by saying Ukraine would follow suit, and proposed extending the truce beyond Sunday. But the Ukrainian leader also accused Russia of having already broken its promises.
Air-raid sirens sounded in Kyiv and several other regions on Saturday evening.
“Russian assault operations continue on several frontline sectors, and Russian artillery fire has not subsided,” Zelensky said.
Putin had said the truce for the Easter holiday celebrated on Sunday was motivated by “humanitarian reasons.”
While he expected Ukraine to comply, he said that Russian troops “must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy.”
Zelensky in a social media post wrote: “If Russia is now suddenly ready to truly engage in a format of full and unconditional silence, Ukraine will act accordingly — mirroring Russia’s actions.”
He added: “If a complete ceasefire truly takes hold, Ukraine proposes extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20.”
He proposed that “30 days could give peace a chance,” while pointing out that Putin had earlier rejected a proposed 30-day full and unconditional ceasefire.
“The fighting is ongoing, and Russian attacks continue,” Ukraine’s military command, the Chief of Staff, reported Saturday evening.
“In some areas on the frontline, Russian artillery continues to be heard, despite the promise of silence from the Russian leader. Russian drones are being used. It is quieter in some areas.”
Soldiers in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk close to the front line earlier greeted the truce announcement with skepticism.
Putin “might do it to give some hope or to show his humanity,” said Dmitry, a 40-year-old soldier. “But either way, of course, we don’t trust (Russia).”
Putin said the latest truce proposal would show “how sincere is the Kyiv’s regime’s readiness, its desire and ability to observe agreements and participate in a process of peace talks.”
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
“For millions of Ukrainians, Easter is one of the most important holidays. And millions of Ukrainians will go to church,” said Zelensky in his evening address.
“Over the years of this full-scale war, Russian attacks have destroyed or damaged more than 600 churches, prayer houses and places of worship.”
In Kramatorsk, one soldier, Vladislav, 22, said: “I feel like it’s going to start again after a while, and it’s going to go on and on.”
On the streets of Moscow, Yevgeny Pavlov, 58, said he did not think Russia should give Ukraine a breather.
“There is no need to give them respite. If we press, it means we should press to the end,” he told AFP.
Earlier Saturday, Ukraine and Russia said they had each returned 246 soldiers being held as prisoners of war in a swap mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Zelensky said the total number of returned POWs now stood at 4,552.
The UAE’s foreign ministry said 31 wounded Ukrainians and 15 wounded Russians were also exchanged.
The UAE said it was committed to “finding a peaceful solution” to the conflict and “mitigating the humanitarian impacts.”
Russia said it had retaken the penultimate village still under Ukrainian control in its Kursk frontier region.
Kyiv had hoped to use its hold on the region as a bargaining chip in the talks.
