MADRID: Spain is set for another day of high drama in the Catalonia crisis on Thursday with a judge in Madrid to grill the deposed leaders of the region’s separatist government.
Notable by his likely absence, however, will be the dismissed Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who is in Brussels and according to his lawyer refusing to come.
“He will not go to Madrid and I have suggested that he be questioned here in Belgium,” Paul Bekaert told Spain’s TV3 television on Wednesday.
The hearing at the National Court in Madrid, which deals with major criminal cases, was to start at 9:00 am (0800 GMT) and to continue on Friday.
The judge wants to question Puigdemont and 13 others over their efforts to spearhead Catalonia’s independence drive, which has plunged Spain into its biggest crisis in decades.
An independence referendum on October 1 — that heavy-handed Spanish police tried and failed to stop — was followed by a declaration of independence by the Catalan parliament last Friday.
Later that day Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government dismissed the regional government and moved to impose direct rule on the wealthy northeastern region.
On Monday, Spain’s chief prosecutor said he was seeking charges of rebellion — punishable by up to 30 years behind bars — sedition and misuse of public funds against the 14.
The speaker of the Catalan parliament, Carme Forcadell, and five parliamentary deputies will also be grilled over the same alleged offenses, but by a judge at the Supreme Court.
It was unclear how many of them will show up.
Puigdemont, 54, has dismissed the accusations as politically motivated and on Tuesday said he would remain in Brussels until he had guarantees that any proceedings would be impartial.
He has retained the support of many in Catalonia, whose people are fiercely proud of their language and culture.
Maria Angels Selgas, a 60-year-old sales manager in Barcelona, said that for her, Puigdemont was still the Catalan president.
“If they humiliate him then they humiliate also the more than two million Catalans who voted ‘yes’ in the referendum,” she said.
On Wednesday several hundred separatist supporters accompanied some of those due to appear in the Madrid court to Barcelona’s main train station, chanting “liberty” and “you are not alone.”
But Catalans remain deeply divided about independence, polls indicate.
The international community has swung firmly behind Rajoy, and uncertainty about Catalonia’s future has prompted companies to move their legal headquarters outside the region in droves.
In addition, there are signs of growing divisions in the separatist camp, with many unhappy with Puigdemont and his handling of the situation.
Joan Josep Nuet, a Catalan parliamentary deputy due to go before the Supreme Court, said Wednesday that a now-show by Puigdemont raised the risk that those that do come will be put in preventive custody.
“The attitude of the (Catalan) president and the government in recent days has been really absurd, managing only to create yet more bewilderment,” Nuet told Catalunya Radio.
Fernando Vallespin, a political scientist in Madrid, said he believed that Puigdemont, a former journalist, “is more interested in obtaining media attention than escaping justice.”
“It’s a media war. The aim of (the Catalan executive) has been to try and present the Spanish state as an oppressor state and Puigdemont needs to feed this narrative,” he said.
Rajoy has called snap elections for December 21 to replace the Catalan parliament. Puigdemont said he would “respect” the result — and appealed to Madrid to do the same.
Spanish judge to grill Catalan separatists — except Puigdemont
Spanish judge to grill Catalan separatists — except Puigdemont
US judge blocks deportation of Asian migrants to Libya
“The Department of Homeland Security may not evade this injunction”
WASHINGTON: A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expelling Asian migrants to war-torn Libya after an emergency appeal from the would-be deportees’ lawyers.
District Judge Brian Murphy said such deportations would violate his previous order that migrants being sent to a country other than their own first be given a “meaningful” opportunity to challenge their removal in court and show that they may face persecution.
Murphy’s ruling came in response to an emergency motion from lawyers for migrants from Laos, the Philippines and Vietnam who said they were in “imminent” danger of being deported to Libya — “a county notorious for its human rights violations.”
“The allegedly imminent removals, as reported by news agencies,” the judge said, “would clearly violate this Court’s Order.”
“The Department of Homeland Security may not evade this injunction by ceding control over non-citizens or the enforcement of its immigration responsibilities to any other agency, including but not limited to the Department of Defense,” Murphy added.
Reuters, citing US officials, was the first to report that the Trump administration was planning to deport a group of migrants to Libya on a US military plane.
Asked about the report on Wednesday during a White House event, President Donald Trump said he wasn’t aware of it.
Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to deport millions of undocumented migrants and invoked an obscure wartime law in March to summarily deport alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador.
Federal judges have since blocked further deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which was last used to round up Japanese-American citizens during World War II.
Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) denied meanwhile that it had reached a deal with Washington to take in migrants expelled from the United States.
“Parallel entities, not subject to legitimacy, could be involved in agreements that do not represent the Libyan state and do not commit it legally or politically,” it said in a statement.
Libya is split between the UN-recognized GNU in the west and a rival administration backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar that rules from Benghazi and Tobruk in the east.
The eastern government’s foreign ministry on Wednesday also issued a statement “denying the existence of any agreement or understanding concerning the settlement of migrants of any nationality.”
Libya has been gripped by unrest since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime ruler Muammar Qaddafi.
Nomination of Jordanian American as US surgeon general withdrawn over credentials controversy
CHICAGO: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday withdrew the nomination of Jordanian-American physician Janette Nesheiwat, a FOX TV medical contributor, to serve as the nation’s surgeon general after critics alleged she falsified parts of her medical resume.
In announcing his intention to nominate Nesheiwat in a release on Nov. 22, 2024, then President-elect Trump had said: “Dr. Nesheiwat is a double board-certified Medical Doctor with an unwavering commitment to saving and treating thousands of American lives.”
He added that she was a “proud graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences” and that her “journey began with humble roots as one of five children raised by a widowed immigrant mother who worked as a nurse.”
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/statement-president-elect-donald-j-trump-announcing-the-nomination-dr-janette-nesheiwat
The information is reflected on her website at DrJanette.net, which states: “Dr. Nesheiwat completed her medical residency at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, UAMS.”
https://www.drjanette.net/about-1
But records published by several media houses claim that Nesheiwat actually earned her medical degree from the American University of the CaribbeanSchool of Medicine, located in St. Maarten, in the Caribbean.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-surgeon-general-nominee-dr-janette-nesheiwat-credentials/
Critics charge that Nesheiwat was never a student at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
https://lastcampaign.substack.com/p/trumps-surgeon-general-pick-distorted
Nesheiwat, whose parents are Christian-Arab immigrants from Amman, Jordan, was to appear before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Thursday, May 8, 2025, to testify on her nomination before being confirmed.
But her appearance was removed from the announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
The US surgeon general oversees the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, an elite group of over 6,000 uniformed officers who are public health professionals.
The USPHS mission is to protect, promote, and advance the health of the nation.
https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/index.html#:~:text=The%20Surgeon%20General%20oversees%20the,the%20health%20of%20our%20nation.
Nesheiwat came under further scrutiny after conservative activist and Trump confidant Laura Loomer posted the allegations on Monday on X.
Loomer stated that “we can’t have a pro-COVID vaccine nepo appointee who is currently embroiled in a medical malpractice case and who didn’t go to medical school in the US as the US Surgeon General.”
“She is now being accused of lying about her credentials,” added Loomer.
https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1919180558355013817
On X, Loomer has described the COVID-19 vaccinations as “dangerous.”
She added: “Vaccines Cause Autism. Even Donald Trump knows this. That’s why he has directed his new admin and his HHS secretary @RobertKennedyJr to INVESTIGATE the link between vaccines and autism.”
Nesheiwat’s sister, Julia Nesheiwat, is an American academic, business executive and former government official who served as the 10th homeland security advisor in the Trump administration from 2020 to 2021.
She also held various positions in the administrations of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Janette Nesheiwat was involved in a family tragedy when she was 13 years old in 1990.
According to published reports, Nesheiwat had been looking for a pair of scissors when she reached into a fishing box on a shelf in her father’s bedroom.
The fishing box fell to the ground and a gun that was in it discharged, killing her sleeping father, Ziad Nesheiwat.
In her 2024 book, “Beyond the Stethoscope,” Nesheiwat said she became a doctor as a result of the tragedy.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Beyond-the-Stethoscope/Janette-Nesheiwat/9798888456514
Ironically, the man Nesheiwat was to succeed as surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, who was dismissed by Trump on April 21, had issued a public advisory in July 2024 that accidental firearm discharge deaths are “an urgent public health crisis.”
https://medicine.yale.edu/news/yale-medicine-magazine/article/vivek-murthy-dismissed-as-us-surgeon/
At the time of going to press, Nesheiwat had not responded to the news of the nomination withdrawal.
Australian jury convicts two men for murder of Indigenous teen
- Some witnesses said the attackers had used racial slurs before the attack, but racism was not an alleged motive in the court proceedings
- A fourth person charged over Turvey’s killing, Aleesha Gilmore, was cleared of both murder and manslaughter charges, court documents showed
SYDNEY: An Australian jury on Thursday found two men guilty of murdering Cassius Turvey, a 15-year-old Indigenous boy whose killing sparked nationwide anti-racism protests.
Turvey was attacked and beaten with a metal pole in October 2022 in the western city of Perth, the court heard. He died 10 days later in hospital.
Jurors convicted the two men — Jack Brearley and Brodie Palmer — of his murder, papers from the Supreme Court of Western Australia showed.
A third man, Mitchell Forth, was found guilty of manslaughter but cleared of murder.
All three men got out of a pick-up truck and chased a group of teenagers that included Turvey, Australian public broadcaster ABC said.
Brearley assaulted Turvey with a pole from a shopping trolley, the court heard.
Prosecutors said Brearley was angry because someone had smashed his car windows — though there was no suggestion Turvey was responsible, the ABC said.
Some witnesses said the attackers had used racial slurs before the attack, but racism was not an alleged motive in the court proceedings.
In the days after the killing, thousands of protesters held rallies and vigils around Australia.
At the time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attack was racially motivated, describing it as a “terrible tragedy.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face stark inequalities compared to other Australians, with shorter life expectancies, poorer health and education, and higher incarceration rates.
A fourth person charged over Turvey’s killing, Aleesha Gilmore, was cleared of both murder and manslaughter charges, court documents showed.
India, Pakistan trade air and drone strikes as tensions spiral
- Pakistan’s air defense system shot down an Indian drone near a naval air base in the eastern city of Lahore
- India’s government said that 13 civilians had been killed by Pakistani fire in “ceasefire violations” along their de facto border
- Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority said it has reopened Islamabad and Lahore airports
DUBAI: Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated on Thursday, with both countries reporting drone attacks, civilian casualties, and cross-border military action amid a deepening crisis along their highly militarized frontier.
India’s defense ministry said Pakistan launched an overnight aerial assault using “drones and missiles” that targeted Indian military sites. It said all the attacks were intercepted by Indian air defense systems, adding that New Delhi retaliated by destroying a Pakistani air defense system in Lahore.
“Our response was targeted and measured. It is not our intention to escalate the situation,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said during a press conference. “However, if there are military attacks on us, there should be no doubt that it will be met with a very, very firm response.”
In Pakistan, security officials said their air defense systems shot down an Indian drone early Thursday near a naval air base in Lahore. The military later claimed it had downed a total of 25 Indian drones across the country, including several Israeli-made Harop drones near sensitive military installations. Debris from the drones was reportedly recovered from various locations.
The aerial exchanges follow Indian strikes a day earlier in Pakistan’s Punjab province and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which Islamabad said killed 31 civilians, including women and children.
In response, Pakistan intensified cross-border shelling, which India said killed 13 civilians and injured 59 others in the town of Poonch. India’s army added that a soldier was also killed, bringing its total death toll to 14 since the flare-up began on Wednesday.
Amid the heightened tensions, Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority briefly closed airspace around Islamabad and Lahore, citing “operational reasons,” though both airports were later reopened. Karachi International Airport remains closed.
The crisis has reignited fears of further escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, whose rivalry over the disputed region of Kashmir has triggered wars in the past.
Escalating Tensions
Tensions have escalated since April 22, when gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of backing militants who carried out the attack, something Islamabad has denied.
Local police official Mohammad Rizwan said only that a drone was downed near Waltan airport, a small airfield in a residential area of Lahore that also contains military installations, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) east of the border with India.
Local media reported that two additional drones were shot down in other cities in Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital.
Two security officials say a small Indian drone was taken down by Pakistan’s air defense system, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media. It was not immediately clear whether the drone was armed.
The incident could not be independently verified, and Indian officials did not immediately comment.
India said its strikes Wednesday targeted at least nine sites in Pakistan linked to planning terrorist attacks against India.
In response, Pakistan’s air force shot down five Indian fighter jets, its military said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed overnight to avenge the killings but gave no details, raising fears of a broader conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Across the de-facto border in Indian-controlled Kashmir, tens of thousands of people slept in shelters overnight, officials and residents said Thursday.
Indian authorities evacuated civilians from dozens of villages living close to the highly militarized Line of Control overnight while some living in border towns like Uri and Poonch left their homes on their own, three police and civil officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental regulations.
Global temperatures stuck at near-record highs in April: EU monitor
- Burning fossil fuels largely blamed for global warming that has made extreme weather disasters more frequent and intense
- Scientists say the current period is likely to be the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years
PARIS: Global temperatures were stuck at near-record highs in April, the EU’s climate monitor said on Thursday, extending an unprecedented heat streak and raising questions about how quickly the world might be warming.
The extraordinary heat spell was expected to subside as warmer El Niño conditions faded last year, but temperatures have stubbornly remained at record or near-record levels well into this year.
“And then comes 2025, when we should be settling back, and instead we are remaining at this accelerated step-change in warming,” said Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
“And we seem to be stuck there. What this is caused (by) — what is explaining it — is not entirely resolved, but it’s a very worrying sign,” he told AFP.
In its latest bulletin, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said that April was the second-hottest in its dataset, which draws on billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations.
All but one of the last 22 months exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the warming limit enshrined in the Paris agreement, beyond which major and lasting climate and environmental changes become more likely.
Many scientists believe this target is no longer attainable and will be crossed in a matter of years.
A large study by dozens of pre-eminent climate scientists, which has not yet been peer reviewed, recently concluded that global warming reached 1.36C in 2024.
Copernicus puts the current figure at 1.39C and projects 1.5C could be reached in mid 2029 or sooner based on the warming trend over the last 30 years.
“Now it’s in four years’ time. The reality is we will exceed 1.5 degrees,” said Samantha Burgess of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs Copernicus.
“The critical thing is to then not latch onto two degrees, but to focus on 1.51,” the climate scientist told AFP.
Julien Cattiaux, a climate scientist at the French research institute CNRS, said 1.5C “would be beaten before 2030” but that was not a reason to give up.
“It’s true that the figures we’re giving are alarming: the current rate of warming is high. They say every 10th of a degree counts, but right now, they’re passing quickly,” he told AFP.
“Despite everything, we mustn’t let that hinder action.”
Scientists are unanimous that burning fossil fuels has largely driven long-term global warming that has made extreme weather disasters more frequent and intense.
But they are less certain about what else might have contributed to this persistent heat event.
Experts think changes in global cloud patterns, airborne pollution and Earth’s ability to store carbon in natural sinks like forests and oceans, could be factors also contributing to the planet overheating.
The surge pushed 2023 and then 2024 to become the hottest years on record, with 2025 tipped to be third.
“The last two years... have been exceptional,” said Burgess.
“They’re still within the boundary — or the envelope — of what climate models predicted we could be in right now. But we’re at the upper end of that envelope.”
She said that “the current rate of warming has accelerated but whether that’s true over the long term, I’m not comfortable saying that,” adding that more data was needed.
Copernicus records go back to 1940 but other sources of climate data — such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons — allow scientists to expand their conclusions using evidence from much further into the past.
Scientists say the current period is likely to be the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years.
