CELAYA, Mexico: Twelve bodies were found on Thursday in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, local authorities said, attributing the killings to disputes between organized crime groups.
Guanajuato, a thriving industrial center that is also home to popular tourist destinations, is currently Mexico’s most violent state, according to official homicide statistics.
The 12 bodies were found within two hours in five locations in the city of Salamanca, according to the state prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the crime.
The victims — three women and nine men — were found on roads, bridges and avenues, their bodies bearing gunshot wounds and signs of torture, while one was dismembered.
The state prosecutor’s office also said the perpetrators left messages in which a cartel claimed responsibility.
The bodies were found less than 24 hours after gunmen attacked a residential center for people suffering from addictions in the same municipality, killing four.
“This month of October has started with very high crime rates here. That makes 16 people (murdered) so far,” Salamanca Mayor Cesar Prieto told reporters.
But he said the violence affecting the city was “a temporary issue” that flares up “when one group decides to attack another.”
In Guanajuato, two cartels, the Santa Rosa de Lima and the Jalisco New Generation, are currently at war.
Hit by spiraling violence linked to organized crime, Mexico has recorded more than 450,000 murders since December 2006, when a controversial military anti-drug operation was launched.
New President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she will present her national security plan next Tuesday.
12 bodies found in Mexico’s Guanajuato state in latest cartel violence
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12 bodies found in Mexico’s Guanajuato state in latest cartel violence
- Guanajuato, a thriving industrial center that is also home to popular tourist destinations, is currently Mexico’s most violent state
- In Guanajuato, two cartels, the Santa Rosa de Lima and the Jalisco New Generation, are currently at war
UK spy chief says Russia behind ‘staggeringly reckless’ sabotage in Europe
“If Putin succeeds China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become still more dangerous“
PARIS: Britain’s foreign spy chief accused Russia on Friday of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe while also stepping up its nuclear sabre-rattling to scare other countries off from backing Ukraine.
Richard Moore, head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6, said that any softening in support for Ukraine against Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies.
In what appeared a message to incoming US President Donald Trump’s administration and some European allies that have questioned continued support for Ukraine in the grinding war, Moore argued that Europe and its transatlantic partners must hold firm in the face of what he said was growing aggression.
“We have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe, even as Putin and his acolytes resort to nuclear sabre-rattling to sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine,” he said in a speech in Paris.
“The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known but the cost of not doing so would be infinitely higher. If Putin succeeds China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become still more dangerous.”
In September, Moore said Russia’s intelligence services had gone “a bit feral” in the latest warning by NATO and other Western spy chiefs about what they call hostile Russian actions, ranging from repeated cyberattacks to Moscow-linked arson.
Moscow has denied responsibility for all such incidents. The Russian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Moore’s remarks.
Last month the UK’s domestic spy chief said Russia’s GRU military intelligence service was seeking to cause “mayhem.” Sources familiar with US intelligence have told Reuters Moscow is likely to step up its campaign against European targets to increase pressure on the West over its support for Kyiv.
LOOKING FORWARD TO TRUMP
Much of Moore’s speech was focused on the importance of Western solidarity, saying the collective strength of Britain’s allies would outmatch Putin who, he said, was becoming increasingly in hock to China, North Korea and Iran.
Trump, who has vowed to quickly end the war in Ukraine, without saying how, and other Republicans in the US have expressed reservations about Washington’s strong strategic support and heavy weapons supplies for Kyiv.
“If Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state he will not stop there. Our security — British, French, European and transatlantic — will be jeopardized,” Moore said.
In general terms, Moore said the world was in its most dangerous state in his 37 years working in the intelligence world, with Daesh on the rise again, Iran’s nuclear ambitions a continued threat, and the radicalising impact of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel not yet fully known.
Nicolas Lerner, head of France’s foreign spy agency DGSE, said French and UK intelligence were working closely together “to face what is undoubtedly one of the threats — if not the threat — in my opinion, the possible atomic proliferation in Iran.” Iran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear weapons.
Israeli military to remain in Gaza for years, minister says
LONDON: Israel’s food minister, Avi Dichter, said that the Israeli military would remain in Gaza for many years to fight against Hamas recruits, the British national daily The Guardian reported on Friday.
“I think that we are going to stay in Gaza for a long time. I think most people understand that (Israel) will be years in some kind of West Bank situation where you go in and out and maybe you remain along Netzarim (corridor),” Dichter said.
Israeli reservists who recently served in Gaza described to The Guardian the scale of the new military infrastructure built in the territory by Israel. This includes extensive new camps and roads across a swath of northern and central Gaza.
A demobilized officer said that he had spent days demolishing houses in Gaza to clear more ground for military bases in Gaza’s Netzarim corridor.
“That was the only mission. There was not a single construction left that was taller than my waist anywhere (in the corridor), except our bases and observation towers,” he said.
Israeli military strikes killed at least 21 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as tanks pushed deeper into the north and south of the territory.
The escalation came a day after Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah began a ceasefire in Lebanon, halting more than a year of hostilities and raising hopes among many Palestinians in Gaza for a similar deal with Hamas, which ruled the territory from 2007 until the current conflict.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has repeatedly said that Hamas must be completely destroyed and Israel must retain lasting control over parts of Gaza.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,200 people and displaced nearly all the territory’s population at least once, Gaza officials say. Most victims are civilians.
France arrests 26 as South Asian migrant trafficking ring smashed
- The traffickers are suspected of having smuggled several thousand people from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal into France since September 2021
- The network generated millions of euros in illegal profits, which were laundered through construction firms, gold trafficking and informal transfers
PARIS: French authorities arrested 26 people and seized 11 million euros ($12 million) as they smashed a migrant trafficking ring suspected of bringing several thousand people from South Asia into France, border police told AFP on Thursday.
Charging between 15,000 and 26,000 euros per person, the traffickers are suspected of having smuggled several thousand people from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal into France since September 2021, the force said.
Authorities estimate the network generated several million euros in illegal profits, which were laundered through construction companies, gold trafficking and informal transfers of money back to South Asia.
The arrests took place between March and November 2024, said Julien Gentile, director of the French border force at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport.
“The smugglers facilitated migrants’ travel to the European Union via Dubai or African states, while providing them with illegally obtained tourist, work or medical visas,” said Gentile.
The head of the network is still at large, with France’s request for his extradition from Dubai yet to be agreed, according to the border force.
Of the 26 men arrested, 15 were placed in pre-trial detention with seven under judicial supervision.
The remaining four, who were recently arrested, were to be presented on Thursday to the investigating judge.
The 11 million euros’ worth of assets included properties, luxury cars, jewelry and gold.
Those arrested are accused of belonging to different levels of the gang, ranging from smugglers to money launderers and shady finance brokers.
“This is the exceptional nature of the case,” Gentile added.
Details of the investigation by France’s Office for the Fight against the Illicit Traffic of Migrants, were released with migration becoming a key issue for French political parties.
The conservative government that took office in September has said it will clampdown, while France has also faced pressure over undocumented migrants crossing the Channel to Britain from its northern coast.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was to visit the Calais region on Friday for talks with local mayors on the migrant crisis. At least 72 undocumented migrants have died this year trying to cross the Channel.
The mayors have asked for more police and a tougher clampdown on the smuggling gangs.
Retailleau is also to go to London on December 8-9 for talks on the migrants.
Human trafficking carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in France.
In December 2023, a plane carrying hundreds of Indian passengers was grounded for days at Vatry airport east of Paris over concerns it was part of a human trafficking scheme.
The plane had taken off from the United Arab Emirates and was detained after an anonymous tipoff.
Bangladeshi politicians urge calm after sectarian clash
- Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s leading political parties have called for calm following widespread unrest in the country triggered by the killing of a lawyer during clashes between Hindu protesters and security forces.
Public prosecutor Saiful Islam Alif died Tuesday as angry supporters of outspoken Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari — arrested for allegedly disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a rally — battled with police when he was denied bail.
Religious relations have been turbulent in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people since a student-led revolution in August toppled autocratic ex-premier minister Sheikh Hasina, who then fled to neighboring India.
The Bangladeshi National Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami — Hasina’s two main opponents during her 15-year tenure — have urged restraint.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was quoted Friday by the daily Prathom Alo as having said that a “defeated fascist group” was behind the latest flare-up, a reference to Hasina’s Awami League.
“This incident is completely unwarranted,” he told the newspaper.
“We strongly condemn it and urge everyone to approach the situation calmly.”
Shafiqur Rahman of Jemaat blamed the ongoing unrest on a “vested group plotting to destabilize the country.”
Street protests have nonetheless been called to demand a ban on the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a transnational Hindu religious group also known as the Hare Krishna movement that Das reportedly belonged to.
Hefazat-e-Islam, a collective of Islamic seminaries, held a rally Friday to demand the group’s prohibition, alleging it was a front to return Hasina to power on behalf of India, her ousted government’s biggest benefactor.
“There is a meticulously designed plan to instigate communal riots in Bangladesh and ISKCON is here to implement it on behalf of India and Sheikh Hasina,” Mamunul Haque of Hefazat-e-Islam told supporters during the rally.
Hasina demanded Das’s “immediate release” from custody earlier this week and called his arrest “illegal,” BBC reported.
The ex-premier also condemned the killing of the lawyer, calling it a “blatant violation of human rights.”
India has described Das’s arrest and denial of bail as “unfortunate.”
But ISKCON denies any connections to Das.
“We expelled Chinmoy long before the case was filed against him for breaching ISKCON’s discipline,” the group’s Bangladesh president Satya Ranjan Barai said on Friday.
“He was relieved of his duties, but he defied the order and continued his activities.”
Bangladesh’s top court on Thursday dismissed a petition calling for a ban on ISKCON.
“Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians... believe in coexistence, and this harmony will not be broken,” the court ruled.
Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions
- Walkout on Black Friday was repeated at Amazon warehouses in other countries as workers call for higher wages, better working conditions and union rights
- Nitesh Das, a union leader, said the workers took to the streets because they want the government to take up their cause
NEW DELHI: Amazon staff in India have joined strike action calling for better wages and working conditions as the company prepares for one of the busiest shopping periods of the year .
About 200 warehouse workers and delivery drivers rallied in the capital, New Delhi, under a “Make Amazon Pay” banner. Some donned masks of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and joined hands against the Seattle-based company’s practices.
The walkout on Black Friday, which starts one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, was repeated at Amazon warehouses in other countries as workers called for higher wages, better working conditions, and union rights.
There was no immediate statement by Amazon India.
“Our basic salary is 10,000 rupees ($120), which should be at least 25,000 rupees ($295),” said Manish Kumar, 25, a warehouse worker who joined the New Delhi protest. “And the environment there is to work under pressure,” he added.
Nitesh Das, a union leader, said the workers took to the streets because they want the government to take up their cause.
A statement from the Amazon India Workers Union said similar protests are planned in other parts of India as well as in other countries, including the United States, Germany, Japan, and Brazil. The demonstrations will call on Amazon to pay its workers fairly, respect their right to join unions, and commit to environmental sustainability, it said.
The union said it would submit a memorandum highlighting its demands to India’s Labor Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The gig economy has become huge in India due to its fast economic growth, but workers face low wages and difficult working conditions.
India’s National Human Rights Commission sent a notice to Amazon in June 2023 after local media reports that workers were being made to work without breaks during the peak hot summer season. Amazon India denied the charge.
