Latest news

The election in the United States|The electoral movement
Kennedy backs off after emails about Capitol storming

Independent US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. is forced to back down after his presidential campaign wrote an apology about the storming of the Capitol.

An email sent by Kennedy's campaign called people jailed for the storming "activists" who had been "deprived of their constitutional rights." The AP news agency notes that the language used is similar to that used by former President Donald Trump.

Kennedy spokeswoman Stefanie Spear says the email was sent by a consultant.

"It was a mistake and the statement is not something that Kennedy stands for," she says, according to the New York Times.
 

**********************

The violence in Haiti
The UN summit on the situation in Haiti: "It is apocalyptic"

The situation in violent Haiti is getting worse, according to William O'Neill, UN expert on human rights in the country, writes The Guardian.

- I'm quite honestly at a loss for words at this point, it's apocalyptic, he tells the newspaper.

Over 1,500 people were killed in the first three months of the year, according to UN figures. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee the capital in recent weeks alone.

The international airport in the capital Port-au-Prince has been closed for just over a month due to the gangs' violent attacks.

*********************

The political situation in Norway

Norway strengthens defense with SEK 600 billion

The government in Norway announces that the country's defense will be strengthened with NOK 600 billion over the next twelve years, reports Norwegian VG.

- Ensuring security for people in Norway is the government's most fundamental task, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a press release.

The plan is a "historic boost" for the country's defense, according to the prime minister.

*******************

Economy
Report: Criminals in the EU launder money in the property sector

41 percent of the EU's most high-profile and dangerous criminal networks launder the proceeds of crime through the real estate sector. This is shown in a recent report from Europol that Bloomberg has seen.

Other common methods of money laundering are through the sale of luxury goods, doing business in cash-intensive industries, and through trading in cryptocurrencies.

According to the report, there is no actor in serious and organized crime that is not connected to a part of the legal economy.

"The networks can cause significant damage to the EU's internal market, legislation and economy," it says, among other things.

********************

Climate threat The threat to the Amazon
Hope for the Amazon - Colombia cuts deforestation in half

Deforestation of the Amazon has fallen dramatically in both Brazil and Colombia in the past year, the BBC reports, citing an analysis by the World Resources Institute.

In Brazil, deforestation decreased by 39 percent in 2023 compared to 2022. In Colombia, deforestation has decreased by as much as 49 percent.

According to Alejandra Laina of the World Resources Institute, this is thanks to political initiatives by Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro and Environment Minister Susana Muhamad.

- The history of vandalism in Colombia is complex and deeply intertwined with the country's politics, which makes 2023's historic reduction particularly powerful, she says.

Despite the progress, losses in the rainforest remain at an unsustainable level, according to the analysis. Partly because of forest fires, but also because countries such as Bolivia and Nicaragua have not acted to reverse the trend, writes The Guardian. Last year, the equivalent of roughly ten football pitches of rainforest was felled per minute in the Amazon.

******************

Bird flu H5N1
Thousands of penguins may have died from bird flu

Thousands of penguins in Antarctica may have died of H5N1 bird flu, prompting scientists to send samples from the dead animals for analysis, Reuters reports.

It was last month that researchers from Federation University Australia found over 500 dead Adélie penguins. The researchers believe that in total there are thousands of dead animals. At the same time, they fear that bird flu could wipe out endangered penguin species.

The test results are expected within the coming months. Each year, about 20 million pairs of penguins breed in Antarctica, according to the British Antarctic Survey.