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PARIS: A French court on Thursday (Jan 31) sentenced two police officers to seven years in prison for the rape of a Canadian tourist at the Paris police headquarters.

The men, Nicolas Redouane, 49, and Antoine Quirin, 40, had denied raping 39-year-old Emily Spanton, saying the sex was consensual.

But the court was "convinced by the victim's steadfast statements" that she was raped and "by scientific and technical" evidence, its president Stephane Duchemin said.

The officers were also ordered to pay €20,000 (US$23,000) in damages to the victim.

Spanton met the officers on the night of Apr 22, 2014, at a bar near the fabled police headquarters at 36 Quai des Orfevres, which features in Georges Simenon's Maigret detective novels.

She then agreed to visit their offices at "the 36", where both men were members of the elite BRI anti-gang unit.
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The officers, aged 40 and 49, had faced up to 20 years' imprisonment for gang rape.

Prosecutor Philippe Courroye on Wednesday had asked for seven-year prison terms for the officers, who kept jobs with the police while awaiting trial.

Spanton was "easy prey", Courroye said.

That night, he charged, the officers "were not policemen, but usurpers unworthy of their badges, acting in the same way as those they pursue".

Spanton said she was raped by up to three men but although the DNA of three people was found, only two could be identified.

She told the court that she had been excited to see the "36" and thought "there would be plenty of lights and people".

But in the middle of the night, their fifth-floor offices were empty.

"I just gave up; just wanted it to be over," she said.

Spanton told police officers on duty as she left the building that she had been raped, but said she was treated like a drunk and told to "go home".

Witnesses described her as looking happy when she entered police headquarters, but distraught when she left and immediately accused the policemen of rape.

The trial highlighted flaws in the investigation just after the incident, including that the alleged crime scene was not cordoned off.

The officers were also allowed to return home without submitting to a breathalyser test.

'I AM NOT A RAPIST'

Both defendants sobbed as they gave their final statements on Thursday morning.

"I realise that as a police officer I should never have brought Emily Spanton to the BRI offices," Redouane said, taking the stand just a few metres away from his accuser.

"All my life I've had good relationships with women. I never, never, never assaulted, attacked or raped Emily Spanton."

Quirin said it had been a "five-year nightmare" for him and his family.

"Maybe I was unfaithful, but I have never raped a woman. I never raped this woman."

Quirin's lawyer Anne-Laure Compoint had argued it was not possible to prove beyond doubt that there had been a lack of consent.

The "36" is still used as police offices, but the headquarters have been moved to a new building in northwest Paris.

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Police and firemen are searching for about 200 people missing after a tailings dam burst at an iron ore mine owned by Brazilian miner Vale SA in south-western Minas Gerais state.

Among those missing are 100 employees who were having lunch in the dam's administrative area when a torrent of sludge and water hit it, fire brigade spokesman Lieutenant Pedro Aihara said. There was no immediate word of fatalities.

"Our main worry now is to quickly find out where the missing people are," Mr Aihara said on GloboNews cable television channel. He said two lower dams gave way after the bigger one burst.

Scores of people were trapped in nearby areas flooded by the river of sludge released by the dam failure.

US-listed shares of Vale tumbled as much as 10 percent after the incident, the second major accident at a tailings dam in Minas Gerais in the past three years.

/.// The iron ore mining region is still recovering from the collapse of a larger dam in 2015 that killed 19 people. That dam, owned by the Samarco Mineracao SA venture between Vale and BHP Billiton, buried local homes in Brazil's worst environmental disaster.

The mud from Friday's dam burst also hit parts of the local community Vila Forteco, near the town of Brumadinho, authorities said. Families have been told to evacuate homes in low-lying areas, they said.

Helicopters plucked people covered in mud from the disaster area, including a woman with a fractured hip who was among eight injured people taken to hospital, officials said.

Television reports showed people running away as the dam broke and nearby fields with bean crops destroyed by packed mud.

Mr Aihara said the torrent of mud stopped just short of the local Paraopeba river, a tributary of the Brazil's longest river, the Sao Francisco.

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Venezuela's top military envoy to the United States has defected from the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

It came at the same time as the South American nation said the two countries had scaled back their diplomatic missions to skeleton staff.

The diplomatic friction and defection was triggered by United States recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president. Washington, Canada and most Latin American nations said Mr Maduro's second-term election win was fraudulent.

"Today I speak to the people of Venezuela, and especially to my brothers in the armed forces of the nation, to recognise President Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president," Colonel Jose Luis Silva said in a video recorded at the embassy in Washington, seated at a desk alongside the Venezuelan flag.

Colonel Silva told Reuters that one consular official in Houston and one in another US city also recognised Mr Guaido, but that he was the only diplomat in Washington he knew of who had taken the step. Reuters was not able to independently confirm other defectors.

"The top brass of the military and the executive branch are holding the armed forces hostage. There are many, many who are unhappy," Colonel Silva said. "My message to the armed forces is, 'Don't mistreat your people.' We were given arms to defend the sovereignty of our nation. They never, never trained us to say, 'This is for you to attack your people, to defend the current government in power'."

While small rebellions against President Maduro have broken out in Venezuela's armed forces in recent months, there has been no large scale military uprising against him.

Mr Guaido welcomed Colonel Silva in a message on Twitter and encouraged others to follow his example. In a tweet, Venezuela's Defence Ministry called Colonel Silva a coward, posting a picture of him emblazoned with the word "traitor" across it in red capital letters.

US National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis called the defection an example of the principle "that the role of the military is to protect constitutional order, not to sustain dictators and repress its own people. Encourage others to do the same".

A 72-hour deadline issued by President Maduro for US embassy personnel to leave Caracas expired on Saturday, after the embattled socialist leader broke off bilateral relations on Wednesday.

Some US embassy staff left Caracas on Friday, and Venezuela was withdrawing staff from Washington on Saturday, Venezuela's foreign ministry said in a statement.

However, President Maduro softened his demand that all US embassy staff withdraw by Saturday.

Instead, the two countries will seek an agreement to replace the embassies with "Interest Offices" in their respective capitals within 30 days, the statement said. For decades, diplomacy between Cuba and the United States was represented by an interest section.

If the two sides fail to reach an agreement, the remaining diplomatic staff will have to leave and the missions will close.

(We would) "maintain an Interests Office, with minimum personnel, and office of representation of interests as functioned in Cuba. That is true diplomacy," Mr Maduro said in a live broadcast with Venezuelan youth.

"We don't want to be a North American colony," he sang during the broadcast, during which he also pounded conga drums.

For now, the remaining staff can only carry out their activities within the diplomatic missions, the statement said.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the embassy in Caracas.
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LONDON: Mining company Vale’s second dam disaster in Brazil in less than four years deals a blow to an industry grappling with investor wariness and a poor image and casts doubt on new President Jair Bolsonaro’s vow to reduce government regulation.
Brazilian rescue workers on Saturday were searching for roughly 300 people missing after a tailings dam burst at a Vale iron ore mine in the town of Brumadinho in Minas Gerais state. Ten bodies have been recovered.
Brazil is still reeling from the 2015 collapse of a larger dam, owned by the Samarco Mineracao SA joint venture between Vale and BHP , that killed 19 people in the South American nation’s worst environmental disaster.
Lawyers representing victims of the Samarco dam collapse say the financial implications of the new tragedy are open-ended and potentially crippling for Vale.
“This calls into question the financial viability of Vale going forward because of the sheer scale of their potential liabilities,” Tom Goodhead, a lawyer at SPG Law, told Reuters.
The firm, a British offshoot of a US litigator, is engaged in legal action on behalf of hundreds of thousands affected by the Samarco disaster.
Vale Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said the company did everything possible to verify all its dams were safe, in the aftermath of the 2015 dam burst.
State prosecutors have requested that 5 billion reais ($1.33 billion) in Vale’s accounts be frozen to be directed toward efforts to pay for damages from Friday’s dam burst, saying they expected more assets to be frozen.
With the prospect of class action suits from shareholders as well as possible criminal and civil suits in Brazil, liabilities could easily exceed the initial provision.
Last year, Vale settled a 20 billion reais ($5.4 billion) civil claim with local authorities to establish a clean-up fund for Samarco. Federal prosecutors suspended but have not closed an even larger lawsuit.
One investor at a major bank, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he could no longer consider investing in Vale or BHP because of the ongoing risk of Samarco liability. BHP said it had no comment on Saturday.
’LESSONS TO LEARN’
Vale is a member of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), which seeks to establish best practice guidelines.
Following the Samarco dam burst, the ICMM issued updated guidelines its members must should follow to try to safeguard tailings dams used to store waste left over from mining operations.
“It goes without saying that we still have lessons to learn from this disaster, and we will need to do everything we can to incorporate those lessons across the industry,” ICMM CEO Tom Butler said on Saturday in an email.
“Our thoughts are with those affected by what appears to be a major and tragic dam failure.”
Engineers at other companies, who declined to be named, said tailings dams can be safe, especially if as much water as possible is removed. But they added that Bolsonaro, who took office at the beginning of this year, was likely to come under popular pressure to enforce tough regulation, despite his promises to run a business-friendly government.
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More than 24 hours since the disaster happened, finding many more survivors was looking increasingly unlikely
Environmental agency Ibama fined Vale SA $66.32mn for various violations related to the dam burst at its Corrego do Feijao iron ore mine

BRUMADINHO, Brazil: Eleven people were confirmed dead and nearly 300 missing, many also feared dead, on Saturday after a dam collapsed at a mine in southeast Brazil.
The disaster struck Friday at the Vale mine near the city of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais state, spewing out millions of tons of muddy sludge across the facility and down toward farmland alongside the nearby town of Brumaldinho.
Dozens of helicopters were being used in the rescue operation Saturday because the released mud engulfed buildings, vehicles and roads with a deep, treacherous layer.
“We still have hopes of finding people alive,” the head of the state’s fire service, Col. Edgard Estavao, told reporters.
The latest count listed 296 people as missing, all of them mine workers listed by Vale.
A total 176 survivors have been rescued so far, 23 of whom were hospitalized.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro flew over the devastated zone, but said nothing to reporters when he returned from the flight.
Instead, he tweeted that it was “difficult to not be emotional before this scene.” All was being done to care for survivors and “determine the facts, to demand justice and prevent new tragedies,” he added.
The military said it was deploying 1,000 troops, including sniffer dogs, to the affected zone under orders from Bolsonaro.
The disaster was the first big emergency faced by Bolsonaro and his government since he took office in early January, and perhaps one of the biggest disasters in Brazil’s history.
Vale has been shaken by the disaster, the second in three years it has suffered in the same state.
Workers at its mine had been lunching in an administrative area Friday when they were suddenly engulfed by millions of tons of muddy trailings — a waste byproduct of the iron-ore mining operations.
The ruptured dam, 42 years old and 86 meters (282 feet) high, had been in the process of being decommissioned, and Vale said it had recently passed structural safety tests.
After overflowing a second dam, the vast muddy mass barrelled down toward Brumaldinho, population 39,000, but only glanced along it before spearing its way through vegetation and farmland, smashing houses and swallowing tractors and roads in its way.
Vale’s CEO Fabio Schvartsman and Minas Gerais Governor Romeu Zema both expressed pessimism, warning the toll could rise.
“From now, the odds are minimal (to find more people alive) and it is most likely we will recover only bodies,” Zema told reporters late Friday.
In Rio, Schvartsman spoke of a “human tragedy.”
“We’re talking about probably a large number of victims — we don’t know how many but we know it will be a high number,” he said.
Vale shares plummeted on the New York stock exchange Friday, closing eight percent lower.
Brazil’s environmental protection agency hit Vale with an initial $66.5 million fine over the disaster.
Minas Gerais state authorities said they were about to levy another penalty. They have already obtained a court order blocking $270 million of Vale funds in bank accounts with a view to using it for victim relief.
The mining company, one of the world’s biggest, was already involved in a 2015 mine collapse elsewhere in Minas Gerais that claimed 19 lives and is regarded as the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster.
Would-be rescue volunteers were urged to stay away because of the slippery, perilous mud. Media were pressed not to use drones to avoid collisions with search and rescue helicopters.
Walter Morais, a member of the Red Cross team sent to the disaster zone, told AFP that his relief group “will begin humanitarian actions helping people who were rescued and are homeless.”
The Brazil office of environmentalist group Greenpeace said the dam break was “a sad consequence of the lessons not learned by the Brazilian government and the mining companies.”
Such incidents “are not accidents but environmental crimes that must be investigated, punished and repaired,” it added.
While the death toll has yet to be fully established in Brazil, the disaster at the mine could well rank among the worst recorded.
In 2008, a moving mass of mud and rocks from an illegal iron ore mine slammed into the Chinese town of Taoshi, in northern Shanxi province, killing 262 people.
A mine collapse at a gold mine in Merriespruit, South Africa caused 17 deaths in 1994.
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The companies behind the world’s bitcoin ATM networks say their market is alive and well.

Matias Goldenhörn, director of Latin America operations at the ATM operator Athena Bitcoin, told CoinDesk that such ATMs are “becoming a real alternative to banks” for diverse users in emerging markets.

“The machines have proven resilient to the price fluctuations,” he said.

Indeed, Coin ATM Radar estimates there are now 4,213 cryptocurrency ATM machines deployed worldwide, most of which strictly offer bitcoin, compared to roughly 471 machines worldwide in January 2015. Now that some of these machines also include support for a wide array of digital assets, they offer a conduit for participation in broader cryptocurrency markets without relying solely on web-based exchanges.

Jorge Farias, a Venezuelan expat and CEO of the Panama-based startup Cryptobuyer, told CoinDesk that demand for bitcoin ATMs to support cryptocurrencies like dash and flash is largely driven by sponsored educational initiatives in Latin America – some of which literally give away small amounts of crypto to prospective users in emerging markets like Venezuela, which is currently roiled by crippling financial and political insecurity.

That’s why Farias is preparing to open Venezuela’s first bitcoin ATM in Caracas in early February, which will include support for other cryptocurrencies as well. The machine is already operational. But Farias said for safety reasons it’s important for the current unrest and surging demand for bitcoin to settle down slightly before the public launch.

Moe Adham, cofounder of the crypto ATM retailer BitAccess, told CoinDesk such multi-asset machines provide near-instant liquidity for cryptocurrencies that were otherwise difficult for many users to convert.

“If you earn some other cryptocurrencies through one of these decentralized networks, you can cash it out,” Adham told CoinDesk, adding:

“The bitcoin ATM industry is kind of coming into its own now. … We can provide access to different cryptos with bitcoin as the settlement layer.”

This combination of market demand and new technical capabilities has allowed ATM machines to become an anomaly in the broader industry: a sector where usage and profits are actually growing.
Inflation-driven demand

Although the majority of bitcoin ATMs are currently located in North America, demand from Latin American markets is growing at a breakneck pace, operators say.

According to Goldenhörn, Athena Bitcoin earned $3 million in net profits in 2018, after installing 25 new machines in Latin America, in part because of the Venezuelan diaspora in Colombia and Argentina spreading awareness of how unbanked people can still use bitcoin ATM machines.

“In the U.S., our clients predominantly use our machines to buy bitcoin,” Goldenhörn said. “In Colombia for example, it’s the other way around, people use the ATM to withdraw cash.”

Several of these machines are located inside Latin American Walmart Superstores. If Athena Bitcoin is able to raise a $7 million Series A round – for which the Chicago-based startup is currently fundraising – then Goldenhörn said the plan is to deploy up to 150 new bitcoin ATMs across Latin America in 2019. And his company isn’t the only startup to recognize the opportunity in the region.

When inflation rates in Argentina rose above 46 percent in 2018 – not to mention Venezuela’s staggering economic crisis – Farias raised an undisclosed amount from South African venture capital firm Invictus Capital to launch a new sector of his business with six bitcoin ATMs in Panama.

Farias aims to build a transnational network by working with Lamassu and General Bytes as manufacturing partners and the e-commerce giant MercadoLibre for prime locations, since MercadoLibre has branches across Latin America that allow people to deposit cash for store credit and transfer credits or fiat value to cryptocurrency wallets.

In 2019, Cryptobuyer plans to open 10 more ATMs in Argentina, 10 in Mexico and 10 in Venezuela, since Farias said inflation boosted demand for bitcoin access among local unbanked communities.

“The focus right now is on Mexico and Argentina, which have major immigrant populations from Venezuela,” Farias said. “This lady of 65 years came to one of our [Panama] locations one day with a piece of paper, a QR code printed, and she said to use that her son in Venezuela said with this paper I can send him money.”

For small transaction amounts, this remittance methodology appears to fly under the scope of money transmission regulations in Panama. However, Farias admitted his team is often in contact with local regulators because the compliance landscape could shift in the near future.

“They allow us to work because there isn’t a specific regulation right now, so we are always looking out for new regulations,” he said.
More options

Meanwhile, BitAccess will soon roll out support options for up to 70 tokens across its product lines.

BitAccess co-founder Adham told CoinDesk that aside from bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and tron saw the most demand from operators and users. He also added that 2018 was the first time his company – originally founded in 2014 – noticed ATM usage was decoupling from the bitcoin’s market volatility.

“The price was decreasing but demand was increasing month over month,” Adham said, speaking of an uptick that has lasted since July 2018.

For example, demand and usage related to BitAccess machines grew more than 9 percent in November 2018, despite bitcoin’s market price sinking below $6,000. Plus, the average buy and sell amounts have both remained relatively constant since March 2018 – around $100 and $250, respectively.

BitAccess’ 242 machines are predominantly located in North America and Europe, with four machines located in Vietnam. Sellers with a more international client base, like the Switzerland-based retailer Lamassu, have also noticed demand is growing more quickly in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

“Singapore has been very popular with us, Malaysia as well,” Lamassu CEO Zach Harvey told CoinDesk. “Israel as well, we probably had only one bitcoin ATM until 2018. Now we have 20 machines in Israel.”
Compliance challenges

But as more people use bitcoin ATMs to convert cash and transact across borders, the opaque regulatory landscape presents ever-steeper hurdles.

Last October, Indian police arrested the co-founder of the Indian exchange Unocoin after the company opened a multi-asset cryptocurrency ATM in Bangalore. Unocoin co-founder Sathvik Vishwanath, who has since been released because he did not break any particular law, told CoinDesk that police confiscated the machine because it was unclear whether operators required a license.

“We await the judgment regarding the lifting of this restriction by the Supreme Court,” Vishwanath said, adding that he expects a ruling by the end of February.

Such regulatory complexities are compounded by questions about whether certain cryptocurrencies classify as unregistered securities according to local laws.

In Adham’s case, he said that although BitAccess is merely a retailer and responsibility lies with owners and operators, his company still worked with legal counsel to review tokens and make sure ATM machines only supported assets that were already accessible on other platforms in each jurisdiction.

“Then the question of securitization is very scary,” Adham said, adding:

“There’s not anyone who is entirely certain of where the cards are going to fall on this. … Are there other reputable companies that are offering these tokens? And do they have clearly listed statements about why they are listed?”

Both Harvey and Goldenhörn said they also have to take a unique approach to compliance in each jurisdiction and created a legal review process for both themselves and their partners, even if the burden of responsibility eventually falls on another operator or landlord.

“These systems, which started out as very simple, are becoming very, very complex,” Harvey said, noting that Lamassu machines offer the ability for operators to support ethereum, bitcoin cash, zcash, litecoin and dash. “Depending on which jurisdiction you’re in, there are different demands.”

All things considered, Adham said that his company was “cash flow positive” for the past four quarters and growing demand creates economic incentives to innovate in this space.

“I don’t think that compliance is the No. 1 hindrance,” he said. The biggest challenge, in his mind, is finding and targeting sources of real demand.

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Hezbollah condemned yesterday the “flagrant” US “interference” in Venezuela’s affairs.

A statement published on the website of Hezbollah-owned TV station Al-Manara, said that “Hezbollah strongly condemns the coup attempt against the legal authority in [Venezuela],” noting that the US is standing behind this move.

Hezbollah stressed that it is standing beside the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, and his “elected” government, stressing the recognitions made by the US administration “do not legitimise the coup,” Anadolu Agency reported.

In addition, the statement said: “All the world knows that the American aim behind its interference is not defending democracy or freedom, but controlling the wealth and resources of this country and punishing patriotic countries for their political choices which are against the US’ domination policy.”

The Venezuelan president has vowed to defeat a “coup d’état” against Venezuela’s sovereignty, local media reported. Speaking at a press conference in Miraflores Presidential Palace in Venezuelan capital Caracas yesterday, Maduro said that: “We will defeat a coup d’état that intends to intervene in political life, throw Venezuelan sovereignty to the side and install a puppet regime for the interests of the US and its allies in the Western world.”

He stated that international media has been putting pressure on Venezuela and manipulating facts about the South American country. The president said Venezuela should solve its domestic problems alone, without the intervention of the imperialist US.

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Police and firemen are searching for about 200 people missing after a tailings dam burst at an iron ore mine owned by Brazilian miner Vale SA in south-western Minas Gerais state.

Among those missing are 100 employees who were having lunch in the dam's administrative area when a torrent of sludge and water hit it, fire brigade spokesman Lieutenant Pedro Aihara said. There was no immediate word of fatalities.

"Our main worry now is to quickly find out where the missing people are," Mr Aihara said on GloboNews cable television channel. He said two lower dams gave way after the bigger one burst.

Scores of people were trapped in nearby areas flooded by the river of sludge released by the dam failure.

US-listed shares of Vale tumbled as much as 10 percent after the incident, the second major accident at a tailings dam in Minas Gerais in the past three years.

The iron ore mining region is still recovering from the collapse of a larger dam in 2015 that killed 19 people. That dam, owned by the Samarco Mineracao SA venture between Vale and BHP Billiton, buried local homes in Brazil's worst environmental disaster.

The mud from Friday's dam burst also hit parts of the local community Vila Forteco, near the town of Brumadinho, authorities said. Families have been told to evacuate homes in low-lying areas, they said.

Helicopters plucked people covered in mud from the disaster area, including a woman with a fractured hip who was among eight injured people taken to hospital, officials said.

Television reports showed people running away as the dam broke and nearby fields with bean crops destroyed by packed mud.

Mr Aihara said the torrent of mud stopped just short of the local Paraopeba river, a tributary of the Brazil's longest river, the Sao Francisco.

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The family of a New Zealand man who died while cycling a dangerous road in Bolivia have gone there to bring his body home.

The man died on 22 January when his bike went off the edge of the road and he fell 100m.

The owner of the company the man was biking with, Alistair Matthew, said the family had flown to Bolivian capital La Paz to start the process of repatriation.
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Pope Francis is in Panama for a global gathering of young Catholics for World Youth Day
In a speech to government ministers and diplomats, he called on political leaders to reject “all forms of corruption”

PANAMA CITY: Pope Francis said in Panama Thursday that the Church must work to overcome the world’s “fears and suspicions” of migration, and pledged his support for efforts to avoid further suffering in crisis-torn Venezuela.
The pope is being kept abreast of developments in Caracas, and was praying for the people of Venezuela, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said. Francis is supporting “all efforts” to avoid further suffering for the population, he said.
Speaking from Panama in Central America — the hub for US-bound migrants — Francis said migrants were simply seeking “the minimum conditions for a better future.”
The Argentine pope was addressing Central American bishops on the first day of his visit for a global gathering of young Catholics for World Youth Day.
Earlier, in a speech to government ministers and members of the diplomatic corps at the foreign ministry, he called on political leaders to reject “all forms of corruption.”
Young people, he said, insisted that those in positions of authority should “lead a life that demonstrates that public service is a synonym of honesty and justice, and opposed to all forms of corruption.”
He returned to the theme in his speech to bishops at the nearby 17th Century St. Francis of Assisi Church.

“Plaque of femicide”
Here, he deplored what he called “the plague” of femicide in Latin America, where some 2,800 women are killed each year, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
“The killing of women — our continent is experiencing a plague in this regard,” Francis said, saying this and other problems like drug trafficking, gang violence and the sexual exploitation of minors and young people, were “the fruit of a culture and a society run amok.”
“Often families have been broken by an economic system that did not prioritize persons and the common good, but made speculation its ‘paradise,’ without worrying who would end up paying the price.”
“And so, we see our young people without a home, without a family, without a community, without a sense of belonging, easy prey for the first charlatan who comes along.”
Francis won praise from young people for his comments.
“These crimes are part of a highly macho culture in which we feel diminished,” said Fatima Melendez, 18, from El Salvador.
In her country, she said, women need “peace in something as simple as going out into the street.”
In the early evening, tens of thousands of young people gave the pope a rock-star welcome to the Catholic jamboree at a palm-fringed park overlooking Panama Bay.
“We want to tell you not to be afraid,” the pope said, urging them instead to go forward with “fresh energy and restlessness.”


“Constant freshness and youth”

The idea was not to create “a parallel Church that would be more ‘fun’ or ‘cool’ thanks to a fancy youth event,” he said. But instead, the “constant freshness and youth” should be used in “service to our brothers and sisters, and concrete service at that.”
Several migrant caravans, mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, have been making their way through Central America and Mexico to the US border since last October, amid trenchant opposition from US President Donald Trump.
Francis told bishops that the Church, with hospitality and acceptance, can facilitate “dialogue and help overcome fears and suspicions, and thus consolidate the very bonds that migrations — in the collective imagination — threaten to break.”
Thousands turned out to cheer the pope on his way from the Papal Nunciature, where he spent the first night of his five-day visit, to his first official engagement of the day, a courtesy call on President Juan Carlos Varela.
In the narrow streets of the old city, they leaned forward over barriers as the pope’s small sedan passed by, waving red and white Panamanian flags.
At the foreign ministry, soberly-suited diplomats posed for selfies with the pope and stretched out to shake his hand as he left the podium after his speech.

Prayer for Venezuela
At the festive event in the park, dozens of young pilgrims held up a giant yellow, blue and red banner with the legend “Pray for Venezuela.”
In crisis-wracked Venezuela, opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido has proclaimed himself president with the support of the United States and several other countries — including Panama — setting up a tense standoff with the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
On Friday, Francis will visit a youth detention center and hear the confessions of inmates, including one serving time for murder.

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TORONTO: Canada's ambassador to China said he "misspoke" when he said Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou had a strong case against extradition to the United States, John McCallum said in a statement on Thursday (Jan 24).

Speaking to Chinese-language media in a Toronto suburb on Tuesday, McCallum said Meng had "good arguments on her side" in her case.

"I regret that my comments with respect to the legal proceedings of Ms. Meng have created confusion. I misspoke. These comments do not accurately represent my position on this issue," McCallum's statement said.

Meng's arrest in Vancouver on Dec 1 at the behest of the United States enraged China, which has called for the extradition case to be dropped. The United States has until Jan 30 to formally request her extradition over alleged violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Canada's government has emphasized that it follows the "rule of law" and cautioned against politicizing the case after U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters last month he would intervene if it served U.S. trade or national security interests.

In his Tuesday remarks, McCallum said Trump's comments and the fact that Canada had not applied the same sanctions against Iran as the United States made for "strong arguments" Meng could make before a judge. She next appears in court on Feb 6.

Meng has been released on bail and is living in one of her two multi-million Vancouver homes, wearing a GPS ankle bracelet and watched by security guards when she leaves the house.

The case has made for tense Canada-China relations. Two Canadians were detained in China following Meng's arrest, and a third was sentenced to death on drug charges.

Neither Canada nor China has explicitly tied these actions to Meng's arrest but some former diplomats have suggested this is a "tit-for-tat" issue.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Wednesday that he is focused on getting detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor out of China and recalling McCallum would not help their case.

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A young Hawaiian boy suffered a severe skin reaction that included painful, oozing and sometimes bloody red scabs after his parents used a steroid-based cream that was prescribed to treat his eczema.

Kristi and Matt Chun, parents to 20-month-old Colby, began to use the cream on their son after initially finding a patch of eczema on the toddler's ear. Eczema is a skin condition that can cause scaly patches -- which are usually itchy and red -- to form on the body.

When the condition cleared, the boy’s parents said they stopped applying the cream to their son. Soon after, he turned “red from head to toe like a lobster,” Kristi told the U.K-based publication The Sun.

The Honolulu couple then reapplied the cream, which caused the boy's condition to reportedly heal. Each time they stopped applying the cream to Colby, they said his skin would erupt in scabs. That cycle continued for two months and worsened each time, The Sun reported.

“After the red portions, it started to dry out and crack in large thick patches, then he went through the oozing stage which was the worst,” Kristi , 36, said. “Every time we increased the steroids to a higher dosage it would work and then stop, followed by it coming back with a vengeance."

The couple -- distressed and hoping to find relief for their son who would scream in pain -- consulted various doctors in an attempt to discover what was causing the boy’s skin to have such a horrific reaction.

The first eight months "were absolute hell. Literally, hell on earth watching a helpless infant truly suffer 24/7 with no relief," Kristi told Fox News on Tuesday, adding Colby had trouble eating and sleeping due to the condition.

It was eventually determined the culprit was the steroid-based cream itself.

Colby was suffering from topical steroid withdrawal. The condition, also known as “topical steroid addiction,” is a “clinical adverse effect that can occur when topical corticosteroids are inappropriately used or overused, then stopped. It can result from prolonged, frequent and inappropriate use of moderate to high potency topical corticosteroids, especially on the face and genital area, but is not limited to these criteria,” the National Eczema Association reported.

The couple said the International Topical Steroid Addiction Network helped them to identify the toddler’s condition.

"In my opinion, he was basically poisoned and his body needed to detox."
— Kristi Chun

"I eventually was able to time the return of [the] eczema. Every time we stopped the steroids it would come back very severely within 36 hours," Kristi said. "He was very ill even on the creams."

Eventually, Colby was taken off the topical cream entirely -- but had to endure a series of flare-ups which left his skin red, raw and oozing before it scabbed over and flaked.

"In my opinion, he was basically poisoned and his body needed to detox," Kristi said. "His lymph nodes were extremely swollen, his whole body was very swollen [and] he stopped gaining weight," she continued, adding the condition also caused Colby to lose his hair.

Months later, the Chuns claim their son is “75 to 80 percent healed,” noting he now sleeps through the night, walks and laughs, among other improvements.

"He laughs and sleeps through the night, his hair has grown back and he's gaining weight like any normal baby," Kristi said.

"On a day to day basis, it’s hard to notice any healing. [It's] like watching grass grow," she added, noting photos of the past months better show the boy's steadily improving condition.

Matt Chun, 37, told The Sun he believes his son "could have died" had they not found a solution.

“He was completely swollen, missing milestones, unable to focus and eat because he was so red, swollen and bleeding,” he said.
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Mexican authorities now put the number killed in Friday night's fuel pipeline blast at 71, with scores more injured.

It is believed the explosion occurred after the line was ruptured by suspected fuel thieves in the town of Tlahuelilpan, in Hidalgo state.

Officials say scores of people had been scrambling to fill up containers and were engulfed in an inferno.

Dozens of charred bodies remain at the scene, which is cordoned off by security forces.

Local people said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's new policy to crack down on fuel theft had created shortages.

"Everyone came to see if they could get a bit of gasoline for their car," farmer Isaias García told Reuters news agency. "There isn't any in petrol stations."
What's the latest on casualties?

The new death toll was announced delivered by Hidalgo state governor Omar Fayad.

Among the 71 injured were three women and a child of 12, he said.

Distraught relatives continued to gather at site of the explosion.

Forensic experts have been photographing remains amid a backdrop of burned clothing and discarded fuel buckets.
What exactly happened on Friday?

Pemex, Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, said the fire had been caused by illegal tapping.

It is believed thieves drilled through the pipeline. Images before the explosion showed a large jet of liquid rising into the air.

Some locals criticised security forces at the scene for not warning people more forcibly to get away from the leaking fuel.

Mr Durazo told broadcaster Televisa: "At some point there were too many people there and the army and military personnel withdrew to avoid problems." That was shortly before the blast occurred.

But President López Obrador defended the army against criticism, saying they were right not to confront such a large crowd.

He also avoided criticising the people, saying if they had to resort to "extremes" by stealing fuel "it's because they were abandoned".

A few litres of fuel are worth more than the daily minimum wage in Mexico.
What is the fuel theft problem?

Fuel theft, known locally as "huachicoleo" (or moonshining) is rampant in some Mexican communities.

The government has said the practice cost the country about $3bn (£2.3bn) last year.

President López Obrador, who took office in December, has launched a major crackdown. Thousands of marines have been deployed to guard pipelines, some of which have been shut down altogether in places.

The policy has led to increased reliance on tanker deliveries and there have been widespread reports of long lines at petrol stations.

After the blast, Mr Fayad issued a plea on Twitter to try to avoid further disasters.

"I urge the entire population not to be complicit in fuel theft," Mr Fayad posted (in Spanish). "Apart from being illegal, it puts your life and those of your families at risk. What happened today in Tlahuelilpan should not be repeated."

President López Obrador vowed to press on with his anti-theft policy until it was eradicated.

"Rather than stopping the strategy, the fight against the illegality and theft of fuel, it will be strengthened," he told reporters.

Pemex has suffered a number of other deadly accidents in the past.

At least 37 people were killed in an explosion at its Mexico City headquarters in 2013 and another 26 died in a fire at a gas facility in 2012.
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A Saudi woman who fled her family and became stranded at Bangkok's main airport is flying to Canada after being granted asylum status.

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, had been trying to reach Australia via Bangkok, but was initially told to return to Kuwait, where her family were waiting.

She refused to fly back and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room, attracting international attention.

She said she had renounced Islam, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

The UN's refugee agency has said it considers her to be a legitimate refugee.

Refugee status is normally granted by governments, but the UNHCR can grant it where states are "unable or unwilling to do so", according to its website.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters: "Canada has been unequivocal that we will always stand up for human rights and women's rights around the world. When the UN made a request of us that we grant Ms al-Qunun asylum, we accepted."
What happened to Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun?

She was on a trip to Kuwait with her family, when she fled on a flight to Bangkok.

She said she intended to take a connecting flight to Australia - and had an Australian visa - but that her passport was seized by a Saudi diplomat when he met her coming off the flight at Suvarnabhumi airport, leaving her stranded.

A Saudi envoy in Bangkok denied any official Saudi involvement in Ms al-Qunun's detention.

Thai officials initially described her case as a "family problem" and said she would be repatriated back to Kuwait the next day.

However, Ms al-Qunun sent a series of tweets pleading for help from her airport hotel room, and her case was picked up by Human Rights Watch and journalists.

On Wednesday, the UN refugee agency said it considered her a legitimate refugee. Australia was among the countries considering her case.
Why did she flee?

Renunciation of Islam is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.

Under Saudi Arabia's "male guardianship system", a Saudi woman is required to obtain a male relative's approval to apply for a passport, travel outside the country, study abroad on a government scholarship, get married, leave prison, or even exit a shelter for abuse victims.

Ms al-Qunun told the BBC: "I shared my story and my pictures on social media and my father is so angry because I did this... I can't study and work in my country, so I want to be free and study and work as I want."

She also said she was afraid her family would kill her.

Separately, she told AFP she had suffered physical and psychological abuse from her family, including being locked in her room for six months for cutting her hair.

A spokesperson for her family told the BBC that they did not wish to comment and all they cared about was the young woman's safety.

On Friday, Ms al-Qunun wrote on Twitter that she had "some good news and some bad news", before deleting her account. Her friends said she had received death threats online.
Has anything like this happened before?

Yes. Ms al-Qunun's case echoes that of another Saudi woman who was in transit to Australia in April 2017.

Dina Ali Lasloom, 24, was en route from Kuwait via the Philippines but was taken back to Saudi Arabia from Manila airport by her family.

She used a Canadian tourist's phone to send a message, a video of which was posted to Twitter, saying her family would kill her. Her fate on arriving back in Saudi Arabia remains unknown.

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Xipe Totec was worshipped in a ceremony called Tlacaxipehualiztli, which means 'to wear the skin of the flayed one'.

Archaeologists in Mexico have found what is believed to be the first temple dedicated to a pre-Hispanic deity known as Xipe Totec, a god of fertility, war and

agricultural cycles, who was worshipped with ritual sacrifices.

Historians have long known that Xipe Totec, whose name translates roughly as "the Flayed Lord", was worshiped by numerous peoples across what is now central and western Mexico and the Gulf coast.

But the discovery - made among the ruins of the Ndachjian-Tehuacan archeological site in the central state of Puebla - is the first time a temple dedicated to the god has been found, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the institute, priests sacrificed captives on one of the temple's two circular altars, then flayed them on the other and draped themselves in their skin to imitate Xipe Totec, who is often depicted wearing the skin of a sacrificial victim.
Stone sculptures

Artefacts uncovered at the site include three stone sculptures of Xipe Totec: two depicting skinned heads and one of a torso, whose back is covered with engravings representing the sacrificial skins worn by the god, the institute said.

"Sculptuarally speaking, [the torso sculpture is] a very beautiful piece. It measures approximately 80 centimeters tall and has a hole in the belly, which according to historical sources is where a green stone was placed to 'bring it to life' for ceremonies," Noemi Castillo Tejero, the lead archaeologist on the project said.

The skulls measure about 70 centimeters in height and weigh some 200 kilograms.

According to the institute, the objects were found at a site built by the Popoloca people, who began building in the area around AD 900 and were later assimilated into the sprawling Aztec kingdom, and would have been used from around the year 1000 until about 1260.
The Flayed Lord

According to the institute, Xipe Totec was one of the most important gods in pre-Hispanic Mexico and was worshipped in a ceremony called Tlacaxipehualiztli , which means "to wear the skin of the flayed one" in the indigenous Nahuatl language.

Sacrificial victims, who were often prisoners of war, were killed either through gladiatorial combat matches or by being shot with arrows, before being flayed to glorify Xipe Totec. Their skins were later buried at the foot of the altars.

Cult worship of Xipe Totec and other deities gradually died out following the expansion of the Aztec kingdom and Spanish takeover of Mexico, which began in 1519 with the arrival of the conquistador Hernan Cortes.


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