DT_20190724

A6 WORLD Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Daily Tribune
LIFE IN PRISON
‘El Chapo’
appeals verdict
EMMA Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, walks out of the Brooklyn Federal
Court after the Mexican drug lord’s sentencing in New York.
AFP
China sets vaping control
Studies have shown the aerosol
generated by e-cigarettes
contains toxic elements, and
various additives in the products
pose health risks to the users
BEIJING, China — China’s National
Health Commission (NHC) plans to regulate
electronic cigarettes through legislation in
a bid to address critical concerns over the
product’s harmful effects.
Currently, the NHC has been conducting
joint research with other relevant departments
on the issue, said Mao Qunan, head of the
planning department of the NHC at a press
conference held on Monday.
Studies have shown the aerosol generated
by e-cigarettes contains toxic elements, and
various additives in the products pose health
risks to the users, Mao said.
Besides, the ambiguous labeling of nicotine
content in e-cigarettes could result in an
overdose of the unhealthy chemical, along
with other potential hazards such as battery
explosion, liquid leaking and burning, he said.
According to a survey released by Chinese
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
last year, although the rate of e-cigarette
usage, also known as vaping, among Chinese
people was relatively low, it already doubled
that in 2015.
Particularly, the vaping rate among young
people was higher than other age groups, with
those aged 15 to 24 the highest, the survey said.
“According to international studies, vaping
tends to induce juveniles to try traditional
cigarettes, which will accelerate the trend
toward a younger smoking population,” Mao
said.
“In light of their risks and negative impact on
juveniles’ health habits, e-cigarettes should be
regulated more strictly,” said Mao, adding that
such awareness should be also raised among the
public, especially among parents and schools,
to protect juveniles from vaping. Xinhua
PEKING Opera is performed by a student during the 2019 China-ASEAN Education Cooperation
Week in Guizhou Province, China.
XINHUA
A symbolic 30 years was also added to the
sentence and he was also ordered to pay
$12.6 billion in forfeiture
NEW YORK — Fallen Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El
Chapo” Guzman, once one of the world’s most powerful
and notorious criminals, has appealed his life sentence,
court documents published on Monday showed.
Guzman, the 62-year-old former co-leader of Mexico’s feared
Sinaloa drug cartel, was convicted in February of smuggling
hundreds of tons of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and
marijuana into the United States (US).
On Wednesday last week, he was sentenced to life in
prison in a New York federal courtroom, and sent to the
notorious ADX federal maximum security prison in the US
state of Colorado nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.”
A symbolic 30 years was also added to the sentence and
he was also ordered to pay $12.6 billion in forfeiture — a
sum based on a conservative estimate of revenues from his
cartel’s sales in the US.
Guzman’s new lawyer, Marc Fernich, filed an appeal
the next day, documents show.
“Guzman has strong issues for appeal. We’ll fight to
overturn his conviction and are confident we’ll prevail,”
Fernich told AFP via email.
A decision by an appeals judge could take up to a year.
Guzman — whose moniker “El Chapo” translates as
“Shorty” — is considered the most influential drug lord
since Colombia’s Pablo Escobar, who was killed in a
police shootout in 1993.
He was extradited from Mexico to the United States
in January 2017.
Current ADX inmates include convicted “Unabomber”
Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols,
the British “shoe bomber” Richard Reid and the Boston
marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is awaiting
execution.
AFP
Brazil drugs seizures soar
BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil seized 25.3 tons of cocaine
bound for Europe and Africa in the first half of 2019,
up more than 90 percent on the same period last year,
officials said Monday.
Nearly half of the drugs were found at Santos port
in southern Brazil, not far from where police recently
arrested two men suspected of belonging to Italian mafia
‘Ndrangheta.
Last year we seized 31.4 tons of cocaine, a
record that we will surely beat again.
Customs officials attributed the increase in seizures to better
intelligence and increased vigilance along Brazil’s borders.
Macron cites migrant
plans progress
PARIS, France — French President Emmanuel
Macron on Monday said European countries had made
progress on plans to redistribute refugees rescued in
the Mediterranean, efforts criticized by Italy’s hardline
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
The issue of what to do with the thousands of refugees
still attempting to reach Europe by crossing the
Mediterranean Sea has sparked a sharp response
in some countries, with Italy saying it is bearing
the brunt of the problem while its EU partners
do little to help.
Monday’s
tentative
agreement,
which aims to
work towards a
more efficient
system of redistributing
rescued people, was reached at a meeting
on migration in the Mediterranean held in
Paris under French chairmanship.
The issue of what to do with the
thousands of refugees still attempting
to reach Europe by crossing the
Mediterranean Sea has sparked a
sharp response in some countries.
Macron said 14 states had approved the plan,
while eight said they would actively take part.
They include France, Germany, Finland,
Luxembourg, Portugal, Lithuania, Croatia and
Ireland, Macron’s office said, without naming
the other six.
Salvini, who has closed ports to NGO
rescue boats, said the agreement underscored
a demand that Italy “continue to be the
refugee camp
of Europe.”
AFP
“Last year we seized 31.4 tons of cocaine, a record
that we will surely beat again,” Arthur Cazella told AFP.
The amount of cannabis confiscated more than doubled
to 10.2 tons in the January-June period, up from 3.9 tons
year-on-year.
Brazil, which has some 17,000 kilometers (10,500 miles)
of land borders, is an important hub for international
drug trafficking.
Drugs produced in Colombia, Bolivia, Venezuela and
Paraguay are smuggled into Brazil and then sent to mainly
European markets.
Some routes to Africa are also opening up, Cazella said.
Cocaine seizures have soared in recent years, from
958 kilograms in 2014 to last year’s record 31.4 tons. AFP
Russian activist murdered
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Russian campaigners on
Monday said a woman found murdered with multiple stab
wounds in the city of Saint Petersburg was a well-known
local activist who had received threats over her protests
for LGBT rights and opposition causes.
Authorities confirmed they had found the body of
a woman in Russia’s second largest city but did not
identify her.
“The body of a
41-year-old woman
with multiple knife
wounds was found
Sunday in southern
Saint Petersburg,” the
Investigative Committee
said.
Activists and media reports
in the city named the victim as
Yelena Grigoryeva, a local campaigner
who is a regular participant in rallies supporting
LGBT rights, political prisoners and opposing
the annexation of Crimea.
The body of a 41-year-old woman with
multiple knife wounds was found
Sunday in southern Saint Petersburg.
“An activist of democratic, anti-war and
LGBT movements Yelena Grigoryeva was
brutally murdered near her house” on Friday
night, opposition campaigner Dinar Idrisov
wrote on Facebook.
“Recently she has frequently been a victim
of violence and received murder threats,”
he said. Grigoryeva “filed complaints to the
police regarding the violence and the threats,
but there was no reaction.”
Saint Petersburg online newspaper
Fontanka said
Grigoryeva was
found with knife
injuries to her
back and face
and had apparently
been strangled.
A suspect was
arrested, it
reported. AFP
CONTROVERSIAL “Christ of the Pacific” in Lima, Peru that was financed by the graft-tainted Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht and late ex-President Alan Garcia at the cost of $800,000 is now being viewed as a “symbol of corruption.” AFP