MEXICO -Mexican police have arrested a man accused of murdering a Roman Catholic priest and human rights campaigner in the southern state of Chiapas. Father Marcelo Pérez was killed on Sunday after celebrating Mass at his church in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas. Witnesses say the shots came from two men who approached the church on a motorbike. The authorities identified the alleged murderer as Edgar N, a local drug dealer. Father Marcelo had campaigned tirelessly against drug trafficking in Chiapas, which has seen a surge in violence in recent years linked to turf wars between rival cartels. Mexico’s bishops’ conference said the murder had silenced a “prophetic voice”, who had worked tirelessly for peace and justice. According to the Chiapas public prosecutor’s office, his suspected killer had been identified using security camera footage, witness testimony and other leads, AFP news agency reports. (BBC)

Photo: Father Marcelo Pérez. (BBC)

CHILI – On a mountaintop in northern Chile, the world’s largest digital camera is preparing to power up. Its mission is simple yet ambitious — to photograph the entire night sky in extreme detail and unlock some of the universe’s deepest secrets.

Housed inside the Vera C. Rubin Observatory — a new telescope nearing completion on Cerro Pachón, a 2,682-meter (8,800-feet) tall mountain about 300 miles (482 kilometers) north of the Chilean capital Santiago — the camera has a resolution of 3,200 megapixels, roughly the same number of pixels as 300 cell phones, and each image will cover an area of sky as big as 40 full moons.

Every three nights, the telescope will image the entire visible sky, producing thousands of pictures that will let astronomers see anything that moves or changes brightness. The expectation is that in this way, Vera Rubin will discover about 17 billion stars and 20 billion galaxies that we’ve never seen before — and that’s only the beginning. “There’s so much that Rubin will do,” says Clare Higgs, the observatory’s astronomy outreach specialist. “We’re exploring the sky in a way that we haven’t before, giving us the ability to answer questions we haven’t even thought to ask.”

The telescope will survey the night sky for exactly a decade, taking 1,000 pictures each night. “In 10 years, we’re going to be talking about new fields of science, new classes of objects, new types of discoveries that I can’t even tell you about now, because I don’t know what they are yet. And I think that’s really an exciting thing,” Higgs adds. (CNN)

Photo: Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

USA – Oct 23 (Reuters) – An army of Chinese-controlled social media bots is attempting to influence voters in Alabama, Texas and Tennessee, while denigrating U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, according to new research published on Wednesday by Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab. The operation represents a coordinated interference effort against down-ballot races, experts say, in which the fake accounts are denigrating U.S. Representative Barry Moore of Alabama, U.S. Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn and Rubio, all Republicans.

The troll network has “parroted antisemitic messages, amplified accusations of corruption and promoted opposition candidates,” according to Microsoft. The group responsible is known as Taizi Flood, which has been previously associated with China’s Ministry of Public Security, researchers say. The lawmakers were each targeted because they had denounced Chinese government policies historically, the report notes.

A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington said China “has no intention and will not interfere in the U.S. election” and that such claims are “full of malicious speculations.” Among other things, the bots criticized Moore’s support for Israel and used antisemitic language. Another collective of related accounts claimed Rubio was part of a financial corruption scheme. The bots amplified support for Blackburn’s election rival while spreading claims she took money from pharmaceutical companies. With McCaul, they pushed narratives that he engaged in insider trading. (Reuters)…[+]

ISRAËL — Israeli officials are weighing an Egyptian proposal for a small-scale cease-fire with Hamas aimed at building momentum for a larger deal, an Israeli official told NBC News, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for a renewed diplomatic push.

Israel’s security cabinet has discussed the Egyptian proposal for a two-week truce in Gaza, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Egyptian proposal calls for the release of just six Israeli hostages in exchange, the official said. It was suggested by Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, the new head of Egyptian intelligence, who took up his post last week. Blinken arrived in Israel early Tuesday as part of a Middle East tour aimed at renewing talks for a comprehensive deal to end the intensifying regional conflict after the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

It comes as Israel continues to mount a deadly offensive in northern Gaza, where thousands of people have fled intense Israeli operations in areas like the Jabalia refugee camp in recent days. Israeli forces also continued their invasion of southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah on Tuesday while striking parts of the country’s capital, Beirut, in an assault that sparked the evacuation of a local hospital.

“The thinking is that efforts at a big deal kept meeting challenges. So the idea is to get the momentum going with a smaller deal,” the Israeli official said. The official cautioned that while the proposal has been discussed by Israeli leaders it has not been approved. While the U.S. is hopeful that the killing of the militant group’s hardline leader last week could create an opportunity for negotiations, a U.S. official acknowledged that Washington does not know who — if anyone — is currently in charge of Hamas and could negotiate on its behalf. Asked about the Egyptian proposal, a U.S. official told NBC News: “Who are you going to negotiate with? Hamas has to decide on its next leader.” (Yahoo)…[+]

WASHINGTON – GDP in Latin America and the Caribbean is set to grow 2.1% this year, three-tenths of a percentage point more than projected in July, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, after revising growth forecasts for the region’s two largest economies. While the IMF significantly raised its 2024 growth forecast for Brazil to 3.0%, up from 2.1% in July, it noted in its updated World Economic Outlook that Mexico’s economy is expected to expand 1.5%, seven-tenths of a percentage point less than previously estimated.

The contrasting momentum of the two countries have led to different inflation scenarios, with Brazil, the region’s largest economy, expected to keep tightening monetary policy to curb rising prices, while Mexico moves towards lowering rates. The IMF attributed Brazil’s improved outlook to stronger private consumption and investment in the first half of the year, fueled by a tight labor market, government transfers, and a less-than-expected disruption from floods earlier this year.

As for Mexico, the IMF said the revised figure reflects weakening domestic demand. Among the region’s major economies, Argentina is the only one projected to contract this year, with a 3.5% decline, more than double its 1.6% drop in 2023. However, the IMF expects a strong rebound in 2025, with 5.0% growth. Overall, economic activity in Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to remain broadly stable this year compared to the 2.2% growth seen in 2023, with the IMF forecasting an acceleration to 2.5% in 2025. (Reuters)…[+]

RUSSIA- Chinese President Xi Jinping told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the international situation was gripped by chaos, but that Beijing’s strategic partnership with Moscow was a force for stability amid the most significant changes seen in a century. Xi and Putin in May pledged a “new era” of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.

“At present, the world is going through changes unseen in a hundred years, the international situation is intertwined with chaos,” Xi told Putin in the Russian city of Kazan at the opening of the BRICS summit.

“But I firmly believe that the friendship between China and Russia will continue for generations, and great countries’ responsibility to their people will not change.” Russia, waging war against NATO-supplied Ukrainian forces, and China, under pressure from a concerted U.S. effort to counter its growing military and economic strength, increasingly have found common geopolitical cause. Russia and China, pushing back against perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China, have sought to portray the West as decadent and in decline.

The United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat, and President Joe Biden has said the democracies face a challenge from autocracies such as China and Russia.  Biden has referred to Xi as a “dictator” and has said Putin is a “killer” and even a “crazy SOB”. Beijing and Moscow have scolded Biden for the comments. Putin called Xi “dear friend” and said the partnership with China was a force for stability in the world. “Russian-Chinese cooperation in world affairs is one of the main stabilising factors on the world stage,” Putin said. “We intend to further enhance coordination on all multilateral platforms in order to ensure global security and a just world order.” Xi said cooperation in the BRICS group was “the most important platform for solidarity and cooperation between emerging market countries and developing countries in the world today.” He said it was “a mainstay force in promoting the realization of equal and orderly global multipolarity, as well as inclusive and tolerant economic globalisation.” (Reuters)

Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk during a meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia…[+]

Australia – A woman who tried to retrieve her lost phone from between boulders in Australia’s Hunter Valley became stuck upside down for seven hours before she was rescued earlier this month. Just the bare soles of the woman’s feet can be seen in photos of the incident posted on social media Monday by the New South Wales (NSW) Ambulance service. The woman had been walking with friends on a private property in Laguna, a country town in the Hunter Valley about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from Sydney, when she dropped her phone. As she tried to retrieve it, she slipped face-first into a 3-meter (about 10 feet) crevice between two large boulders, so deep that her friends were unable to reach her. The woman’s name wasn’t formally released by rescue services but NSW Police said she was 23 years old. (CNN)…[+]

USA – The sons of notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman are in talks to cut a plea deal with United States prosecutors, according to their lawyer. The news was unveiled during a court hearing in Chicago on Monday for El Chapo’s younger son, Ovidio Guzman, who, along with his brother Joaquin Guzman Lopez, is accused of helping run the Sinaloa cartel his father once led and funnelling massive amounts of narcotics into the US.
Photo: US government agents stand by a plane believed to have carried Mexican drug lord Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada and one of the sons of Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, at Dona Ana County private airport, in Santa Teresa, New Mexico…[+]

USA – With two weeks to go until Election Day, Kamala Harris’ top advisers are staring down numbers that show a wide majority of Americans saying the country is on the wrong track.

They’re also confident that the next two weeks will include Donald Trump dropping more references to the “enemy within” or January 6 as a “day of love” and going off on rambling tangents like his lewd remarks about golf legend Arnold Palmer at a Pennsylvania rally last week. And they expect they’ll be able to trigger him into making more outlandish claims.

Getting Americans to focus on that over the next two weeks, to see a second Trump term as taking the country further off track and to view Harris as an acceptable agent of change is likely to decide the presidency, a dozen top aides and outside allies told CNN. As Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told top donors in Philadelphia during a retreat last week, they may not believe that the race could still be tied, but in the battleground states where the presidency will be won, it is.

“Historically, it would be unusual to have seven states come down to a point or less,”  David Plouffe,  Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager who now serves as a senior adviser to Harris, said of the battleground landscape. “But I think at this point, you have to assume that’s a distinct possibility.”

Plouffe and other Harris advisers do not believe Trump’s largely outsourced door-knocking and other on-the-ground outreach operations can match what the national Democrats and the Harris campaign – which inherited some of the same team from President Joe Biden – spent a year putting together. But they believe this advantage can only take them so far.

“Democrats wish Donald Trump wouldn’t get more than 46% of the vote,” Plouffe said, referring to the national popular vote percentage the former president secured in his previous campaigns. But in the battleground states, “that’s not reality. He’s going to get up to 48% in all of these states. And so we just have to make sure we’re hitting our win number, which depending on the state, could be 50, could be 49.5.” (CNN)…[+]

Photo: Harris supporters wear custom “Kamala is brat” shirts at a rally in Milwaukee.

Next month  Pertjajah Luhur (PL) will present a new candidate for the ministerial position at the Ministry of Home Affairs  (BIZA). The position became vacant after the president had accepted the letter of resignation of Minister Bronto Somohardjo.

The PL is facing opposition because two of the candidates that it had presented were rejected by the coalition partners.

The current director of the Ministry of  Home Affairs  Nasier Eskak, was one of the candidates. If the third candidate of the PL is also rejected,the PL will consider its next option which is to exit the coalition and the government. Last Saturday the chairman of the PL, Paul Somohardjo, told his party that the party had selected 10 potential candidates and that some of these candidates are former ministers and  young members. One of the candidates is the life partner of Somohardjo namely Amina Pardi. Pardi is currently an executive at the  Ministry of Social Affairs and Housing (Sozavo). Somohardjo made it clear that it is up to the party’s council to select a candidate who has the support of the party. The candidate will then be presented to the coalition leaders. If the third candidate is also rejected, the PL will deem this as disrespect towards its members.

“It must be approved by the   VHP and the ABOP. If that does not happen, it will be time to leave. Then I will leave. It is now or never,” said  Somohardjo. Although there are some tensions between PL deputy chairman  Bronto Somohardjo and  vice president Ronnie Brunswijk, the coalition has so far remained intact. The PL wants to remain a part of the coalition until the general elections of May 2025 but under one condition: it wants to determine who the next minister of Home Affairs will be. 

Bronto Somohardjo made it clear that he considers it a closed chapter and that he would focus his attention of the general elections of May 2025. He claimed that there are plans even from within the coalition to weaken the PL.

…[+]

The nation currently does not have a minister of Home Affairs  (BIZA) because Minister Bronto Somohardjo handed in his letter of resignation last week so  Steven Mac Andrew who is the minister of Labor, Employment and Youth Affairs  (AW&J) has been tasked with also running BIZA until a new minister has been appointed.

The resignation of Bronto Somohardjo came after reports of alleged corruption at the Home Affairs. The union that represents the workers at the Home Affairs Ministry claimed that Somohardjo was aware of the corruption that was going on. Last Friday Somohardjo had another meeting with President Chandrikapersad

Santokhi and they reportedly discussed the preliminary report of the Central Audit Department  (CLAD). The CLAD reportedly needs more time to carry out its investigation at the Home Affairs Ministry. Given the fact that the Home Affairs Ministry must prepare the general elections of May 2025, Somohardjo decided to step down as this would also give the CLAD room to conduct its investigation independently.

President Santokhi reportedly accepted the resignation of Minister  Somohardjo. President  Santokhi on Sunday confirmed that  Minister  Mac Andrew had been tasked with filling in at the Home Affairs Ministry. Meanwhile the head of state will hold meet with the coalition partners to find a suitable candidate to become the new minister of Home Affairs. 

…[+]

TUCSON, Ariz. — If there’s a prototypical Kamala Harris voter it might seem to be Charles Johnson, a 23-year-old Black college student. Johnson is informed and politically engaged; he went to hear former President Barack Obama speak Friday at a Democratic campaign rally on the University of Arizona campus. Yet he isn’t all that impressed with Obama, the nation’s first Black president, nor Harris, who would be the second. He says he’s leaning toward voting for Donald Trump.

“The media says he [Trump] is horrible and he’s racist and he’s going to bring us back, but he’s only gaining support with Black voters,” Johnson said in an interview. “He’s only gaining support with Black men.” Democrats have been unnerved by recent polls that show Harris’ numbers sagging among Black voters, particularly young Black men. As he campaigns for Harris, one of Obama’s tasks is to persuade Black men like Johnson that voting for Trump would be a grievous mistake. In the remaining days before the election, he’ll be doing interviews with podcasters and various internet personalities who command a large Black following, an Obama aide said. He remains a singular figure in national politics, widely popular to this day. Obama is the only president since Ronald Reagan to win the presidency twice with more than 50% of the vote. (Yahoo)

Photo: Barack Obama at a campaign event for Vice President Kamala Harris at the University of Pittsburgh. (Yahoo)…[+]

PALESTINA – Israeli forces raided the occupied West Bank town of Az-Zawiya, west of Salfit, amid the firing of live ammunition and sound grenades, Wafa news agency reported.

During the raid, several Palestinian children and young men were briefly detained and assaulted by Israeli soldiers. A similar incident took place in Kafr Qalil, south of Nablus, where Israeli forces detained a Palestinian child during a military raid into the village. Wafa reported that Israeli troops raided the village, patrolling the streets before detaining the minor, who was beaten before being detained…[+]