Russia is demanding that Ukraine arrest its own security chief and extradite him to Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Vasyl Malyuk of being involved in terrorist acts.
Malyuk said in July 2023 that his agency had destroyed a bridge in Crimea in October 2022.
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded on Sunday evening that Ukraine arrest the head of its own security services and extradite him to Russia.
The ministry issued a statement blaming Vasyl Malyuk, the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, for an explosion at a bridge in Crimea that Russia said killed five people in October 2022.
The statement called the explosion one of several “barbaric bomb attacks,” mentioning them alongside the devastating Moscow concert hall attack in March 2022 that killed at least 140 people.
Russia has accused Kyiv of facilitating the concert hall attack, with leader Vladimir Putin saying that Ukraine’s authorities allowed the gunmen to pass through its borders. No evidence was presented to support this accusation, and the terrorist group ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for the killings.
As for the bridge explosion in Crimea, Malyuk said publicly in July 2023 that his agency was behind the attack.
“It is one of our actions, namely the destruction of the Crimean bridge on October 8 last year,” he told Ukrainian TV, per The Associated Press.
Before this admission, Ukraine was already widely regarded as responsible for the bridge’s destruction.
Russia’s foreign ministry described the bridge attack as a terrorist act, and said it told Kyiv to “immediately arrest and extradite every person implicated.”
Moscow and Kyiv have been engaged in open war since February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Ukraine’s security service told local media that Russia’s claims of Kyiv-sanctioned terrorism were “especially cynical on the anniversary of the liberation of the town of Bucha and the atrocities committed by the Russians there.”
“So any words by the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry are worthless,” it said in a statement, per Ukrainska Pravda.
The security service added that Putin himself is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, over accusations of his forces carrying out war crimes against children in Ukraine.
The press team for the Security Service of Ukraine did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
(Bloomberg) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reorganized the responsibilities of the central agency for maritime security policies as South China Sea tensions with Beijing escalate.
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Marcos directed the National Maritime Council to formulate policies and coordinate with government agencies on all issues affecting sea security and domain awareness, according to an order dated March 25 and released Sunday.
The council will be led by Marcos’ Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, with defense, energy and foreign affairs ministers as members. Others include the country’s national security adviser and solicitor general. The council is now mandated to meet quarterly from twice a year.
Marcos also formed a presidential office for maritime concerns.
China’s Water Cannons Test US-Philippines Pact in Sea Feud
The Philippines has been asserting its South China Sea rights, heightening a spat with China which claims almost the entire waterway despite a 2016 ruling favoring Manila. Marcos also recently vowed “deliberate” countermeasures against “dangerous attacks” by Chinese ships on Philippine vessels.
More than 240 international galleries are participating in Art Basel this year, as it returns to full scale for the first time since before the pandemic. A related Art Week event, Art Central, features almost 100 galleries from Hong Kong and around the world.
The two events have been thronged with people this week, both serious art buyers as well as casual ticketholders snapping photos and selfies.
The government provided Art Basel with 15 million Hong Kong dollars ($1.9 million) from a fund aimed at promoting major arts and cultural events, which supported Art Central as well. Officials see such “mega events” as a way to revive Hong Kong’s economy and its international reputation, which has been battered by years of pandemic isolation and the crackdown on dissent.
Hong Kong Culture Secretary Kevin Yeung told lawmakers on Wednesday that the government was “committed to promoting Hong Kong as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange,” citing the city’s low tax rate and strategic location in Asia.
Art Basel has played down concerns about free expression.
“We have never faced any censorship issues at our shows, nor have we been asked to do anything differently since the introduction of the National Security Law,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “As with all Art Basel shows, our Selection Committee is responsible for reviewing applications and selects galleries solely based on the quality of their booth proposal.”
But that obscures the self-censorship that galleries may now feel is necessary to be included in major art fairs, said Wear, who published a statement last year urging the international artistic community not to participate in Art Basel’s Hong Kong event.
“They don’t have to do it because everybody does it for them,” he said.
Crack-down on dissent bumps up against Hong Kong’s cultural ambitions
The Hong Kong government has been investing heavily in the city as a cultural hub, opening the M+ art museum in 2021 and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in 2022. And the world’s biggest auction houses continue to express confidence: Phillips opened its new Asia headquarters in Hong Kong in 2023, to be followed by Christie’s and Sotheby’s later this year.
But Hong Kong’s cultural development has coincided with a crackdown on dissent in the name of national security, raising difficult questions for international art companies that don’t want to miss out on commercial opportunities.
“They know they have a problem, but they don’t want to talk about it,” said Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot. “Because the moment they talk about it, then they must face it.”
In 2021, a sculpture by Galschiot memorializing the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing was dismantled and removed from the University of Hong Kong, where it had stood since 1998. University officials said they removed the sculpture, called the “Pillar of Shame,” “based on external legal advice and risk assessment.”
Hong Kong officials have made it no secret that art could be targeted. The city’s security chief, Chris Tang, said in a letter to Galschiot last year that those seeking to endanger national security could use “artistic creations” as a pretext.
Alexandra Yung, a local artist, art collector and art consultant, said there was a feeling of “apprehension” among Hong Kong’s artistic community, some members of which have moved abroad. Artists now have to be “a bit more aware and more responsible,” she said, amid uncertainty over where the “red lines” are drawn.
While in past years Hong Kong’s Art Week events have featured art related to local politics, Yung said this year she “didn’t see anything that was political at all.”
“I think galleries are more aware of what they would show and what they wouldn’t show,” she said.
Hong Kong was required to pass the Article 23 law under its mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, but a previous attempt was aborted in 2003 when an estimated 500,000 of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million people took to the streets in protest. Since the national security law was imposed in 2020, however, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition has been all but wiped out, and this time the bill sailed through the legislature, where it passed unanimously on March 19.
The law has been criticized by the United States and others, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying it “threatens to further undermine the rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong.”
The Hong Kong government condemned Blinken’s remarks as “misleading and erroneous,” saying the law is precisely targeted, its crimes and penalties are clearly defined and established freedoms will be protected.
A local national security law was unanimously approved by Hong Kong lawmakers on March 19.Peter Parks / AFP – Getty Images file
Among the aspects of the new local law of greatest concern to artists is sedition, a British colonial-era crime that Hong Kong officials have resurrected in recent years, said Eric Yan-ho Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law.
The new law expands the crime of sedition, defined as inciting hatred or disaffection toward the Chinese and Hong Kong governments, and raises the maximum punishment from two years in prison to 10.
“There’s already strong self-censorship in Hong Kong in the past few years,” Lai said, pointing to the removal of politically sensitive books from public libraries and schools.
During last year’s Hong Kong Art Week, a video installation by an American artist was removed from a billboard outside a department store after it was discovered to be secretly paying tribute to the 2019 protesters, more than 10,000 of whom have been arrested.
In August, a longstanding mural was removed from outside a restaurant popular with construction workers because it depicted patrons eating noodles while wearing yellow hard hats, a color associated with pro-democracy protesters.
In recent months, national security considerations have also seemingly played a role in the cancellation of multiple performances. In January, organizers of the Hong Kong Drama Awards said they had been told that the government-funded Hong Kong Arts Development Council was withdrawing support for the first time in more than two decades out of concern for its reputation.
Among the reasons the council cited was the invitation of “non-theatrical people” as presenters at last year’s awards, including the controversial political cartoonist known as Zunzi.
A visitor taking photos of works by British artist Mr Doodle at Art Basel on Wednesday. Peter Parks / AFP – Getty Images
Lai said the heightened legal risk brought by the Article 23 law would worsen self-censorship, which in turn would “make Hong Kong become less vibrant and pluralistic and further discourage artistic communities from abroad to visit Hong Kong.”
The effects of self-censorship could also ripple out from Hong Kong to the wider world, Wear said, noting that Western galleries and other arts organizations have rarely contended with restrictive laws of this kind in an art market as big as Hong Kong’s. Like Beijing’s national security law, the Article 23 law claims global jurisdiction.
“If you’re a dealer bringing work, say, to Art Basel, or if you have an operation in Hong Kong, you may hesitate about having work anywhere in your system that might upset the Hong Kong or Chinese authorities,” said Wear, who was associate head of the School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University from 1989 to 2006.
Galschiot said it was the responsibility of Western arts organizations and auction houses to speak out on behalf of a Hong Kong artistic community that has been “castrated” by the national security laws.
“They must take the fight now from the artists,” said Galschiot, whose sculpture was reportedly seized from storage by Hong Kong national security police last year in connection with an “incitement to subversion” case.
Hong Kong officials declined last year to confirm or deny reports that there was a warrant out for Galschiot’s arrest.
Wear said Hong Kong is unlikely to lose its prominent position in the art world any time soon.
“The art market is very likely to persist, and very possibly even likely to grow,” he said. “It’s just that a lot of things won’t be possible.”
The United States and others have strongly criticized the Article 23 law, which Hong Kong was constitutionally required to enact. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was taking steps to impose new visa restrictions on multiple Hong Kong officials in connection with the intensifying crackdown on dissent.
Hong Kong has experienced a dramatic decline in press freedom in recent years, falling to 140th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ 2023 World Press Freedom Index compared with 70th in 2018.
Pro-democracy news outlets such as Apple Daily and Stand News have been forcibly shut down by the government, while others have closed on their own or moved all or part of their operations out of Hong Kong. High-profile trials of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, 76, and two former Stand News editors are expected to have profound implications for press freedom in the city.
Foreign news outlets have been targeted to a lesser degree, with RFA and Voice of America, another U.S. government news service, accused by pro-Beijing newspapers in Hong Kong of being “anti-China.”
Fang said Radio Free Asia was “among the last independent news organizations reporting on events happening in Hong Kong in Cantonese and Mandarin.”
RFA reported last month that Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang had criticized what he called the outlet’s “false” reports that the Article 23 legislation could be used against the media, saying the law targeted only those who threatened national security. Speaking at a news conference, Tang referred to RFA as a “foreign force.”
The news outlet was also criticized by the Hong Kong police in January over an article about alleged police brutality during the 2019 protests that quoted Ted Hui, a former Hong Kong lawmaker now living in Australia. Hui is accused of national security offenses by the Hong Kong authorities, who have offered bounties of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,000) each for him and 12 other overseas activists.
Cédric Alviani, Asia-Pacific bureau director at Reporters Without Borders, said there had been a trend of media outlets and media-related organizations leaving Hong Kong since 2020, when Beijing’s national security law raised the possibility that journalists could be accused of national security crimes in the course of their work.
Hong Kong’s passage of its own national security legislation “makes the potential threat to locally registered organizations even more credible,” he said, “because the Hong Kong authorities would not appear as going against their own regulations when attacking the media based on national security provisions.”
Though he declined to comment on RFA’s withdrawal, Alviani said the Article 23 law would increase pressure on local journalists and was “obviously aimed at creating self-censorship.”
“There is so much space for interpretation that basically the only way not to fall under the national security provisions would be not to write at all on any of the topics considered by the government as sensitive,” he said.
Jennifer Jett
Jennifer Jett is the Asia Digital Editor for NBC News, based in Hong Kong.
France says it has asked 46 countries if they would be willing to supply more than 2,000 police officers to help secure the Paris Olympics this summer, as organizers finalize security planning for the French capital’s first Games in a century while on heightened alert against potential attacks.
The Interior Ministry said Friday that the request for foreign security assistance was made in January, seeking nearly 2,185 reinforcements. The officers are sought to help with Games security and “the spectator experience” and to “strengthen international cooperation,” the ministry said.
“This is a classic approach of host countries for the organization of major international events,” the ministry added.
It noted that France sent 200 of its gendarmes to soccer’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and also welcomed 160 officers from other European security forces for the Rugby World Cup that France hosted last year.
Separately, the French Defense Ministry has also asked foreign nations for “small numbers” of military personnel who could help with “very specific” tasks at the Games, including sniffer dog teams, said Col. Pierre Gaudillière, spokesman for the army general staff.
Poland’s defense minister said his country will be sending soldiers to the Paris Games. The Polish armed forces delegation will include dog handlers and “its main goal will be to undertake activities related to the detection of explosives and counteracting terrorist phenomena.” the minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, posted on X.
Security is the biggest challenge for Paris Games organizers in a city that has been repeatedly hit by deadly attacks by Islamic extremists and which is expecting as many as 15 million visitors for the July 26-Aug. 11 Games and Paralympics that follow.
Security concerns are notably high for the opening ceremony, which will involve boats along the Seine River and huge crowds watching from the embankments.
France’s government increased its security alert posture to the highest level in the wake of the recent deadly attack at a Russian concert hall and the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility.
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced the decision in a post on X, saying authorities were “taking into account the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the (Moscow) attack and the threats weighing on our country.″
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Associated Press writer Monika Scislowska in Warsaw contributed.
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AP Olympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
The Social Security Administration has issued a final rule that will prevent food assistance from reducing payments to certain beneficiaries.
The change applies to Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, which provides monthly checks to adults and children who are disabled, blind or age 65 and older, and have little or no income or resources.
Approximately 7.4 million Americans receive support either exclusively from SSI or in combination with Social Security.
Under the new rule, which goes into effect Sept. 30, food will no longer count toward calculations for eligibility for benefits, known as In-Kind Support and Maintenance, or ISM.
Currently, support in the form of food, shelter or both may count as unearned income for SSI beneficiaries, and therefore reduce their payments or affect their eligibility for benefits.
The monthly maximum federal SSI amounts in 2024 are $943 for individuals, $1,415 for couples and $472 for essential persons, or those who live with an SSI beneficiary and provide care.
To qualify for SSI, beneficiaries must generally earn less than $1,971 per month from work.They must also have less than $2,000 in resources per individual, or $3,000 per couple.
That generally includes either money or other assets that can be turned into cash, such as bank accounts, bonds, property and stocks.
The new rule means SSI beneficiaries will no longer have to worry that the groceries or meals they receive from family or friends may reduce their monthly benefits, said Darcy Milburn, director of Social Security and health care policy at The Arc, a nonprofit organization serving people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
The Social Security Administration, in turn, will no longer have to use its limited resources to document every time a beneficiary received free food and then cut their monthly benefit by as much as a third, she said.
“It represents a really meaningful step to address one of the most complex, burdensome and inhumane policies impacting people with disabilities that receive SSI,” Milburn said.
The change is the first of several updates the Social Security Administration said it plans to put in place for SSI beneficiaries and applicants.
“Simplifying our policies is a common-sense solution that reduces the burden on the public and agency staff and helps promote equity by removing barriers to accessing payments,” Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley said in a statement.
The new rule may help provide some relief to SSI beneficiaries as high inflation continues to prompt higher food and grocery bills for all Americans.
“People on SSI are one of the most food insecure groups in the United States,” said Thomas Foley, executive director at the National Disability Institute.
The new rule may also result in fewer overpayments or underpayments of benefits, and therefore increase financial security for beneficiaries, he said.
Congress may have the opportunity to enact bigger changes to SSI through a bipartisan bill that would raise the asset limits for beneficiaries to $10,000 for individuals, up from $2,000, and to $20,000 for married couples, up from $3,000.
“Disability affects everybody, so it’s a bipartisan issue,” Foley said.
“Restricting asset limits to the $2,000 level really impacts people’s ability to save and build a better financial future,” he said.
In December, bank CEOs including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon testified before the Senate that they are in favor of updating SSI’s rules.
“We have employees who don’t want us to increase their salary because if it goes over a certain amount, they can’t get that benefit which they’re entitled to,” Dimon said in December.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has replaced one of the country’s top security officials in a reshuffle that comes as the war has dragged into a third year.
Zelenskyy dismissed Oleksii Danilov, who served as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, thanking him for his service in a video address late Tuesday. He said without providing details that Danilov will be “reassigned to another area.”
Zelenskyy replaced Danilov with Oleksandr Lytvynenko, the former head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service. Zelenskyy didn’t announce the reasons behind the reshuffle.
The National Security Council is a policy coordination body that includes top officials and chaired by Zelenskyy.
Danilov’s dismissal comes as exhausted Ukrainian troops struggling with a shortage of personnel and ammunition are facing a growing Russian pressure along the front line that stretches over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
The reshuffle follows February’s decision by Zelenskyy to fire the country’s chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, replacing him Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi. Tensions between Zaluzhnyi and the president grew after Ukraine’s much-touted 2023 counteroffensive failed to reach its goals.
Earlier this month, Zaluzhnyi was named Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
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Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Fresh turmoil involving a transitional presidential council that will be responsible for choosing Haiti’s new leader triggered a flurry of meetings with Caribbean leaders and officials from the U.S., Canada and France, officials said Monday.
The council has yet to be sworn in given concerns over the security of its members, among other things, a regional official who was not authorized to talk to the media told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official is based in Guyana, which serves as headquarters for the regional trade bloc known as Caricom that is helping create the transitional council.
The delay in establishing the council comes as gangs continue to launch attacks across Haiti’s capital. Since Feb. 29, gunmen have burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed and stormed the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
Scores of people have been killed, and more than 33,000 people have fled the capital of Port-au-Prince as a result of the attacks.
More than 340 U.S. citizens have been evacuated out of Haiti since March 17, the majority from Port-au-Prince, according to the U.S. Department of State.
On Sunday, the newest person chosen to represent the EDE/RED — one of several Haitian political parties and groups with a seat on the nine-member council — stepped down, forcing the council to scramble to replace her. Dominique Dupuy, a UNESCO ambassador, said in a video statement that she resigned in part because she became the target of political attacks and death threats.
In a statement posted Monday on X, formerly Twitter, the Montana Accord, a group of civil society leaders that also has a seat on the council, said it supported Dupuy and her family “at a time when she is being persecuted and threatened.”
“Society must remain vigilant about all political maneuvers based on fear and terror,” it said. “It’s time for us to stop the violence.”
Dupuy was quickly replaced, bringing the council back up to its full nine members, seven of which have voting powers, but they have yet to be sworn in.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the council would be formally announced, with another meeting scheduled Monday between its members and officials with Caricom.
Officials are hoping rampant gang violence will subside once the council selects a new leader for Haiti and appoints a council of ministers. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has said he would resign when the council is created.
A mechanic shop that was set on fire in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 25, 2024.Odelyn Joseph / AP
While gang violence has somewhat subsided in recent days, gunmen set fire to a large, open-air garage in downtown Port-au-Prince on Sunday.
“A lot of people have lost everything,” attorney Joseph James said. “We couldn’t save anything.”
On Monday morning, mechanic Elidor Samuel rummaged through the scorched earth in hopes of finding some belongings that might be salvageable.
“All my tools have been burnt,” he said. “What am I going to do now?
Romain Le Cour, with Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said in an analysis posted Monday that “rather than all-out war, the gangs seem to be pursuing a strategy of maximum pressure, consisting of attacks interspersed with lulls.”
He said that research by the Swiss-based civil society organization suggests the strategy may not be a decision taken solely by gang leaders, but possibly the result of relationships “that still bind them to their political bosses, who could be setting fluid red lines without renouncing the use of violence for political ends.”
Le Cour joined others concerned about the delay in finding new leadership for Haiti.
“The inability to make the presidential transitional council operational bears witness to the conflicts running through the Haitian political arena, while each passing day consolidates the power of guns and of politico-criminal brokers,” he said.
Homeland Security raids Sean “Diddy” Combs’ LA and Miami homes – CBS News
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday plans to discuss additional measures with his security officials following the terrorist attack near Moscow that left 137 dead, the Interfax agency reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The meeting will also address the question of how victims and their families can be supported, Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman refused to comment on the numerous reports about the alleged torture of four detained suspects by Russian security forces.
In response to a journalist who pointed to the men’s clearly visible injuries in the courtroom and to videos of torture, Peskov merely said: “I will leave this question unanswered.”
He did not address the background to the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall on Friday, but referred to information from the Russian law enforcement authorities.
The Islamic State terrorist militia has claimed responsibility several times for the attack, a claim Western security authorities and experts consider credible.
Putin and other Russian representatives stated without providing any evidence that Ukraine was allegedly involved in the crime. The Ukrainian leadership has adamantly denied any responsibility for the attack.
