US drops trafficking charges against ex-Mexican general
U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday formally dropped a drug trafficking and money laundering case against a former Mexican defense secretary, a decision that came after Mexico threatened to cut off cooperation with U.S. authorities unless the generalwas sent home.
A judge inNewYork City approved the dismissal of charges, capping a lightningturnaround in the case of former Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos, who was arrested last month in Los Angeles, but will be returned to Mexico under an unusual diplomatic deal.
The decision to drop the casewas an embarrassment for theUnited States, which had touted the arrest as a major breakthrough when Cienfuegos was taken into custody Oct. 15. But the arrest drew a loud protest from top officials inMexico and threatened to damage the delicate relationship that enables investigators in both countries to pursue drug kingpins together.
“TheUnitedStates determined that the broader interest in maintaining that relationship in a cooperative way outweighed the department’s interest and the public’s interest in pursuing this particular case,” Seth DuCharme, the acting U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, told the judge at a hearing.
He said the decision to drop the charges was made by Attorney General William Barr.
Pelosi speaker again:
House Democrats nominated Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday to be the speaker who guides them again next year as JoeBiden becomes president, and she quickly seemed to suggest thesewould be her finaltwo years in the leadership post.
The California Democrat, the first woman to be speaker, was nominated by acclamation as the party’s lawmakers used a pandemicvirtual meeting to pick their leaders. Pelosi has served six years in the job, but the next two loom as her toughest.
After unexpectedly losing at least 10 incumbents in this month’s elections, Democrats willhave about a 222-213 majority, the tightestmargin in two decades. U.S. virus figures: The United States passed another grim milestone Wednesday, hitting 250,000 coronavirusdeaths, with the number expected to keep climbing as infections surge nationwide.
Experts predict that the country could soon be reporting 2,000 deaths a day or more, matching or exceeding the spring peak, and that 100,000to 200,000 more Americans could die in the coming months.
Howbad it gets hinges on a variety of factors.
“It all depends on what we do and how we address this outbreak,” said Jeffrey Shaman, a Columbia University professor of environmental health sciences who has modeled the spread of the disease. “That is going to determine how much it runs through us.”
European virus cases:
Europemadeupalmosthalf of theworld’s 4 million new coronavirus cases last week but recorded a nearly 10% fall in infections compared to the week before, thanks in part to strict government lockdown measures that have fanned some discontent, the World Health Organization
reported Wednesday.
The latest weekly tally from theU.N. health agency found its 54-nationEuropean region continued to report the most new cases of any region worldwide — 46% — but its decline in cases followed “the strengthening of public healthandsocialmeasures.”
But as new cases fell, the tally of virus deaths still rose “substantially” in Europe over the last week to more than 29,000 new deaths, WHOsaid.
Arrest in ’74 bombings:
Police arrested a man Wednesday in Northern Ireland in connection with the 1974 bombings of two pubs that killed 21 people and injured more than 200 in Birmingham, England.
West Midlands Police said officers from the West Midlands counterterrorism unit, working with colleagues from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, arrested a 65-year-old man at his home in Belfast. The man was arrested under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act, andhishomewas being searched, it added.
The arrest came days before the 46th anniversary of the Nov. 21, 1974 blasts that ripped apart the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs in the city of Birmingham.
The blasts were one of the worst attacks committed by the Irish Republican Army during its decadeslong armed campaign to get Britain out of Northern Ireland that officially ended with the signing of theGood Friday Agreement in 1998.
New Iran sanctions:
The United States hit Iran with new sanctions Wednesday, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the case that undoing the actions of the Trump administration would be foolish and dangerous.
The Treasury and State departments announced they had targeted a leading Iranian charity and numerous of its affiliates for human rights violations.
At the same time, Pompeo
released a statement titled “The Importance of Sanctions on Iran,” which argued that the Trump administration’s moves against Iranmade theworld safer and should not be reversed.
The new sanctions target Iran’s Mostazafan Foundation and 160 of its subsidiaries, which are alleged to provide material support to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for malign activities, including the suppression of dissent.
Also targeted was Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi.
Hungary sticks to veto:
Hungary’s prime minister Wednesday called the European Union’s proposed mechanism to link the rule of law to budget disbursements for EU nations a “political and ideological weapon,” claiming it was designed to blackmail and punish countries that reject immigration.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Poland are using their EU vetos to stop a $2.1 trillion EU budget and virus recovery package from taking effect. They say they will continue doing so as long as other EU nations maintain their commitment to including the rule of law mechanism in the budget— and they got strong backing from Slovenia on Wednesday. The issue is set to become a key dispute at Thursday’s EU video summit of the leaders of the 27 member nations.
Most EU nations said a linkage between getting funds and respecting the rule of law was necessary amid accusations that some of the cornerstones ofWestern democracy are being undermined in Hungary and Poland, nations that get funds from the EU.
The budget is supposed to take effect Jan. 1. All EU nations need the money as infections and deaths surge around Europe and economies are ravaged by increased health care demands and lockdowns to slowthe pace of contamination.