ICC convicts Ugandan rebel commander of dozens of war crimes
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court on Thursday convicted a onetime child soldier who morphed into a brutal commander in the notorious Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army of dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity, ranging from multiple murders to forced marriages.
Dominic Ongwen, who was abducted by the shadowy militia as a 9-year-old boy and transformed into a child soldier and later promoted to a senior leadership rank, faces a maximum punishment of life imprisonment after being convicted of 61 offenses.
The judgment, which can be appealed, outlined the horrors of the LRA’s attacks on camps for displaced civilians in northern Uganda in the early 2000s, and of Ongwen’s abuse of women who were forced to be his “wives.” Activists welcomed his convictions for crimes against women, which included rape, forced pregnancy and sexual slavery.
Defense lawyers had argued that Ongwen was a “victim and not a victim and perpetrator at the same time.”
But presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt rejected those arguments, saying: “This case is about crimes committed by Dominic Ongwen as a fully responsible adult, as a commander of the LRA in his mid- to late 20s.”
Schmitt described the reign of terror unleashed by the Lord’s Resistance Army, which was founded and led by one of the world’s mostwanted war crimes suspects, Joseph Kony.
Female civilians captured by the group were turned into sex slaves and wives for fighters. The LRA made children into soldiers. Men, women and children were murdered in attacks on camps for internally displaced people.
“Civilians were shot, burned and beaten to death,” Schmitt said as he detailed a May 2004 attack on a camp in the Ugandan village of Lukodi carried out by fighters commanded by Ongwen.
Kony promoted Ongwen to the rank of colonel after the attack.
Single-dose vaccine: Johnson & Johnson asked U.S. regulators Thursday to clear the world’s first single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, an easier-to-use option that could boost scarce supplies.
J&J’s vaccine was safe and offered strong protection against moderate to severe COVID-19, according to preliminary results from a massive international study.
It didn’t appear quite as strong as two-dose competitors made by Pfizer and Moderna — a finding that may be more perception than reality, given differences in how each was tested.
But the Food and Drug Administration is asking its independent advisers to publicly debate all the data behind the single-dose shot — just like its competitors were put under the microscope — before it decides whether to green-light a third vaccine option in the U.S.
Bird rule overturned: The Biden administration said Thursday it was delaying a rule finalized in former President Donald Trump’s last days in office that would have drastically weakened the government’s power to enforce a century-old law protecting most wild birds.
The rule could mean more birds die, including those that land in oil pits or collide with power lines or other structures, government studies concluded. But under Trump, the Interior Department sided with industry groups that had long sought to end criminal prosecutions of accidental but preventable bird deaths.
While the new rule had been set to go into effect Monday, Associated Press obtained details of the delay ahead of an expected announcement Thursday. Interior Department officials said they were putting off the rule at President Joe Biden’s direction and will reopen the issue to public comment.
The migratory bird rule was among dozens of Trump-era policies affecting the environment that Biden ordered to be reconsidered on his first day in office.
Wisconsin mask order: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a new statewide mask order Thursday, an hour after the Republican-controlled Legislature voted to repeal his previous mandate, saying he didn’t have authority to make such a decree.
The Democratic governor said in a video message that his priority is keeping people safe and that wearing a mask is the most basic way to do that.
The state assembly vote to repeal the mask order came a week after the Senate voted to kill the mandate. Republicans, who control both chambers, argued that Evers exceeded his authority by repeatedly extending the mask mandate without legislative approval.
The repeal hadn’t even taken effect before Evers issued a new one.
Myanmar blocks Facebook:
Myanmar’s new military government blocked access to Facebook as resistance to Monday’s coup surged amid calls for civil disobedience to protest the ousting of the elected government and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Facebook is especially popular in Myanmar and is how most people access the internet.
The military seized power shortly before a new session of Parliament was to convene Monday and detained Suu Kyi and other top politicians.
It said it acted because the government had refused to address its complaints that last November’s general election, in which Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory, was marred by widespread voting irregularities. The state Election Commission has refuted the allegations.
Trump resigns from SAG:
Donald Trump has resigned from the Screen Actors Guild after the union threatened to expel him for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In a letter dated Thursday and addressed to SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, Trump said he was resigning from the union that he had been a member of since 1989.
“I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” wrote Trump in a letter shared by the actors guild. “As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me.”
The guild responded with a short statement: “Thank you.”
Hunter Biden memoir: Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden and an ongoing target for conservatives, has a memoir coming out April 6.
The book is called “Beautiful Things” and will center on the younger Biden’s well-publicized struggles with substance abuse, according to Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Acquired in the fall of 2019, “Beautiful Things” was kept under wraps even as Biden’s business dealings became a fixation of then-President Donald Trump and others during the election and his finances a matter of investigation by the Justice Department.