Venezuela president behind crimes against humanity: UN probe
Venezuela's president and top ministers are responsible for probable crimes against humanity including extrajudicial killings and the systematic use of torture, UN investigators said on Wednesday.
In their first report, a team of investigators tasked with probing a slew of alleged violations in Venezuela said they had found evidence that state actors, including President Nicolas Maduro, were behind serious international crimes.
The International Fact-Finding Mission, created by the UN Human Rights Council a year ago, "found reasonable grounds to believe that Venezuelan authorities and security forces have since 2014 planned and executed serious human rights violations," Marta Valinas, the mission's chairperson, said in a statement.
Some of those violations, "including arbitrary killings and the systematic use of torture, amount to crimes against humanity," she said.
"Far from being isolated acts, these crimes were coordinated and committed pursuant to state policies, with the knowledge or direct support of commanding officers and senior government officials."
The 411-page report spelled out which Venezuelan officials it deemed responsible, citing "reasonable grounds to believe that both the President and the Ministers of People's Power for Interior Relations, Justice and Peace, and for Defense, ordered or contributed to the commission of the crimes documented in this report."
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International 'legal action' -
The investigators demanded that Venezuelan authorities immediately carry out "independent, impartial and transparent investigations" into the violations, and ensure victims receive "full redress".
Other jurisdictions, including the International Criminal Court, "should also consider legal actions against individuals responsible for violations and crimes the mission identified," Valinas said.
https://news.yahoo.com/venezuela-president-behind-crimes-against-123541014.html
Man Finds Suspected Brain Wrapped in Aluminum Foil on Wisconsin Beach
A man has found what is suspected to be a brain on a beach in Wisconsin.
Jimmy Senda, a construction worker, was taking a walk along the beach as he does every morning, looking for "sea glass and random stuff" to use in his artwork, as reported by Fox6.
While Senda usually walks on beaches further north, on Tuesday he took a stroll along the Racine County beach at Samuel Myers Park on Lake Michigan.
But instead of art supplies, Senda came across a mysterious item packaged in aluminum foil and tied with a pink rubber band.
Senda told Fox6: "Curiosity got to me, so I popped it open and it looked like a chicken breast—kind of. It took a little bit for it to really [register] what was going on; it was a brain."
As well as the brain-like item, the package contained flowers and what has been identified as either foreign currency or paper.
Senda said he then asked city workers nearby about the package, and they said they thought it looked like a brain. He then called the police, who arrived just before 9 a.m. local time. They also said they suspected it was a brain.
https://www.newsweek.com/man-finds-suspected-brain-wrapped-aluminum-foil-wisconsin-beach-1532243
https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/afm/index.php
Epstein’s Former Chef Is Cooperating With Feds on Sex Ring Investigation
Virginia Roberts Giuffre clutched the letter as she traversed a California highway overlooking the Pacific Ocean. That February morning, she was en route to a Manhattan Beach home she hoped belonged to a celebrity chef she once knew.
A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex ring, Giuffre was on a cross-country mission to doorknock the financier’s former employees after his death. She hoped these acquaintances could be witnesses now, without fear of retribution from Epstein, and lend support to her court battle with Epstein’s onetime lawyer Alan Dershowitz, whom she accused of sexual abuse. (Dershowitz adamantly denies Giuffre’s claims.)
On this particular day, Giuffre was looking for Adam Perry Lang, the chef and barbecue expert behind eponymous Hollywood steakhouse APL. Lang’s hot spot is backed by one of his besties, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and Community actor Joel McHale. His résumé includes appearances on Kimmel’s show, nods from Oprah Winfrey, and a spot on the New York Times bestseller list for his book Serious Barbecue.
But to Giuffre, Lang was Epstein’s personal chef and someone she considered a friend. Lang sneaked pizza to her after Epstein—who controlled the diets of women he abused to keep them prepubescent-thin—fell asleep upstairs
“Justice comes in many forms. In my case, justice is holding the various perpetrators that participated, enabled or looked the other way accountable,” said Giuffre’s letter to Lang, which she read aloud during a road trip with investigative reporter Tara Palmeri. The moment is captured in Season Two of the podcast Broken: Seeking Justice, wherein Palmeri and Giuffre track down Epstein’s household staff who’ve long kept silent about the hedge funder’s activities in New York, Florida, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “I’m not here to ruin your life,” Giuffre read. “You have so much knowledge of the various people on the planes and his homes and anywhere you would have been with him. You truly can’t say you didn’t know or you can’t remember.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/epsteins-former-chef-adam-perry-lang-is-cooperating-with-feds-on-sex-ring-investigation?ref=home