El Salvador becoming ‘black hole’ for US deportees, critics fear
Rights groups are increasingly worried that El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison is becoming a “black hole” for the United States to rid itself of expelled migrants or other unwanted people with no legal consequences.A US senator who traveled to the Central American country Wednesday to try and retrieve a man wrongly deported and locked up there was sent away without even being able to speak to him.The man, Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is one of nearly 300 migrants — mostly Venezuelans — the Donald Trump administration has sent to El Salvador since January without any kind of court hearing.Once there, they were locked up in the infamously harsh Terrorism Confinement Center built to house gangsters rounded up in President Nayib Bukele’s iron-fisted anti-crime drive.Observers say most of the migrants had committed no crime, and many had enjoyed asylum status in the United States.None have been heard from since they were sent to El Salvador, where they are now in legal limbo.Human Rights Watch, in a report last week, said El Salvador and the United States have subjected dozens of people to “enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention.”At the CECOT, they are held incommunicado, not allowed even contact with lawyers.”What they are trying to create here is a Guantanamo on steroids… a black hole where there is no legal protection for the people there,” Juan Pappier, HRW’s America’s deputy director, told AFP, referring to the US prison for terror suspects at a military base in Cuba. It is synonymous with torture and other abuses.- ‘Illegally abducted’ -The deportation of Abrego Garcia in particular has sparked an outcry and set off a legal crisis.Trump officials have claimed he is an illegal migrant, a gang member and involved in human trafficking. He has never been convicted of any crime and had been granted a protected status that should have barred his deportation to El Salvador.A federal judge, backed by the Supreme Court, has ordered Abrego Garcia’s return, but the Trump administration contends he is now solely in Salvadoran custody.Bukele, who has proudly adopted the moniker of “world’s coolest dictator,” has said he does not have the power to send the man back.Hoping to heap political pressure on the Trump administration, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen visited El Salvador on Wednesday to plead the case of Abrego Garcia, who he said was illegally abducted from the United States.Van Hollen met Vice President Felix Ulloa, who denied him all access to the man.”His answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at CECOT,” the senator said of the response he got from Ulloa.Washington and San Salvador have shrugged off criticism of their collaboration, and Trump on Monday warmly thanked Bukele for “helping us out” with his administration’s mass deportation drive.El Salvador is receiving $6 million to house the migrants, and Bukele left Monday’s meeting with an agreement for his country to join the US Global Entry program, which allows expedited visa entry.”Bukele’s cooperation with President Trump’s agenda, including disappearing people overseas… and into prisons notorious for abuse, is unprecedented, rights-violating and extreme,” Noah Bullock of Central American rights group Cristosal said on X.- 350 deaths -AFP interviewed several relatives of Venezuelans detained in El Salvador, all of whom insisted their loved ones were not criminals.Alexis de Hernandez, mother of 31-year-old Andry Hernandez Romero, said her son was rounded up “just for having tattoos” — a common complaint in this drama.US officials have claimed the markings indicate loyalty to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, but experts note that the group — unlike Salvadoran gangs — does not use tattoos for clan identification. According to Cristosal, nearly half of the CECOT detainees it has been able to trace had asylum status in the United States or were applying for asylum, “which should protect them from deportation.”Trump has encouraged Bukele to build more jails and said Tuesday he would “love” to start also sending American citizens who commit violent crimes to the CECOT.The Washington-based WOLA advocacy group warned in a commentary published Monday “that thousands of citizens are languishing in Et Salvador’s abusive prison system” and “at least 350 people have died in custody as a result of these conditions.””Corruption and lack of transparency (in El Salvador) should be of bipartisan concern” for the United States, it argued. “The US must not only monitor how its financial assistance is being used, but also examine whether it is inadvertently supporting a government that systematically withholds information and evades accountability.”
Instagram et WhatsApp n’auraient pas si bien réussi sans Facebook, plaide Zuckerberg au procès Meta
Instagram aurait eu “beaucoup de mal” à croître sans Facebook et WhatsApp n’avait “pas assez d’ambition”: Mark Zuckerberg a défendu mercredi les décisions de son groupe Meta d’acquérir ces deux applications à la barre d’un tribunal de Washington, pour le troisième jour d’affilée.Le géant américain des réseaux sociaux est accusé par les Etats-Unis d’avoir racheté Instagram et WhatsApp il y a plus de dix ans pour empêcher toute concurrence d’émerger contre Facebook et Messenger.Si le juge de la cour fédérale tranche en faveur de l’agence de protection des consommateurs, la FTC, Meta pourrait être forcé de se séparer de ses deux plateformes phares.Mark Zuckerberg assure que ces deux services n’auraient pas connu le même succès auprès des utilisateurs sans les investissements de son entreprise.”Il est très difficile d’arriver à une telle taille. Il faut innover et résoudre de nombreux problèmes techniques, organisationnels et juridiques”, a-t-il argumenté au sujet d’Instagram, qui compte aujourd’hui 2 milliards d’usagers dans le monde.Est-ce que cela aurait été impossible sans la firme californienne ? “Impossible: évidemment non. Mais probable ? Vraiment pas”.Quant à la messagerie WhatsApp, elle était “impressionnante techniquement”, selon le milliardaire, mais ses fondateurs “manquaient d’ambition”.- Créer ou acheter -Le procès s’est ouvert lundi, cinq ans après la plainte déposée sous le premier gouvernement Trump, et doit durer huit semaines.Pour la FTC, Meta – alors Facebook – a acquis Instagram en 2012 pour un milliard de dollars et WhatsApp en 2014 pour 19 milliards afin “d’éliminer des menaces immédiates”.Mark Zuckerberg a de nouveau rejeté mercredi cette interprétation. “Nous étions intéressés par l’expertise (d’Instagram) dans la photographie et le partage d’images, mais nous ne percevions pas l’appli comme un véritable réseau en concurrence avec ce que nous faisions à l’époque”.Facebook travaillait alors sur son propre outil photo, et ses équipes ont pesé le pour et le contre entre un développement interne et une acquisition.”De fait, on a retiré du marché un concurrent potentiel dans ce domaine”, a déclaré le patron. “Mais l’intention n’a absolument jamais été de ne plus proposer Instagram à ses utilisateurs ou de le rendre moins bon”.Outre la défense des intérêts des consommateurs, le procès va se jouer sur la définition du marché concerné.La FTC affirme que les services de Meta relèvent des “réseaux sociaux personnels”, qui permettent de rester en contact avec la famille et les amis, et que leur domination se traduit par un usage dégradé pour les usagers, contraints de tolérer trop de publicités, par exemple.- “Votre temps et votre attention” -La firme de Menlo Park (Silicon Valley), elle, dit faire face à une concurrence féroce de la part des autres grandes plateformes, notamment TikTok et YouTube, populaires auprès des internautes mais aussi des créateurs de contenus.Face à l’essor fulgurant de TikTok, “nous avons vu notre croissance ralentir de façon dramatique”, a assuré Mark Zuckerberg mercredi.Son groupe a répondu avec les “Reels”, des vidéos courtes et divertissantes copiées sur le format qui a fait le succès de l’application chinoise.”Mais TikTok reste plus gros que Facebook ou Instagram, et je n’aime pas quand nos concurrents s’en sortent mieux que nous”, a-t-il ajouté.”Chaque fois que vous allez sur votre ordinateur ou votre téléphone, vous avez le choix”, a abondé Sheryl Sandberg, l’ancienne directrice des opérations de l’entreprise, deuxième témoin appelé à la barre.”C’est pour cela que se battent tous les services : votre temps et votre attention”.Mark Zuckerberg a beaucoup courtisé Donald Trump pour tenter de régler l’affaire à l’amiable, mais la FTC, même sous présidence républicaine, semble décidée à poursuivre les différentes grandes actions antitrust lancées ces dernières années dans le secteur des technologies.Google a été reconnu coupable d’abus de position dominante sur le marché de la recherche en ligne en août dernier, tandis qu’Apple et Amazon font également l’objet de poursuites.
Instagram et WhatsApp n’auraient pas si bien réussi sans Facebook, plaide Zuckerberg au procès Meta
Instagram aurait eu “beaucoup de mal” à croître sans Facebook et WhatsApp n’avait “pas assez d’ambition”: Mark Zuckerberg a défendu mercredi les décisions de son groupe Meta d’acquérir ces deux applications à la barre d’un tribunal de Washington, pour le troisième jour d’affilée.Le géant américain des réseaux sociaux est accusé par les Etats-Unis d’avoir racheté Instagram et WhatsApp il y a plus de dix ans pour empêcher toute concurrence d’émerger contre Facebook et Messenger.Si le juge de la cour fédérale tranche en faveur de l’agence de protection des consommateurs, la FTC, Meta pourrait être forcé de se séparer de ses deux plateformes phares.Mark Zuckerberg assure que ces deux services n’auraient pas connu le même succès auprès des utilisateurs sans les investissements de son entreprise.”Il est très difficile d’arriver à une telle taille. Il faut innover et résoudre de nombreux problèmes techniques, organisationnels et juridiques”, a-t-il argumenté au sujet d’Instagram, qui compte aujourd’hui 2 milliards d’usagers dans le monde.Est-ce que cela aurait été impossible sans la firme californienne ? “Impossible: évidemment non. Mais probable ? Vraiment pas”.Quant à la messagerie WhatsApp, elle était “impressionnante techniquement”, selon le milliardaire, mais ses fondateurs “manquaient d’ambition”.- Créer ou acheter -Le procès s’est ouvert lundi, cinq ans après la plainte déposée sous le premier gouvernement Trump, et doit durer huit semaines.Pour la FTC, Meta – alors Facebook – a acquis Instagram en 2012 pour un milliard de dollars et WhatsApp en 2014 pour 19 milliards afin “d’éliminer des menaces immédiates”.Mark Zuckerberg a de nouveau rejeté mercredi cette interprétation. “Nous étions intéressés par l’expertise (d’Instagram) dans la photographie et le partage d’images, mais nous ne percevions pas l’appli comme un véritable réseau en concurrence avec ce que nous faisions à l’époque”.Facebook travaillait alors sur son propre outil photo, et ses équipes ont pesé le pour et le contre entre un développement interne et une acquisition.”De fait, on a retiré du marché un concurrent potentiel dans ce domaine”, a déclaré le patron. “Mais l’intention n’a absolument jamais été de ne plus proposer Instagram à ses utilisateurs ou de le rendre moins bon”.Outre la défense des intérêts des consommateurs, le procès va se jouer sur la définition du marché concerné.La FTC affirme que les services de Meta relèvent des “réseaux sociaux personnels”, qui permettent de rester en contact avec la famille et les amis, et que leur domination se traduit par un usage dégradé pour les usagers, contraints de tolérer trop de publicités, par exemple.- “Votre temps et votre attention” -La firme de Menlo Park (Silicon Valley), elle, dit faire face à une concurrence féroce de la part des autres grandes plateformes, notamment TikTok et YouTube, populaires auprès des internautes mais aussi des créateurs de contenus.Face à l’essor fulgurant de TikTok, “nous avons vu notre croissance ralentir de façon dramatique”, a assuré Mark Zuckerberg mercredi.Son groupe a répondu avec les “Reels”, des vidéos courtes et divertissantes copiées sur le format qui a fait le succès de l’application chinoise.”Mais TikTok reste plus gros que Facebook ou Instagram, et je n’aime pas quand nos concurrents s’en sortent mieux que nous”, a-t-il ajouté.”Chaque fois que vous allez sur votre ordinateur ou votre téléphone, vous avez le choix”, a abondé Sheryl Sandberg, l’ancienne directrice des opérations de l’entreprise, deuxième témoin appelé à la barre.”C’est pour cela que se battent tous les services : votre temps et votre attention”.Mark Zuckerberg a beaucoup courtisé Donald Trump pour tenter de régler l’affaire à l’amiable, mais la FTC, même sous présidence républicaine, semble décidée à poursuivre les différentes grandes actions antitrust lancées ces dernières années dans le secteur des technologies.Google a été reconnu coupable d’abus de position dominante sur le marché de la recherche en ligne en août dernier, tandis qu’Apple et Amazon font également l’objet de poursuites.
Trump admin proposes redefining ‘harm’ to endangered animals
The Trump administration aims to remove degradation of habitat from its definition of “harm” to endangered species, proposing Wednesday a rule change that would open the door to human activity in ecologically sensitive environments.The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said  the definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act should exclude “actions that impair the habitat of protected species.”Environmental groups said the rule change would allow timber, oil and mining activity, as well as other activities by individuals and the government, to destroy the habitats of endangered animals.”For 50 years, the ESA has saved numerous species — including iconic American species like bald eagles, gray wolves, Florida manatees, and humpback whales — from extinction,” environmental law organization Earthjustice said.”One key to this success has been its definition of harm, which recognizes the common-sense concept that destroying a forest, beach, river, or wetland that a species relies on for survival constitutes harm to that species,” it said, adding that the group was prepared to challenge the proposal in court.”There’s just no way to protect animals and plants from extinction without protecting the places they live, yet the Trump administration is opening the flood gates to immeasurable habitat destruction,” said Noah Greenwald, codirector of endangered species at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Without a prohibition on habitat destruction, spotted owls, sea turtles, salmon and so many more imperiled animals won’t stand a chance,” said Greenwald. “Trump is trying to drive a knife through the heart of the Endangered Species Act.”The proposal will now be open to public comment for 30 days.Since its 1973 enactment, the Endangered Species Act has been credited with saving iconic species such as the gray wolf, bald eagle and grizzly bear from extinction.President Donald Trump ran on a platform that promised to roll back environmental regulations that crimp economic development.In February, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued a call for proposals to unleash US energy, potentially opening up fragile landscapes from the Arctic to the Grand Canyon and even national monuments for exploitation.Days later, Trump said his administration aimed to cut about 65 percent of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency.
Putin praises Musk, compares him to Soviet space hero
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk on Wednesday, telling university students he was a pioneer comparable to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.The comments came as Russia and the United States forged closer ties under President Donald Trump’s administration, of which billionaire SpaceX founder Musk is a key figure.”You know, there’s a man — he lives in the States — Musk, who, you could say, raves about Mars,” Putin told students on a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow college that specialises in science and engineering.”These are the kind of people who don’t often appear in the human population, charged-up with a certain idea.””If it seems incredible even today, such ideas often come to fruition after a while. Just like the ideas of Korolev, our pioneers, came about in due time,” Putin added.Korolev is considered the father of the Soviet space programme, developing the first satellite Sputnik as well as Vostok 1, which carried first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961.Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump’s most powerful advisor, is the head of SpaceX — a US company that launches rockets for NASA and owns the Starlink satellite internet network.Musk has been a frequent critic of Ukraine, which is currently battling a three-year Russian offensive.The billionaire accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month of wanting a “forever war”, and in February said Kyiv had gone “too far” in the conflict.
Trump tariffs provoke growing economic uncertainty
Concern over the economic fallout from US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs mounted Wednesday, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s warning of higher inflation sending stock markets tumbling.Trump remained upbeat, posting on social media that there’d been “Big Progress!” in talks with Japan on a trade deal.He is banking that his strategy, in which tariffs are meant to lead to multiple individual country agreements, will lower barriers to US products and shift global manufacturing to the United States.But those negotiations are running parallel to a deepening confrontation with top US economic rival China — and concern over widespread disruption.Powell said tariffs are “highly likely” to provoke a temporary rise in prices and could prompt “more persistent” increases.He also noted the “volatility” on the markets in a “time of high uncertainty.”That volatility was visible on Wall Street where the Nasdaq at one point plummeted more than four percent, the S&P more than three percent and the Dow Jones more than two.Leading the downward charge was Nvidia, which momentarily dropped more than 10 percent after disclosing major costs due to new US export restrictions on semiconductors imposed as part of Trump’s tussle with China.World Bank chief Ajay Banga echoed Powell, telling reporters that, “uncertainty and volatility are undoubtedly contributing to a more cautious economic and business environment.”- China says ‘no winner’ -While the rest of the world has been slapped with a blanket 10 percent tariff, China faces levies of up to 145 percent on many products. Beijing has responded with duties of 125 percent on US goods.”If the US really wants to resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation, it should stop exerting extreme pressure, stop threatening and blackmailing, and talk to China on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.”There is no winner in a tariff war or a trade war,” Lin said, adding: “China does not want to fight, but it is not afraid to fight.”China said on Wednesday that it saw a forecast-beating 5.4 percent jump in growth in the first quarter as exporters rushed to get goods out of factory gates ahead of the US levies.But Heron Lim from Moody’s Analytics told AFP the impact would be felt in the second quarter, as tariffs begin “impeding Chinese exports and slamming the brakes on investment.”World Trade Organization head Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the uncertainty brought by the tariffs “threatens to act as a brake on global growth, with severe negative consequences for the world, the most vulnerable economies in particular.”- Japan test case? -Ahead of the Japan talks, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he hoped “something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!”Japan’s envoy said he was optimistic of a “win-win” outcome for both countries.South Korea, a major semiconductor and auto exporter, said Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok would meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent next week.”The current priority is to use negotiations… to delay the imposition of reciprocal tariffs as much as possible and to minimize uncertainty for Korean companies operating not only in the US but also in global markets,” Choi said on Tuesday.But Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management called the discussions with Japan the “canary in the tariff coal mine.””If Japan secures a deal — even a half-baked one — the template is set. If they walk away empty-handed, brace yourself. Other nations will start pricing in confrontation, not cooperation,” he wrote in a newsletter.The Daiwa Institute of Research warned on Wednesday that Trump’s reciprocal tariffs could cause a decline of 1.8 percent in Japan’s real GDP by 2029.Although popular among Republicans, the tariffs war is politically risky for Trump at home. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom announced he was launching a new court challenge against Trump’s “authority to unilaterally enact tariffs, which have created economic chaos, driven up prices, and harmed the state, families, and businesses.”burs-sms/dw
Rubio to meet French leaders for talks on Ukraine
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet French leaders in Paris on Thursday to discuss the war in Ukraine, his office said, amid flailing efforts to persuade Russia to agree to a ceasefire.Rubio and US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff would also discuss tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and Middle East trouble spots, in talks with France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, according to a French diplomatic source.No specific proposals for the talks have been made public, but Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in a bid to press US President Donald Trump’s efforts for a ceasefire.Trump pledged before taking office that he would quickly end the war raging since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, and he has voiced frustration at Moscow’s tactics.Witkoff said this week, however, after his third meeting with Putin, that he still sees a peace deal “emerging”.Rubio will be on his third trip to Europe since becoming the top US diplomat, having already attended the Munich Security Conference and a NATO meeting in February and March.For Europe, Ukraine has become more critical following Russia’s recent missile strikes on two Ukrainian cities that left dozens of civilians dead. Barrot said on Wednesday that Putin “has again showed that his cruelty is limitless and that he has no intention of starting a ceasefire” as proposed by the United States and Ukraine last month.France, Britain and Germany were surprised by Trump opening talks on improving ties with Russia, but have sought a coordinated European response to protecting Ukraine, during the conflict and in any ceasefire.Britain and France have proposed a mainly European “reassurance” force prepared to go to Ukraine if a ceasefire starts. However, many European leaders say it would need US support.The State Department said only that Rubio and Witkoff would meet European officials to discuss Trump’s efforts to “advance” the goal of stopping the Ukraine war.A French diplomatic source said Rubio and Barrot would discuss “the war in Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear file”.The United States and Iran are to hold a second round of indirect talks on Iran’s nuclear programme in Rome on Saturday.The talks have become more important after Rafael Grossi, head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, warned on Wednesday that Iran was “not far” from possessing a nuclear bomb.Talks to end the Gaza war have also stalled, with Israel blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Palestinian territory. The UN says Gaza now faces its worst humanitarian crisis since the start of the war in October 2023, after the Hamas attacks.Separately, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu will travel to Washington on Thursday.He was set to meet with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, for talks also dominated by Ukraine, Iran and Gaza.Lecornu was also expected to meet with National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy.burs/tw/rjm