KIEV, Ucrania (AP) — El ejército ucraniano capturó a dos hombres chinos que luchaban para el ejército ruso en la región oriental de Donetsk, anunció el martes el presidente de Ucrania Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ucrania tiene información de que hay “significativamente más” chinos luchando junto a los rusos en la guerra que lleva más de tres años, declaró Zelenskyy, añadiendo que ha pedido a su principal diplomático “contactar de inmediato con Beijing y averiguar cómo va a reaccionar China ante esto”.
China ha brindado un fuerte apoyo diplomático a Rusia desde que lanzó su invasión a gran escala de su vecino, lo cual fue ampliamente criticado en Occidente. Beijing también ha dado un salvavidas económico a través del comercio de energía y bienes de consumo.
Sin embargo, no se sabe que China haya proporcionado armas o experiencia militar a Rusia, a diferencia de Irán y Corea del Norte, siendo este último incluso proveedor de tropas, según funcionarios estadounidenses y surcoreanos.
Rusia permite que extranjeros se alisten en su ejército, al igual que Ucrania. El pago ofrecido por Moscú hace que servir para Rusia sea atractivo.
Rusia ha rechazado efectivamente una propuesta de Estados Unidos para una pausa inmediata y completa de 30 días en los combates, y se cree que ambas partes se están preparando para una campaña de primavera-verano en el campo de batalla.
“No veo ningún indicio de alto al fuego ni de paz, pero veo muchos indicios de la continuación de la guerra”, explicó Nico Lange, analista del Center for European Policy Analysis en Washington.
Zelenskyy señaló que el enfrentamiento con soldados chinos ocurrió cerca de las aldeas de Tarasivka y Bilohorivka en la región de Donetsk, donde seis militares chinos se enfrentaron a las tropas ucranianas. Dos chinos fueron capturados, sostuvo Zelenskyy en una conferencia de prensa en Kiev junto al primer ministro belga Bart De Wever, quien estaba de visita.
Zelenskyy afirmó que China sería el tercer país en ofrecer apoyo militar al Kremlin después de Irán, que ha suministrado drones de ataque, y Corea del Norte. Estados Unidos y Europa han sido los mayores respaldos de Ucrania en la guerra.
Zelenskyy señaló que soldados norcoreanos capturados anteriormente estaban luchando en la región fronteriza de Kursk en Rusia, donde las fuerzas ucranianas capturaron territorio, mientras que los chinos fueron capturados en suelo ucraniano.
Mientras tanto, el portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, manifestó que funcionarios del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Rusia participarán en conversaciones con Estados Unidos en Estambul el jueves.
No detalló sobre qué tratarían las conversaciones, pero la participación del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores sugiere que es otra ronda de conversaciones sobre la normalización de las operaciones de sus respectivas embajadas y el aumento de su personal después de que ambos países expulsaron mutuamente a sus diplomáticos.
___________________________________
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
BOGOTÁ (AP) — Las autoridades colombianas investigaban el martes el asesinato de un biólogo italiano que se hospedaba en la ciudad caribeña de Santa Marta, en el norte del país. Su cuerpo fue hallado desmembrado el fin de semana.
La Fiscalía, a través de su policía judicial, reportó el domingo el hallazgo del cuerpo desmembrado en un maletín negro en un sector conocido como Bureche, cerca de un estadio de fútbol. El maletín había sido arrojado a una zona cubierta de maleza.
La fiscalía activó el Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación que identificó a la víctima como Alessandro Coatti, quien se hospedaba desde el 3 de abril en un hotel de la ciudad y luego desapareció.
La Sociedad Real de Biología (RSB, por sus siglas en inglés) lamentó el martes la muerte de Coatti. “Alessandro, conocido como Ale, trabajó para RSB durante 8 años. Lo extrañaremos profundamente”, señaló en X, antes Twitter.
Carlos Pinedo, alcalde de Santa Marta, ofreció una recompensa de más de 11.000 dólares por información que lleve a los responsables del asesinato.
“Este crimen no quedará impune”, prometió Pinedo en X. “Los delincuentes deben saber que en Santa Marta la criminalidad no tiene cabida”, agregó.
President Donald Trump has been tearing down the Federal Emergency Management Agency bit by bit since stepping back into office. And while Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told disaster survivors
that she wants to reinforce the program, the Trump administration’s actions say otherwise.
In February, Noem toured a disaster zone
in North Carolina—which is still recovering
from Hurricane Helene that hit in September 2024—and promised survivors that she, alongside FEMA, would help rebuild and speed up the aid process for future disasters.
“FEMA can often be slow and confusing and a lot of paperwork. I heard that over and over and over again today. And we’re going to fix that. I’ll promise you one thing. President Trump has committed, and I’m committed with him to bringing FEMA into the 21st century,” she said.
But according to Smoky Mountain News
, a county in North Carolina with about $15 million in Hurricane Helene damages has yet to receive a cent from FEMA.
A flooded area is seen in Asheville, North Carolina, following Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
“People are hearing promises, especially about FEMA buyouts, while we’re still waiting for money from 2021,” Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers said. “Our people deserve better than promises and timelines. It’s exceptionally stressful for our businesses, our homeowners, our governments, and our farmers.”
But Noem, like Trump
, has a long history of targeting FEMA.
While Noem made elaborate promises
to unhoused people trying to rebuild their lives, she was telling her colleagues behind the scenes that her plans were to “eliminate” FEMA altogether.
During a private meeting
on March 25, Noem said that she wants to eliminate FEMA’s role in long-term rebuilding efforts and halt multibillion-dollar grants, putting the power into states’ hands. But experts say that states simply do not have the level of preparedness
to handle such disasters.
On the bright side, U.S. District Court Judge John McConnell
, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ordered the Trump administration
last week to begin paying out frozen FEMA grants to 22 Democratic states and Washington D.C.
Millions of dollars in disaster relief was withheld from these Democratic areas, which Trump made clear was his goal all along
.
But with red states like North Carolina still awaiting their FEMA funding, it’s clear that Trump and Noem’s attacks against the organization are beneficial to no one.
If your so-called “traditional values” benefit your own ethnic group while harming others, then you are one the baddies even if you don’t realize it. After all, the expression “traditional values” isn’t a synonym for godly values or good values.
The “Are we the baddies?” question comes from the British sketch-comedy TV series That Mitchell and Webb Look
. One of the show’s episodes features a sketch depicting a scene from World War II. In the scene, two German Schutzstaffel (SS) officers are talking to each other, when one asks the other, “Are we the baddies?”
That sketch gains new relevance with the way that some of Donald Trump’s current supporters act.
One such supporter is USA Today columnist Nicole Russell.
In an opinion column published by USA Today, Russell complains about being hated, mocked and scorned because of her so-called “conservative” beliefs.
“As a conservative woman living in Texas, I often feel like I’m living a dual reality. I’m a mom and a writer, but that’s not all. I go to church, laugh with friends and wave at my neighbors while we are walking our dogs. . . But online, in the legacy news media and in my increasingly ugly inbox, I live in a different world. In that world, I’m portrayed – and viewed – through a singular lens: my conservative beliefs. As such, I am easy to hate, mock and scorn.
I am far from the only woman who experiences this abuse. Progressives claim to value women, but they routinely demonize conservative women who refuse to conform to the molds that the left tries to force us into. That’s not only bad for women like me and for our society, but it’s also a poor reflection of reality. Tens of millions of American women embrace traditional values and conservative ideas.”
In that last sentence, Russell does not make a good argument because she fails to define what she means by “traditional values and conservative ideas.”
For example, in the mid-19th Century, plenty of white Southerners attended churches every Sunday. They also wanted to conserve the white Southern traditional value of keeping Black Americans enslaved. So, they supported the formation of the Confederacy, which was formed for the purpose of conserving the right of Southern states to enslave Black Americans.
In Nazi Germany of the 20th Century, plenty of Germans wanted to conserve the German traditional value of anti-semitism. So, they supported Adolph Hitler becoming Germany’s chancellor.
Does Nicole Russell believe that “traditional values” require one to support Donald Trump? If she believes that, then how would she respond to the group Christians Against Trump
?
Here is how that group describes itself:
“We are Christians from diverse theological and political backgrounds, united in our commitment to love, justice, and the teachings of Christ. We recognize that Christians may disagree on certain political issues, but we are united in our belief that the words and actions of the criminal and felon Donald Trump not only fail to espouse Christian values, but are in direct opposition to many of them. These actions undermine compassion, integrity, and respect for all individuals—values that lie at the heart of our faith.”
In short, the members of Christians Against Trump are opposed to Donald Trump because his words and actions contradict their Christian values.
Nicole Russell ends hers opinion column with this sentence: “I’m done with seeing progressives in politics and journalism spew hate at women for embracing conservative political and social values.”
Again, just what are those “conservative social values” that Russell is referring to?
She doesn’t identify such values as being godly or as being good for all who live in the USA.
So, to Nicole Russell and like-minded people, I say, “Don’t give me your traditional values crap. Neither the word conservative nor the word traditional is a synonym for godly or good. Sure, your particular values may be mocked, but the values of Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists are also mocked. If people are mocking your values, then perhaps the problem is with your values, not with them.”
Plans for the construction of 40 rental homes at the southwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten Roads in Glenview received preliminary approval from the Village Board this month.
Trustees on April 3 voted 6-0 in favor of an ordinance rezoning the long-vacant 8-acre property for residential use and for the development of 20 two-story duplex homes—a total of 40 residences. A second and final vote is expected to take place on April 15.
The Village Board’s action received applause from a room filled with more than 50 supporters, many of them neighbors of the property, which had been rezoned in 2023 for a commercial development that never materialized.
That project, known as Willows Crossing, had generated objections from residents who called for the land to remain residential.
At last week’s meeting, resident Carol Sullivan said, “This is the right plan and now is the right time for development at Willow and Pfingsten. This proposal delivers a solution that meets both community needs and development potential.”
Glenview trustees also spoke highly of the plan and the engagement of developer Michael Nortman, a Glenview native who grew up in the adjacent neighborhood. Nortman said he met with many of the neighbors and learned there was “a strong desire for anything other than commercial there.”
He acknowledged, however, that he had initially explored constructing the shopping center that had been approved under a different developer in 2023.
“We determined the shopping center plan that was approved was not executable financially,” Nortman said. “Essentially, it was a mis-designed plan.”
The property is located west of Glenview’s Plaza del Prado shopping center and north and east of single-family homes.
Glenview’s 2017 Comprehensive Plan, which contains recommendations for how land throughout the village should be used, identifies the future use for the property at the southwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten as “low density residential.”
Monthly rents for the proposed duplexes were not publicly shared.
There are no plans to include units that meet affordable housing standards, Nortman told the Village Board. Like the development of 60 single-family homes approved by the Glenview Village Board in March on the former Scott Foresman campus at 1900 East Lake Avenue, the Residences at Charlie Court, as the proposed Willow and Pfingsten development is called, will be primarily marketed to “empty nesters” and retirees, according to documents shared by the village.
During an April 3 meeting of the Glenview Board of Trustees, residents raise their hands in support of a residential development proposed for the southwest corner of Willow and Pfingsten Roads. (Jennifer Johnson/for Pioneer Press)
The proposal calls for 27 of the 40 units to contain three bedrooms, and 13 units to contain four bedrooms. Twenty-one of the residences will have the primary bedroom on the first floor, and none of the homes will contain basements.
Calculations from both the village and the developer’s consultant estimate that the new homes will generate approximately 14 additional elementary school students and three high school students.
Glenview School District 30, however, expressed concerns about the potential for additional elementary school-age children and strain on nearby Willowbrook School and its resources.
In a March 5 letter to the Glenview New Development Commission, District 30 Superintendent Emily Tammaru wrote, “The proposed duplexes, with their three-to-four bedroom configurations, are more likely to attract families with children than the ‘empty nester’ demographic suggested.” Her letter noted that a recent townhome development in Northbrook generated 34 new students, rather than the projected 14.
“An unexpected influx of students could lead to classroom overcrowding, necessitate additional staffing, and potentially trigger costly renovations or even a referendum for funding,” Tammaru continued, suggesting that the village consider a 55-and-over age restriction for the duplex development.
Nortman said this is not part of the plan.
“Just because you put an age restriction at 55 doesn’t mean they don’t have kids,” he said. “That’s not the way the law works and that’s not the way age restrictions work.”
As required by the village, the developer will pay impact fees to the local schools and park districts. Changes to the fee structure are under consideration, but as they stand now, District 30 will receive a one-time payment of $129,461, Glenbrook High School District 225 will receive $38,675, and the Glenview Park District will receive $221,988, according to information provided by the village.
The new development is projected to generate $487,500 in annual property taxes, with $202,440 going to District 30. Still, that district could see a negative net fiscal impact, depending on the number of new students, projections from Teska Associates, the village’s fiscal consultant, indicate.
While supporting the development, Glenview Trustee Katie Jones said the impact on schools from new residential construction is “something we need to be concerned about.”
“We continue to have these residential developments come before us and we are approving them in what I consider to be ‘silos,’” she said. “I think it’s important we start to look at the community as a whole and look at what is going into our schools. All of these [developments] will affect District 225.”
NASA Astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore is revealing more about how his Christian faith
strengthened him while spending 286 days on the International Space Station—278 days longer than originally planned. Wilmore also recently shared just how close he and fellow astronaut Suni Williams came to being stranded aboard a malfunctioning Boeing Starliner capsule.
During an expansive interview earlier this week, Wilmore reflected for the first time on how harrowing he and Williams’s initial journey to the space station
was last summer. As their Boeing Starliner capsule headed toward the International Space Station after a successful launch, the vehicle inexplicably lost power to four separate thrusters, leaving Wilmore unable to adequately control it. The two astronauts found themselves floating virtually helpless in the void of space, not sure whether they should either attempt to abort the mission and return to Earth or attempt to dock to the space station.
NASA’s mission control
eventually instructed Wilmore to relinquish all control of the capsule so they could attempt a remote reset of the thrusters. “That was not easy to do,” he recalled, as it would mean the capsule would be floating in space completely uncontrolled.
Eventually, the remote reset was able to restore power to two of the four failed thrusters, but that’s when yet another thruster failed. “What if we’d have lost that fifth jet while those other four were still down? I have no idea what would’ve happened,” Wilmore observed. “I attribute to the providence of the Lord getting those two jets back before that fifth one failed.”
At that point, Wilmore was finally able to acquire enough control of the capsule to maneuver it to the docking station at the International Space Station. But due to the multitude of problems with the Starliner’s thrusters, Wilmore knew their trip home
was in jeopardy. “I don’t know that we can come back to Earth at that point,” he recalled. Wilmore and Williams eventually made the decision not to attempt a return flight to Earth in the faulty Starliner, and their original eight-day mission turned into a nine-month ordeal before a trip home could be arranged aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on March 18.
Through it all, Wilmore said in an interview with CBN News on Monday that his Christian faith
was “vital” to him enduring being marooned in space for so long, along with the prayers that his home church, Providence Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas, offered for him. “It’s not just important. It is everything,” he remarked. “It is beyond important. It is vital to existence, vital to my spiritual well-being.”
Wilmore was even able to lead church devotionals and sing gospel songs like “Amazing Grace” with fellow astronauts as well as church members. “The chance to share the gospel and proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord is the driver,” he explained.
As Wilmore went on to share, what was particularly crucial for him during the months-long stretch in space was the ability to view church services
while in orbit.
“The word of God continually filling me, I need it,” he emphasized. “My pastors are the finest pastors on or off, in this case, the planet. And to worship with my church family was vital. I mean, it’s part of what makes me go. And not only that, I also tied into Grace Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. A buddy of mine is an elder there and a pastor there, and I would watch their service as well every single week, and it was invigorating. It was part of what I need as a believer in Jesus Christ to continue that focus, and [it] assisted me day in and day out, because I need that fellowship, even though it’s fellowship from afar. It’s not like [having] fellowship up close, but still I need it.”
As for gaining perspective on the unexpected trial, Wilmore was unequivocal about the importance of surrendering to divine providence.
“[It was] the Lord’s plan, his purpose,” he insisted. “I’m okay with it, whatever. Is it my plan? No, but my plans are not usually the good plans or the right plans. And the Lord’s always are, regardless of what takes place. God’s word is clear, and I believe it because I’ve lived it. God is always good.”
