Argentina targets drug gangs in violence-hit Rosario – Newstrends
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Argentina targets drug gangs in violence-hit Rosario

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Police reinforcements to combat drug trafficking in Rosario came in reaction to escalating violence AFP/Getty Images

The Argentine government has launched an offensive on gangs in the agricultural hub city of Rosario, bringing in hundreds of extra security personnel after a surge in violent attacks.

Argentina’s security minister on Wednesday hailed the deployment of some 575 security personnel after a string of gang-related deaths in Rosario, the country’s third-largest city.

The inland river port has had an increasing reputation for gang violence rising to roughly one murder per day this year, including that of an 11-year-old boy.

A menacing threat against Argentine football star Lionel Messi — delivered alongside gunshots to a supermarket belonging to his wife’s family — gave additional prominence to the climate of fear.

What did the security minister say?

Accompanied by local officials at a public event in Rosario, Security Minister Anibal Fernandez said federal agents in the city, whose number will increase to 1,400, were “absolutely committed” to the fight against drug trafficking.

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“It is imperative that we go into each of these places and get to the root of it. It is an undesirable situation,” Fernandez said.

“We have to clean up our neighborhoods so that the kids can walk down the street without fear of being hurt. We have already seen too much, much has already happened.”

“We have brought federal forces with enough might to take action all around the city. We have come to do that, to work together and without ceasing to get to the root of the issue.”

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez also said the government would install 600 new surveillance cameras with facial recognition software in the city, and open a new branch of Argentina’s anti-money laundering agency.

Violence garners wider attention

On Sunday, an 11-year-old boy was killed and three other children, including a 2-year-old, were injured in a shooting believed related to turf wars among rival gangs.

Prosecutor Adrian Spelta said the fact that children had become victims of the violence showed that “certain limits that used to exist have been crossed.”

The violence in Rosario came under the spotlight earlier this month when two people on a motorcycle fired at least a dozen shots at a store in the city belonging to the family of Messi’s wife, Antonela Roccuzzo.

They left a message: “Messi, we are waiting for you.”

Although it was unclear why gang members had targeted Messi and his family, officials speculated that it was an attempt to intimidate the whole community.

Speaking about the threat to World Cup winner Messi, Fernandez said the issue was something far wider.

“We are talking about neighborhoods that suffer from this presence because the gangs steal, because they pressure people, because they squeeze people and because they hurt people,” he said.

rc/jsi (Reuters, dpa, EFE) DW

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Ukraine receives bodies of 140 fallen soldiers from Russia

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Ukraine receives bodies of 140 fallen soldiers from Russia

Ukraine has received the bodies of 140 soldiers killed while trying to defend the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson from Russian attacks.

The authority responsible for prisoner-of-war matters said on Telegram on Friday that five bodies were from the Sumy section in northern Ukraine.

Russia has no Ukrainian territories under its control in this area; however, at the beginning of March, units of allegedly Russian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine made advances from the Sumy region into Russian territory.

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Once the identities of the dead have been established, they will be handed over to their relatives, the authority said.

The authority, known as the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, thanked the International Committee of the Red Cross for arranging the return.

Ukraine has been fending off a Russian invasion for over two years.

Despite the ongoing fighting, both sides regularly exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers and prisoners of war.

It is not yet known whether and how many dead soldiers Russia has received in return.

Ukraine receives bodies of 140 fallen soldiers from Russia

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Weeks after Iran’s attack, Israel discovers another massive surface-to-surface missile

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Weeks after Iran’s attack, Israel discovers another massive surface-to-surface missile

Weeks after missiles sent by Iran on April 14 rocked several parts of Israel, another debris of a surface-to-surface missile has been found in the southern part of the country.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the debris that was found by hikers in southern Israel, has been successfully evacuated.

“The effects of Iran’s attack on Israel can still be seen weeks after it occurred.

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“Earlier today, our troops removed the debris of a surface-to-surface missile intercepted during the Iranian attack. At the beginning of the week, the debris was found by hikers in southern Israel.

A complex removal, the process was made possible through advanced preparation by the Home Front Command and assistance from the IAF. During the process, the missile debris was cleared of hazardous materials, ” the IDF said in a post on Friday.

This is not the first missile discovered in the south since the attack. Similar missiles were discovered nearby in the Dead Sea area immediately after the major attack that Tehran launched against Israel, which included more than 300 suicide drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.

Weeks after Iran’s attack, Israel discovers another massive surface-to-surface missile

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Nigerian man kills wife months after relocating to UK

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Olubunmi Abodund with late wife Taiwo
Nigerian man kills wife months after relocating to UK

Olubunmi Abodunde, a Nigerian living in the United Kingdom, reportedly beat his wife, Taiwo, to death with their son’s skateboard, according to the Daily Mail.

The couple, who had three children, arrived in the UK from Nigeria in 2022 and frequently feuded over reported relationships and financial disagreements.

According to the news outlet, 48-year-old Abodunde had been investigated by Suffolk Police several times for domestic abuse and was scheduled to stand trial for murder, but changed his plea to guilty on Wednesday after the jury was sworn in.

During the abuse, officers heard ‘a number of fringes’ inside the house, which Abodunde had entered despite bail restrictions imposed the day before that barred him from the residence due to another violent incident.

When they arrived 25 minutes later, they discovered Taiwo, 41, with her’skull bashed in’.

However, Judge Martyn Levett, sitting at Ipswich Crown Court, cautioned him that the only conceivable penalty was life imprisonment.

Suffolk Constabulary submitted itself to the Independent Office of Police Conduct, which confirmed that three officers were being investigated.

An IOPC spokesman said, “We advised two Suffolk officers that they are under investigation for potential breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour at the level of gross misconduct.

“We advised another officer that they are under investigation at the level of misconduct.”

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Abodunde has a history of mistrust and distrust towards his wife, accusing her of having affairs. He had been probed by police several times for alleged domestic abuse episodes prior to his wife’s murder.

He was detained on April 27 of last year, when police came to the couple’s house in Newmarket, Suffolk, and discovered Mrs. Abodunde with a split lip.

Later that day, he was released on police bail with the condition that he stay away from the marital residence and avoid approaching his wife.

However, after completing a night shift at Tesco, he returned home shortly after 9 a.m. to reportedly pick up his mobile phone.

At 9.20 a.m., two cops arrived to take Mrs. Abodunde’s testimony regarding the previous night’s incident, and they heard persistent banging inside.

But it wasn’t until 9.55 a.m. that they pushed their way in with permission from senior officers and discovered Mrs. Abodunde ‘clearly dead’ near the front entrance.

A post-mortem examination revealed that she had been throttled until unconscious, then stamped on until her ribs were fractured, before her husband used the skateboard to kill her off. The hits were so hard that the skateboard was ruined.

Prosecutor Simon Spence KC told the court that the hammering officers heard was most likely caused by Abodunde continuing to assault his wife after she was unconscious or dead.

Mrs. Abodunde worked as a care home assistant in Cambridge, but her husband, a civil engineer by training, was unable to find work and took shifts at Tesco and Wickes.

Following his arrest for the murder, Abodunde was taken to the hospital “because he appeared to have some sort of mental episode.”.

He later argued in a police statement that he had acted in self-defence, saying, “My wife has subjected me to physical abuse for a number of years.

“On November 28, we got into an argument. She ran at me with a knife. I grabbed the knife and cut my hand. I was defending myself.”

However, the court heard that, while he had a hand injury, no knife was found near his wife’s body.

Nneka Akudolu KC, defending, said the amount of violence was ‘completely out of character’ for her client and could have been influenced by the medicine he was on. However, she stated that no medical evidence would be supplied to back her assertion.

Following the court, Suffolk Police Detective Inspector Dan Connick stated, “This was an awful attack on a woman that has had a long-term impact on the community and, most importantly, on the victim’s family.”

“We are pleased that Taiwo’s family will no longer have to go through the pain of a trial.

“Our thoughts remain with Taiwo’s family and friends, and we hope this result will bring some small comfort to them.”

Nigerian man kills wife months after relocating to UK

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