Global

Venezuelan Leaders Charged

The U.S. Department of Justice hit senior Venezuelan leaders, including President Nicholas Maduro, with a slew of criminal charges on Monday. Maduro and the other officials from Venezuela’s military, legislature, and government were charged with narcoterrorism and drug traf

ficking. The indictments were filed in New York’s Southern District, Washington, D.C., and Miami. T he State Department also designated them as international drug traffickers and issued a $15 million bounty for any information that would lead to Maduro’s arrest and conviction. Prosecutors accuse the aforementioned officials of collaborating with Columbia’s FARC terror group to send massive amounts of cocaine into the United States. “We estimate that somewhere between 200 and 250 metric tons of cocaine are shipped out of Venezuela… Those 250 metric tons equates to 30 million lethal doses,” said the Justice Department.

Other than Maduro, officials who were charged include Diosdado Cabello Rondón, leader of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly; Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez; Supreme Court Chief Justice Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios; and ex-military intelligence chief Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones. V enezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza denied the charges on Monday, slamming the Trump administration for “using a new form of coup d’état on the basis of

Within reach. Your future.

B.A. in Business Administration B.S. in Computer Science Machon Lev International Program for Men

Complete Degrees in English 3 Year Programs Torah Environment

ONLY $3,800 PER YEAR dependent on the current exchange rate

vulgar, miserable and unfounded accusations” and “trying to minimize the recognition that Venezuela has achieved in the fight against drug trafficking.”

“The deep frustration of the White House is a product of the peace that reigns in Venezuela today, whose authorities have managed to neutralize coups and destabilizing attempts planned and financed from the United States,” said Arreaza.

A Couple of Capitals

Van Gogh Painting Stolen

A painting by famed artist Vincent Van Gogh was stolen from a Dutch museum last week while it was closed due to the coronavirus. According to police, the breakin occurred at 3:15 a.m. on Monday morning at the Singer Laren Museum in Amsterdam. The thieves made off with the painting known as “The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884.”

The work was completed by the master in 1884 and was on loan from Holland’s Groninger Museum. It is unknown how much the painting is worth. “ I am shocked and unbelievably [annoyed],” said Singer Laren director Jan Rudolph de Lorm. “It is very bad for the Groninger Museum. It’s also very bad for Singer.

“But above all it is horrible for all of us, because art is there to be seen and shared by all of us, for society as a whole, to bring enjoyment, to bring inspiration.”

The Singer Laren Museum was founded in 1950 to preserve the personal art collection of American steel baron William Henry Singer and his wife Anna. Knowing that the building was empty due to the coronavirus, thieves smashed a glass door to enter the museum. Although they set off an alarm, they managed to escape before police arrived. The Singer Laren Museum has been raided before, with thieves making off with seven sculptures in 2007. The majority of the works were recovered within a few days. While most countries around the world have a single capital city, there are a number of nations with two or more capitals.

“The very concept of a capital city is relatively new. In 1900, only around 40 countries had capital cities,” wrote professor David Gordon in an introduction to the book, Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities. That number expanded to over 200 by the year 2000, as the collapse of the French and British empires, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia gave rise to new countries. G ordon, an urban planning professor at Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, noted that “this is a place where politicians get together to pass laws, where the central administrative apparatus of the country are generally located... There are very much synergies in locating these all together.”

In Chile, the capital cities of Santiago and Valparaíso are located 72 miles apart. Santiago, home to the country’s administrative and judicial bodies, rests among mountains, while the national legislature at UNESCO-listed Valparaíso has a colorful sunset view of the Pacific Ocean. B olivia’s administrative capital, La Paz, is located in the Andes Mountains. Hundreds of miles away sits the constitutional capital of Sucre, where in the early days of colonial rule, nearby mines filled with silver served to raise the city’s profile.

In the Czech Republic, the president’s official office is located in Prague Castle, part of the city’s UNESCO-listed historic center. Yet the supreme court sits in the country’s second capital, Brno.

The Netherlands’ official capital, Amsterdam, is a common tourist destination with much to see and do. However, the country’s government sits in The Hague, where the state’s general, executive branch, and su

Spend more time enjoying Pesach

and less time preparing for it

preme court are all located.

Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur is the national capital, as well as home to the country’s monarch and the seat of the legislature. But in 1995, as a getaway of sorts from city life, the government began work on Putrajaya, a quieter metropolis surrounding a massive artificial lake. The new capital is home to landmarks such as the pink Putra Mosque.

Sri Lanka’s national and executive government bodies are along the coastal city of Colombo, though the official capital is nearby in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, often called Kotte. In Kotte, one can find the Sri Lankan Parliament Building in the middle of the manmade Diyawanna Lake.

The Kingdom of eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has its administrative capital in Mbabane. Yet King Mswati III, along with his family, calls the Ludzidzini Royal Residence home, located in the royal capital of Lobamba.

South Africa is the only country in the world to have three capital cities: Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. Cape Town, the former capital of Britain’s Cape Colony, is the legislative capital of South Africa until today. The remaining branches of government are split between Pretoria and Bloemfontein, in the emerging country’s attempt to help with the distribution of power across regions.

Plastic-Eating Bacteria

Scientists have discovered a bacteria strain capable of degrading polyurethane, a synthetic chemical compound used in plastic products that typically end up in landfills. These findings, which could be a step towards reducing plastic pollution around the world, were published last week in the Frontiers in Microbiology journal. G erman researchers identified the bacterium Pseudomonas puti

da, which fed on polyurethane diol, a compound generally applied to materials to protect them from corrosion. “The bacteria can use these compounds as a sole source of carbon, nitrogen and energy,” noted Hermann Heipieper, study author and senior scientist at the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig.

“This finding represents an important step in being able to reuse hard-to-recycle (polyurethane) products.”

Polyurethane foam is commonly used in mattresses, car parts, building materials, and spandex clothing and shoes, among other things.

Polyurethane is a polymer, a large molecule made up of numerous smaller molecules called monomers. This complex structure is partially why plastics are so difficult to break down and end up clogging landfills. The bacterium Pseudomonas putida is capable of metabolizing the “building blocks” of polyurethane, but it alone would likely be unable to break down large polyurethane polymers. The researchers said further research is required before pursuing commercial biodegradation procedures but that these findings

500 Iranians Imbibe Faux Cure

At least 480 Iranians have died over the past week after drinking industrial alcohol they were told was a cure for the novel coronavirus. C onsumption of the faux cure skyrocketed in recent weeks as the death toll in Iran from the coronavirus surpassed 2,000 people. According to rumors that circulated, a British teacher had cured himself of the coronavirus after ingesting whiskey along with honey. O ther reports spoke of the wondrous healing powers of methanol,

Spend more time enjoying Pesach

and less time preparing for it

people with alcohol poisoning and also fight the coronavirus.”

UK Shadowing Russian Warships

industrial-grade alcohol that causes quick death when imbibed. In one case, a 5-year-old in Tehran passed away after he was fed the toxic brew by his parents. In videos taken in Iran’s Khuzestan province, dozens of patients can be seen with IVs as they detox from the poisonous substance. While consumer alcoholic drinks are banned in Iran, methanol is permitted for sale as long as it is dyed

a special color to prevent mistaken consumption. As the rumors of alcohol’s “wondrous” effects on the novel coronavirus began to circulate, criminals manufactured bootleg methanol dyed white to appear safe to drink. Adding to the high death toll in Iran is the fact that methanol is tasteless without any aroma. Almost undetectable, many who drank it were unaware that the supposed miracle cure would, in fact, lead to an early death. Commonly, methanol kills people by causing organs to shut down, with symptoms including chest pain, blindness, and a sudden coma. “Other countries have only one problem, which is the new coronavirus pandemic. But we are fighting on two fronts here,” Iranian Health Ministry official Dr. Hossein Hassanian said. “We have to both cure the The United Kingdom’s (UK) Royal Navy announced on Monday that it has been shadowing seven Russian warships sailing between the English Channel and the North Sea. Saying that it was alarmed by the “unusual amount of activity,” the Royal Navy used nine vessels to monitor the Russian fleet until it left the English Channel. Executive Officer Lieutenant Nick Ward said in a statement that monitoring constituted a major operation for the British fleet that demonstrated their “enduring commitment to uphold the security” of the UK.

“Royal Navy sailors and aircrew were monitoring every movement of the Russian ships using state-of-theart radar, surveillance cameras and sensors, allowing them to track their course and speed as they passed the British Isles,” said the Royal Navy.

“Portsmouth-based HMS Tyne spent more than a week working in the English Channel, in often challenging seas, keeping a close eye on the Russian vessels as they pass the south coast.”

While Russian ships commonly transit the English Channel, they aroused suspicion by remaining off the coast of Britain for several days instead of continuing to the Mediterranean Sea. Included in the Russia armada were three Project 20380 Steregushchiy-class corvettes, two Project 775 Ropucha-class amphibious crafts, and Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates, plus auxiliary ships and tugs.

The suspicious Russian maritime activity comes amid rising tensions between Moscow and London in recent weeks. In early March, RAF jets intercepted two Russian Tu-142 strategic bombers after they approached the Shetland Islands. “Our successful integration into

“It is a serious issue for the whole international society including Japan that North Korea has repeatedly launched the missiles lately,” said Japan’s Self Defense Forces. “We continue to put the utmost effort to collect and analyze information and vigilance to protect the life and property of Japanese citizens.”

A Trump administration official said that it “will continue to monitor the situation and are consulting with our allies.” Pyongyang appears to have ramped up its ballistic missile program, having conducted six missile tests over the last four weeks alone. On March 9, North Korea launched three missiles into the sea, followed by another two tests on March 21.

the maritime group proves our ability to adapt to task group operations at short notice,” said Lieutenant Hannah Lee, who serves as an operations officer on a frigate involved in the mission. “Having proved we can work together and contribute once again to NATO operations, we now look to return to UK national tasks in support of the very highest defense priorities.”

North Korea Launches Projectile

North Korea launched two unidentified projectiles into the Sea of Japan in what is the rogue state’s sixth such test in this past month alone. According to the South Korean military, the launches were assumed to be short-range missiles based in the Wohsan area. The rockets landed outside of Japan’s 200-kilometer Exclusive Economic Zone. Japan’s Coast Guard first reported the launch at 6:00 on Sunday morning. Tokyo’s military warned that it viewed the test with extreme concern and that it would not hesitate to take action in order to protect Japan’s interests.

Jihadi Sentenced to 10 Years

A Tunisian national was sentenced last Thursday to a 10-year prison term by a German court for planning a biological terror attack together with his wife.

Sief Allah H., 31, and his wife Yasmin, a 41-year-old German citizen, wanted to “create a climate of fear and uncertainty among the German population,” wrote presiding judge Jan van Lessen. The planned attack could have potentially murdered as many as 13,500 people.

Sief Allah H. was a supporter of ISIS who had previously attempted twice to join the Islamic State as a combatant in Syria. He had ordered castor seeds and metal ball bearings online in order to construct the deadly poison ricin, which, according to the court statement, was intended to murder “other believers” who don’t embrace Islam. The statement elaborated that the couple had begun working on their “jihadi motivated explosive attack in Germany” back in 2017.

The components were confiscated by authorities from the couple’s apartment in Cologne-Chorweiler.

“The accused were well advanced in the manufacture of an explosive

TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP BORO PARK HEALTHY AND SAFE:

ries.”

Sief Allah H. appealed his sentence, while the ongoing trial against Yasmin will continue with the next court hearing slated for April 1.

Greek World War II Hero Dies

Did you know?

In 1778, one brief war was fought over potatoes. The opposing forces were Prissioa and Australia, both wanting to starve each other by stealing their food.

device and had already made a significant amount of the ricin toxin from the castor beans they had ordered online,” according to the court. “Radical Islamic content had been found on their mobile phones, demonstrating their radicalization and the decision to commit a terrorist attack based on it. The planned attack would most likely have resulted in numerous fatalities and injuManolis Glezos, who became famous for resisting the Nazis during World War II, passed away on Monday at the age of 97. G lezos was known for his open defiance of the Nazi regime after it occupied his native Greece in 1941. While only 18 years old, he and his friend Apostolos Santas famously climbed the Acropolis in order to tear down the Nazi flag. A s the birthplace of Athenian democracy, the Acropolis is a national Greek institution and many viewed Gleznos’ effort to remove the swastika as a symbol of their opposition to the Nazi occupation. The Nazi regime arrested the pair after discovering the identity of the perpetrators but Gleznos managed to escape from prison. He was sentenced to death in absentia in 1942. “ Hitler had said in a speech that ‘Europe is free.’ We wanted to show him that the fight was just beginning,” Glezos recalled in 2011. “Greece conquered its freedom, but not its independence.”

After the war ended, Glezos was elected to the country’s parliament for a variety of far-left and communist parties. He was later imprisoned during the 1967-1974 military dictatorship but never renounced his radical politics. After Greece declared bankruptcy as a result of the global financial meltdown in 2008, Gleznos led the public opposition to the harsh austerity that was imposed on the country. T ributes poured in after news of Gleznos’ death was announced, with the country’s most prominent politicians hailing him as a national hero. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis eulogized him as a

CLASSES OFFERED ONLINE VIA ZOOM | Post-Pesach Session Starts April 22

More Pathways to Career Success. Get a Head Start at Touro in Flatbush.

Enroll in the online Post-Pesach session at Touro in Flatbush and choose from a range of courses. Earn 6 credits while participating in online evening class twice a week via Zoom. Continue on through the end of the summer, and earn a total of 18 credits. Make More Happen Here.

REDUCED TUITION FOR POST-PESACH SESSION

APPLY NOW! POST-PESACH SESSION ONLINE for Men APRIL 22th— JUNE 17th