Kony 2017? (Without the USA At Least)…”The Ugandan military says an aide to Lord’s Resistance Army chief Joseph Kony has surrendered, a day after the United States said it will withdraw from the task force chasing the notorious rebel group. Ugandan military officials said Thursday that Michael Omona, Kony’s chief communications officer, gave himself up in the Central African Republic. Omona was part of the LRA for 23 years after being kidnapped by the group in 1994. On Wednesday, the U.S. military said it will remove its forces from Operation Observant Compass, the task force established in 2013 to hunt down bands of LRA fighters roaming across Central Africa and bring Kony and other LRA leaders to justice. (VOA http://bit.ly/2od6DTT)
Report: Thailand is Failing to Stamp Out Slavery in Fishing Industry…Thailand is failing to protect migrant workers on fishing trawlers from murder and starvation, with trafficking and forced labour still rampant despite new government legislation, according to a new report. In an unusually critical ruling by the UN’s labour agency, the International Labour Organisation has urged the Thai government to remedy continued abuses on fishing vessels operating in Thai waters. It follows a formal complaint to the ILO by international trade unions last year, which highlighted evidence of migrant workers enduring 20-hour working days, physical abuse and non-payment of wages. Activists greeted the ruling as further evidence that little progress has been made on these issues, despite continued pressure from the EU and US. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2ocMhtH)
Chavismo Lives On…”Venezuela took its strongest step yet toward one-man rule under the leftist President Nicolás Maduro, as his loyalists on the Supreme Court seized power from the National Assembly in a ruling late Wednesday night. The ruling effectively dissolved the elected legislature, which is led by Mr. Maduro’s opponents, and allows the court to write laws itself, experts said. The move capstones a year in which the last vestiges of Venezuela’s democracy have been torn down, say critics and regional leaders, leaving what many now describe as not just an authoritarian regime, but an outright dictatorship.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/2nQC5GN)