Human

Pope Leo XIV pictured in May addressing Catholic faithful from the Vatican balcony in Vatican City, Vatican. On Friday, the American-born Catholic Church head urged Italy’s intelligence officials to ground national security in ethical principles and cautioned that efforts to preserve peace must not trump human dignity or truth. File Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 12 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV urged Italy’s intelligence officials on Friday to ground national security in ethical principles and cautioned that efforts to preserve peace must not trump human dignity or truth.

The U.S.-born pope marked the centenary of Italy’s Security Intelligence System and noted the nation’s first coordinated intelligence service launched in 1925 established the “foundations for building a more effective and coordinated system, aimed at safeguarding the security of the state.”

He added in remarks that, about a century later, tools and capabilities may have advanced dramatically, but responsibilities and moral risks of such intelligence work have grown.

On Friday, Leo told assembled intelligence professionals visiting the Vatican they bear a “serious responsibility” of “constantly monitoring the dangers that may threaten the life of the nation, in order above all to contribute to the protection of peace.”

He praised sometimes ignored efforts to foresee a crisis before it arises but cautioned that discretion risks misuse without ethics.

The pope stressed that professionalism required “respect for the dignity of the human person.”

“Security activity must never lose sight of this foundational dimension and must never fail to respect the dignity and rights of each individual,” he said.

He urged ethical restraint in gathering intelligence and warned that a sense of urgent common good cannot justify ignoring limits on individual rights.

National security, he added, must never arrive at the expense of individual rights, including “private and family life, freedom of conscience and information and the right to a fair trial.”

The Catholic Church leader underscored the need for strong ethical standards in modern day communication, and cautioned in an era run by constant and instant connection that misinformation, manipulation and exploitation of vulnerable people was a growing threat.

He further warned that confidential information must never be deployed to intimidate, manipulate, blackmail or discredit public officials, journalists or other groups.

In addition, Leo urged attendees to pursue their profession with balance and discernment that prioritizes the common good while staying “firmly anchored to those legal and ethical principles that place the dignity of the human person above all else.”

Taylor Swift, The End of An Era – Disney+

★★★★★

“I WANTED to exceed fans’ expectations with this tour,” Taylor Swift says during the opening episode of her The End of An Era six-part documentary series.

It’s not even up for debate that she did just that with the global trek, but I’m happy to report she also achieves this with her new Disney+ series.

Disclaimer, I am a huge Swiftie, but before the first two episodes dropped I did have my concerns.

I feared the documentary would just be the same old footage of Taylor picking her outfits that we’ve now all seen a thousand times and fluffy backstories about her life on the road.

Of course, these types of moments are in there, but episode one alone pulls back the curtain on the most talked about tour of all time in ways other behind the scenes specials simply don’t.

The 43-minute long episode focuses on the heinous Southport attack, as well as the foiled terror plot at Taylor’s Vienna gigs, and lifts the lid on what went on behind the scenes.

For the first time we see how much the trauma rocked Taylor, with her breaking down in tears on multiple occasions.

Rather than feeling staged or performative, it shows the true artist behind the phenomenon and proves she is just as human as the rest of us.

During a chat with pal Ed Sheeran she admits she feels almost dehumanised by fame.

In another scene she’s filmed trying to calm herself down with an audio book of 2024 thriller The God of The Woods.

In the weeks that followed the incidents in Southport and Vienna, Taylor found herself wrecked with anxiety to the point she was physically shaking.

Not that Taylor is moaning about her life – in fact at one point she openly accepts her reality isn’t normal.

Though as she sings on The Life of A Showgirl track Elizabeth Taylor, “Oftentimes it doesn’t feel so glamorous to be me”.

People were quick to join an online pile-on against Taylor over summer ’24 after she kept silent following the incident in Southport.

But those behind the wrath of masked crusaders may be feeling more than a little silly after the doc.

Episode 1 reveals rather than turning a blind eye behind and pulling up her drawbridge, away from the spotlight Taylor was determined to make a difference.

Before each of the five remaining Wembley shows Taylor met with the families of those affected by the horrific incident.

And while I’ve obviously not spoken to any of those families in question, I would be willing to bet my flat that her decision to personally meet them has made a positive difference, far beyond that she gives herself credit for.

And it would be worth far more than a short Instagram story statement ever could.

In private Taylor was clearly struggling with the run of incidents, but on stage she never faltered.

While never brushing them under the carpet ignoring them, she was determined not to let events overshadow or dampen the magic she had created for the 10 million ticket holders on the 149 date trek.

I was lucky enough to attend three of the gigs in the capital – two of which took place after Vienna and Southport.

Both with those shows – and indeed with the new docuseries – the magic and escapism of Taylor’s world is very much alive and well.

A feat I doubt, even in decades to come, will ever change.

The family of a Colombian man killed in a United States military strike on an alleged drug smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea has filed a complaint with an intergovernmental agency charged with monitoring human rights.

The complaint, reported by the AFP news agency on Wednesday, was submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) a day prior.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

It accuses the US of violating Alejandro Carranza’s rights to life and due process when it bombed a boat on September 15, as part of President Donald Trump’s anti-drug campaign.

Carranza’s family maintains he was on that vessel and was killed in the explosion.

“We know that Pete Hegseth, US Secretary of Defense, was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza Medina and the murder of all those on such boats,” the complaint said.

It said Hegseth gave the orders to strike “despite the fact that he did not know the identity of those being targeted for these bombings and extra-judicial killings”.

Carranza’s family has described him as a fisherman and denied that his boat was carrying drugs when it was struck by the US military.

The complaint added that Trump himself “has ratified the conduct of Secretary Hegseth”.

Carranza’s case has become a flashpoint in his native Colombia, galvanising opposition against the US bombing campaign.

More than 83 people have been killed in the 21 known military strikes the US has conducted on alleged drug smuggling vessels since September 2.

Even Colombian President Gustavo Petro has cited the case in public statements denouncing the bombings as extrajudicial killings.

“US government officials have committed murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters,” Petro wrote on October 18.

“The fisherman, Alejandro Carranza, had no ties to drug trafficking; his daily activity was fishing. The Colombian boat was adrift and had its engine out of service. We await an explanation from the US government.”

The family’s complaint comes at a time of heightened scrutiny for the Trump administration and Hegseth in particular.

Rights groups have said the strikes are likely illegal under both domestic and international law, which largely bars attacks on civilians.

Drug trafficking is not considered an act of combat under international law, so self-defence statutes do not apply.

Scrutiny has been heightened in recent days after US media reported on a so-called double-tap strike during the first known bombing on September 2. According to reports, the US military’s initial strike appeared to leave two passengers alive, so a second missile was dropped on the boat.

Legal experts have said firing on unarmed adversaries would likely constitute a war crime. The laws of armed conflict also prohibit firing “upon the shipwrecked”, according to the Pentagon’s own manual.

Trump and Hegseth have since distanced themselves from the attack, saying Navy Vice Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley ordered the follow-up strike. The White House has maintained the order was given “within his authority and the law”.

The administration has also said the strikes will continue. It has justified the attacks as necessary to deter so-called “narco-terrorists” from smuggling drugs to the US.

Petro, the Colombian president, has been a leading critic of the strikes and pledged to support Carranza’s family as it seeks justice.

In an interview with the AFP in October, Carranza’s widow, Katerine Hernandez, described her husband as a “good man”.

“He had no ties to drug trafficking, and his daily activity was fishing,” she said.

The complaint comes as the US surges military assets to the Caribbean and Trump threatens possible land strikes on Venezuela.

Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro has said Trump is using the pretext of drug trafficking to seek regime change in Caracas.

The IACHR, a panel within the Organization of the American States (OAS), regularly reviews human rights complaints and recommends cases to be taken up by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Tunisia opposition says charges are fabricated, as police enforce a five-year prison sentence.

Police in Tunisia have arrested prominent opposition figure Ayachi Hammami at his home to enforce a five-year prison sentence after an appeals court upheld convictions against dozens of the administration’s political opponents on charges of conspiracy against state security.

The court last week confirmed jail terms ranging from four to 45 years for opposition leaders, business figures and lawyers accused of plotting to overthrow President Kais Saied, who has conducted a crackdown on opposition figures for years.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

“If you are seeing this video, I have been arrested,” Hammami, who served as minister of human rights in 2020, said in a video posted by his family on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

“I have spent years fighting for democracy, freedom, rights. I will turn my cell into a new front of struggle,” he said, adding that he planned to go on hunger strike.

His arrest follows that of fellow opposition figure Chaima Issa, detained last week at a protest in Tunis to enforce a 20-year prison sentence in the same case.

The sweeping prosecution has targeted around 40 people, including former officials and the former head of intelligence, Kamel Guizani.

Opposition members say the charges against them – including attempting to destabilise the country and topple the government – are fabricated and designed to eliminate dissent through the judiciary, adding that the measures are a mark of the country’s deepening authoritarianism.

Police are widely expected to arrest Najib Chebbi, who heads the National Salvation Front, the main coalition challenging Saied, and who received a 12-year prison sentence.

Twenty of those charged have fled abroad and were sentenced in absentia, in what analysts describe as one of the largest political prosecutions in Tunisia’s recent history.

Saied insists he does not interfere in the judiciary, but when the case was launched in 2023, he said judges who acquitted the accused would be considered accomplices.

Rights groups have condemned the convictions. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called for the immediate annulment of the sentences, saying they were politically motivated.

Responding to the Tunis Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the convictions on November 28, Amnesty’s Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director, Sara Hashash, said: “The decision by the Tunis Court of Appeal to uphold the unjust convictions in the so-called ‘conspiracy case’ is an appalling indictment of the Tunisian justice system … the Appeals Court has deliberately ignored the litany of fair trial violations that have plagued this sham case from day one.”

Saied suspended parliament in what opponents describe as a “coup” in July 2021, later ruling by decree. Many of those powers were incorporated into a new constitution ratified in a widely boycotted 2022 referendum, while media figures, activists and lawyers critical of Saied have been detained under a “fake news” law passed the same year.

Saied has shown no sign of letting up in his crackdown on the opposition, which has seen prominent politicians from across the political spectrum imprisoned.

They include Jawhar Ben Mbarek, the cofounder of the country’s main opposition alliance; Issam Chebbi, the leader of the centrist Al Joumhouri party; Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahda Party and the parliament’s former speaker; former Prime Minister Ali Larayedh; and Abir Moussi, the head of the Free Constitutional Party.

Chinese authorities have arrested several activists and issued a stern warning to “anti-China and pro-chaos elements” amid criticism of the government’s response to Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in a generation.

Hong Kong’s national security police arrested three people over the weekend, state-backed and commercial media reported, as calls mounted for accountability following the city’s worst fire in nearly eight decades.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

Authorities arrested ex-district Councillor Kenneth Cheung Kam-hung and an unidentified volunteer who managed supplies for survivors on Sunday, according to multiple reports, a day after the arrest of a university student on suspicion of sedition. Cheung was arrested on suspicion of “attempting to incite discord”, The Standard newspaper reported.

On Saturday, authorities arrested Miles Kwan, a 24-year-old student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, after he created an online petition calling for greater transparency and accountability from the government, multiple reports said.

The petition included four demands, including the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry to probe the circumstances of the fire, including whether potential conflicts of interest may have contributed to the disaster.

Before it was removed from the internet on Saturday, the petition had garnered more than 10,000 supporters.

China’s national security office in Hong Kong appeared to condemn the petition before its removal, accusing activists of using “the banner of ‘petitioning the people’ to incite confrontation and tear society apart.”

Hong Kong’s Office for Safeguarding National Security also accused figures with “sinister intentions” of exploiting the fire to return the city to the “black-clad violence” that erupted during mass antigovernment protests in 2019.

On Monday, a commentary in the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper called on the public to be vigilant against “anti-government elements” with “malicious intentions”.

“They have even gone so far as to ‘act as representatives’ to establish a so-called ‘concern group,’ put forward so-called ‘four demands,’ distribute leaflets, and launch a petition, all in an attempt to incite public unrest,” the commentary said.

“Their actions are utterly devoid of conscience and humanity.”

‘Outrageous’

The crackdown is the latest sign of the narrowing space for dissent in Hong Kong following Beijing’s sweeping overhaul of the semi-autonomous territory’s political and legal landscape in response to the 2019 demonstrations.

China has repeatedly denied that Hong Kong’s civil liberties have deteriorated, insisting that the passage of two far-reaching national security laws have ensured that residents’ rights and freedoms are “even better protected” than before.

Beijing has also argued that the legislation ensures the continuation of Hong Kong’s partial autonomy under “One Country, Two Systems,” the arrangement under which UK returned the territory to China in 1997.

Nathan Law, an activist and critic of Beijing who served in Hong Kong’s legislature, called the authorities’ actions “outrageous” and the latest example of a “highly authoritarian trend” in the former British colony.

“The goal of the government is to create a chilling effect by arresting these individuals. Any civil actions without the government’s permission are now illegal,” Law, who lives in self-exile in the UK and is wanted by Hong Kong authorities on national security charges, told Al Jazeera.

“The government worries about people congregating and initiating collective action, whether it is political or not.”

The Hong Kong Police Force did not respond to requests for comment.

Ronny Tong, a non-official member of Hong Kong’s de facto cabinet, disputed the suggestion that authorities were stifling criticism of the government’s handling of the disaster.

“If you look at the major newspapers in Hong Kong, there are very many various suggestions and… criticisms of the handling of the incident in Hong Kong, so by no means is there a general suppression of different views or criticisms of the government,” Tong told Al Jazeera.

Tong said that that while it would be inappropriate to comment on the cases of people who had yet to face the judicial process, the law allowed for “constructive” criticism of the authorities.

“One must not simply make the case of a few arrests – the circumstances of which are still unclear – to come to the conclusion that the Hong Kong government are trying to stifle views which they don’t like,” he said.

At least 151 people were killed in Wednesday’s blaze at a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong’s northern district of Tai Po, the worst fire in the city since at least 1948.

The scale of the disaster has prompted scrutiny of safety standards in Hong Kong’s construction industry, with authorities honing in on how the use of substandard materials in renovation works on the block may have aided the fire’s rapid spread.

Hong Kong authorities have arrested 13 people as part of their investigations into the fire, including the directors of an engineering consultant company involved in the renovations.

Commission of Inquiry

While the Hong Kong police and the city’s Independent Commission Against Corruption have launched separate investigations, the government has so far not indicated that it will establish an independent commission of inquiry.

Hong Kong authorities launched commissions of inquiry, a legacy of British rule in the territory, in response to many past disasters.

Past inquiries, which have been typically led by a judge, looked into tragedies including a 2012 ferry accident that left 39 people dead and a 1996 fire that cost 41 lives.

Kevin Yam, a former lawyer in Hong Kong, said that Beijing could not tolerate public criticism of the official response to the fire as it was concerned that “the smallest spark of dissent can snowball into something bigger”.

“Those who read George Orwell will know that phrase, ‘They who control the past control the present future, and they who control the present control the future.’ And the Communist Party of China has always been very good at that,” Yam, who is wanted by the Hong Kong authorities for alleged national security offences, told Al Jazeera.

“They see that once they silence the dissent and the criticism, and then they flood the zone with favourable stories about how they handled things, then that becomes the official record of history.”

Once known for its raucous media, vibrant civil society and political diversity, Hong Kong has dramatically curtailed the space for dissent since the 2019 protests.

Under the laws, which have been widely condemned by foreign governments and rights groups, authorities have forced the closure of critical media outlets, effectively eliminated opposition parties from the city’s legislature, and banned politically sensitive protests.

The mainland Chinese and Hong Kong governments have defended the laws as a proportionate response to the antigovernment protests, which began peacefully before descending into street battles between demonstrators and police, and other national security threats facing the territory.

In a speech marking the fifth anniversary of the 2020 law in June, Xia Baolong, Beijing’s top official for Hong Kong affairs, called the legislation a “guardian” of the city’s semi-autonomous status and stability.