AP News in Brief 05-26-19

Hate makes a comeback in the Pacific Northwest

SPOKANE, Wash. — Nearly two decades after the Aryan Nations’ Idaho compound was demolished, far-right extremists are maintaining a presence in the Pacific Northwest.

White nationalism has been on the rise across the U.S., but it has particular resonance along the Idaho-Washington border, where the Aryans espoused hate and violence for years.

The neo-Nazi group was based near Hayden Lake, Idaho, starting in the 1970s, and eventually was bankrupted in a lawsuit brought by local activists and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Its compound was seized, and supporters dispersed.

But a series of incidents in recent weeks show far-right sentiments never really left the conservative region. In the county that is home to Hayden Lake, for instance, Republicans last month passed a measure expressing support for U.S. entry of a prominent Austrian far-right activist who was investigated for ties to the suspected New Zealand mosque gunman.

In 2018, at least nine hate groups operated in the region of Spokane and northern Idaho, including Identity Evropa, Proud Boys, ACT for America and America’s Promise Ministries, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The center does not track how many members belong to each group.

Stan Lee’s former manager arrested on elder abuse charges

LOS ANGELES — A former business manager of Stan Lee was arrested Saturday on elder abuse charges involving the late comic book legend.

Keya Morgan was taken into custody in Arizona on an outstanding arrest warrant after being charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors earlier this month.

Morgan faces felony charges including theft, embezzlement, forgery or fraud against an elder adult, and false imprisonment of an elder adult. A misdemeanor count also alleges elder abuse.

Authorities say Morgan sought to capitalize on the Marvel Comic mastermind’s wealth and exert influence over Lee even though he had no authority to act on his behalf.

Police say Morgan pocketed more than $262,000 from autograph signing sessions Lee did in May 2018. Authorities say Morgan at one point also took Lee from his Hollywood Hills home to a Beverly Hills condominium “where Morgan had more control over Lee.”

Venezuela crisis negotiators return to Norway for talks

CARACAS, Venezuela — Representatives of the Venezuelan government and opposition have returned to Norway for a mediation effort aimed at resolving the political crisis in the South American country, the Norwegian government said Saturday.

Norway said it will facilitate discussions next week in Oslo, in an indication that the negotiation track is gaining momentum after months of escalating tension between Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó, the U.S.-backed opposition leader.

From wire sources

Top Maduro aide Jorge Rodríguez and Héctor Rodríguez, the governor of Miranda state, both of whom were in Oslo earlier this month for an earlier round of exploratory talks, will once again lead the government delegation. They will be joined this time by Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and Larry Devoe, the government’s top human rights official, said a Venezuelan official who was not authorized to discuss the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The opposition delegation is being led by Stalin González, a senior member of the opposition-controlled congress, former Caracas area Mayor Gerardo Blyde and former Transport Minister Fernando Martínez Mottola, according to a person familiar with the talks who also spoke on the condition of anonymity. They will be joined by Vicente Diaz, a supporter of past negotiations with the government who previously served on the nation’s electoral council.

Both delegations traveled Saturday for the meetings, according to the two people.

High-stakes European Parliament vote shifts to 4 nations

PRAGUE — The European Parliament elections shifted to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Malta and Latvia on Saturday as voters in those European Union nations took part in a landmark ballot in which resurgent nationalists are challenging traditional parties over the future of Europe.

The stakes for the EU are especially high in this year’s vote, which is taking place in all of its 28 nations from Thursday to Sunday. Voters are electing 751 lawmakers, with each nation apportioned a number of seats based on its population, for a legislature that increasingly affects the everyday lives of ordinary Europeans.

Anti-immigrant and far-right groups are hoping to gain ground in the European Parliament and use it to claw back power from the EU for their national governments. Moderate parties, on the other hand, want to cement closer ties among countries in the EU, which was created in the wake of World War II to prevent renewed conflict.

“We stand at a crossroads — that is, whether the EU is going to be stronger and more integrated or, quite the contrary, a process of its weakening is to begin,” Zuzana Caputova, Slovakia’s president-elect, told reporters after voting in the town of Pezinok.

A Slovak far-right party that openly admires the country’s wartime Nazi puppet state could win seats in the European Parliament for the first time. Its members use Nazi salutes, blame the Roma minority for crime, consider NATO a terror group and want the country to leave the western military alliance and the EU.

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New evidence links Colombia army chief to civilian slayings

BOGOTA, Colombia — New evidence has emerged linking the embattled head of Colombia’s army to the alleged cover-up of civilian killings more than a decade ago.

The documents, provided to The Associated Press by a person familiar with an ongoing investigation into the extrajudicial killings, come as Gen. Nicacio Martínez Espinel faces mounting pressure to resign over orders he gave troops this year to step up attacks in what some fear could pave the way for a return of serious human rights violations.

Colombia’s military has been blamed for as many as 5,000 extrajudicial killings at the height of the country’s armed conflict in the mid-2000s as troops under pressure by top commanders inflated body counts, in some cases dressing up civilians as guerrillas in exchange for extra pay and other perks.

What became known as the “false positives” scandal has cast a dark shadow over the U.S.-backed military’s record of battleground victories. Fifteen years later not a single top commander has been held accountable for the slayings.

Human Rights Watch in February harshly criticized President Ivan Duque’s appointment of Martínez Espinel, noting that he was second-in-command of the 10th Brigade in northeast Colombia during years for which prosecutors have opened investigations into 23 illegal killings . The rights group revealed that then Col. Martínez Espinel certified payments to an informant who led to “excellent results” in a purported combat operation in which an indigenous civilian and 13-year-old girl were killed. A court later convicted two soldiers of abducting them from their home, murdering them and putting weapons on their bodies so they appeared to be rebels.

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At the spelling bee, the most common sound is the toughest

WASHINGTON — The word that knocked runner-up Naysa Modi out of last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee was “Bewusstseinslage” — one of those flashy, impossible-sounding German-derived words that make the audience gasp when they are announced.

Naysa believes the seemingly mundane word that knocked her out the year before was just as intimidating, if not more.

For the spellers who will gather starting Monday at a convention center outside Washington for this year’s bee, an unremarkable sound is the cause of their angst, their sleepless nights, their lifelong memories of failure. It’s the most common sound in the English language, represented in the dictionary by an upside-down “e,” a gray chunk of linguistic mortar.

To the uninitiated, it sounds like “uh.” Spellers know it by its proper name: the schwa.

“It’s the bane of every speller’s existence,” Naysa said. “It’s what we hate.”

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Albinism pageant in Zimbabwe joyfully breaks down prejudice

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Ayanda Sibanda, a model with albinism, has invariably been called “yellow” or “white” by friends and even some relatives. But she hardly recalls anyone referring to her by her actual race.

“I am black, that’s what I thought, but then I am always made to feel otherwise,” said the 18-year old who was crowned Miss Albinism Zimbabwe on Friday night.

At the pageant, competitors and organizers spoke frankly about color and prejudice.

About 70,000 of Zimbabwe’s estimated 16 million people are born with albinism, according to government figures. They often stand out, making them a subject at times of discrimination, ridicule and dangerously misguided beliefs.

“Some have superstitions that we can bring luck or cure HIV,” said Brenda Mudzimu, organizer of the pageant, one of a growing number of such events in Africa .

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Mike Pence: West Point grads should expect to see combat

WEST POINT, N.Y. — Vice President Mike Pence told the most diverse graduating class in the history of the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday that the world is “a dangerous place” and they should expect to see combat.

“Some of you will join the fight against radical Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said.

Pence congratulated the West Point graduates on behalf of President Donald Trump, and told them, “As you accept the mantle of leadership I promise you, your commander in chief will always have your back. President Donald Trump is the best friend the men and women of our armed forces will ever have.”

More than 980 cadets became U.S. Army second lieutenants in the ceremony at West Point’s football stadium.

Pence noted that Trump has proposed a $750 billion defense budget for 2020 and said the United States “is once again embracing our role as the leader of the free world.”