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A Real Wake-Up Call: Police busted a devious and disgusting spycam operation when they arrested two men for “online streaming” the “intimate private activities” of 1,600 unsuspecting South Korean motel guests. The men are accused of setting up hidden cameras in 30 motels across 10 cities, then showing the videos on a website and charging a monthly subscription. The tiny cameras were hidden in hair dryer holders, satellite boxes and closed electrical sockets. To evade detection, the suspects used overseas servers to conceal the camera users’ real IP addresses. The scheme brought in about $6,200 over three months. This was only the latest incident in a country dealing with waves of voyeuristic spycam crimes, called molka, in which people are secretly filmed in private places. Last year 6,800 cases of molka were reported to South Korean police. (NYT) Additional read: “Is there a Spy Camera in That Bathroom? In Seoul, 8,000 Workers Will check.” (NYT)
Planting The Seed (And Rifles) Of Revenge: Armed intelligence officers under the direction of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro arrested opposition leader Juan Guaido’s chief of staff early Thursday morning. Robert Marrero, a lawyer, was taken from his home in southern Caracas around dawn to an unknown location. As he was being led away Marrero was able to tell a neighbor friend, Sergio Vergara, that police had planted two rifles and a grenade in his apartment as a pretext to charge him with terrorism. Vergara, a lawmaker and member of Guaido’s party, said armed intelligence officers had also broken into his apartment and searched it for several hours. The government has used similar tactics in the past to jail other opposition figures. The Trump administration previously warned Maduro that any repressive measures taken against Guaido or his inner circle would be punished. This new action is a significant escalation of the country’s political crisis and could provoke fresh punitive measures by the US. (NYT)
Nazarbayev’s Going Home: Kazakhstan, population 18 million, is the world’s ninth largest country, with an area of about a million square miles. It borders Russia to the north, China to the east, and has extensive oil reserves, making it strategically and economically important. Nursultan Nazarbayev has led the country since the fall of the Soviet Union, first as its Communist leader and then as president after independence. In a surprise address on national television Tuesday evening, the 78-year-old Nazarbayev announced his resignation after almost 30 years in office. The announcement comes just weeks after Nazarbayev dismissed the country’s government, and later announced a spending package of several billion dollars on social programs and state salaries. He also promised major investments in infrastructure. Nazarbayev said stepping down wouldn’t be easy, but he will retain his legal title as “leader of the nation” and will continue as chairman of the country’s powerful security council, and as the leader of the dominate parliamentary party Nur Otan. Nazarbayev is credited with maintaining stability and ethnic peace in Kazakhstan, but he has faced criticism for suppressing dissent and sidelining the opposition. He is expected to hand-pick his successor. (Guardian)
#NunsToo: Credit the #MeToo movement with engendering the #NunsToo movement. At long last, the dirty little secret that lies behind the wall of silence in the Roman Catholic Church is being acknowledged. It’s the widespread sexual abuse of nuns by priests. Lucetta Scaraffia, editor of Women Church World, first broke the silence in February in an article based on hundreds of stories from nuns. Scaraffia, a history professor, mother and feminist, blames the clerical culture of the all-powerful priesthood for the abuse of women and minors. It’s very hard for a nun to report she has been raped by a priest because of the mindset that, in sex, women can always say no. “These nuns believe they’re the guilty ones for having seduced that holy man into committing sin,” Scaraffia says, “because that’s what they’ve always been taught.” Adding to the trauma, raped nuns who get pregnant become outcasts from their orders. Sister Catherine Aubin says the abuse is the result of male domination in church leadership. “The Vatican is a world of men,” she says. “Some truly are men of God. Others have been ruined by power. The key to these secrets and silence is … abuse of power. They climb up a career staircase toward evil.” A 2018 investigation by the AP found that the Vatican had not punished offenders for the abuse of nuns in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. (NPR)
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