Highlights of the week of August 19-25
Source: Dan Novac, Unsplash
Now the world is closely following the situation in France, which has accused the creator of the messenger Telegram of pedophilia, terrorism, drug trafficking and a host of other crimes.
Pavel Durov arrested in France
Pavel Durov, a Russian-French billionaire and founder of Telegram, was arrested Saturday night at the Bourget airport near Paris. According to French media reports, his arrest is related to an investigation into the lack of moderation on the Telegram platform, which police believe facilitates criminal activity.
Telegram, with nearly one billion users, is particularly popular in Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. The platform has become a major source of uncensored information about the war in Ukraine and the politics surrounding the conflict. Durov, who fled Russia in 2014 over his refusal to shut down opposition communities on his previous platform, VKontakte, has previously said that Telegram should remain a neutral platform not involved in geopolitical games.
The arrest has sparked a wave of criticism in Russia, where it is seen as actions similar to the totalitarian methods previously used against Telegram in Russia itself. Russian politicians and diplomats have accused France of dictatorial methods and called for protests outside French embassies around the world.
Burglar arrested for his love of literature
A suspected thief who stopped to read a book on Greek mythology during a burglary has been arrested in Rome, Italian media reported. The 38-year-old man entered the apartment in the Prati neighborhood by climbing onto the balcony and became engrossed in reading a book on Homer's "Iliad" that he found on the bedside table.
The 71-year-old owner of the apartment discovered the thief, who was so engrossed in the book that he failed to notice his appearance. The culprit then tried to escape the same way, through the balcony, but was soon apprehended by the police.
The author of The Gods at Six O'Clock, Giovanni Nucci, upon hearing of the incident, expressed his desire to send the prisoner a copy of the book so he could finish it. Nucci also noted that his favorite deity is Hermes, the god of thieves and literature, and joked that "it all fits together.
World's oldest woman dies
Maria Branyas Morera, a Spanish-American woman believed to be the world's oldest woman, has died at the age of 117, her family announced Tuesday. In a post on Maria's X account (formerly Twitter), relatives wrote: "Maria Branyas has left us. She has gone the way she wanted: in her sleep, at peace, and without pain."
The next oldest person, according to the Gerontology Research Group, is Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, who is 116 years old.
Maria was born on March 4, 1907, in San Francisco, California, before her family moved back to Spain. In recent years, she lived in a nursing home in the Catalan town of Olot. In an interview with the Spanish publication ABC last year, scholar Manuel Esteller noted that despite her age, Maria retained complete mental clarity and had a good memory of events that occurred when she was just four years old.
On her X-Page, Maria attributed her longevity to "order, tranquillity, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity, and staying away from toxic people".
