Ana María Careaga was just 16 when she was kidnapped, stolen by the regime then running Argentina. To her mother, Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, it was as if she had vanished.

It was an event that would change not just the lives of both the women and the daughter Ana María was carrying, but the future of Argentina. And it was something a priest named Jorge Bergoglio would never forget.

It was 1977 and Argentina was under the grip of a military dictatorship following a coup the year before. Those who opposed the regime were abducted, tortured, and killed – victims of what would become known as the “Dirty War.”

There was no notification or public record of the detentions, and families had no idea what had happened to their loved ones.

By the time Ana María was seized, her brother-in-law had already disappeared. Soldiers took her to the clandestine detention center known as El Atlético, where she was tortured – even after she told her captors she was three months pregnant.

Although the extrajudicial kidnappings were becoming increasingly common, families did not speak of them — until mothers took a stand.

On April 30, 1977, a dozen or so women, each the mother of a missing child, gathered in Plaza de Mayo, the grand square in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires. They were ordered to disperse, but instead linked arms and continued to walk slowly around the square.

Each Sunday, more women would come to join in, soon to include Esther who became one of the leaders of Las Madres de Playa de Mayo (the Mothers of Playa de Mayo.)

Esther knew Bergoglio long before he had even joined the priesthood. She had been his boss while he was a high schooler working a technical internship at a laboratory.

‘The disappeared are my children’

While Ana María was detained — always chained and blindfolded, she said — her mother and other members of the movement met in a back room at the Santa Cruz Church in downtown Buenos Aires.

Ana María turned 17 while still in captivity, and she was released on September 30, 1977, by then seven months pregnant.

Within days of a medical check arranged by her mother, she left for Sweden, where she was granted asylum.

“That was the last time we saw each other,” Ana María said. “We wrote letters to each other, and in one letter she tells me that when I was kidnapped, she was like an automaton, thinking about (me) the whole time. She left in the morning and came back at night, out all day with the mothers searching, searching, searching.”

Even when her daughter was safe, Esther kept campaigning for those who had become known as the “disappeared.”

To Ana María, and perhaps to the priest who’d befriended her mother, it was a reflection that “the struggle wasn’t just individual, but a collective one.”

Months after her daughter’s release, in December 1977, Esther and others met as usual at Santa Cruz when they were betrayed. Stepping out of the church, she and others were abducted.

“They had been taken to … a clandestine center for torture and extermination, and then they were thrown alive from the ‘death flights,’ which was the final solution they (the regime) boasted of having found to get rid of the bodies,” Ana María said. The “death flights” where prisoners were killed by being tossed from a plane over land or sea is now a documented horror of the Dirty War.

Many bodies were never recovered, but days after she disappeared, the remains of Esther washed up on land.

“What the Mothers say is that the sea did not want to be an accomplice and returned the bodies,” Ana María said.

Esther’s remains were unidentified though and buried in a mass grave.

Ana María did not know of her mother’s disappearance until she called to tell her of the birth of her granddaughter, the baby carried while she was detained.

“She was born on December 11, and we called on December 11, 1977, to say that she had been born, and that’s when we found out that my mom had been kidnapped three days earlier,” she said. “My mom didn’t know that she had been born safely.”

‘I did what I could’

As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio testified about Esther during a 2010 trial related to Dirty War atrocities. In an excerpt posted on YouTube by journalist Uki Goñi, he said he had known her for more than 20 years.

“It caused me great pain,” Bergoglio said of learning of her abduction. “I tried to get in touch with relatives, I wasn’t able to. They were mostly … in hiding.”

He said he had tried to speak to people who could help but had not approached the authorities. His actions or lack thereof during the Dirty War hung around him as unanswered questions, even as the Vatican dismissed allegations against him.

“I did what I could,” he told the trial. “I remember her as a great woman.”

Decades later, long after the fall of the military regime in 1983, the remains from the oceanside mass grave were identified, and found to include Esther.

Families petitioned Bergoglio to allow them to be buried not in a cemetery, but outside the Church of Santa Cruz — the last place they had walked free.

“He said it was an honor,” Ana María told us. “He remembered his friend Esther and said it was an honor and authorized it so we could, as the faithful of this church say, sow them in the last free land that their feet trod.”

To commemorate her mother and all the others who challenged the regime, April 30 is now recognized as the founding of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

The Vatican publicized a message then Pope Francis sent to Ana Marìa in 2018 to play on a radio show she hosts. “I very much remember your mother,” he said then. “She worked hard, she was a fighter and together with her many women who fought for justice, both because they had lost their children or simply because mothers who, seeing the drama of so many missing children, came together to fight for this as well.”

Standing just off the main altar inside Santa Cruz Church, Ana María calmly pulled out her replacement phone — her original had been recently stolen. Fortunately, her WhatsApp messages had been backed up, preserving the Pope’s words, and her memories.

She still has that recording on her phone. In it, the Pope tells her: “I’m glad you follow these footsteps of your mother and that you broadcast it to others in your radio show. So today, in a special way, I pray for mothers, I pray for you, I pray for your mother Esther, and I pray for all the men and women of good will who wish to carry forward a project of justice and fraternity among all. May God bless you all.”

Esther Ballestrino de Careaga never met her granddaughter. But Pope Francis did, spending about an hour with her last year when she visited Rome, her mother said, proudly showing a video of the two together. “He knew the whole story because my mom told him everything they had done to me, the torture, everything,” Ana María said.

As another April 30 anniversary approaches, Ana María has only memories now of her mother and the Pope.

Of her mother, she said: “I have a very vivid memory of a very loving, hard-working, and committed person. I feel she left me with many values, and she’s present in our history because disappearance generates that — disappearance is the permanent presence of an absence.”

She carries a directive from the Pope as well.

“When my daughter went to see him last year, he told her that we had to continue bearing witness,” she said. “We, right now in Argentina, are going through a very difficult time, and I say … we need to remember again.”

“Everything that happened, the 30,000 disappeared, and how the Mothers created a civilizing pact in this country, a social contract of ‘never again.’ And that’s why it’s so important to preserve memory, which was also what the Pope said: that memory had to be preserved.”

Iranian authorities have not said what caused the massive explosion at the port of Bandar Abbas on Saturday, killing at least 28 people, but video footage and unconfirmed reports point to the possible presence of a chemical used to make missile propellant.

Eyewitness accounts and video indicate chemicals in an area of shipping containers caught fire, setting off a much larger explosion. The death toll spiked sharply following the incident, with 800 others also reported injured.

One surveillance video distributed by the Fars news agency shows a small fire beginning among containers, with a number of workers moving away from the scene, before a huge explosion ends the video feed.

The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency quoted an official as saying the explosion was likely set off by containers of chemicals, but did not identify the chemicals. The agency said late Saturday that the Customs Administration of Iran blamed a “stockpile of hazardous goods and chemical materials stored in the port area” for the blast.

Iran’s national oil company said the explosion at the port was “not related to refineries, fuel tanks, or oil pipelines” in the area.

Iranian officials have denied that any military materiel was held at the port. The spokesman for the national security and foreign policy committee of the Iranian parliament, Ebrahim Rezaei, said in a post on X Sunday that according to initial reports the explosion had “nothing to do with Iran’s defense sector.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Bandar Abbas on Sunday afternoon to investigate the situation and oversee relief efforts, according to state media. The president also met with those injured in yesterday’s blast.

The blast comes at a time of high tensions in the Middle East and ongoing talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s nuclear programme, but no senior figure in Iran has suggested the blast was an attack.

Fires at the port were still burning Sunday, although Iranian state media said they were 80% contained.

The New York Times reported Sunday that a person “with ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that what exploded was sodium perchlorate, a major ingredient in solid fuel for missiles. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters.”

Sodium perchlorate could allow for the production of sufficient propellant for some 260 solid rocket motors for Iran’s Kheibar Shekan missiles or 200 of the Haj Qasem ballistic missiles, according to the intelligence sources.

An Israeli airstrike rocked southern Beirut on Sunday soon after the military issued an evacuation warning for the Lebanese capital.

Footage from Reuters showed a huge plume of smoke rising from the area shortly after 6:00 p.m. (11 a.m. ET). It is unclear if the attack caused damage or casualties.

The target of the strike was a Hezbollah facility in Beirut which stored precision missiles, according to a joint statement from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The attack came after Israel Defense Forces spokesman Avichay Adraee advised civilians to evacuate from the Hadath neighborhood. Adraee said Hezbollah was using facilities in the area and said civilians should move 300 meters away.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned Israel for attacking the area and urged the US and France to “compel Israel to immediately halt its aggressions.”

Since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect in November, the IDF has carried out a number of strikes, regularly targeting southern Lebanon. The IDF says these strikes have targeted Hezbollah militants and facilities.

Strikes in the capital of Beirut have been rare however. On April 1, the IDF struck a target in the Dahieh area in Beirut. Only days before, the Israeli military had conducted another attack in Beirut.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A man accused by police of carrying out a deadly car-ramming in Vancouver has been charged with murder, as Canadian Filipinos mourn the attack on their community.

Kai-Ji- Adam Lo allegedly plowed his car into a crowd at a street festival celebrating Filipino heritage on Saturday night, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens.

The suspect, who was detained on the scene, had a history of mental health-related interactions with authorities, police said.

Here’s what we know so far.

What happened?

Filipinos in south Vancouver had gathered for a community street party on Lapu Lapu Day, an event commemorating an Indigenous leader who fought against Spanish colonization of the Philippines.

But what had begun as a joyous occasion turned into a horrific scene when a black Audi SUV was driven into the large crowd at around 8 p.m. local time. The driver is thought to have operated alone and was the only person in the vehicle, police said.

Festival attendees and bystanders helped chase the driver down and he was later arrested at the site, according to Vancouver Police.

Who is the suspect?

Lo, a 30-year-old Vancouver resident, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, according to police statement on Sunday. He has appeared in court and remains in custody.

Vancouver police said more charges are expected.

The police statement did not give further identifying information, such as Lo’s ethnicity, or possible motives – but authorities had earlier said there was no sign the attack was an act of terrorism.

Who were the victims?

Eleven people, ranging in age from 5 to 65, were killed in the attack, police said. The names of the those who died have not yet been released and some have yet to be formally identified, the statement said.

Some of the injured remained in critical condition on Sunday, police said at a news conference.

The street festival on Saturday was a family-friendly affair, with parents and children browsing street food stalls and attending traditional dance performances.

The Filipino community in the state of British Columbia has been left reeling, with the event organizers expressing “deep heartbreak brought on by this senseless tragedy” in a statement on Instagram. A vigil took place on Sunday evening, with photos showing crowds lighting candles and laying flowers near the site of the attack.

What have Filipino authorities said?

Authorities in both Canada and the Philippines have condemned the attack and shared their sympathies with the families affected.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said those killed in the “unspeakable tragedy” would “not be forgotten,” and that Filipino diplomats and staff in Vancouver have been instructed to assist the victims and coordinate with the Canadian authorities.

The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver also shared a statement on Instagram. “As we await more information about the incident, we pray that our community remains strong and resilient imbued with the spirit of bayanihan during this difficult time,” the consulate said, using the Tagalog word referring to the spirit of helping one another as a community, especially in times of need.

There are about 925,500 ethnic Filipinos in Canada, according to the latest national census in 2021. The Philippines is the second-largest source of immigrants to Canada, behind India.

The Filipino population in Canada is most densely concentrated in Manitoba province, followed by Alberta, Yukon, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.

What about the election?

The tragedy happened just days before Canada’s crucial federal election on Monday, raising fresh questions about public safety. In response, authorities have tried to soothe anxieties and voiced confidence in existing security plans.

“Our first priority is and will always be protecting the residents of Vancouver,” said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, stressing that Vancouver “is still a safe city” where a “vast majority” of events happen without incident. He had directed a full review of safety measures after the attack, he said.

Vancouver Police interim chief Steve Rai also said authorities had conducted a risk assessment prior to the festival, which was largely held on the grounds of a school that was not directly accessible through public roads.

He added that they found no “threats to the event or to the Filipino community,” and decided that police officers and heavy vehicle barricades would not be deployed on site.

“While I’m confident the joint risk assessment and public safety plan was sound, we will be working with our partners at the City of Vancouver to review all of the circumstances surrounding the planning of this event,” Rai said.

On Sunday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “deeply heartbroken” over the attack, while stressing authorities do not believe there is any “active threat” to Canadians.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, Carney’s chief rival in the election, also extended his condolences to the victims and their families.

The Russian military is planning to increase the use of small squads on motorcycles and quadbikes on the frontlines in Ukraine as it plans fresh offensives, according to the Ukrainian military and analysts of the conflict.

The Russian Defense Ministry published video on Saturday showing units practising tactics in groups of two or three motorbikes, with a rider seen navigating a course to the sound of a pulsating electronic soundtrack.

Russian forces have used motorbikes and quads in several areas of the frontlines in an effort to evade Ukrainian drones for more than a year. But the Institute for the Study of War in Washington says the latest Russian video “indicates that the Russian military is likely developing a tactical doctrine for systematic offensive motorcycle usage and may be preparing to issue an increased number of motorcycles.”

Ukraine expects a major Russian offensive in the next few months as Moscow tries to capture more territory before any ceasefire agreement.

The Ukrainian military calls the motorbike assaults ‘banzai attacks.’ One Ukrainian commander, Andriy Otchenash, said earlier this month that the motorcycles are designed for a quick blitzkrieg. “They can advance very quickly, get behind the lines,” he said, but losses on the Russian side were very high.

“It indicates that the enemy does not have a large amount of military offensive equipment, but on the other hand, it is an adaptation to the conditions of war,” said the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communication.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian military said it had repelled a Russian assault on the village of Bahatyr on the Donetsk frontlines, destroying 15 motorcycles and killing about 40 Russian soldiers. It distributed video of drones eliminating a number of motorbikes in open countryside.

The Ukrainian military reported in February the Russians were using more quadbikes around Chasiv Yar, also in Donetsk, where the frontlines have barely moved over the past year.

One Ukrainian military spokesman, Lt. Col. Pavlo Shamshyn, said the use of motorbikes was a mixed blessing for Russian troops. Their speed and manoeuvrability helped them to evade Ukrainian drones, but the noise of a bike prevented riders from hearing drones.

Russian state media has been promoting the advantages of motorbike units. Russia Today reported last week that motorcyclists were planting mines and interviewed a soldier with the 39th Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, who is part of a new motorised group.

“Our main advantage is that we can drive directly into [the enemy’s position] and neutralise everyone,” he said. The enemy “hear the roar of the motorcycles, and it causes panic among them. They simply abandon their positions and run away.”

The Russian military is also using motorbikes to evacuate the wounded. The Telegram account of the Defense Ministry’s publication Zvezda reported last week that Russian marines fighting in the Kursk region were using all-terrain motorcycles to evacuate civilians and wounded soldiers. Video showed a soldier being put on the back of a bike in muddy fields.

Last year, the UK’s Defense Ministry said the Russians were increasingly using off-road bikes and all-terrain vehicles for night-time attacks. But it noted that Ukrainian FPV drones, which fly into their target, had already demonstrated how vulnerable such unprotected vehicles were.

Late in 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin inspected Chinese-made all-terrain vehicles being procured for the Russian army. At that point some 500 were already in service, and the Defense Ministry ordered around 1,500 more.