Polling stations in Moldova opened Sunday morning with voters eager to choose the new parliament after the previous one was dissolved by new President Maia Sandu to shore up her position against pro-Russia forces.    Sandu, who wants to bring Moldova into the European Union, in November defeated Kremlin-backed incumbent Igor Dodon on a pledge to fight corruption in one of Europe’s poorest countries. Wedged between Ukraine and EU member Romania, Moldova has long been divided over closer ties with Brussels or maintaining Soviet-era relations with Moscow. With lawmakers loyal to Dodon blocking Sandu’s promises of reform, the former World Bank economist dissolved parliament in April and scheduled the snap vote.    Polls opened shortly after 7 a.m. and will close at 9 p.m. “We have a chance to get rid of thieves and choose a holistic and good government,” Sandu said in a video address Thursday, speaking in Moldova’s main language Romanian.   In another speech in Russian — the ex-Soviet country’s second language — she said: “The time for change is coming in Moldova.” The slogans resonate with many Moldovans, who in recent years have seen their country rocked by political crises, including a $1 billion bank fraud scheme equivalent to nearly 15 percent of the country’s GDP. “She really wants to change the country for the better,” Natalia Cadabnuic, a young Chisinau resident, told AFP.   Sandu, who also served briefly as prime minister, has for many Moldovans become “a symbol of change,” said Alexei Tulbure, a political analyst and the country’s ex-ambassador to the United Nations.   Adding that Moldovans are tired of corrupt politicians, he said Sandu is the first to make it to the top while “maintaining a reputation for being honest.” Twenty parties and two electoral blocs are running in Sunday’s elections.    They must cross the threshold set at 5% and 7% of the votes respectively to obtain seats in the unicameral assembly.  The 101 lawmakers will be elected for four-year terms.   Going into the vote, Sandu’s center-right Action and Solidarity (PAS) party was leading.   The latest polls showed PAS with 35-37% of the vote against 21-27% for the party’s rivals from the coalition of socialists and communists led by Dodon and former President Vladimir Voronin.  Those figures only account for voters living in the country of 2.6 million people.    Analysts say the diaspora, which is more than a third of Moldova’s eligible voters and already threw its support behind Sandu during the presidential polls, could hold the key to the outcome. According to estimates, the diaspora could bring Sandu’s party another 10-15 percentage points. Analysts say the election will likely be a blow to Russia, which wants Moldova to remain in its sphere of influence.   “The majority will be pro-European, and the influence of Russia will weaken,” Sergiy Gerasymchuk, a Kyiv-based expert on Moldovan politics, said. Sandu has already irritated the Kremlin by proposing to remove the Russian military garrison based in Transnistria, a pro-Russian breakaway state straddling the country’s eastern frontier with Ukraine.   Pro-Russia Dodon accused authorities Friday of preparing “provocations” and urged his supporters to be ready to protest to “defend” his bloc’s victory. 
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Bulgarians are voting in a snap poll on Sunday after a previous election in April produced a fragmented parliament that failed to form a viable coalition government.  Latest opinion polls suggest that the rerun could produce similar results but also a further drop in support for former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party, after the current caretaker government made public allegations of widespread corruption during his rule.  NATO and EU member Bulgaria has been repeatedly criticized for not tackling corruption and for deficiencies in the rule of law and media freedom.  The anti-corruption campaign of Borissov’s opponents was additionally boosted by the sanctions the U.S. Treasury imposed last month against several Bulgarian public officials and business leaders for corruption.  Polls suggest a tight race between Borissov’s party, which came first in April with over 26% of the vote, and its main rival, the anti-elite There is Such a People, led by popular TV entertainer Slavi Trifonov.  The opposition Socialist Party is tipped to rank third, followed by the liberal anti-corruption group Democratic Bulgaria and the ethnic Turkish MRF party.  The new center-left alliance Stand Up! Mafia Out!, which emerged after last year’s anti-government protests, is projected to pass the 4% hurdle to enter parliament. According to political analyst Dimitar Ganev, there are little chances for Borissov to return to office for a fourth term regardless of whether the GERB finishes first in the election because most political groups have rejected the idea of cooperating with the ex-ruling party.  The 12,000 polling stations close at 8 p.m. There are 6.7 million eligible voters who are electing 240 lawmakers. Preliminary results are expected around midnight Sunday. 
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Ukraine and NATO have conducted Black Sea drills involving dozens of warships in a two-week show of their defense ties and capabilities following a confrontation between Russia’s military forces and a British destroyer off Crimea last month.The Sea Breeze 2021 maneuvers that ended Saturday involved about 30 warships and 40 aircraft from NATO members and Ukraine. The captain of the USS Ross, a U.S. Navy destroyer that took part in the drills, said the exercise was designed to improve how the equipment and personnel of the participating nations operate together.”We’d like to demonstrate to everybody, the international community, that no one nation can claim the Black Sea or any international body of water,” Commander John D. John said aboard the guided missile destroyer previously deployed to the area for drills. “Those bodies of water belong to the international community, and we’re committed to ensure that all nations have access to international waterways.”The Russian Defense Ministry said it was closely monitoring Sea Breeze. The Russian military also conducted a series of parallel drills in the Black Sea and southwestern Russia, with warplanes practicing bombing runs and long-range air defense missiles being deployed to protect the coast.FILE – John D. John, commanding officer of guided-missile destroyer USS Ross, speaks to reporters during Sea Breeze 2021 maneuvers, in the Black Sea, July 7, 2021.Last month, Russia said one of its warships in the Black Sea fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of the HMS Defender, a British Royal Navy destroyer, to chase it away from an area near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters.Russia denounced the Defender’s maneuver as a provocation and warned that next time it might fire to hit intruding warships.Britain, which like most other nations didn’t recognize Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, denied parts of the Russian account. It insists the Defender wasn’t fired upon on June 23 and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters when Russia sent its planes into the air and shots were heard during the showdown.Friction increasingThe incident added to tensions between Russia and the NATO allies. Relations between Russia and the West have sunk to post-Cold War lows over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, its support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, accusations of Russian hacking attacks, election interference and other irritants.Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the incident with the Defender wouldn’t have triggered a global conflict even if Russia had sunk the British vessel because the West knows it can’t win such a war. The statement appeared to indicate Putin’s resolve to raise the stakes should a similar incident happen again.Aboard the Ross, John said the Sea Breeze participants were exercising their right to operate in international waters. He described the drills as “a tangible demonstration of our commitment to each other for a safe and stable Black Sea region.”
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Pope Francis is recovering from colon surgery in a Rome hospital and the Vatican has announced that he will deliver his weekly Sunday blessing from there. An exact date for his release has not been given, although the Vatican had said he would spend about seven days in the hospital, barring complications.Pope Francis has been recovering from a three-hour operation that removed half of his colon last Sunday evening. He was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital for the planned surgery after delivering his weekly Sunday blessing.This is the first time the pope has been hospitalized since he was elected head of the Catholic Church.The pope temporarily ran a mild fever Wednesday, but routine tests proved negative. The Vatican said he was in generally good condition, alert, eating normally, taking walks in the corridor, and even reading and working.FILE – A satellite dish of a TV truck is parked in front of the Agostino Gemelli hospital, where Pope Francis has been hospitalized, in Rome, July 9, 2021.The Vatican said, though, that Francis would be delivering this Sunday’s Angelus prayer and blessing from the 10th floor of the hospital, where he has a private suite, the same one where Pope John Paul II was also treated many times.It will be the first time since his election in 2013 that Francis has missed his Sunday appointment from the balcony of the apostolic palace with the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, except for when he has been on his travels. The pope is not yet in good enough condition to be able to return to the Vatican, and no further announcement about his release has yet been given.The 84-year-old pope’s most recent ailments include painful sciatica that causes him to walk with a pronounced limp.Francis is expected to resume all his activities after July. Starting in September, the Vatican has said, he plans trips to Hungary and Slovakia. In November, he has plans to visit Greece and Cyprus and may also attend an international meeting on climate change in Scotland later that month.
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Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty became the first Australian to win the Wimbledon women’s singles tennis title in 41 years on Saturday in London.Barty defeated the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 to claim the title in the first three-setter in a Wimbledon final since 2012.It’s the second Grand Slam title for Barty, who won the French Open in 2019.”I didn’t sleep a lot last night. I was thinking of all the ‘what ifs,’ but when I came out on this court today I felt at home, in a way,” Barty said. “… And I think being able to share that with everyone here and share that with my team is incredible.”Barty, 25, became the first woman from Australia to win the Wimbledon final since seven-time major winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley did it in 1980. She’s also just the fourth player in the Open era to also have won the title as a junior (2011).It was also the 50th anniversary of Goolagong Cawley’s first Wimbledon title. “I hope I made Yvonne proud,” Barty said. Barty recorded seven aces and converted six of eight break opportunities in improving to 6-2 for her career against Pliskova, who is now 0-2 in Grand Slam finals (2016 U.S. Open).After splitting the first two sets, Barty opened up a 3-0 lead in the final set and then held on to serve out for the match in one hour, 55 minutes.”She played an incredible tournament and an incredible match today,” said an emotional Pliskova. “It wasn’t easy to close the second set. I was fighting very hard to make it difficult for her, but I think she played very well, so congrats to her and her team.”Hamburg European OpenElena Gabriela Ruse of Romania stunned top-seeded Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the final in Germany.Ruse converted six of 15 break chances and was helped by Yastremska’s nine double faults.In the final, Ruse will face Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, who beat countrymate Jule Niemeier 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-5 in the other semifinal.
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Ukraine and NATO have conducted Black Sea drills involving dozens of warships in a two-week show of their strong defense ties and capability following a confrontation between Russia’s military forces and a British destroyer off Crimea last month.The Sea Breeze 2021 maneuvers set to wrap up Saturday involved about 30 warships and 40 aircraft from NATO members and Ukraine. The captain of the USS Ross, a U.S. Navy destroyer that took part in the drills, said the exercise was designed to improve how the equipment and personnel of the participating nations operate together. “We’d like to demonstrate to everybody, the international community, that no one nation can claim the Black Sea or any international body of water,” Commander John D. John said aboard the guided missile destroyer previously deployed to the area for drills. “Those bodies of water belong to the international community, and we’re committed to ensure that all nations have access to international waterways.”The Russian Defense Ministry said it was closely monitoring Sea Breeze. The Russian military also conducted a series of parallel drills in the Black Sea and southwestern Russia, with warplanes practicing bombing runs and long-range air defense missiles’ deploying to protect the coast.Last month, Russia said one of its warships in the Black Sea fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of the HMS Defender, a British Royal Navy destroyer, to chase it away from an area near Crimea that Moscow claims as its territorial waters. Russia denounced the Defender’s presence as a provocation and warned that next time it might fire to hit intruding warships.Britain, which like most other nations didn’t recognize Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, insisted the Defender wasn’t fired upon on June 23 and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters when Russia sent its planes into the air and shots were heard during the showdown.  The incident added to the tensions between Russia and the NATO allies. Relations between Russia and the West have sunk to post-Cold War lows over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, its support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine, accusations of Russian hacking attacks, election interference and other irritants.Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the incident with the Defender wouldn’t have triggered a global conflict even if Russia had sunk the British vessel because the West knows it can’t win such a war. The statement appeared to indicate Putin’s resolve to raise the stakes should a similar incident happen again.Aboard the Ross, John said the Sea Breeze participants were exercising their right to operate in international waters. He described the drills as “a tangible demonstration of our commitment to each other for a safe and stable Black Sea region.”
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Voters will go to the polls in Bulgaria for the second time in three months this weekend after no party secured enough support in an April parliamentary election to form a government.Former three-time Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party performed best in the inconclusive election, but it received only 26% of the vote. Public discontent over widespread reduced the party’s popularity from four years earlier, when it had 33% of the vote.The latest opinion polls indicate that support for GERB has dropped further since an interim government Bulgaria’s president installed in May opened investigations into alleged corruption during Borissov’s time as prime minister.Polls suggest a neck-to-neck race between Borissov’s party and its main rival, the anti-elite There is Such a People, which is led by popular TV entertainer Slavi Trifonov.”There are two clear trends in the last couple of months: erosion in support for the GERB party, mainly due to the actions of the caretaker government, and a slight but clear growth of There is Such a People,” Dimitar Ganev, a political analyst with Bulgarian research firm Trend, told The Associated Press.He sees no chance for political maverick Borissov, 62, to return to office for a fourth term regardless of whether GERB finishes first in Sunday’s election.”I expect the next government to be formed by the so-called protest parties,” Ganev said.Borissov previously managed to draw backing at home and abroad by combining populist man-in-the street rhetoric with pro-Western slogans.But thousands took to the streets during month-long protests last year and accused Borissov and his government of protecting oligarchs, refusing to reform the judiciary and suppressing freedom of speech.The interim government’s investigations have shed additional light on some of those accusations.Caretaker ministers have alleged that dozens of opposition politicians were illegally wiretapped before the April election. They also have claimed that billions in public money was distributed to favored private companies without a bidding process and that businesspeople have become objects of intimidation and extortion.Bulgaria, a member of both the EU and NATO, also has come under scrutiny from its Western partners due to its long-standing problems with corruption, adhering to the rule of law and preserving freedom of the media.The U.S. government last month sanctioned several Bulgarian public officials and businessmen, including two powerful oligarchs, and their networks encompassing dozens of companies over their allegedly “extensive” roles in corruption. The U.S. Treasury said the move was its single biggest action targeting corruption to date anywhere in the world under the Magnitsky Act.Political analysts assume the U.S. sanctions, imposed just weeks before the election, could additionally boost the anti-corruption arguments of the protest parties.A key question in the upcoming vote is whether There Is Such a People and two other parties will win enough seats in parliament to form a viable coalition government. 
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France will withdraw more than 2,000 troops from an anti-extremism force in Africa’s Sahel region by early next year and pivot its military presence to specialized regional forces instead, President Emmanuel Macron said Friday. Macron announced last month a future reduction of France’s military presence, arguing that it’s no longer adapted to the needs in the area. The French Barkhane force, operating in Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, also had met opposition from some Africans. After discussions Friday with leaders of the African countries involved, Macron announced that France would reduce its force to 2,500 to 3,000 troops over the long term. The country currently has 5,000 troops in the region. The French leader insisted that his country was not abandoning African partners and would keep helping them fight groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference at the Elysee Presidential Palace, in Paris, July 9, 2021.”France doesn’t have the vocation or the will to stay eternally in the Sahel,” Macron said. “We are there because we were asked to be.” French troops have been present in Mali since 2013, when they intervened to force Islamic extremist rebels from power in towns across the country’s north. Operation Serval was later replaced by Barkhane and was expanded to include other countries in an effort to help stabilize the broader Sahel region. Islamic militants, though, have continued to launch devastating attacks against the militaries fighting them as well as increasingly against civilians. Hundreds have died since January in a series of massacres targeting villages on the border of Niger and Mali. While governments in the Sahel have embraced France’s military help, some critics have likened the troops’ presence to a vestige of French colonial rule. France will focus over the next six months on dismantling the Barkhane operation and reorganizing the troops, Macron said. The French military will shut down Barkhane bases in Timbuktu, Tessalit and Kidal in northern Mali over the next six months, and start to reconfigure its presence in the coming weeks to focus particularly on the restive border area where Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger meet. Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, speaking at Macron’s side, welcomed the French military support and training, but on African terms. FILE – A French soldier stands inside a military helicopter in Gao, northern Mali, May 19, 2017.”The main thing is that France maintains the principle of its support, its cooperation and support for the armed forces of our different countries. We need France to give us what we don’t have. We don’t need France to give us what we already have,” he said, without elaborating. He acknowledged failings of local armed forces but also praised their courage in fighting extremists. France’s military presence in the future will focus on neutralizing extremist operations and strengthening and training local armies, Macron said. “There will also be a dimension of reassurance … to remain permanently ready to intervene rapidly in support of partner forces,” notably via military aviation from Niger and Chad. This new structure “seems to us to respond better to the evolution of the threat,” he said. Once the reorganization is complete, he said, “the Barkhane operation will close down.” Some experts say that France’s decision may be linked to growing political instability in Mali. Macron’s June announcement came days after Mali coup leader Colonel Assimi Goita was sworn in as president of a transitional government, solidifying his grip on power in the West African nation after carrying out his second coup in nine months. Late in June, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution extending the U.N. peacekeeping mission in crisis-racked Mali and said it’s “imperative” that the military government hold presidential and legislative elections on schedule next February.  The council maintained the ceilings in the U.N. force at 13,289 military troops and 1,920 international police, but it asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to make a recommendation on the force level given growing levels of insecurity and physical violence against the civilian populations in central Mali. 
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Belarusian authorities on Friday raided the offices of several media outlets outside Minsk and searched the homes of independent journalists, in the second straight day of the country’s latest crackdown on independent press critical of authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.The raids, most of which took place in the western city of Brest, came a day after the website of the country’s oldest newspaper, Nasha Niva, was blocked and its chief editor was detained and reportedly beaten while security forces searched the offices of several regional newspapers.Offices of news outlets were also raided in Baranovichi in the Brest region. Journalist Ruslan Ravyaka of the Baranovichi news portal Intex-Press was taken in for questioning by the KGB, the Belarusian state security agency, and was later released.Journalist Tatsiana Smotkina’s home was raided in the northern city of Hlybokaye, as was the apartment of the administrator of the Virtual Brest news portal, Andrey Kukharchyk. The Onliner Telegram channel reported that security forces also searched the home of its journalist, Anastasia Zenko.Search for ‘radicals’Konstantin Bychek, the chief of the KGB’s investigative department, told state television that a “large-scale operation” was under way to root out “radicals.”The Belarusian Association of Journalists reported that 32 media representatives have been detained since July 8.Nasha Niva’s editor in chief, Yahor Martsinovich, was beaten and suffered head injuries while being detained in a raid, the publication reported Friday.It said that the raids on the outlet were carried out as part of a probe into actions that grossly violated public order.The latest crackdown came after authorities in May hit top independent news portal Tut.by, whose website was blocked. Twelve of its journalists were arrested. Also in May, authorities intercepted a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius and forced it to land in Minsk where they detained dissident blogger Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, who were on board.Both Nasha Niva and Tut.by extensively covered months of protests against Lukashenko, which were triggered by his reelection to a sixth term on August 9 in a vote that was widely seen as rigged.Since the election, security forces have cracked down hard on journalists, rights defenders and pro-democracy demonstrators, arresting more than 35,000 people and pushing many activists and most of the top opposition figures out of the country.Killings, possible tortureSeveral protesters have been killed in the violence, and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained.Leading opposition figures have been either jailed or forced to leave the country.Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opposition candidate in the election, who says she actually won the poll, condemned the latest raids.”Our independent journalists suffer violence, torture in prison because they do their work,” she wrote Friday on Twitter.Western nations have imposed a wide range of sanctions on Lukashenko and his regime over the crackdown, but they appear to have had limited effect as he retains support from key ally and financial backer Russia.Some information for this report came from AFP.
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The World Health Organization said health care is under siege in Afghanistan as the United States accelerates its troop withdrawal from the country.Afghanistan is one of the largest and longest-standing humanitarian emergencies in the world. The country is subject to almost every type of hazard — an escalating conflict, a rapidly spreading pandemic and most recently a severe drought.The WHO said 18.4 million Afghans need humanitarian assistance — a situation that has serious health consequences. It said increasing violence has led to more civilian trauma cases.Rick Brennan, regional director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, speaks during a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 30, 2016.The regional director for the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, Rick Brennan, said there has been a 29% increase in civilian casualties in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year. He said the arrival of people with complex war-related injuries is putting an enormous strain on health workers and facilities.“Moreover, this year there have been 30 attacks on health care across the country, including the total destruction of an immunization center late last month and a reported artillery attack on a health center in Kunar province just two days ago,” Brennan said. “Such attacks are a violation of the right to health. They limit people’s access to health care at a time of increased need and they contravene international humanitarian law.”Increasing instability has coincided with the quicker than expected pullout of American troops from the country. Brennan described the current situation as fluid, fast-moving and terribly concerning. He said many health care workers have left their posts because of security concerns, though some reportedly were starting to return.“I think it is a mixed picture right now. But we are clearly concerned of declining access to health care. … We are concerned about our lack of access to be able to provide essential medicines and supplies and we are concerned about attacks on health care,” Brennan said.Brennan said the WHO is not in direct communication with the Taliban. However, he said the WHO has received indirect requests to continue to provide health services in districts taken over by the Taliban.He said he believes the WHO has a good reputation, particularly in areas where it has run polio vaccination campaigns. That, he added, is likely to be instrumental in the WHO’s ability to maintain a field presence in those areas.
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Turkey is claiming success in its COVID immunization campaign, but the majority Kurdish region lags far behind the rest of the country. Some blame it on the health ministry’s refusal to use the Kurdish language in literature that encourages people to get vaccinated.  For VOA, Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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Police in Sweden say a small plane carrying skydivers crashed outside the south-central city of Orebro late Thursday, killing all nine people on board.
Regional police told reporters they were notified of the crash around 7:30 p.m. local time. Aviation officials say the plane, a single-engine DHC-2 Beaver, crashed shortly after takeoff.  
Officials confirmed the dead include the pilot and eight passengers, members of a local skydiving club.
Police and fire officials held a news conference Friday in at the Orebro airfield, about 200 kilometers west of Stockholm. They said the airfield rescue team was first on the crash scene and extinguished the burning wreckage. But officials said it was clear there would be no survivors.  
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
On Twitter Friday, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven wrote, “My thoughts are with the victims, their families and loved ones in this very difficult time.”
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KABUL / MOSCOW – Taliban officials said on Friday the Sunni Muslim insurgent group had taken control of 85% of territory in Afghanistan, and  its fighters were tightening their grip on strategic areas. 
 
Government officials dismissed the assertion by a Taliban delegation visiting Moscow as part of a propaganda campaign launched as foreign forces, including the United States, withdraw after almost 20 years of fighting. 
 
But local Afghan officials said Taliban fighters, emboldened by the withdrawal, had captured an important district in Heart province, home to tens of thousands of minority Shiite Hazaras. 
 
Torghundi, a northern town on the border with Turkmenistan, had also been captured by the Taliban overnight, Afghan and Taliban officials said. Taliban insurgents were now in complete control of the police headquarters, intelligence services, customs operations and the municipal center, they said. 
 
Hundreds of Afghan security personnel and refugees continued to flee across the border into neighboring Iran and Tajikistan, causing concern in Moscow and other foreign capitals that radical Islamists could infiltrate Central Asia. 
 
Three visiting Taliban officials sought to address those concerns during their visit to Moscow. 
 
“We will take all measures so that Islamic State will not operate on Afghan territory… and our territory will never be used against our neighbors,” one of the Taliban officials, Shahabuddin Delawar, told a news conference. 
 
He said “you and the entire world community have probably recently learned that 85% of the territory of Afghanistan has come under the control” of the Taliban. 
 
The same delegation said a day earlier that the group would not attack the Tajik-Afghan border, the fate of which is in focus in Russia and Central Asia. ‘Lion of Herat’ appeals to civilians
 
A prominent anti-Taliban commander of a private militia rejected the assurances made in Moscow, and said he would support efforts by Afghan forces to claw back control of parts of western Afghanistan, including a border crossing with Iran. 
 
Mohammad Ismail Khan, a former minister and a survivor of a Taliban attack in 2009, was a leading member of the Northern Alliance whose militia helped U.S. forces topple the Taliban in 2001. 
 
A veteran Tajik commander widely known as the Lion of Herat, Ismail Khan urged civilians to join the fight to protect their basic human rights. 
 
He said hundreds of armed civilians from Ghor, Badghis, Nimroz, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar provinces had come to his house and were ready to fill the security void created by foreign force withdrawal. 
 
U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday defended his decision to pull military forces out of Afghanistan despite large parts of country being overrun by the insurgent group. 
 
He said the Afghan people must decide their own future and that he would not consign another generation of Americans to the two-decade-old war. 
 
Biden set a target date of Aug. 31 for the final withdrawal of U.S. forces, minus about 650 troops to provide security for the U.S. embassy in Kabul. 
 
A long-time skeptic of the U.S. and NATO military presence in Afghanistan, Biden said the United States had long ago achieved its original rationale for invading the country in 2001: to root out al-Qaeda militants and prevent another attack on the United States like the one launched on September. 11, 2001. 
 
The mastermind of that attack, Osama bin Laden, was killed by a U.S. military team in neighboring Pakistan in 2011. 
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Finance ministers and central bankers from the group of 20 rich countries will meet face to face on Friday for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic at a gathering in Venice where corporate tax reform will top the agenda.The G-20 is expected to give its political endorsement to plans for new rules on where and how much companies are taxed which were backed last week by 130 countries at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.The deal envisages a global minimum corporate income tax of at least 15%, a level which the OECD estimates could yield around $150 billion in additional global tax revenues but leaves much of the details to be hammered out.Officials say the two-day gathering in Italy’s historic lagoon city will open a discussion on how to put the OECD proposals into practice, with the aim of reaching a final agreement at a Rome G-20 leaders’ summit in October.The G-20 members account for more than 80% of world gross domestic product, 75% of global trade and 60% of the population of the planet, including big-hitters United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and India.If all goes to plan, the new tax rules should be translated into binding legislation worldwide before the end of 2023.Ministers may seek assurances from the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that she can win legislative approval for the proposals in a divided U.S. Congress where Republicans and business groups are fighting Joe Biden’s proposed tax increases on corporations and wealthy Americans.Aside from tax, ministers will discuss a global economic recovery which officials from G-20 president Italy told reporters was hugely uneven, with wealthy Western countries picking up strongly while developing nations are left behind.International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva delivered the same message this week, saying there was a “dangerous divergence” between wealthy and developing countries as they seek to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.The G-20 will ask the IMF to allocate $650 billion of its reserve asset known as Special Drawing Rights by the end of August, with a recommendation that ways are found to ensure a significant part of the money goes to countries most in need.Some delegations at the meeting may express concerns that rising inflation and interest rates in the United States could unbalance the global economy, G-20 officials said, though this is unlikely to appear in the final communique.The G-20 ministers and central bankers will meet from 1:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (1115-1530 GMT) on Friday and from 9:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. (0745-1515 GMT) on Saturday, followed by a closing news conference by the Italian presidency.Side events include a tax symposium on Friday and a climate change conference on Sunday.  
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During a grueling, weekslong mission in northern Mali, French soldiers were confronted by a familiar threat: Extremists trying to impose the same strict Islamic rule that preceded France’s military intervention here more than eight years ago.Traumatized residents showed scars on their shoulders and backs from whippings they endured after failing to submit to the jihadis’ authority.”We were witness to the presence of the enemy trying to impose Shariah law, banning young children from playing soccer and imposing a dress code,” said Col. Stephane Gouvernet, battalion commander for the recent French mission dubbed Equinoxe.France is preparing to reduce its military presence here in West Africa’s Sahel region — the vast area south of the Sahara Desert where extremist groups are fighting for control. In June, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the end of Operation Barkhane, France’s seven-year effort fighting extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Africa’s Sahel region. France’s more than 5,000 troops will be reduced in the coming months, although no timeframe has been given.Instead, France will participate in a special forces unit with other European countries and African countries will be responsible for patrolling the Sahel.The move comes after years of criticism that France’s military operation is simply another reiteration of colonial rule. But the shift also takes place amid a worsening political and security crisis in the region. In May, Mali had its second coup in nine months.Although officials of Mali’s government have been able to return to some towns once overrun by jihadis, for the first time since 2012, there are reports of extremists amputating hands to punish suspected thieves — a throwback to the Shariah law imposed in northern Mali prior to the French military intervention.There have been spikes, too, in extremist attacks in Burkina Faso and Niger, sparking concern that the reduction of the French force will create a security void in the Sahel region that will be quickly filled by the jihadis.”If an adequate plan is not finalized and in place, the tempo of attacks on local forces could rise across the region over the coming weeks, as jihadists attempt to benefit from a security vacuum,” said Liam Morrissey, chief executive officer for MS Risk Limited, a British security consultancy operating in the Sahel for 12 years.The Sahel RegionWhile France has spent billions on its anti-jihadi campaign, called Operation Barkhane, Sahel experts say that it never dedicated the necessary resources to defeat the extremists, said Michael Shurkin, director of global programs at 14 North Strategies, a consultancy based in Dakar, Senegal.”They have always been aware that their force in the Sahel is far too undersized to accomplish anything like a counterinsurgency campaign,” he said.France has several thousand troops covering more than 1,000 kilometers of terrain in the volatile region where the borders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso meet. Alerts about attacks are often missed or responded to hours later, especially in remote villages. Operations rely heavily on the French air force, which conduct airstrikes, transport troops and deliver equipment. The desert is harsh with temperatures reaching near 50 degrees Celsius, exhausting troops and requiring additional maintenance for equipment.The Associated Press spent the days before Macron’s announcement accompanying the French military in the field, where pilots navigated hostile terrain in the pitch dark to retrieve troops after a long operation.FILE- In this June 9, 2021 file photo, French Barkhane force soldiers who wrapped up a four-month tour of duty in the Sahel leave their base in Gao, Mali.Some soldiers questioned if the fight was worth it. “What are we doing here anyway?” asked one soldier after Macron’s announcement. The AP is not using his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.Others acknowledged the jihadis are a long-term threat. “We are facing something that is going to be for years. For the next 10 years you will have terrorists in the area,” Col. Yann Malard, airbase commander and Operation Barkhane’s representative in Niger, told the AP.The French strategy has been to weaken the jihadis and train local forces to secure their own countries. Since arriving, it has trained some 18,000 soldiers, mostly Malians, according to a Barkhane spokesperson, but progress is slow. Most Sahelian states are still too poor and understaffed to deliver the security and services that communities desperately need, analysts and activists say.State forces have also been accused of committing human rights abuses against civilians, deepening the mistrust, said Alex Thurston, assistant professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati.Since 2019 there have been more than 600 unlawful killings by security forces in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger during counterterrorism operations, according to Human Rights Watch. France’s Barkhane, too, has been accused of possible violations of international humanitarian law and human rights, after an airstrike in Mali in January killed 22 people, 19 of whom were civilians, according to a report by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali.Soldiers agree that there are limits to what can be achieved militarily and without political stability in the Sahel, jihadis have the edge.”We don’t have an example of a big win in counterinsurgency, and it’s difficult to achieve that in the current environment because for an insurgency to win they just need to stay alive,” said Vjatseslav Senin, senior national representative for the 70 Estonian troops who are fighting alongside the French in Barkhane.Some of those living in the Sahel fear what hard-fought gains have been made will unravel all too quickly.Ali Toure, a Malian working in the French military base in Gao warned that “if the French army leaves Mali, jihadis will enter within two weeks and destroy the country.” 
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Montenegro is weeks away from securing a deal to either swap or refinance with European and U.S. banks nearly $1 billion in debt owed to China, and it hopes to reduce the interest rate on the debt to below 1%, Economy Minister Jakov Milatovic told Reuters.
 
Montenegro borrowed $944 million from China in 2014 to fund a 41-km (25-mile) stretch of road, which foes of then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic dubbed the “Road to Nowhere,” saying it typified waste under his rule, an accusation he denied.  
 
Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, who came to power in December, is seeking to reduce the cost of the Chinese debt, which has a 2% interest rate and reduce currency risk as the loan is denominated in U.S. dollars, Milatovic said.
 
“We are negotiating with a number of Western banks from Europe and the United States. We are for sure going to do it with the Western banks,” Milatovic, 35, said, adding that he was seeking an interest rate of “less than 1%” for the debt.
 
“There are two options: the first is to refinance, the second is to swap the loan, or the third option is to do part of the first one and part of the second one,” he said. “We believe we can get much better terms – I am very optimistic about it.”
 
Milatovic declined to name the European or U.S. banks but when asked how soon there could be a resolution, he said: “Soon – I think weeks.”
 
Reuters reported on June 11 that Montenegro was counting on European Union aid to ease its Chinese debt burden.
 
The Chinese loan was taken out in 2014 from the state-owned Export Import Bank of China with a six-year grace period and a 14-year additional maturity. The principal is already starting to be paid off.
 
A source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters that Montenegro was likely to swap the debt and continue refinancing negotiations and then terminate the swap when the refinancing talks were successful.
 ‘Captured state’
 
Nestled on the shore of the Adriatic, Montenegro has for centuries tumbled with the vicissitudes of great powers, though after seceding from a state union with Serbia in 2006, Montenegro joined NATO in 2017 and hopes to be an EU member this decade.
 
Prime Minister Krivokapic, a 62-year-old former engineering professor, said Montenegro was for the first time in decades entering into a democratic transition toward what he cast as a Euro-Atlantic future along the lines of Luxembourg.
 
Krivokapic said his biggest challenge was to establish rule of law in Montenegro which he said had in essence been “captured” by criminals and ensnared in corruption for years. “International organized crime has been present in Montenegro and as a small country we cannot tackle this problem on our own,” Krivokapic said. “Zero corruption is the formula for the work of this government.”
 Tourism
 
Montenegro’s economy collapsed 15% in 2020, one of the biggest drops in Europe, as the COVID-19 pandemic cut off tourism.
 
“We are now seeing a strong recovery of our tourism sector,” Milatovic said. Tourism activity is around 70-80% of the 2019 level, with a full recovery of the sector expected by the end of 2022.
 
The government is forecasting the economy will grow 10.5% in 2021, with inflation of about 2%, and 2022 economic growth of 6-7%.
 
Krivokapic’s government inherited badly run state enterprises, so ministers are looking at the possibility of creating a professionally run national holding company to manage the assets, Milatovic said.
 
“This is something Greece did in its recovery period – this is the right way to go in order to privatize some of the assets and make some of the state-owned enterprises more efficient and at the end of the day provide a return on the assets for taxpayers.
 
“Some of the assets would be sold, some of them would be run by the holding,” he said. 
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A news conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at a NATO airbase in Lithuania was interrupted Thursday when fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian jets.
 
The two leaders were three minutes into a news conference, televised live from the Siauliai airbase in northern Lithuanian, when flight crews responded to an alarm and scrambled their jets. The leaders and the media were led away.  
 
Military officials later confirmed the Spanish jets, based in Lithuania on a NATO mission to police Baltic airspace, were activated after reports two Russian Su-24 combat jets had taken off from Russia’s Kaliningrad region without filing flight plans, without their transponders on, and without responding to regional air traffic control.
 
After the Spanish jets took off, the news conference resumed. Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez told reporters, “We have seen a real-life case of what happens and precisely it justifies the presence of Spanish troops with the seven Eurofighters in Lithuania.”  
 
Seven Spanish Eurofighter jets have been based at the Siauliai airbase since April 30 for the Baltic air-policing mission, which also includes four Italian F-35 aircraft at Estonia’s Amari airbase.
 
The three Baltic nations – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – joined NATO in 2004 and have no fighter jets of their own. NATO has the responsibility of policing their airspace on a rotational four-month basis from the Siauliai base and in Amari, Estonia.
 
In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said the two Su-24 bombers were flying a regular training mission Thursday over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea. The statement claimed the flight was performed in strict accordance with international rules of using airspace and without violation of any country’s borders.
 
Sánchez was visiting Lithuania as part of a three-day trip to the Baltic region, and he earlier met with officials in Estonia and Latvia.
 
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The UK says most of its troops have left Afghanistan. 
 
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the news Thursday, saying the threat from al-Qaida had lessened.  
 
“All British troops assigned to NATO’s mission in Afghanistan are now returning home,” he said, adding that “most of our personnel have already left.” 
 
He appeared to sidestep questions about whether the troop withdrawal would leave Afghanistan open to another takeover by the Taliban. 
 
“We must be realistic about our ability alone to influence the course of events. It will take combined efforts of many nations, including Afghanistan’s neighbors, to help the Afghan people to build their future,” Johnson said. “But the threat that brought us to Afghanistan in the first place has been greatly diminished by the valor and by the sacrifice of the armed forces of Britain and many other countries.” 
 
Johnson reiterated that Britain will still be involved in trying to achieve peace in Afghanistan, albeit through diplomacy. 
 
“We are not walking away. We are keeping our embassy in Kabul, and we will continue to work with our friends and allies, particularly our friends in Pakistan, to work towards a settlement,” Johnson said. Some 457 British service members lost their lives in Afghanistan during Britain’s nearly 20-year involvement. The withdrawal of the remaining troops was expected to be done “within a few months,” according to the British Defense Ministry. 
 
The U.S. was expected to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by Sept 11. Some Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. 
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Britain’s transportation secretary said Thursday that, beginning July 19, British residents, who are fully vaccinated, will no longer have to self-quarantine when returning from so-called “green” or “amber” or medium-risk nations, including the United States and the European Union.Speaking to parliament Thursday, British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said travelers will still be required to take a test three days before returning and demonstrate they’re negative before they travel, and, within two days of arrival, they will not have to isolate if they receive a negative result.The government regards a fully vaccinated person as anyone who received their second dose of vaccine more that 14 days previously.Shapp said the policy change does not include the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and residents in those areas should consult their health ministries.Shapps said that while the change will first prioritize Brits who are vaccinated, the government was making plans to expand the policy to include those fully vaccinated in other countries, such as the United States and European Union, hopefully within the summer travel season.Information from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse was used for this report.
 
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Ethnic minorities, the self-employed and low-income families in Britain suffered greater deprivation levels during the coronavirus pandemic despite “surprisingly positive” living standards figures, a report published Thursday found.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank’s annual report on living standards, poverty and inequality identified these groups as the hardest hit, even as unprecedented state support mitigated the worst effects of the crisis.The research follows other studies showing that Britain’s ethnic minorities were more likely to suffer worse health and economic outcomes during the pandemic and less likely to accept vaccines.”How fast and to what extent these groups recover as the economy reopens will be a key determinant of the pandemic’s legacy,” said report co-author Tom Wernham.Some 15% of Britons from minority ethnic backgrounds were behind their household bills at the start of 2021, compared with 12% before the pandemic.The proportion of adults of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin living in households where all adults were unemployed or furloughed remained 10 percentage points higher at the beginning of 2021 than pre-pandemic levels, as many of these households relied on one income earner.Household worklessness for black adults rose 2.4 percentage points, higher than the national average of 1.9, the report added.The share of self-employed workers who lost all work in the first lockdown in March 2020 and fell behind household bills is now 15%, up from 2% before the pandemic.Despite the government’s flagship furlough scheme, which has paid millions of workers’ wages since March 2020, 36% of self-employed workers — many of whom work in the hard-hit events, arts and culture sectors — were ineligible for the government self-employed income support scheme.Researchers also found that more families suffering from in-work poverty fell behind on bills during Britain’s first nationwide lockdown from last March, with the share jumping from 9 to 21%.The figure receded to 10% in the first quarter of 2021, but 13% of such families expect their financial situation to deteriorate in the near future.One of the report’s authors, Tom Waters, said the furlough scheme’s success largely explained Britain’s “surprisingly positive” deprivation and labor market statistics.But he added that people’s ability to return to their old jobs or find new ones would be the key factor for living standards as support was withdrawn.The government’s furlough scheme initially paid 80% of employees’ wages to prevent mass job losses but is to be phased out by the end of September.An increase of $28 per week to its main social security payment, Universal Credit, is also due to end at that time. 
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A Vatican spokesman said Wednesday Pope Francis’ recovery from intestinal surgery continues to be “regular and satisfactory.”  
In a statement, Vatican Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said the 84-year-old pope was continuing to eat regularly following his Sunday surgery to remove the left side of his colon, and that intravenous therapy had been stopped.
In a post on his official Twitter account, the pope said “I am touched by the many caring messages received in these days. I thank everyone for their closeness and prayer.”
Bruni said final examination of the affected tissue “confirmed a severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis,” or a hardening of the sacs that can sometimes form in the lining of the intestine.
Francis underwent three hours of planned surgery Sunday. He is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic in the pope’s special suite.
During a White House news briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said U.S. President Joe Biden — a Roman Catholic — wishes the pope “well and a speedy recovery.” Bruni said Francis appreciated all the prayers coming his way.
Francis had been considered healthy overall and this is the first time he has been admitted to the hospital since he became pope in 2013, though he lost the upper part of one lung in his youth because of an infection. He also suffers from sciatica, or nerve pain, that makes him walk with a pronounced limp.
The Vatican has continued normal operations in his absence, though July is traditionally a month when the pope cancels public and private audiences. 
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The Greeks are redoubling a monthslong diplomatic effort to persuade Germany to stop selling submarines to Turkey, saying that the planned sale of a half dozen subs will shift the balance of naval power in the eastern Mediterranean.Greece and Turkey have been locked in a quarrel about the territorial status of Mediterranean real estate and waters — and more important, the oil and gas reserves beneath them. The energy potential of the eastern Mediterranean has raised the stakes and drawn in neighboring powers.Turkey has said it will keep up energy exploration in the contested eastern Mediterranean waters, where last August a pair of Greek and Turkish frigates collided during a volatile naval standoff, bringing the two NATO members near to a military clash.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, during a tour of Turkey’s northwestern Black Sea province of Sakarya: “Whatever our rights are, we will take them one way or another. And we will carry out our oil exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, and all those seas.”The first of six German-designed submarines destined for Turkey was floated from its dock earlier this year and is scheduled to join the Turkish fleet next year. Five other Reis-class subs are to follow over the next few years in a deal worth around $4 billion.Greece asked the European Union last month to impose an arms embargo on Turkey, but Germany, Spain and Italy rebuffed the request.’Proactive’ foreign policy“Greece is entangled in the remarkably swift geopolitical changes in the eastern Mediterranean,” according to Vassilis Ntousas, a senior international relations policy adviser at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, a think tank in Brussels.“Athens has responded to the region’s explosive mix of competing maritime interests, energy claims and military exercises by pursuing an increasingly proactive foreign policy,” he added. In a paper published last week he said, “Greece has reached out to [EU] member states that traditionally take a more conciliatory approach to Turkey – such as Spain, Italy and Malta.”Naval tensions have subsided recently in the eastern Mediterranean, where Greece and Turkey are also in a long-standing dispute over the status of Cyprus, following several rounds of face-to-face talks between the Turkish and Greek foreign ministers. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Erdogan also met on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels in June with both committing not to hold naval exercises the next few months.Greece Warns Turkey it Will Push for Sanctions if Tensions PersistThe two age-old foes and NATO allies exchange barbs ahead of a key summitKathimerini, the Greek daily newspaper published in Athens, said Erdogan “appeared eager not to stoke tension,” adding, “A calm tourist season is as important for Turkey as it is for Greece. On top of that, Erdogan wants to smooth relations with the European Union and the U.S.”Erdogan has irritated NATO allies by buying Russian surface-to-air missiles and intervening in Syria and Libya.But behind the scenes both Greece and Turkey have been maneuvering to strengthen their diplomatic positions — as well as their militaries. “Turkey’s president is trying to sound more helpful to the West. But his broader policy objectives have not changed,” according to Dimitar Bechev, author of a forthcoming book on Erdogan.’Charm offensive’He said Erdogan has been engaged in “a charm offensive over several months” aimed at rekindling his relations with the West and the Biden administration. The Turkish president met the U.S. leader last month.”The overtures towards Biden are broadly in line with Erdogan’s wish to ‘have his cake and eat it.’ That is, he wants to retain reasonably good relations with the U.S., despite the toxic anti-Americanism pervading Turkish media and the public at large, and to cling on to NATO, while at the same time teaming up with Russia on issues where their interests coincide,” he added in a commentary for the Royal United Services Institute, a British defense think tank.And Turkey, NATO’s second-largest military, has been on a buying spree — as has Greece.Greece announced in December that it was doubling its annual defense spending to $6.6 billion, and it signed a $3 billion deal in January with France to buy 18 Rafale warplanes, 12 of them used.Turkey is awaiting completion of a light aircraft carrier designed by Spain.The German-designed submarines are equipped with air-independent propulsion, or AIP, allowing them to go without the air supply normally needed by diesel engines. They can stay underwater for three weeks with little noise emission. Naval experts say they are well-suited for the shallow waters of the eastern Mediterranean and could be armed with medium-range anti-ship missiles.Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias expressed his profound disappointment last month when Germany’s ruling coalition blocked efforts in the German parliament by opposition lawmakers to stop the submarine sales. “Both Prime Minister Mitsotakis and I have numerous times spoken to almost everyone in Germany about the necessity to keep the balance in the Aegean,” Dendias told reporters. He warned that the submarine deal risked shifting the balance in the Aegean Sea in favor of Ankara.
 
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The Transportation Department issued a final order Tuesday that blocks most travel between the United States and Belarus, underscoring Washington’s concern about the recent forced landing of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident Belarussian journalist.The order, which was requested by the State Department, bars airlines from selling tickets for travel between the two countries, with exceptions only for humanitarian or national security reasons.The Transportation Department proposed the ban last week and said Tuesday that it received no objections. There are no direct passenger flights between the U.S. and Belarus.In May, Belarussian officials ordered a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, to land in Minsk, where authorities removed journalist Raman Pratasevich from the plane and arrested him. Pratasevich faces a possible 15-year prison term.President Joe Biden has called the forced diversion an “outrageous incident” and joined others in calling for an international investigation.
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Celebrity crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, known for his work in exposing the Dutch underworld, was shot and seriously wounded on a street in Amsterdam, police said Tuesday. “Peter R. de Vries was shot down in Lange Leidsedwarsstraat,” police said in a statement, referring to a street near one of the city’s largest public squares, where he had been in a television studio earlier in the evening. He was taken to a nearby hospital in “serious condition,” the police said, calling for eyewitnesses to come forward. Police had cordoned off the area as crowds gathered near the site where the incident took place. De Vries won an international Emmy Award in the current affairs category in 2008 for his work investigating the disappearance of teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. FILE – Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries arrives for a live TV show in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Jan. 31, 2008.An alleged shooter was arrested shortly afterward, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported, citing anonymous sources. Police said that they could neither confirm nor deny that report but that they expected to update the public later Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Mark Rutte was expected to make a statement after meeting with leading law enforcement officials in the wake of the shooting, news agency ANP reported. Dutch broadcaster RTL said that de Vries had just left its studio in downtown Amsterdam and that one of the shots hit him in the head. Amsterdam’s Parool newspaper published an image of the scene that showed several people gathered around a person lying on the ground. De Vries, 64, is a celebrity in the Netherlands, as both a frequent commentator on television crime programs and an expert crime reporter with sources in both law enforcement and the underworld. De Vries is known in the Netherlands for investigative work on countless cases, notably following the 1983 kidnapping of beer magnate Freddy Heineken. De Vries had been subjected to threats from the criminal underworld in connection with several cases. In 2013, Willem Holleeder, the Heineken kidnapper, was convicted of making threats against de Vries. Holleeder is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in five murders. In 2019, Ridouan Taghi, currently on trial for murder and drug trafficking, took the unusual step of making a public statement denying reports that he had threatened to have de Vries killed. De Vries has been acting as a counselor, but not lawyer, to a state witness identified as Nabil B. testifying in the case against Taghi and his alleged associates. Nabil B.’s previous lawyer was shot and killed on an Amsterdam street in September 2019. 
 
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