Pope Francis was spending his first morning convalescing on Monday in a Rome hospital following intestinal surgery under general anesthesia and reportedly doing well. The Vatican has given scant details about the operation Sunday evening in Gemelli Polyclinic, a major Catholic hospital in the Italian capital.An Italian cardinal told reporters he had been informed that the pope was doing well. “Our prayer and our closeness are very great,” Cardinal Enrico Feroci said at Rome’s airport where he was catching a flight. The Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying that he had heard earlier in the morning from another cardinal, Angelo De Donatis, “and he told me that the pope is well.” De Donatis is the vicar of the Rome diocese.Francis is staying in special, 10th floor suite that the hospital keeps available for use by a pontiff, after Pope John Paul II stayed there several times for various medical problems.He is expected to stay hospitalized for several days.Twice daily updates on Pope Francis’ condition are expected to be issued by the Vatican, with the first coming later Monday morning.The Vatican said late Sunday that Francis, 84, responded well to the surgery on the lower part of his colon.But it didn’t say just what the surgery entailed or how long it lasted.Francis had developed a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing, of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.The Vatican has said the surgery was planned, although it only announced the hospitalization after Francis had checked into Gemelli.Doctors not connected to the pope’s hospitalization have said it is common to perform a re-sectioning of the affected part of the bowel in such cases.Get-well messages continued to arrive for the pope. Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s office said the leader “expresses affectionate wishes for a rapid convalescence and quick healing.”
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Tropical Storm Elsa swept along Cuba’s southern coast early Monday, and forecasters said it could make landfall on the island’s central shore by midafternoon.    By Sunday, Cuban officials had evacuated 180,000 people as a precaution against the possibility of heavy flooding from a storm that already battered several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people. Most of those evacuated stayed at relatives’ homes, others went to government shelters, and hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in caves prepared for emergencies.      Elsa was forecast to cross over Cuba by Monday night and then head for Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County, where a high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.      Late Sunday, Elsa’s center was about 440 kilometers southeast of Havana and moving northwest at 24 kph. Its maximum sustained winds had strengthened a bit to about 100 kph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.     The center said the storm was likely to gradually weaken while passing over central Cuba. “After Elsa emerges over the Florida Straits and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, some slight re-strengthening is possible,’” it said.     Rain fell intermittently in Cuba’s eastern provinces throughout Sunday as the storm passed by to the south.     “So far it’s a soft, serene rain. There are no downpours. The streets are not overflowing,” Yolanda Tabio, a 73-year-old retiree living in Santiago, told The Associated Press. “I thought it could be worse.”     Rafael Carmenate, a volunteer for the local Red Cross who lives facing the beach in Santa Cruz del Sur, told the AP by telephone: “We have a little water – showers. The sea has not intruded. It’s cloudy and gusty.”      The storm killed one person on St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. A 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.     Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage on several eastern Caribbean islands Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that collapsed.     Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation. Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said Sunday that three people had been injured by downed trees.     A tropical storm warning was in effect for western Cuba and for the Florida Keys from Craig Key westward to the Dry Tortugas. Cuba’s government posted a hurricane warning for Cienfuegos and Matanzas provinces.     Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 50 kph Saturday morning, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.     Portions of Cuba were forecast to get rainfall of 13 to 25 centimeters through Monday, with isolated spots getting up to 20 centimeters. Jamaica expected a total of 10 to 20 centimeters, with maximum totals of 38 centimeters.
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From scanning residents’ faces to let them into their building to spotting police suspects in a crowd, the rise of facial recognition is accompanied by a growing chorus of concern about unethical uses of the technology.A report published on Monday by U.S.-based researchers showing that Russian facial recognition companies have built tools to detect a person’s race has raised fears among digital rights groups, who describe the technology as “purpose-made for discrimination.”Developer guides and code examples unearthed by video surveillance research firm IPVM show software advertised by four of Russia’s biggest facial analytics firms can use artificial intelligence (AI) to classify faces based on their perceived ethnicity or race.There is no indication yet that Russian police have targeted minorities using the software developed by the firms — AxxonSoft, Tevian, VisionLabs and NtechLab — whose products are sold to authorities and businesses in the country and abroad.But Moscow-based AxxonSoft said the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s enquiry prompted it to disable its ethnicity analytics feature, saying in an emailed response it was not interested “in promoting any technologies that could be a basis for ethnic segregation.”The IPVM findings — seen exclusively by the Thomson Reuters Foundation — have sparked concern among civil rights groups, who say racial profiling is common in the country and note that authorities have already used AI to identify and detain anti-government protesters.“The findings underline the ugly racism baked into these systems,” said Edin Omanovic, advocacy director at Privacy International, a rights charity based in London.“Far from being benign security tools which can be abused, such tools are deeply rooted in some of humanity’s most destructive ideas and purpose-made for discrimination.”The Russian interior ministry and NtechLab did not reply to requests for comment.The other three companies expressed skepticism about their technology’s current capacity to enable abuse, but said they are aware of ethical concerns related to its use.Vadim Konushin, CEO of Tevian, also known as Video Analysis Technologies, denied current uses of its tool by police could entrench discrimination, and VisionLabs said its ethnicity analytics software was developed for internal research purposes only.Ethnicity analytics  Race detection is part of a broadening range of analytics offered by facial recognition companies that allow clients to detect physical features like hair color and facial expressions, and deduce information such as a person’s age, gender and emotions.The software developed by AxxonSoft, Moscow-based Tevian and VisionLabs, a Russia-founded firm headquartered in the Netherlands, all categorize people walking past their cameras into roughly the same groups: Asian, Black, white and Indian.The categories for Axxonsoft’s Face Intellect tool included the outdated and offensive terms “Mongoloid” and “Negroid,” which the company put down to a translation error. The terms have now been removed from the company literature.NtechLab, which is partially funded and owned by the Russian government, lists “race” among the features its software can detect.The findings come as facial recognition firms are feeling increased pressure across the globe over the technology’s potential to undermine human rights and civil liberties.In June, a group of 50 investors managing more than $4.5 trillion in assets urged companies to make sure their facial recognition products are developed and used in an ethical way.That same month, more than 170 rights groups signed an open letter calling for a global ban on the use of facial recognition and remote biometric recognition tools that enable mass and discriminatory targeted surveillance.While ethnicity analytics are developed by dozens of firms worldwide — most prominently in China — Russian companies have a significant presence in the facial recognition market, with reported revenues of up to $40 million and expansion abroad, according to IPVM.Rights removed  The potential for facial recognition technology to cause harm has come to the fore in China, where AI firms have developed tools that can detect, track and monitor Muslim minority Uyghurs, said Matt Mahmoudi, AI and human rights researcher at Amnesty International.United Nations officials have said China is transforming the Xinjiang region, where many Uyghurs live, into a “massive internment camp,” with the tracing tech seen by rights groups as key to the crackdown.The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., has said cameras operating in public places in Xinjiang did not “target any specific ethnicity” and authorities have said the camps in the region provide vocational training and help fight extremism.In Russia, where rights groups say migrants, particularly from Central Asia, are often subjected to racial profiling, arbitrary detentions and violence, authorities’ potential use of race-detection was worrying, said Mahmoudi.“Minorities who might have been equated with a level of deviance or criminality may fall subject to having their rights, for example their freedom to assemble, removed as a result of the extensive usage of this technology,” he said.A spokesperson for Moscow’s Department of Technology, which manages the city’s surveillance system, said via email that video analytics were used to improve safety and find offenders.They did not reply to questions on race detection software, only saying the city uses algorithms from various independent developers.‘Frightful’ future   AxxonSoft, which is known as ITV in Russia, and Tevian said law enforcement agencies used their products for criminal investigations, usually to find suspects based on descriptions.NtechLab’s website says its FindFace software underpins Moscow’s facial recognition system, which authorities say has helped cut crime and enforce coronavirus lockdown restrictions.Some of the Russian firms said they were aware of how their tech could be used to lead to discrimination.Anton Nazarkin, global sales director at VisionLabs, said that while the tool was marketed on the firm’s website, the company has never licensed it because of ethical and legal concerns, as it might contravene European data protection laws.Azret Teberdiev, head of marketing for AxxonSoft, whose website says it has more than 2 million cameras installed worldwide, said ethnicity analytics were included in its product “inadvertently” when integrating third-party software.The company has pledged to disable the feature after being contacted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.“We consider such functionality as not aligning with the ethical standards of our company,” Teberdiev said.Tevian’s Konushin said while facial recognition technology is still too rudimentary to target specific ethnic minority groups, its potential is worrisome.“What frightens (me) the most is a theoretical use case, when all people are automatically being racially profiled, and law enforcement officers are signalled to check up on ethnic minorities,” he said.“If algorithms improve a lot, it could theoretically become possible — which is frightful.”
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Cuba evacuated 180,000 people amid fears Sunday that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash severe flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.The Cuban government had opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm. Most of those evacuated went to relatives’ homes, while some people sheltered at government facilities. Hundreds living in mountainous areas took refuge in natural caves that had been prepared for the emergency.  The storm’s next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.  On Sunday afternoon, Elsa was about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south-southeast of Cabo Cruz, Cuba and was heading northwest at 22 kph (14 mph). It had maximum sustained winds of about 95 kph (60 mph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.The center said the storm is expected to gradually weaken Monday as it moves across Cuba.A man secures the roof of his house in preparation for Tropical Storm Elsa, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 3, 2021.”After Elsa emerges over the Florida Straits and the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, some slight restrengthening is possible,” it said.The storm killed one person in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center.Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage in several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that completely collapsed as the government promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic.  Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation.Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 50 kph (31 mph) on Saturday morning, according to Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
 
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A strong explosion shook the Caspian Sea area where Azerbaijan has extensive offshore oil and gas fields and a column of fire rose late Sunday, but the state oil company said none of its platforms were damaged.  The cause of the blast was not immediately determined, but state oil company SOCAR said preliminary information indicated it was a mud volcano.The Caspian Sea has a high concentration of such volcanoes, which spew both mud and flammable gas.  SOCAR spokesman Ibrahim Ahmadov was quoted by the Azerbaijani news agency APA as saying the blast took place about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Umid gas field, which is 75 kilometers (45 miles) off the coast of the capital, Baku.
 
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A car with wings recently completed a test flight in Slovakia. Its designers say the successful journey brings us one step closer to flying cars, but experts aren’t so sure that’s happening any time soon. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.Produced by:  Arash Arabasadi
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Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island’s southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people. The government opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week. Elsa was located about 175 miles (280 kilometers) east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was speeding west-northwest at 17 mph (28 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm killed one person in St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died Saturday in separate events in the Dominican Republic after walls collapsed on them, according to a statement from the Emergency Operations Center. Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane up until Saturday morning, causing widespread damage in several eastern Caribbean islands on Friday as the first hurricane of the Atlantic season. Among the hardest hit was Barbados, where more than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that completely collapsed as the government promised to find and fund temporary housing to avoid clustering people in shelters amid the pandemic. Downed trees also were reported in Haiti, which is especially vulnerable to floods and landslides because of widespread erosion and deforestation. Antony Exilien secures the roof of his house in response to Tropical Storm Elsa, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, July 3, 2021. Elsa brushed past Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Saturday.A tropical storm warning was in effect for Jamaica and from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic. A hurricane watch was issued for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba. Some of those provinces have reported a high number of COVID-19 infections, raising concerns that the storm could force large groups of people to seek shelter together. Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record and also broke the record as the tropic’s fastest-moving hurricane, clocking in at 31 mph on Saturday morning, according to Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. It is forecast to drop 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with maximum totals of 15 inches (38 centimeters) across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica. 
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The Vatican says Pope Francis has gone to a Rome hospital for scheduled surgery for a stenosis, or restriction, of the large intestine. The brief announcement Sunday afternoon didn’t say when the surgery would be performed but it said there would be announcement when the surgery is complete. Just three hours earlier, Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square in keeping with a Sunday tradition and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September. A week earlier, Francis, 84, had used the same traditional appearance to ask the public for special prayers for the pope, which, in hindsight might have been hinting at the planned surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic. 
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Four people were found dead as a huge fire raged for a second day in Cyprus, razing tracts of forest in a blaze one official called the worst on record.The blaze, fanned by strong winds, affected at least 10 communities over an area of 50 square kilometers in the foothills of the Troodos mountain range, an area of pine forest and densely vegetated shrubland.The victims, thought to be Egyptian nationals, were found dead close to the community of Odou, a mountainous community north of the cities of Limassol and Larnaca.”All indications point to it being the four persons who were missing since yesterday,” Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said.The EU’s executive, the European Commission, said firefighting planes had departed from Greece to battle the fire and Italy was also planning to deploy aerial firefighters.The EU’s emergency Copernicus satellite was also activated to provide damage assessment maps of the affected areas, the Commission said in a statement.”It is the worst forest fire in the history of Cyprus,” Forestries Department Director Charalambos Alexandrou told Cyprus’s Omega TV.Attempts were being made to prevent the blaze from crossing the mountains and stop it before reaching Machairas, a pine forestland and one of the highest peaks in Cyprus.The cause of the fire, which started around midday on Saturday, was unclear. Cyprus experiences high temperatures in the summer months, with temperatures in recent days exceeding 40 Celsius. Police said they were questioning a 67-year-old person in connection with the blaze. 
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Tropical Storm Elsa left three people dead Saturday as it downed trees and blew off roofs in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The storm, which had been a Category 1 hurricane, weakened and it now heads for Cuba and Florida.One death was reported on St. Lucia, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, and two deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic, according to the Emergency Operations Center.Elsa was still a hurricane when it damaged several Caribbean islands, with Barbados among the hardest hit.More than 1,100 people reported damaged houses, including 62 homes that collapsed. Schools and government offices were also damaged, and hundreds were without power Saturday, according to the Associated Press.”This is a hurricane that has hit us for the first time in 66 years,” Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said Saturday, according to the AP. “There is no doubt this is urgent.”Haitian authorities used social media to alert the population about the storm, urging those living near water or mountainsides to evacuate. Downed trees have been reported there.Late Saturday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was about 280 kilometers east-southeast of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and was moving west-northwest at 28 kph with maximum sustained winds of 100 kph.Elsa is forecast to strike Cuba next and then Florida. The Hurricane Center’s forecast shows it bearing down on the west coast of Florida as a tropical storm by Tuesday morning. Other tracking models, though, would have the storm moving into the Gulf of Mexico or up along the Atlantic Coast.Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report. 
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The European Union on Saturday deployed aerial assistance to help Cyprus contain a huge forest fire raging north of the cities of Limassol and Larnaca, a blaze one official called the worst on record.The blaze, fanned by strong winds, affected at least six communities in the foothills of the Troodos mountain range, an area of pine forest and densely vegetated shrubland.The EU’s executive body, the European Commission, said firefighting planes had departed from Greece to battle the fire and Italy was also planning to deploy aerial firefighters.The EU’s emergency Copernicus satellite was also activated to provide damage assessment maps of the affected areas, the Commission said in a statement.”It is the worst forest fire in the history of Cyprus,” Forestries Department Director Charalambos Alexandrou told Cyprus’s Omega TV.Attempts were being made to prevent the blaze from crossing the mountains and stop it before reaching Machairas, a pine forestland and one of the highest peaks in Cyprus.Alexandrou said the perimeter of the fire was “at least 40 kilometers.”Dozens of properties were damaged, but no injuries were reported. There were widespread power cuts in the area. Plumes of smoke were visible in the capital Nicosia, some 75 kilometers away.Officials said that in addition to Greece’s assistance with two aircraft, help was also expected from Israel.”This is a very difficult day for Cyprus. All of the state’s mechanisms are in gear, and the priority is for no loss of life,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades tweeted.Israel accepted Nicosia’s plea for help, a statement from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, and will send firefighting aircraft to Cyprus on Sunday.The cause of the fire, which started around midday, was unclear. Cyprus has experienced a heatwave this week, with temperatures exceeding 40 Celsius. Police said they were questioning a 67-year-old person in connection with the blaze.”It passed through like a whirlwind, it destroyed everything,” said Vassos Vassiliou, the community leader of Arakapas, one of the communities affected.
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Protests against President Jair Bolsonaro spread across Brazil on Saturday, a day after a Supreme Court justice authorized a criminal investigation into his response to allegations of potential corruption involving a vaccine deal.Demonstrators gathered by the hundreds or thousands in more than 40 cities to demand Bolsonaro’s impeachment or greater access to vaccines against COVID-19.”If we have a minute of silence for each COVID death, we would be quiet until June 2022,” read a poster held aloft by a man in Belem, the capital of Para state. More than half a million Brazilians have died, by official count.In Friday’s decision, Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber said the investigation is supported by recent testimony in a Senate committee investigating the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.Prosecutors will investigate whether Bolsonaro committed the crime of “prevarication,” which entails delaying or refraining from action required as part of a public official’s duty for reasons of personal interest. Weber didn’t rule out the possibility other potential wrongdoing could be investigated.The inquiry comes after Luis Ricardo Miranda, the chief of the Health Ministry’s import division, said he faced undue pressure to sign off on the import of 20 million vaccine doses from Indian pharmaceutical Bharat Biotech. He said there were irregularities in the invoices, particularly a $45 million upfront payment to a Singapore-based company.Demonstrators march on Paulista Avenue to demand that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro resign, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 3, 2021.Miranda testified before the Senate committee June 25 along with his brother, Luis Miranda, a lawmaker who until recently was allied with Bolsonaro. The Mirandas said they took their concerns directly to Bolsonaro, who assured them he would report the irregularities to the Federal Police.However, the Federal Police never received any request to investigate, a Federal Police source with knowledge of investigations told The Associated Press. He spoke anonymously for lack of authorization to speak publicly.The secretary-general of the presidency, Onyx Lorenzoni, confirmed Bolsonaro met with the Mirandas, but claimed they presented fraudulent documents. Bolsonaro ordered the brothers investigated, he said.Bharat has denied any wrongdoing with respect to vaccine supply. Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of corruption and told reporters on June 28 he can’t know what transpires within his ministries.The Supreme Court decision greenlighting an investigation came in response to a request filed by three senators. A majority of senators on the investigating committee previously told the AP that, once their inquest concludes, they would vote to recommend Bolsonaro be indicted for prevarication.The crime carries with it a prison term of three months to a year, plus a fine.In Rio de Janeiro’s protest, 63-year-old retiree Terezinha Zanata said the government had mismanaged violence, the environment and Indigenous rights.”This in addition to the disregard for the pandemic issue,” she said, complaining of a sluggish vaccine campaign and a president who long minimized the seriousness of the disease.
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A Vatican judge on Saturday indicted 10 people, including a once-powerful cardinal, on charges including embezzlement, abuse of office, extortion and fraud in connection with the Secretariat of State’s 350 million-euro investment in a London real estate venture.The president of the Vatican’s criminal tribunal, Giuseppe Pignatone, set July 27 as the trial date, though lawyers for some defendants questioned how they could prepare for trial so soon given they hadn’t yet formally received the indictment.The 487-page indictment request was issued following a sprawling, two-year investigation into how the Secretariat of State managed its vast asset portfolio, much of which is funded by donations from the faithful. The scandal over its multimillion-dollar losses has resulted in a sharp reduction in donations and prompted Pope Francis to strip the office of its ability to manage the money.Five former Vatican officials, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu and two officials from the Secretariat of State, were indicted, as well as the Italian businessmen who handled the investment.Vatican prosecutors accuse the main suspects of bilking millions of euros from the Holy See in fees, bad investments and other losses related to financial dealings that were funded in large part by Peter’s Pence donations to the pope for works of charity. The suspects have denied wrongdoing.One of the main suspects, Italian broker Gianluigi Torzi, is accused of having extorted the Vatican of 15 million euros to turn over ownership of the London building in late 2018. Torzi had been retained by the Vatican to help it acquire full ownership of the building from another indicted money manager who had handled the initial investment in 2013, but lost millions in what the Vatican says were speculative, imprudent deals.Vatican prosecutors allege Torzi inserted a last-minute clause into the contract giving him full voting rights in the deal.The Vatican hierarchy, however, signed off on the contract, with both the pope’s No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his deputy approving it. Neither was indicted. In addition, Francis himself was aware of the deal and Torzi’s involvement in it.Vatican prosecutors say the Vatican hierarchy was hoodwinked by Torzi and aided in part by an Italian lawyer — who was also indicted Saturday — into agreeing to the terms. The Secretariat of State intends to declare itself an injured party in the case.Torzi has denied the charges and said the accusations were due to a misunderstanding. He is currently in London pending an extradition request by Italian authorities, who are seeking to prosecute him on other financial charges. His representatives said they had no immediate comment Saturday since they hadn’t yet seen the indictment.Cardinal indictedAlso indicted was a onetime papal contender and Holy See official, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who helped engineer the initial London investment when he was chief of staff in the Secretariat of State.Francis fired him as the Vatican’s saint-making chief last year, apparently in connection with a separate issue: Becciu’s 100,000-euro donation of Holy See funds to a diocesan charity run by his brother.Becciu had originally not been part of the London investigation but was included after it appeared that he was behind the proposal to buy the building, prosecutors say, alleging that he also interfered in the investigation.In a statement Saturday issued by his lawyers, Becciu insisted on the “absolute falsity” of the accusations and denounced what he said was “unparalleled media pillory” against him in the Italian press.”I am the victim of a plot hatched against me. And I have been waiting for a long time to know any accusations against me, to allow myself to promptly deny them and prove to the world my absolute innocence,” he said.One of Becciu’s proteges, self-styled intelligence analyst Cecilia Marogna, was indicted on separate embezzlement charges. Becciu had hired Marogna as an external consultant after she reached out to him in 2015 with concerns about security at Vatican embassies in global hot spots. Becciu authorized hundreds of thousands of euros of Holy See funds to her to free Catholic priests and nuns held hostage in Africa, according to WhatsApp messages reprinted by Italian media.Her Slovenian-based holding company, which received the funds, was among the four companies also ordered to stand trial.Marogna says the money was compensation for legitimate intelligence work and reimbursements. Prosecutors say she spent the money on luxury purchases that were incompatible with the humanitarian scope of her company.In a statement Saturday, her legal team said Marogna had been prepared for months to “provide a full accounting of her work and fears nothing about the accusations made against her.”Also indicted were the former top two officials in the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency, for alleged abuse of office. Prosecutors say by failing to stop the Torzi deal, they performed a “decisive function” in letting it play out.The lawyer for the former office director, Tommaso di Ruzza, said he had only seen the Vatican press statement about the allegations but insisted that his client “has always acted in the most scrupulous respect of the law and his office duties, in the exclusive interest of the Holy See.”The former head of the office, Rene Bruelhart, defended his work and said his indictment was a “procedural blunder that will be immediately clarified by the organs of Vatican justice as soon as the defense will be able to exercise its rights.”A former Secretariat of State official, Monsignor Mauro Carlino, expressed shock at his indictment on alleged extortion and abuse of office charges, saying his only involvement in the deal was after he was ordered by his superiors to negotiate Torzi down from a 20 million-euro fee to 15 million euros.”It seems incomprehensible that a worthy act … that brought him no personal advantage and had on the contrary provided a significant savings for the Secretariat of State could lead to an indictment,” said a statement from his lawyer, Salvino Mondello.
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Six people, including two American missionaries, were killed when a private airplane crashed southwest of Port-au-Prince, local authorities said Saturday.The aircraft had taken off from the city’s airport at 6:57 p.m. (2257 GMT) on Friday and should have arrived at Jacmel, on Haiti’s southern coast, around an hour later, according to the National Civil Aviation Office (NCAO).”The plane crashed en route with six people on board,” an NCAO incident report said.Gutenberg Destin, the coordinator of civil protection for Haiti’s Ouest Department, confirmed to AFP that all six people on board had been killed.The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately clear.The U.S.-based missionary organization Gospel to Haiti said on its Facebook page that Americans Trent Hostelter, 35, and John Miller, 43, were among the victims.They were part of a larger group making the trip in two planes, with Hostelter’s wife and children on the first flight.”When the second plane didn’t show up, they were very concerned and soon heard that the plane had gone down somewhere near Leogane,” Gospel to Haiti said.”A search team was formed and sent out and they located the plane early this morning and confirmed that all six people were killed, including Trent and John.”Hostetler and his wife worked for the missionary organization, while Miller was volunteering for a short period, according to GoFundMe pages opened to support of their families.With heavily armed gangs controlling the main land route from Port-au-Prince to the southern half of Haiti, charter flights to Jacmel have become increasingly popular — among the tiny number of Haitians able to afford them.
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The World Food Program says it has delivered a first batch of food for thousands of school children in Venezuela.The delivery follows a deal concluded earlier this year between the U.N. food agency and the government of Venezuela. Schools in Venezuela currently are closed.  So, World Food Program spokesman Tomson Phiri says his agency will provide take-home rations, which families will pick up at the schools where the children are enrolled.”Our plan is to start, is to reach gradually 185,000 people, including children under the age of six and school staff by the end of the year,” Phiri said. “The ration that I have spoken about is enough to cover a child for 30 days, which is a month.”   World Food Program to Give Daily Meals for 185,000 Venezuelan ChildrenWFP aims to expand operation over two years to reach 1.5 million students with daily mealsThe WFP says 42,000 food packages have arrived at its logistics hub in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second largest city.  Each package contains more than 11 kilograms of food, including rice, lentils, iodized salt, and vegetable oil.Venezuela’s once prosperous economy has been in free-fall since President Nicolas Maduro came to power more than eight years ago.  The United Nations says more than 5.3 million people have fled the country because of political repression and harsh economic conditions.Official figures about the health status of Venezuelans are not available.  A WFP study in 2020 suggests, however, one in three Venezuelans do not have enough nutritious food to eat daily.A study by the Swiss charity Caritas of five Venezuelan states and the capital, Caracas, found 16 percent of children under five suffer from acute malnutrition.  The condition can cause stunting, wasting, cognitive difficulties and even death.The WFP says its work in Venezuela will focus on the provision of nutritious school meals, the rehabilitation of school canteens, and the training of school staff to observe and implement the highest food safety practices.The agency says it hopes to expand its school feeding program to include 1.5 million children and school personnel by the end of the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Hurricane Elsa is hurtling Saturday toward Haiti and the Domincan Republic, raising fears of flooding and mudslides in those countries before slamming Cuba and Florida.   Haitian authorities used social media to alert the population about the hurricane, urging those living near water or mountain sides to evacuate.The National Hurricane Center in Miami says the Category 1 storm was located about 635 kilometers east-southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic, and was moving  west-northwest at 48 kilometers per hour with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour. Elsa is expected to weaken to a tropical storm after striking Cuba, and the Hurricane Center’s long-term forecast shows it bearing down on Florida as a tropical storm by Tuesday morning. Other tracking models, though, would have the storm blowing into the Gulf or up along the Atlantic Coast.NHC: Hurricane Elsa to Weaken ‘A Little,’ Then Regain StrengthElsa to move across Caribbean Sea on SaturdayHurricane warnings are in effect Saturday for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque to the border with Haiti; the southern portion of Haiti from Port Au Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic; and in Jamaica beginning Sunday.  
 
A hurricane watch is in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba.   
 
Meanwhile, a tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Haiti north of Port Au Prince and the south coast of the Dominican Republic, east of Punta Palenque to Cabo Engano.  
 
The hurricane center said the outer rain bands associated with Elsa will affect Puerto Rico with rainfall totals of up to seven centimeters, with amounts as much as 12 centimeters possible through Saturday. This rain could lead to isolated flash flooding and minor river flooding, along with the potential for mudslides, the center said.     
 
Across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica, rainfall of 20 centimeters with higher isolated maximum amounts possible Saturday into Sunday, possibly leading to scattered flash flooding and mudslides.  
 
The Hurricane center said there is an increasing risk of storm surge, wind and rainfall beginning Monday in the Florida Keys. The impacts could be felt northward along the Florida peninsula through Tuesday.  However, the center emphasizes there is still significant uncertainty about the Florida portion of its forecast.  
 Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.
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Ukrainian authorities found themselves buried in controversy Friday after official pictures showed women soldiers practicing for a parade in heels.Ukraine is preparing to stage a military parade next month to mark 30 years of independence following the Soviet Union’s breakup, and the defense ministry released photographs of fatigue-clad women soldiers marching in mid-heel black pumps.”Today, for the first time, training takes place in heeled shoes,” cadet Ivanna Medvid was quoted as saying by the defense ministry’s information site ArmiaInform.”It is slightly harder than in army boots, but we are trying,” Medvid added in comments released on Thursday.The choice of footwear sparked a torrent of criticism on social media and in parliament, and led to accusations that women soldiers had been sexualized.”The story of a parade in heels is a real disgrace,” commentator Vitaly Portnikov said on Facebook, arguing that some Ukrainian officials had a “medieval” mindset.Another commentator, Maria Shapranova, accused the defense ministry of “sexism and misogyny.””High heels is a mockery of women imposed by the beauty industry,” she fumed.Several Ukrainian lawmakers close to Ukraine’s former president Petro Poroshenko showed up in parliament with pairs of shoes and encouraged the defense minister to wear high heels to the parade.”It is hard to imagine a more idiotic, harmful idea,” said Inna Sovsun, a member of the Golos party, pointing to health risks.She also said that Ukraine’s women soldiers — like men — were risking their lives and “do not deserve to be mocked”.Ukraine has been battling Russian-backed separatists in the country’s industrial east, in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014.Olena Kondratyuk, deputy speaker of the legislature said authorities should publicly apologize for “humiliating” women and conduct an enquiry. Kondratyuk said that more than 13,500 women had fought in the current conflict.More than 31,000 women now serve in the Ukrainian armed forces, including more than 4,000 of whom are officers.
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One of Sweden’s biggest supermarket chains said Saturday it had to temporarily close around 800 stores nationwide after a cyberattack blocked access to its checkouts.”One of our subcontractors was hit by a digital attack, and that’s why our checkouts aren’t working any more,” Coop Sweden, which accounts for around 20 percent of the sector, said in a statement.”We regret the situation and will do all we can to reopen swiftly,” the cooperative added.Coop Sweden did not name the subcontractor or reveal the hacking method used against it beginning on Friday evening.But the attack comes as a wave of ransomware attacks has struck worldwide, especially in the United States.Ransomware attacks typically involve locking away data in systems using encryption, making companies pay to regain access.Last year, hackers extorted at least $18 billion using such software, according to security firm Emsisoft.US IT company Kaseya on Friday urged customers to shut down servers running its VSA platform after dozens were hit with ransomware.In recent weeks, such attacks have hit oil pipelines, health services and major firms, and made it onto the agenda of US President Joe Biden’s June meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is facing stinging criticism for making her party too mainstream, dulling its extremist edge, and ignoring grassroots members, with voices from inside and outside warning this could cost her votes in next year’s presidential race.The rumblings grew louder after the National Rally’s failure a week ago in regional elections and come just ahead of this weekend’s party congress.Le Pen is the anti-immigration party’s unquestioned boss, and her fortunes aren’t expected to change at the two-day event in the southwestern town of Perpignan, hosted by local Mayor Louis Aliot — Le Pen’s former companion and, above all, the party’s top performer in last year’s municipal elections. But there could be an uncomfortable reckoning, just as Le Pen is trying to inject new dynamism into the National Rally.Critics say Le Pen has erased her party’s anti-establishment signature by trying to make it more palatable to the mainstream right. As part of the strategy, she softened the edges and strove to remove the stigma of racism and antisemitism that clung to the party after decades under her now-ostracized father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. She even changed the name from National Front, as it was called under her father, who co-founded the party in 1972 and led it for four decades.“The policy of adapting, of rapprochement with power, even with the ordinary right, was severely sanctioned,” said Jean-Marie Le Pen. “(That) was a political error and translates into an electoral failure, and perhaps electoral failures,” he added, referring to the regional election result and the 2022 presidential vote.The defiant patriarch, now 93, was expelled in the effort to boost the party’s respectability, but his criticism reflects that of more moderate members who say his daughter has muddled the message.Her goal is to reach the runoff in the presidential race in 10 months with greater success than in 2017, when she reached the final round but lost to centrist Emmanuel Macron.National Rally candidates — including several who originally hailed from the mainstream right — failed in all 12 French regions during elections last Sunday marked by record-high abstention with only one in three voters casting ballots. Polls had suggested the party, which has never headed a region, would be victorious in at least one. Instead, it lost nearly a third of its regional councilors, in voting regarded as critical to planting local roots needed for the presidential race — a task that some say has been neglected.“It’s local elections that are the launch pad for the rocket” that could take Marine Le Pen to the presidential palace, Romain Lopez, mayor of the small southwest town of Moissac, said in an interview. “Today, we look like eternal seconds. That can … demobilize the National Rally electorate for the presidential elections.”Some local representatives have resigned in disgust since the regional elections defeat, among them the delegate for the southern Herault area, Bruno Lerognon.’Losing strategy’In a bitter letter to Le Pen, posted on Facebook, Lerognon blasted his boss’ strategy to lure voters from other parties as “absurd.” He said members of the party’s local federation were “odiously treated” — removed from running in the regional elections in favor of outsiders. Cronyism had “rotted” the local far-right scene, he wrote, alluding to long-standing criticism of power clans within the National Rally whose voices are decisive. Le Pen replaced him a day later.In western France, all four members of a small local federation resigned between rounds of the regional elections. None of the four was represented on local electoral lists — “pushed aside,” as they claimed, by higher-ups elsewhere. They bemoaned a “losing strategy” born at the Lille party congress in 2018, when Le Pen first proposed changing the party’s name and severed remaining ties with her father.A party figure with a national reputation, European Parliament lawmaker Gilbert Collard, has criticized the strategy of opening up as “a trap.” He said he won’t attend the congress.Lopez, the mayor of Moissac, will be there, hoping that he and others with complaints will be heard.Lopez, 31, is a proponent of Le Pen’s outreach to other parties and credits his own broad appeal to voters for his election last year, in an upset for the previously leftist town.But the party hierarchy is disconnected from its scarce, albeit vital local bases, Lopez said. National officials treat local representatives like children “and impose everything, how to communicate, build a local campaign,” Lopez said. “And by imposing everything from the top, you have a national strategy … disconnected from the reality of each town or region.”He is unsure whether the party will give local officials like himself speaking time, beyond his five minutes at a roundtable, but hopes to be heard.“When you’re in self-satisfaction, when you refuse to look at imperfections, you go straight into the wall,” he said. 
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Swimming caps designed for natural Black hair won’t be allowed at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, with the sport’s world governing body saying they are unsuitable due to them not “following the natural form of the head.”The British brand Soul Cap sought to have its products officially recognized by FINA, the federation that administers international competitions in water sports, but its application submitted last year was rejected. The company makes extra-large caps designed to protect thick, curly, and voluminous hair.The caps were barred by FINA on the grounds that to their “best knowledge, the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require to use, caps of such size and configuration.”FINA described the swim caps as unsuitable due to them not “following the natural form of the head.”The Switzerland-based governing body said Friday that it is currently reviewing the situation with Soul Cap and similar products while “understanding the importance of inclusivity and representation.”FINA said in the statement that it is committed to ensuring all aquatics athletes have access to appropriate swimwear for competition as long as such swimwear doesn’t provide a competitive advantage.“We don’t see this as a setback, but a chance to open up a dialogue to make a bigger difference in aquatics,” Soul Cap cofounders Toks Ahmed-Salawudeen and Michael Chapman tweeted. “A huge thanks to all who have supported us and our work so far.”The men founded the company in 2017 after meeting a woman with natural Black hair who struggled with her swim cap. According to the company’s website, it has shipped over 30,000 swim caps to customers worldwide.“For younger swimmers, feeling included and seeing yourself in a sport at a young age is crucial,” Ahmed-Salawudeen said in an online post. “There’s only so much grassroots and small brands can do — we need the top to be receptive to positive change.”Alice Dearing, who will compete in marathon swimming in Tokyo as the only Black swimmer for Britain, endorses the company’s caps.“People used to tell me my hair was ‘too big’ for the cap — never that the cap was too small for my hair,” she said in a blog post on the company’s website.FINA pointed out Friday that there is no restriction on Soul Cap usage for recreational and teaching purposes. It said it appreciates the efforts of the company and other suppliers in making sure people have a chance to enjoy the water.FINA said it would speak with Soul Cap officials about using the company’s products at its development centers located in Dakar, Senegal, and Kazan, Russia. 
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The National Hurricane Center said late Friday that a reconnaissance aircraft has determined that Hurricane Elsa has weakened “a little” but is expected to restrengthen by late Saturday.Elsa is slated to cross the central Caribbean Sea on Saturday and move near the southern coast of Hispaniola late Saturday or Saturday night, according to the hurricane center.   Elsa is predicted to be near Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba by Sunday, and portions of central and western Cuba by Sunday night or Monday.Hurricane warnings are in effect Saturday for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque to the border with Haiti; the southern portion of Haiti from Port Au Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic; and in Jamaica beginning Sunday.A hurricane watch is in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba.Meanwhile, a tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Haiti north of Port Au Prince and the south coast of the Dominican Republic, east of Punta Palenque to Cabo Engano.The hurricane center said the outer rain bands associated with Elsa will impact Puerto Rico with rainfall totals of 2.5-7.5 centimeters with amounts as much as 12.5 centimeters possible through Saturday. This rain could lead to isolated flash flooding and minor river flooding, along with the potential for mudslides, the center said.Across portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica, rainfall of 10-20 centimeters with isolated maximum amounts of 38 centimeters is possible Saturday into Sunday, possibly leading to scattered flash flooding and mudslides.The hurricane center said there is an increasing risk of storm surge, wind and rainfall beginning Monday in the Florida Keys. The impacts could be felt northward along the Florida peninsula through Tuesday.  However, the center emphasizes there is still significant uncertainty about the Florida portion of its forecast. 
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Venezuelan rights group Fundaredes said Friday authorities had arrested its director and two other activists who have lifted the lid on fighting near the border with Colombia.Director Javier Tarazona and two others were taken by Venezuelan intelligence services, the NGO said on Twitter.A fourth activist was arrested but released eight hours later, the group said, adding that the other three were transferred to Caracas.Fundaredes had reported on the presence of Colombian dissident guerrillas on Venezuelan territory and criticized the response of the government, which it accused of harboring the fighters.It reported on the fighting that broke out on March 21 before the government did. Clashes have since displaced thousands of civilians.Venezuela does not name the armed groups it blames for the unrest, apart from calling them “terrorists” or linking them to drug trafficking or to Colombian President Ivan Duque.However, security sources in Colombia say they are likely dissidents of the now-disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group, an analysis Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro has conceded was possible.Bogota has long accused Venezuela of shielding members of the FARC and armed rebel group ELN on its soil — a charge Maduro denies.Some FARC fighters who refused to join Colombia’s peace process have continued their struggle, while also mixing with and battling drug traffickers.Venezuela and Colombia, which share a 2,200-kilometer border, severed diplomatic ties in January 2019, after Bogota recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the leader of Venezuela over Maduro following a disputed election.
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The U.S. government is aware of reports that Belarus has closed its border with neighboring Ukraine, a senior administration official said on Friday, vowing that Washington would continue to hold the government of President Alexander Lukashenko accountable for its actions.”It appears the Lukashenko regime is once again seeking to deflect attention away from its campaign of repression against its people,” the official said. “We will continue to stand with the Belarusan people and hold the regime accountable.”Lukashenko on Friday ordered the full closure of the country’s border with Ukraine, seeking to block what he called an inflow of weapons to coup-plotters detected by his security services, according to the BelTA state news agency.Washington this week banned ticket sales for air travel to and from Belarus, acting after Minsk forced a Ryanair flight to land and arrested a dissident journalist aboard.It was not immediately clear what further actions might be taken in response to Lukashenko’s harsh crackdown against months of pro-democracy protests over his alleged rigging of an August 2020 election. The longtime ruler denies election fraud.
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