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Pope Francis on Sunday made his first public appearance since major intestinal surgery last week, greeting well-wishers as he stood for 10 minutes on a hospital balcony, offering hearty thanks for all the prayers for his recovery and calling health care for all a “precious” good. Francis, 84, has been steadily on the mend, according to the Vatican, following his July 4 scheduled surgery to remove a portion of his colon which had narrowed due to inflammation. But it hasn’t said just when he might be discharged. On the morning after his surgery, a Holy See spokesperson said his hospital stay was expected to last seven days, “barring complications.”  At first the pontiff’s voice sounded on the weak side as he began his remarks after stepping onto a balcony outside his special suite at Gemelli Polyclinic at noon (1000 GMT; 6 a.m. EST).  That is the hour when traditionally he would have appeared from a window at the Vatican overlooking St. Peter’s Square. Exactly a week earlier, in his noon remarks he had given no hint that in a few hours he would have entered the hospital for surgery that same night. “I am happy to be able to keep the Sunday appointment,” this time at the hospital, the pope said. “I thank everyone. I very much felt your closeness and the support of your prayers,” Francis said. “Thank you from my heart!” exclaimed the pontiff.  Standing on the balcony with him were some children who are also hospitalized at the polyclinic, a major Catholic teaching hospital on the outskirts of Rome. The crowd below clapped often, in encouragement.  Reading from prepared remarks, he kept one or both hands on a lectern for support, including when he raised an arm in blessing. Francis described his hospitalization as an opportunity to understand “how important a good health service is, accessible to all, as it is in Italy and other countries.”  Although he stayed at a nonpublic hospital, Italy has a national public health service, and residents can often receive treatment at private hospitals, with the costs reimbursed by the government. “We mustn’t lose this precious thing,” the pope said, adding his appreciation and encouragement for all the health care workers and personnel at hospitals.  As he usually does on Sundays, Francis spoke of current events and of issues close to his heart. In his balcony remarks, he reiterated his closeness to Haiti’s people, as he recalled the assassination last week of its president and the wounding of the first lady. Francis prayed that the people of Haiti could “start going down a path of peace and of harmony.” The world’s environmental fragility has been a major theme of his papacy since it began in 2013. On Sunday, as countless people vacation at the shore, Francis urged them to look after “the health of seas and oceans.” “No plastic in the sea!” the pope pleaded. Without citing specific issues, he also voiced hope that “Europe may be united in its founding values,” a possible reference to tensions between the European Union leaders and member Hungary over LGBTQ rights crackdowns. Francis noted that Sunday marked the feast of St. Benedict, patron saint of the continent.  Francis ended with his usual invitation to faithful.  “Don’t forget to pray for me,” drawing rousing applause.  
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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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More details have emerged about the men accused in the assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moise.Among those arrested are two Haitian Americans, one of whom worked alongside the American actor and humanitarian Sean Penn following the nation’s devastating 2010 earthquake.Haitian police have also detained or killed more than a dozen former members of Colombia’s military.Some of the suspects were seized in a raid on Taiwan’s Embassy, where they were believed to have sought refuge. National Police Chief Leon Charles said another eight suspects were still at large.Colombian officials have said the men were recruited by four companies and traveled to Haiti via the Dominican Republic. U.S.-trained Colombian soldiers are often recruited by security firms and mercenary armies in conflict zones because of their experience in a decades-long war against leftist rebels and drug cartels.The sister of one of the dead suspects, Duberney Capador, told the AP that she last spoke to her brother late Wednesday — hours after Moise was killed — when the men, holed up in a home, were surrounded and trying to negotiate their way out of a shootout.”He told me not to tell our mother, so she wouldn’t worry,” said Yenny Capador, as she fought back tears.FILE – Police search the Morne Calvaire district of Petionville for suspects who remain at large in the killing of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 9, 2021. Moise was assassinated on July 7.It’s not known who masterminded the attack. And questions remain about how the perpetrators were able to penetrate the president’s residence posing as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, meeting little resistance from those charged with protecting the president.Capador said her brother, who retired from the Colombian army in 2019 with the rank of sergeant, was hired by a private security firm with the understanding he would be providing protection for powerful individuals in Haiti.Capador said she knew almost nothing about the employer but shared a picture of her brother in a uniform emblazoned with the logo of CTU Security, a company based in Doral, a Miami suburb popular with Colombian migrants.The wife of Francisco Uribe, who was among those arrested, told Colombia’s W Radio that CTU offered to pay the men about $2,700 a month — a paltry sum for a dangerous international mission but far more than what most of the men, noncommissioned officers and professional soldiers, earned from their pensions.Uribe is under investigation in the death of an unarmed civilian in 2008 who was presented as someone killed in combat, one of thousands of extrajudicial killings that rocked Colombia’s U.S.-trained army more than a decade ago.CTU Security was registered in 2008 and lists as its president Antonio Intriago, who is also affiliated with several other Florida-registered entities, some since dissolved, including the Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy, the Venezuelan American National Council and Doral Food Corp.CTU’s website lists two addresses, one of which is a gray warehouse that was shuttered Friday with no sign indicating who the owner is. The other is a small suite under a different company’s name in a modern office building a few blocks away. A receptionist said Intriago stops by every few days to collect mail and hold meetings.Intriago, who is Venezuelan, did not return phone calls and an email seeking comment.”We are the ones who are most interested in clarifying what happened, so that my brother’s reputation does not remain like it is,” Capador said. “He was a humble, hardworking man. He had honors and decorations.”FILE – Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise sit on the floor handcuffed after being detained, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 8, 2021.Besides the Colombians, those detained by police included two Haitian Americans: James Solages and Joseph Vincent.Investigative Judge Clement Noel told Le Nouvelliste that the arrested Americans said the attackers planned only to arrest Moïse, not kill him, and that they were acting as translators for the attackers, the French-language newspaper reported Friday.Solages, 35, described himself as a “certified diplomatic agent,” an advocate for children and budding politician on a now-removed website for a charity he started in 2019 in South Florida to assist residents of his Haitian hometown of Jacmel.He worked briefly as a driver and bodyguard for a relief organization set up by Penn following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that killed 300,000 Haitians and left tens of thousands homeless. He also lists as past employers the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. His now-deactivated Facebook page features photos of armored military vehicles and an image of himself in front of an American flag.Calls to the charity and Solages’ associates went unanswered. However, a relative in South Florida said that Solages didn’t have any military training and that he didn’t believe Solages was involved in the killing.Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph refused to specify who was behind the attack but said that Moise had earned numerous enemies while attacking oligarchs who for years profited from overly generous state contracts.Some of those elite insiders are now the focus of investigators, with authorities asking that presidential candidate and businessman Reginald Boulos and former Senate President Youri Latortue meet prosecutors next week for questioning. No further details were provided and none of the men have been charged.Prosecutors also want to interrogate members of Moise’s security detail, including security coordinator Jean Laguel Civil and Dimitri Herard, the head of the General Security Unit of the National Palace.”If you are responsible for the president’s security, where have you been?” Port-au-Prince prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude was quoted as telling Le Nouvelliste. “What did you do to avoid this fate for the president?”
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Assassins who gunned down Haitian President Jovenel Moise in his private residence aimed “to kill his dream, his vision, his ideology,” according his widow’s first public statement since Wednesday’s predawn shooting in a wealthy suburb of Port-au-Prince threw the impoverished Caribbean nation into turmoil.Speaking from the Miami hospital where she is receiving treatment for wounds sustained in the attack, Martine Moise shared new details about how events unfolded.“In the blink of an eye, the mercenaries entered my home and riddled my husband with bullets … without even giving him a chance to say a word,” Moise said in the Creole language audio statement posted to Twitter on Saturday.“I’m alive, thanks to God,” she said, “but I love my husband Jovenel. We fought together for more than 25 years. During all these years, love radiated within the home. But suddenly, the mercenaries came and pelted my husband with bullets.“You have to be a notorious criminal without guts to assassinate a president like Jovenel Moise with impunity without giving him the chance to speak,” she said, referring to more than a dozen people — at least half of them retired Colombian soldiers — arrested since the attack.The Haitian flag flies at half-staff at the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 10, 2021, three days after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in his home.Haitian police, who are still searching for other suspected members of the 28-person hit squad, said it remained unclear who hired them to attack the president’s house, or why.Moise, 53, who had held office since February 2017, had long faced protests demanding his resignation over allegations of corruption, economic mismanagement and strong-arm tactics to consolidate power.Spoke of opponentsMoise himself had talked of fellow politicians and corrupt oligarchs behind the unrest who felt his attempts to clean up government contracts and to reform Haitian politics were against their interests.“You knew who the president was fighting against,” Martine Moise said. “These people hired mercenaries to kill the president and his family because of the projects of roads, electricity, drinking water supply, organization of the referendum and elections.“The mercenaries who assassinated the president are currently behind bars,” she added, “but other mercenaries currently want to kill his dream, his vision, his ideology.”A man reads the front page of a local newspaper with the news of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 10, 2021.Haitian authorities have not disclosed a motive for the killing but say the heavily armed hit squad included 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans.Haitian National Police Chief Léon Charles told reporters Thursday that 17 suspects — the two Haitian Americans and 15 Colombians — had been apprehended, three suspects had been killed and eight were still at large.Colombian police said Friday that at least 13 former Colombian soldiers were believed to have been involved.The U.S. State Department has not confirmed the reports that two U.S. citizens are in detention, but Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections, on Thursday identified the two Haitian Americans as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55.U.S. officials on Friday said they were deploying FBI and Department of Homeland Security personnel to Port-au-Prince to assist with the investigation.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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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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The United States reportedly has no military plans for Haiti after a request to send troops to that nation in the aftermath of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, but it has agreed to offer immediate help with the investigation. Haiti asked the U.S. and the United Nations Wednesday to deploy troops to the country to protect key infrastructure during a conversation between Haiti’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to Haitian Elections Minister Mathias Pierre, who spoke with media outlets, including Reuters and Agence France-Presse.Haiti Requests US, UN Troops to Secure InfrastructureHaiti elections minister says request to US was made to the secretary of stateThe minister said Joseph made a request for U.N. troops with the U.N. Security Council on Thursday. “We were in a situation where we believed that infrastructure of the country – the port, airport and energy infrastructure – might be a target,” Minister Pierre told Reuters. Reuters quoted an anonymous senior U.S. administration official Friday, who said the United States has no plans to provide military assistance to Haiti “at this time.”The United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.Earlier Friday, the Biden administration said it was sending senior Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in response to a request from the Haitian government for security and investigative assistance. US Sending FBI, Homeland Security Officials to Assist Haiti White House press secretary says assistance is in response to Haiti’s request for security and investigative help after presidential assassination White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday the U.S. officials will “assess the situation and how we may be able to assist.” “The United States remains engaged in close consultations with our Haitian and international partners to support the Haitian people in the aftermath of the assassination of the president,” she said. Haiti is in turmoil since Moise was shot to death at his private residence early Wednesday. Interim Prime Minister Joseph said he is in charge. Haitian officials have requested help from the United States to maintain security and help in the investigation to find those responsible for the assassination.Police said Friday that a 28-member assassination team of Colombians and Americans were responsible for the attack, but that a search continued for its organizers.Colombian police said Friday at least 13 former Colombian soldiers were believed to have been involved.  Haitian National Police Chief Léon Charles told reporters Friday that 17 suspects had been apprehended, including two Americans. Three suspects were killed and at least five are still on the run, police said.Haitian Officials: 17 Members of Hit Squad Detained in Killing of PresidentHaitian police say a heavily armed group that included two Americans and 26 Colombians were involved in the assassination; 17 of those people have been detainedColombia’s national police director, General Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia, said at a Friday news conference in Bogota that four companies participated in the “recruitment” of the Colombian suspects. He did not disclose the names of the companies because their names were still being confirmed.Bocchit Edmond, Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S., sent a letter to Blinken requesting sanctions against those implicated in the crime. “We further request for the Biden administration to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act on all perpetrators who are directly responsible or aided and abetted in the execution of the assassination of the president. We look forward to working with the U.S. Embassy in Port-au Prince as we seek truth and justice for the family of President Moise and the people of Haiti,” the letter said. Haiti will receive $75.5 million in U.S. assistance this year, Psaki said, for “democratic governance, health, education, agricultural development, strengthening of pre-election activities, strengthening peace and law enforcement.” She said bolstering “law enforcement capacity” remains a key U.S. priority.  The Biden administration has earmarked $5 million for the Haitian National Police force (PNH), which is already receiving assistance from the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The money will be used to quell gang violence. Haiti’s police force has been criticized in recent years for human rights abuses, corruption and mismanagement of resources. On the immigration front, the White House press secretary said the United States has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible Haitians currently living in the U.S. The decision was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in May. To help Haiti combat a COVID-19 surge that began last month, Psaki said the U.S. plans to deliver coronavirus vaccines to Haiti “as early as next week.” Haiti’s airports were closed hours after the assassination of the president as law enforcement sought to cut off escape routes to possible suspects. Psaki said the delivery of the vaccines would depend on the status of the airport. In remarks to reporters Friday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric expressed concerns about the possible humanitarian implications the current crisis could have on the Haitian people. “Our colleagues are telling us that following the assassination of the president, efforts to respond to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the country are being put at risk,” Dujarric said. “The situation is also threatening efforts to provide humanitarian assistance, especially food and water, to people who have been internally displaced due to recent gang attacks.” Dujarric said humanitarian aid flights planned for Wednesday and Thursday were canceled. Helen La Lime, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general in Haiti, has been in contact with Haitian officials, the spokesperson told reporters, and is pushing for “an inclusive political compromise” to solve the political crisis and sustain stability.  Meanwhile in Tabarre, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, dozens of Haitians gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy to request political asylum. “Whenever there’s a catastrophe in Haiti, people always seek refuge at the embassy. People don’t feel safe, that’s why they’re here,” a man who did not give his name told VOA Creole. He said some people arrived Thursday night. Asked if anyone from the embassy had come out to speak with the group, the man said no. “If something happens, they will stay here and if they have a chance to leave the country they’ll go,” the man said. This story includes information from Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara, United Nations Correspondent Margaret Besheer,and Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti contributed to this report.
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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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Haiti has asked the United States and the United Nations to deploy troops to the country to protect key infrastructure in the aftermath of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.Elections Minister Mathias Pierre told media outlets, including Reuters and Agence France-Presse, that the request for U.S. troop assistance was made Wednesday during a conversation between Haiti’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He said Joseph made a request for U.N. troops with the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.”We were in a situation where we believed that infrastructure of the country – the port, airport and energy infrastructure – might be a target,” Elections Minister Pierre told Reuters.Reuters quoted an anonymous senior U.S. administration official who said the United States has no plans to provide military assistance to Haiti “at this time.”The United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.Earlier Friday, the Biden administration said it was sending senior Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in response to a request from the Haitian government for security and investigative assistance.White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday the U.S. officials will “assess the situation and how we may be able to assist.”“The United States remains engaged in close consultations with our Haitian and international partners to support the Haitian people in the aftermath of the assassination of the president,” she said.Haiti is in turmoil since Moise was shot to death at his private residence early Wednesday. Interim Prime Minister Joseph said he is in charge. Haitian officials have requested help from the United States to maintain security and help in the investigation to find those responsible for the assassination.Bocchit Edmond, Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S., sent a letter to Blinken requesting sanctions against those implicated in the crime.“We further request for the Biden administration to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act on all perpetrators who are directly responsible or aided and abetted in the execution of the assassination of the president. We look forward to working with the U.S. Embassy in Port-au Prince as we seek truth and justice for the family of President Moise and the people of Haiti,” the letter said.Police search the Morne Calvaire district of Petion Ville for suspects who remain at large in the murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 9, 2021.Haiti will receive $75.5 million in U.S. assistance this year, Psaki said, for “democratic governance, health, education, agricultural development, strengthening of preelection activities, strengthening peace and law enforcement.” She said bolstering “law enforcement capacity” remains a key U.S. priority.The Biden administration has earmarked $5 million for the Haitian National Police force (PNH), which is already receiving assistance from the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The money will be used to quell gang violence.Haiti’s police force has been criticized in recent years for human rights abuses, corruption and mismanagement of resources.On the immigration front, the White House press secretary said the United States has extended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for eligible Haitians currently living in the U.S. The decision was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in May.To help Haiti combat a COVID-19 surge that began last month, Psaki said the U.S. plans to deliver coronavirus vaccines to Haiti “as early as next week.” Haiti’s airports were closed hours after the assassination of the president as law enforcement sought to cut off escape routes to possible suspects. Psaki said the delivery of the vaccines would depend on the status of the airport.In remarks to reporters Friday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric expressed concerns about the possible humanitarian implications the current crisis could have on the Haitian people.A charred car and building are pictured near the Petionville Police station where suspects of being involved in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise are being held, in Petionville, Haiti, July 9, 2021.“Our colleagues are telling us that following the assassination of the president, efforts to respond to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the country are being put at risk,” Dujarric said. “The situation is also threatening efforts to provide humanitarian assistance, especially food and water, to people who have been internally displaced due to recent gang attacks.”Dujarric said humanitarian aid flights planned for Wednesday and Thursday were canceled.Helen La Lime, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general in Haiti, has been in contact with Haitian officials, the spokesperson told reporters, and is pushing for “an inclusive political compromise” to solve the political crisis and sustain stability.Meanwhile in Tabarre, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, dozens of Haitians gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy to request political asylum.“Whenever there’s a catastrophe in Haiti, people always seek refuge at the embassy. People don’t feel safe, that’s why they’re here,” a man who did not give his name told VOA Creole. He said some people arrived Thursday night.Asked if anyone from the embassy had come out to speak with the group, the man said no.“If something happens, they will stay here and if they have a chance to leave the country they’ll go,” the man said.White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara, United Nations Correspondent Margaret Besheer and Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti contributed to this report.
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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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The Biden administration is sending senior Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security officials to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in response to a request from the Haitian government for security and investigative assistance after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday that the U.S. officials would “assess the situation and how we may be able to assist.”“The United States remains engaged in close consultations with our Haitian and international partners to support the Haitian people in the aftermath of the assassination of the president,” she said.Haiti is in turmoil since Moise was shot to death at his private residence early Wednesday. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph says he is in charge. Haitian officials have requested help from the United States to maintain security and aid in the investigation to find those responsible for the assassination.Sanctions soughtBocchit Edmond, Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S., sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting sanctions against those implicated in the crime.“We further request for the Biden administration to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act on all perpetrators who are directly responsible or aided and abetted in the execution of the assassination of the president. We look forward to working with the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince as we seek truth and justice for the family of President Moise and the people of Haiti,” the letter said.A charred car and building are pictured near the Petionville police station, where suspects in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise are being held, in Petionville, Haiti, July 9, 2021.Haiti will receive $75.5 million in U.S. assistance this year, Psaki said, for “democratic governance, health, education, agricultural development, strengthening of pre-election activities, strengthening peace and law enforcement.” She said bolstering “law enforcement capacity” remained a key U.S. priority.The Biden administration has earmarked $5 million for the Haitian National Police force, which is already receiving assistance from the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The money will be used to quell gang violence.Haiti’s police force has been criticized in recent years for human rights abuses, corruption and mismanagement of resources.On the immigration front, the White House press secretary said the United States had extended Temporary Protected Status for eligible Haitians living in the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that decision in May.To help Haiti combat a COVID-19 surge that began last month, Psaki said, the U.S. plans to deliver coronavirus vaccines to Haiti “as early as next week.” Haiti’s airports were closed hours after the assassination as law enforcement sought to cut off escape routes for possible suspects. Psaki said the delivery of the vaccines would depend on the status of the airport.Humanitarian aid in jeopardyIn remarks to reporters Friday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric expressed concerns about the possible humanitarian implications the current crisis could have on the Haitian people.“Our colleagues are telling us that following the assassination of the president, efforts to respond to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases in the country are being put at risk,” Dujarric said. “The situation is also threatening efforts to provide humanitarian assistance, especially food and water, to people who have been internally displaced due to recent gang attacks.”Dujarric said humanitarian aid flights planned for Wednesday and Thursday were canceled.Helen La Lime, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general in Haiti, has been in contact with Haitian officials, the spokesperson told reporters, and is pushing for “an inclusive political compromise” to solve the political crisis and sustain stability.Haitians gather in front of the U.S. Embassy amid rumors on radio and social media that the U.S. will be handing out exile and humanitarian visas, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 9, 2021, two days after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated.Meanwhile in Tabarre, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, dozens of Haitians gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy to request political asylum.“Whenever there’s a catastrophe in Haiti, people always seek refuge at the embassy. People don’t feel safe — that’s why they’re here,” a man who did not give his name told VOA Creole. He said some people arrived Thursday night.Asked if anyone from the embassy had come out to speak with the group, the man said no one had.“If something happens, they will stay here, and if they have a chance to leave the country, they’ll go,” the man said. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara, U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer and Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.
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Residents of Lytton, British Columbia, were able to see the remains of their homes on Friday for the first time since they were forced to flee for their lives days ago.The central British Columbia town made headlines at the end of June for breaking Canada’s heat record — hitting 49.6°C (121.28°F) at its hottest — and then it was almost destroyed in a forest fire caused in part by the heat wave.The town of about 250 people had just minutes to evacuate on June 30, along with roughly 2,000 people living in nearby Indigenous communities, after a forest fire was started by what authorities suspect was human activity.Ninety percent of the town was destroyed, Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman said.”A few buildings survived in town but nearly every home in the center of the village is gone. Where many buildings stood is now simply charred earth,” Polderman wrote in an open letter published in the Merritt Herald, the local newspaper. “We want everyone to know that their bravery was incredible in the face of this unimaginable horror.”Residents had not been able to return to the town until Friday because of ongoing fires and toxic substances in the area. Roughly 250 people, including residents and media, were taken on bus tours of the town Friday afternoon, according to Thompson-Nicola Regional District, which organized the tours.”Didn’t get much sleep last night thinking about the bus tour into Lytton today,” resident Edith Loring-Kuhanga posted on Twitter. “I know it’s going to be heartbreaking but I need to go see our little town even though it’s decimated!”The scenes were a shock to residents, one told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.”We’ve seen the videos, but until you actually see it, it’s hard to believe,” Chloe Ross said. “I understand why others don’t want to go. Nothing about this feels real.”Two people died in the fire. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who have been coordinating family reunification efforts, said Friday that no one had been reported missing so far.
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The Colombians implicated in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise had been recruited by four companies and traveled to the Caribbean nation in two groups via the Dominican Republic, the head of Colombia’s police said Friday.Haitian National Police Chief Léon Charles said 17 suspects have been detained in the killing of Moise.At a news conference in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, General Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia said four companies had been involved in the “recruitment, the gathering of these people” implicated in the assassination, although he did not identify the companies because their names were still being verified.Two of the suspects traveled to Haiti via Panama and the Dominican Republic, Vargas said, while the second group of 11 arrived in Haiti on Sunday from the Dominican Republic.National Police Director Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas speaks at a press conference regarding the alleged participation of former Colombian soldiers in the killing of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse, in Bogota, Colombia, July 9, 2021.Vargas pledged Colombia’s full cooperation after Haiti said about six of the suspects, including two of the three killed, were retired members of Colombia’s army. U.S.-trained Colombian soldiers are heavily recruited by private security firms in global conflict zones because of their experience in fighting leftist rebels and powerful drug cartels.Recruited to provide ‘protection’The wife of one former Colombian soldier in custody said he had been recruited by a security firm to travel to the Dominican Republic last month.The woman, who identified herself only as Yuli, told Colombia’s W Radio that her husband, Francisco Uribe, had been hired for $2,700 a month by a company named CTU to travel to the Dominican Republic, where he was told he would provide protection to some powerful families. She last spoke to him, she said, at 10 p.m. Wednesday, almost a day after Moise’s killing, and he was on guard duty at a house where he and others were staying.”The next day he wrote me a message that sounded like a farewell,” the woman said. “They were running. They had been attacked. … That was the last contact I had.”The woman said she knew little about her husband’s activities and was unaware he had even traveled to Haiti.Uribe is under investigation for his alleged role in extrajudicial killings by Colombia’s army more than a decade ago. Colombian court records show that he and another soldier were accused in 2008 of killing a civilian whom they later tried to present as a criminal slain in combat.Besides the Colombians, among those detained by police were two Haitian Americans. Some of the suspects were seized in a raid on the Taiwan Embassy, where they are believed to have sought refuge.Plan allegedly was to arrest, not killInvestigative Judge Clément Noël told the French-language newspaper Le Nouvelliste that the Haitian Americans arrested, James Solages and Joseph Vincent, had said the attackers originally had planned only to arrest Moise, not kill him. Noël said Solages and Vincent had been acting as translators for the attackers, the newspaper reported Friday.FILE – Journalists stand next to a yellow police cordon near the residence of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise after he was shot dead by unidentified attackers, in Port-au-Prince, July 7, 2021.The attack, which took place at Moise’s home before dawn Wednesday, also seriously wounded his wife, who was flown to the U.S. city of Miami, Florida, for treatment.The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but would not comment.Solages, 35, described himself as a “certified diplomatic agent,” an advocate for children and a budding politician on a now-removed website for a charity he started in 2019 in South Florida to assist residents of his hometown of Jacmel, on Haiti’s southern coast.Solages also said he had worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti, and on his Facebook page, which was also taken down after news of his arrest, he showcased photos of armored military vehicles and of himself standing in front of an American flag.Canada’s foreign relations department released a statement that did not refer to Solages by name but said that one of the men detained for his alleged role in the killing had been “briefly employed as a reserve bodyguard” at its embassy by a private contractor.Calls to the charity and Solages’ associates went unanswered. However, a relative in South Florida said Solages did not have any military training, and that he didn’t believe Solages was involved in the killing. “I feel like my son killed my brother because I love my president and I love James Solages,” Schubert Dorisme, whose wife is Solages’ aunt, told WPLG in Miami.The Taiwan Embassy in Port-au-Prince said police had arrested 11 individuals trying to break into the compound early Thursday.
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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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WASHINGTON / PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI / MIAMI – Residents of the Jalousie slum in the Haitian capital say they discovered several of the alleged killers linked to the assassination of President Jovenel Moise and helped the national police to arrest them.   “We saw three guys appear in the neighborhood and they were asking us for information. One of the guys tried to fight us, so the residents of Jalousie banded together and we captured them, brought them down to the police station and handed them over,” a Jalousie resident told VOA Creole on condition of anonymity. He said some of the men were naked and threw their weapons into the brush. Another Jalousie resident who spoke to VOA Creole in front of the police station where the suspects are being held said they were easy to identify because of their skin color.   “The people of Jalousie, when we heard that the mercenaries were in our neighborhood – we went to look for them and we found them hiding in the brush,” the man, who did not give his name, told VOA. “These guys came to our country because we are a small (nation) and they tried to overpower our legal system. I can tell you that as a young man, this is the first time I’ve ever experienced something like this. I only previously read about things like this in history books.”   Another man who said he helped apprehend the foreigners said Jalousie residents are angry over the killing by foreigners of their president.   “It’s our president they killed, so we couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. He was the president of the Haitian people. This morning (Thursday) we helped police arrest four men, we want to make them talk (now) and we’ll keep looking for the rest of them who are still hiding out there somewhere,” said the man. “We will turn them over to police. We want them to tell us who plotted with them to kill the president. We will search and find each and every one of them.” Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise are shown to the media at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 8, 2021.In custody  
 
More than a dozen people have been detained in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, officials said late Thursday. Haitian authorities described a heavily armed hit squad of 28 “mercenaries,” made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, involved in the killing of Moise, 53, at his private residence in a wealthy suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, before dawn on Wednesday. Haiti National Police Director Leon Charles said Thursday that 17 men had been detained — the two American citizens and 15 Colombians. Charles said that three suspects had been killed and eight were still at large. Earlier, police had said four suspects had been killed. Neither Charles nor police officials explained the discrepancy. “The pursuit of the mercenaries continues,” Charles said. “Their fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested.” Early Friday, Taiwan released a statement saying that 11 suspects were caught on the grounds of its embassy in Port-au-Prince after attempting to flee police. “The police launched an operation around 4:00 p.m. (Thursday) and managed to arrest 11 suspects,” the Taiwanese Embassy statement said. Communiqué de Presse Concernant l’Arrestation des Mercenaires à l’Ambassadehttps://t.co/tluc2p2YEf— Embassy Republic of China(Taiwan) in Haiti (@Tw_Haiti) July 9, 2021Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections, Thursday identified the two Haitian Americans as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55. The U.S. State Department has not confirmed the reports that two U.S. citizens are in detention. Late Thursday, Colombia’s government confirmed that at least six of the suspects, including two of those killed, appeared to be retired members of the Colombian army. It did not identify the suspects. 
 FILE – Congresswoman Frederica Wilson speaks outside of of the Little Haiti Cultural Center, May 25, 2021, in Miami.Miami diaspora reacts  
 
In Miami, U.S. Representative Frederica Wilson met with members of the Haitian diaspora in the Little Haiti neighborhood Thursday to discuss the Moise assassination.   
 
“It frightens me to think that somebody would come into the president’s home and murder him. I mean, who does that?! And how did they get in?” Wilson told VOA, adding that she was very pleased with the turnout.  
 
Wilson expressed fear that the situation in Haiti will soon deteriorate and said the U.S. should take action.  
 
“It’s really the State Department who needs to act today because this is just the calm ahead of the storm and it’s going to be real bad,” Wilson told VOA.  
 
Over 200,000 Haitian Americans call the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida area home, according to the Migration Policy Institute. 
 
Haitian American activist Marleine Bastien, who heads the Family Action Network Movement, FANM, told VOA she was alerted to the news of the assassination in the early morning hours of Wednesday, when she began receiving phone calls.  
 
“We are shocked, we are saddened because the fact that thugs were able to enter the president’s home and assassinate him shows that no one is safe in Haiti,” Bastien told VOA in Creole.  
 
She said going forward the diaspora has an important role to play in helping Haiti get back on its feet.  
 
“Stay calm, don’t participate in violence. Let’s speak with one voice,” Bastien said, addressing Haitians back in her native land as well as the diaspora.  “We need a council of government that can create a national dialogue, listen to voices from all sectors of society and develop a short-term and long-term strategy for the country. Haiti is a blessed country. Haiti has a global diaspora that loves the homeland. We have resources, we have competent people all over the world who are ready to pitch in to help rebuild Haiti. “  
 
The need for a national dialogue was also expressed by Father Reginald Jean-Marie, who works at the Notre Dame Catholic Church in Little Haiti.  
 
“There must be a national council, a council of wise people, who reflect all sectors of society who can name a group of serious people who can organize credible elections to lead Haiti out of this crisis,” Father Jean Marie told VOA. “That way, President Moise and all the other Haitians who have been killed will not have died in vain.” 
 
The Haitian priest said the international community also has an important role to play in helping Haiti.  
 
“The international community needs to be honest in its dealings and not just offer up a band-aid but effect real change. There is currently a constitutional vacuum plaguing the country. We see an acting prime minister making decisions – who had recently been fired, who had officially resigned, who had returned to his position as foreign minister – we know Haiti needs leadership, we thank Claude Joseph for stepping in to fill the void, but Haiti cannot go on like this,” Father Jean-Marie said.  
 Leadership vacuum  
 
A day before his death, President Moise had named Ariel Henry, a Haitian politician and neurosurgeon, to replace Joseph as prime minister. In a brief interview with the Associated Press, Henry claimed he was the prime minister, but he acknowledged it was an unusual situation. 
 
Haiti’s constitution says Moise should be replaced by the president of the country’s Supreme Court, but the chief justice died recently from COVID-19.Claude Joseph, Haiti’s acting prime ministerHaiti is currently under a “state of siege,” announced by interim Prime Minister Joseph a few hours after President Moise’s assassination.  An official decree issued Wednesday said the state of siege would be in effect for 15 days.  In addition, the country’s border with the Dominican Republic and its airports are closed.  
 
Brian Concannon, a human rights lawyer, a former United Nations human rights officer, and the founder of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, told VOA that the state of siege allows police to do “anything necessary” in pursuit of the killers. “Although almost everybody wants the police to pursue the killers effectively, there’s great concern that this can be abused to round up political opponents,” he said. “There really is nothing — no structures to stop the government from arresting its political opponents under this decree.” 
 
The U.S. has pledged to help Haiti investigate the president’s assassination.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 13 MB540p | 17 MB720p | 37 MB1080p | 69 MBOriginal | 238 MB Embed” />Copy Download Audio
 State Department correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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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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More than a dozen people have been detained in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, officials said late Thursday.Haitian authorities described a heavily armed hit squad of 28 “mercenaries,” made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, involved in the killing of Moise, 53, at his private residence in a wealthy suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, before dawn on Wednesday.Haiti National Police Director Leon Charles said Thursday that 17 men had been detained, the two American citizens and 15 Colombians.Charles said that three suspects had been killed and eight were still at large. Earlier, police had said four suspects had been killed. Neither Charles nor police officials explained the discrepancy.”The pursuit of the mercenaries continues,” Charles said. “Their fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested.”Early Friday, Taiwan released a statement saying that 11 suspects were caught on the grounds of the embassy in Port-au-Prince after attempting to flee police.”The police launched an operation around 4:00 p.m. (Thursday) and managed to arrest 11 suspects,” the Taiwanese Embassy statement said.Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s minister of elections, Thursday identified the two Haitian Americans as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55.The U.S. State Department has not confirmed the reports that two U.S. citizens are in detention.Late Thursday, Colombia’s government confirmed that at least six of the suspects, including two of those killed, appeared to be retired members of the Colombian army. It did not identify the suspects.Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph placed the country under a “state of siege” — in effect, martial law.”This death will not go unpunished,” Joseph told the impoverished nation of 11 million people in an address Wednesday.Brian Concannon, a human rights lawyer, a former United Nations human rights officer, and the founder of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, told VOA that the state of siege allows police to do “anything necessary” in pursuit of the killers.”Although almost everybody wants the police to pursue the killers effectively, there’s great concern that this can be abused to round up political opponents,” he said.”There really is nothing — no structures to stop the government from arresting its political opponents under this decree.”Police officers patrol in search for suspects in the murder Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 8, 2021.Officials did not provide much further detail about the detained suspects, those killed in the gun battle or what led police to them. They said only that the attack was carried out by “a highly trained and heavily armed group,” with the assailants speaking Spanish or English.The motivation for the assassination remains unclear. Haiti has long endured poverty and political turmoil, however.Carl Henry Destin, a Haitian judge, told Le Nouvelliste newspaper that the attackers had posed as agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but both U.S. and Haitian officials said the gunmen had no links to the agency.Destin told the newspaper the attackers tied up a maid and another household staff worker as they headed to the president’s bedroom, where they shot Moise at least 12 times.”The offices and the president’s bedroom were ransacked,” Destin said. “We found him lying on his back, blue pants, white shirt stained with blood, mouth open, left eye blown out.”Moise’s wife, Martine Moise, was injured in the attack and airlifted more than 1,100 kilometers to a trauma center in Miami, Florida, in the United States. Joseph, the prime minister, said she was “out of danger” and in stable condition.While Joseph claimed leadership of Haiti, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, his tenure may be short-lived.Haiti’s constitution says Moise should be replaced by the president of the country’s Supreme Court, but the chief justice died recently from COVID-19. In addition, a day before his assassination, Moise had named Ariel Henry, a Haitian politician and neurosurgeon, to replace Joseph as prime minister.In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Henry claimed he was the prime minister, but he acknowledged it was an unusual situation.The United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting for Thursday afternoon to discuss Haiti’s crisis. In a statement, its members called for “all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint” and avoid “any act that could contribute to further instability.”U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “shocked and saddened” by the assassination.”We condemn this heinous act,” Biden said in a statement. “I am sending my sincere wishes for first lady Moise’s recovery.”State Department correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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