Doubts raised about who was behind the assassination of Haiti’s president
Police claims that Jovenel Moïse was killed by a mainly Colombian hit squad thrown into doubt
Questions have been raised over Haiti’s official narrative for the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moïse, who was gunned down at his mansion in Port-au-Prince last Wednesday.
Haitian police and the politicians who stepped into the political vacuum created by Moïse’s killing have claimed he was shot at about 1am by members of a predominantly Colombian hit squad who had stormed the president’s hillside residence. “Foreigners came to our country to kill the president,” police chief Léon Charles alleged after the shooting.
However, opposition politicians and media reports in Haiti and Colombia are now casting doubt on that version, as uncertainty grips the Caribbean country and the streets of the capital remain eerily quiet amid fears Haiti is lurching into a new phase of political and social upheaval.
Opinion: Tokyo Olympics without fans is the least they can do
Due to the pandemic, the Olympic Games will take place without spectators for the first time. Unlike UEFA, the organizers in Tokyo have shown the minimal level of responsibility, says DW's Stefan Nestler.
"We had no choice," said Seiko Hashimoto, the head of the Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee, after announcing the decision to ban spectators from next month's Games.
It's been clear for several months that foreign visitors would not be able to travel to Japan, but organizers had hoped to allow 10,000 local fans per event in order to create at least a semblance of Olympic flare.
But now, it's official: for the first time ever, the Olympic Games will take place in empty arenas. Welcome to Tokyo 2021: The Coronavirus Games.
Southeast Asia sees surge in Covid cases as Delta variant tears through region
Several countries around Asia and the Pacific that are experiencing their first major surges of the coronavirus rushed to impose tough restrictions, a year and a half into a pandemic that many initially weathered well.
Faced with rapidly rising numbers of infections in recent months, authorities in such countries as Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam announced or imposed measures Friday that they hope can slow the spread before health care systems are overwhelmed.
It's a rhythm familiar in much of the world, where repeated surges deluged hospitals and led to high numbers of deaths. But many Asian countries avoided that cycle by imposing stiff travel restrictions combined with tough measures at home.
Following Trump’s cue, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro clouds vote with fraud claims
By Diane Jeantet and Debora Alvares
Brazil’s presidential election is 15 months away, yet barely a day passes without President Jair Bolsonaro raising the spectre of fraud and warning that he will be entitled to reject the results unless Congress overhauls the voting system.
He has mentioned potential vote fraud more than 20 times in the past two months and even floated the idea of cancelling the election altogether.
“I don’t mind handing over the government next year, to whomever it is, but with an honest vote, not with fraud,” Bolsonaro told supporters July 1 outside the presidential residence. Later that day, he was harping on the issue again. “They say I don’t have proof of fraud. You don’t have proof that there’s no fraud either!”
How marginalized communities in the South are the price for 'green energy' in Europe
By Majlie de Puy Kamp Cnn
Andrea Macklin never turns off his TV. It’s the only way to drown out the noise from the wood mill bordering his backyard, the jackhammer sound of the plant piercing his walls and windows. The 18-wheelers carrying logs rumble by less than 100 feet from his house, all day and night, shaking it as if an earthquake has taken over this tranquil corner of North Carolina. He’s been wearing masks since long before the coronavirus pandemic, just to keep the dust out of his lungs.
Some nights, he only sleeps for two or three hours. Breathing is a chore.
“I haven’t had proper rest since they’ve been here,” he said.
That was eight years ago, when the world’s largest biomass producer, Enviva, opened its second North Carolina facility just west of Macklin’s property in Garysburg. The operation takes mostly hardwood trees and spits out biomass, or wood pellets, a highly processed and compressed wood product burned to generate energy. Enviva is one of nearly a dozen similar companies benefiting from a sustainability commitment made 4,000 miles away, more than a decade ago.
After battlefield reversals, what next for Ethiopia’s Tigray war?
Questions loom over the next phase of a devastating conflict that has left civilians at risk of famine.
The capture of Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, by Ethiopian forces in late November was depicted by the government in Addis Ababa as the finishing blow to forces loyal to the northern region’s former government.
But on June 29, seven months after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared victory, his troops vacated Mekelle amid battleground defeats following the launch of a major counteroffensive by the Tigrayan forces.
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