Haiti's new US-backed leader angrily pulled his ambassador from Jamaica for hosting ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whose return to the Caribbean threatened more violent protests to demand his return to the traumatized country.
A gunman presumed to be a militant Aristide supporter shot and wounded a US Marine. The first peacekeeper casualty since Aristide fled Haiti two weeks ago was seen as revenge for the killings of two Haitians by Marines that some Haitians accused of being trigger-happy.
At least three people accused of destabilizing Haiti were arrested among a dozen in a police crackdown that appeared to target Aristide partisans.
Aristide, who has accused the US of abducting him and forcing his departure from Haiti on Feb. 29, made no political comment when he arrived in Kingston on Monday, apparently bowing to Jamaica's demand that he not use the neighboring island to pursue his campaign to return to Haiti.
Aristide and his wife, Mildred, were whisked away on a helicopter to what officials said was a rural prime ministerial residence.
But Aristide indicated when he left the Central African Republic that he had not abandoned his ambitions.
"For the time being, I'm listening to my people," he said.
That would be the roar of distress expressed most eloquently by Port-au-Prince slum dwellers threatening new protests to demand his return as Haiti's democratically elected president, and who see the US-led multinational force as a foreign occupation army.
Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue suspended diplomatic relations with Jamaica and Haiti's membership of the 15-member Caribbean economic bloc.
Under the chairmanship of Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, the Caribbean Community has called for an investigation into Aristide's claim that the US forced an elected president from power. US officials say they acted at Aristide's request and probably saved his life as rebels prepared to attack the Haitian capital.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Aristide's looming presence "does not serve a useful purpose. But he's here. He's on a private visit. And he's here temporarily as a former president of Haiti."
Jamaican officials said they were allowing the Aristides a respite to reunite with their two daughters at a rural government retreat for up to 10 weeks while they decide on a permanent home in exile. Unofficially, Jamaican officials say Aristide wants to go to South Africa.
"There are people trying to destabilize the country. It may be ex-president Aristide himself who is contributing by giving money and advice," Latortue suggested.
Under a US-backed plan, he was to name some Cabinet members yesterday to help form a transitional government, uniting former enemies from Aristide's Lavalas Family party and a disparate opposition coalition. But the only names put forward as sure winners so far are anti-Aristide.
Police on Sunday arrested a dozen people including key Aristide partisans, for a range of alleged crimes from murder to drug-trafficking.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the