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Four Points by Sheraton Phuket Patong Beach Resort
Hua Hin Marriott Resort & Spa
JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok
JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa
JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa
Le Méridien Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok Golf Resort & Spa
Suspects in the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise are displayed to the media at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Seventeen suspects have been detained so far in the stunning assassination of Haiti’s president, and Haitian authorities say two are believed to hold dual U.S.-Haitian citizenship and Colombia’s government says at least six are former members of its army.
Léon Charles, chief of Haiti’s National Police, said Thursday night that 15 of the detainees were from Colombia.
The police chief said eight more suspects were being sought and three others had been killed by police. Charles had earlier said seven were killed.
“We are going to bring them to justice,” the police chief said, the 17 handcuffed suspects sitting on the floor during a news conference on developments following the brazen killing of President Jovenel Moïse at his home before dawn Wednesday.
Colombia’s government said it had been asked about six of the suspects in Haiti, including two of those killed, and had determined they were retired members of its army. It didn’t release their identities.
The head of the Colombian national police, Gen. Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia, said President Iván Duque had ordered the high command of Colombia’s army and police to cooperate in the investigation.
“A team was formed with the best investigators … they are going to send dates, flight times, financial information that is already being collected to be sent to Port-au-Prince,” Vargas said.
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that Haitian Americans were in custody but could not confirm or comment.
Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise are shown to the media, along with the weapons and equipment they allegedly used in the attack, at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
The Haitian Americans were identified by Haitian officials as James Solages and Joseph Vincent. Solages, at age 35, is the youngest of the suspects and the oldest is 55, according to a document shared by Haiti’s minister of elections, Mathias Pierre. He would not provide further information on those in custody.
Solages described himself as a “certified diplomatic agent,” an advocate for children and budding politician on a website for a charity he started in 2019 in south Florida to assist people in the Haitian coastal town of Jacmel. On his bio page for the charity, Solages said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti.
Canada’s foreign relation department released a statement that did not refer to Solages by name but said 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. He gave no other details.
Calls to the charity and Solages’ associates at the charity either did not go through or weren’t answered.
Witnesses said a crowd discovered two of the suspects Thursday hiding in bushes in Port-au-Prince, and some people grabbed the men by their shirts and pants, pushed them and occasionally slapped them. An Associated Press journalist saw officers put the pair in the back of a pickup and drive away as the crowd ran after them to a nearby police station.
“They killed the president! Give them to us! We’re going to burn them,” people chanted outside.
The crowd later set fire to several abandoned cars riddled with bullet holes that they believed belonged to the suspects. The cars didn’t have license plates, and inside one was an empty box of bullets and some water.
Later, Charles urged people to stay calm and let his officers do their work. He cautioned that authorities needed evidence that was being destroyed, including the burned cars.
Officials have given out little information on the killing, other than to say the attack was carried out by “a highly trained and heavily armed group.”
Not everyone was buying the government’s description of the attack. When Haitian journalist Robenson Geffrard, who writes for a local newspaper and has a radio show, tweeted a report on comments by the police chief, he drew a flood of responses expressing skepticism. Many wondered how the sophisticated attackers described by police could penetrate Moïse’s home, security detail and panic room and escape unharmed but then be caught without planning a successful getaway.
A Haitian judge involved in the investigation said Moïse was shot a dozen times and his office and bedroom were ransacked, according to the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste. It quoted Judge Carl Henry Destin as saying investigators found 5.56 and 7.62 mm cartridges between the gatehouse and inside the house.
Moïse’s daughter, Jomarlie Jovenel, hid in her brother’s bedroom during the attack, and a maid and another worker were tied up by the attackers, the judge said.
Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who assumed leadership of Haiti with the backing of police and the military, asked people to reopen businesses and go back to work as he ordered the reopening of the international airport.
Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, among them Haitian-American citizens James Solages, left, and Joseph Vincent, second left, are shown to the media at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, July 8, 2021. Photo: Joseph Odelyn / AP
Joseph decreed a two-week state of siege after the assassination, which stunned a nation already in crisis from some of the Western Hemisphere’s worst poverty, widespread violence and political instability.
Haiti had grown increasingly unstable under Moïse, who had been ruling by decree for more than a year and faced violent protests as critics accused him of trying to amass more power while the opposition demanded he step down.
The U.N. Security Council met privately Thursday to discuss the situation in Haiti, and U.N. special envoy Helen La Lime said afterward that Haitian officials had asked for additional security assistance.
Public transportation and street vendors remained scarce Thursday, an unusual sight for the normally bustling streets of Port-au-Prince.
Marco Destin was walking to see his family since no buses, known as tap-taps, were available. He was carrying a loaf of bread for them because they had not left their house since the president’s killing out of fear for their lives.
“Every one at home is sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed,” he said. “If the head of state is not protected, I don’t have any protection whatsoever.”
Gunfire rang out intermittently across the city hours after the killing, a grim reminder of the growing power of gangs that displaced more than 14,700 people last month alone as they torched and ransacked homes in a fight over territory.
Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said gangs were a force to contend with and it isn’t certain Haiti’s security forces can enforce a state of siege.
“It’s a really explosive situation,” he said.
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Story: Evens Sanon, Dánica Coto and Joshua Goodman. Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Goodman reported from Miami. AP videographer Pierre-Richard Luxama in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.
In this Oct. 26, 2014, file photo, customers including Buddhist monk line up outside a showroom to buy SIM card at Telenor, Norwegian telecommunication company, in Yangon, Myanmar. Photo: Khin Maung Win, File / AP
BANGKOK (AP) — The Norwegian telecoms company Telenor, one of the biggest carriers in Myanmar, said Thursday it has agreed to sell its entire operations in the country to the M1 Group, a Lebanese-based investment firm, for $105 million.
Telenor earlier announced it was writing off the value of the business after a military takeover ignited a public backlash and the authorities imposed limits on mobile and internet access.
“Further deterioration of the situation and recent developments in Myanmar form the basis for the decision to divest the company,” Telenor said in a statement.
It said Beirut-based M1 Group would take over its entire Myanmar business, acquiring 100% of the company, its spectrum, licenses, contracts and operations, employees and customers. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals in Myanmar.
The implied value of the entire business is about $600 million, it said.
Telenor earlier had said its continued presence in the country would depend on whether it could “contribute positively to the people of Myanmar” under the current military leadership, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Many foreign companies with investments in Myanmar are in the awkward situation of balancing their own interests and those of their employees against pressure both inside and outside the country to comply with sanctions against its military leaders.
Some companies have suspended construction projects or halted payments of dividends in response to such calls.
The telecoms sector is a particularly sensitive one given vital role the internet and mobile communications play in sharing information about protests and actions by the authorities.
“Telenor was put between a rock and a hard place” by demands “that it switch on phone intercept technology to help track customers who are politically opposing the military” government, Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said.
The military takeover in Myanmar interrupted a faltering, decade-long move toward a civilian, democratically elected government after decades of military rule that began soon after the country, also known as Burma, gained independence from Britain.
Telenor said that the situation in Myanmar was growing increasingly challenging due to security, regulatory and compliance reasons.
“We have evaluated all options and believe a sale of the company is the best possible solution in this situation,” Sigve Brekke, president and CEO of Telenor Group, said in a statement.
M1 Group is a diversified company with interests in investments, real estate, fashion, financial technology and telecom services. Its MTN network provides services in Africa and the Middle East.
Other mobile phone carriers include the local phone company MPT, Ooredoo of Qatar and Myanmar National Tele & Communications Co. (Mytel), a joint venture with Vietnam’s Viettel.
In this Wednesday, July 7, 2021, photo, tourist Liron Or, second from left, from Israel, and her family enjoy their vacation on Patong Beach Phuket, southern Thailand. Photo: Tiwa Suvarnabhanu / AP
BANGKOK (AP) — A week into an ambitious but risky plan to open the Thai resort island of Phuket to vaccinated visitors, signs were encouraging that the gambit to resuscitate the decimated tourism industry was working, even as infections elsewhere in the country surged Thursday to record highs.
After seeing fewer than 5,000 foreign travelers over the first five months of the year, the island off Thailand’s southwest coast, whose economy is 95% reliant on the tourist industry, welcomed 2,399 visitors during the first week of July.
The so-called Phuket sandbox plan relies on a strategy of vaccinations, testing and restrictions — measures that officials are hoping are strict enough to mitigate any COVID-19 threat, while still providing enough freedom for tourists to enjoy a beach vacation.
In the week before the sandbox started on July 1, Phuket saw 17 new cases of the coronavirus. The numbers climbed the first week, but remained low at 27 new cases.
At the same time, Thailand as a whole has seen a spike in infections, with a record 7,058 cases reported Thursday with 75 deaths, which has made many skeptical about pursuing the Phuket reopening at this time.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has come under personal fire for his handling of the surge, and political cartoons have depicted him sitting on the beach enjoying himself while Thais die from the virus.
Prayuth was also forced to self-isolate this week after a businessman he had contact with at the sandbox launch tested positive for COVID-19.
Health workers collect nasal swabs from local residents for coronavirus testing in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, July 8, 2021. Photo: Sakchai Lalit / AP
Last-minute issues with the program meant some cancelations before it even began, and the initial target of 30,000 visitors for July was reduced to 18,000. Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, president of Phuket Tourism Association, said now that the program is up and running he expects 30,000 visitors from outside Thailand in August.
There’s still a lot of ground to make up to get back to the 2 million foreigners Phuket saw in the first five months of last year as the pandemic was beginning.
“The COVID-19 situation might affect the overall picture of the country, but I believe that the visitors will understand that Phuket is safe enough for them so it should not affect their travel plans,” he said.
Liron Or, a tourist from Israel, decided on a 10-day trip to Phuket with her husband and five children when she first heard about the sandbox plan three weeks ago.
They arrived on day one and she said the opportunity to relax on holiday has outweighed any of the mandated precautions.
“The process is not too difficult,” she said. “And this trip gives our children such big joy. There are not too many tourists here at the moment on the beaches.”
Travelers arriving elsewhere in Thailand are subject to a strict 14-day hotel room quarantine, but under the sandbox plan, visitors to Phuket can roam the entire island — the country’s largest — where they can lounge on beaches, jet ski and eat out in restaurants.
Visitors are only permitted from countries considered no higher than “medium” risk. Most so far have come from the U.S., Britain, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
Adult foreign visitors must provide proof of full vaccination, a negative COVID-19 test no more than 72 hours before departure, and proof of insurance that covers virus treatment, among other things. Once on the island, they have to follow mask and distancing regulations and take three COVID-19 tests at their own expense — about $300 total — and show negative results.
After 14 days, visitors can travel elsewhere in Thailand without further restrictions.
Ahead of the program’s launch, some 70% of the island’s approximately 450,000 residents received at least one vaccine dose, and all front-line workers in restaurants, hotels and elsewhere were fully vaccinated.
In this Wednesday, July 7, 2021, photo, tourists walk along a mostly empty Patong Beach on Phuket, southern Thailand. Photo: Tiwa Suvarnabhanu / AP
So far, only one visitor has tested positive for the coronavirus; a man from the UAE who was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Angela Luxy Smith, a Briton who works in Qatar and had been a regular visitor to Thailand in the past, leapt at the chance to return.
She and her husband plan to take full advantage of the program, staying in Phuket for the initial 14 days and then traveling to other places in Thailand, before returning to Phuket for another week to wrap up a 40-day holiday.
She and her husband were amazed at how many restaurants were open in some areas that cater more to residents, but said much remains closed at beaches more popular with tourists.
“It’s so strange, quiet and closed — so sad for many people who rely on tourism,” she said. “We hope people come back very soon.”
Phuket currently has 131,809 room nights booked for July, with 9,745 booked for August and 1,094 booked for September.
Before the pandemic, some 20% of Thailand’s economy was related to the tourism industry and other areas in the country are closely watching the Phuket experiment as they look to gradually reopen themselves.
For Richard Van Driel Vis, his trip that began this week in Phuket was the first time he’d left the Netherlands since the pandemic started.
He said getting together the documentation and fulfilling the prerequisites for the trip was “difficult and stressful” but in the end, “totally worth it.”
“I am sitting here in the bar looking at the beach, in a nice warm weather,” he said.
“It’s Phuket or stay home so I came here,” he said wryly.
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Story: David Rising and Chalida Ekvittayavechnukul. Associated Press writer Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this report.
B.Grimm Power Public Company Limited (BGRIM) unveiled its seven strategies based on the company’s vision to “Empower the World Compassionately” with BGRIM’s core values of Professionalism, Positivity, Partnership and Pioneering Spirit.
Dr Harald Link, Chairman and President of BGRIM, made the official announcement of the company’s regenerated approach to business and growth plan with a ramped-up target to achieve Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) of 10,000-megawatt capacity by 2030.
BGRIM, known as Thailand’s leading industrial power producer, will seek to accomplish the strategies by continuing to embrace its traditional principles of conducting businesses with compassion.
BGRIM is evolving to be a “Sustainable Utility Solution Provider” powered by reliable and clean energy, providing integrated services to meet changing customer needs, Dr Link explained.
BGRIM will also continue to gear up business cooperation with congenial partners both at home and abroad.
The seven strategies to drive BGRIM onto being a global energy producer consisting of:
Strategy 1: Significantly expanding natural gas and renewable energy generating capacity in the region with Power Purchase Agreements with various government units, to provide highly-efficient and stable supplies of electricity and utilities which are the cornerstones to support economic growth of various countries. This strategy will be pursued by means of greenfield project development and acquisition in Thailand and abroad. BGRIM is already present in Thailand, Lao PDR, Vietnam, South Korea, Cambodia, the Philippines and Oman.
Strategy 2: Playing a major role in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business and clean fuel supply chains. BGRIM has already secured the rights to import 1.2 million tonnes of LNG a year to Thailand. The LNG procurement rights will lead to opportunities for better cost management and business expansion both in the power sector and the distribution of LNG. Furthermore, the engagement of LNG
business and clean fuel supply chains could pave the way for development of alternative fuels which lead to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the future.
Strategy 3: Grow B2B (business-to-business) solution offerings to industrial customers. BGRIM is supplying high-quality electricity and steam to more than 300 factories in Thailand and Vietnam. The company will broaden the scope of services to include comprehensive utility and expanding service areas beyond the industrial estates to support the trend of decentralisation and raising production efficiency of the industrial sector which is vital for the growth of the country’s economy.
Strategy 4: Based on the ability to import gas to gaining a foothold in commercial and building segments by means of providing comprehensive utility services for commercial building segments. This strategy will be realised through the synergy of companies under the B.Grimm group’s umbrella.
Strategy 5: Becoming a significant regional player in the private transmission and distribution segment to support efficient transmission and distribution of electrical power. BGRIM will seek to achieve this goal by leveraging on its 25-year experience and expertise in building and overseeing power transmission and distribution systems in nine industrial estates in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The works represent part of the development of infrastructure that is essential to building Smart Cities of the future and transnational electricity supplies.
Strategy 6: Providing quality and stable energy supplies directly to buyers through a trading platform.
“The direction of the energy business from now is for powerhouses getting smaller and smaller. In the future, people will have their own power generators at homes with solar panels installed on the roofs to generate electricity for direct peer-to-peer exchange,” noted Dr Link.
Strategy 7: Champion global best practices in digital transformation. This calls for developing various business models to support “digital transformation” through cooperation with leading local and international partners in the hands of new generation teams.
Dr Link said the seven strategies will be implemented based on BGRIM’s five key success factors which encompass: 1) Capability to find attractive opportunities; 2) Capability to be an attractive partner of choice to others; 3) Capability to build, operate and maintain power plants starting from greenfield; 4) Capability to finance our growth at attractive rates; 5) Capability to embrace “digital transformation” to create a long-term growth with the goal of becoming a leading global energy producer and a net-zero carbon emissions organisation by 2050
BGRIM is operating 48 power plants and has set its sights on raising its Power Purchasing Agreements capacity from 3,682 MW in 2020 to 7,200 MW in 2025 and further to 10,000 MW in 2030. The company also aims an annual revenue target of more than 100 billion baht with a strong financial structure.
Dr Link said that BGRIM’s growth is tied to the principles of good governance, sustainability and responsible value chain management by taking into account the economic, social and environmental impacts.
In this Tuesday, July 6, 2021, photo released by the Thai Immigration Police, immigration police arrest Alex Kartun, left, a dual German-Russian national, and Russian Victor Thubnikov, right, on Phangan island in southern Thailand. Photo: Thai Immigration Police via AP
KOH PHANGAN — Two German men arrested in Thailand are expected to be extradited to Germany on suspicion of being part of a European drug trafficking gang, immigration police said Wednesday.
Police Maj. Gen. Phanthana Nutchanart identified the two suspects as 42-year-old Alex Kartun, a dual German-Russian national, and 38-year-old Alexander Wolfien, a German citizen.
He said the two were arrested Tuesday in southern Thailand at the request of German authorities for allegedly producing and distributing an illicit drug made from chemical and herbal substances. German Embassy officials said the gang distributed the drug in several European countries and some users reportedly died, Phanthana said.
The two suspects were unavailable for comment and it was not known if they had legal representation.
In this Tuesday, July 6, 2021, photo released by the Thai Immigration Police, immigration police arrest Alexander Wolfien of Germany on the resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand. Photo: Thai Immigration Police via AP
About 20 people suspected of involvement in production and sale of the drug were arrested in Germany, but the two detained Tuesday escaped to Thailand several years ago, Phanthana said. The two men face 14 charges in Germany related to trafficking the drug and two related to producing it, he said.
Kartun, who was accused of being the leader of the gang, was arrested at a luxury villa on Phangan island with a Russian companion, 42-year-old Victor Thubnikov, whom Thai police arrested for alleged possession of marijuana.
Police arrested Wolfien on the resort island of Phuket where he had more than 1 million baht ($31,000 ) in cash, several luxury watches and ownership titles for land in Phuket and Phangan worth more than 10 million baht ($310,000).
Phanthana said police will investigate the source of the two men’s funds. The suspects can challenge their extradition in court, though if they are found to be staying illegally in Thailand they may be subject to deportation without an extradition hearing.
Students protest against the February military takeover by the State Administration Council as they march at Kyauktada township in Yangon, Myanmar on Wednesday July 7, 2021. Photo: AP
BANGKOK (AP) — Pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets Wednesday in cities and towns around Myanmar to commemorate students who lost their lives in 1962 when a military dictator violently suppressed protests against harsh university discipline implemented under his regime.
The 1962 protests at Rangoon University, named after the city now called Yangon, implicitly criticized the March 2, 1962, coup in which Gen. Ne Win ended parliamentary democracy and instituted military rule that would last five decades.
The events still resonate today in Myanmar, especially after the army’s Feb. 1 takeover that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Young people have played a leading role in resisting this year’s seizure of power and hundreds have been killed by security forces.
Wednesday’s protests were small and brief but enthusiastic, using the flash mob style that nonviolent demonstrators have adopted since government troops began using lethal force to suppress them. Other militants have taken up violence against the government.
In Yangon, the country’s biggest city, protesters flashed three-finger resistance salutes as they chanted declarations of unity and denunciations of the military. Several set off smoke bombs in colorful hues, lending a festive touch to the activity, conducted at a trot to avoid the authorities.
More than a dozen university student unions called on young people to protest military dictatorship as their forebears did in 1962, the online Mizzima news site reported.
Similar protests were held in Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city, and elsewhere, according to Myanmar media.
Students have historically been the vanguard in political change in Myanmar, starting when it was a British colony called Burma. But Ne Win’s iron-fisted use of troops to crush the student protests in 1962 effectively halted serious political opposition for a generation until a major but unsuccessful 1988 democracy uprising.
One hundred or more students are believed to have been killed on July 7, 1962, and thousands were arrested. To symbolically crush the movement, Ne Win’s regime blew up the Rangoon University Students’ Union building, a historic center of resistance, the following day.
The National Unity Government, an opposition force formed this year by ousted lawmakers that calls itself the country’s legitimate ruling body, issued a statement Wednesday paying tribute “to all the comrades of the Student Youth Revolution who have sacrificed their lives … for the sake of truth and justice.”
It likened the country’s current situation to the military repression of the past.
“Despite three generations of oppression at gunpoint and the destruction of life and property, the past youths’ spirit of love for the truth, the courage to stand up against injustice still lives on today,” it said.
In this Feb. 7, 2020 file photo, Haitian President Jovenel Moise arrives for an interview at his home in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: Dieu Nalio Chery, File / AP
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse seemed to have thrown an already turbulent nation into chaos on Wednesday, with a muddled line of succession. Here is a look at the situation:
WHO WAS THE ASSASSINATED PRESIDENT?
Jovenel Moïse was a 48-year-old businessman and political neophyte when he was sworn in as president of Haiti on Feb. 7, 2017. The former banana producer inherited a nation in turmoil — one that had gone a year without an elected leader in place. He leaves it in chaos as well.
Taking office, he pledged to strengthen institutions, fight corruption and bring more investment and jobs to the hemisphere’s poorest nation. “We can change Haiti if we work together,” Moïse said on the grounds of what used to be the national palace — one of many buildings obliterated by a January 2010 earthquake that killed thousands of Haitians.
But togetherness never arrived, and his administration was plagued by massive protests from the start. Even his initial election in 2015 was annulled, forcing a re-do that he also won. Critics accused him of growing increasingly authoritarian. He had been ruling by decree for more than a year after dissolving a majority of Parliament in January 2020 amid a delay in legislative elections.
In February, Moïse told the U.N. Security Council that powerful oligarchs had made seven attempts to overthrow him. He also announced that month that about 20 people had been arrested in an assassination plot. But an appeals court later rejected the claim and released the accused plotters, who included a judge and a police inspector general.
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WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE ASSASSINATION?
Details so far are slim. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said highly trained gunmen, some speaking Spanish or English, killed the president at his home. The first lady also was shot and wounded. He said police and the armed forces were controlling security. A resident who lives near the president’s home compared the sound of the shooting to an earthquake.
Bocchit Edmond, the Haitian ambassador to the U.S., described the attackers as “well trained professional commandos” and “foreign mercenaries” who were masquerading as U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents. He did not comment on possible suspects or motives and said Haiti has asked the U.S. government for assistance in the investigation.
Hours after the killing, authorities announced that police had killed four suspects and arrested two others. Officials, however, gave no details on their identities or possible motive.
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WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN HAITI?
The country has struggled with political instability — along with dire poverty and crime — since the end of the brutal dictatorships of Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier from 1957 to 1986.
Criminal gangs this year have driven thousands of people from their homes, protesters demanding Moïse’s ouster in 2019 shut down much of the economy and the country has yet to begin vaccinating its 11 million people against the new coronavirus, which is surging.
Bruno Maes, Haiti’s representative for the U.N.’s children agency, last month compared the gang situation to guerrilla warfare, “with thousands of children and women caught in the crossfire.” Pierre Espérance, executive director of the Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network, said gangs control about 60% of the country’s territory.
Police and the military, too, have been troubled, often targeted by gangs. Masked officers who said they belonged to a disgruntled faction stormed several police stations in March to free comrades who’d been accused of participating in a coup attempt. The army was re-inaugurated only in 2017. It had been disbanded in 1995 after the fall of a dictatorship.
Political strife has deepened since Feb. 7, when opposition leaders claim Moïse’s legal term had expired — five years after he would have taken office if the initial vote had been allowed. Moïse argued it ends in February 2022 since he wasn’t sworn in until 2017.
The government has been without a formal prime minister since April, when Joseph Jouthe resigned amid a spike in killings and kidnappings. His replacement has not yet been approved by the parliament.
With Moïse ruling by decree, the government has scheduled new elections for September and a possible runoff in November. The government also has pushed a referendum on a new constitution that critics allege might allow the president to extend his power. But that vote has also been delayed.
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WHAT’S NEXT?
Authorities have closed the international airport and declared a state of siege.
Under the Haitian Constitution, the president of the Supreme Court would temporarily take over. But he recently died of COVID-19. The National Assembly would then select a new leader. But that’s not possible because there’s effectively no current legislature: The terms of the lower house members have all expired as well as two-thirds of those in the Senate.
That leaves the acting prime minister, Joseph, in charge along with his fellow government ministers, according to Haitian attorney Salim Succar, once chief of staff to former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.
But Joseph had only an interim role. Moïse was killed a day after he nominated Ariel Henry, a neurosurgeon, as Haiti’s new prime minister. He had not been confirmed, however. The uncertainty could create more volatility ahead of general elections later this year.
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Story: Associated Press writer Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report.
England's Harry Kane, bottom, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's second goal during the Euro 2020 soccer semifinal match between England and Denmark at Wembley stadium in London, Wednesday, July 7, 2021. Photo: Laurence Griffiths / Pool Photo via AP
LONDON (AP) — England has broken through its semifinal ceiling at major soccer tournaments. A title match awaits for the first time in 55 years.
Harry Kane converted the rebound after his initial penalty was saved in the 104th minute to give England a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Denmark in extra time in the European Championship semifinals on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium.
England will return to its national soccer stadium on Sunday to play Italy and will be competing in its first final since the 1966 World Cup. That remains England’s only international title.
In the intervening decades, the English have lost in the semifinals four times in either the World Cup or the European Championship. For that reason, this will go down as one of the most significant feats in the national team’s history, something England greats David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker never achieved.
“We dug deep and we got there when it mattered,” Kane said. “We’re in a final at home. What a feeling.”
After the final whistle, Kane led the jubilant England fans in a crowd of more than 60,000 — the biggest gathering for a sporting event in Britain since the coronavirus outbreak nearly 16 months ago — in a rendition of “Sweet Caroline.”
The players and management walked around the perimeter of the field, waving to fans and then their loved ones. England coach Gareth Southgate was serenaded with a song, and he might have appreciated this win more than anyone.
Two of those semifinals losses — in 1990 and 1996 — were decided via a penalty shootout, with Southgate missing a crucial kick in one of them against Germany. And a shootout looked like where England and Denmark were headed until Raheem Sterling wriggled into the area down the right, cut inside and fell under the challenge of Mattias Jensen.
The contact looked minimal, and a video review was needed. After a brief wait that must have felt longer to England’s fans, the decision stood.
Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel guessed the right way to block Kane’s penalty but the ball came back to the England captain, who reacted quickly to put it into the net from six yards out.
“I was fortunate to have it bounce back,” Kane said. “That’s football — sometimes it falls your way.”
Denmark’s players, whose emotionally charged run to the semifinals was powered by a resolve to win the title for Christian Eriksen after the midfielder’s collapse on the field during the group stage, were almost on their knees by that point.
And Danish hopes of an equalizer were damaged by having to play with only 10 men for the second half of extra time after Jensen was forced off injured. Denmark had already used up its six substitutes by then.
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand’s biggest grievance was with the awarding of the penalty.
“It was a penalty that shouldn’t have been a penalty,” Hjulmand said, “and it’s something that annoys me right now.”
England showed another side by rallying for victory after conceding a goal for the first time at Euro 2020 when Mikkel Damsgaard scored with a free kick in the 30th.
It was a shot that Eriksen — Denmark’s captain who is recovering at home after suffering cardiac arrest and collapsing on the field against Finland on June 12 — would have been proud of as his replacement in the team whipped the ball over the defensive wall and into the top corner.
At that stage, Denmark was on top, with its pressing and slick passing in midfield causing England problems and sparking concern among the previously boisterous home fans.
Denmark wasn’t ahead for long, though.
Moments after Sterling was denied from point-blank range by Schmeichel, Bukayo Saka was sent free down the right by Kane’s pass and the winger’s low cross was bundled into the net by Denmark defender Simon Kjaer in the 39th, under pressure from Sterling. It was the 11th own-goal of Euro 2020.
The second half saw England control the game but it still needed a heavily debated penalty call to finish off a tiring Denmark, which retreated into its own half in the closing stages.
“I always felt we would get there but I knew it might be a tortuous path,” Southgate said. “We’ve been so smooth through the knockout stage we knew we would have a hurdle to overcome.”
Denmark’s bid to match its unlikely European title from 1992 — when the team came in as a late replacement for Yugoslavia and wound up winning the whole thing — fell short. But the team gained new fans from around the world for the way it recovered from the near-tragedy of Eriksen, its captain and most famous player.
The team lined up in front of the 8,000 flag-waving Denmark fans at one end of the stadium and saluted them at the end of the game.
“They have been through so much,” Hjulmand said. “We have two people who have saved one of our best players’ life.”
C.P. Group commits to inspiring a new generation to value gratitude through the short film ‘Gratitude for Life’ under the concept of “Gratitude makes the Impossible, Possible”. The film illustrates a girl’s determination to raise money to heal her ailing father through the power of gratitude
Charoen Pokphand Group’s short film “Gratitude for Life” was created under the concept of “Gratitude makes the Impossible, Possible” to convey a girl’s unconditional love by entering a marathon to win the prize money for her ailing father.
C.P. Group aims to inspire the power of gratitude to the new generation whose drive to take on challenges, no matter how big or small, can be achieved through actions of gratitude that are always meaningful.
“If we have love, compassion, and unity based on gratitude, no matter what dreams or goals. We will succeed with the belief that gratitude makes the impossible possible, like Rati, the handicapped girl. Wherever the value of gratitude grows, it will always be beautiful.”
The short film “Gratitude for Life” is scheduled for online broadcast starting from July 1, 2021with the objective to inspire the Thai society to recognize the value of gratitude that will drive actions and emphasize the importance of the institution of family. This message will strengthen the social value of gratitude – the recognition of selfless goodness that one does to another and the desire to return such kindness, which is the foundation for a sustainable growth of society and the nation.
