Summary

• Haiti’s government called on the United States and United Nations for troops to keep the country stable after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
• Senior FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials are scheduled to travel to Haiti in order to assess the situation and help in the investigation into the assassination.
• Haiti’s Elections Minister Mathias Pierre stated that the US troops are needed to protect infrastructure against potential mercenaries.
• Martine Moise, Haiti’s first lady who was also shot and injured, described details of the attack in a voice message posted on Twitter. She described the swiftness of the attack, and how Moise was killed because people “want to assassinate the president’s dream.”
• Out of the 20 suspects, 17 have been arrested, two of which are American citizens. The other fifteen people arrested are Colombian nationals who potentially have military backgrounds.
• With no clear choice for the role of President or Prime Minister, different men have tried to gain power and claim they are the appropriate choice.
• Moise appointed Ariel Henry as Prime Minister one day before his death, but neither Henry nor acting prime minister Claude Joseph have been sworn in, leaving uncertainty and debate over the rightful leader.
• Moise was shot at least twelve times in his home, and Joseph stated that he was tortured prior to his death. 
• The orchestrator of the attack is still unknown, as well as how the killers were able to get past the president’s security and into his private residence.

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/haiti-assassination-biden-moise-power/2021/07/10/2abf4670-e186-11eb-a27f-8b294930e95b_story.html

https://apnews.com/article/business-caribbean-haiti-election-2020-011ce271fe57211c29ffb0e5eef9c506

https://abcnews.go.com/International/haitis-interim-prime-minister-president-tortured-killed-vows/story?id=78772860

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Other Headlines

G20 Finance Ministers Agree on Tax Reform in Venice

Federalreserve, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

• Group of 20 (G20) Finance Ministers agreed on a global tax reform at the summit in Venice. More than 100 countries already agreed on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% earlier this month.
• The tax reform agreed upon is aimed at ensuring that multinationals and tech companies are not able to shift their profits to tax havens. The finance ministers also agreed to push ahead with the global minimum corporate tax.
• The leaders also discussed the need for better access to coronavirus vaccines in poorer countries, especially with the spread of the Delta variant.
• The reform will not be finalized until the G20 meeting in Rome in October, potentially giving countries who have not agreed, such as Ireland and Hungary, time to reach a consensus.

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Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed Wins Landslide Election in Ethiopia 

The Kremlin, Moscow, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

• Ethiopia’s ruling Prosperity Party has won the country’s delayed elections due to the pandemic by a landslide – the party has secured 410 out of 436 contested seats in the federal parliament, in addition to a second term for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.  
• A Nobel Peace Prize Winner in 2019, Mr. Ahmed made several important reforms since his coming to power in 2018 – including a crackdown on corruption, release of prisoners, appointment of more women to the cabinet, and peace with its neighbor Eritrea. However, the prime minister has also deployed military troops to Tigray, launching conflict, famine, and loss of lives as the operation sought to quell potential ousting of his power.
• The election was largely peaceful, but no voting was held in the Tigray region. While Mr. Ahmed has celebrated the election as a historic free and fair one, the United States has said the election is “significantly flawed,” due to detention of opposition leaders.
• Opposition parties won just 11 seats – among the 37 million people registered to vote, voter turnout was 90%.

Tweets:

https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1413552277869137924   https://twitter.com/jmhansler/status/1412452739360116736

Owner of Bangladeshi Factory Arrested after Fire Sets Ablaze

Tareq Salahuddin from Dhaka, Bangladesh, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

• A massive fire spread through a Bangladeshi factory, leading to 52 deaths and 50 people injured. The fire started Thursday afternoon on the ground floor of a Hashim Foods Ltd. Factory in Rupganj, east of the capital Dhaka.
• The owner of the factory has been arrested, in addition to seven other people, including factory staff – a lack of adequate safety measures including emergency fire exits led to the devastating accident.
• Some workers attempted to jump off the roof to escape the fire, with three people dying in the process after suffering from burns – almost none of the bodies recovered could be recognized.
• Twenty-five people were rescued from the building and the fire was brought into control Friday afternoon – police have opened an investigation as to the cause of the fire, but lack of safe working conditions in factories and buildings continue to be a major source of concern in much of South Asia.

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Violence Erupts as Supporters of Former South African President Protest Imprisonment

South_African_President_Zuma.TIF: Sportsforpeacederivative work: Rosentod, Public domain

• Violence has erupted in the  KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa, as protestors loyal to former President Jacob Zuma protested his imprisonment, burning trucks and commercial property, and blocking major roads.
• Mr. Zuma is serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court earlier this week. His supporters have engaged in looting and burning of expensive vehicles in protest of the imprisonment.
• At least 28 arrests were made Friday on charges of burglary, public violence, damage to property, and violation of COVID-19 lockdown protocols.
• Mr. Zuma has denied the widespread corruption charges levelled against him but has also refused to properly cooperate with the inquiry process.

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