Cyprus court frees five Israelis accused of Briton’s gang rape

PORT-AU-PRINCE: The leader of Haiti’s transitional presidential council tried to allay surging alarm among Haitians over rampant gang violence by acknowledging Thursday that the country has “become hell for everyone” and promising new measures to stop the bloodshed.
Fritz Alphonse Jean spoke a day after gunfire erupted in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as thousands of protesters demanding an end to gang violence clashed with police outside the offices of the council and the prime minister. It was the biggest protest held since the council was installed a year ago.
“Haitian people, you’ve spoken, and we’ve heard you,” Jean said. “We understand your misery. We know your pain and your suffering.”
More than 4,200 people have been reported killed across Haiti from July to February, and another 1,356 were injured, according to the UN.
Recent gang violence also left more than 60,000 people homeless in one month alone, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
“This national address comes at a decisive moment for the transitional government,” said Diego Da Rin, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. “Protesters from various parts of the capital deliberately marched toward key government buildings to express their frustration.”
He noted that Jean’s address marked the first anniversary of the political agreement that established the new transitional government’s structure and objectives. Since then, cohesion between political parties involved in creating that government “has now largely collapsed,” Da Rin said.
“The groups that originally supported this government are now calling for a change in leadership,” he noted.
The council has not addressed those concerns, which also have been voiced by the international community.
During his public address, Jean rattled off a list of neighborhoods that gangs have recently attacked.
“You lost your homes, you lost your businesses, you lost your jobs, they raped you, they raped your kids. The criminal gangs killed a lot of people,” he said. “The fight against the darkness is not insignificant. But we are not insignificant ourselves… It’s nothing compared with the battle we fought to get out of slavery.”
Jean referenced how Haiti became the world’s first free Black republic in a bid to rally support from Haitians, asking them to help law enforcement officials and eschew efforts by gangs to recruit people, especially children.
“Don’t let people profit from your distress and drag you in bad directions,” he said.
Jean said the council would take “important measures” to help quell the persistent violence, including setting aside a special budget and incorporating agents from an armed state environmental group known as BSAP.
“The council asks the prime minister and the police to take these measures without delay,” Jean said. “We are telling everyone in this government that we are at war.”
Jean did not provide further details, including how much money would be set aside for the budget and how many BSAP agents would join the fight against gangs.
Jean also said that the electoral council is working so that Haiti can have new leadership once the transitional presidential council’s term ends on Feb. 7 next year. He added that officials are taking steps so that the diaspora can vote in what would be Haiti’s first general elections held in almost a decade.
Haiti has not had a president since former President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021, with gangs becoming increasingly powerful in the aftermath.
Last year, a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police arrived in Haiti to help local authorities quell gang violence, but the mission remains understaffed and underfunded, with only about 40 percent of the 2,500 personnel originally envisioned.

SEOUL: South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday unanimously upheld President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his disastrous martial law declaration, stripping him of office and triggering fresh elections after months of political turmoil.

Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested on insurrection charges as part of a separate criminal case.

Millions of Koreans watched the court hand down its verdict live on television, with the country’s main messaging app KakaoTalk saying that some users were experiencing delays due to a sudden surge in traffic.

“Given the serious negative impact and far-reaching consequences of the respondent’s constitutional violations... (We) dismiss respondent President Yoon Suk Yeol,” acting court President Moon Hyung-bae said while delivering the ruling.

Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days. Authorities will announce a date in the coming days.

The decision was unanimous, and the judges have been given additional security protection by police. Outside the court, AFP reporters heard Yoon supporters shouting death threats.

Yoon’s actions “violate the core principles of the rule of law and democratic governance,” the judges said in their ruling.

Sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree “violated the political neutrality of the armed forces.”

He deployed troops for “political purposes,” the judges said.

“In the end, the respondent’s unconstitutional and illegal acts are a betrayal of the people’s trust and constitute a serious violation of the law that cannot be tolerated,” the judges ruled.

Opposition party lawmakers clapped their hands as the verdict was announced, calling it “historic,” while lawmakers from Yoon’s party filed out of the courtroom.

Yoon is the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.

After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, while public unrest swelled.

Police raised the alert to the highest possible level Friday. Officers encircled the courthouse with a ring of vehicles and stationed special operations teams in the vicinity.

Anti-Yoon protesters gathered outdoors to watch a live broadcast of the verdict, cheering at many of the lines and holding hands. When Yoon’s removal was announced, they erupted into wild cheers, with some bursting into tears.

“When the dismissal was finally declared, the cheers were so loud it felt like the rally was being swept away,” Kim Min-ji, a 25-year-old anti-Yoon protester, said.

“We cried tears and shouted that we, the citizens, had won!”

Yoon, who defended his attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces,” still commands the backing of extreme supporters.

Outside his residence, his supporters shouted and swore, with some bursting into tears as the verdict was announced.

This year, at least two staunch Yoon supporters have died after self-immolating in protest of the controversial leader’s impeachment.

A police official said that one person had been arrested in the vicinity of the court, with others trying to destroy police buses with batons.

Embassies — including the American, French, Russian and Chinese — have warned citizens to avoid mass gatherings in connection with Friday’s verdict.

The decision shows “first and foremost the resilience of South Korean democracy,” Byunghwan Son, professor at George Mason University, said.

“The very fact that the system did not collapse suggests that the Korean democracy can survive even the worst challenge against it — a coup attempt.”

South Korea has spent the four months since the martial law declaration without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in — only for him to be later reinstated by a court ruling.

The leadership vacuum came during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.

This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies.

Since December, South Korea has been “partially paralyzed — it has been without a legitimate president and has been challenged by natural disasters and the political disaster called Trump,” Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, said.

Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid.

Acting president Han Duck-soo will remain at the helm until the new elections are held.