World
Widow, aides to Haitian President Moïse indicted in his assassination
- A judge has indicted the widow of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in connection with his assassination.
- Also indicted, among numerous others, are former Prime Minister Claude Joseph and former National Police chief Léon Charles.
- Moïse’s 2021 assassination was a catalyst for the current unrest plaguing Haiti, marked by political instability and a gang crisis that has made global headlines.
A judge in Haiti responsible for investigating the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse has indicted his widow, Martine Moïse, ex-prime minister Claude Joseph and the former chief of Haiti’s National Police, Léon Charles, among others, according to a report obtained Monday.
The indictments are expected to further destabilize Haiti as it struggles with a surge in gang violence and recovers from a spate of violent protests demanding the resignation of current Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Dozens of suspects were indicted in the 122-page report issued by Walther Wesser Voltaire, who is the fifth judge to lead the investigation after previous ones stepped down for various reasons, including fear of being killed.
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Charles, who was police chief when Moïse was killed and now serves as Haiti’s permanent representative to the Organization of the American States, faces the most serious charges: murder; attempted murder; possession and illegal carrying of weapons; conspiracy against the internal security of the state; and criminal association.
Meanwhile, Joseph and Martine Moïse, who was injured in the attack, are accused of complicity and criminal association.
Charles could not be immediately reached for comment, and Martine Moïse’s attorney did not return a message for comment,
Meanwhile, Joseph, the former prime minister, shared a statement with The Associated Press accusing Henry of “undermining” the investigation and benefitting from the president’s death.
“Henry … is weaponizing the Haitian justice system, prosecuting political opponents like me. It’s a classic coup d’état,” Joseph said. “They failed to kill me and Martine Moïse on July 7th 2021, now they are using the Haitian justice system to advance their Machiavellian agenda.”
Joseph again called on Henry to resign and noted that while he was still prime minister, he invited the FBI to help local authorities investigate the killing and wrote the U.N. and OAS for help.
“I won’t stop my fight. Justice must be served,” he said.
In his report, the judge noted that the former secretary general of the National Palace, Lyonel Valbrun, told authorities that he received “strong pressure” from Martine Moïse to put the president’s office at the disposal of Joseph because he needed it to “organize a council of ministers.”
Valbrun also said that two days before her husband was killed, Martine Moïse visited the National Palace and spent nearly five hours, from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., removing “a bunch of things.”
He said that two days after Jovenel Moïse was slain, Martine Moïse called to tell him that, “Jovenel didn’t do anything for us. You have to open the office. The president told Ti Klod to create a council of ministers; he will hold elections in three months so I can become president, now we will have power.”
While the document did not identify Ti Klod, the former prime minister, Claude Joseph, is known by that name.
The judge also stated in his report that Martine Moïse “suggested” she took refuge under the marital bed to protect herself from the attackers, but he noted that authorities at the scene found that not “even a giant rat…whose size measures between 35 and 45 centimeters” could fit under the bed.
The judge said the former first lady’s statements were “so tainted with contradictions that they leave something to be desired and discredit her.”
In this Feb. 7, 2020, file photo, the late Haitian President Jovenel Moïse speaks during an interview at his home in Petion-Ville, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)
Others who face charges including murder are Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a Haitian-American pastor who visualized himself as Haiti’s next president and said he thought Moïse was only going to be arrested; Joseph Vincent, a Haitian-American and former informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Dimitri Hérard, presidential security chief; John Joël Joseph, a former Haitian senator; and Windelle Coq, a Haitian judge whom authorities say is a fugitive.
Sanon, Vincent and Joseph were extradited to the U.S., where a total of 11 suspects face federal charges in the slaying of Haiti’s president. At least three of them already have been sentenced.
Meanwhile, more than 40 suspects are languishing in prison in Haiti awaiting trial, although it was not immediately clear how quickly one would be held following Monday’s indictments. Among them are 20 former Colombian soldiers.
Milena Carmona, wife of Jheyner Alberto Carmona Flórez, told The Associated Press that he is innocent.
“What’s happening is that this crime is a conspiracy of great magnitudes in which powerful people are behind the scenes running everything, and that’s why they’re not given freedom,” she said of the former soldiers.
U.S. prosecutors have described it as a plot hatched in both Haiti and Florida to hire mercenaries to kidnap or kill Moïse, who was 53 when he was slain at his private home near the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
The attack began late July 6 and ended July 7, according to witnesses.
Martine Moïse and others who were interrogated said they heard heavy gunfire starting around 1 a.m. that lasted between 30 to to 45 minutes before armed men burst into the bedroom of the presidential couple.
Moïse said she was lying on the ground when she heard the attackers yell, “That’s not it! That’s not it! That’s not it!”
She said the suspects made a video call to identify the exact location of what they were searching as they killed the president. She added that she was face down when the suspects tilted her head and tugged on one of her toes “to ensure that she wasn’t alive.”
Once they left, Moïse said she dragged herself on the ground and whispered to her husband that she was going to try and go to the hospital.
“That’s when she noticed that the president was dead and that his left eye had been removed from the socket,” the report stated.
Moïse said a group of about 30 to 50 police officers were supposed to guard the presidential residence, but the judge noted that only a handful of officers were present that night. One officer told the judge that he heard explosions and a voice through a megaphone saying, “Do not shoot! It’s a DEA operation! US Army! We know how many officers are inside. Exit with two hands lowered.”
Another officer said the head of security of the first lady found her “in critical condition” surrounded by her two children. He said he also saw an undetermined number of people coming out of the president’s residence “with briefcases and several envelopes in their possession.”
The report quotes Inspector General André Vladimir Paraison saying that the president called him at 1:46 a.m. and told him, “Paraison! Man, hurry up! I’m in trouble! Come quickly and save my life.” He said he encountered heavily armed men and couldn’t access the residence immediately.
Officers at the scene said they found cars, windows and doors at the president’s private home riddled with bullet holes, along with surveillance cameras cut off and a broken lock on the double-wooden door leading to the presidential bedroom.
The judge said some police officers at the residence were disarmed and handcuffed, while others “had time to throw themselves down a ravine” for safety. In addition, the police officer overseeing presidential security was accused of receiving $80,000 to bribe certain officers “to remain inactive” during the assassination, according to the report.
The judge noted how “none of the police providing security to the head of state was in danger. Unfortunately, the head of state was assassinated with ease.”
World
Video shows bomb rock Damascus hotel where French President Macron is staying during Syrian state visit
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A pair of explosions rocked the Syrian capital of Damascus near the downtown Four Seasons hotel, where French President Emmanuel Macron was staying during a state visit, Syrian state media reported Tuesday.
Eighteen people, including four police officers, were injured by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on Tuesday, Syria’s interior ministry reported through state outlet SANA.
According to the ministry, both bombs exploded after security forces had discovered them, “while preparations for the disposal operation were underway.”
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The bombs were placed inside a car and a garbage can near the hotel where Macron was staying during his visit, the first Syrian state visit by the leader of a Western country since Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa took over for the now-deposed former President Bashar al-Assad in 2025.
A spokesman for Élysée Palace said Macron was not in his hotel during the explosions and didn’t even hear them. He continued his visit with al-Sharaa, according to both Élysée Palace and SANA.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa at the People’s Palace in Damascus, July 7, 2026. (Reuters/Mahmoud Hassano)
While not commenting on the explosions directly, Macron posted a statement on X shortly after the incident.
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“Nothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic, and united Syria. This morning I met Syria in all its diversity. I saw dignity, courage, and determination. My visit continues,” he wrote.
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa greets supporters after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., NOV. 10, 2025. (Lubna Allababidi/Handout via Reuters)
Syria’s Ministry of the Interior confirmed the explosions but stressed that they were outside the security perimeter designated for Macron.
“We confirm that the explosion site is outside the security perimeter designated for the French president’s residence. It posed no direct threat to the residence or the official visit program, which is proceeding as planned,” the ministry announced through SANA.
‘PARCEL BOMB’ EXPLODES IN MONACO RESIDENTIAL AREA, LEAVING 2 CRITICALLY INJURED: REPORTS
An ambulance drives past the site where explosive devices blew up near a hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was meant to be staying, in Damascus, Syria, July 7, 2026. (Reuters/Yamam Al Shaar)
Macron is the first Western leader to meet with al-Sharaa in Damascus since he became the country’s president in 2025. Some have criticized Western leaders, including President Donald Trump, who hosted al-Sharaa in the White House in November, for normalizing relations with al-Sharaa given his past as a fighter for the al Qaeda terrorist group.
Tuesday’s explosions in Damascus were also the second and third major blasts in Damascus in less than a week.
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On Monday, France’s government condemned what it called a “terrorist attack” after an explosive device killed at least nine people in a Damascus cafe on July 2.
Syrian authorities are still investigating the attack and have not publicly ascribed it to any group or individual, according to The Washington Post.
Fox News Digital contacted the Syrian Foreign Ministry and Élysée Palace for confirmation and further details.
Published on
NATO must become more European to reduce its long-standing reliance on the US security umbrella, Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Rutte said on Tuesday as leaders of the 77-year-old alliance gathered in Ankara, Turkey, for their annual summit.
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“We both know how important close cooperation between the European Union and NATO is,” the European Commission president said alongside the NATO secretary general at an industrial forum ahead of the summit.
“But to make this possible, what we need is interoperability.”
Rutte echoed von der Leyen’s remarks, highlighting the “clear division of labour” between the two organisations: NATO oversees the command structure, capabilities and standards, while the EU is responsible for industry, investment and regulation.
Twenty-three of the EU’s 27 member states are also members of NATO.
“We cannot continue, as we did, being over-reliant on the United States. We need a much stronger Europe within a stronger NATO,” Rutte said, hailing an “unparalleled” transformation driven by closer EU-NATO cooperation.
“To stay transatlantic, we have to become more European.”
The Ankara summit comes after months of growing tensions across the Atlantic, fuelled by the White House’s unilateral decision to strike Iran and its gradual reduction of military assets stationed in Europe.
Rattled by the deepening fractures, Europeans are determined to show US President Donald Trump that they are pulling their weight and stepping up their defence investment at a rapid pace, a trend often described as the “Europeanisation of NATO”.
But while some nations, such as Poland, the Baltics and the Nordics, have drastically increased their military spending towards the new 5% of GDP target, others, such as Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, still lag far behind.
On Tuesday, von der Leyen touted the financial plans that her Commission has put forward to ramp up homegrown defence capabilities: €150 billion under the SAFE loan programme and €135 billion provisionally allocated in the next EU budget.
“In this geostrategic and geopolitical environment, we need a massive surge in defence investment,” she said.
“With this taxpayers’ money, we want, of course, a return on investment. And we want good jobs in Europe. We want research and development in Europe. So that’s important for us,” she added.
Rutte said NATO requires a “huge increase” across its entire defence industrial base, on both sides of the Atlantic, to keep up with Russia’s all-consuming war machine.
“Russia has the whole of its economy now on a war footing. The car industry in Russia is producing for the war effort, and that means that we’ve got to do this also in Europe, Canada and the US,” Rutte said.
“We have to defend ourselves. It’s the first task for every government. And the threat is there. Russia are working with North Korea, Iran and China. Let’s not be naive.”
“Respect the grind you never see,” Kerr Kriisa wrote in an Instagram post on Oct. 30, captioning a series of stylized photos showing him clutching a basketball and flexing his muscles in the jersey of his new team, the University of Cincinnati. Presumably, the well-traveled guard was referring to the unseen work of preparing for another college basketball season at his fourth school in four years, following stints at Arizona, West Virginia and Kentucky.
But according to a federal grand jury, Kriisa might as well have been referring to a much more sinister kind of hidden hustle.
On Monday, federal prosecutors unsealed a grand jury indictment charging the Estonian-born basketball player with orchestrating a yearslong wire fraud scheme that used fabricated personal crisis, false identities and other deceptions to induce two victims to send him roughly $2.2 million.
The indictment, returned in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia—where Kriisa played for the Mountaineers for the 2023-24 season—traces the alleged scheme back to at least 2022, when he was heading into his junior year at Arizona. The following year, after transferring to West Virginia, Kriisa would face a nine-game suspension for violating NCAA rules governing impermissible benefits while with the Wildcats.
Those unrelated NCAA infractions, however, pale in comparison to the federal allegations he now faces.
Prosecutors’ timeline suggests Kriisa’s alleged criminal conduct tracked closely with his college basketball career, with many of the acts occurring during the heart of the season.
Sportico was unable to identify an attorney representing Kriisa and his agent did not respond to an email request for comment.
According to the indictment, his alleged scheme involving the first victim began in August 2022 and continued through April 2025, when he was transferring from Kentucky. Prosecutors allege that Kriisa began targeting a second victim on Nov. 18, 2025, three days before Cincinnati lost to No. 6 Louisville in a game in which Kriisa, then a starter, shot 2-for-7 from the field.
Much of the alleged activity involving the second victim occurred in late December, as Cincinnati went on holiday break. On Dec. 29, prosecutors allege, Kriisa sent the second victim an email while posing as a fictional person named “Irene.” That same day, Cincinnati played Lipscomb, with Kriisa coming off the bench for the first time that season. He scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.
Prosecutors allege Kriisa sent another email as “Irene” on Jan. 28, the same day Cincinnati beat Baylor. Kriisa played limited minutes that game while still recovering from an injury he suffered earlier that month. The five charged wire-fraud counts stemmed from emails and text messages Kriisa sent Feb. 1 to Feb. 4, a day before Cincinnati lost at home against West Virginia, his former team. Kriisa played 15 scoreless minutes that game, a loss, while posting the worst +/- of any player on either team.
The indictment says that the victim who was the recipient of those messages received them in Morgantown, W.Va., where WVU is based, but does not explain how Kriisa was connected to them.
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