Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell dies at 84

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Colin Powell
Former US Secretary of State and top military commander Colin Powell, who served Democratic and Republican presidents, has died at the age of 84 from COVID-19 complications, his family announced. Powell — who, during his four decades of public service rose to become the first African American national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state, serving under President George W. Bush — had his reputation stained after making faulty claims before the UN Security Council to justify the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. In a speech, he cited false information claiming that then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had secretly stockpiled weapons of mass destruction. At the end of the Cold War, as national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan, Powell helped negotiate arms treaties and cooperation agreements with Soviet then-President Mikhail Gorbachev. Powell was born in Harlem to Jamaican parents and grew up in the South Bronx in New York City.

Venezuela
Nicolas Maduro’s government has said that it is halting ongoing negotiations with the Venezuelan opposition in Mexico City after businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro, was extradited to the United States. Saab, who could be a significant witness in corruption cases in Venezuela, according to US prosecutors, was flown to the US from the African island nation of Cape Verde on Friday and is expected to appear in a Miami court on Monday. In 2019, Saab was indicted on money-laundering charges linked to an alleged bribery scheme that embezzled over $350 million from a low-income housing project for the Venezuelan government. Saab has also been subject to sanctions by the Trump administration for allegedly using shell companies around the world to hide huge profits from food contracts obtained through bribes and kickbacks.

Haiti
Haitian authorities are working with US officials to secure the release of 17 people from the Ohio-based missionary group Christian Aid Ministries. Twelve adults and five children were kidnapped by the notorious 400 Mawozo gang east of the capital Port-au-Prince over the weekend. Haiti is struggling with a precarious security situation and gang-related abductions are on the rise. The Caribbean nation has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world, with 600 such crimes reported so far in 2021.

From The World

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Bright Spot

The Nebra Sky Disc is set to go on display at the British Museum. It was unearthed in Germany in 1999, and is believed to be 3,600 years old — dating back to the Bronze Age. The disc is about 12 inches with a blue-green patina and gold symbols representing the sun, moon, stars, solstices and other cosmic phenomena. ? But some scholars have also disputed its authenticity.

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