International
The United States will compensate the victims of former doctor Larry Nassar with 138.7 million dollars
The United States Department of Justice confirmed that it has reached a conciliation agreement worth 138.7 million dollars to resolve the 139 claims of victims of sexual abuse by the former doctor of the U.S. gymnastics team. Larry Nassar.
“These agreements will resolve administrative claims against the United States” since the FBI “did not carry out an adequate investigation of Nassar’s conduct,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.
For almost two decades and until 2016, when he was arrested, Nassar sexually abused hundreds of victims under the pretext of performing medical treatments.
In July 2021, the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice issued a report in which it criticized certain aspects of the FBI’s response and the investigation of the accusations against Nassar.
“For decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those who were under his medical care and supervision and escading accountability,” the interim deputy attorney general, Benjamin C., said in the statement. Mizer.
The accusations, he added, “should have been taken seriously from the beginning.”
“While these agreements will not remedy the damage that Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help provide the victims of their crimes with some of the critical support they need to continue healing,” he said.
Nassar, 60, worked as a doctor on the United States sports gymnastics team for 18 years and also served at the University of Michigan.
In 2013, the United States sports gymnastics federation informed the FBI that three athletes had declared themselves to be abused by Nassar, but the agency decided not to carry out a formal investigation.
In 2017, Nassar pleaded guilty to abusing 10 of the more than 265 athletes who reported abuse.
Among its victims are prominent athletes such as Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Sabrina Vega, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross and Alyssa Baumann.
Michigan State University, at whose clinic Larry Nassar worked, already agreed in 2018 to a payment of 500 million dollars for the women and girls who reported sexual abuse.
For their part, the federation and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committees reached a conciliation with the victims in 2021 for 380 million dollars.
International
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Monday requested that the Supreme Court restore his freedom while he appeals the historic 12-year house arrest sentence he received for bribery and procedural fraud.
Uribe, the most prominent figure of Colombia’s right wing, was convicted last week by a lower court for attempting to bribe paramilitary members into denying his ties to the violent anti-guerrilla squads.
Since Friday, the 73-year-old has been under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, about 30 km from Medellín. The judge justified the measure by citing a risk of flight.
However, Uribe’s defense team rejected that argument and formally petitioned the court to immediately lift the detention order, claiming it lacks legal basis.
Uribe, a dominant force in Colombian politics for decades, is now the first former president in the country’s history to be convicted and placed under arrest, found guilty of witness tampering and obstruction of justice to prevent links to paramilitary groups.
He has repeatedly denounced the trial as politically motivated, blaming pressure from the leftist government currently in power.
His political party, Centro Democrático, has called for nationwide protests on August 7 in support of Uribe, who remains popular for his hardline stance against guerrilla groups.
Uribe has until August 13 to submit his written appeal. The case will then move to the Bogotá High Court, which has until October 16 to uphold, overturn, or dismiss the sentence. If the deadline passes without a decision, the case will be archived.
International
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
The poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean is currently engulfed in a deep political crisis and a wave of violence driven by armed groups — a situation that an international security mission led by Kenya is attempting to stabilize.
Due to the worsening security conditions, the U.S. government has suspended all official movements of embassy personnel outside the compound in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department announced Monday in a security alert posted on social media platform X.
“There are intense gunfights in the Tabarre neighborhood, near the U.S. Embassy,” the alert reads, urging the public to avoid the area.
Tabarre is a municipality located near Port-au-Prince International Airport, northeast of the Haitian capital.
According to a July report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 3,141 people were killed in Haitibetween January 1 and June 30 of this year.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction
U.S. Embassy staff restricted as gunfire erupts near compound in Port-au-Prince
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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Uribe requests freedom amid appeal of historic bribery conviction