US President Joe Biden broke his silence on the Wagner Group uprising in Russia on Monday. In an appearance that discussed investment in infrastructure, he first made a brief statement, stressing that in the face of Russian aggression he reiterated his support for Ukraine, called on allies to coordinate and the West and the NATO distanced itself from the events. “We had nothing to do with it,” he said.

“As the situation began to develop, I ordered my national security team to monitor and update me on an hourly basis. I ordered them to prepare for a series of scenarios. I’ve also zoomed in on our best allies to make sure we’re all on the same page. “It is important that we are coordinated in our response,” began his statement, which lasted just over two minutes.

“We agreed that we need to make sure we don’t give Putin an excuse to blame it on the West or on NATO. We made it clear that we were not involved. We had nothing to do with it. “This was part of a struggle within the Russian system,” he added.

The President of the United States recalled that he had spoken to the head of state of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom he will remain in contact, and that he had assured him that “what happened in Russia is not for the United States role.” continue to support the defense of Ukraine and its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“He [Zelenski] and I have agreed to follow up and keep in touch. I am also in constant contact with our allies to maintain our coordination,” he continued.

“To maintain our coordination, I’m going to speak to the heads of state right after this meeting today and make sure we’re on the same page,” Biden said. “We will continue to assess the fallout from this weekend’s events and the impact on Russia and Ukraine. But it’s too early to draw any firm conclusions about where this is headed. The ultimate outcome of all this remains to be seen. But regardless of what comes next, I will continue to ensure that our allies and partners are closely aligned in how we interpret and respond to the situation. It is important that we are fully coordinated,” he concluded.

Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.

subscribe to

Biden has kept in touch with his key allies. On Saturday he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. This Sunday he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who described the conversation as “positive and inspiring”.

In conversation with Zelenskyy, Biden spoke both about the situation in Russia and about the beginning counter-offensive. Cautious and aware of the difficulties, Washington believes Ukraine can take advantage of the chaotic situation in Russia in its counterattack, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken admitted on Sunday.

The President of Ukraine especially thanked the US and its allies for the Patriot missiles and fighter jets. In addition, they spoke “of a further expansion of defense cooperation with a focus on long-range weapons”. “We discussed the course of hostilities and the processes in Russia. The world must put pressure on Russia until international order is restored.” Zelensky tweeted on Sunday.

In addition to the talks between Biden and Zelenskyy, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also spoke to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov this Sunday about the development of regional security and the dynamics on the ground in Ukraine, the Pentagon reported.

Secretary Austin reaffirmed “America’s unwavering support for Ukraine” and discussed security assistance priorities to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs. The nature of military priorities and needs change in part with the transition to the counter-offensive phase and may be affected by current events.

Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.

An Iraqi army soldier was killed and an officer injured in a raid on the Islamic State (IS) group in northern Iraq, which also killed three jihadist ranks, the authorities said.

The operation was carried out on Sunday in the Kirkuk region, a large city north of Baghdad, according to a press release published on Sunday evening by the media cell of the Iraqi security forces.

The Iraqi forces have thus “discovered three elements of the terrorist group Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS, editor’s note) in the Turkelan sector in Kirkuk province,” the source said.

“Based on this information, a detachment (…) of the Iraqi army went to the scene and fought against these elements,” the text continues. The jihadists “were surrounded and killed, the explosive belts they were wearing detonated”.

The statement also reports the death of a soldier in these clashes, in which an officer was injured.

After a meteoric rise in power in 2014 and the seizure of vast territories in Iraq and neighboring Syria, IS has seen its self-proclaimed “caliphate” collapse under the impact of successive offensives in those two countries.

Iraqi authorities declared their “victory” against ISIS in late 2017, but jihadist cells continue to sporadically attack army and police personnel, particularly in rural and remote areas north of Baghdad.

In late April, the international anti-jihadist coalition reported a sharp drop in these attacks in both Iraq and neighboring Syria in the early months of 2023.

This year, the fasting month of Ramadan has been “one of the most peaceful in years,” said coalition commander Gen. Matthew McFarlane, noting that attacks in Iraq were down “80%” compared to 2022.

In March, a senior Iraqi military official asserted that ISIS had between 400 and 500 active fighters in his country.

The grieving wife and mother of two of Titanic’s victims was unaware of the possibility of an implosion as she agonizedly waited for the ship to resurface – until a call to the US Coast Guard confirmed they had found debris.

According to the US Coast Guard, UK-based billionaire Shahzada and his son Suleman Dawood were two of the five victims who died instantly when the submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion” just 1,600 feet from Titanic’s bow.

The US Navy had spotted sounds “suggesting an implosion” shortly after Titan lost contact on Sunday. However, this was deemed “not definitive” and the details were not released publicly – the search and rescue mission continued until debris was found.

Shahzada and Suleman’s wife and mother, Christine Dawood, said she believed they would be fine at first when they first lost communication.

But after 96 hours, she lost hope — followed by a call from the US Coast Guard confirming debris had been found.

Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman perished on the Titan submersible

Shahzada Dawood, 48, (pictured with his wife Christine) was a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity. She said his enthusiasm “brought out the best in her.”

In an extraordinary BBC interview, in which Ms Dawood was praised for her composure in the face of endless double grief, she revealed how she and her 17-year-old daughter Alina were on Titan’s supply ship, Polar Prince, and hugging “excitedly”. and joked. Shahzada and Suleman said goodbye and went to board the doomed submarine.

Hours later, on June 18, communications broke off. That day, she and Alina believed that they would be fine, after initially not returning.

But Ms Dawood said she finally “lost hope” on Thursday, when 96 hours had passed since her husband and son boarded the submersible, meaning they had run out of oxygen.

Her daughter held out a little longer, she said, until hours later when she received a call to the US Coast Guard to inform her that debris had been found — something they were unaware of at the time.

It was then announced that the Titan had imploded and the five adventurers on board were dead.

Christine Dawood paid tribute to her son and husband in an interview with the BBC

Suleman Dawood, 19, was the youngest victim of the Titan submarine tragedy. He is pictured with his mother Christine

Christine revealed that she had planned to visit the Titanic wreck in the OceanGate submarine with her husband but her trip was canceled due to the Covid pandemic.

“Then I took a step back and gave them space to settle in.” [Suleman] “Get up because he really wanted to go,” she said.

After contact with the ship was lost, Christine and her 17-year-old daughter Alina waited for news at the spot where Titan was last seen during the search and rescue mission.

“We had loads of hope, that was the only thing that kept us going because we had hope,” she said.

In addition to her husband and son, three other people died aboard Titan: Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate, 61, British businessman Hamish Harding, 58, and Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 77, a former French Navy diver and veteran Titanic diver.

Christine said those afloat were trying to stay hopeful, telling themselves, “There were so many things people on that sub could do to surface … they dropped the weights, then the approval would be slower, we were constantly on the.” Search.” on the surface. There was that hope.’

She and her daughter initially gave hope after initially not returning.

She said: “We all thought they were just going to show up so the shock was delayed by like ten hours or so.”

“When they were supposed to be back up, there was a time … when they were supposed to be back up on the surface and when that time was up, the real shock came, not the shock but the worry and the not so good.” Feelings started .’

Despite the bleak outlook as the hunt dragged on, she said her teenage daughter never lost hope of saving her father and older brother.

Billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, who lost his life aboard the Titan, is pictured gazing out to sea before boarding the submersible

French naval veteran PH Nargeolet (left) and Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition, also perished on Titan

Rescue work is continuing and investigators have mapped the scene of the accident, Cpt Neubauer said at a news conference in Boston.

He also said convening a Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of investigation by the US Coast Guard. It’s unclear how long it will last. The US Coast Guard said it does not charge for search and rescue operations.

The Coast Guard launched a so-called Marine Board investigation on Friday, Neubauer said, and is working with the FBI to gather evidence.

This includes a salvage operation at the wreckage site on the sea floor approximately 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the bow of the Titanic wreck, approximately 2 1/2 miles (4 km) below the surface.

Findings will be shared with the International Maritime Organization and other groups “to help improve the safety framework for diving operations worldwide,” Neubauer said.

[1/8]A woman casts her ballot at a polling station during the first round of Guatemala’s presidential election in Chinautla, Guatemala, June 25, 2023. Portal/Josue Decavele

GUATEMALA CITY, June 25 (Portal) – Guatemalans voted for a new president on Sunday in an election headed for an August runoff. The early results pushed the centre-left party to the top, but also seemed to show widespread voter frustration at the exclusion of an early favourite.

The competition, dominated by international concerns over corruption, must be decided in a second round of voting, with lead candidate Sandra Torres, the former first lady, on track to secure the 50% plus one vote needed for overall victory, a clear vote to miss.

Torres is up against more than 20 candidates, including Edmond Mulet, a career diplomat, and Zury Rios, daughter of the late dictator Efrain Rios Montt.

With 40% of the vote counted, Torres’ centre-left National Unity of Hope (UNE) party garnered 15% of the vote, while Semilla, another left-leaning party, had 12.2%, preliminary results showed.

But with nearly one in four ballots invalid or blank, Guatemalans expressed dissatisfaction with the electoral process and the decision to exclude the first front-runner, businessman Carlos Pineda. Pineda urged his supporters to falsify their ballots after he was declared ineligible.

Opinion polls had failed to indicate that Semilla’s candidate Bernardo Arevalo, a former diplomat and son of former President Juan José Arevalo, would advance to the second round.

Semilla’s previous presidential campaign was led by former Attorney General and anti-corruption activist Thelma Aldana, who was ultimately barred from running.

The race to succeed Conservative President Alejandro Giammattei, who is legally limited to one term, was marred by a court ruling blocking four candidates, including Pineda.

The US and European Union criticized Pineda’s expulsion, who called the decision “electoral fraud.”

“We don’t see a process that follows international standards, but rather one that uses arbitrary criteria,” said Carolina Jimenez, president of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) think tank. “This is terribly serious.”

Meanwhile, unrest in the city of San Jose del Golfo, near the capital, forced voting there to be postponed to August, Supreme Electoral Court official Irma Palencia said.

The stakes in the election are high as standards of transparency and human rights, poverty, corruption and violence have deteriorated in recent years.

“I have always voted for Sandra Torres because she has been of great service to my (community) (as First Lady). She gave money, food and a lot of help to poor people,” said Maria Consuelo Ruano, 72.

“I would also be happy if Mulet makes it to the second round,” she added. “(He) looks like an honest man, unlike Giammattei.”

But political analysts say a fragmented Congress could prevent candidates from making real change.

Polls suggest Torres, the ex-wife of the late President Alvaro Colom, who ruled from 2008 to 2012, is likely to lose a runoff election as she is unpopular in the capital, Guatemala City, where a high percentage of voters reside is.

It is the third presidential candidacy for the 67-year-old politician. In the two previous races she took second place.

Reporting by Sofía Menchú in Guatemala City and Diego Oré in Mexico City; writing from Isabel Woodford and Dave Graham; Edited by Stephen Eisenhammer and Robert Birsel

Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.

Diego Ore

Thomson Portal

Covers politics, migration and security in Mexico and Central America, a Peruvian journalist with more than 20 years of experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, including with magazines, newspapers and The Associated Press, covering elections, coups, protests, summits and natural disasters and soccer games.