BELARUS  –  A German citizen has been sentenced to death in Belarus after being charged with terrorism and mercenary activities, according to a Belarusian human rights group.

The group Human Rights Center “Viasna” said the German national is a 29-year-old German Red Cross employee named Rico Krieger.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked as an emergency medical technician for the German Red Cross and as an armed security officer for the US Embassy in Berlin.

Krieger was sentenced in the Minsk Regional Court on June 24, Viasna said on its website.

Krieger was charged under six articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus, according to Viasna, including “mercenary activity,” “agent activity,” an “act of terrorism,” the “creation of an extremist formation,” “intentional disrepair of a vehicle or communication lines,” and “illegal actions in relation to firearms, ammunition and explosives.”

Viasna also reported that Krieger was found guilty of “arranging an explosion in order to influence decision-making by authorities, intimidate the population, [and] destabilize public order.” It is unclear exactly what led up to Krieger’s alleged crimes or when they occurred.

“The Federal Foreign Office and the Embassy in Minsk are providing consular support to the individual concerned and are working intensively on his behalf with the Belarusian authorities,” a spokesperson from the German Foreign Office told CNN, in an apparent reference to Krieger.

“The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane form of punishment that Germany rejects under all circumstances. We are actively working worldwide to abolish it and are strongly advocating against its execution in all affected cases,” the spokesperson added.

Belarus says it has ensured consular access to a German national, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said in a statement on X. Minsk has “proposed a number of options” to Germany “for the development of the situation,” he said, according to Belarusian state media BelTA. 

“There have been contacts with the German side on this topic, of course. This criminal is a German citizen and we understand the German side’s concern for him,” said Glaz, according to BelTA.”Consultations on this topic are being held by the foreign ministries of the two countries,” he added.

The German Red Cross (DRK) told CNN’s German affiliate N-TV that while “the man in question,” without naming Krieger, had previously worked for them, his stay abroad was not related to his work with the DRK.

CNN has also reached out to the German Red Cross for comment.

“I am concerned by news that German citizen Rico Krieger was sentenced to death by Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus,” exiled Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on X.

“We are collecting more information on his case at the moment. From what we know, he was accused of several so-called ‘extremism’ related crimes,” she added. (CNN)…[+]

NOVA SCOTIA  –  The bodies of a couple who set off on a sailing trip across the Atlantic Ocean have been found on a washed-up life raft almost six weeks after they were last seen.

Briton Sarah Packwood and her Canadian husband Brett Clibbery are thought to have abandoned their yacht and perished before washing up on Sable Island near Nova Scotia in Canada on 12 July.

The couple were reported missing on 18 June after leaving Nova Scotia in their 13m (42ft) eco-friendly yacht, Theros, a week earlier.

They were on the way to the Azores – about 3,228 km away – with the trip planned to take 21 days.

In a post on Facebook, Mr Clibbery’s son James confirmed the pair had died, saying that the last few days had been “very hard”.

He said the couple would be “forever missed”, adding: “There isn’t anything that will fill the hole that has been left by their, so far unexplained passing.”

It is unclear how the couple’s dream transatlantic crossing ended in tragedy. An investigation is still under way, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told the BBC.

One theory investigators are exploring is that the yacht was struck by a passing cargo ship that did not notice the collision, according to Canadian news website Saltwire.

“The sailboat crew were either unable to avoid collision” or they could have been down below with Theros on automatic pilot, an anonymous source told Saltwire.

The Canadian coastguard and military aircraft have not spotted wreckage or any sign of the boat, Saltwire reports.

In a video posted to their YouTube channel, Theros Adventures, the pair explained how their trip – dubbed the Green Odyssey – would rely on sails, solar panels, batteries and an electric engine repurposed from a car.

“We’re doing everything we can to show that you can travel without burning fossil fuels,” Mr Clibbery said in the video, posted on 12 April.

“It’s probably the biggest adventure of our lives so far,” Ms Packwood added.

The pair met by chance in London in 2015, when Ms Packwood was preparing to donate a kidney to her sister and Mr Clibbery, a retired engineer, was visiting London.

They married in Canada on their yacht a year later, before affirming their vows in a traditional handfasting ceremony at Stonehenge in 2017, according to Ms Packwood’s personal blog.

Their story was featured in a 2020 “How We Met” article in The Guardian.

Ms Packwood, originally from Warwickshire, had worked in Rwanda with the UN after the 1994 genocide and had extensive experience as a humanitarian.

In what would be their final post on 11 June, the pair wrote on Facebook: “Captain Brett and First Mate Sarah set sail on the 2nd leg of The Green Odyssey on board Theros – GibSea 42 foot sailboat. Powered by the wind and sun. Heading east to the Azores.” (BBC)…[+]

WASHINGTON – President Biden abandoned his campaign for a second term under intense pressure from fellow Democrats on Sunday, upending the race for the White House in a dramatic last-minute bid to find a new candidate who can stop former President Donald J. Trump from returning to the White House.

“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he said in a letter posted on social media. “And while it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Biden, who evidently plans to serve out his term through January even as he pulls out as a candidate, said he would “speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision” and expressed thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris “for being an extraordinary partner in all this work.” But he did not immediately endorse her and said nothing about how the Democratic Party should proceed to pick a new nominee.

The president’s decision set the stage for an intense, abbreviated scramble to build a new Democratic ticket, the first time in generations that a nomination will be settled at a convention rather than through primaries. Although he did not endorse Harris, she starts the truncated process in the strongest position, but could face challenges from other Democrats.

While Biden has six more months in office, the transition of the campaign to whomever is chosen will amount to a momentous generational change of leadership of the Democratic Party. The eventual nominee will have just over 75 days after next month’s convention to consolidate support from Democrats, establish themselves as a credible national leader and prosecute the case against the Republican former president.

Biden, 81, announced his withdrawal after a disastrous debate performance against Mr. Trump cemented public concerns about his age and touched off widespread panic among Democrats about his ability to prevent the former president from reclaiming power. Democratic congressional leaders petrified by dismal poll numbers pressed Biden to gracefully exit, angry donors threatened to withhold their money and down-ballot candidates feared he would take down the whole ticket.

No sitting president has dropped out of a race so late in the election cycle in American history, and Harris and any other contenders for the nomination will have just weeks to earn the backing of the nearly 4,000 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. While the convention is scheduled to take place in Chicago from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22, the party had already planned to conduct a virtual roll call vote before Aug. 7 to ensure access to ballots in all 50 states, leaving little time to assemble support.

Biden’s campaign for a second term collapsed in swift and stunning fashion after leading Democrats concluded that he would be unable to defeat Mr. Trump in the fall. During their nationally televised debate last month, Biden, the oldest president in American history, appeared frail, hesitant, confused and diminished, losing a critical opportunity to make his case against Trump, a convicted felon who tried to overturn the last election. (The New York Times)…[+]

TRINIDAD – The Caribbean Energy Chamber (CEC) continues to remain focused on prioritising affordable net zero energy security for the region. CEC President and CEO, Eugene Tiah, says energy is one of the largest costs of the Caribbean’s GDP and depending on the source, is estimated to be around 15 per cent of GDP.  “Energy is therefore one of the most important factors influencing Caribbean economies and by extension the lives of all Caribbean citizens.” 

It was noted that historically, the regional energy chambers that have formed to help advocate on energy issues, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana and recently Suriname are from a supply side perspective, that is, fossil fuels supply. However there is a need for the energy demand side and the other Caribbean countries to have a co-operative, sustainable mechanism to help address energy security with the lowest carbon emissions as is possibly affordable.

The CEC President says currently renewable energy is approximately 9 per cent of the energy matrix for the Caribbean (including the Dominican Republic and hydro-electric power). If hydro-electric power is excluded, then renewables penetration is around 5 per cent with a significant portion of renewable energy being in the Dominican Republic.  

“Rollout of renewable energy is ‘de minimis’ currently in the Caribbean. As a region, we will get left behind competitively in all sectors as the rest of the World is “greening” at much quicker rates.  We need therefore to work together to resolve this situation as soon as possible and therefore, yes, the Caribbean Energy Chamber is crucially needed.”

It was stated CEC will be pragmatic in its approach to help enable the energy transition and one of its initial priorities is technical assistance and capacity rollout in a timely manner as there are areas of the Caribbean where there are surplus amounts of technical and other capacities which can be deployed immediately. CEC has developed an online mechanism to allow Caribbean government and relevant agencies, who need resources, to be able to access the pool of Caribbean technical, financial and legal resources available from the various official engineering, legal and other appropriate organisations.  

The new online Job Placement Facility which is available on the CEC website, will allow Caribbean government and related state agencies to access a wider pool of qualified candidates from the Caribbean. CEC hopes that this online mechanism will facilitate more efficient interactions between appropriate employers and professionals in the region.

In the first instance, the CEC will be able to connect Caribbean government and related state agencies with members from the Barbados Bar Association and Law Association of Trinidad & Tobago; Barbados Association of Professional Engineers and the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad & Tobago. (Loopnews.caribbean)…[+]