| | | | | | | Hello. Haiti is facing more instability following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Vanessa Buschschlüter looks at the figures exercising influence in the country that has yet to form a transitional government. In Ukraine, Abdujalil Abdurasulov is given rare access to the operations of a military intelligence unit tasked with fighting the Russian navy in the Black Sea. Finally, scroll to the end for what might be the most exciting video concerning toilet paper since the Covid pandemic. |
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| | | | | | Questions Answered | | An ex-cop and a rapper jostling for power |  | | Barbecue derives a lot of his power from controlling the capital's port and fuel terminal. Credit: Reuters |
| | Ariel Henry has resigned as Haitian prime minister after being unable to return to the country from a trip abroad, with gangs targeting the airport in the capital Port-au-Prince. Ahead of the creation of a transitional government, here are the key figures eager to exploit the power vacuum. |  | | Vanessa Buschschlüter, Online Latin America and Caribbean editor |
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| | We’ve heard a lot from a gang leader known as Barbecue. Who is he? | | Jimmy "Barbecue" Chérizier is a 47-year-old former police officer fond of speaking to journalists while clad in his trademark bullet-proof vest. Barbecue has been one of the most outspoken enemies of Ariel Henry, demanding his resignation ever since the latter took office. | | Is he Haiti’s most powerful gang leader? | | Experts warn that Barbecue is not even remotely the most powerful gang leader in Haiti, just the one who is most accessible to the media. As one of them noted: "A lot of the most powerful characters are people who don't give interviews to journalists.” | | Who are some of these figures? | | Someone more powerful than Barbecue is a 26-year-old known as Izo, who tends to use social media to publish rap videos. He was even awarded a prize by YouTube for getting 100,000 followers. But behind the bling façade is a ruthless criminal whose gang engages in rape, kidnappings, drug and arms trafficking, according to the United Nations. He is also accused of obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance. | | | | | | |
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AT THE SCENE |  Ukraine | | Naval drones versus Russian warships |  | | Thanks to its speed and size the naval drone is hard to spot, especially among the waves at night. Credit: BBC | | The secretive G-13 unit of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency has claimed several successes against the Russian navy in the Black Sea. The unit was behind the sinking of the Sergey Kotov warship last week, its fifth downing in the year since it’s been in operation. The group’s not-so-secret weapons are naval drones - cheap, unmanned and lethal. |  | | Abdujalil Abdurasulov, BBC News |
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| The Magura V5, named after a Slavic goddess of war, looks like a small motorboat with a flat surface instead of passenger seats. "It doesn't emit a lot of heat, so it's almost invisible for thermal cameras. It's made from plastic, therefore even radars struggle to see it," says the unit’s commander, who asked us to refer to him by his call sign, Thirteenth. Produced by the Ukrainian armed forces, the drone's claimed range is 800km (500 miles), so it can easily reach the Crimean peninsula and even the Russian coastline. It can allegedly carry 250kg of payload, enough to sink a warship.
The boat's remote control looks like one of those specially adapted nuclear briefcases, used by world leaders in Hollywood films to authorise the use of nuclear weapons. There is even a red toggle switch for "manual detonation", explains Thirteenth. The drone is controlled from base via a satellite link. "You can control it from any part of the world if you have internet," says Thirteenth. |
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| | The big picture | | A schoolboy’s daring escape |  | | Gangs have been targeting towns such as Kuriga, seeking to kidnap people and make money from ransom payments. Credit: BBC | | Musa Garba was one of more than 280 students kidnapped from a school in Kuriga, northern Nigeria, last week. Armed men were marching them away through the bush when they stopped to rest, and the 17-year-old escaped by hiding in a heap of cut grass. "After all was quiet, [to avoid detection] I started dragging myself like a snake on the ground," he told Chris Ewokor. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | The hunt for alien life | | Away from movie clichés, scientists really are searching for life beyond Earth. | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | In History Newsletter | | The past comes to life through the BBC's unique audio, video and written archive, each Thursday. | | |
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