OTTAWA (Al Jazeera) – Canadian police on Saturday used pepper spray and stun grenades in a final push to clear the capital of trucks and demonstrators who occupied downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks to protest against pandemic restrictions. After clearing a portion of the blockade and making more than 100 arrests on Friday, 47 more arrests were made on Saturday morning as police moved quickly to disperse the main portion of the blockade in front of parliament and the prime minister’s office. Police used loudspeakers to warn the crowd to disperse or face arrest. Some loud bangs of stun grenades were heard. People were sprayed with “a chemical irritant in an effort to stop the assaultive behavior and for officer safety”, according to police. “We told you to leave. We gave you time to leave. We were slow and methodical, yet you were assaultive and aggressive with officers,” police announced in a statement to the truckers posted on Twitter. Protest organizers for the so-called Freedom Convoy stated they had asked truckers to withdraw because of heavy-handed police tactics, and many trucks did exit the downtown core on Saturday. Thirty-eight vehicles have been towed, police added.

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MOGADISHU (Dispatches) – Somali leaders have nullified an “illegal” deal signed between the country’s energy minister and an American oil company. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed announced that he had signed seven Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs) with a Texas-based oil company. Despite the ongoing political dispute between the president and prime minister, both leaders agreed to reject the deal. The office of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, locally known by his nickname Farmajo, announced late Saturday that any deal with foreign governments or entities during the election period was against the law. “Therefore the agreement which the minister signed is null and void.” Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble quickly followed suit, dismissing the oil deal as “illegal, unacceptable.” The alleged production sharing agreement purportedly signed by the minister of petroleum with a foreign entity regarding Somali oil reserves is illegal, unacceptable since it wasn’t done through legal avenues. In a post on Twitter, the premier said he would “take all appropriate measures to protect our national resources.” Before the cancellation of the deal, the Somali oil minister had described the deal as a “huge moment” for Somalia. Coastline Exploration Ltd, too, had hailed the deal as a “defining moment” for Somalia. “Somalia contains the largest remaining unexplored set of basins situated in warm waters in the world,” Coastline chief executive W. Richard Anderson had said in a statement before the Somali leaders canceled the deal. Somalia remains under constant threat by terrorists wreaking havoc across the country.

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BRASILIA (AFP) – Brazil has lashed out at U.S. criticism of President Jair Bolsonaro’s recent trip to Russia, after Washington chided the far-right leader for visiting Vladimir Putin amid the escalating Ukraine crisis. The Brazilian foreign ministry said it “regrets the tone” of statements by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said the visit had left Brazil looking isolated from the “vast majority of the global community.” The United States tried to dissuade Bolsonaro from visiting Russia. But the Brazilian leader pressed ahead, meeting his Russian counterpart Wednesday and voicing Brazil’s “solidarity” with Russia. A day later, the U.S. State Department issued a rare rebuke to Brazil, typically seen as an ally. Brazil’s foreign ministry hit back that it “regrets the tone of the White House press secretary’s statement.” The country “does not consider such extrapolations on the president’s comments to be constructive or useful.” Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019, sought close ties with the United States under former president Donald Trump, Bolsonaro’s political role model. But relations have chilled since Trump lost the White House to Joe Biden, who has taken Brazil to task for surging deforestation in the Amazon rainforest under Bolsonaro.

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ATHENS (AP) – A survivor has been rescued Sunday morning from the stern of a still burning passenger ferry, Greece’s coast guard said. There are 11 people still missing. A coast guard spokesman told The Associated Press the man, a Belarusian, was found on the left rear side of the Euroferry Olympia in apparently good condition. The Italian-owned ferry, which was carrying more than 290 passengers and crew, as well as 153 trucks and 32 cars, caught fire on Friday, three hours after it left the northwestern Greek port of Igoumenitsa, on the mainland, bound for Brindisi, Italy. The Greek coast guard and other boats evacuated about 280 people to the nearby island of Corfu. One of two passengers rescued late Saturday wasn’t on the ship’s manifest and is, presumably, a migrant. The ship is being slowly towed to the port of Kassiopi, in northeastern Corfu, by three tugboats, authorities said. Firefighters were still battling the blaze, which, although confined in certain spaces, reignites from time to time, and thick smoke is hanging over the ship.

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NICOSIA (Xinhua) – Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides says that his country’s policies towards Turkey have shifted in recent weeks away from confrontation towards confidence-building measures. Kasoulides said the Cypriot government has moved away from pushing for EU sanctions on Turkey for actions allegedly violating the sovereign rights of Cyprus on land and in the eastern Mediterranean. Cyprus was divided in 1974 after a Turkish military operation in reaction to a coup by Greek army officers serving in Cyprus. Its northern part is controlled by Turkish troops and run by a Turkish Cypriot administration. In recent weeks, Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has been promoting a new confidence-building policy between the two countries, in meetings with other EU leaders. This follows moves by authorities in the Turkish-controlled part of Cyprus to re-open Varosha, an area in the Cypriot city of Famagusta which has been fenced off since 1974. The Cypriot government has been proposing that customs at the port of Famagusta should be operated by the EU, so as to facilitate trade with the outside world. It is also proposing a UN-operated airport in the Turkish-controlled part of Cyprus, for direct flights to other countries.