MOGADISHU (AFP) – A suicide bombing attack by the Al-Shabab militant group on a crowded tea shop in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu killed 10 people and wounded dozens, the government said Saturday. The death toll from the attack, which targeted a tea shop near heavily guarded government institutions on Friday evening, was significantly higher than the four previously reported. “On the evening of July 2, a suicide bomber wearing a vest detonated the device near the Juba Hotel, killing at least 10 people with dozens injured,” the ministry of information, culture and tourism said in a statement. “The attack occurred during a busy hour where the victims were enjoying a local tea shop,” it added, saying the “malicious” attack was by Al-Shabab. The al-Qaeda-linked group swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement saying “15 elements from the governmental intelligence, police, and militia were killed and 22 others were wounded.”

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SEOUL (Reuters) – Thousands of South Korean workers staged a rally in downtown Seoul to demand better conditions, video images showed on Saturday, defying a government ban and shrugging off warnings that their protest could ignite a new wave of the coronavirus. As South Korea battles a spike in infections fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant, officials had denied permission for the protest, with Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum urging leaders of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions to cancel it. Marchers wearing masks blocked some of the main streets in the central district of Jongno, holding up signs with slogans such as “Stop restructuring!” and “Let’s go! General strike!” video from the Yonhap news agency showed. The protest, which the union said drew as many as 8,000 participants, backed demands for wage hikes and measures to prevent accidents. But plans for the gathering had provoked concern about a repeat of the events of last summer, after a massive rally traced to a church sparked a second wave of infections nationwide.

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MINSK (Dispatches) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has ordered the closure of the border with Ukraine in a bid to halt what he referred to as an influx of arms to coup plotters detected by the nation’s security forces, according to state news agency BelTA. “A huge amount of weapons is coming from Ukraine to Belarus. That’s why I ordered border-security forces to fully close the border with Ukraine,” Lukashenko told a gathering, marking the nation’s Independence Day. “They have crossed the line. We cannot forgive them,” Lukashenko added, insisting that the US, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine were behind the alleged insurgency scheme. The measure also marks the intensification of a continuing standoff between Minsk and Western governments after Belarusian security forces diverted a Lithuania-bound Ryanair passenger flight to the capital city and arrested a top dissident, charged with inciting post-election violence in the country. The U.S., Canada and European Union countries have imposed sanctions on Belarus to punish the country for the action, with the EU and Ukraine also banning Belarus-registered flights from entering their airspace.

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Nashville (AP) – The mother of a Black man fatally shot in the United States by a white former Nashville officer sobbed, screamed and knocked over a court lectern on Friday as she begged a judge not to accept a plea deal she says was struck in secret without her knowledge, a chaotic scene that briefly delayed a hearing. Former officer Andrew Delke pleaded guilty to manslaughter and will serve a three-year prison sentence in the death of Daniel Hambrick, 25, in 2018 as part of an agreement with prosecutors. As part of the agreement, Delke agreed not to pursue parole or appeal the case. However, Delke’s defense team said he will likely serve a year and a half in jail with standard credits. Prosecuting police officers in the U.S. is difficult because courts and juries tend to side with police. That may be changing. Prompted by widespread Black Lives Matter protests after the death of George Floyd in 2020, the U.S. Congress is debating police reform proposals. The hearing turned volatile as Hambrick’s mother, Vickie, gave a lengthy statement as family members and others applauded. Other supporters, outside the court in the hallway, banged on the door in support.

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MICHIGAN (Sputnik) – A teenager died in the U.S. state of Michigan after receiving a second dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. 13-year-old Jacob Clynick lived in Zilwaukee in Saginaw County, Michigan, U.S. On 13 June, he received a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and died in his sleep three days later, according to Newsweek. “CDC is aware of a 13-year-old boy in Michigan who died after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination. This case is currently under investigation and until the investigation is complete, it is premature to assign a specific cause of death,” Martha Sharan, a public affairs officer for the CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine task force said. According to his aunt, Jacob was healthy and did not have any chronic illnesses. The woman also said that the teenager had complained of general post-vaccination symptoms for two days, fatigue and fever. On 15 June, Jacob had a slight stomach ache, but not enough to raise serious concerns, aunts said. The boy fell asleep and never woke up.

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CARACAS (Dispatches) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro once again says U.S. spy agency CIA and the American military are plotting to assassinate him, questioning whether current President Joe Biden is aware of the move. “Did Joe Biden ratify Donald Trump’s orders to lead Venezuela into civil war and kill us? Yes or no? I ask,” Maduro said during a Friday address at a military ceremony. “What did they do?” he further asked. “Our sources in Colombia assure us ... that they have come to prepare a plan to attack my life and that of important political and military leaders ... Did President Joe Biden authorize the plan to assassinate me and important political and military leaders in Venezuela? Yes or no?” The Venezuelan president suggested the chief of U.S. military’s Southern Command Craig Faller and CIA Director William Burns, who recently visited Colombia and Brazil, had come to finish “preparations” for a “violent plan” to assassinate him. In 2019, Maduro said the administration of former president Donald Trump planned to assassinate him and topple his administration.