Brazil’s highest electoral court has barred former President Jair Bolsonaro from running for political office until 2030, after finding him guilty of abusing his power and misusing public media during last year’s election campaign.

Five out of seven judges found the former president guilty, effectively ending any hope of a political comeback in the forthcoming 2026 election. Two of the judges voted against the decision, which prevents Bolsonaro from running for public office for eight years.

The case stems from a meeting Bolsonaro held with foreign ambassadors in July 2022, in which he spread false information about Brazil’s electoral system and brought its credibility into question ahead of last year’s fractious election. The meeting was livestreamed by official television channels and on YouTube.

YouTube took down the livestream of the event for not complying with its fake news policy.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the court, cast his vote last. “Let us reaffirm our faith in our democracy and the rule of law,” he said after voting in favor of the guilty verdict.

Moraes added that with the vote Brazilian authorities would show they do not tolerate “criminal extremism attacking the powers of the state, fake news, disinformation to try to deceive voters.”

Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing. Speaking to Brazilian radio station Itatiaia on Friday, Bolsonaro said he planned to appeal the court’s decision.

The far right politician lost the election by the narrowest margin in decades to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Riots on January 8 saw pro-Bolsonaro protesters breaking into government buildings in Brasilia, following weeks of demonstrations over the election results.

The case at the Superior Electoral Court began with a lawsuit brought by Brazil’s Democratic Labor Party against both Bolsonaro and Walter Braga Netto, his running mate in the 2022 elections. The majority of judges voted to find Braga Netto not guilty.

During the meeting with ambassadors, the former president allegedly said the 2022 elections might be compromised due to fraud, according to a report by Judge Benedito Gonçalves.

Bolsonaro also allegedly said that in 2018 voting machines had changed voters’ choices to benefit his opponent, and that the Brazilian voting machines are not auditable, while insinuating that electoral and judicial authorities were protecting “terrorists,” the report added.

Such claims of flaws in the electoral system have all been denied by Brazil’s electoral authorities.

The case at the Superior Electoral Court is one of several cases against the former president.

The girlfriend of former NFL quarterback Ryan Mallett, who died last week in an apparent drowning off a Florida beach, said she tried hard to save him.

“I trust that God has a plan for everything, but I don’t think I will ever understand why this happened,” Madison Carter wrote on Facebook.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you, and I hope you know how hard I tried.”

First responders were called to the scene after a group of people were spotted in the water near a sandbar struggling to make their way back to shore, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said.

Mallett was among the group and was pulled out of the ocean by lifeguards after going underwater but was not breathing when he made it back to shore, the sheriff’s office said.

Carter described Mallett as talented, dedicated, and passionate.

“Those of us who were lucky enough to know your heart know that it was even bigger than your larger-than-life personality and stature. Nothing was ever about you, it was always about others,” she wrote.

“Words cannot convey how badly I miss you. I hope you know how loved you are. By myself, your amazing family, your friends, your teammates, your students, and countless others. I don’t know how I’ll ever get past this. But I’m so honored to love you and be loved by you. You changed my life, and I’m forever grateful for the time we had.”

Mallett was a star with the Arkansas Razorbacks before he was drafted in 2011 in the third round by the New England Patriots, the NFL said. He spent seven years in the NFL with the Patriots, Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens.

He played in 21 games, went 3-5 as a starter, and compiled 1,835 passing yards, nine touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, the NFL said. His career ended in 2017.

Authorities had been warning beachgoers as rip currents claimed at least 11 lives in two weeks last month along the Gulf Coast.

Yellow flags indicating “a medium hazard, moderate surf and/or currents” were flying along Destin beaches, though “there were no rip currents present in the area in which we responded to Ryan Mallett,” the Destin Fire Control District said in a statement.

Mallett’s death “seems to be just a tragic accident and not something to do with the conditions of the surf or tides or currents,” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said.

NFL star Tom Brady shared online a photo of himself and former Patriots teammate Mallett on the field. “We lost a great man. Thank you for everything Ryan,” Brady wrote on Instagram. “Praying for the Mallett family and all their loved ones tonight.”

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is institution that says it’s responsible for the “custodianship of the laws of the cricket” and on its website there is a section devoted to the sport’s “spirit.”

In it, the MCC highlights the respectful manner in which the sport should be played, notably: “Respect your captain, team-mates, opponents and the authority of the umpires … create a positive atmosphere by your own conduct, and encourage others to do likewise” and “show self-discipline, even when things go against you.”

On Sunday at Lord’s Cricket Ground – known as the ‘home of cricket’ and owned by the MCC – any idea of the “spirit” of the sport appeared to be in short supply.

Tensions were sparked after the controversial dismissal of England batter Jonny Bairstow on day five of the second Test of the 2023 Ashes series between England and Australia.

Bairstow had walked down the wicket thinking the over was finished, but Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey threw the ball at the stumps and the England batsman had to be given out.

The incident, whilst not against the laws of cricket, divided many as to whether it went against the spirit of cricket, including many inside Lord’s.

Usually viewed as a welcoming and cerebral crowd, many spectators at Lord’s booed the Australian team throughout the remainder of the ill-tempered game, with some chanting: “Same old Aussies, always cheating.”

Those feelings of injustice then spilled over in arguably the very embodiment of Lord’s and the MCC: the ground’s Long Room.

The Long Room is one of sport’s most unique settings; a room filled with MCC members through which players of both teams have to travel to reach the playing area from their respective dressing rooms.

Usually a space where the most vociferous reactions are limited to applause or cheering – for both the home or away teams – videos on Sunday showed members booing and yelling “cheats” at the Australian players as they walked through the Long Room at lunch to reach their changing room.

“I wasn’t going to stand by and cop it, so I just talked to a few of them. A few of them were throwing out some pretty big allegations and I just called them up on it.”

The abuse continued to just before the stairs up to the teams’ dressing room, with batter Matt Renshaw seen pointing and laughing at one of the MCC members shouting abuse at the team.

In a statement, Cricket Australia alleged that members of the team were “verbally abused, with some being physically contacted, as they made their way to lunch through the members area.”

The MCC released a statement saying that it “unreservedly apologized” to the Australian team, later saying it had suspended three of its members identified involved in the confrontations, barring them from Lord’s while an investigation is carried out.

“We maintain that the behavior of a small number of Members was completely unacceptable and whilst there was no suggestion by Pat Cummins [Australia’s captain] in the post-match press conference that there was any physical altercation, it remains wholly unacceptable to behave in such a way, which goes against the values of the Club,” the statement said.

“MCC condemns the behavior witnessed and once again we re-iterate our apology to Cricket Australia. We are thoroughly disappointed to be talking about poor behavior when the Long Room, as stated by Pat Cummins himself, is otherwise renowned for being ‘really welcoming.’ It has been a thrilling day to finish off a wonderful five days of Test cricket.”

Australia captain Cummins highlighted how the treatment from the MCC members was different to years past in his post-match media conference after his team had won by 43 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the best of five Test series.

“I don’t think (the insults) hurts any more than normal,” he said. “I think just the standards that I guess are held by the members are maybe a bit different to what you’d expect from certain sections of let’s say the crowd at Edgbaston.”

Lord’s and, by extension, the MCC is renowned for being a bastion for grace and sportsmanship as the de facto home of cricket. They are tasked with writing the laws of the game and membership to the MCC is a highly-sought after, with a waiting list of about 29 years.

Indeed, on the MCC’s website, it says that: “Any action which is seen to abuse this Spirit causes injury to the game itself.”

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) coach Christophe Galtier is to stand trial in Nice, France, over allegations of psychological harassment and racial discrimination, according to the public prosecutor involved in the case.

Xavier Bonhomme, the prosecutor for the judicial court in Nice, tweeted a photo of the office’s press release relating to the matter on Friday. The trial is set for December 15.

The prosecutor’s press release noted that his office opened a preliminary investigation into Galtier and his son, John Valovic, following press reports in April that Galtier allegedly made statements that there were too many Black and Muslim players on the team.

According to the press release, as a result of searches and interviews, Galtier and Valovic were placed in police custody on Friday and had hearings with the investigators.  Prosecutors say the two men have denied the offenses.

Prosecutors in Nice say that the preliminary investigation involved interviews with Nice players during Galtier’s tenure, as well as directors and staff members at the club.

Valovic was not charged and was released following the hearings as he had no official role at Nice.

In an April statement issued by Galtier’s lawyer, the coach “firmly denies” the allegations, describing them as “insulting and defamatory.” Galtier’s lawyer, Olivier Martin, announced at the time the immediate opening of “the necessary legal proceedings” in the statement.

The prosecutor’s press release discusses a 2022 interview with Julien Fournier, the former sporting director of Galtier’s previous club OGC Nice, where Fournier told journalist Julien Absalon that, “If I explain the real reasons we (Fournier and Galtier) argued, he would never work in a locker room in France or Europe again.”

The statement goes on to discuss the widespread media coverage in April of a series of leaked emails from Fournier to Dave Brailsford, a director at INEOS, which owns the club.

The press release states that the emails from Fournier describe a meeting with Galtier’s son, John Valovic, who was presented as the coach’s agent. In that meeting, Valovic allegedly expressed Galtier’s complaints over the Nice squad having “too many Black and Muslim” players in the team, which meant it did not suit “the reality” of the city.

Prosecutors say the maximum punishment Galtier could face if found guilty of psychological harassment and racial discrimination is a three year prison sentence and a €45,000 fine (around $49,000)

Novak Djokovic had a brief stint as a groundsman during his first-round match at Wimbledon on Monday, using his towel to dry the grass on Centre Court.

Djokovic, looking to win a men’s record-extending 24th grand slam title at the tournament, and his opponent Pedro Cachín endured a delay of almost an hour and a half after the first set due to a damp, greasy playing surface.

When the match resumed, Djokovic triumphed 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-4) against the Argentine to kick off his pursuit of a fifth straight Wimbledon title.

“I normally come out with rackets, not with towels,” the world No. 2 joked during his on-court interview.

“It was fun to do something different – a little bit of a strange feeling but hopefully you guys liked it.”

The roof of Centre Court was closed at the end of the first set but the playing surface remained slippy, prompting Djokovic to mop and fan the grass with a towel while ground staff used leaf blowers in an attempt to dry it out.

As the rain stopped, the roof was opened once more and play could resume.

“It was definitely frustrating, of course, for the crowd waiting for us to come out on the court,” said Djokovic.

“Us players, we both wanted to play, but the conditions were not great. Obviously, it was still slippery under the roof. Once the roof was open, it was a different story. After five, 10 minutes, we were out and about.”

Unperturbed by the delay, Djokovic breezed through his first-round encounter against Cachín in a playing time of two hours and 12 minutes.

It means the Serbian star has now won 29 matches in a row at Wimbledon – a staggering streak which stretches back to his retirement in the quarterfinals six years ago.

His bid to capture a third grand slam title this year will continue on Wednesday against Australia’s Jordan Thompson, who came from two sets down to defeat American Brandon Nakashima 2-6 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.

Severe storms and record heat pose serious risks for the Fourth of July holiday, so don’t be surprised if the forecast forces a celebration backup plan.

While the record heat might be easing in the South, it’s building elsewhere. And the storm threat isn’t taking a holiday as it remains active through much of this week after recent deadly storms across the country.

Get your local forecast here

Here’s what to plan for today, and on the Fourth of July, region by region:

Mid-Atlantic and Northeast: Severe storms will threaten millions

Southeast: Heat indices climb as high as 110 degrees with storms possible

Some storms could be severe both today and on the Fourth of July during the afternoon and late evening hours, with damaging winds, large hail and an isolated tornado or two. Have a plan in place in case you need to seek shelter at a holiday celebration. Heat advisories are in effect from the North Florida coast to southern Virginia where temperatures will top out in the upper 90s. The heat index for these areas could reach a dangerous 110 degrees, so make sure to drink a lot of water and have a cool place to take breaks from the heat outdoors.

Midwest and Plains: Severe storms and the hottest temperatures of the year so far

The West: No storm threat, but dangerous heat

Severe storms and excessive rainfall forecast for much of the week

Severe storms and torrential rain won’t stop after the holiday. On Wednesday, the threat will cover roughly 90 million people. The main risk area will be across the Midwest and Southern Plains with a Level 2 out of 5 slight risk for places like Chicago, Indianapolis, Denver, Kansas City, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Storm Prediction Center is also highlighting an area in the Plains on Thursday to watch out for the threat for severe weather, but it’s too early for the details. Make sure to check back here for any updates through the week.

Any of these storms will have the potential to produce torrential rainfall, so be prepared for flash flooding through the week.

On a rocky outcrop almost 2 miles beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica, researchers have documented an active octopus nursery. It may be the third known example of a brooding site where huge numbers of the creatures cluster together.

During a three-week expedition this month, scientists on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor research ship saw hundreds of octopuses and watched their babies hatch at the soccer field-size Dorado Outcrop. Located 2,800 meters (1.7 miles) deep in the lower reaches of the so-called twilight zone, it was one of six underwater mountains surveyed by the vessel’s underwater robot, ROV SuBastian.

“We could see that some of them were ready to pop — like the octopus just came out,” said geomicrobiologist Beth Orcutt, a senior research scientist at the Maine-based Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, who led the expedition along with Jorge Cortés of the University of Costa Rica. “It was a really exciting moment because we weren’t expecting it.” Cortés is a researcher at the university’s Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Limnology.

The expedition also captured spectacular footage of other deep-ocean life, including tripod fish, rays and coral gardens.

Mystery solved?

The discovery of an active community of octopus moms and babies solved a mystery that had perplexed scientists.

A subsea vehicle first spotted a large group of octopuses on the Dorado Outcrop in 2013 during an expedition to understand the area’s geochemistry.

It was the first time that octopuses, typically solitary creatures that like cooler waters, had been spotted clustered in such numbers in this way on a low-temperature hydrothermal vent — an opening in the seafloor where warm, chemical-rich fluids flow out.

Scientists observed that the octopuses appeared stressed and could not see any developing embryos in the 186 eggs they counted in still images and video footage. The research team thought conditions were too inhospitable to make it a great place to start a family.

“I was part of the team that went to the site (10 years ago). We just went to that one outcrop to look for evidence of low-temperature vents and discovered that there were those octopuses, but they didn’t seem to be successfully brooding,” Orcutt said.

“So the goal was to go back to Dorado and figure out what’s going on, and we discovered it is an active nursery. We saw babies being born.“

The researchers also found one other smaller octopus nursery on a low-temperature hydrothermal vent on an as-yet-unnamed seamount.

Possibly a new species

The discoveries add to evidence that some species of deep-sea octopus may seek out low-temperature hydrothermal vents for brooding their eggs. The warmer fluids may provide an advantage to egg development, even if the lower oxygen would make it harder to breathe. Octopuses are famously self-sacrificial mothers — after laying a clutch of eggs, they quit eating and waste away, typically dying by the time the eggs hatch.

“We don’t know why they are attracted to this place. Perhaps they just stumble upon it, perhaps they seek it out, maybe for the warmth, maybe for the bare rock, maybe for some reason beyond our comprehension,” said octopus specialist Janet Voight, an associate curator of invertebrate zoology at Chicago’s Field Museum who was part of the latest expedition. She was one of three authors of a 2018 paper analyzing the initial footage taken in 2013.

Voight and her coauthors speculated an octopus population might be in a healthier habitat nearby and the octopuses captured in the photos and video footage were a doomed surplus group that had inadvertently chosen to set up home in the wrong neighborhood.

“Watching the ROV’s light reveal the hundreds of animals, I was just thrilled!!” she said via email.

Scientists believe this octopus is potentially a new species of Muusoctopus, a genus of small to medium-size octopus. It’s not known how long the deep-sea octopuses brood their eggs for at that location, Orcutt said.

The main aim of the June expedition was to better understand the hydrogeology, microbiology, ecology and geochemistry of the Dorado Outcrop and its octopuses, she added. The team collected cores of sediment and microorganisms for lab analysis. The scientists also plan to return to the site in December to collect octopus eggs from devices they deposited recently to find out why the creatures like to brood there.

The other known octopus nursery is about 3,200 meters (2 miles) below the ocean surface on the Davidson Seamount off the coast of Monterey, California, where thousands of octopuses cluster around a vent, and a smaller nursery that was found on a 2,600-meter-deep (1.6-mile-deep) basalt outcrop in the North Pacific Ocean known as Baby Bare, Voight said. Orcutt added, however, that it wasn’t clear whether octopuses were actively breeding there.

A 57-year-old Thai woman had to have her leg amputated after she got caught up in a moving walkway at an international airport in Bangkok on Thursday in a freak accident that has yet to be fully explained by authorities.

Don Mueang International Airport’s director Karant Thanakuljeerapat said the incident took place at around 8:27 a.m. local time (7:27 p.m. ET) in the southern corridor of the domestic passenger terminal.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday, Karant said the woman, who was traveling to the southern city of Nakhon Si Thammarat, had a “severe” accident at the end of a moving walkway after her left leg became caught in the end of the walkway.

Medics responded quickly and the woman was transferred to the nearest hospital, though the severity of her injuries led to the amputation of her leg up to the kneecap, Karant said.

She has since been transferred to Bumrungrad International Hospital, one of the country’s top medical facilities, the director added.

“I would like to convey our deepest sorrow,” Karant told reporters.

The woman’s son, Krit Kittirattana, released a statement on Facebook in which he described the accident as “heartbreaking”.

He said his mother has had an operation but still faces risks of potential complications and that doctors were keeping a close watch for any signs of infection.

“My mother has continued to express her strength through her face and voice. But deep down we know that her heart is broken since she suddenly lost her leg,” he wrote.

He added that the family has requested surveillance camera footage of the accident.

Karant, the airport director, said Airports Of Thailand (AOT), the state-owned company that operates airports across the country, would take care of all medical expenses and provide compensation.

All of the airport’s moving walkways have had their service suspended while the cause of the incident is investigated and engineers do safety checks, he added.

“The cause of the incident is still under investigation to find the facts. We might need to set up a fact-finding committee with outsiders to join in order to achieve impartiality and transparency,” he said.

He said closed-circuit television footage available was taken from afar, thereby taking his staff more time to investigate.

He refrained from making any preliminary conclusion at this stage.

The director, however, defended the airport’s routine maintenance and checkups.

One of the two international airports in Bangkok, Don Mueang is located in the northern part of the capital. It was previously the city’s main airport until the newer and larger Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in 2006.

Thailand is a hugely popular tourist destination for those seeking warm weather and palm fringed beaches.

The country has also been pushing hard for its health tourism with an abundance of private hospitals.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic tourism accounted for some 12% of the country’s economy with nearly 40 million arrivals in 2019.

Arrival numbers were decimated during the pandemic but have begun recovering in recent months. Thailand beat its tourist target in the first quarter of 2023, logging 6.15 million arrivals between January and March.

Turkey condemned a decision by Swedish authorities to approve a small Quran-burning demonstration outside a mosque in Stockholm on Wednesday, a move that may jeopardize Sweden’s bid to join NATO before the bloc’s key summit in July.

A single person took part in the planned Quran burning in the Swedish capital and images of the event show he was the only person apart from his translator at the demonstration, which coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant in the Islamic calendar.

The decision to permit the protest was made in accordance with the right of freedom of speech, Swedish police said, adding that the demonstration does not pose an immediate security risk.

But allowing such an inflammatory protest stirred a backlash in Turkey, a NATO member state that has obstructed Sweden’s accession bid. Sweden and neighboring Finland both formally applied to join the bloc after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.”

Turkey’s foreign minister condemned the protest on Wednesday, calling it a “heinous act.”

“It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression. To turn a blind eye to such heinous acts is to be complicit in them,” Hakan Fidan said in a statement.

The Turkish government’s Director of Communicaitons Fahrettin Altun added in a tweet: “We are sick and tired of enabling of Islamophobia and continued instances of hatred for our religion on the part of European authorities especially in Sweden.”

“Those who seek to become our allies in NATO, cannot tolerate or enable destructive behaviors of Islamophobic and xenophobic terrorists,” he said.

NATO officials are hoping to avoid the embarrassment of seeing the alliance miss its own stated aim of admitting Sweden to the alliance by July 11 – the date of its next official summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Officials fear that missing this deadline will send a humiliating and potentially dangerous message to the alliance’s adversaries.

Turkey – a strategically important NATO member due to its geographical location in both the Middle East and Europe, and the alliance’s second-largest military power – has proven the greatest obstacle to Sweden’s NATO accession bid.

Earlier this year, Turkish-Swedish relations suffered a major blow following a rally outside Stockholm’s Turkish Embassy during which an anti-immigration politician set a copy of the Quran alight.

The incident sparked anger in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where protesters took to the streets and burned the Swedish flag outside the Swedish embassy in response.

At the time, the then Turkish foreign minister reportedly blamed the Swedish government, saying it had “taken part in this crime by allowing this vile act” to go ahead, according to state news agency Anadolu.

Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that Sweden has fulfilled the necessary requirements set out by Turkey in order to join NATO, including introducing a new terrorism law.

“New legislation has recently entered into force in Sweden that makes it illegal to participate in a terrorist organization in any way that promotes, strengthens or supports it. We are thereby delivering on the last parts of our agreement,” Billstrom said.

But the decision to permit a Quran-burning protest may further damage Sweden’s relations with Turkey and dent the country’s hopes to join NATO.

Freedom of speech

He said he was doing this demonstration after three months of legal battles in court.

“This book should be banned in the world because of the danger it causes to democracy, ethics, human values, human rights, and women’s rights. It just doesn’t work in this time and age,” he said.

The permit for the demonstration says that Quran burnings “mean an increased risk of a terrorist attack” and “can also have foreign policy consequences.”

However, it added that for “security problems to be the basis for a decision to refuse a general assembly, these must have a clear connection to the planned gathering or its immediate surroundings.”

Authorities granted permission for the gathering according to certain conditions, including a fire ban in place in Stockholm since June 12, which “applies until further notice.”

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin planned to seize two top Russian military officials when he launched a short-lived mutiny on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Western officials.

Prigozhin’s plot involved the capture of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and top army general Valery Gerasimov when the pair visited a region along the border of Ukraine, the WSJ wrote.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) learned of the plot two days before it was due to take place, forcing Prigozhin to change his plans at the last minute and launch a march towards Moscow instead, according to the report.

Wagner mercenaries took control of a key military base in the city of Rostov-on-Don, and his troops were approaching the Russian capital when Prigozhin called off his mutiny.

There has been speculation about the role of senor Russian commanders as the mutiny got underway on Friday night. The New York Times, citing US officials who it said were briefed on American intelligence, reported that the commander of the Russian air force, Gen. Sergey Surovikin, “had advance knowledge of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plans to rebel against Russia’s military leadership.”

Surovikin appealed to Prigozhin to halt the mutiny soon after it began, in a video message that made it clear he sided with Putin.

Asked about the New York Times story, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “There will be now a lot of speculation and rumors surrounding these events. I believe this is just another example of it.”

Even though the mutiny failed, Putin prestige has been dented, the official said. “If that is what factions wanted, then that is what they got.”

Viktor Zolotov, the director of Russia’s National Guard, claimed Monday that senior Russian officials knew of Prigozhin’s plans for a rebellion because people close to the Wagner boss had leaked them, Russian state media agency TASS reported.

Zolotov also claimed the mutiny was “inspired by Western intelligence services” because “they knew weeks in advance.”

But, according to sources familiar with the matter, the intelligence was so closely held that it was shared only with select allies, including senior British officials, and not at the broader NATO level.

Prigozhin’s spectacular falling-out with Moscow’s high command appears to have stemmed from a declaration by the Russian Ministry of Defense that it would employ Wagner’s contractors directly. The move would essentially have dissolved Prigozhin’s lucrative operations in Russia.

Prigozhin arrived in Belarus Tuesday, the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko said. Russia says Lukashenko brokered the deal that ended the rebellion.