Briefly

UNITED STATES

National Guard soldiers shot in DC

Two National Guard soldiers were shot and critically wounded on Wednesday in downtown Washington near the White House in what officials described as a targeted ambush. The suspect was in custody after suffering gunshot wounds during the incident. The suspect was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national. According to DHS, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under a Biden-era program to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the US during the Afghanistan war. Late on Wednesday night, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency announced a halt to the "processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals".

UNITED NATIONS

Concerns aired over Guinea-Bissau situation

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to all national stakeholders in Guinea-Bissau to exercise restraint and respect the rule of law, his spokesman said on Wednesday. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing that the UN chief is following the Guinea-Bissau situation with deep concern and will continue to closely follow it. Guinea-Bissau's armed forces announced on Wednesday via national television that they had assumed full powers of the country and imposed several emergency measures, adding that the move was intended to respond to the actions of certain politicians attempting to destabilize the country. West Africa's Economic Community of West African States and the African Union also expressed concern over the military takeover.

Agencies - Xinhua