Republicans Focus on Convention Security after Trump Shooting

 A supporter of Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waits by Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, Wisconsin, on July 14, 2024, to try and get a glimpse of his plane landing. The Republican National Convention will take place from July 15th to the 18th. (AFP)
A supporter of Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waits by Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, Wisconsin, on July 14, 2024, to try and get a glimpse of his plane landing. The Republican National Convention will take place from July 15th to the 18th. (AFP)
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Republicans Focus on Convention Security after Trump Shooting

 A supporter of Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waits by Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, Wisconsin, on July 14, 2024, to try and get a glimpse of his plane landing. The Republican National Convention will take place from July 15th to the 18th. (AFP)
A supporter of Former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waits by Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, Wisconsin, on July 14, 2024, to try and get a glimpse of his plane landing. The Republican National Convention will take place from July 15th to the 18th. (AFP)

US law enforcement agencies are working to ensure security at the Republican Party's convention in Milwaukee this week, following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a campaign rally.

Trump escaped with minor injuries and will accept the formal Republican presidential nomination at the four-day convention, expected to draw more than 50,000 people.

"We feel very comfortable that we're working with the Secret Service. We're working with 40 different law enforcement agencies in terms of what that security is going to look like," Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley said in an interview on Fox.

Trump, 78, had just begun to speak in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening when a bullet pierced his right ear, streaking his face with blood.

A 50-year-old volunteer firefighter died shielding his family to protect them from the bullets. Two other rally attendees were critically wounded. Law enforcement agents killed the suspected gunman, a 20-year-old resident of Bethel Park, about an hour away from the rally.

Whatley urged Republicans to use this moment as an opportunity for unity, moving beyond partisan divisions.

"There is no place in politics in any way, shape or form for this kind of violence, for these types of actions. It's a horrific act," Whatley said. "Everybody in America needs to stop. They need to pause, they need to reflect on what is actually important for us in this political process going forward."

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, who is a key ally for Trump's rival President Joe Biden, said the violence against Trump should motivate both parties to shore up security, with Democrats due to hold their convention in Chicago in August.

"We need to be more concerned and more diligent than ever in ensuring that our two conventions and the rest of this presidential campaign comes off safely and securely," he told NBC.

The Republican convention in Milwaukee this week is set to take place in the arena that is home to the NBA Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.



Russia, Ukraine Swap 95 Prisoners of War Each

The POW swap was the 54th since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. - The AP
The POW swap was the 54th since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. - The AP
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Russia, Ukraine Swap 95 Prisoners of War Each

The POW swap was the 54th since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. - The AP
The POW swap was the 54th since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. - The AP

Ukraine and Russia exchanged 95 prisoners of war each, officials in both countries said Wednesday, three weeks after their last swap and as part of what have been occasional agreements to send captured troops home.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Russian Defense Ministry reported the exchange.

The POW swap was the 54th since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

Officials from the warring countries meet only when they swap their dead and POWs, after lengthy preparation and diplomacy. Neither Ukraine nor Russia discloses how many POWs there are in total, according to The AP.

Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging service that the United Arab Emirates had again brokered the agreements. The UAE has said it maintains friendly relations with both Moscow and Kyiv.

Zelenskyy posted photos of mostly gaunt servicemen with shaven heads and wrapped in Ukrainian flags standing in what appeared to be an open area of countryside.

“No matter how difficult it may be, we are looking for everyone who may be in captivity. We have to return everyone,” Zelenskyy wrote in the post.

Among the released Ukrainians were some who had spent more than two years in captivity. They were captured in Mariupol, during Russia’s early offensive in the Kyiv region and battles in the eastern Luhansk region, the country's Coordination Headquarters for POWs said.

It said just over 3,400 people, both civilians and military, have returned from Russian captivity since the outbreak of the war.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the freed Russian soldiers will be flown to Moscow for medical treatment and rehabilitation.