By DAVID FISCHER

MIAMI (AP) — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in the U.S. federal trial of four men charged in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

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Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages are charged with conspiring in South Florida to kidnap or kill Haiti’s former leader, plus related charges. They face possible life sentences. They all pleaded not guilty.

Christian Sanon was set to go on trial, but his attorney confirmed Monday that Sanon’s case was severed from the others because of medical reasons. A separate trial for Sanon will be scheduled for a later date.

The trial against all five defendants was previously set for last year, but U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra in Miami agreed to delay the case because of discovery challenges and the large volume of evidence.

Five others have already pleaded guilty in the conspiracy and are serving life sentences. A sixth person, who officials believe didn’t know about the assassination plot, was sentenced to nine years behind bars after pleading guilty to providing body armor to the conspirators.

Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, attacked his home near Port-au-Prince, officials said. Moïse’s wife, Martine, was wounded during the attack and flown to the U.S. for emergency treatment.

According to court documents, South Florida served as a central location for planning and financing the plot to oust Moïse and replace him with someone of the conspirators’ choosing.

Ortiz and Intriago were principals of Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security, collectively known as CTU, and Veintemilla was a principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group. Both companies were based in South Florida.

FILE – In this April 7, 2018, file photo, Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, center, leaves the museum during a ceremony marking the 215th anniversary of revolutionary hero Toussaint Louverture’s death, at the National Pantheon museum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)

Sanon is a dual Haitian-American citizen who investigators say was initially favored by the conspirators to replace Moïse. Solages was a CTU representative in Haiti who coordinated with Sanon and others, officials said.

The conspirators met in South Florida in April 2021 and agreed that, once in power, Sanon would award contracts to CTU for infrastructure projects, security forces and military equipment, investigators said. Worldwide Capital agreed to help finance the coup, extending a $175,000 line of credit to CTU and sending money to co-conspirators in Haiti to purchase ammunition, officials said.

FILE – In this Aug. 28, 2019, file photo, Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise speaks during an interview in his office in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)

CTU initially retained about 20 Colombian nationals with military training to provide security for Sanon. But by June 2021, the conspirators realized Sanon had neither the constitutional qualifications nor sufficient popular support to become president. They then backed Wendelle Coq Thélot, a former Haitian Superior Court judge. She died in January 2025 while still a fugitive.

Besides the 11 people arrested and prosecuted in the U.S., another 20, including 17 Colombian soldiers and three Haitian officials, face charges in Haiti. Gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation.

By SYLVIE CORBET and MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS

PAPHOS, Cyprus (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday pledged to defend Cyprus, days after dispatching a warship to the east Mediterranean island nation, where a Shahed drone struck a British air base on its southern coast last week during the Iran war.

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“When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,” Macron said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Cyprus’ main air base near the southwestern town of Paphos. “We are bound to one another by strategic partnerships.”

The French president paid a visit to Cyprus to demonstrate his “full solidarity” with Cyprus, which sustained the first drone attack of the Iran war on European territory.

Macron had ordered the French frigate Languedoc to waters off Cyprus, a fellow European Union member, to bolster its anti-drone and anti-missiles defenses. The French president also sent last week ground-based anti-drone and anti-missile defenses to the island.

Greece already dispatched four F-16 fighter planes to the Paphos air base and its two state-of-the-art frigates Kimon and Psara are already patrolling offshore Cyprus, tasked with intercepting any missiles or drones.

Macron hails ‘unprecedented’ show of strength

In a show of strength, Macron said he would also deploy a total of eight warships, two helicopter carriers and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East region, calling the move “unprecedented.” He is due to go aboard the De Gaulle, which is currently sailing “very near” Cyprus.

Macron pointed to a French-led initiative currently in the works that will involve European and non-European nations helping to escort oil and gas tankers with the aim of gradually reopening the Strait of Hormuz “as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict is over.”

Christodoulides said the leaders’ presence in Cyprus underscores how the EU remains “united and determined” to ensure the security of its member states.

“Our countries have the common believe that the European Union must engage more actively, more strategically and more coherently with the wider region as part of a comprehensive approach,” Christodoulides said.

Mitsotakis echoed the Cypriot president, saying that “now is the time to make clear that every inch of European territory is inviolable” but stressed that any action is purely defensive in posture.

“Our sole and exclusive aim it to strengthen the defense of a European Union member state against any threat,” said Mitsotakis. “And we’re not going to accept any part of European territory, like Cyprus, to be exposed to the slightest danger.”

EU leaders seek to contain Middle East conflict

Macron has been deeply involved in diplomatic talks in recent days to try to avoid further escalation in the Middle East. On Sunday, he spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and urged him to stop strikes.

Last week, Macron ordered the De Gaulle to move from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean to help protect allied assets, citing the drone strike on Cyprus. Cyprus and France signed a new strategic partnership in December.

Despite the military buildup, the three leaders have urged against any expansion of the conflict. Christodoulides has repeatedly underscored that Cyprus won’t take part in any military operation and remains focused on its regional humanitarian role that includes a maritime corridor sending aid to Gaza via the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The Shahed drone caused minor damage to a hangar at the RAF Akrotiri air base minutes after midnight on March 2. No one was injured. Another two drones were intercepted by British Typhoon and F-35 warplanes that were scrambled from the air base shortly after midday that day.

Cyprus officials confirmed last week that the Shahed originated from Lebanon and believe that it was launched by the Hezbollah militant group, Iran’s proxy in the country. Hezbollah’s arsenal notably includes exploding drones, similar to the ones used by Iran.

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji on Sunday condemned the drone attack.

“I called on our Cypriot friends not to confuse the Lebanese state with those acting outside its authority and legal framework,” said Rajji, a staunch opponent of Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government has ordered its security agencies to crack down on non-state groups carrying out attacks.

Macron said France is expending diplomatic capital to ensure a return to calm in the country and to allow for the Lebanese armed forces to assert themselves as Israel continues to pound Hezbollah positions.

“Our goal is simple, Hezbollah must cease all strikes from Lebanese territory, because it is putting all Lebanese people in danger,” Macron said, while urging Israel to cease its strikes in Lebanon.

Menelaos Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus. Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut.

WASHINGTON — Justice Department lawyers announced Monday that they’d reached a settlement in their antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, in a case that alleged an illegal monopoly over live events in America. But it remained possible that some states might continue a trial on their own.

The announcement by the Justice Department at the start of the trial in federal court in Manhattan was greeted angrily by Judge Arun Subramanian, who said no one informed him of the tentative deal until late Sunday even though a term sheet for a possible settlement was signed on Thursday.

“It’s entirely unacceptable,” he said.

Adam Gitlin, a lawyer for the District of Columbia, said the states were requesting a mistrial, although the state of Texas had expressed “serious concerns” about the deal between the U.S. and Live Nation and states have not yet agreed to the deal.

David Marriott, a lawyer for Live Nation, said the company opposed a mistrial and believed it should proceed.

The Department of Justice and Live Nation didn’t immediately respond to requests by The Associated Press for comment.

It comes as the two sides face trial in New York over whether to dismantle the monopoly the Justice Department said was squelching competition and driving up prices for fans.

The case, brought under President Joe Biden ‘s Democratic administration in 2024, accused Live Nation of using threats, retaliation and other tactics to “suffocate the competition” by controlling virtually every aspect of the industry, from concert promotion to ticketing.

The Justice Department accused Live Nation of engaging in a slew of practices that have allowed it to maintain a stranglehold over the live music scene. The Justice Department has said the company uses long-term contracts to keep venues from choosing rival ticketers, blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers and threatening venues that they could lose money and fans if they don’t choose Ticketmaster.

Live Nation has maintained that artists and teams set prices and decide how tickets are sold.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment, based in Beverly Hills, California, have a long history of clashes with major artists and their fans, including Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen.

Ticketmaster, which was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010, is the world’s largest ticket seller across live music, sports, theater and more.

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By JUSTIN SPIKE

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s Russia-friendly leader is urging the European Union to lift all sanctions on Russian fossil fuels to remedy spikes in energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, considered the Kremlin’s closest partner in the EU, said in a video posted to social media on Monday that he’d sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after “oil prices began to grow explosively.”

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The Iran war, now in its second week, has ensnared places that are critical to the production and movement of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf, leading to price surges on global markets.

In the video, Orbán said that the 27-nation EU must “review and suspend all sanctions on Russian energy across Europe.” He added he had convened an emergency government meeting on Monday to assess how to prevent further spikes in gasoline and diesel prices in Hungary.

Orbán’s nationalist government has long opposed EU efforts to cut Russian energy imports, and along with neighboring Slovakia has maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas since Moscow launched all-out war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Both countries have received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil, and have until recently taken Russian crude supplies through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine.

But oil deliveries through the Druzhba have been halted since Jan. 27, leading to an escalating feud between Hungary and Ukraine. The Ukrainian government says that a Russian drone strike damaged the pipeline’s infrastructure, but Orbán has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of deliberately holding up the oil supplies.

In response, Orbán vetoed a new round of EU sanctions against Russia, and is blocking a major $106 billion EU loan for Ukraine until flows are resumed.

Orbán, lagging in most polls just a month before a critical election, has accused Zelenskyy of seeking to cause an energy crisis in Hungary, in order to influence the outcome of the vote — part of his government’s sweeping anti-Ukraine media campaign leading up to the April 12 ballot.

Further inflaming tensions, Hungary on Thursday temporarily detained seven Ukrainian state bank employees and seized two Ukrainian armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash and gold across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering.

Ukraine has insisted the cash shipment was part of regular services between state banks, and strongly denied the money laundering allegations.