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Armed gangs controlling Port-au-Prince, mass civilian displacement, and the failure of international stabilization efforts
A Montreal police officer was shot and killed Monday in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood, marking the first time a local officer has died in the line of duty in nearly a quarter of a century, authorities said. A civilian was also killed,…
2026-06-22 · 3 MIN READA French woman infected with hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship is fighting for her life on an artificial lung, part of an outbreak that has now sickened 11 people, killed three, and prompted quarantine measures across Europe.…
2026-05-14 · 4 MIN READA French woman infected with hantavirus during the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak is in critical condition on life support, her doctor said Tuesday, as the total number of cases linked to the vessel rose to 11, including three deaths.
2026-05-14 · 3 MIN READFrench authorities say a woman infected in the MV Hondius outbreak is critically ill in Paris, as the total reported cases tied to the cruise ship has reached 11, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. WHO Director-General Tedros…
2026-05-14 · 3 MIN READUna francesa infectada en el brote de hantavirus vinculado a un crucero está en estado crítico en un hospital de París, según un médico del Hospital Bichat, mientras el total de casos reportados asciende a 11. El médico dijo que la…
2026-05-14 · 4 MIN READResidents of the Cite Soleil neighborhood in Port-au-Prince protested Tuesday, demanding government protection after a weekend of gang violence forced hundreds from their homes, shuttered two hospitals, and left an unknown number of people…
2026-05-13 · 3 MIN READResidents of Cite Soleil, a neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, protested Tuesday demanding police protection after gang violence forced hundreds of people to flee their homes over the weekend, the Associated Press reported.
2026-05-13 · 3 MIN READA surge in gang violence across Haiti’s capital over the weekend forced hundreds of people from their homes, scattered families, and prompted the evacuation of a hospital run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders after more than…
2026-05-10 · 3 MIN READA federal jury in Miami convicted four men on Friday of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the 2021 assassination that plunged the Caribbean nation deeper into turmoil, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.…
2026-05-10 · 3 MIN READHundreds of people fled new gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, over the weekend, scattering families along roads leading to the country’s main airport, residents said Monday. In a statement released Monday, Doctors Without Borders…
2026-05-10 · 3 MIN READA Florida jury convicted four men of conspiracy tied to the 2021 assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse, according to prosecutors and the verdict in U.S. federal court in Miami. The convictions followed an investigation that…
2026-05-10 · 3 MIN READA bomb exploded at the headquarters of the centrist D66 party in The Hague, targeting Prime Minister Rob Jetten’s party office but injuring no one, according to police and Jetten. Police said they arrested a 37-year-old suspect late…
2026-05-09 · 3 MIN READDoctors Without Borders said it will suspend services at a clinic in Bel Air, a violent neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, because clashes continue between police and armed groups. The organization said the decision comes after…
2026-01-07 · 3 MIN READMás de dos decenas de pasajeros de al menos 12 países abandonaron desde abril un crucero afectado por un brote mortal de hantavirus, sin que se hiciera un seguimiento de contactos, según dijo el operador del barco y funcionarios…
2026-05-08 · 3 MIN READ
Mali’s junta leader and president, Assimi Goita, has assumed the duties of defense minister, authorities said, after the previous defense minister was killed in coordinated attacks by separatist and militant forces. A presidential decree…
2026-05-05 · 4 MIN READArmed, hooded men abducted former Malian education and science minister Mountaga Tall from his home in Bamako, a family member told The Associated Press, as attacks on Mali’s government spread. Mahmoud Touré said the men stormed Tall’s…
2026-05-04 · 3 MIN READAuthorities in Louisiana said Friday that they have charged a 17-year-old with murder in connection with a Thursday shooting at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge that killed 1 teenage girl and injured five other people. Police Chief TJ…
2026-04-26 · 3 MIN READHaiti’s new UN-backed gang-fighting force has received more pledges than the 5,500 members it is seeking, with Chadian troops already deployed in Port-au-Prince, the U.N. special envoy said after briefing the U.N. Security Council.
Hundreds of migrants, most of them from Haiti, left Tapachula, Mexico, on foot Tuesday, but many said they no longer see the United States as a realistic destination. They described difficulties getting responses on asylum claims while waiting in the southern border city and said they were instead aiming for large Mexican cities where they could work and seek protection.
Haiti’s Ministry of Culture and Communication dismissed two state officials after a stampede at the mountaintop fortress La Citadelle killed 25 people, according to the ministry’s statement. Authorities also arrested nine suspects, including five police officers, officials said.
Southern Haiti’s Marigot mayor appealed for central government help after a gang attack in Seguin left seven people dead and a police station set on fire, according to the Associated Press. Marigot Mayor René Danneau said the victims were young men who worked alongside police to gather information. He criticized authorities for not responding quickly enough and asked the prime minister to take “all necessary measures.”
Haiti’s authorities arrested seven people, including five police officers, after a stampede at La Citadelle in Milot killed at least 25 people over the weekend, police said Monday. Dozens were injured, with 30 still in hospital as investigators work to determine what caused the crush.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haití — Para familias en Haití, el alza de precios del combustible está empujando a recortar aún más una alimentación ya limitada, mientras la violencia de las pandillas complica el transporte de mercancías. En Puerto Príncipe, vendedores, trabajadores y conductores describieron cómo la gasolina, el diésel y el queroseno más caros elevan el costo diario de vivir y reduce sus opciones. El gobierno de Haití anunció el 2 de abril aumentos de 37% en el diésel y de 29% en la gasolina, y organismos humanitarios advirtieron que el impacto podría agravar una crisis de hambre.
More than 1,000 workers protested Monday outside Haiti’s Sonapi industrial park in Port-au-Prince, demanding increases to the minimum wage as surging oil prices and higher fuel costs strain household budgets. Employees said they have not received raises since 2023 and that higher diesel and gasoline prices make it harder to afford basic goods.
A stampede at Haiti’s Citadelle Laferrière mountaintop fortress popular with tourists in the north has killed at least 25 people and injured dozens, authorities said. Municipal officials in Cap-Haïtien said the Saturday incident in Milot involved asphyxiation and trampling, and many people were reported missing.
The first foreign troop tied to a new UN-backed gang-suppression force has arrived in Haiti, according to a statement posted by the force. A team from Chad and the force’s special representative, Jack Christofides, entered Port-au-Prince as officials discussed the partnership with Haiti’s prime minister.
Suriname’s former President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, who led an investigation into the 1982 “December killings,” has died at 67, according to AP. Suriname President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons confirmed his death in a social media statement, while international leaders and regional partners including the Caribbean Community and Guyana’s president also mourned him.
Haiti’s National Police said officers backed by Kenyan police in a U.N.-supported mission helped rescue people after a renewed gang attack in the central town of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite. Human rights activists and a local activist group said at least 30 people were killed and that dozens more were missing after the gang attacked the Jean-Denis neighborhood.
Violence erupted early Sunday in Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, Haiti, when the Gran Grif gang fought with a vigilante group, regional officials confirmed to The Associated Press.
Haiti has a chance to curb escalating gang violence with a U.S.-initiated international force that is starting to deploy and with a prime minister who has pledged alternatives for young people, the United Nations’ human-rights expert on Haiti said Monday.
Families of two Haitian journalists kidnapped last week in Port-au-Prince asked Monday for information about their whereabouts, with some relatives fearing gangs had killed them. The two reporters, Junior Célestin of Radio Télévision Megastar and Osnel Espérance of Radio Uni FM, were taken while working in an area controlled by the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, according to Radio Uni FM.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 16 (AP) — The families of two Haitian journalists who were reported kidnapped last week pleaded Monday for information about them, with many fearing gangs had killed them. The journalists, Junior Célestin of Radio Télévision Megastar and Osnel Espérance of Radio Uni FM, were taken in downtown Port-au-Prince on Friday, Radio Uni FM said.
Martine Moïse, the widow of Haiti’s former President Jovenel Moïse, described being shot and wounded during his 2021 assassination as she testified in a U.S. federal trial in Miami of four men charged with conspiracy. Her testimony came after opening statements and followed similar testimony she gave the day before in the case.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said it aims to shut down all of the country’s online scam centers by the end of next month, its top cybercrime official said Wednesday. Senior Minister Chhay Sinarith said the government has targeted 250 locations since July, shutting about 80%, and plans further enforcement after April to prevent the scams from reemerging.
A jury was seated Monday in a U.S. federal trial of four men accused in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, with opening statements set for Tuesday in South Florida. Christian Sanon was not part of the trial after his case was separated for medical reasons, according to his attorney.
Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys in Miami delivered opening statements Tuesday in the trial of four men accused of conspiring in South Florida to kidnap or kill Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was killed at his home near Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean McLaughlin told the jury the case was not complicated: the defendants wanted to seize power and get rich.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s National Police chief said authorities are working on a plan to safely hold general elections this year, despite continued gang violence. Interim police chief André Jonas Vladimir Paraison told The Associated Press that the election plan is still being prepared and that he could not provide more details. The government has said it aims to hold general elections in late August with a runoff in early December.
Ghana’s navy and air force rescued 71 fishermen whose boats were attacked off the coast of Ghana by unidentified gunmen, a local official said Thursday. The attackers robbed the fishermen late Wednesday, stealing outboard motors and leaving them stranded at sea, before the military recovered them the next morning.
Police in Detroit found the bodies of three men in a home after they were searching for a missing person, authorities said. The men, ages 65, 66 and 72, were bludgeoned and stabbed, Assistant Police Chief Charles Fitzgerald said.
Paris police fatally shot a knife- and scissors-wielding man after he tried to attack an officer during a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe on Friday, officials said. The French counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said it opened an investigation for attempted murder linked to a terrorist enterprise.
Malian authorities arrested Youssouf Sissoko, editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper L’Alternance, after he questioned accusations by Niger’s military ruler, Human Rights Watch said. HRW said Sissoko was arrested at his home in Bamako on Feb. 5 and was charged and ordered held in pretrial custody, in a case that rights groups say reflects shrinking civic space amid the security crisis in West Africa.
Haiti’s presidential council stepped down on Saturday after nearly two years overseeing a transition with a U.S.-backed prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, expected to remain in power. The move came days after the United States deployed a warship and Coast Guard boats near Port-au-Prince as gangs controlled much of the capital.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic said they found the bodies of at least four decapitated women near their border with Haiti and are investigating the deaths. Police spokesman Diego Pesqueira said the victims were Haitian and that Dominican authorities are investigating only one case because just one body was found on the Dominican side of the border. He said investigators believe the women were killed and then thrown into a river that carried the bodies across where they were later discovered.
A 6-year-old and four other people were wounded when gunfire erupted during a small-town parade in Clinton, Louisiana, authorities said. The East Feliciana Parish Sheriff’s Office said the shooting occurred shortly after the midday start of the Mardi Gras in the Country Parade on Saturday.
The Haitian presidential transition council voted to dismiss Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, according to council members who announced the decision at a news conference Friday, two weeks before the panel is due to step down. The move comes as Haiti faces rising gang violence and mounting pressure to hold general elections, with provisional dates set for August and December.
The U.S. warned Haiti’s transitional presidential council against making changes that could destabilize the country’s government, saying it would consider taking “appropriate measures” if such steps back initiatives favoring gangs. The warning came as pressure grew for the council—an unelected body overseeing the transition—to move toward elections ahead of a Feb. 7 deadline.
The United States warned Haiti's transitional council against making changes that would destabilize the government, threatening to take action against those who support such moves. The warning came as the unelected council faces pressure to move toward elections for the first time in a decade, with its mandate scheduled to end Feb. 7.
AP videographer Pierre-Richard Luxama described filming a tactical police patrol in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 20 when gang members attacked, setting an armored vehicle’s roof ablaze with Molotov cocktails. Luxama said the smoke filled the vehicle and spread quickly, and officers returned fire as civilians and police rushed to extinguish the flames.
State Transportation Director Ed Sniffen said Hawaii will deploy deputy sheriffs statewide for traffic enforcement, using $2 million in federal highway safety funding for overtime. The effort comes after traffic deaths on Hawaiian roads surged to 129 last year, a 20% increase from 2024 and the highest number of fatalities since 2007.
