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Gangs In Haiti Launch Fresh Attacks, Days After A New Prime Minister Is Announced
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Gangs in Haiti besieged multiple districts in Port-au-Prince, burning homes and exchanging Gunfire with police for hours as hundreds escaped the mayhem early Thursday, in one of the most serious attacks since Haiti’s new prime minister was appointed.
The attacks began late Wednesday in communities such as Solino and Delmas 18, 20, and 24, southwest of the main international airport, which has been shuttered for over two months due to ongoing gang violence.
“The gangs started burning everything in sight,” said a man named Néne, who refused to disclose his last name due to fear. “I was hiding in a corner all night.”
AP – VOR News Image
Gangs In Haiti Launch Fresh Attacks, Days After A New Prime Minister Is Announced
He walked with a companion, carrying a dusty red bag crammed with clothes—the only thing they could preserve. The garments belonged to Néne’s children, whom he had whisked out of Delmas 18 in the morning during a lull in the battle.
The neighborhoods formerly bustling with cars and pedestrians were like ghost towns long after morning, with only the occasional bleating from a lone goat breaking the calm.
An armored police truck patrolled the streets, passing burnt vehicles and cinderblock walls with the scrawled “Viv Babecue,” a reference to one of Haiti’s most powerful gang bosses.
People who escaped the onslaught in Delmas 18 and other adjacent communities held fans, stoves, mattresses, and plastic bags packed with clothes as they left on foot, on motorcycles, or in colorful mini buses known as tap-taps. Others were walking empty-handed after losing everything.
“There were gunshots left and right,” claimed Paul Pierre, 47, who was walking with his girlfriend looking for safety after their house burned down. They couldn’t salvage any of their possessions.
He stated that the nocturnal battle ripped children from their parents and husbands from their wives as people fled in terror, adding, “Everyone is just trying to save themselves.”
Martina, a woman who refused to provide her last name out of fear, claimed she was left homeless after armed assailants burnt her home. She fled with her 4-year-old, who she claims attempted to flee when the shooting started late Wednesday.
“I told him, ‘Don’t be afraid. “This is life in Haiti,” she remarked as she held a hefty load of goods on her head, including butter, which she wanted to sell to generate money and find a new home.
AP – VOR News Image
Gangs In Haiti Launch Fresh Attacks, Days After A New Prime Minister Is Announced
When asked to describe what transpired overnight, she answered, “Gunfire, Gunfire, everywhere! Nobody slept. “Everybody was running.”
Jimmy Chérizier, the head of the formidable gang federation G9 Family and Allies and a former elite police officer known as Barbecue, was in charge of the area where the incident occurred.
He and other gang bosses have been blamed for the coordinated attacks that began on February 29 in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Gunmen have torched police stations, opened fire on the main international airport, and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing over 4,000 inmates.
The attacks eventually forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign, prompting the formation of a transitional presidential council. The council’s majority unexpectedly announced a new prime minister on Tuesday: Fritz Bélizaire, a former sports minister. The action threatens to split the nine-member council, which was sworn in last week.
As new authorities take over the country amid fighting, Haitians demand that they prioritize their protection, as gangs remain more strong and well-armed than the Haitian National Police.
More than 2,500 people were murdered or injured between January and March of this year, a more than 50% rise over the same period last year, according to the United Nations.
Meanwhile, over 90,000 individuals have fled Port-au-Prince in just one month, as gangs controlling an estimated 80% of the capital increasingly target formerly tranquil districts.
Ernest Aubrey told how he relocated to Delmas 18 years ago. He’s leaving home for the first time.
AP – VOR News Image
Gangs In Haiti Launch Fresh Attacks, Days After A New Prime Minister Is Announced
“It is too much. “We can’t resist any longer,” he said of the gangs. “They are taking everything we own.”
As he went with his heavy backpack, he noticed an acquaintance leaving in a car and dashed toward them to see if he could catch a ride.
Vanessa Vieux was one of the few who stayed at Delmas 18. Early Wednesday after the incident, she relocated her elderly mother to the countryside. She thought it was best not to give her home over to gangs. Furthermore, she has faith in Haiti’s National Police.
“I live next to a police officer,” she explained. “That’s why I’m not scared.”
SOURCE – (AP)
News
Canadian Man Arrested for TikTok Video That Threatened Trudeau
A TikTok video that went live earlier this week has led to a Toronto man facing charges of threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Andrew Marshall, 61, is facing two counts of uttering threats.
On Friday afternoon, the Ontario Court of Justice granted him bail with a surety and restrictions after the RCMP charged him on Wednesday.
Following Monday’s upload to TikTok, CBC Toronto conducted its own independent investigation of the video. Marshall vehemently opposes what he perceives as restrictions on free expression in Canada in it.
“I get them taken down all the time— I make videos — or all my comments, that are just simple comments,” Marsh says in the TikTok. “It’s just getting ridiculous, Marshall said.”
According to the CBC more and more people are threatening politicians. The commissioner of the RCMP has hinted that further measures may be necessary to ensure their safety.
In the TikTok video, Marshall explains in great detail how he would brutally assassinate Trudeau and Freeland “if it was up to him.”
Marshall attacks multiple groups throughout the roughly 11-minute TikTok video, including the media, Muslims, migrants, and the police who defend the government.
Among Marshall’s bail terms are the following: he must not communicate with Trudeau or Freeland; he must not use the internet to make social media posts or comments; he must not own any weapons; and he must not apply for a firearms permit.
During the bail hearing, the prosecution provided all of the evidence that is often not published.
Nate Jackson, Marshall’s attorney, stressed his client’s liberties and privileges as a Canadian in an email message.
“He has the right to freedom of speech, the right to reasonable bail and the right to a fair trial,” he said. “Having secured his release from custody, we will continue to defend Mr. Marshall’s Charter rights as his case proceeds.”
Neither Freeland’s nor the prime minister’s office would comment on the allegations, according to the CBC.
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Canada’s Unemployment Rate Hits its Highest Point Since 2017
As the job market remains dismal, the national unemployment rate in Canada has risen to its highest point since 2017. This has led some analysts to question whether the Bank of Canada should be reducing interest rates more quickly.
In spite of a net gain of 22,000 jobs, Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the unemployment rate increased to 6.6% from 6.4% the previous month. The rise was due to an uptick in part-time employment and a fall in full-time employment.
Outside of the pandemic years, the national unemployment rate has reached its highest position since May 2017, according to StatCan.
Rapid population expansion in Canada has increased the overall labour pool, but the country’s unemployment rate has persisted in rising.
The summer job market was especially tough for students, according to StatCan. Not including the pandemic, the unemployment rate among students going back to school in the autumn was 16.7 percent, which is the highest level since 2012.
Two days after the Bank of Canada dropped interest rates for the third time in a row, reducing borrowing costs to alleviate economic pressure, the most recent reading of the Canadian job market follows suit.
According to TD Bank economist Leslie Preston, who wrote a note on Friday, the central bank is “giving the OK” to keep dropping rates due to the bad August jobs report. Preston predicts two more quarter-point decreases at the remaining decisions this year.
According to CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham, there are indications that the labour market is quickly contracting more than initially thought, since the unemployment rate is nearly two percentage points greater than the record low of 4.9% in June 2022.
“Due to this, we believe the Bank should be contemplating a quicker rate of reductions in order to bring interest rates to less restrictive levels,” he informed clients in a letter on Friday morning.
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US Job Growth Falls Short of Expectations: Economy Struggles Under High Interest Rates
Last month, job growth in the United States was weaker than predicted, prompting concerns that the world’s largest economy is beginning to struggle under the weight of increased interest rates.
The Labour Department said that employers added 142,000 jobs in August, which was less than the nearly 160,000 economists predicted. It also stated that job gains over the preceding two months were weaker than expected.
However, the jobless rate went down to 4.2%, down from 4.3% in July.
The report is one of the most important indicators of the US economy and arrives at a vital time, as voters consider presidential candidates for the November election and the US central bank contemplates its first interest rate decrease in four years.
Analysts said the latest statistics kept the Federal Reserve on pace for a rate drop at its meeting this month, but did little to answer worries about the trajectory of the US economy or how much of a cut it should make.
“There has rarely been such a make-or-break number; unfortunately, today’s jobs report does not completely resolve the recession debate,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
Soaring prices in 2022 caused the Federal Reserve to hike its key lending rate to 5.3%, a nearly 20-year high.
Faced with increased borrowing costs for homes, vehicles, and other debt, the economy has slowed, helping to alleviate pressures that were boosting inflation but exacerbating market concerns.
As inflation has fallen to 2.9% in July, the Fed is under pressure to decrease interest rates to prevent additional economic deceleration.
Although job increases in August fell short of expectations, they were greater than in July, when a slowdown aroused anxieties and triggered several days of stock market volatility.
Last month, construction and health-care firms hired the most, while manufacturing and retailers laid off employees.
Ms Shah stated that the data in Friday’s report was mixed, but provided enough concerning indicators that the Fed should make a larger cut.
“On balance, with inflation pressures subdued, there is no reason for the Fed not to err on the side of caution and frontload rate cuts,” she told reporters.
Others, however, felt the advances were just steady enough to warrant a 0.25 percentage point decrease, as markets had long projected – though this could signal more cuts than expected in the coming months.
Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics’ senior North America economist, predicted that the Fed’s decision will be “close run.”
“The labour market is clearly experiencing a marked slowdown,” he said, adding that the new statistics were “overall still consistent with an economy experiencing a soft landing rather than plummeting into recession”.
Concerns about the economy are a major issue in the US election.
According to polls, a majority of Americans feel the US is in a recession, despite healthy 2.5% growth last year.
Donald Trump has declared that the economy is headed for a “crash,” and his team instantly latched on the latest data to criticise Vice President Kamala Harris, publishing a press release titled “warning lights flash as Kamala’s economy continues to weaken.”
Democrats have defended their performance, claiming that the United States survived the pandemic and inflation better than many other countries.
They believe the slowdown is a sign that the economy is returning to a more sustainable rate of growth following the post-pandemic boom.
“Although hiring has slowed, the US job market continues to generate solid job gains and wage growth that is consistently beating inflation,” the White House Council of Economic Advisors stated in a blog.
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