Haiti's gangs luring more children into crime and sexual abuse, HRW says, as 115 people killed in attack
CBSN
Haiti's rampant criminal gangs are luring more children into lives of crime and sexual abuse, as hunger and poverty in the tiny Caribbean nation drive young people to desperation, according to a report published Wednesday by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch. Hundreds, possibly thousands more children have joined the violent gangs in recent months, HRW says, with members forcing youngsters to commit crimes and subjecting them to sexual abuse and violence.
The bloodshed and political chaos that has beleaguered Haiti has shown no signs of abating, with a single gang attack last week in the town of Pont-Sondé, about 40 miles from the capital Port-au-Prince, leaving 115 people dead and at least 16 others seriously wounded, according to local officials.
Myriam Fièvre, the mayor of the nearby city of Saint-Marc, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the toll from the Oct. 3 attack would likely rise further, as authorities still hadn't managed to access certain parts of Pont-Sondé. At least three infants were among those killed, according to a previous statement from the United Nations human rights commissioner.
South Korea's impeached conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol was released from prison on Saturday, a day after a Seoul court canceled his arrest to allow him to stand trial for rebellion without being detained.
At least two people have died and 186 others are missing after four boats carrying migrants from Africa capsized overnight in waters off Yemen and Djibouti, the U.N.'s migration agency said on Friday.
A woman in Japan was arrested for allegedly locking her naked partner on their balcony for the night, leading to his death from the cold, police said Friday.
Seoul, South Korea — South Korea suspended the training flights of air force aircraft and all live-fire drills following its fighter jets' accidental bombing of a civilian area, officials said Friday, posing a potential setback to its upcoming annual military training with the United States.
Sydney — Passengers in Australia overpowered a 17-year-old boy armed with a shotgun and ammunition on Thursday as he tried to board a plane near Melbourne after sneaking into the airport. The teenager entered through a hole in a security fence at Avalon airport, then made his way to a plane with about 160 passengers aboard, Victoria police superintendent Michael Reid told reporters.
Takamatsu Gushiken turns on a headtorch and enters a cave buried in Okinawa's jungle. He gently runs his fingers through the gravel until two pieces of bone emerge. These are from the skulls, he says, of an infant and possibly an adult.
Seoul, South Korea — Two South Korean fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area during training Thursday, injuring at least eight people, officials said. One report put the number at 15.
On the first day of China's pomp-filled National People's Congress, the yearly agenda-setting meeting of the country's rubber-stamp legislature, Beijing announced that it would ramp up its military spending by nearly $250 billion this year, an increase of more than 7%, as it continues to modernize its armed forces. Beijing has been bolstering its military rapidly while pressing, with increasing assertiveness, territorial claims over disputed islands across the South China Sea — and its claim over the democratically governed island of Taiwan.
The blockade that Israel put in place on all humanitarian good entering Gaza amid a standoff with the U.S.- and Israeli-designated terrorist group Hamas over how to keep the ceasefire in Gaza going has sent humanitarian groups into overdrive. Organizations say they're trying to figure out how to distribute dwindling supplies to the most vulnerable of the enclave's roughly 2 million people, and there's fear the situation is only going to get worse.
A placid fishing trip turned "berserk" for three New Zealand men when a dolphin weighing more than 900 pounds appeared to fall out of the sky before crash-landing in their small boat.
Washington — Ukrainian officials have indicated to their U.S. counterparts they are willing to sign a key minerals agreement, days after the original plan to sign the deal at the White House imploded in an acrimonious Oval Office meeting between President Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance.
At least three lawmakers were injured on Tuesday, one of them seriously, after chaotic scenes in Serbia's parliament, during which smoke bombs and flares were thrown, further fueling political tensions in the Balkan country.
President Trump's imposition of blanket 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico drew swift vows of retaliation from the United States immediate neighbors on Tuesday. China, which was hit with a second 10% tariff on U.S. exports since Mr. Trump took office, bringing the total levy to 20%, immediately announced its own reciprocal measures — deliberately targeting America's agricultural sector.