Free Republic

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The U.S. government is urging U.S. citizens to leave Haiti because of the country’s deepening insecurity and a severe lack of fuel that has affected hospitals, schools and banks. Gas stations remained closed on Thursday. The rare warning from the U.S. State Department comes as Haiti’s government and police are struggling to control gangs that have blocked fuel distribution terminals for several weeks. “Widespread fuel shortages may limit essential services in an emergency, including access to banks, money transfers, urgent medical care, internet and telecommunications, and public and private transportation options,” the State Department warned on Wednesday....

CAIRO (AP) — Military forces arrested Sudan’s acting prime minister and senior government officials Monday, disrupted internet access and blocked bridges in the capital Khartoum, the country’s information ministry said, describing the actions as a coup. In response, thousands flooded the streets of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman to protest the apparent military takeover. Footage shared online appeared to show protesters blocking streets and setting fire to tires as security forces used tear gas to disperse them ... ...The United States and the European Union expressed concern over Monday’s developments. Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. special envoy to the...

Port-au-Prince, Haiti — Desperate efforts continued on Tuesday to save a group of missionaries, most of them Americans, being held for ransom by a criminal gang in Haiti. FBI agents were working with local authorities in the tiny Caribbean nation to find the 16 U.S. nationals and one Canadian who were kidnapped on Saturday. The gang was asking for $1 million for each hostage — $17 million total — to release the missionaries, a high-ranking government source confirmed to CBS News. The dollar amount was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.... ,,,Gagliano said that if it became clear the...

A woman was allegedly raped on a suburban Philadelphia train last week while police said there were "a lot of people" around who "should have done something." Police said they had arrested a man connected to the rape that allegedly happened on a SEPTA El train on Wednesday. Fishton Ngoy, 35, has been charged with rape and several other counts. According to authorities, the incident was caught on surveillance video that showed bystanders on the train when it happened who "did nothing."

As many as 17 Christian missionaries from the United States and their family members, including children, were kidnapped on Saturday by a gang in Port-au-Prince as they were leaving an orphanage, according to Haitian security officials. Details of the kidnapping remained unclear, but local officials said the missionaries were abducted from a bus headed to the airport to drop off some members of the group before continuing to another destination in Haiti. The kidnapping of the American missionaries happened only a day after the United Nations Security Council extended its mission in Haiti by nine months in a unanimous vote...

San Francisco is an enigma. One of the most walkable cities in America yet filled with streets so steep your legs burn; a hub of zero-emission vehicles and electric bikes crisscrossed with the world's last manually operated cable car system; a leftist haven with more free-market billionaires per capita than any other city on Earth. This complexity may lead to some nuanced questions about the city, but also sometimes people open their phones and ask: “Is San Francisco a country?” I found the weirdest questions people have been asking Google about the city, seemingly largely informed by a misunderstanding of...

The victims, mostly Cubans and Haitians, were abducted in San Luis PotosíTwenty-two foreigners including three minors and a pregnant woman were rescued on Tuesday after being kidnapped by armed men at a hotel in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, the state Attorney General’s Office (FGE) said. The victims, most of whom were Cubans and Haitians, were abducted from the Sol y Luna Hotel early on Tuesday. Sixteen Mexicans were also kidnapped from the same hotel but were later released. Witnesses said the gunmen arrived in three pickup trucks and damaged hotel rooms and threatened employees in addition to abducting guests. The...

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday night ruled in favor of allowing an amendment to remain on the ballot that would replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a “Department of Public Safety.” The decision by the state’s highest court, which overturned a lower-court ruling, came the night before early and absentee voting is set to begin in the Minneapolis municipal elections. On Tuesday, a district judge rejected the language of the ballot question that would replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety. The measure would remove Minneapolis’ charter’s requirement for minimum police staffing levels in...

In an annual poll commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, 70% of respondents said the quality of life in the city has declined. The so-called City Beat Poll was conducted from May 25 to 31, at a time when city residents had faced the economic and social impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year. The responses also revealed that crime and homelessness are the top concerns among those who responded, with 80% of people saying they think crime has increased and 88% saying homelessness has worsened in recent years. A few other results in...

NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- The city of Newark is paying tribute to George Floyd with a new statue in front of City Hall.Mayor Ras Baraka, actor and filmmaker Leon Pickney and artist Stanley Watts unveiled the 700-pound bronze statue on Wednesday afternoon.

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey was named the "Best State to Live in for 2021," according to one new study. WalletHub compared all 50 states across 52 key indicators of livability that range from housing costs and income growth to education rate and quality of hospitals. Based on those factors, the Garden State came out on top. New Jersey's living conditions ranked fairly well, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. Here is the breakdown with 1 as the best and 25 as average: 7th – % of Population in Poverty 24th – % of Insured Population 18th – % of Adults...

A brazen shoplifter was caught on video stuffing items into a garbage bag inside a San Francisco Walgreens and then pedaling off on his bike — in front of a security guard who simply recorded the theft on his phone. The shocking footage, posted on Twitter by KGO-TV reporter Lyanne Melendez, shows the unidentified thief filling up on stolen goods as two people — one apparently a security guard — stand in the aisle with their phones out. The crook then hops on his bike and pedals past the pair, with the guard making a failed attempt to grab the...

Since the US troops began leaving Afghanistan since early May, there has been a wave of Afghan military surrendering to the Taliban in rural areas. Taliban has besieged seven rural Afghan military outposts across the wheat fields and onion patches of the Laghman province, in eastern Afghanistan, reported The Frontier Post. Ammunition was depleted inside the bedraggled outposts in Laghman province. Food was scarce. Some police officers hadn't been paid in five months. By mid-month, security forces had surrendered all seven outposts after extended negotiations, according to village elders. At least 120 soldiers and police were given safe passage to...

Minneapolis is my home. My happiest memories are here. It’s where I learned to ride a bike, had my first date, received my high school diploma. But today, I’m too afraid to even walk in my neighborhood by myself. The ACE Hardware down the street? The one that I used to bike to in the summer? Robbed twice in the past five days. The Walgreens next to my elementary school? Molotov cocktail thrown into it.

BALTIMORE (WBFF) – A shocking discovery out of a Baltimore City high school, where Project Baltimore has found hundreds of students are failing. It’s a school where a student who passed three classes in four years, ranks near the top half of his class with a 0.13 grade point average. Tiffany France thought her son would receive his diploma this coming June. But after four years of high school, France just learned, her 17-year-old must start over. He’s been moved back to ninth grade. “He's stressed and I am too. I told him I'm probably going to start crying. I...

The president of the Dominican Republic has announced plans to build a fence along its border with Haiti, which extends for about 380km (236 miles). Luis Abinader said the barrier would help curb illegal immigration, drugs and the flow of stolen vehicles between the two countries, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Mr Abinader said work on the barrier would start later this year. Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere. Relations between the two neighbours have been historically difficult. Mr Abinader said the barrier in some "conflictive" sections would include a double-fence along with...

Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and two other people have been killed in an attack on a United Nations convoy in the restive east of the central African country. The convoy from the World Food Programme (WFP) was attacked at about 10.30am local time (0830 GMT) during an attempted kidnapping near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 10 miles north of the regional capital, Goma, a spokesperson for Virunga national park said. Ambassador Luca Attanasio and a male Italian military police officer travelling with him were killed, the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement. A driver...

SAN FRANCISCO - The Bay Area struck a hard bargain with its tech workers. Rent was astronomical. Taxes were high. Your neighbors didn’t like you. If you lived in San Francisco, you might have commuted an hour south to your job at Apple or Google or Facebook. Or if your office was in the city, maybe it was in a neighborhood with too much street crime, open drug use and $5 coffees. But it was worth it. Living in the epicenter of a boom that was changing the world was what mattered. The city gave its workers a choice of...

A woman was hit in the head with a brick as she walked near Grand Central Terminal on Thursday afternoon The woman, identified as Lisa Cavanaugh, 51, was struck near Third Avenue and East 48th Street about 2:15pm Nothing was said by the suspect before or after the attack The man fled from the scene - officers launched a search for him in the surrounding area and in the transit hub SNIP

Bay Area tech icon Keith Rabois announced he's leaving San Francisco permanently - and he is criticizing the city on his way out. Rabois, an early executive at PayPal, Square, LinkedIn and more, told Fortune he is "moving imminently" because he's finding it "impossible to stay" in San Francisco. After living in the Bay Area for 20 years, he said he plans on moving to Florida. "I think San Francisco is just so massively improperly run and managed that it's impossible to stay here," Rabois told Fortune. He told the publication other friends in his peer group have done the...