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A Kenyan court on Friday prohibited the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti, jeopardizing a multinational security force charged with stabilizing the chaos-hit Caribbean island nation before it even got off the ground. The force, which is backed by the United Nations and financed by the United States, had been stalled since October, when Kenyan opponents of the mission challenged it in court, calling it unconstitutional. “An order is issued prohibiting the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti or any other country,” Justice Chacha Mwita said at the conclusion of a judgment that took 40 minutes to read. The international force was meant to help break the grip of the armed gangs that control most of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and have turned Haiti into one of the world’s most dangerous nations. Haiti’s government has pleaded for foreign military forces to be sent in to restore order, but the United States and Canada have been unwilling to commit their own troops.

Persons: Chacha Mwita Organizations: Kenyan, United Nations Locations: Haiti, jeopardizing, United States, Port, Canada

☆ DeSantis Faces Critical Decision on Cruise Ships in Key West
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-25 | by ( Frances Robles | More About Frances Robles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when cruise ships filled with sickened passengers were blocked from U.S. ports, residents in Key West, Fla., have been trying to limit the size and number of vacation vessels on the tiny island, using the momentum created during the pandemic to argue for continuing restrictions on cruise vessels. Ron DeSantis, void the new restrictions the following year. Now the wealthy hotelier who operates Key West’s cruise ship port is doubling down, asking the state for permission to expand, which would allow bigger ships with more passengers to operate legally out of the port. The issue will soon land on the desk of Mr. DeSantis, who has received nearly $1 million in campaign donations from the pier’s owner. It represents a tough balancing act for the Republican governor, a 2024 presidential candidate who has touted his environmental record but has also been a booster of Florida’s tourism industry.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis Organizations: Republican Locations: U.S, Key West, Fla, City

☆ An Ex-Detective’s Overturned Murder Cases Have Cost New York $110 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Frances Robles | More About Frances Robles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A single New York City police detective accused of trying to close murder cases by concocting false witness testimony and coercing confessions has cost taxpayers $110 million in settlements to more than a dozen people whose convictions were overturned after some had spent decades in prison. People investigated by the former detective, Louis N. Scarcella, have already received a total of $73.1 million in settlements from New York City and another $36.9 million from the state, according to the city and state comptroller offices. The $110 million went to 14 different defendants, including a woman who died a few years after her release, a man who was just 14 when he was arrested on murder charges and a man whose settlement went to his mother because he died in prison at age 37. One man, let out of prison after 23 years, had a severe heart attack just two days later. But no other New York Police Department officer has ever come close to costing taxpayers as much, lawyers involved in the cases say.

Persons: Louis N, Scarcella Organizations: York City, New York Police Department Locations: New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia

But he eluded capture, even as dozens of people in Haiti and nearly a dozen in the United States were arrested in connection with the killing. Evidence indicates that Mr. Badio was involved in nearly every aspect of the conspiracy, Mr. Johnston said. The Justice Department in Washington has accused several South Florida businessmen of orchestrating the assassination so they could install a puppet as president and secure lucrative contracts with the Haitian government. No U.S. charges have been announced against Mr. Badio, who owns a house in Rockland County, N.Y. Phone records viewed by The New York Times show calls between Mr. Badio and Ariel Henry, now Haiti’s prime minister, both before and after Mr. Moise’s killing, each of which lasted several minutes.

Persons: Badio, “, ”, Jake Johnston, Johnston, Ariel Henry, Moise’s Organizations: Mr, Justice Ministry, Center for Economic, Research, The Justice Department, The New York Times Locations: Haiti, United States, Washington, Florida, Haitian, Rockland County

☆ After Taking Away Critics’ Citizenship, a Country Takes Their Houses
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Frances Robles | More About Frances Robles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The campaign is a throwback to the leftist party’s first time in office in the 1980s, when the Sandinistas expropriated homes, setting off yearslong legal disputes. Mr. Ortega was beaten at the ballot box in 1990 but after changes to the constitution that made it possible for him to win, Mr. Ortega reclaimed the presidency in 2007. He spent the next decade chipping away at the country’s democracy by interfering with the National Assembly, elections and the Supreme Court. Tens of thousands of people rose up against Mr. Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, in 2018, accusing them of becoming exactly what they had once fought against: leaders of a dictatorial family dynasty. The move to start seizing properties in recent days follows the confiscation of a prominent Jesuit university and the arrests of several priests.

Persons: party’s, Daniel Ortega, Ortega, Rosario Murillo Organizations: Sandinista, National Assembly, Jesuit, Harvard University

Ron DeSantis of Florida suspended the top state prosecutor in Orlando on Wednesday, accusing her of incompetence and neglect of duty for what he characterized as lenience against violent criminals. Mr. DeSantis suspended Monique H. Worrell, the elected state attorney of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, which includes Orange and Osceola counties, and cited her handling of three cases. It is the second time in a year that Mr. DeSantis, a Republican running for president, has taken the drastic and exceedingly rare step of removing an elected state attorney. Critics, and even a federal judge, blasted Mr. DeSantis’s ouster of Mr. Warren as politically motivated. But Mr. Warren remains out of office — and Mr. DeSantis mentions his removal in just about every campaign stump speech.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Monique H, Worrell, Andrew H, Warren, DeSantis’s Organizations: Judicial Circuit, Orlando, Republican Locations: Florida, Orlando, Orange, Osceola, Tampa

☆ For Pulse Massacre Victims, a New Push for Answers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Frances Robles | More About Frances Robles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On the night that the Pulse nightclub in Orlando was attacked by a gunman with a high-capacity rifle, Jorshua Hernández spent three hours bleeding in a bathroom stall, unable to find his way to an exit. Another patron, Javier Nava, saw a ladder suspended from the ceiling and thought it could help him escape to the roof. But the ladder led only to a loft-style office, where he was trapped with a bullet wound in his abdomen. “If they had more doors, one could survive and there wouldn’t be so many dead,” Mr. Hernández, 29, said. Both the club owner and city officials said that the facility had sufficient exits and complied with all required building regulations.

Persons: Jorshua Hernández, Javier Nava, César Rodríguez, Mr, Hernández, Omar Mateen Locations: Orlando

☆ An International Force May Be Headed to Troubled Haiti, Again
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Frances Robles | More About Frances Robles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After nearly a year of calls from the prime minister of Haiti for armed intervention from abroad, the troubled country may soon get such a deployment from an African nation. Just days after announcing the withdrawal of nonemergency personnel from its embassy in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, and urging other Americans to leave, the United States said on Monday that it would introduce a resolution to the United Nations Security Council authorizing a multinational force to Haiti. On Saturday, Kenya said in a statement that it would “positively consider” leading such a force by sending 1,000 police officers to the Caribbean nation, which has become a cauldron of violence and political instability. The prime minister of Haiti is largely viewed as incompetent, gangs have take over vast areas of Port-au-Prince, and the police have done little to quell the violence, leading to the rise of vigilante groups that have targeted and killed suspected gang members in public.

Organizations: United Nations Security Locations: Haiti, Port, United States, Kenya, Caribbean

☆ Turmoil in Florida’s New State Guard, as Some Recruits Quit
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Frances Robles | More About Frances Robles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Of the 150 people accepted into the program, 120 had graduated, program officials said. “We are aware that some trainees who were removed are dissatisfied,” Maj. Gen. John D. Haas, Florida’s adjutant general, said in a statement. “This is to be expected with any course that demands rigor and discipline,” he added. The original plan to field 200 volunteers with a budget of $3.5 million, proposed in late 2021, grew to 1,500 people and $108 million. The first-year budget includes $50 million for five aircraft and $2.7 million for boats — equipment that many experts say is beyond the budget of most State Guards.

Persons: ” Maj, John D, Haas, Newhouse Organizations: Guards, Mr, The Times

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