DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Angry farmers once forced India’s hardline leader into a rare retreat. As the election looms, they’re back
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Modi promised “a fresh start,” agreeing to meet the farmers’ demands and work with them to move forward. Police fire teargas to disperse farmers marching towards New Delhi during a protest at the Haryana-Punjab state border on February 21, 2024. It was a massive victory for the farmers, who pushed the Indian leader into a rare and uncharacteristic climbdown. The abject poverty and debt faced by many of India’s farmers has forced some to take extreme measures. “About 86% of Indian farmers are dependent on the markets.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Modi, “, ”, Narinder Nanu, Devinder Sharma, Gurpreet, Prakash Singh, Arjun Munda, Sharma, ” Sharma, ’ Modi, Arati Jerath, Jerath, ” X Organizations: CNN, Police, Getty, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Rapid Action Force, Bloomberg, Agriculture, India Brand Equity Foundation, country’s Department of Commerce, Farmers, “ Farmers, Roads Locations: New Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, AFP, Uttar Pradesh, China, India, Brazil, BJP, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Shambhu, Patiala district

☆ UN chief says 'robust use of force' needed against Haiti's gangs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Haiti last year asked for international help to combat violent gangs that have largely overrun the capital Port-au-Prince. Guterres suggested in October that countries send a "rapid action force" to support Haiti's police. The United States has already said it is prepared to put forward a draft Security Council resolution to back a deployment. Kenya said last month it was ready to consider leading an international force and pledged to send 1,000 police officers. In his report, Guterres said any targeted operations against gangs must also protect people and respect human rights and due process.

Persons: Antonio Guterres, Guterres, Jean, Bertrand Aristide, Ariel Henry, Michelle Nichols, Ismail Shakil, Grant McCool Organizations: UNITED NATIONS, Security, Reuters, Peacekeeping, ACT, UN, Security Council, United, United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Thomson Locations: Haiti, U.N, Caribbean, United States, Kenya, Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbuda, Americas

Rescue workers gather around damaged carriages during search for survivors at the accident site on Saturday. With the rail routes still blocked, family members of deceased passengers are having to find their way by other means to the crash site, to help identify the dead. India’s extensive rail network, one of the largest in the world, was built more than 160 years ago under British colonial rule. Decaying infrastructure is often cited as a cause for traffic delays and numerous train accidents in India. An ambitious National Rail Plan, announced in 2021, envisages that all major cities in north, west and south India should be connected by high-speed rail.

Persons: –, Ashwini Vaishnaw, ”, Dibyangshu Sarkar, Jaya Varma Sinha, ” Sinha, Mansukh Mandaviya, Mandaviya, Naveen Patnaik, Patnaik, “, Narenda Modi, Narendra Modi, Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Fumio Kishida, Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis, Modi, Modi’s, Albright Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Howrah, Bangalore . Rescue, Getty, Jaya, India’s Health, Sunday, Odisha’s, Public Relations Department, Indian, Rapid, Force, British, United Nations, National Crime Records, Group, Rail Plan, Bharat Locations: New Delhi, London, Hong Kong, Balasore, Odisha, Indian, Kolkata, Chennai, Bazar, Bangalore, AFP, Tamil Nadu, Russian, India, Jammu, Kashmir

But rescuers expect the death toll to rise further, as many people are thought to be trapped under upturned carriages. A damaged train carriage, following the deadly collision in Balasore, India, on June 2. Video footage and photographs from Friday’s crash site show scenes of chaos and despair. Rescuers search for survivors at the site of the crash in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, on June 2. The latest crash comes as India carries out a major overhaul of its infrastructure, with the country investing millions to modernize transport links.

Persons: Sudhanshu Sarangi, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Narendra Singh Bundela, ” Bundela, ”, “, Narendra Modi, Modi Organizations: CNN, Rescuers, Fire Services, NDTV, Railway Minister, Response Force, Press Trust of, Force, Rapid Action Force, Soro Block, “, Bharatiya Janata Party, National Crime Records, Western Locations: India, Balasore, Odisha, Bahanaga, Balasore district, Press Trust of India, Soro, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Mumbai, country’s Jammu, Kashmir

More than 280 people were killed and over 1,100 injured in a three-way crash involving two passenger trains and a freight train in eastern Odisha state on Friday, officials said. BJP4India/TwitterThe cause of Friday’s crash remains unclear, but senior state railway officials told CNN that it is suspected to have been caused by a traffic signaling failure. Video footage and photographs from the crash site near Bahanaga Bazar rail station showed scenes of chaos and despair. An official overseas rescue efforts at the site of the train crash in Balasore. An aerial view of the derailed coaches in Balasore.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Modi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, ” Modi, “, “ It’s, Sudhanshu Sarangi, “ We’ve, Piyal Adhikary, Anshuman Purohit, ” Rohit Raj, Dibyangshu Sarkar, ”, Narendra Singh Bundela, ” Bundela, Stringer, Rafiq Maqbool, AP Modi, Shehbaz Sharif, Rishi Sunak, Ursula von der Leyen, Fumio Kishida Organizations: India CNN — Indian, Bharat, CNN, Chennai Coromandel, Passengers, NDTV, Getty, Response Force, Reuters, National Crime Records, Western, AP, Force, Rapid Action Force, Soro Block, “, British, EU, Japan’s Locations: Bhubaneswar, India, Odisha, Balasore, Shalimar, Chennai, Yesvantpur, Howrah, Bahanaga Bazar, AFP, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Mumbai, country’s Jammu, Kashmir, Soro

☆ Canada's Trudeau to deploy Navy vessels to Haiti for surveillance, presence
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NASSAU/PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday said he would deploy Royal Canadian Navy vessels in the coming weeks to conduct surveillance, gather intelligence and maintain a maritime presence off the coast of Haiti. Canada, which this month deployed surveillance aircraft to Haiti, has also sent armored vehicles and security gear to support anti-gang efforts and said it would make an additional delivery of vehicles in the coming days. Trudeau also announced fresh sanctions on another two Haitian individuals determined to be supporting gangs, without disclosing their names, bringing Canada's total sanctioned people to 17. U.N. envoy to Haiti Helen La Lime has said she is "still hopeful" the force could be created, stressing the need for urgency. On Tuesday, more than 40 civil society representatives signed an open letter rejecting any draft resolution backing Prime Minister Ariel Henry's administration and demanding reparations to the families of those killed in a U.N.-linked cholera outbreak a decade ago.

Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. federal agents arrested and charged four suspects in Florida for alleged roles in the plot that led to the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, authorities said on Tuesday. A person holds a photo of late Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was shot dead earlier this month, during his funeral at his family home in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, July 23, 2021. Veintemilla, a U.S. citizen, lent over $170,000 to CTU Security to finance their operations in Haiti, officials added. The arrests and charges were reported earlier on Tuesday by the Miami Herald and the New York Times. The resulting violence has left much of the country off-limits to the government and led to routine gun battles with police.

☆ Canada deploys military aircraft over Haiti to disrupt gangs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 5 (Reuters) - The Canadian government said on Sunday it deployed a military aircraft over Haiti to address what it called a "dire security situation" and to support efforts to disrupt the activities of Haitian gangs. The resulting violence has left much of the country off-limits to the government and led to routine gun battles with police. Haiti is expected to be on the agenda when U.S. President Joe Biden visits Canada next month. The Canadian patrol aircraft will provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability to bolster efforts to establish and maintain peace and will remain in the region "for a number of days," the Canadian government said. Around seven in 10 people in Haiti back proposed creation of an international force to help the national police fight violence from armed gangs, according to a survey carried out in January.

☆ Jamaica willing to take part in military intervention in Haiti, PM says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 22, 2022. REUTERS/David 'Dee' DelgadoKINGSTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Jamaica would be willing to take part in an international military deployment to Haiti, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told lawmakers on Tuesday, saying the Caribbean island country could also support its neighbor on electoral reforms. Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has pleaded for foreign military support. The U.N. envoy to Haiti, Helen La Lime, has called for more urgency, saying the police cannot win without outside support. "Jamaica would be willing to participate in a multinational security assistance deployment to Haiti under the appropriate jurisdictional parameters to support a return to a reasonable level of stability and peace," Holness told lawmakers.

☆ The tank-killing armored vehicle that France is sending to Ukraine is 'a bit of an oddity,' but don't call it a tank
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

France said on January 5 that it would send the AMX-10RC armored vehicle to Ukraine. The "tank" vs. "armored vehicle" debate is a long and often contentious one, but AMX-10RCs are armored reconnaissance vehicles and not tanks, which usually have large-caliber main guns, heavy-duty armor, and tracks. Fighting there has become trench warfare, with incremental gains rather than sweeping armored offensives in which fast, armored scout vehicles excel. Armored vehicles are still vital on the battlefield, but an armored car may have limited utility against swarms of anti-tank missiles, attack drones, and smart artillery shells. What's important is that the West is sending armored fighting vehicles.

☆ Deputy U.N. chief urges countries to send armed force to Haiti
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Now is certainly not the time for the world to turn away from Haiti," she told the U.N. Security Council. Ambassador Robert Wood told the Security Council that Washington continues "to advocate for international security support, including a non-U.N. multinational force, as requested by the Haitian government." "The United States has provided more than $90 million in security support to Haiti in the past 18 months and will continue to provide critical support bilaterally," Wood said. Russia requested the Security Council meeting on Haiti on Wednesday. A council resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Britain, France, China or Russia.

☆ U.S. confident of U.N. resolution, multinational task force on Haiti in early November
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Washington is confident of securing a U.N. Security Council resolution and finding nations to lead a task force in early November to address the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, Assistant Secretary of State Brian Nichols said on Wednesday. Briefing reporters on a visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Canada beginning on Thursday, Nichols, the top State Department official for Western Hemisphere affairs, told reporters the composition of a multinational task force proposed by Haiti would be discussed during the visit. "I strongly disagree with the idea that a resolution authorizing a multinational force is in peril," Nichols said, adding that he expected the leadership of the force to become clear as talks move forward in the coming days. "I'm confident that we will have something early in November, both a resolution and leadership for the force. Reporting by Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. confident of U.N. resolution, multinational task force on Haiti in early November -official
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Explainer: What's driving Haiti's humanitarian crisis?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A man looks for food through piles of trash on the side of a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti October 16, 2022. REUTERS/Ricardo ArduengoOct 18 (Reuters) - Haiti is facing a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food, fuel and water causing catastrophic hunger, and the government pleading for military assistance from abroad. The trigger for the current crisis is the blockade of a key fuel terminal by armed gangs that began in September. The G9 on Sept. 12 dug trenches outside the main entrance of the Varreux fuel terminal to protest an announcement by Prime Minister Ariel Henry that the government was cutting fuel subsidies. The fuel shortages have halted most economic activities.

☆ U.S., Mexico call for Haiti security mission to confront gangs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Brian Ellsworth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 17 (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico said on Monday they will seek support from the United Nations for a security mission to restore order in Haiti amid a worsening humanitarian crisis, but did not identify who would lead the mission. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier this month suggested sending in a "rapid-action force," according to a letter seen by Reuters. read moreU.S. lawmakers introduced a bill on Monday to investigate and punish any political elites colluding with the gangs. "Will sending such a rapid action force to Haiti receive the understanding, support and cooperation of the parties in Haiti?" A U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MINUSTAH, which operated in Haiti between 2004 and 2017, faced harsh criticism over problems including its role in a 2010 cholera outbreak.

☆ U.S., Canada deliver armored vehicles to Haitian police to fight gangs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. and Canadian military aircraft on Saturday delivered tactical and armored vehicles and other supplies to the Haitian National Police (HNP) to help combat criminal gangs that have worsened a humanitarian crisis in Haiti. The United States and Canada stepped in to transport the Haitian government-purchased equipment when the company faced delivery delays, a State Department spokesperson said, adding that Washington would continue efforts to strengthen the Haitian police. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed that one or several countries send "a rapid action force" to help Haiti's police remove a threat posed by the gangs, according to a letter to the Security Council, seen by Reuters. The 15-member Security Council could vote as early as Monday on the draft resolution, diplomats said. To be adopted a resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by permanent members Russia, China, the United States, France or Britain.

☆ Haiti gang blockade is causing catastrophic hunger, U.N. officials say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Brian Ellsworth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"We have for the first time a famine present in Haiti," Ulrika Richardson, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the U.N. system in Haiti, said in a telephone interview. A U.N. spokesperson later clarified that Richardson should have described the situation as catastrophic hunger rather than famine. Richardson said other countries need to do more to support Haiti, as the Caribbean country's humanitarian response plan for this year has received less then 30% of the required funding. The situation was "close to breaking point", Jean-Martin Bauer, World Food Program country director in Haiti, told reporters earlier. U.S. development agency USAID on Friday sent a Disaster Assistance Response Team to Haiti, the agency's chief, Samantha Power, wrote on Twitter.

☆ U.N. Security Council considers Haiti sanctions, targeting gang leader 'Barbecue'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Cherizier and his G9 gang confederation are actively blocking the free movement of fuel from the Varreux fuel terminal," the text says. Health experts say the gang blockade is making it more difficult to control the outbreak, which was announced this month. The 15-member Security Council could vote as early as Monday on the draft sanctions resolution, diplomats said. China has been pushing for the Security Council to impose an arms embargo on criminal gangs in Haiti. U.N. peacekeepers were deployed to Haiti in 2004 after a rebellion led to the ouster and exile of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Haitian gangs have for a month prevented the distribution of diesel and gasoline, crippling businesses and hospitals and creating shortages of basic goods including water just as the country is struggling with a new outbreak of cholera. The State Department has created a new visa restriction policy targeting those who support the gangs and has sent a Coast Guard vessel to patrol Haitian waters. Sporadic looting and gun battles between gangs and police have become increasingly common in recent weeks as the shortages have led to mounting desperation. Another Biden administration official during the phone briefing said the travel bans were meant to hold accountable those who are linked to the gangs. "Our intent in doing so is to demonstrate that there are consequences for those who fund and foment violence in Haiti," the official said.

☆ Haiti activists rally at White House seeking end of U.S. support for Henry
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Brian Ellsworth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A woman holds a sign at a rally outside the White House asking the Biden administration to stop supporting Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in Washington, U.S. October 9, 2022 in this picture obtained by Reuters. Gordon Whitman/via REUTERSOct 9 (Reuters) - Activists on Sunday rallied at the White House to call on the Biden administration to end support for the government of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, as the Caribbean nation faces a humanitarian crisis due to gangs blocking the distribution of fuel. A broadcast of the rally showed several hundred people gathered outside the White House, holding signs bearing Haiti's flag or with messages including "Let Haitians decide their own future." The Biden administration has not signaled that it plans to change its stance with respect to Henry. U.S. Representative Val Demings last week introduced the Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act of 2022, which calls for a new federal investigation into those who support Haitian gangs.

Search resuls for: "Rapid Action Force"

20 mentions found