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 Port-au-Prince, Washington     — YouTube influencer Addison Pierre Maalouf blames “corrupt policemen” of Haiti’s National Police force, PNH, for the ambush that led to his capture by the 400 Mawozo gang. “We had confirmed an interview with Barbecue [Jimmy Cherizier, leader of the G9 gang alliance], Barbecue had approved us, and we had safe passage until a group of corrupt security set us up – corrupt police officers in the country set us up and set up an ambush on us to kidnap us,” Maalouf told VOA. VOA Creole was unable to confirm this allegation. Lanmo Sanjou, leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, held Maalouf and his fixer, Haitian Jean Sacra Sean Roubens for 17 days before releasing them Saturday. The YouTuber says he paid about $50,000 for his release. He said the gang promised to give him back his laptop, equipment and camera they seized, but only relinquished his camera — after removing the SD card — before letting him go. Maalouf has a popular YouTube channel under the name “YourFellowArab” and has made a name for himself by traveling to dangerous countries where he interviews influencers. Maalouf describes himself as “an adventurer who likes danger.” He has 1.44 million subscribers. “You know I came to this country [Haiti] because I wanted to give a voice to someone who’s leading an insurrection in this country against a very, very corrupt government,” he told VOA. The YouTuber decried the corruption he witnessed during his time in Haiti where he says his car was stopped on the street multiple times and asked for “bribes” by “corrupt police officers” whom he alleged were working with the gangs. Fixer Roubens, who has worked with international media such as CNN, ABC and CBS news, accompanied the YouTuber. Roubens described his time in captivity as “the worst moment of my life.” “In my 20-year career as a journalist, this is the worst moment of my life. I can’t say I was beaten by the kidnappers, but it was the worst moment for me,” he said. Roubens said a gang member brandished an M16 rifle as well as a shotgun. “The guy took out the charger, filled it with bullets and put it back in the gun and he led me to believe if I didn’t give him my weapon and anything else I had on me or prove that I’m not carrying any weapons he’d unload the gun on me,” Roubens said. He said he was fearful at that moment because although it is something he prepares for in his work as a journalist in Haiti, this was the first time he was kidnapped with a client. Roubens said the experience also saddened him. “It hurt [my heart] to see kids 12 years old, 13 years old, I’m older than they are. The gangs are recruiting these kids on the street. These are kids the Haitian government should be supporting, providing them with schooling so they can learn and be educated but instead they are in the streets and here’s what they are holding [guns],” Roubens said. A recent United Nations report said over 1,500 people in Haiti have died due to gang violence since the beginning of 2024. Hundreds of thousands of others have fled their homes and are living on the street. U.N. agencies and the World Health Organization have expressed alarm over the worsening humanitarian and security situation in Haiti as gangs continue to battle the national police force and each other to control more territory. It is estimated that gangs control over 80% of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince as well as cities in the north and south. YouTuber Maalouf told VOA before his kidnapping, he had spent time enjoying the seaside in Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city, located in the north. He also visited islands off the northern coast, before hitting the road to interview gang leader Barbecue. “I want to talk so badly about Haiti, but it would be unfair to the people of Haiti if I said that what all these gang members do [committing crimes against foreigners] is what all the Haitian people do,” Maalouf told VOA. “My experience in Haiti has been horrible because I was kidnapped. But I believe Haiti has beautiful things to offer,” he added. Barbecue is one of the gang leaders targeted by U.N. and U.S. sanctions citing rampant human rights abuses including the rape of women and children as well as kidnappings. In February he announced a new gang alliance called “Viv Ansanm” (Live Together) alliance and told journalists their goal was to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry from power and launch a “revolution” to uproot and eliminate the country’s corrupt politicians. A gang takeover of the areas surrounding the international airport in the capital forced the government to declare a state of emergency and cancel all flights in and out of Port-au-Prince. The prime minister was subsequently unable to return home from official visits to Guyana and Kenya. His private plane was forced to land in Puerto Rico. He announced on March 12 that he would resign after a Transitional Presidential Council to lead the country and organize new elections was up and running. That has still not happened after weeks of political infighting, death threats and the resignations of several council members. The plan for a transitional council was agreed upon by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders, Haiti opposition groups, civil society and diaspora representatives in the Jamaican capital, Kingston. The Haitians participated via videoconference, unable to travel because of the closure of Port-au-Prince’s international airport. Under the plan, six people representing various Haitian political coalitions will be on the transitional council, along with a seventh from the private sector. The seven will be voting members. There will also be two nonvoting members — one from civil society and one from the interfaith community — according to CARICOM. The council will select an interim prime minister and prepare to hold the next presidential elections. Maalouf traveled to Haiti from the U.S. at a time when the State Department’s travel advisory for the country is at Level 4: Do Not Travel. The United States has recently beefed-up security at its embassy in the capital, evacuating nonessential employees and ushering in a new group of U.S. Marine Fleet anti-terrorism security team members. The United States, Canada and France have also organized charter flights to transport their citizens out of Haiti citing worsening security and gang violence. A State Department spokesperson told reporters the U.S. has facilitated the departure of over 230 U.S. citizens since March 17. Nike Ching, VOA State Department Correspondent, contributed to this report.

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Baltimore, Maryland — The crumpled Baltimore bridge was being cut up in preparation for its removal, Maryland's governor said Sunday, promising "progress" was being made after it was destroyed by an out-of-control ship. Demolition crews using blow torches sliced through the top part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed when the Dali cargo vessel lost power and struck it on Tuesday, killing six people. "Progress is beginning to happen despite the fact that it's an incredibly complicated situation," said Maryland Governor Wes Moore, adding that weather conditions and debris in the water meant divers were unable to assist with the recovery operation. "We now do have cranes, the Chesapeake 1,000, which has a capacity of lifting a thousand pounds," Moore told CNN on Sunday. "[Workers have] begun to cut up the remnants of the bridge that we can then prepare for removal." Video footage shared Saturday by the Unified Command — the overall response team that includes the U.S. Coast Guard — showed sparks flying as crews suspended in cages cut through an upper section of the steel structure. The Unified Command said the wreckage will lifted away and processed at a Baltimore shipping site before being taken to a disposal site. Moore said the recovery would be a "long road," adding: "This is a very complex operation, but movement is happening." The difficult conditions have hampered efforts to recover the bodies of the six road workers — all Latino immigrants — who died when the bridge collapsed, with just two bodies recovered so far. Shipping in and out of Baltimore — one of the United States' busiest ports — has been halted, with the waterway impassable due to the sprawling wreckage. Moore told MSNBC on Sunday that his priorities were recovering the victims' bodies before reopening the channel. "It's impacting the nation's economy. It's the largest port for new cars, heavy trucks, agricultural equipment. It's impacting people all over the country," he said. The ship veered towards the bridge due to power trouble, with the pilot issuing a Mayday call that allowed some road traffic to be stopped just before the collision at 1:30am after which the structure collapsed in seconds. "It takes a lot to make sure that it can be dismantled safely, to make sure that the vessel stays where it is supposed to be and doesn't swing out into the channel," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told "Face the Nation" on CBS.

Tokyo — Japan said Sunday its experts have held talks with their Chinese counterparts to try to assuage Beijing’s concerns over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.  The discharges have been opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries especially China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood. China’s move has largely affected Japanese scallop growers and exporters to China.  During the talks held Saturday in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, Japanese officials provided “science-based” explanation of how the discharges have been safely carried out as planned, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.  A 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant’s power supply and reactor cooling functions, triggering meltdowns of three reactors and causing large amounts of radioactive wastewater to accumulate. After more than a decade of storage in tanks taking up much space on the complex, the plant began discharging the water after treating it at least once and diluting it with seawater on Aug. 24, starting a process that’s expected to take decades.  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping — at their summit meeting in November — agreed to hold scientific talks by experts, and the countries have since held several informal meetings. Sunday’s statement from the Japanese Foreign Ministry was its first public acknowledgement of the talks.  The experts exchanged views on “technical matters” involving the discharges, the ministry official said on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. While stressing the importance of transparency, the official declined to give any other details, including what the Chinese side said and whether their differences have been narrowed.  The meeting comes just after the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi’s visit to the plant in mid-March confirming that the ongoing discharges have been safely carried out as planned. 

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Jerusalem — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says the Israeli leader will undergo surgery on Sunday for a hernia.  Netanyahu's office said the hernia was discovered during a routine checkup, and that the prime minister will be under full anesthesia and unconscious for the procedure.  Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant who also holds the title of deputy prime minister, will serve as acting prime minister during the operation, the office said.  Netanyahu, 74, has kept a full schedule throughout Israel's nearly six-month-long war against Hamas, and his doctors have said he is in good health.  Last year, however, doctors acknowledged he had concealed a long-known heart problem after they implanted a pacemaker.  

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Islamabad — The Taliban government in Afghanistan confirmed Sunday that they had detained "a number of foreign citizens, including two Americans” for allegedly violating their laws.  Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, told the state-run Afghan radio they had informed the United States about the detention of its citizens. He did not provide any additional details, nor did he reveal the nationalities of the other foreign detainees. Relatives and U.S. officials have identified one of the Americans in custody as Ryan Corbett, while the identity of the second person was not disclosed. This is the first time the Taliban has publicly acknowledged the detention of two American nationals. So far, they had only reported the arrest of Corbett. He was taken into custody in August 2022, a year after the Islamist group regained power in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S.-led Western troops after nearly 20 years of war with the then-insurgent Taliban. Corbett’s family has lately stepped-up calls for President Joe Biden’s administration to do more to secure his safe and early release. According to CNN, Corbett was able to call his wife Anna and their three children last week for the fifth time since his detention. “It was a disturbing call,” Anna Corbett told the U.S. media outlet Thursday. “It was hard to hear Ryan losing hope. He’s been held now almost 600 days and he had a change in his mindset about it,” she told the U.S. news network. Anna said that Corbett’s physical health had been deteriorating, “and now that his mental health is going down, it’s just super scary for the kids and I.” The U.S. State Department spokesperson said Thursday that it was working to secure the release of all American citizens “wrongfully detained” abroad. Mathew Miller told reporters he “cannot imagine the pain” the families were “going through, and the grief that they’re suffering, and how difficult it must be knowing that their loved one is going through such a tragic hardship.” He said that U.S. officials in meetings with Taliban representatives had “continually pressed” them to release all American detainees immediately and unconditionally. “We have made clear to the Taliban that these detentions are a significant obstacle to positive engagement, and we will continue to do that. We are using every lever we can to try to bring Ryan and these other wrongfully detained Americans home from Afghanistan,” he added.   Corbett and his family had lived in Afghanistan for years before being evacuated during the August 2021 Taliban takeover. He ran and supervised humanitarian projects for nongovernmental organizations, focusing on health and education. Corbett returned to Afghanistan twice in 2022 and was detained by the Taliban on his second trip but has not been charged with any crimes, according to his family. "The Biden administration has done little to secure Ryan’s release despite continued reports of his deteriorating health while held in deplorable conditions,” U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, the House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said in a March 27 statement. 

New Delhi — At a massive rally held in the Indian capital, top leaders of an opposition alliance accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of undermining democracy by intimidating and arresting political rivals. The “Save Democracy” rally took place Sunday in New Delhi as India heads into a phased general election set to begin April 19. It was held days after the arrest of a key opposition leader, the chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, by the federal Enforcement Directorate on corruption charges over granting liquor licenses. Kejriwal is a staunch Modi critic. Leaders of the INDIA alliance, which has been formed by about two dozen opposition parties, criticized Modi, saying he was decimating the opposition by using federal agencies to target its leaders with corruption probes and crippling their ability to campaign against the BJP. “Opposition leaders are being intimidated and arrested — this is match-fixing,” the leader of the main opposition party, Rahul Gandhi, said. "This is not an ordinary election. This election is to save the country, protect our constitution," Gandhi told the huge crowd. He said if the BJP wins the election, “it will set the country on fire.” The BJP has said it denies targeting opposition officials. Before Kejriwal was detained earlier in March, another chief minister was arrested on corruption charges in January. Meanwhile, the Congress Party has accused the government of “tax terrorism,” saying its bank accounts have been frozen by the tax department, leaving it starved of funds to conduct its election campaign. Opposition leaders also accused the Modi government of undermining democratic institutions. "The country is headed toward autocracy. This one-man government is taking the country to ruin," another opposition leader of the Shiv Sena party, Uddhav Thackeray, said. Sunday’s rally was the first major show of solidarity by the INDIA alliance that was formed last year to jointly fight Modi, who is widely expected to win a third term. Many of the parties in the alliance are regional rivals and have struggled in recent months to come together on a common platform raising questions over their ability to counter the BJP. Political analysts said the parties did put up a united front at Sunday’s rally. “The rally was fairly successful but it is it is very difficult to say what will be its response on the ground, and whether people will start looking at an alternative that is not driven by the Hindu nationalist ideology of BJP and not so centered around the personality of Modi,” political analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay said. On the same day as the opposition rally, Prime Minister Modi launched his party’s election campaign in Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh, a hugely consequential state that sends 80 lawmakers to parliament. Accusing previous governments of corruption, he said his fight against graft will continue. “Modi will not be stopped. Action will be taken against every corrupt politician,” he said. Modi said his government had lifted 250 million people out of poverty and he was fast tracking economic development in the country. “The 2024 election is not only for a new government but for making India a developed country,” he said. Analysts say Modi has built his appeal on a platform of muscular Hindu nationalism and a raft of welfare programs such as federal funding for construction of toilets and homes for millions of poor people. “Modi is the clear frontrunner, that is what all the surveys so far show. But at the same time, I will not call the election until the last vote is counted because Indian elections can throw up surprises,” according to Mukhopadhyay.

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LIVERMORE, Calif. — Most fast food workers in California will be paid at least $20 an hour beginning Monday when a new law is scheduled to kick in giving more financial security to an historically low-paying profession while threatening to raise prices in a state already known for its high cost of living. Democrats in the state Legislature passed the law last year in part as an acknowledgement that many of the more than 500,000 people who work in fast food restaurants are not teenagers earning some spending money, but adults working to support their families. That includes immigrants like Ingrid Vilorio, who said she started working at a McDonald's shortly after arriving in the United States in 2019. Fast food was her full-time job until last year. Now, she works about eight hours per week at a Jack in the Box while working other jobs. “The $20 raise is great. I wish this would have come sooner,” Vilorio said through a translator. “Because I would not have been looking for so many other jobs in different places.” The law was supported by the trade association representing fast food franchise owners. But since it passed, many franchise owners have bemoaned the impact the law is having on them, especially during California's slowing economy. Alex Johnson owns 10 Auntie Anne's Pretzels and Cinnabon restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. He said sales have slowed in 2024, prompting him to lay off his office staff and rely on his parents to help with payroll and human resources. Increasing his employees' wages will cost Johnson about $470,000 each year. He will have to raise prices anywhere from 5% to 15% at his stores, and is no longer hiring or seeking to open new locations in California, he said. “I try to do right by my employees. I pay them as much as I can. But this law is really hitting our operations hard,” Johnson said. “I have to consider selling and even closing my business,” he said. “The profit margin has become too slim when you factor in all the other expenses that are also going up.” Over the past decade, California has doubled its minimum wage for most workers to $16 per hour. A big concern over that time was whether the increase would cause some workers to lose their jobs as employers' expenses increased. Instead, data showed wages went up and employment did not fall, said Michael Reich, a labor economics professor at the University of California-Berkeley. “I was surprised at how little, or how difficult it was to find disemployment effects. If anything, we find positive employment effects,” Reich said. Plus, Reich said while the statewide minimum wage is $16 per hour, many of the state's larger cities have their own minimum wage laws setting the rate higher than that. For many fast food restaurants, this means the jump to $20 per hour will be smaller. The law reflected a carefully crafted compromise between the fast food industry and labor unions, which had been fighting over wages, benefits and legal liabilities for close to two years. The law originated during private negotiations between unions and the industry, including the unusual step of signing confidentiality agreements. The law applies to restaurants offering limited or no table service and which are part of a national chain with at least 60 establishments nationwide. Restaurants operating inside a grocery establishment are exempt, as are restaurants producing and selling bread as a stand-alone menu item. At first, it appeared the bread exemption applied to Panera Bread restaurants. Bloomberg News reported the change would benefit Greg Flynn, a wealthy campaign donor to Newsom. But the Newsom administration said the wage increase law does apply to Panera Bread because the restaurant does not make dough on-site. Also, Flynn has announced he would pay his workers at least $20 per hour.

Windsor, England — Britain's King Charles greeted well-wishers in an impromptu walkabout after an Easter church service in Windsor on Sunday, his first appearance at a public royal event since his cancer diagnosis was announced in February.  A smiling Charles, 75, accompanied by Queen Camilla, shook hands with scores of people gathered outside St George's Chapel, the resting place of his late mother Queen Elizabeth.  Charles had postponed all previous public engagements since Buckingham Palace announced he was to undergo treatment for an unspecified form of cancer. The illness was found in tests after he had a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate in January.  While the king attended church on Sunday, his son Prince William and his family did not. William's wife Kate said earlier this month she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after cancer was discovered following abdominal surgery in January.  The king, wearing a dark overcoat, and queen waved to onlookers when they arrived at the chapel by car from their residence at Windsor Castle.  The queen was wearing a green coat dress and an emerald and diamond brooch that was the late queen's.  Some of the onlookers wished Charles good health, while others said "Happy Easter."   The king said: "You're very brave to stand out here in the cold."   A woman who spoke to the king said he seemed "very well."  Buckingham Palace has not confirmed any future public engagements for the king, but his eagerness to meet people on Sunday will be taken as a positive sign about his health.   Also attending the annual service were the king's sister, the Princess Royal, and brother, the Duke of Edinburgh, accompanied by their spouses.  The Duke of York, who was removed from royal duties in 2022 due to his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was also present.  Charles has kept up with the bulk of his non-public state duties such as greeting foreign officials and holding regular meetings with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.  Last week the king did not attend an annual Maundy Thursday service but issued an audio message which aired at the event in which he expressed his sorrow at not being there and wished the public a Happy Easter. 

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Beirut — As the Lebanese Christian village of Rmeish marks its first Easter since the Gaza war erupted, residents say a parallel confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel is dragging them into a conflict they did not choose. Like many Christians elsewhere in southern Lebanon, residents are angry and fearful their homes could be caught in the cross-fire and their families forced to flee -- permanently -- from their ancestral villages near the Lebanon-Israel border. Earlier this week, a Rmeish resident confronted a group of armed men trying to launch rockets at Israel from within the village. Some villagers rang church bells to sound the alarm, and the armed men moved off to fire rockets from another neighborhood, according to mayor Milad al-Alam and Rmeish residents. "What we've been saying for the last six months is: among our own homes, keep us neutral. Any strike in return would have brought huge losses," Alam told Reuters. Hezbollah began launching rockets from hilltops and villages in southern Lebanon at Israel on Oct. 8 in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which carried out a cross-border attack into Israel the previous day that triggered a fierce Israeli land, air and sea offensive on the Gaza Strip. The villagers' resentment reflects criticism from Christian clerics and politicians opposed to Hezbollah, who have long accused the group of undermining the state through its possession of a controversial arsenal that outguns the national army, and of monopolizing decisions of war and peace. "We have nothing to do with this war. Do they (Hezbollah) want to displace us?" said a 40-year-old resident of Rmeish who asked not to be identified, fearing that criticizing Hezbollah could bring reprisals. Iran-backed Hezbollah, which holds sway over much of the Lebanese state, denied its fighters had tried to launch rockets from Rmeish.  More than a dozen sects coexist in a precarious balancing act in tiny Lebanon, reflected in a power-sharing system that reserves government posts by religion. The presidency and central bank governor – two top posts reserved for Maronite Christians – have been vacant since Oct. 2022 and July 2023 respectively due to divisions over choosing successors. 'No say' in system Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have been displaced both internally and to foreign countries by conflict and hardship over the last century, with the 15-year civil war seeing killings and kidnappings according to sect. Some 90,000 people have been displaced from southern Lebanon since the conflict broke out in October. Christian lawmaker Ghada Ayoub, who represents a constituency in the south and hails from the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces party, told Reuters that Christians were standing up to Hezbollah "because it is encroaching on their presence," and that the war was deepening fissures in Lebanese politics. "The question is now: are there even any shared points left that we can carry on with – that we can build a state with?" she said. The area most impacted by the shelling is the border strip, home to about a dozen Christian villages including Rmeish. They are nestled in rolling hills of olive groves, pine trees and tobacco fields -- now too dangerous to plant or harvest due to shelling. "The areas around us were really affected – there have been strikes 500, 600 meters away. Our harvests have been ruined," said Joseph Salameh, a local official in the town of Klayaa, about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from Lebanon's southern border. Lebanon was already hit hard by a financial meltdown that began in 2019. With tourists staying away due to bombing, shops closed and schools shuttered or sheltering thousands displaced by the fighting, villages across the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim south have been dealt another severe economic blow, prompting fears among locals of a Christian exodus. "Now the war has added to it and is encouraging our children to leave. … Christians are no longer able to take on more than others because the problems of this country have become too many," Salameh said. Lebanon's top Christian clerics have also sounded the alarm in weekly sermons. Maronite Patriarch Boutros al-Rai called early on in the Gaza war for Lebanon to stay on the sidelines and more recently said war had been "imposed" on Christians. Mounting outcry Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi asked earlier this month if it was fair for "one faction of Lebanese to decide on behalf of everyone, and take unilateral decisions that not all Lebanese agree on." With outcry mounting, Hezbollah's main Christian ally the Free Patriotic Movement has even ramped up criticism, saying its nearly two-decade alliance with Hezbollah had been "shaken." "The main problem that arose recently was crossing the limits of defending Lebanon and getting involved in a conflict in which we cannot make decisions," FPM head Gebran Bassil said. Their alliance had provided Hezbollah with supporters from a religious community outside its traditional base, but the pair have split over several issues in the last two years – including who should be Lebanon's next president. Michael Young at the Carnegie Middle East Center said Bassil's comments were an attempt to gain some leverage over Hezbollah by signaling a rift – but also reflected Christian unease with the status quo. "The mood among the Christian community is almost a psychological divorce from the system. They don't feel that they have a say in the system and in a way it's true -- Hezbollah is in control of much of the system," Young told Reuters.

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NEW DELHI — The Indian government said it was rescuing its citizens who were lured into employment in Cambodia and were being forced to participate in cyber fraud schemes. The Indian Embassy in Cambodia is working with Cambodian authorities and has rescued and repatriated about 250 Indians, including 75 in the last three months, India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement Saturday. Jaiswal was responding to Indian news reports that stated more than 5,000 Indians are trapped in Cambodia and being forced to carry out cyber frauds on people back home. "We are also working with Cambodian authorities and with agencies in India to crack down on those responsible for these fraudulent schemes," Jaiswal said. The Indian government and its embassy in Cambodia have issued several advisories informing them about such scams, the spokesperson said. The Cambodian Embassy in India did not respond immediately to a request for comment Sunday. 

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