Skip to main content

Heavy rains in northwestern Haiti kill 12 people and damage hundreds of homes

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Heavy rains over the past few days in northwestern Haiti have killed at least 12 people, flooded farmland and damaged hundreds of homes, authorities said Tuesday.

The rains flooded a local hospital and more than 900 homes. They also destroyed a bridge, dozens of roads and crops in a country where more than half of its nearly 12 million inhabitants face high levels of acute food insecurity.

The rains began on Saturday and continued through Monday, according to a statement from Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency. The hardest hit towns include Port-de-Paix, Saint Louis du Nord and Anse-a-Foleur.

Local authorities said they are unable to access communities that urgently need food and other basic goods because roads are flooded. The bad weather forced officials in some towns to shutter schools and businesses.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
Read Next Story

Related News

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

Police warn families of Tiananmen crackdown dead not to visit graves on 37th anniversary

Women are the first caregivers in this Ebola outbreak and the most at risk