PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Gunmen attacked an armored vehicle in a community near Haiti's capital, leaving two police officers injured and one driver dead, authorities said Monday.
The attack occurred over the weekend in the once peaceful farming community of Kenscoff, which heavily armed gangs have repeatedly raided in recent months.
Police said in a statement that gunmen threw Molotov cocktails into the armored vehicle, which then overturned into a ravine.
Haitian police have been battling gangs alongside Kenyan police leading a U.N.-backed mission that began more than a year ago.
The attack comes days after gangs razed a small fishing town north of Port-au-Prince, killing at least 40 people, including women and children, according to local officials.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres condemned that attack on Saturday, saying that he was “alarmed by the levels of violence rocking Haiti” as he urged Haitian authorities “to ensure that perpetrators of these and all other human rights abuses and violations are brought to justice.”
He also called on the international community to help the struggling multinational force with the logistics, personnel and funding it requires.
On Monday, Haiti’s government announced that it had coordinated an urgent meeting with high-ranking police officials and ordered the deployment of specialized units to towns including Labodrie, Arcahaïe and Cabaret following last week's massacre north of the capital.
The attack in Cabaret displaced more than 2,900 people, with some 70% fleeing to the nearby community of Arcahaïe, the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration said Monday. More than 40% of those forced to flee their homes sought shelter at four schools, officials said.
Overall, gang violence has displaced a record 1.3 million people across Haiti in recent years.
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FILE - Police officers patrol the area near the Saint-Helene orphanage in the Kenscoff neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump this week quietly appointed four new members to the Commission of Fine Arts, one of two federal panels reviewing his plan to build a White House ballroom.
One of the four is James McCrery, an architect who had led the now $400 million ballroom project until Trump replaced him late last year. McCrery also served on the commission during Trump's first term as president.
The White House announced the project last summer and Trump later demolished the East Wing to make room for the ballroom. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued in federal court to halt construction until the fine arts panel and a second federal commission give their approval.
The four new members were revealed in court papers filed Thursday by a White House official as part of that lawsuit. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The commission, which normally has seven members, has been vacant for months. Trump dismissed six commissioners last fall after the East Wing was demolished. A seventh commissioner, who was the panel’s chair, resigned after Trump took office last year because their term had expired.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has accused the Trump administration of violating federal laws by starting the project before submitting it for independent reviews by the commissions and Congress, as well as the public.
The three remaining members appointed by Trump to the Commission of Fine Arts are: Mary Anne Carter of Tennessee; Roger Kimball of Connecticut; and Matthew Taylor of Washington, D.C.
The National Capital Planning Commission, the second federal panel with oversight of construction on federal land, including the White House grounds, heard an initial presentation about the ballroom at its meeting on Jan. 8.
Marine One helicopter is seen on the South Lawn of the White House to transport President Donald Trump to nearby Andrews Air Force Base, as work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House, Tuesday, Jan., 13, 2026, in Washington, where the East Wing once stood. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
