PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — As the sun rose, a handful of women opened tattered beach umbrellas in the heart of Port-au-Prince and scanned the horizon before opening their fruit and vegetable stands.
It was unusually quiet in Carrefour Aéroport, a famed intersection in Haiti’s capital that once bustled with traffic and commerce until hundreds of gang members stormed the area in early March 2024 in an unprecedented wave of violence.
They smashed businesses, killed civilians and set fire to a police substation as officers fled.
For nearly two years after the attack, gangs drained the life out of Carrefour Aéroport.
Then in December, Haitian police officers launched a sustained attack against powerful gangs to drive them out of the area with the help of a private security firm and Kenyan police officers leading a U.N.-backed mission that is winding down.
The retaking of Carrefour Aéroport is “probably one of the very first tangible messages sent by the authorities that, ‘yes, we can take back the territory of ... no man’s land,’” said Romain Le Cour, head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
It’s a hint of what could happen elsewhere in Port-au-Prince after a powerful gang federation known as Viv Ansanm began raiding neighborhoods and targeting key government infrastructure in February 2024 in a series of attacks that forced the closure of the country’s main international airport and eventually led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
“It is a sign of hope,” Le Cour said. “It sends the message that this is doable.”
On Feb. 7, Haitian authorities reopened a renovated police substation in Carrefour Aéroport to much fanfare in a capital that is 90% controlled by gangs.
Curious onlookers watched and one of them clapped as heavily guarded police officers entered their restored building nearly two years after gangs had torched it.
“Life is timidly returning to normal,” Jacques Ader, a police commissioner, told reporters.
Since the reopening, street vendors and the drivers of colorful buses, known as tap taps, have reinserted themselves in the area.
“Small businesses are recovering,” said Jean-Remy Laveau, a 35-year-old motorcycle taxi driver who used to work in the area before gangs seized control.
“It will be good for me, more activities, more money more work. I’ll be able to better feed my two kids and my wife,” he said.
Also eager for work was Mario Volcy, a 44-year-old tap tap driver who on a recent morning pointed out the vans and big buses circulating in the area for the first time since early 2024.
He called on the government to prosecute those who unleashed the violence and help those affected by it.
“All victims should receive support from the state,” he said as he cut the interview short, noting with a smile that his tap tap was full. “I have to go now!”
And off he went, with a Bible on his dashboard and his tap tap emblazoned with “God is my guide” on its side.
Not all are celebrating the revival of Carrefour Aéroport.
Gaspar Caseus, 49, said he remains frustrated because gangs still control the main highway leading to southern Haiti. He called on authorities to retake control of other major intersections.
“I need to be able to move south,” he said. “That is where I pick up coal to bring back to the city for sale.”
“Things changed after the attack,” he added. “It destroyed my life. It forced my family to move. I look like a beggar. I was able to eat whenever I felt like it. Now, I eat only if something comes around or a good friend remembers me.”
Caseus said he heard on the radio that more help was arriving in April. That’s when a so-called gang-suppression force is expected to take the reins of the current U.N.-backed mission that is winding down after a lack of funds and personnel.
“As long as I am alive,” he said, “someday, things will change for the better.”
On a recent morning, 32-year-old Antoinette Desulmon donned a big hat to block out the sun and laid out mangoes, oranges, tomatoes and peppers in the hope that someone at Carrefour Aéroport would buy from her that day.
She noted police were on patrol in an armored vehicle and the substation had reopened, but she was afraid the peace was fleeting.
“Fear is with me every second,” she said. “I am here selling, but my head is somewhere else.”
Desulmon’s partner went missing two years ago; she believes he was a victim of gang violence.
“I miss him a lot,” she said, adding that she is also concerned about her two children who are living in a makeshift shelter with a cousin, among the 1.4 million Haitians displaced by gang violence.
Desulmon said she had no other choice but to resume selling vegetables and fruit to feed her two children and cousin.
“My heart is broken,” she said. “The depression is real.”
Around her, nothing has been rebuilt except for the police station. Dozens of charred homes remain in ruins while businesses and schools are still shuttered.
Le Cour, the Haiti expert, said it will likely take time before Carrefour Aéroport is restored to its bustling glory of street vendors, stores selling car parts and restaurants offering coffee to morning commuters and a local soup known as bouillon for lunch.
He said he was hopeful that the incoming gang-suppression force would retake control of even more territory.
But even if it does, big concerns remain.
“We’re missing the other side of the equation, which is, what do you do with gang members? What’s the plan for the day after you retake the territory?” Le Cour questioned. “Are you able to rebuild the territory? Are you able to bring people back in?”
Coto reported from San José, Costa Rica.
A student walks past a police station that was set on fire by armed gangs in the Carrefour Aeoport area of the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A woman carries a basket of chickens on her head on a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A moto taxi driver rides past a mural under a bridge at the Carrefour Aeoport intersection in the Delmas community of the district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Iran pushed back Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear program, alternating between calling his remarks “big lies” to saying negotiations may yield an agreement through “honorable diplomacy.”
The remarks by two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday’s talks come as America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades, part of Trump’s efforts to get a deal while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
If the negotiations fail, Trump repeatedly has threatened to attack Iran — something Mideast nations fear could spiral into a new regional war.
Here's the latest:
The Ukrainian delegation will meet with President Trump’s envoys in the run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council Secretary, is due to hold talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Thursday in Geneva, Zelenskyy told reporters.
A U.S. push for peace has already brought Russia and Ukraine to the table in Abu Dhabi and Geneva this year, but the talks have produced no breakthrough on bridging key differences as Russia’s invasion of its neighbor enters its fifth year.
Thursday’s meeting will address details of a possible postwar recovery plan for Ukraine and discuss preparations for an upcoming trilateral meeting with Moscow officials, Zelenskyy said, adding that he has also tasked Umerov with discussing a possible prisoner exchange.
Ukraine expects the U.S.-brokered talks with Russia to take place next week, Zelenskyy said.
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Vance will deliver remarks “celebrating the Trump administration’s accomplishments” following Trump’s nationally televised address Tuesday night. The vice president’s office said he’ll do so at a to-be-named machining facility in Plover, Wisconsin, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee.
High-level administration officials typically fan out across the country after the speech to promote the president’s message and policies. Trump himself won’t hit the road until Friday, when he heads to Texas to talk about the economy and energy policies days before the state’s March 3 congressional primaries.
This will be Vance’s second visit to swing-state Wisconsin as vice president. He was last in the state in August, when he promoted Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts law in the western Wisconsin city of La Crosse.
Trump narrowly won the state in 2024 presidential election after Wisconsin narrowly voted for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
The U.S. hasn’t made clear the aims of possible military action. If the goal is to pressure Iran to make concessions in nuclear negotiations, it’s not clear whether limited strikes will work. If the goal is to remove Iran’s leaders, that will likely commit the U.S. to a more massive, longer military campaign. There has been no public sign of planning for what would come next, including the potential for chaos in Iran.
The status of Iran’s nuclear program is another mystery. Trump earlier said American strikes “obliterated” it. Now, dismantling whatever remains of the program appears to be back on the administration’s agenda. IAEA inspectors haven’t been allowed to inspect those sites and verify what remains.
There’s also uncertainty about what any military action could mean for the wider region. Tehran could retaliate against the American-allied nations of the Persian Gulf or Israel. Oil prices have risen in recent days in part due to those concerns.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each rose 0.3% before the opening bell, while Nasdaq futures climbed 0.5%.
In his speech Tuesday night, Trump focused on jobs, manufacturing and an economy he says is stronger than many Americans believe. He didn’t dwell on efforts to lower the cost of living — despite polling showing that his handling of the economy and kitchen-table issues has increasingly become a liability.
Investors are closely watching for an earnings report due later in the day from chipmaking giant Nvidia. The quarterly report is likely to sway a jittery stock market as investors weigh whether the massive bets riding on technology’s latest craze will pay off.
As has been the case since Nvidia’s chipsets emerged as AI’s best building blocks, the expectations are sky-high for the results covering the company’s fiscal quarter, covering November through January.
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Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer, author and entrepreneur aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again movement, will appear before the Senate health committee Wednesday as she seeks approval to be the nation’s surgeon general.
The Washington confirmation hearing was rescheduled from last October, when Means went into labor the day she was set to appear. It will give the 38-year-old nominee an opportunity to share her vision for ending chronic disease by addressing its root causes, including through dietary and lifestyle changes. It’s a message that dovetails with that of the nation’s health department, which has shifted its focus away from its controversial vaccine policy changes and toward healthy eating as the midterm elections approach.
But Means also will likely face tough questions about her qualifications and potential conflicts. The Stanford-educated physician’s disillusionment with traditional medicine drove her to a career in which she has promoted a wide range of products, at times without disclosing how she could benefit financially.
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The CIA offered help to potential informants in Iran on Tuesday, providing Farsi-language instructions on ways to contact the U.S. spy agency safely.
The post is the latest in a series of recruitment pitches in Farsi, Korean, Russian and Mandarin that offered secure ways to contact the CIA. The Farsi-language message posted Tuesday to X, Instagram and YouTube, however, comes at an especially uneasy time in U.S.-Iran relations and as the Iranian theocracy faces new protests at home.
In a sign of new unrest in Iran, students held anti-government protests at universities in Tehran on Monday.
“Hello. The Central Intelligence Agency hears you and wants to help,” the agency wrote in the message, according to an English translation. “Here are some tips on how to make a secure virtual call with us.”
The Farsi-language post racked up millions of views within just a few hours.
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Trump’s address on Tuesday was a declaration of pride in the achievements of his still-young second term, as he boasted of an economic renaissance at home while he’s imposed a new world order abroad. Trump is getting his first opportunity to test drive that midterm year message later this week, when he travels to Texas, where the Latino voters whose shift toward Trump in his successful 2024 reelection campaign highlighted how he had reshaped the Republican coalition.
The White House is aiming to promote that message to a broader electorate that is largely disenchanted with Trump’s job performance, while a looming conflict in the Middle East threatens to shift focus away from his domestic priorities.
Still, the themes of economic prosperity and a more secure America that Trump emphasized in his 108-minute speech Tuesday night will underpin the broader narrative that he and his fellow Republicans will seek to sell to voters this November.
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The Pentagon is building up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades, including two aircraft carrier strike groups, as President Donald Trump warns of possible military action against Iran if talks over its nuclear program fall apart.
“It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran, and we have to make a meaningful deal,” Trump said last week. “Otherwise bad things happen.”
Trump likely will have a host of military options, which could include surgical attacks on Iran’s air defenses or strikes focused on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, experts say. But they warn that Iran could retaliate in ways it hadn’t following attacks last year by the U.S. or Israel, potentially risking American lives and sparking a regional war.
“It will be very hard for the Trump administration to do a one-and-done kind of attack in Iran this time around,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran expert at the International Crisis Group. “Because the Iranians would respond in a way that would make all-out conflict inevitable.”
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Iran pushed back Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear program, alternating between calling his remarks “big lies” to saying negotiations may yield an agreement through “honorable diplomacy.”
The remarks by two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday’s talks come as America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades, part of Trump’s efforts to get a deal while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
If the negotiations fail, Trump repeatedly has threatened to attack Iran — something Mideast nations fear could spiral into a new regional war as the embers of the yearslong Israel-Hamas war still smolder. Already, Iran has said all U.S. military bases in the Mideast would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk the tens of thousands of American service members in the region.
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President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
