Gang with past abductions blamed for kidnapping US missionaries in Haiti

A notorious Haitian gang known for brazen kidnappings and killings was accused by police Sunday of abducting 17 missionaries from a US based organization. Five children were believed to be among those kidnapped.

The 400 Mawozo gang kidnapped the group in Ganthier, a community that lies east of the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haitian police inspector Frantz Champagne told The Associated Press. The gang was blamed for kidnapping five priests and two nuns earlier this year in Haiti.

As of now, Washington does not know the current location of 16 kidnaped Americans in Haiti, CNN reported on Sunday.

Spanish PM vows to abolish prostitution

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged on Sunday to abolish and outlaw prostitution in the country, saying the practise “enslaves” women. The act of prostitution  is currently unregulated in the country. Currently, there is no punishment for prostitution  for those who do it on their own will and as long as it is not done in public places. Prostitution was decriminalised in Spain in 1995.

A 2009 survey found that up to 1 in 3 Spanish men had paid for sex, BBC reported. The industry has boomed since its decriminalisation and it is commonly estimated that around 300,000 women work as prostitutes in Spain.

Syrian government, opposition agree to redraft constitution

The Syrian government and opposition co-chairs of the Syrian Constitutional Committee have agreed to draft a new constitution, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria said on Sunday. The drafting committee, comprising 45 representatives of Syria’s government, opposition and civil society, has a mandate to draw up a new basic law leading to U.N.-supervised elections. Each side would put forward proposed texts on issues including sovereignty and rule of law.

Hadi Al-Bahra, the co-chair of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, said its opposition delegation was seeking reforms including equal rights for all Syrian citizens. Syrian government delegates on the other hand did not speak to
the media.

One dead, seven injured in second shooting at Louisiana university in a week

In a second such deadly incident in less than a week, one person died and seven others were injured in a shooting at Grambling State University in Louisiana early on Sunday. The shooting took place about 1 a.m. during homecoming weekend. Further homecoming events planned for Sunday were cancelled, and classes were cancelled for Monday and Tuesday. A curfew was imposed on campus from 9:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice, the school said.

GramFam, now the is the time to be Unapologetically Unified as we rally to comfort one another after this morning’s incident. The campus has been cleared for normal operations, however, homecoming events scheduled for 10/17 have been canceled along w/classes on 10/18. pic.twitter.com/eTI0ssCOgI

— Grambling State Univ (@Grambling1901) October 17, 2021

The shooting came just days after a non-student was fatally shot by another non-student early on Wednesday in front of the university’s Favrot Student Union building. The university said on Wednesday it would increase security on campus after that shooting.

Zero-emission vehicles, wind and solar energy seen taking off: climate report

A solar energy plant. (File photo)

Government policy changes attacking global warming could result in zero-emission vehicles comprising around 30% of all vehicles on the road by 2030, and wind and solar providing 30% of global power generation, triple current levels, a policy report forecast on Monday.

Under its “Forecast Policy Scenario”, seen as the most likely, the report predicted “dramatic” and “sweeping” changes in policy between now and 2025 across the energy, transport, industry and food sectors. Such a policy acceleration would make it possible to keep warming to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by mid-century, it said.