Haiti police raid gang leader's stronghold in capital 3 hours agoShareSaveLeonardo RochaBBC World Service Americas regional editor Jaroslav LukivBBC NewsShareSaveReutersGang control in Port-au-Prince has led to an almost complete breakdown of law and order The government of Haiti says police have launched a large-scale operation in a shantytown controlled by powerful gang leader Jimmy Chérizier, who is widely known as Barbecue. The authorities say several gang members have been killed in the Lower Delmas area of the capital Port-au-Prince. Local reports say military drones carrying explosives are being used in the operation. He said it was the work of a special task force created two days ago to tackle insecurity.Reuters Jimmy'Barbecue' Chérizier has become one of the most powerful gang leaders in Haiti Chérizier, aged 47, is the feared leader of Viv Ansam (Live Together), a coalition of gangs that control much of the city. It is not clear whether Kenyan police officers deployed in Haiti last year to help fight the gangs are involved in the security operation.

If you've yet to spot the attention-grabbing artwork on Google's homepage, now is the time to bask in its glory -- and to read about the star of the illustration, Haitian American model and disability rights activist Mama Cax. The illustration was commissioned by Google in honor of Black History Month, continuing a Doodle legacy of shouting out important Black figures who haven't gotten their fair share of the historical record. Others who have donned the homepage mantle include baseball history-maker Toni Stone and father of modern video games Jerry Lawson. Mama Cax's illustration was created by Brooklyn-based artist Lyne Lucien(Opens in a new tab), a previous Doodle creator known for lively and brightly-illustrated pieces of art that have donned magazine pages, museum walls, and even world heritage exhibitions in collaboration with UNESCO. Mama Cax was born in 1989 in Brooklyn, New York, as Cacsmy Brutus, but spent her childhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

In this post, I interview my former UMBC lab mate, Dr. Huguens Jean, who was just hired to work at Google's Video AI Group as an artificial intelligence researcher. Huguens shares his inspirational story, starting from Port-au-Prince, Haiti where he was born and raised, to his schooling at UMBC, and now to his latest position at Google. He also shares details on his humanitarian efforts where he's successfully applied computer vision and deep learning to rural Rwanda to help count footfall traffic. The data him and his team gathered through footfall traffic analysis was used to help the non-profit organization, Bridges to Prosperity, to construct infrastructure such as bridges and roads, to better connect Rwanda villages. Let's give a warm welcome to Dr. Huguens Jean as he shares his story. Thank you for doing this interview. It's such a wonderful pleasure to have you here on the PyImageSearch blog.