A religious group based in Ohio announced Monday that a violent gang in Haiti has released three more hostages, while another 12 remain abducted.
The statement from Christian Aid Ministries said the people were released on Sunday in Haiti and are “safe and seem to be in good spirits.” The group provided no further details.

On Nov. 21, the religious organization announced that the 400 Mawozo gang had released the first two hostages of a group of 17 kidnapped in mid-October. There are 12 adults and five children in the group of 16 U.S. citizens and one Canadian, including an 8-month-old.

The leader of the 400 Mawozo gang has threatened to kill the hostages unless his demands are met. Authorities have said the gang was seeking $1 million per person, although it wasn’t immediately clear that included the children in the group.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader of Myanmar who was ousted in a de facto coup this year, was convicted on two charges Monday and handed a four-year sentence that was quickly cut in half — in proceedings widely criticized as a further effort by the country’s military rulers to roll back the democratic gains of recent years.

They serve to cement a dramatic reversal of fortunes for the Nobel Peace laureate, who spent 15 years under house arrest for resisting the Southeast Asian nation’s generals but then agreed to work alongside them when they promised to usher in democratic rule.

Monday’s verdict was the first in a series of cases brought against 76-year-old Suu Kyi since her arrest on Feb. 1, the day the army seized power and prevented her National League for Democracy party starting a second term in office.

If found guilty of all the charges she faces, Suu Kyi could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. She is being held by the military at an unknown location — and state television reported that she would serve her sentence there. That sentence was reduced hours after it was handed down in what the report said was an amnesty ordered by the country’s military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the University of Minnesota’s College of Design launched the Design Justice Initiative, which seeks to support the retention and inclusion of Black, Indigenous and students of color through affinity spaces, policy adaptations and operational changes.

“In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, it became clear that we needed to think bigger with our commitment to anti-racism and address longer-term issues,” Carol Strohecker, dean of the College of Design, said. “The Design Justice Initiative is centered around addressing these longer-term issues.”

The College of Design plans on dedicating itself to anti-racism by using the new initiative to reevaluate its admissions practices and draw ideas and materials from social justice-involved organizations. In addition, the initiative will conduct curriculum mapping and auditing to ensure courses reflect multicultural perspectives and social justice values, The Minnesota Daily reported.

Reporter Jos Morss can be reached at josie.morss@stthomas.edu.