News in brief

By The Associated Press

U.S. census takers to conduct test runs in the South and West

Six places in the South and West will host practice runs four years prior to the 2030 U.S. census, a nationwide head count that helps determine political power and the distribution of federal funds.

Residents of western Texas; tribal lands in Arizona; Colorado Springs, Colorado; western North Carolina; Spartanburg, South Carolina; and Huntsville, Alabama, will be encouraged to fill out practice census questionnaires starting in the spring of 2026, U.S. Census Bureau officials said Monday.

The officials said they are unsure at this point how many people live in the areas that have been tapped for the test runs.

U.S. ambassador announces $6M in aid during visit to Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti | The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations announced $60 million in additional humanitarian assistance to Haiti during a trip Monday to the troubled Caribbean country.

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield also said the U.S. Defense Department would provide a “substantial increase” in mine-resistant vehicles to a U.N.-backed, multinational security mission led by Kenya to help Haiti’s national police combat widespread gang violence.

The announcement came nearly a week after a second Kenyan contingent of 200 police officers arrived in Haiti, following the first contingent of 200 officers last month.

Lula urges Maduro to respect vote results

BRASILIA, Brazil | Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Monday his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro should respect the results of the elections scheduled for Sunday, and said he was “frightened” by Maduro’s reference to a possible post-election bloodbath.

The veteran leader will send a top diplomat to neighboring Venezuela as an observer of the vote.

“Maduro knows that the only chance for Venezuela to return to normality is to have an electoral process that is respected by everyone,” Lula told reporters at the presidential residence in Brasilia. “He has to respect the democratic process.”

—From AP reports