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13 Jan 2012 09:43

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World: Two years later, Haiti continues its slow march towards recovery

  • Where does haiti stand after the deadly 2010 quake? While about $15 billion of aid money is still missing in Haiti, progress is still being made. “Recovery is here. It is painfully slow, it is agonizing to watch, but it is recovery,” said Harvard professor Paul Farmer. He has spent three decades in Haiti and is opening a new hospital. Big factories could also stimulate the country’s economy, creating 20,000 jobs at just one plant. Progress can also be measured somewhat superficially; HuffPo “Good News” writer Cameron Sinclair finds the silver lining in other ways. He noted the lesser-but-still-positive positives of Haiti, such as its fast WiFi and rich history. (Perhaps that’s looking too hard in the forest to see trees, but y’know.) So, while recovery is still being sought after, it is still coming. And in some ways, it is already here. (Photo by Ken Cedeno / The Washington Post) source

07 Jan 2012 10:09

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World: Haitians, devastated by earthquake, moving to Brazil to find work

  • All I want is work, and Brazil, thank God, has jobs for us.
  • Haitian-born Wesley Saint-Fleur • Discussing how, in the wake of 2010’s Haitian earthquake, he and his family moved to Brazil, a quickly-growing part of the world where he’s found it easy to get a job. Not everyone has been so lucky, however: Nearly 4,000 people have moved from Haiti to Brazil since the devastating earthquake in 2010, and many of them have found things just as bad in Brazil. While Brazil’s economic growth has slowed recently, unemployment is still extremely low and the biggest beneficiaries have been those working low-income jobs, where salaries have grown sevenfold in recent years. Even Americans are heading down there for jobs. source

03 Aug 2011 21:36

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U.S., World: Tropical Storm Emily edges closer to land — including Haiti

  • Tropical Storm Emily update: Meteorologists predict that Haiti will receive anywhere between 6 to 12 inches of rain, while some mountain regions could receive up to 20 inches. The current path puts the storm closer to the eastern coast of Florida, but after hitting Haiti/Cuba, the track may change. Worth keeping an eye on, guys. source

25 Mar 2011 17:59

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World: Guess who’s the face of Haiti again? That’s right, Sean Penn

Say what you will about the guy, but he stuck with the crisis in Haiti long after everyone else. “As clichéd as it sounds, I think he really gives a damn about the Haitian people,” said one doctor. source

07 Feb 2011 12:57

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U.S.: This week in international disease transplantation

  • 3 cholera diagnoses in New York City, by way of the Dominican Republic source

22 Jan 2011 11:37

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World: What the hell, Bob Barr? Ex-US politician helping “Baby Doc” in Haiti

The former Clinton-attacking legislator, who once got duped by “Borat,” is acting as Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier’s voice to the international community. Why? source

16 Jan 2011 23:17

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World: “Baby Doc” returns to Haiti: Mother Jones is on the scene

  • “It sounded like a wild rumor …” Mother Jones was on the scene as Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti after a quarter-century of exile. And despite his unpopularity, he had his supporters today. “Things have never been as good as when he was here,” one translator told reporter Mac McClelland. “The only thing that was worse was we couldn’t talk about politics because he was a dictator, but everything else is much worse now.” (thanks idroolinmysleep for pointing it out to us immediately we found it) source
 

16 Jan 2011 22:56

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World: Quick facts: How bad was Haiti leader “Baby Doc” Duvalier?

  • 19 the age that Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier took over Haiti
  • 28 number of years he and his dad, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, ruled over the country
  • 15 number of years “Baby Doc” was “president-for-life” before he was booted from power
  • 100k people left the country while “Baby Doc” was ruler; many sought asylum on rafts source
  • » With an iron fist: The regime of father and son – especially son – was noted for its disparities. The leaders, who had near-absolute rule (with the help of a secret police force called the Tonton Macoutes), lavished themselves while doing little to help Haiti’s population deal with the overwhelming poverty. It got so bad that Pope John Paul II publicly called out elites for their lack of interest in and care for the plight of the poor. To emphasize … this guy’s return is not good by any stretch of the imagination. He needs to go back to France.

16 Jan 2011 22:31

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World: Like a clichéd plot device, Jean-Claude Duvalier is back in Haiti


The guy on this sign was forced into exile from Haiti 25 years ago. Now, no longer a baby, “Baby Doc” is back, perhaps looking for forgiveness from the weakened country. source

29 Nov 2010 00:02

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World: Haiti not alone: Here’s what happened in today’s Ivory Coast runoff

  • one runoff vote after a good-natured, successful election in October
  • five security officials were killed today not long after the vote started
  • many reports of voter intimidation throughout the African country source