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PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – The death toll in the Haiti quake has swelled to 200,000, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said as angry protests over the slow arrival of aid flared on the rubble-strewn streets. More than three weeks after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake, Bellerive said his tiny Caribbean nation had been ravaged by "a disaster on a planetary scale" and detailed the tragic toll suffered by his people. "There are more than 200,000 people who have been clearly identified as people who are dead," he said in an interview with AFP, adding that another 300,000 injured had been treated, 250,000 homes had...

Haiti's voodoo high priest has claimed believers have been discriminated against by evangelical Christians who are monopolising aid sent to the earthquake-stricken country. Max Beauvoir, Haiti's "supreme master" of voodoo, alleged his faith's opponents had deliberately prevented much-needed help from reaching followers of the religion, which blends the traditional beliefs of West African slaves with Roman Catholicism. "The evangelicals are in control and they take everything for themselves," he claimed. "They have the advantage that they control the airport where everything is stuck. They take everything they get to their own people and that's a shame. "Everyone is suffering the...

January 30, 2010   A barge carrying 400 tons (800,000 pounds) of Samaritan’s Purse emergency relief supplies arrived in Haiti on Friday. An assortment of heavy equipment was also on board, including a bulldozer, dump trucks, skid loaders, and flatbed trucks to help with debris removal, access clearing, hauling, and other difficult tasks.“One of the first things I want to do is help rebuild secure perimeters around churches to help them be established as distribution points for the community,” said Ken Isaacs, the vice president of projects for Samaritan’s Purse. “One of the first jobs we’ll tackle with the excavator is...

When it comes to any analysis of the problems facing Africa, Western society, and particularly people from the United States, encounter a logical disconnect that makes clear analysis impossible. That disconnect is the way life is regarded in the West (it’s precious, must be protected at all costs etc.), compared to the way life, and death, are regarded in Africa. Let me try to quantify this statement. In Africa, life is cheap. There are so many ways to die in Africa that death is far more commonplace than in the West. You can die from so many things--snakebite, insect bite,...

I do not know if what I’m about to write makes me a monster. I do know that it makes me a part of a miniscule minority, if Internet trends and news stories of the past weeks are any guide. “It”, is this: I haven’t donated a cent to the Haitian relief effort. And I probably will not. I haven’t donated to the Haitian relief effort for the same reason that I don’t give money to homeless men on the street. Based on past experiences, I don’t think the guy with the sign that reads “Need You’re Help” is going...

The truck was scheduled to arrive in Davie, FL. Tuesday afternoon, where all the items are to be transferred to a shipping container and loaded onto a boat for shipping on Feb. 1. Once there, folks from Cross Intl. and the Orphan Grain Train will make sure it gets into the hands of those who need it most. Many, many people will be blessed through the collective efforts of the people of Cypress.

Faiths unite in South Florida to help Haiti The Haitian earthquake has brought together different religious communities in South Florida, including some unexpected pairings. Like many who lost family during the earthquake in Haiti, Jude Pierre turned to his faith for solace and wanted to find a way to help. On Saturday, Pierre, a Christian from Miramar, found himself among shouts of Arabic prayers as he packed boxes of canned goods in a Miami Gardens warehouse, affixing stickers to packages that read ``Muslim Americans Help Haiti.''``I found out through a friend who sent me a link on Facebook,'' said...

Israel Aids Haiti While Arab Nations Are Noticeably Absent The Jerusalem Post just characterized Israel’s prompt response to Haiti’s earthquake victims as the Israel’s “public relations knight in shining armor.” That couldn’t be further from the truth. Israelis and non-Israeli Jews have a long history of helping those in need.

Rescue efforts have officially ended and the task at hand is recovery. Soon CNN will pack up its cameras and go off to the next important story. The glare of the international spotlight will dim. Haiti will be left alone its struggle. Alone except for those who were there before the quake, who remain today, and who will continue to help the Haitian people in the name of Christ.

Americas: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has gone off the deep end again, claiming the U.S. engineered the Haiti earthquake. It's a laughable malevolence, of course. But given the spectacular U.S. aid effort, it's also a threat. Right now, the dictator's No. 1 foreign policy aim is to discredit the U.S. aid effort in Haiti. Shortly after Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake, Chavez, trying to whip up paranoia, accused America of seeking a "military occupation" there. When that didn't work and U.S. aircraft carriers and hospital ships steamed in to rescue ravaged Port-au-Prince, Chavez told Spanish newspaper ABC that the earthquake was the...

Haiti’s humanitarian disaster has rightfully elicited an outpouring of support from around the world. But the tragedy should also elicit outrage because the massive destruction, suffering and loss of life were largely avoidable. Natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods that have regularly afflicted Haiti, have plagued mankind throughout history. As the world has become wealthier, the ability to cope with such calamities has grown; annual deaths due to such disasters have declined by 96 percent since the 1920s. Economic growth has made it possible for countries around the world, increasingly including developing nations, to mitigate damage done by “acts...

PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Capt. Ghulam Habiib, commander of 3rd Co., 1st Kandak of the Afghan National Army, gives a hand crank radio to a girl at Sar Mast Kheyl village, Jan. 16. The radio is among the supplies provided by NATO’s International Security Assistance Force so the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police could conduct a humanitarian aid mission to three poverty-stricken villages. The hope is that the mission will increase the legitimacy of the ANA and ANP as institutions and counter Taliban misinformation about the government.(Photo by Spc. Spencer case, 304th Public Affairs Detachment) Story by Spc. Spencer...

Most of us have heard that the US government and private charities plan to import thousands of Haitian orphans to America. Has America gone crazy? For years, we have been told of the large number of American children (many of whom are minorities) who are in foster care, and in institutions, who cannot get families to adopt them. There is also a large number of American children (mainly teenagers) who sleep in the streets, and do not have the support of foster homes or insitutions. There are also many homeless people in America, who cannot find beds in overcrowded homeless...

The images from Haiti are, if anything, only getting worse. What was left of an already fragile society is starting to break down, as violence and chaos take over. Despite the heroic efforts of aid workers and the battered Haitian government, it looks as if Haiti’s problems will persist well into the 21st century, long after the debris is cleared and the houses are rebuilt. While the scope of the tragedy in Haiti is nearly impossible to exaggerate, it’s important to remember that last week’s earthquake was so deadly because Haiti is Haiti. If a similarly powerful earthquake were to...

CNN Elizabeth Cohen interviews makeshift medical tent personnel on January 18, 2010. Asking Harvard Medical Dr. Jennifer Furin, "Have the American's set up a field hosptial?" "Currently, not yet....

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has appealed for patience as anger mounts in Haiti over the tardiness of the relief effort and aid groups criticize the US management of the airport. Yet most German papers argue that the superpower is vital in helping the devastated country recover from the disaster. The aid is starting to get through to Haiti. But it is insufficient and it is not reaching enough of the people who desperately need it. As the United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon appeals to Haitians for patience, and the United States prepares to send in more troops, the European Union...

It's been a week since Port-au-Prince was destroyed by an earthquake. In the days ahead, Haitians will undergo another trauma as rescue efforts struggle, and often fail, to keep pace with unfolding emergencies. After that—and most disastrously of all—will be the arrival of the soldiers of do-goodness, each with his brilliant plan to save Haitians from themselves. "Haiti needs a new version of the Marshall Plan—now," writes Andres Oppenheimer in the Miami Herald, by way of complaining that the hundreds of millions currently being pledged are miserly. Economist Jeffrey Sachs proposes to spend between $10 and $15 billion dollars on...

These are not the observations of paid strangers venturing into Haiti only for so long as the earthquake and the loss of human life garner the label, newsworthy. These are the observations of those living in Haiti who have been called there by God to serve the Haitian people in His name. These missionaries were in Haiti long before the earthquake and will remain there long after the news crews leave. These missionaries experience the poverty and tragedy and joy of Haiti on a daily basis and now they need your help.

Caught on film on a Brazilian TV program... saying that this catastrophe is "good for us". Video

Print Email Share Add to My Stories MTV, Clooney team up for Haiti telethon Posted 6 hours 34 minutes ago Updated 6 hours 2 minutes ago George Clooney George Clooney will host the January 22 event. (Getty Images: Francois Durand) * Related Story: Wyclef Jean in Haiti aid appeal MTV says it is working with George Clooney to stage a telethon for Haitian earthquake relief. It will be held on January 22. A representative for the music television network says finer details are still being worked out. Host Clooney is expected to be joined by as yet unnamed movie and...