TresSugar

Oh, Snap! Hill Thrills Haitian Nation

TresSugar — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:00:00 -0700

With all the Obamamania going on, it's easy to forget that Hillary Clinton is the US Secretary of State. Yesterday, she was welcomed by Haitian President Rene Preval to the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. Her visit highlights Washington's support - symbolically and monetarily - for the poor and politically fragile nation.

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Haitian-American Wyclef and All-American Matt Help Haiti

LibertySugar — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:00:57 -0700

Haitian-born Wyclef Jean and Matt Damon arrived in Cabaret, Haiti on Saturday to distribute food aid to residents hit by tropical storms. Matt and Wyclef organized the food distribution for the victims of the severe weather and floods, and called on the UN to raise $100 million for 800,000 desperate Haitians.

Four tropical storms hit Haiti in less than a month. Matt said the flooded streets, muddy homes, and cries of hunger, left him speechless, and Wyclef said that "no human should be living like this" in what he called inhumane conditions.

While we know Wyclef is quite the pal of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Matt Damon is not so much a fan of Sarah Palin, they both seem like generous friends of troubled Haitians.

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Hurricanes Ike and Hanna Leave Destruction in Their Paths

CitizenSugar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:47 -0700

On the heels of Hurricane Gustav, Hurricanes Ike and Hanna have walloped the Bahamas, Haiti, Turks and Caicos, and Cuba. For the Turks and Caicos, 80 percent of the homes on Grand Turk Island have been damaged. The devastating storm has ripped roofs and left residents cowering in closets, "just holding on for life. They got hit really, really bad." The Florida Keys have evacuated ahead of Ike's arrival.

Hurricane Ike headed toward Haiti en route to the Bahamas and Cuba. The "extremely dangerous" storm is crushing relief efforts to help the hundreds of thousands hit by last week's storms, bringing a foot of rain threatening flash flooding and mudslides.

Hanna lashed the Eastern seaboard over the weekend and her tail end is set to hit as far away as the UK on Thursday, with 100 flood warnings already in place.

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Front Page: Haiti Faces Weather Catastrophe, Ice Sheet Breaks Loose, Gas Explosion Kills Miners in China

CitizenSugar — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:00:02 -0700

Haiti Faces Weather Catastrophe:
After being hit by three storms in less than 21 days, killing 170 people and causing thousands to flee their homes, Haiti's president says the country is facing a "catastrophe." The latest storm, Hanna, could cause more destruction than the one in 2004 that killed 3,000 people. The Haitian leader is holding emergency talks with donor countries appealing for aid.

Ice Sheet Breaks Loose:
A chunk of ice shelf almost the size of New York City has broken away in Canada's northern Arctic. Scientists say it's a dramatic indication as to how much warmer temperatures are. The 19-square mile shelf is part of the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf and is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

Gas Explosion Kills Miners in China:
A gas explosion has killed 23 and trapped four others in a mine in China's northeast. A spokesman confirmed the explosion but would not say more. China's coal mines are among the world's deadliest with fires, floods, and other disasters killing an average of 13 miners a day.

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Front Page: Bush Arrives in Seoul, Storm Hits Coast, Food Shortages for Nepal

CitizenSugar — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:53:56 -0700

Bush Arrives in Seoul:
President Bush arrived in Seoul, Korea today for talks aimed at communist North Korea - and instead of the large anti-US rally that was expected, a huge crowd of support gathered in the city center. Amid a background of gospel music, the pro-US rally attracted about 15,000 people for what is thought to be Bush's last trip to the country as president. One of those gathered said, "I came to pray for the country to come together and with President Bush coming, for his visit to go smoothly." There was little sign of the tension that sparked huge anti-government protests over the ending of the ban of US beef imports. 20,000 police has been mobilized for protests that never really materialized.

Storm Hits Coast:
Tropical Storm Edouard has made landfall on the Texas coast east of Galveston and is expected to plow inland as the day goes on. Texas and Louisiana have made declarations of disaster and statewide emergency pending the storm with 65 m.p.h winds. No evacuation edicts have been issued.

Food Shortages For Nepal:
The UN and the government of Nepal announced that hundreds of thousands of Nepalese are facing severe food shortages. Efforts to get food aid to those in need are being delayed by fuel shortages and strikes. The price of rice has risen 50 percent in the last year. Meanwhile, the EU has pledged $4.6 million to Haiti to help with the crushing hunger crisis there.

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Dirt Cakes & Ding-Dongs: Haiti & US Face Unique Food Crises

CitizenSugar — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:00:58 -0700

With my appetite sufficiently dampened by the up-to-the minute reports of McCain's facial growth, this story erased it completely, and the picture reduced me to tears. These children live in the Haitian, Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil. Some kids make mud pies for play - but the children in the picture survive on dirt cakes. They eat them.

Like in the pictures below, the cakes are molded of mud and fat and allowed to dry in the sun, the only form of sustenance many Haitians can afford after rice and bean prices have risen 100 percent. One woman who makes the dirt cakes says, "it stops the hunger. You eat them when you have to."

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The Director of the aid agency Christian Aid says, "food is available but people cannot afford to buy it. If the situation gets worse we could have starvation in the next six to 12 months." Food aid has been delayed.

While more than 50 percent of Haitians are undernourished, a new study about the state of the future of the US waistline is even harder to stomach. To see it and a clever way you can help feed the hungry, read more.

By the year 2030, most adults in the US will be overweight or obese according to a new study to be published in the July issue of the Obesity journal. By most, they mean 86 percent. Health care spending is projected to be as much as $957 billion, with one in every six bucks spent going to obesity related care.

While obesity in the US is a now a public health crisis, you can help provide food for people with the exact opposite problem, without leaving your computer. The UN World Food Programme has a vocabulary game called FreeRice. For every correct answer, you give a donation of 20 grains of rice to the WFP. I just donated 100 right now. Put your thinking cap on and get clicking. These kids need it.

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Got a Stop Watch? It Only Takes 10 Hours to Buy a Child Slave

LibertySugar — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:00:13 -0700

It takes just 10 hours for someone in New York City to travel to Haiti and buy a child. ABC News reporter Dan Harris found that out when he set out to test the ease of securing a child slave. For as little as $150 one trafficker guaranteed Harris a "trained" 11-year-old. Another child salesman asked $10,000 for a pretty 11-year-old, for which Harris could do whatever he wanted with the girl.

Still hidden in a cloak of charity, this modern travesty began less tragically. Traditionally, poor rural families gave their children to wealthy city dwellers. The child did domestic work for an education. But now, these young innocents face a nightmare of hard labor, beatings, and sexual abuse without even a glimmer of hope for an education. Harris explains that a happy ending for Haitian children of poverty seems to be leaving their families to live in an orphanage where they are safe and educated, a much better fate than that of Haiti's 300,000 child slaves.

Sadly Haiti, a country founded on an 1804 slave revolt, has little means to stop this abuse. Check out these suggestions of how you can help put an end to modern slavery.

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Which Countries Are Most Corrupt? Not New Zealand, Denmark

CitizenSugar — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:00:59 -0700

Money could very well be the root of all evil - though in the latest study of corrupt countries, it's actually the lack of money that sparks trouble. The new report by Transparency International found that in two-fifths of the world's nations, corruption continues to intensify - a trend that can be traced to economic realities. In the countries found to be the most corrupt, 40 percent are classified by the World Bank as low income.

Transparency International's rankings range on a scale from 10 (on the up-and-up) to 1 (rampant corruption). How common is corruption? Of the 180 countries surveyed, 132 of them had scores below a 5. Other factors that contribute to a cloudy ethical picture are weak governments and conflict. The chairman of Transparency International says, "Countries torn apart by conflict pay a huge toll in their capacity to govern. With public institutions crippled or nonexistent, mercenary individuals help themselves to public resources, and corruption thrives."

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Another troublesome mix? Weak government plus plentiful natural resources, like in Equatorial Guinea where 30 percent of the newly discovered oil profits go straight to government officials' wallets. To see which countries ranked where, read more.

The Top Three Least Corrupt: New Zealand (pictured), Denmark (not corrupt and happy!) , and Finland win with scores of 9.4 out of 10. Wealth, stable economies, and a removal from international controversies keep them corruption-free.
The Two Most Corrupt: Somalia and Myanmar. With scores of 1.4 out of 10, the armed conflict, political oppression, and troubles from Mother Nature (Myanmar's horrific cyclone) and pirates (Somalia) corruption is undeniable.
Third and Fourth Place: Iraq and Haiti, respectively. Afghanistan comes in at #7.
Three Countries in Africa Who've Improved: Seychelles, South Africa, and Swaziland all made gains from six to 37 places.
Five Countries Out of Africa With Improvements: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Romania, and Italy. Transparency International points to the European Union accession process on the fight against corruption.

I don't know, but if Denmark keeps winning prizes for being great, they better expect a lot of visitors. What do you think is the biggest contributor to corruption?

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Haiti's Government Collapses Over Hungry Citizens

CitizenSugar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:30:55 -0700

Yesterday, the world’s economic ministers sat up and took notice of the skyrocketing food prices. They made an attention-getting statement that in their view, the price of food may cause a greater threat to economic and political stability than the current turmoil in capital markets.

Nowhere is that reflected firsthand than in Haiti where over the weekend the price of food was the direct cause of rioting and the collapse of the government. In an almost unanimous vote, Haiti's senators voted to remove Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis. The key reason for Alexis's ouster was his inability to secure lower prices for the millions of starving Haitians who can no longer afford food.

Prior to the recent catastrophic upsurge in food prices, Haiti was already teetering. As Haiti imports almost all its food, since global food prices have risen 40 percent in the past six months it means that prices have nearly doubled in parts of Haiti. This adds grave consequences in a country where 2.4 million people already cannot afford the minimum daily calories recommended by the World Health Organization. To see the human side of the situation, read more.

The food prices set off riots last week in which six people were killed including a Nigerian officer with the UN police force. Although the riots are now quelled for the most part, aid workers fear the violence will continue if nothing is immediately done. One Haitian put a face on the hardship saying, "I hope that one day I'll see rice go back down at least 10 gourdes (26 cents) and I will be able to feed my kids at least two meals a day."

Perhaps fearing a trend in other third world countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for urgent action to tackle soaring global food prices and to also begin creating longer-range solutions to ensure adequate food supplies. President Bush also weighed in today and has has asked senior aides to look into how the United States can help alleviate the problem.

Are you more concerned about the world's food situation than the credit crisis? If you were a Bush senior aide, how would you recommend that the US help?

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Front Page: Petraeus Testifies, Polygamy Compound Hits 500, Haiti Riots Over Food

CitizenSugar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:51:09 -0700

Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in Baghdad, is currently testifying before the Senate, including all three presidential candidates. Facing questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Gen. Petraeus is expected to recommend a temporary halt in troop withdrawals and to explain more about Iran’s influence in Iraq. The three candidates will have opportunities to ask questions, which will highlight their positions on the war. The last time Gen. Petraeus appeared before the committees, the sessions lasted 10 hours. The session this morning has already been interrupted once by protesters.

The number of women and children removed from the polygamy compound in Texas has surpassed 500. Authorities say more than 400 children and 130 women have left the compound after raids stemming from a child abuse inquiry. State troopers are holding an unknown number of men inside as they search the 1,700-acre compound, and officials have been authorized to remove computers, DVDs, and photos in the search. Members of the sect believe a man must marry at least three wives in order to ascend to heaven.
Protesters in Haiti, angered by food prices, took to the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The demonstrations forced businesses and schools to close as unrest spread from the countryside. During the protest someone called out, “we’re hungry!” Haitians are particularly affected by worldwide rising food prices. Eighty percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day. The price of staples like rice, beans, fruit and condensed milk has gone up 50 percent in the past year.