Coco Fariñas takes his first sip of water, Santa Clara hospital, Cuba. Photo: Yoani Sanchez

On Surfari Haiti from Russell Brownley on Vimeo.

Christopher Columbus is on the move again in the New World, after numerous rejections in a nearly two-decade quest to find him a suitable spot, the Associated Press reports. A towering statue of the explorer -- twice the height of the Statue of Liberty without its pedestal and shunned by several U.S. cities -- might be erected on Puerto Rico's north coast. 

Haïti, une traversée littéraire [Haiti, a Literary Voyage] is a new book by Louis- Philippe Dalembert and Lyonel Trouillot (Éditions Philippe Rey/Culturesfrance, Paris, 2010).

Description: Haiti is not only the country where "Négritude stood up for the first time," in the words of Aimé Césaire. The former French colony of Saint Domingue, which became independent in 1804, has since maintained an extraordinary flourishing of literary creation. Thus, from d'Anténor Firmin (De l'égalité des races humaines) to Marie Vieux-Chauvet (Amour, Colère, Folie), along with Jean-Price Mars (Ainsi parla l'oncle) and Jacques Roumain (Gouverneurs de la rosée), the dynamism of this literature is well documented. Today, it is written in both languages of the country, French and Creole, in Haiti as well as in its diaspora. French publishing houses tout, for example, the works of Georges Castera , Dany Laferrière , Yanick Lahens , Gary Victor, Kettly March, Edwidge Danticat, Evelyne Trouillot, and many others. Haïti, une traversée littéraire presents a journey through this literature as it was created, is created, and distributed today. An anthology of selected texts by Louis -Philippe Dalembert and Lyonel Trouillot, an audio CD, and a sound archive, complete the literary journey. The audio CD includes the voices of René Depestre, Frankétienne, Emile Ollivier, the sound archives of INA plus an excerpt from "Pierrot le Noir" by Jean -Richard Laforest, Émile Ollivier, and Anthony Phelps.

The anthology was published with the collaboration of Yves Chemla, teacher, researcher, and author of La Question de l'Autre dans le roman haïtien contemporain (Ibis Rouge éditions, 2003).

Representatives of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) based in Haiti and the Dominican Republic have reached agreement on the preparation of a binational project that will focus on the border region. The initiative will center on transboundary diseases that limit trade in agricultural products; the promotion of agribusinesses for generational change in the countryside; and agricultural technology to cope with climate change.

The online whistle-blowing organisation Wikileaks has made public more than 90,000 reports, detailing the war in Afghanistan. The documents, extracts of which were published by the New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel, expose the unseen side to the Afghan war.

The New York Times writes on how these secret documents show a bleaker view of the war. 

Deep in the ravine amid the narrow corridors and chaotic construction, workers in T-shirts push wheelbarrows up and down a newly carved dirt path as rubble-filled buckets are passed in a human chain. At the top of the steep hill, a clear view of the crumbled presidential palace and near-collapsed capital emerge as empty lots replace mounds of rubble.

Live TV/Radio Debate
Ann Pote Kole Pou Nou Ka Reconstwi Ayiti

July 15th, 2010

Haiti held the first of what is expected to be a series of nationally televised "Town Hall" on 15 July 2010 with representatives of the Government, the international community, the Haitian civil society and the representatives of displaced communities taking centre stage to speak out about their plight. The debate was interactive with viewers and listeners sending in questions by SMS which were read out by the moderator Clarens Renois. 

Mapping a Way From Disaster in Haiti from Leonard Doyle on Vimeo.

Since the January 12 earthquake Humanitarian Openstreetmap.org has completed three training courses to help volunteers map Haiti.
Recently the "HOT" team was hosted by IOM at its sub office in Gonaives. Its a city in the north of the country that has suffered terrible damage and loss of life from flooding. The city has been hit by two 100 year storms in the space of the last four years.
The 2010 hurricane season is predicted to be one of the wettest on record and the Government of Haiti and the International community are urgently working on disaster preparedness for hurricane prone areas of the country.

The city of Gonaives is the most vulnerable to Hurricane related destruction in Haiti, and has been hit by two 100-year floods within four years during which over 5,000 lives were lost. Due to chronic deforestation and soil erosion in the mountains surrounding the city, Gonaives is regularly inundated with rainwater and avalanches of mud.

Angry Gunmen in the Age of Obama from Leonard Doyle on Vimeo.