Haitian orphans settling in with adoptive families

Haitian orphans settling in with adoptive families
PENFIELD, N.Y. (AP) — Under a towering Christmas Tree, 3-year-old Sevil Fletcher giggled in delight amid some not-so-rough roughhousing with his brother and sister. There were snow drifts outside the comfortable suburban home, and the warmth of a close-knit family inside, as his parents, Brian and Emily Fletcher, recounted how Sevil — his infancy spent in a faraway Orphanage — came to be their son. It’s a remarkable tale, all the more so because it is shared to a degree b...

In Haiti, tensions around an army of foreign do-gooders
Port-au-Prince -- Gaunt and unshaven, Paul Waggoner stepped out of his closet-sized cell at the Haitian National Penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince this past Monday for five minutes of casual banter, tight hugs and handwritten fan letters. It had been more than a week since Haitian police jailed the 32-year-old Florida native on Kidnapping charges, and he still couldn't believe he was locked up. After all, he came to Haiti to help. "Frustrating,'' said Waggoner, a native of DeFuniak Sprin...

Canada stands by Haiti amid nightmare
Veniel Calixte welcomed the Canadians to his disaster, hoping for saviours or at least a way out. The Port-au-Prince artist became a paid minder and local fixer to international news crews — including QMI Agency — in the wake of last January’s Earthquake that devastated large sections of his home country of Haiti. Reliable and eager, 28-year-old Calixte ferried around Journalists and kept them safe during early days when the capital was suffering and split open. Of life before ...

Haiti urged to halt lynchings of voodoo priests
PORT-AU-PRINCE — The head of Haiti's voodoo religion appealed to authorities Thursday to halt bloody lynchings of voodoo priests by people who blame them for causing the Caribbean country's deadly Cholera epidemic. Since the epidemic started in mid-October, at least 45 male and female voodoo priests, known respectively as "houngan" and "manbo," have been killed. Many of the Victims were hacked to death and mutilated by machetes, Max Beauvoir, the "Ati" or supreme leader of Haitian v...

Haiti urged to halt anti-voodoo lynchings
PORT-AU-PRINCE - The head of Haiti’s voodoo religion appealed to authorities Thursday to halt bloody lynchings of voodoo priests by people who blame them for causing the Caribbean country’s deadly Cholera epidemic. Since the epidemic started in mid-October, at least 45 male and female voodoo priests, known respectively as “houngan” and “manbo,” have been killed. Many of the Victims were hacked to death and mutilated by machetes, Max Beauvoir, the “Ati...

'Christmas of misery' for many in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Maritza Monfort is singing along to A Christmas Carol in Creole on the radio, but the Haitian mother of two is struggling to lift her spirits. “I sing to ease my pain. If I think too much, I’ll die,” said Monfort, 38, one of over a million Haitians made Homeless by a January Earthquake that plunged the poor, French-speaking Caribbean nation into the most calamitous year of its history. With a raging Cholera epidemic and election turmoil heaping more death and h...

Haiti mobs lynch voodoo priests
Voodoo priests in Haiti are being lynched by mobs who blame them for spreading Cholera, the country's government has said. At least 45 people have been lynched in recent weeks as Haiti continues to be ravaged by a cholera epidemic. Haiti's communications minister has made an appeal for the lynchings to end and called for a campaign to ensure people understand how cholera spreads. More than 2,500 Haitians have died from the water-borne disease since October. Another 121,000 people have ...

Jim Luce: Making Christmas Merry for Haitian Orphans
I first met Ali Wing, the founder and CEO of giggle, at the home of Kate Spade. Kate's daughter had designed a beautiful T-shirt to benefit the organization I founded a decade ago, Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW). I was impressed with it and so was Ali. That night, Ali decided to help the organization. Ali decided upon a charitable, inexpensive, re-useable bag for the holidays -- the giggle Dot bag -- to sell through her juvenile products chain, Giggle, to generate proceeds for our kid...

Embattled Haiti volunteer: I'm 'broken'
Paul Waggoner planned to spend Christmas delivering toys to orphans in Haiti, but instead the Nantucket carpenter-turned-relief worker is fighting to keep his hopes alive as he languishes in the country’s notorious national penitentiary on a Kidnapping charge, said his supporters. “I am broken and can’t understand why this is happening to me. I have done nothing wrong. Why can’t anybody help me and get me out of here? I’m scared I’ll never be released. . 

Cuban medics in Haiti put the world to shame
They are the real heroes of the Haitian Earthquake disaster, the human catastrophe on America's doorstep which Barack Obama pledged a monumental US humanitarian mission to alleviate. Except these heroes are from America's arch-enemy Cuba, whose doctors and nurses have put US efforts to shame. A medical brigade of 1,200 Cubans is operating all over Earthquake-torn and Cholera-infected Haiti, as part of Fidel Castro's international medical mission which has won the Socialist state many friends, ...

Snow causes chaos for European holiday travel
Provide feedback to the multimedia producers. Thank you. Your feedback was successfully sent. Video will begin in 5 seconds. What type of connection do you have? Your video format settings have been saved. Frustrated and exhausted passengers remain stranded as winter weather continues in France and across Europe. LONDON: As some Parisians frolicked in the blanket of snow covering their city, air passengers stranded at Charles de Gaulle airport were having a less joyful time after being evacuated...

Haiti urged to halt cholera anti-voodoo lynchings
Port-au-Prince (Reuters) - The head of Haiti's voodoo religion appealed to authorities Thursday to halt bloody lynchings of voodoo priests by people who blame them for causing the Caribbean country's deadly Cholera epidemic. Since the epidemic started in mid-October, at least 45 male and female voodoo priests, known respectively as "houngan" and "manbo," have been killed. Many of the Victims were hacked to death and mutilated by machetes, Max Beauvoir, the "Ati" or supreme leader of Haitian voo...

"Christmas of misery" for many in calamity-hit Haiti
Port-au-Prince (Reuters) - Maritza Monfort is singing along to A Christmas Carol in Creole on the radio, but the Haitian mother of two is struggling to lift her spirits. "I sing to ease my pain. If I think too much, I'll die," said Monfort, 38, one of over a million Haitians made Homeless by a January Earthquake that plunged the poor, French-speaking Caribbean nation into the most calamitous year of its history. With a raging Cholera epidemic and election turmoil heaping more death and hardship...

Haiti cholera deaths near 3,000
Port-au-Prince - The number of people who have died since the Cholera outbreak in late October has risen to 2,591 according to figures released by Ministry of Health here yesterday. It said that a total of 121,518 people have been affected by the water borne disease with 63,711 having received treatment at various Hospitals. Health Care officials said the epidemic has spread to all of Haiti's 10 provinces, with the Artibonite in the northwest being the hardest hit, where more than 800 people ...

45 people lynched amid Haiti cholera fears: officials
Port-au-Prince - Angry Haitian mobs have lynched at least 45 people in recent weeks, accusing them of spreading a Cholera outbreak that has killed over 2,500 people across the country, officials said Wednesday. The number included at least 14 suspected sorcerers previously known to have been lynched in the far southwestern region of Grand'Anse as local people feared they were spreading Cholera with a magical substance. The area has been largely spared by the outbreak. "We have counted 40 peop...

Haiti urged to halt cholera anti-voodoo lynchings
By Joseph Guyler Delva Port-au-Prince | Thu Dec 23, 2010 6:06pm EST Port-au-Prince (Reuters) - The head of Haiti's voodoo religion appealed to authorities Thursday to halt bloody lynchings of voodoo priests by people who blame them for causing the Caribbean country's deadly Cholera epidemic. Since the epidemic started in mid-October, at least 45 male and female voodoo priests, known respectively as "houngan" and "manbo," have been killed. Many of the Victims were hacked to death and mutilated...

Voodoo Killings Reportedly Rise in Haiti Epidemic
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- At least 45 people have been killed across Haiti due to accusations they are using "black magic" to spread Cholera, the director of a Voodoo association said Friday. Most of the killings are occurring in the southern coastal town of Jeremie, where people are being lynched, set on fire and attacked with machetes, said Max Beauvoir, a Voodoo priest. But he said killings also have been reported in Cap Haitien and the Central Plateau....

Voodoo killings reportedly rise in Haiti epidemic
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - At least 45 people have been killed across Haiti due to accusations they are using "black magic" to spread Cholera, the director of a Voodoo association said Friday. Most of the killings are occurring in the southern coastal town of Jeremie, where people are being lynched, set on fire and attacked with machetes, said Max Beauvoir, a Voodoo priest. But he said killings also have been reported in Cap Haitien and the Central Plateau....

The Year in Review: A Haiti earthquake in the time of cholera and lethal poverty
It is the Western hemisphere's poorest nation, hobbled by generations of Corruption and social turmoil which have resulted in two-thirds Unemployment and an economy entirely reliant on overseas aid. That was Haiti, even before the disaster that struck at around 5pm on Tuesday, 12 January. The Earthquake which rattled through the capital, Port-au-Prince, for around 90 seconds measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale. That hardly makes it a blockbuster. Bigger quakes happen somewhere in the world every...

Haiti Voodoo Killings Rise As Cholera Epidemic Rages: Report
Port-au-Prince, Haiti — At least 45 people have been killed across Haiti due to accusations they are using "black magic" to spread Cholera, the director of a Voodoo association said Friday. Most of the killings are occurring in the southern coastal town of Jeremie, where people are being lynched, set on fire and attacked with machetes, said Max Beauvoir, a Voodoo priest. But he said killings also have been reported in Cap Haitien and the Central Plateau. Local police did not return calls...

Haiti Wraps Up an Unkind 2010
California Count Off by 1.5 Million? David Hockney’s ‘Fresh Flowers’: Techno-Art or iHackery? Last January’s quake in Haiti devastated the country and killed an estimated quarter of a million people. It’s been quite the year for Haiti. With election turmoil, a Cholera epidemic and manifest misery almost a year after one of the most destructive Earthquakes of recent times, Haiti still awaits reconstruction of its country and many of the aid dollars promised to help ...

Mobs killing voodoo doctors for cholera
The Cholera outbreak hit Haiti after the January Earthquake that killed about 220,000 people, but angry mobs are now blaming the voodoo priests for spreading the disease, CNN reported. "People who practice voodoo have nothing to do with the Cholera epidemic," said Max Beauvoir, the head of a voodoo organization in the Caribbean country. Forty of the Victims were found in one area in southwest Haiti; some were killed with machetes and some were burned alive by mobs that used Gasoline and tires to...

Mexico controls pipeline leak caused by thieves
Mexico's state-owned oil company says it has found and controlled a leak in a Gasoline Pipeline caused by thieves tapping into the duct. The leak is located in a rural area northeast of Mexico City in the central state of Puebla. About 120 residents of a nearby town have been evacuated. Puebla state Interior Department spokesman Noe Torres says no injuries have been reported. The announcement comes less than a week after a larger leak at a Petroleos Mexicanos Pipeline in the same region caused a...

Suspect parcel in Berne is Christmas present: police (Reuters)
Zurich (Reuters) – Part of the European Union Embassy in Berne was evacuated on Thursday after a scare over a suspect package -- but it turned out to be a Christmas Present, Swiss police said. The parcel was investigated and was quickly declared to be safe, the Berne police said in a statement. Police in Rome were checking embassies on Thursday after two people were injured in separate Explosions at the Swiss and Chilean missions. The government suggested the blasts could be the work of ...

Deadly landslide strikes Colombia
At least 12 people have been killed in a landslide in south-western Colombia, local officials say. Nearly 30 people were injured after tonnes of mud buried five homes and a bar in the town of La Cruz in Narino province. Rescue teams are sifting through the debris amid reports that several people may still be missing. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the area. The landslide was triggered by Heavy Rains. Thursday's tragedy was the second major deadly landslide this month in Colomb...