World Watch: Starving

* World: A study backed by Oxfam concluded that the global population “especially in the world’s poorest countries, are cutting back on the quantity or quality of the food they eat because of rising food prices.”

* U.S.: In a report to Congress, President Barack Obama claimed that the current mission in Libya doesn’t require legislative approval under the War Powers Resolution.

* Greece: Prime Minister George Papandreou brought up the possibility of stepping down in response to mass protests and a national economy in dire straits.

* Sudan: According to the U.N. and several aid workers, “dozens of people” were killed in an internal border area of Sudan.

Image – AFP via The Guardian
Online Sources- AFP, MSNBC, Reuters, Bloomberg

Daily Headlines: October 6, 2010

* Bolivia: President Evo Morales lost his cool at a friendly soccer match and gave new meaning to the idea of politicians “hitting below the belt”.

* Haiti: International charity group Oxfam alleged that post-earthquake foreign food aid has devastated the Haitian agriculture sector.

* Canada: Have “anti-terrorism laws” unfairly stacked the odds against a Salvadoran man living in Canada since 1996 and seeking refugee status?

* Cuba: According to reports State Department officials are working to repatriate most former Cuban political prisoners from Spain to the U.S.

Video Source – YouTube
Online Sources- CBC, Reuters, The Latin Americanist, MSNBC, Voice of America

Wet weather washes through Americas (Updated)

Stormy weather has barreled though several Latin American countries this week. The most tragic example so far has been in Brazil where 200 people are missing and feared dead after a massive mudslide buried several homes in Rio de Janeiro. Though twenty people have been rescued a civil defense spokesman Pedro Machado told Brazil’s Globo “in our experience, it's an instant death (for those caught in their homes).” Officials warned that more landslides could occur, thus raising the death toll since the storms began on Monday to beyond 175.

North of Rio a state of emergency was declared for the Ecuadorian province of Napo where rivers overflowed and led to a pair of deaths. Basements and storefronts in several neighborhoods of the Colombian capital of Bogota were full of water as a result of heavy rains Thursday evening.

While trying to bounce back from January’s deadly earthquake Haiti is preparing for the upcoming rainy season. Wet weather last month forced several thousand families to be evacuated from the southern part of the country. According to Oxfam America international relief groups have asked the Haitian government to do a better job in relocating earthquake survivors who have sought refuge in makeshift tent camps:

The government has recently identified a site in Corail Cesselesse (15 km north of Port-au-Prince) for the resettlement of 7,500 people from the Golf Club in Petionville, and relocation has begun with little advanced notice…

“We realize this is an emergency relocation due to impending rains and we are moving with utmost urgency to prepare this site. But future moves cannot be done in this last minute fashion. The government and the international community must ensure that any moves are well-planned and adhere to humanitarian principles that ensure people’s safety and respect their rights,” said Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in Haiti.

Update: Ironically several Caribbean nations "including Guyana, Grenada, St. Lucia and Barbados" have endured "record" droughts since last year.

Image- Al Jazeera English (“The slum hit by Wednesday's mudslide had been built on a former rubbish dump.”)
Online Sources- Oxfam America, UPI, BBC News, Xinhua, People’s Daily Online, Caracol Radio, The Lain Americanist

Survey: Haitians seek work, schools, and shelter

Ahead of a conference of donors on Wednesday Oxfam released a report examining the views by Haitians two months after a major earthquake shook the country.

According to a survey conducted of over 1700 Haitians for the relief agency the primary concerns are jobs, schools, and homes. “Haitians are not expecting charity; they want to get jobs, to educate their kids, and to make sure they have a roof over their heads at night,” said the Chief of Mission of Oxfam International in Haiti in a press release. Furthermore, most respondents have little confidence in their own government and would rather see an alliance “between foreign governments, Haitian civil society and the central government in Port-au-Prince.”

Today’s Huffington Post featured a “joint commentary” on the situation in Haiti by the heads of eight relief aid organizations. The article listed several “key areas” where donor governments could help the most and reflect the views of Haitians in the Oxfam poll:

Economic Recovery: Haitians have lost both housing and jobs, and their economy lies in ruins. Between 70 and 80% of Haitians are out of work. Reconstruction projects must ensure local labor opportunities. Jobs and cash-for-work programs are urgently needed in Port au Prince and outside the capital, too, where families hosting displaced relatives and friends are already facing major scarcity and stress. Women and young people -- sometimes an afterthought in economic development programs -- also need urgent help to support themselves and should be included in plans to get the Haitian people back to work.

The International Donors' Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti is expected to create financial commitments needed for post-earthquake reconstruction.

Image- CBC (“A woman walks along a street lined with rubble from buildings that collapsed in the earthquake in downtown Port-au-Prince, Wednesday, March 24, 2010.”)
Online Sources- Oxfam America, CNN, Huffington Post, Reuters