After his whirlwind week of media appearances, Charlie Sheen is now going to be focusing his exceptional energy in one of the last places you'd expect: the ongoing Haitian relief effort.
Speaking with "Access Hollywood" earlier on Friday, Sheen had said that he and his friend Penn were planning a trip to Haiti and that he wants to help focus the attention of the world back on the devastated Caribbean nation. He did not indicate when they would be leaving.
"I'm excited as hell because, you know, if I can bring the attention of the world down there, then clearly this tsunami keeps cresting," Sheen told Billy Bush on "Access Hollywood."
A Northern Iowa company that makes farm equipment has come up with an interesting way to help Haitians, devastated by last year's earthquake.
Sukup Manufacturing of Sheffield is building and donating 16 steel grain bins to be used as houses. The Haiti relief fund will distribute the buildings to families whose home were demolished in the quake.
The company says the grain bins will provide sturdy and bug-resistant shelter while the families rebuild their homes.
In light of Haiti's warm climate, the company is adding a layer of protection over the top of every "grain bin home." It will help keep things cooler inside.
The bins will be done and ready for shipment in April.
Independent journalist Brandon Jourdan recently returned from Haiti after being on assignment documenting the rebuilding of schools in the earthquake-devastated country. However, when he returned to the United States, he was immediately detained after deboarding the plane by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He was questioned about his travels and had all of his documents, computer, phone and camera flash drives searched and copied. This is the seventh time Jourdan says he has been subjected to lengthy searches in five years, and has been told by officials that he is “on a list.” Jourdan joins us in our studio. Catherine Crump, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, says that Jourdan is not the only one facing such treatment by the Obama administration. Crump says many journalists and lawyers who often work abroad have also experienced similar interrogations—and the ACLU believes the First and Fourth Amendments must be honored within U.S. airports. [includes rush transcript]
In January 2010, a 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti. The international community, including one out of two Americans, pledged billions of dollars in aid, yet the nation has seen little improvement. Three hundred thousand died, nearly two million live in ramshackle tent cities. Cholera has swept through the population, killing thousands and hospitalizing many others. Only about 2% of the rubble has been cleared. Is this what you expected when you pledged your aid dollars? Independent journalists Film@11.tv journeyed to Haiti in November 2010 to see the situation for themselves, and dig into the burning question: what happened to all that money?
The amount of money raised for Haiti earthquake relief has reached a staggeringly high $1.4 billion in less than one year from the United States alone. Everyone from celebrities to regular people held telethons, bake sales and dinner parties whose proceeds went to help Haiti earthquake victims.
A year later, people who opened their purse strings and wallets so generously are asking where the money went and how well was it spent. According to a survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy of 60 major relief organizations, only 38 percent of that money has been spent to provide recovery and rebuilding aid. By comparison, in New Orleans, about 80 percent of the money raised for Hurricane Katrina victims has been spent.
When Brazilian diplomat Ricardo Seitenfus was abruptly ousted as special representative of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Haiti on Christmas day, timing proved to be everything. The story has barely created a ripple of controversy in the US media. Seitenfus, a respected Brazilian diplomat and scholar, made statements to the Swiss newspaper LeTemps that criticized international meddling in general and the United Nations and NGOs in particular.
Stone-throwing supporters of eliminated election candidates are violently protesting in Haiti after preliminary results of the Nov. 28 election were announced on Wednesday. Angry protesters barricaded the streets of the capital and started fires throughout the country after by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) declared that Jude Celestin and former first lady Mirlande Manigat would run against each other in a runoff vote for the presidency. Celestin is the handpicked successor to outgoing President Rene Preval. According to election results reported by the National Observation Council, a local election monitoring group financed by the European Union, Celestin should have been eliminated.
The 'bad guys' want Jude Celestin to be the winner in the November 2010 presidential elections in Haiti. The results aren't expected until at least 7 December. The "corrupt electoral comission, with U.S., Canadian and French financial backing, banned the most popular political party Lavalas from the elections." (Lavalas is the party of former president Aristide.) There was massive vote fraud, in favour of Celestin.
Protests over the cholera epidemic faded Friday but young men burned tires and threw rocks at police near government buildings amid surging anger over a disease that has killed more than 1,100 people so far.
Frustrations simmered as the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders issued a statement that "despite the huge presence of international organizations in Haiti, the cholera response has to date been inadequate in meeting the needs of the population."
The aid group, which has been one of the primary responders to the epidemic, said that other international organizations have failed to provide enough safe water or soap, build enough latrines and waste disposal sites, or remove dead bodies. It also criticized groups for not reassuring people that the disease is treatable.
The cholera outbreak in Haiti - blamed for 135 deaths - is the most dangerous strain of the disease, the country's health minister has said.
Alex Larsen confirmed tests carried out by the World Health Organisation have revealed the outbreak is the 01 strain.
"We are in a sanitary crisis, this is a new woe for the country which has not seen this disease in the past," he said.
Around 1,000 people have fallen sick and aid groups are rushing in medicine and other supplies.
Many of the sick have converged on a hospital in the seaside city of St Marc, where hundreds of dehydrated patients are lying on blankets in a car park with drips in their arms waiting for treatment.
"We are on maximum alert," said Claude Surena, head of the Haitian Medical Association.
A refugee-advocacy group said Thursday that more than 70 percent of camps in Haiti, home to an estimated 1.3 million earthquake victims, lack proper international management nearly nine months after the disaster, leaving them at increased risk of sexual and gang violence, hunger and forced eviction.
This is from the song, "Stranded", from the January 22 "Hope For Haiti" telethon. The song features Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna. A poor choice of words, or something more sinister?
