U.S. must lead in Haiti's recovery - OUR OPINION: Government can do more to aid stricken country

Miami Herald, The (FL) - Monday, March 22, 2010

A s Haiti faces the immense task of recovery, no foreign country will play a more important role in shaping the nation's future than the United States. The U.S. reaction has been generous, and the Obama administration has made a major contribution to Haiti's relief, but it needs to do more.

• Security. U.S. forces have been a key factor in helping Haiti to maintain security during a traumatic period. But even as these efforts help Haiti to get back on its feet, U.S. soldiers are starting to pull out of the country. This sends the wrong signal at the wrong time.

Instead of declaring mission accomplished, the Pentagon should be raising the profile of Army soldiers and Marines in Haiti to guarantee security and reinforce the U.S. commitment.

The 9,000-strong U.N. force known by the acronym MINUSTAH will remain responsible for peacekeeping. But nothing says security to the Haitian people as surely as the sight of U.S. forces, whose distinctive uniforms are well-recognized in the cities and rural areas.

• Immigration. Within days of the January 12 earthquake, the federal government bestowed Temporary Protected Status on Haitian immigrants already here. This was a welcome step, but here, too, there's room for improvement.

Posted By: Ayanna Spikes

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US authorizes family members of some consulate employees to leave Mexican border towns

WASHINGTON - The State Department is authorizing U.S. government employees at six U.S. consulates in northern Mexico to send their family members out of the area because of concerns about rising drug-related violence.

The department says the family members are authorized to leave until April 12. The six consulates are in the border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros.

Read More Here:http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100314/world/us_us_mexico_violence

[Posted By Antonio Ramirez and Evelyn Ramirez]

Mexico's Slim becomes 'world's richest' person

Posted on Wednesday, 03.10.10

By MARK STEVENSON

Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim is the world's richest person, jumping past Americans Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to become the first person from a developing nation to top the list, according to Forbes magazine.

The rise of Slim, the son of an immigrant shopkeeper who amassed a $53.5 billion fortune and bought a major stake in the New York Times, is part of an increased presence on the list of billionaires from emerging countries, said Forbes' reporter Keren Blankfeld.

Slim's worth surged in the past year as his cell phone holdings rebounded in value. He is the first non-American to top the list since 1994.

Posted By: Ayanna Spikes

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/10/1523253/mexicos-slim-named-worlds-richest.html

Dutch anti-Islam politician creates stir in UK

RAPHAEL G. SATTER and ARTHUR MAX

The Associated Press

LONDON - Dutch anti-Islam maverick Geert Wilders took his cinematic assault on the Quran to Britain's House of Lords on Friday, sparking heated debate inside the building and angry protests outside.

The invitation to Parliament, and Wilders' stunning political gains in the Netherlands this week, highlight a growing dichotomy in Europe: concern at the increasing number of Muslims who reject long-cherished liberal values, against the liberal tradition of welcoming the world's unfortunates and embracing multiculturalism.

Wilders screened his 15-minute film "Fitna" to about 60 people, including a half-dozen peers, in a wood-paneled committee room in Parliament. The film associates the Quran with terrorism, homophobia and repression of women.

Outside, about 200 protesters jeered and chanted "Fascist thugs off our streets." Police scuffled with several demonstrators who tried to block a street to prevent a demonstration of pro-Wilders activists from the English Defense League from approaching Parliament.

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/86591982.html

[Posted by Ida Micaily]

A Fatal Ending for a Family Forced Apart by Immigration Law

They thought of hiding, she says, but chose to follow the rules, accepting the wrenching separation that has become the only path to a legal family life for hundreds of thousands of such couples. Under laws affecting those who married after April 2001, foreign spouses who entered without a visa must leave and seek one from a United States Consulate in their native land.

Their lawyer said that would take two months to a year. Instead, one year turned into three; Mrs. Encalada lost their apartment, and her son was hospitalized for depression at age 8. In July, after she flew to Ecuador for a joint interview at the United States Consulate in Guayaquil, officials there rejected the couple’s application with a form letter saying they had “a marriage of convenience.”

Mrs. Encalada, 32, wrote the White House, the State Department and Congressional offices to plead for help. When most did not respond, she found a new lawyer and started over. But her husband, 28, apparently lost hope. On Dec. 15, facing another Christmas far from his family, he drank poison.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/nyregion/12family.html?sq=immigration&st=cse&scp=7&pagewanted=all

[Posted by Yoori Chung]

International International adoption: Saviours or kidnappers?

"Saviours or kidnappers?
Amid catastrophe in Haiti, a new controversy about adoptions"

IT MUST have seemed like a good idea at the time. The New Life Children’s Refuge, a Christian group from Idaho, saw no need to bother with paperwork or official permission when they decided to take 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic where they apparently hoped to build an orphanage.

Furious officials arrested ten of the group’s members on charges of kidnapping (which they deny). Many of the children turned out to have families. A similar row erupted in 2007 when workers from Zoé’s Ark, a French charity, were accused of kidnapping 103 children in Chad. Ostensibly orphans from the Darfur region of Sudan, destined for adoption in France, many turned out to be local children, and not orphans. Six charity workers were jailed.

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=894664&story_id=15469423

[Posted by: Austin Houlgate]