Haiti | featured news

Haiti's prime minister says his deeply poor country is aiming to attract high-end tourists and multinational investors — instead of constant handouts — to get on its feet after the devastating 2010 earthquake.

The death toll from Tropical Storm Isaac has climbed to nine after authorities in the Dominican Republic reported two deaths Sunday....

Tropical Storm Isaac headed toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti on Friday, continuing its march across the Caribbean and prompting Florida officials to urge residents to prepare now.

Proponents of so-called "green accounting" - gathered in Rio de Janeiro this week for the Rio Earth Summit - hope that putting dollar values on resources will slam the brakes on unfettered development. A mentality of growth at any cost is already blamed for disasters like the chronic floods that hit deforested Haiti or the raging sand storms that have swept regions of China, worsening desertification.

A couple of rumpled aid workers were sucking down a Sunday morning beer at the Hotel Florita here when the minister of tourism rolled to the curb, followed by the interior minister with body guards toting AR-15s, and then the star of the show, New York fashion designer Donna Karan of DKNY.

Hope here is measured in bags of cement. Progress is a city park without a tent. The future is a bus that takes children to school without charge. Its destination above the driver's window reads: “Dignity."

Charismatic pop star-turned-president Michel Martelly takes over Haiti on Saturday promising to rebuild its earthquake-devastated capital, develop the long-neglected countryside and build a modern army.

Hip-hop singer Wyclef Jean was recovering Sunday after he was shot in the hand, his publicist said.

Haitians will choose between a former first lady and a popular musician Sunday in a pivotal presidential runoff vote for a nation still recovering from a devastating earthquake and political turmoil.

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, Haiti's former dictator, returned unexpectedly Sunday to the country after some 25 years in exile.