Tropical Oceans: Beating Heart of Climate Change

By University of Plymouth Scientists, Phys.org. The tropical regions of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans appear to act like a heart: accumulating heat and then pulsing it in bursts across the Earth.

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Hurricanes and Climate Change

By Brenda Ekwurzel, Union of Concerned Scientists | NOAA | Haiti Chery. Scientific evidence links the destructive power of hurricanes to higher ocean temperatures driven by global warming.

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Haitian Government Does Nothing About Isaac | Le gouvernement haïtien ne fait rien pour Isaac

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Isaac should hit the island of Hispaniola the night of Thursday August 23-24 with rainfall of 8 to 12 inches, dangerous waves, and storm surges that might raise the coastal waters 3 to 5 feet above normal. With less than 24 hours left for preparations to save lives and property, the Haitian government had done nothing except issue general safety warnings. (English | French)

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Avocados

By Roger B. Swain, In Field Days: Journal of an Itinerant Biologist. Lyons & Burford, Publishers, New York, 1994. Central American animals that could have swallowed and excreted avocados include mammoths; toxodon, a rhinoceros-size mammal, without the horn, that was probably semi-aquatic; gomphotheres, elephantlike beasts with tusks in both jaws; glyptodonts, that weighed a ton or more, had a domed carapace, a heavy armored tail, and an armored head that could withdraw into the shell.

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With Havana Flights, Cuban Musicians Return to Bay Area

By C. K. Hickey, Oakland North | YouTube | Haiti Chery. The opening up of Oakland airport to Havana represents a unique cultural and political connection between Cuba and the US’ Bay Area. “Culture cures: culture leads to communication between countries, and communication leaves everybody better off than before.” – William T. Martinez

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Clear Caribbean Thinking Required on Extra-Territorial US Laws

By David Jessop, Caribbean Council via Stabroek News. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, is one of a growing number of US laws that are extra-territorial in effect and have been introduced on the grounds of security, to counter terrorism and organized crime, or to address tax evasion. In addition to extending US jurisdiction into the Caribbean, FATCA carries with it the possibility of being used to extend the reach of US law into areas that the legislation was not primarily designed to address.

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World’s Coral Reefs in State of Emergency | Arrecifes en situación de emergencia | Arrecifes em situação de emergência

By Stephen Leahy, IPS | Envolverde. Threats to coral reefs have gone from worrisome to dire. Bleaching, overfishing, pollution and disease have largely wiped out the fabulous coral communities of the Caribbean, which has lost 80 percent of its corals since the 1970s, say scientists at the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS). (English | Spanish | Portuguese)

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Cuba Adapts Crops to Tropical Conditions, Climate Change | Cultivos adaptables frente al cambio climático

By Ivet González, with reporting by Patricia Grogg, IPS. Cabbage, broccoli, carrots, onions and other vegetables resistant to pests and drought are being grown by researchers in Cuba, who for decades have been working to design plants adapted to the tropical conditions in the Caribbean region. (English | Spanish)

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Cuba Safeguards Biodiversity to Guarantee Food Supplies | Cuba busca garantizar alimentos bajo otro clima

By Ivet González, with reporting by Patricia Grogg, IPS. Small farmers in Cuba are involved in developing improved seeds from local stocks, to obtain good harvests under difficult environmental conditions. (English | Spanish)

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Lolita in the Dominican Republic

By Staff, Diario Libre | Humberta, Diaspora Women | Editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Dominican Republic has the highest percentage of pregnant adolescents of all Latin American and Caribbean countries. According to the Statistical Yearbook of Public Health, there were 118,730 births in 2011, 60% of them to mothers under 18 years old. Moreover, 40% of these births were by Caesarian section. Instead of confronting these problems, Dominicans have focused on Haitian births.

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Haitians Trafficked to Brazil to Work for Problematic French Utility GDF-Suez | Rebelión obrera retrasa grandes obras en Brasil

By Mario Osava, IPS. Unrest was predicted to break out at Jirau because of worker solidarity, the low wages and an employer, the foreign utility GDF Suez, that provides terrible working conditions and little personal time. (English | Spanish)

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Saramago’s ‘Lost and Found in Time’ 2nd Novel Claraboya Published | ‘Claraboya’, novela inédita de José Saramago, se publica en español

By Walfredo Angulo, Prensa Latina | Granma | Haiti Chery. Jose Saramago wrote Claraboya in the 1950’s but received no word from the publisher for 40 years. The dictatorial regime of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal had probably censored the novel. It has just appeared in Portuguese and Spanish (English | Spanish).

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