Washington: The Inter-American Development Bank [IADB on] Thursday [19 December] announced the approval of a 950,000-dollar grant to Haiti to support a programme to boost the Haitian government's efficiency and effectiveness in the management of public policy, particularly in the area of public finances.

Haiti's economy is contracting, street protests are routine, and the U.S. State Department has all but suggested that visitors stay away.

Un soci?taire venu r?cup?rer son argent a ?t? abattu par un agent de s?curit? de la coop?rative " Coeurs Unis " devant les locaux de l'entreprise situ?e ? la rue Pav?e au Centre-Ville de Port-au-Prince, le lundi 16 d?cembre 2002.

LES CAYES, Haiti -- On the edge of town, dozens of boys congregate below a statue of Jesus. It's their home as they scratch out lives on the town's littered streets noisy with trucks and motorcycles.

ACUL DU NORD, Haiti (AP) ? When Jose Morency and more than 200 other Haitians made a dash for the Miami coastline after their boat ran aground, he plunged his hands into the U.S. shore and filled his pockets with sand as a souvenir.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Dec. 5 (IPS) -- "If things don't improve here, I'll try to leave a thousand times if I have to. Things are so difficult here. We left Saint Louis du Nord (in northwestern Haiti) Sunday and were towed to Cayman Island Tuesday by the American Coast Guard."

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct. 31 (IPS) -- Rumors that the government intends to seize all U.S. dollars in the country have created chaos for bankers trying to curb panicky capital flight, and have prompted officials to talk of "invisible hands plotting against the government."

Haiti's largest business lobby group has accused the government of condoning a "climate of terror" in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

The real answer to illegal immigration by Haitians is economic, not political, and the best way the international community can aid the impoverished nation is investment, Haitian-American leaders said Monday in downtown Miami news conference.

PORT-AU-PRINCE ? Eight years after a U.S. invasion reinstalled exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in an attempt to help rebuild this troubled nation, Haiti once again is spiraling toward collapse (The Wall Of Blood - photos).