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Haiti quake survivors cry for help as death toll nears 2,000
Survivors of the earthquake that killed at least 1,941 people in Haiti clamored for food, shelter and medical care on Tuesday as search and rescue efforts resumed after a tropical storm lashed the Caribbean nation with rain, causing dangerous flooding.
Quake damage to several major hospitals hampered humanitarian efforts, and doctors in makeshift tents outside battled to save the lives of the many injured, including young children and the elderly. But they could not help them all, Reuters reported.
“There weren’t enough doctors and now she’s dead,” said Lanette Nuel, sitting listlessly next to her daughter’s body outside the main hospital of Les Cayes, one of the towns worst hit by both the tremor and the storm’s heavy rains and winds.
The 26-year-old deceased woman, herself a mother of two, had been crushed by debris during the magnitude 7.2 quake. Now she lay under a white sheet on the floor.
“We came in yesterday afternoon, she died this morning. I can’t do anything,” her mother said.
Saturday’s quake knocked down tens of thousands of buildings in the poorest country in the Americas, which is still recovering from a temblor 11 years ago that killed over 200,000 people. Aside from the dead, the latest quake also injured at least 9,915, with many people still missing or under the rubble, the civil protection service said on Tuesday afternoon, Reuters reported.
Relief efforts were already complicated due to political turmoil and difficult road access from the capital to the south due to gang control of key points. Flash flooding and landslides in the wake of Tropical Storm Grace, which by Tuesday afternoon had continued on past Jamaica, exacerbated the situation.
“Countless Haitian families who have lost everything due to the earthquake are now living literally with their feet in the water due to the flooding,” said Bruno Maes, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in the country.
“Right now, about half a million Haitian children have limited or no access to shelter, safe water, healthcare and nutrition.”
The United Nations said it had allocated $8 million in emergency funds to provide relief for affected people, Reuters reported.
Latin America countries including Venezuela, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Colombia and the neighboring Dominican Republic sent food, medicine and supplies. The United States also dispatched supplies and search and rescue teams.
Although criminal gangs have been blocking access roads for months, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs said “successful negotiations” had made it possible for a convoy to reach Les Cayes.
The hospital in Les Cayes, about 150 km west of the capital Port-au-Prince, was even more overwhelmed on Tuesday than before as patients who had been camping outside moved indoors to escape the tropical storm.
Director Peterson Gede said medics were doing the best they could. “We couldn’t handle all the patients,” he said. “And we have been receiving supplies, but it’s not enough.”
At a tent city in Les Cayes containing many children and babies, over a hundred people scrambled to repair makeshift coverings made of wooden poles and tarps that were destroyed by Grace overnight. Some took cover under plastic sheets.
Mathieu Jameson, deputy head of the committee formed by the tent city residents, said hundreds of people there were in urgent need of food, shelter and medical care.
“We don’t have a doctor. We don’t have food. Every morning more people are arriving. We have no bathroom, no place to sleep. We need food, we need more umbrellas,” said Jameson, adding the tent city was still waiting for government aid.
Haiti’s latest natural disaster comes just over a month after the country was plunged into political turmoil by the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday it was too early to gauge the impact of the quake on Haiti’s political process and that the United States, the country’s main donor, had no current plans to deploy its military there.
Rescue workers have been digging alongside residents through the rubble in a bid to reach survivors.
On Tuesday morning 16 people were recovered alive alongside nine dead, Haitian civil protection authorities said.
But hopes were fading, and a smell of dust and decomposing bodies permeated the air, Reuters reported.
“We came from all over to help: from the north, from Port-au Prince, from everywhere,” said Maria Fleurant, a firefighter from northern Haiti.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was sworn in less then a month ago after Moise’s assassination, vowed to disburse humanitarian aid better than in the wake of the 2010 quake.
Though billions of dollars in aid poured into Haiti after that quake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, many Haitians say they saw scant benefits from the uncoordinated efforts: government bodies remained weak, amid persistent shortages of food and basic goods.
“The earthquake is a great misfortune that happens to us in the middle of the hurricane season,” Henry told reporters. He said the government would not repeat “the same things” done in 2010.
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US State Department: Afghanistan fails to meet minimum fiscal transparency standards
The U.S. Department of State says Afghanistan’s ministries and other public-sector institutions failed to meet any of the minimum requirements for fiscal transparency during the review period.
In its 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, released Tuesday, the State Department said no Afghan entity had published an executive budget proposal or an end-of-year report within a reasonable timeframe.
The report said that in the absence of a publicly available budget, there was no confirmation of government expenditures made to support public services. It also said Afghan institutions had not published timely information on public-sector debt obligations.
According to the report, publicly available revenue and expenditure figures did not correspond to actual revenues and expenditures, based on information gathered through contacts and the government’s inability to service public-sector debts.
However, some state-owned enterprises independently published information on their revenues and expenditures.
The State Department also said an entity calling itself the Supreme Audit Office, which announced that it would begin operating in 2022, had not clarified the legal basis for its activities and did not publish any audits or audit findings during the review period.
The report further noted that the IEA did not make public the budgets of their “military” and intelligence services.
The U.S. State Department recommended that Afghan ministries and public institutions improve fiscal transparency by publishing reliable budget documents on time, following internationally accepted budgeting principles, strengthening oversight of off-budget accounts, and making information on public-sector debt publicly available.
It also called for clearer laws governing natural-resource extraction and public procurement, as well as ensuring that any supreme audit institution operates independently and meets international standards.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Afghanistan’s budget does not belong to any other country, and therefore there is no obligation to provide information to others about how it is spent.
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FAO warns water shortages and heat put Afghanistan’s agriculture under pressure
FAO assessed current conditions and prospects using climate forecasts, remote-sensing data and consultations with farming communities across all 34 provinces.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned that water shortages and above-average temperatures are placing increasing pressure on summer crops and grazing across Afghanistan.
In its August 2026 outlook for Afghanistan’s 2026/27 agricultural season, FAO assessed current conditions and prospects using climate forecasts, remote-sensing data and consultations with farming communities across all 34 provinces.
The agency said persistent water shortages, combined with high temperatures, are affecting agricultural conditions during the summer season and increasing pressure on crops and livestock.
FAO also warned that persistently high fertilizer prices could limit farmers’ ability to invest in the upcoming winter wheat season, potentially affecting production prospects.
Looking ahead, the report says a strengthening El Niño and the possible development of a positive Indian Ocean Dipole could bring above-average precipitation during winter and spring.
Such conditions could improve water availability and boost prospects for agricultural production, but FAO cautioned that heavier rainfall could also increase the risk of floods, landslides, crop damage and livestock losses.
The agency said the latest outlook highlights the need for continued monitoring, anticipatory action and timely, practical climate and agricultural advisories to help farmers and livestock owners prepare for changing conditions.
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Hana raises concerns over Afghan women and children amid Iran’s expulsion policy
It said the risks are particularly serious for children born in Iran or those who have spent much of their lives there.
The Hana Human Rights Organization has raised serious concerns over the situation of Afghan women and children in Iran, saying the country’s plan to regulate and expel undocumented Afghan nationals remains in effect.
According to Hana, Iran’s Ministry of Interior has confirmed that the “Plan for the Regulation and Expulsion of Unauthorized Afghan Nationals” has not been suspended.
The organization said the policy is continuing amid the consequences of armed conflict and an increasingly securitized environment in Iran, which it said has heightened the vulnerability of Afghan migrants and asylum seekers.
Hana said it has previously documented cases involving the arrest and mistreatment of Afghan nationals, deportations, family separation and difficulties obtaining civil documentation and accessing essential services.
The organization warned that continued implementation of the expulsion policy could worsen these problems.
Hana expressed particular concern for Afghan children under 18, stressing that children’s rights are independent of their parents’ migration status.
It said irregular residence should not, by itself, justify a child’s detention, separation from family or removal without an individualized assessment. Any decision affecting a child, it added, should prioritize the child’s best interests, preserve family unity and provide additional safeguards for unaccompanied and separated children.
The organization warned that large-scale expulsions without clear procedures to identify and protect children at risk could result in family separation, disruption to education, lack of legal protection, difficulties establishing legal identity, exploitation and return to unsafe conditions.
It said the risks are particularly serious for children born in Iran or those who have spent much of their lives there.
Hana also highlighted gender-specific risks facing Afghan women and girls. It warned that deportation to Afghanistan without assessing risks linked to gender, previous political or social activities, family circumstances and access to support networks could expose them to serious human rights violations.
The organization said being classified as an “unauthorized foreign national” should not replace an individual assessment of a person’s protection needs and the risks they may face upon return.
Hana stressed that while states have the authority to regulate the entry and residence of foreign nationals, migration enforcement must comply with international human rights principles, including non-refoulement, the prohibition of collective expulsion, access to individualized procedures and respect for family unity.
It called for heightened protection for women and children, warning that continuing the expulsion plan without effective legal and protection safeguards could lead to further human rights violations against Afghan migrants and asylum seekers in Iran.
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