Paris - Tasting: Haitian chocolate seduces French specialists thanks to its unique flavor
Members of the Chocolate Lovers Club in Paris were able to sample some Haitian chocolate, which they rated as an "exceptional product."
Paris, Saturday, September 29th, 2018 ((rezonodwes.com)) - Approximately eighty chocolate amateurs and specialists participated in a meeting on a barge of the Seine, "The Liberty barge" together with Minister of Tourism, Marie Christine Stephenson, and of the Ambassador of Haiti in Paris, Vanessa Lamothe Matignon.
During this event, the chocolate concocted by approximately five French chocolate makers with Haitian cocoa, cultivated in particular by the cooperative FECCANO, was highly praised.
These edible master-pieces were presented by Chocolate Capon and savored by a very select audience for its unique flavors, under the leadership of Patrice Chapon who visited Haiti in 2015 to discover new productions of cocoa and participate in the 1st national competition of cocoa, in Cap-Haïtien.
Invited to speak on this exceptional occasion, ambassador Matignon put the accent on the history and the patrimonial aspect of cocoa in Haiti.
For his part, Secretary Stephenson insisted on the peculiarity of Haitian cocoa with regard to the country’s climate, and on its potential role in reforestation, and providing an outlet to grow Ecotourism and rural development.
More than two hours of screen impoverishes the cognitive development of children
A study published by the British magazine Adolescent Lancet Child and Health compares the cognitive capacities of children who spend more than two hours in front of screens each day, and those whose exposure is more limited.
The study led by Canadian researchers (CHEO institute / University of Ottawa / Carleton University) concerned 4,520 children from 8 to 11 years old on 20 sites through the United States. On average, these children spent 3.6 hours a day glued to a screen - mobile phone, tablet, computer, television - beyond the Canadian recommendations for less than 2 hours of screen, 9 at 11 am of sleep and at least one hour of physical activity a day.
Sufficient sleep, limited screen time and physical activity, were the winning trio for all of the children participating in the investigation. Only one American child out of 20 (5 %) achieves the three parts of the Canadian recommendations. According to questionnaires filled by families, almost one out of three (29 %) reaches none of them: enough sleep, limited screen time and physical activity.
Sounds of Little Haiti featuring Belo
With vibrant performers, tasty food and a lively crowd, it's sure to be a good time the entire family can enjoy.
When: October 19, 2018
Where: Little Haiti Cultural Complex
Time: 6pm - 10pm
Marche in support of the legalization of abortion in Haiti
Dozens of people demonstrated, on Wednesday, September 26th, 2018, in Port-au-Prince, for the legalization of abortion in Haiti, according to the on-line AlterPresse agency.
Because of the penalty against abortion, women are forced to have miscarriages, in secret, in bad conditions, to avoid being punished by the judicial system, explained Katia Hilaire, project officer for Fanm Ayisyèn Solidarity (Sofa), during the protest.
She wished to raise more awareness with authorities and with the population on the phenomenon of abortion, which causes death, serious illnesses or infertility in women.
The parliament is called to pass a law to legalize abortion in Haiti.
"Women must be able to control their pregnancies, and plan their lives freely. Women, across the spectrum, have to have access to quality health care," pleaded Katia Hilaire.
The demonstrators denounced the irresponsibility, shown by the State towards the poor health conditions in the country.
Some of the protesters, dressed in white T-shirts and carrying signs, expressed, their anger in the face of this critical situation.
"The Haitian State has to assign a more important financial contribution for healthcare, in the national budget, so that the population can have better access to the healthcare system," demanded the protesters.
"The Hospital does not have to be a cemetery for women," chanted the demonstrators in front of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti in the street Monseigneur Guilloux.
Among other things, the march aimed to bring awareness to and to promote access to contraception methods, on the occasion of the World Day of Contraception commemorated this year under the theme: "Reducing Unwanted Pregnancies in the world."
Charles Aznavour, the 'Frank Sinatra of France', dies aged 94
Singer best known for ballad She sold 100m records and had parallel acting career
Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Kim Willsher in Paris
Mon 1 Oct 2018 09.49 EDTFirst published on Mon 1 Oct 2018 08.14 EDT
The French singer Charles Aznavour has died at the age of 94, French media have reported, citing his spokesman.
Aznavour, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, sold more than 100m records in 80 countries and had about 1,400 songs to his name, including 1,300 he wrote himself. He was sometimes described as the French answer to Frank Sinatra because of his stirring, melancholic style.
He left school aged nine to become a child actor and went on to have a successful parallel acting career, most notably appearing in François Truffaut’s new-wave classic Tirez Sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player), Claude Chabrol’s Les Fantômes du Chapelier (The Hatter’s Ghost), and the 1979 Oscar-winning film adaptation of Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum.
His singing career was forged in occupied Paris during the second world war, performing in cabarets as his parents secretly worked with the resistance, hiding Jews, communists and others in their apartment. “French is my working language but my family language is always Armenian,” he said in 2017.
Aznavour opened for Édith Piaf at the Moulin Rouge and the popular singer was an early adviser – and flatmate. “I brought her my youth, my madness; she loved my whole jazzy side,” he told the Guardian in 2015. She advised him to have a nose job, only to declare, “I preferred you before” after the surgery.
He is one of the most celebrated exponents of the French “chanson” form – easy-listening songs with vivid lyrics, rich in storytelling, emotion and humour. One early song, 1955’s Après l’Amour, was banned on French radio for its depiction of a couple basking in post-coital happiness. 1972’s What Makes a Man, meanwhile, is sung in the persona of a gay man who faces down homophobia to declare: “Nobody has the right to be / The judge of what is right for me.” He became perhaps best known for his gloomier numbers – the director Jean Cocteau once quipped: “Before Aznavour, despair was unpopular.”
His biggest hit in English was She, a 1974 romantic ballad in which Aznavour confronts the equal joy and strife in a relationship, nevertheless declaring “the meaning of my life is she”. It spent four weeks at No 1 in the UK singles chart, and was also recorded in French, German, Italian and Spanish. The song got a second lease of life when it was covered by Elvis Costello for the soundtrack to the 1999 film Notting Hill, reaching No 19 in the UK. Aznavour’s only other solo hit in the UK was with The Old Fashioned Way, which reached the top 40 in 1973.
Over the years he recorded duets with the likes of Sinatra, Elton John, Céline Dion, Bryan Ferry, and Sting, as well as the classical tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. In 2010, he recorded Un Geste pour Haiti Chérie, a song with young French rap stars, to help raise money after that year’s devastating earthquake in Haiti.
Charles Aznavour, the 'Frank Sinatra of France', dies aged 94
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Another singing partner was Liza Minnelli, with whom he also had a brief love affair, telling the Telegraph in 2014: “She learned from me. She says that herself – or else I would have shut my mouth!”
The ballet director Sir Matthew Bourne paid tribute to Aznavour, saying he was “considered to be one of the greatest live interpreters of song. Was lucky enough to see him at Royal Albert Hall last year. His performance of his own song What Makes A Man A Man [sic] was unforgettable.”
Piers Morgan recalled interviewing him, saying: “One of the greatest singers the world has seen & such an intelligent, eloquent, graceful & charming man.”
At the unveiling of Aznavour’s star on the Hollywood walk of fame in 2017, director Peter Bogdanovich said: “Sinatra once said every song is a one-act play with one character, and Charles is an extraordinary actor as well as an extraordinary singer.”
Open Letter to the City of Miami Commission
To the City of Miami Commission
Mayor Francis Suarez
Chairman Keon Hardemon
Commissioner Ken Russel
Under the leadership of the late Father Gerard Jean-Juste and a coordinated campaign, our compatriots were released from several detention centers around the U.S. They settled in Little Haiti, an abandoned, depressed, and neglected area. Through hard work, sheer resilience and determination, the Haitian immigrants transformed Little Haiti into this inclusive and culturally diverse mecca. When I first arrived in the U.S. in 1981, an area like Sabal Palm for example in Little Haiti, was inhabited mainly by Haitian immigrants. Through the process of gentrification and forced displacement, most of the Haitians lost their homes. Today, Little Haiti is believed to be the “fastest gentrified area in the U.S.” Many home and business owners have been evicted from spaces that they’ve occupied for 30-40 years.
Three major developments have applied for Special Area Plan: Magic City is one of 3 major developments asking for SAP consideration from the City of Miami. The process to obtain an SAP (Special Area Plan) which will allow them to build up to 27 floors while the area is zoned T-5 is already going in front of the City of Miami Commission this Thursday, at 2 PM. As several local and national journalists reported, this is the fastest that they’ve ever seen, as SAPs usually take months, sometimes years. But it seems like developers in Little Haiti have strong support from the City of Miami and no concerns whatsoever for the residents of Little Haiti. To date, Magic City has refused to hold an open meeting with the community to collectively discuss concerns with the project. Instead, Magic City has chosen to do "Open Houses" where they give guided tours to small groups of people through the different parts of the project. This format does not allow the different stakeholders/leaders to listen to the concerns of others and understand how they may be resolved as a community. It not only makes for bad process, but it sows divisions in the community where individuals or groups look to their own interests instead of the interests of the broader community in a coordinated manner.
We see the consequence of this in the extremely weak community benefits package offered by the developer, and conditions on the development by the Planning and Zoning department that don't quite go far enough because the City did not have the benefit of listening to the concerns of the public. A major Magic City shareholder Neil Fairman disrespected community leaders yesterday, and walked out of a meeting organized by FANM to express our concerns stating: “I do not have time for a community meeting and I will not change the Community Benefit Package. If the City of Miami Commission moves to defer on Thursday, Guy Laliberte will pack his bag and take his millions somewhere else. If you want a community meeting, come give us your support on Thursday and we’ll discuss a meeting afterwards” and he walked out. Repeated requests for a community meeting and on-going negotiations have been consistently denied by Magic City. Efforts to meet with Chairman Keon Hardemon have also been unsuccessful. The Special Area Plan is not a Right the developer has just because it owns more than 9 acres.
The SAP is a permission the developer requests from the City and its neighbors in exchange for going far above and beyond its currently allowed zoning. In this bargain, it is the City and the neighbors acting through their elected officials, who may allow the developer to create the SAP. This is why the SAP is a negotiation of compromise and mutual benefit, not an imposition of the developer’s will over a community stated Meena Jagannath of Community Justice Project.
Added Elvis Cruz: Magic City is an enormous project that will forever change the character of the area. This mixed-use project would consist of: 7.8 million square feet of development. At least eight buildings of 12, 20 or 25 stories in height, 2670 apartments, 6000 parking spaces, and 340,000 square feet of retail. (By comparison, a Home Depot store is around 100,000 square feet. This would be 3.4 times that.). It is also illegal under Miami 21, a fact the City will likely ignore, or creatively interpret.
The City of Miami Planning Department failed to do its job in planning for the future of Little Haiti. It must develop a comprehensive masterplan for the area involving all sectors. SAPs should be assessed collectively to assess the impact residents, small businesses and the infrastructure.
Most importantly, the City Commission must defer its decision on Thursday to allow more community input.
Sincerely,
Marleine Bastien, MSW, LCSW
Executive Director
Family Action Network Movement