Free Republic

The Dominican Republic had already begun building a wall at its border with Haiti. Then it cracked down on immigration, deporting tens of thousands of Haitians back to their impoverished and gang-ravaged country.Now it’s closing the border entirely. President Luis Abinader announced the Dominican Republic will shut all of its land, air and sea frontiers with Haiti starting Friday morning, amid a festering dispute over Haiti’s plans to construct a canal off a river that separates the two countries. The announcement Thursday afternoon significantly escalates tensions between the two nations, which share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola and a long...

The U.S. Agency for International Development is sending disaster response teams to Haiti to help the impoverished nation after it was hit by a major earthquake on Tuesday. USAID said in a statement it would be sending teams including up to 72 people, six search and rescue dogs and up to 48 tons of rescue equipment. The teams will be accompanied by USAID disaster experts...

(IsraelNN.com) Israel re-opened Gaza crossings Thursday for shipments of humanitarian aid after terrorist attacks forced a restriction of shipments on Wednesday. The Nahal Oz fuel depot also was re-opened, and 180 tons of cooking and 681,000 liters of fuel were transferred. More than 160 trucks moved through the Sufa and Karni crossings with medical supplies and medications, fruit, poultry, cleaning products, meat, juice, dairy products, sugar, garlic, nylon, fish, carrots, salt, soy sauce, meat preservatives, nylon for greenhouses, wheat and corn.

US President George W Bush is set to pledge $674m (£350m) in aid for Africa as part of a joint initiative with visiting UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mr Blair is in Washington to press for the president's support for his plans to get Africa back on its feet. Mr Bush has already rejected several key parts of Britain's relief plan - but Mr Blair insisted there had been "significant progress" on a deal. Aid groups criticised Mr Bush's cash pledge as a mere "drop in the ocean". Jonathan Glennie of Christian Aid said: "If this is President Bush's only...