THE ballot was as crowded as the earthquake-ravaged capital itself, and a collapsed presidential palace the prize.

Haiti’s president met Wyclef Jean for more than two hours, sparking a new round of speculation on whether the singer would be included in a list of presidential candidates.

Hip-hop star Wyclef Jean said today he was confident that Haiti election officials would accept his candidacy to run for president despite doubts over whether he meets the residency requirement.

A senior US senator sharply criticised Haiti's president, portraying him as an ineffectual leader who was hindering recovery from January's devastating earthquake.

Haitian President Rene Preval set November 28 as the date voters will choose his successor as leader of the earthquake-shattered Caribbean nation.

Ten US Baptist missionaries charged with child kidnapping returned to jail after failing to persuade a Haitian judge to free them pending the outcome of their case.

RIOTS broke out in the centre of Haiti’s capital last night as government trucks carrying rice were attacked by crowds.

Rescuers pulled a dehydrated but otherwise uninjured woman from the ruins of a luxury hotel in the Haitian capital early today, an event greeted with applause from onlookers witnessing rare good news in a city otherwise filled with corpses, rubble and desperation.

AMID the chaos and the carnage, a signal of hope and life emerges from the rubble and devastation of Haiti’s earthquake.

Desperate earthquake survivors took to the streets in shattered Port-au-Prince today in search of food and water as aid organisations struggled to get supplies through.

Rescuers began a race against time to save the Haiti earthquake survivors today as a trickle of aid began arriving in the country.

A school has partially collapsed in the Haitian capital, injuring at least eight pupils and sparking panic less than five days after a much larger collapse killed more than 90 people.

Rescue crews working under the glare of floodlights dug through the rubble of a collapsed school in Haiti early today in a frantic search for students who may still be trapped in a disaster that has already killed at least 47 people.

Ailing Cuban strongman Fidel Castro told hundreds of admirers in Havana for his delayed 80th birthday celebrations today that he was not well enough to meet them.

HAITIANS celebrated in the streets yesterday as word quickly spread that Rene Preval will be Haiti’s next president.

HUNDREDS of smashed ballot boxes and bags apparently used to carry vote count sheets were scattered across a rubbish dump yesterday, more than a week after Haiti’s disputed presidential elections.

UN peacekeepers opened fire yesterday on Haitians protesting election results, killing at least one and wounding four, witnesses said as flaming roadblocks paralysed the capital.

UN troops mobilised helicopters, trucks and even mules yesterday to recover ballots from remote areas in an arduous vote-counting process as Haitians nervously awaited results of long-delayed presidential and legislative elections.

Haitians voted in overwhelming numbers in an election aimed at restoring democracy in the impoverished nation, swamping officials who struggled to cope with the large turnout.

HAITIANS attempted to vote yesterday in a presidential election ballot marred by scuffles and disorder.

Haitians jammed polling stations today as UN peacekeepers fanned out to guard the country's first presidential election in nearly six years, a vote widely viewed as a key step toward steering the bloodied, impoverished nation away from collapse.

Haiti’s beleaguered government has thwarted an apparent coup attempt, with police recapturing the National Palace from armed men in a day of violence that killed at least seven people.