Mexico looked beyond its drug war and looming Atlantic storms today to throw a 200th birthday bash celebrating a proud history, whimsical culture and resilience embodied in the traditional independence cry: “Viva Mexico!”

From the dusty rock mounds lining the streets to a National Palace which looks like it is vomiting concrete from its core, rubble is a ubiquitous reminder of Haiti’s devastating earthquake.

Thousands of Haitians crowded into churches in the capital yesterday for a national day of mourning a month after the magnitude-7.0 earthquake killed more than 200,000 people.

Thousands of Haitians crowded into churches in the capital today for a national day of mourning a month after the magnitude-7.0 earthquake killed more than 200,000 people.

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

AID groups will work from an existing plan for Haiti’s development to help the country recover, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Haiti’s prime minister and foreign ministers from a host of nations will meet today in a bid to improve relief efforts in the quake-ravaged country.

The world still cannot get enough food and water to the hungry and thirsty, one week after an earthquake shattered Haiti’s capital.

DRUMBEATS called the faithful to a Sunday Mass praising God amid a scene resembling the Apocalypse – a collapsed cathedral in a city cloaked with the smell of death, where aid is slow to reach survivors and rescue crews battle to pry anever-smaller number of the living from the ruins.

Doctors and search dogs, troops and rescue teams are flying into devastated Haiti, finding bottlenecks everywhere, beginning at a main airport short on jet fuel and ramp space and without a control tower.

Dazed survivors wandered past dead bodies in rubble-strewn streets, crying for loved ones, and rescuers desperately searched collapsed buildings as fears rose that the death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake could reach into the tens of thousands.

A powerful earthquake has struck in Haiti, toppling everything from simple shacks to the ornate National Palace in the capital.

Young gangsters torched cars, fired in the air and terrorised people blocks from the presidential National Palace in a prelude to what many fear will be another fearsomely violent day in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.

Haitian police arrested supporters of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, launching the crackdown as the ousted leader flew back to the Caribbean on a private jet from exile in Africa.

Haiti’s interim president was solemnly sworn in as ousted leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide restated his claim from his faraway African asylum to be the country’s true leader.

At least five people died and many were wounded when gunmen fired on thousands of protesters demanding the prosecution of Haiti’s exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Shots were fired today during a protest at Haiti’s National Palace, where demonstrators were calling for former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to be tried for corruption.

REBEL forces virtually isolated Haiti President Jean Bertrand Aristide yesterday as international pressure mounted on the beleaguered leader to quit.

Rebels who have launched a bloody uprising took control of another town today, closing in on the capital as Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appealed for foreign peacekeepers and the country lurched toward chaos.

REBELS who have overrun half of Haiti were converging on the capital, Port-au-Prince, yesterday and waiting for the order to attack, said their leader Guy Philippe.

A celebration marking the 200th anniversary of Haiti’s independence from France ended in violent clashes between police and protesters.

THE Taoiseach was at the centre of an embarrassing diplomatic gaffe in Mexico yesterday when his partner Celia Larkin was officially referred to several times as his wife.

Heavily armed gunmen crashed a stolen tractor through the wall of a provincial prison in Haiti, freeing a former supporter of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a host of criminals in Haiti’s second city.

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.

A gang of heavily armed rebels has killed many people after attempting to overthrow Haiti’s government during an attack on the National Palace early today.