Delivering aid in Haiti still difficult

More than 200 international medical relief groups have sent teams to help the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake. Now, four weeks after the catastrophe, early spring rains threaten to cause landslides and bring about health problems in the makeshift camps where more than half a million people are living. And delivering aid in Haiti continues to be difficult, we’ll have an update from the Caribbean nation later in the show. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern) (AP Photo:Ramon Espinosa)

• BBC coverage
• On The World: Boston Haitian mother reunited with her son
• The Haitian Revolution podcast

German pensioners ‘kidnapped financial adviser’

It sounds like a plot line for a movie. Four disgruntled senior citizens kidnap and hold hostage their financial advisor after losing a bundle in the US property market. Except it’s not a movie: Two married couples in the German state of Bavaria are accused of the crimes. They’re now on trial (Courtroom photo: Jörg Koch/AFP/Getty Images). Marco Werman finds out more from Bavarian Radio reporter Annette Kuglar. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern)

• BBC coverage
• Deutsche Welle story about the case

Swedish skiers try to gain high-tech edge

The Swedish cross-country team has gotten some high-tech training help from the country’s Winter Sports Research Center. They’ve been training on a high-tech treadmill designed to realistically recreate the course they’ll be skiing during the Winter Games in Canada. Programming that treadmill required some sophisticated GPS measurements (pictured), as The World’s Clark Boyd explains. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern) Photo: Matej Supej

• Video: The Swedish high-tech skiing treadmill (via Swedish TV)
• More pictures from the global positioning work in Whistler

Playing “plena” with jazz musician Miguel Zenón

Closing out our show today is music from Puerto Rico. More specifically a style known as plena. Miguel Zenón’s new CD ‘Esta Plena’ is a jazz infused take on this Afro-Carribbean style. The Puerto Rican born Miguel Zenón explains on today’s show. (Audio available after 5PM EST)

• www.miguelzenon.com
• Plena

Haiti Part 2

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We continue our exploration of Haiti’s history into the 19th and 20th centuries. Kate Ramsey of the University of Miami tells us about the diplomatic isolation Haiti faced after independence. She also describes the U.S. occupation of Haiti between 1915 and 1934. Chantalle Verna of Florida International University tells us about the period after the U.S. occupation, sometimes called “Haiti’s Second Independence.” And finally, sociologist Alex Dupuy of Wesleyan University tells us about Haiti under the Duvaliers.Download MP3

• Join the How We Got Here group on Facebook

Baltic Island seals

Geo Quiz takes us out to sea. If you travel clockwise around the Baltic Sea, you can visit any of the Baltic countries: Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Germany, and finally Denmark…

See photos of the grey seals