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A Haitian man was lynched at a public plaza in the Dominican Republic this week. Authorities there say it was the result of a personal dispute, but activists claim it's part of rising racial animus and anti-Haitian attitudes in the Caribbean nation.

The lynching came during an already tense time for Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic. Feb. 1 marked the deadline for tens of thousands of them to report to the country's civil registry to prove that their ancestors came to the nation legally. Those who didn't — or couldn't — comply with the deadline could be deported. For many of those affected, that could mean being deported to Haiti, a place where they've never lived, where they may not have any remaining family, and may not know the language.

This is all the result of a 2013 ruling by the Dominican Republic's constitutional court which retroactively stripped citizenship of people whose ancestors migrated to the country and who can't prove that the migration was legal. The change applies to anyone born after 1929, potentially affecting an estimated 240,000 Dominicans. The vast majority are people whose family migrated from Haiti.

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Demonstrators from a 2013 protest against the Dominican Republic's constitutional amendment restricting citizenship hold signs saying "I am Dominican just like you." Ezequiel Abiu Lopez/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Ezequiel Abiu Lopez/AP

Demonstrators from a 2013 protest against the Dominican Republic's constitutional amendment restricting citizenship hold signs saying "I am Dominican just like you."

Ezequiel Abiu Lopez/AP

The February registration deadline actually represents a concession by the Dominican authorities. Originally, the 2013 ruling allowed for immediate deportation without any chance of appeal. But after international protests, a court ruling created a process for obtaining a residence permit.

Under the current rules, anyone without proof of their birth or the birth of their parents in the Dominican Republic is required to register as a foreigner — even if they were born in the country. Amnesty International estimates that less than 5 percent of those people eligible to register actually did, leaving tens of thousands now stateless.

In recent years, the Dominican government began cracking down on migrants arriving from neighboring Haiti, especially following the earthquake in 2010 when the Dominican Republic briefly opened its border to Haitian refugees.

The Dominican Republic has a long, contentious history with Haiti, which together make up the island of Hispaniola. Many critics accuse the Dominican government of purposely reinterpreting the citizenship policy to discriminate against Dominicans with Haitian ancestry.

"When you have individual actors in the form of government coming together to create major bureaucratic hoops, it's clear that there is some discriminating intention," says Angela Fernandez, executive director of the North Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights. "The underclass has already been created by Dominican society and the government. What this does it compound the issue more for Dominicans of Haitian descent."

Chiara Liguori, Caribbean researcher for Amnesty International, says the Dominican government also executed the registration process poorly. "They put some ads on TV and radio, but not in communities where these people live, the most marginalized areas of the country," she says.

She argues that local governments purposely created obstacles for the most vulnerable "Haitian-Dominicans" affected by the law. "They instituted fees that are a burden for those who need it. Most can't afford it," she says. "And [local governments] were requesting documents that they didn't need to present."

"We are extremely worried because the authorities continue to deny the existence of statelessness, but it's our reality."

- Juan Alberto Antuan Vill

Juan Alberto Antuan Vill, — who is Dominican-born and of Haitian ancestry— says he was denied identity documents, despite being listed in the Dominican civil registry since birth. He told Amnesty International, "We don't trust the whole process because of the people leading it. Discrimination exists in this country. I can't work and I can't access vital services."

Organizations such as the International Campaign to End Apartheid in the Dominican Republic, have called for a boycott of Dominican tourism, products and services. And activists from We Are All Dominican, an advocacy group providing support for denationalized Dominicans, staged a vigil outside the office of a Dominican-American councilman in New York City. Their members say the recent lynching "symbolizes an act of racial terror against Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent" and that the attempt to denationalize Haitian-Dominicans is a violation of human rights.

"The message the Dominican government has sent to the international community is that it does not care about its human rights obligations," says Javiela Evangelista, a member of We Are All Dominican. "Moreover, the Dominican Republic's actions send a dangerous precedent for other governments."

In a statement to NPR, the Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Washington, D.C., rejected claims of limited accessibility and arbitrary fees, noting that the government has set up 24 service centers throughout the country for people to register and has dedicated more than $25 million to "ensure that applications represent no cost burden for those applying."

"The number of people born in the Dominican Republic not registered locally is unverified but it is estimated that it reaches only several thousands," the statement reads. "Following the deadline for submissions on February 1st, 2015, after an additional 90-day extension, applications reached around 8,800 cases of those eligible."

During a 2013 interview with NPR's Michel Martin, Leonel Mateo — then political counselor for the embassy — defended the citizenship policy and denied any racial motivations. "I think it's unfair to say that this ruling was based on any racism. If you go to the Dominican Republic, you can see that Haitians and Dominicans interact on a daily basis."

Mateo also denied any government plans of expelling Dominican-born Haitians. "There won't be any mass deportations. And the president of the Dominican Republic gave his word publicly about this." In their statement, the Dominican embassy also stressed that "no deportations will or have taken place while the national regularization plan is in process."

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Opponents of the Dominican Republic's citizenship policy have called on the international community to boycott the country's tourism industry to send the message that discrimination is unacceptable. Dieu Nalio Chery/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

Opponents of the Dominican Republic's citizenship policy have called on the international community to boycott the country's tourism industry to send the message that discrimination is unacceptable.

Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

Evangelista says that is not the case. She points out reports of mass deportations that have already occurred and says activists have faced threats of deportation from the government. Additionally, several Dominican journalists have reported receiving death threats for covering the country's denationalization efforts.

"Such actions inspire fear and distrust in a population that is already extremely vulnerable, and do not indicate at all that the government is acting in good faith," Evangelista says.

Deportation is not the only problem undocumented residents face. "Being stateless in your own homeland, you have no access to documentation. You have no identity," Liguori says. "It prohibits finding a job, getting married. You need a birth certificate or identity card and the Dominican Republic stripping these people of legal recognition prevents them from obtaining these documents."

Fernandez says the Dominican government's attempt to allow individuals to gain back their own nationality is futile. To her, the Dominican Republic already sent a clear message to its own people.

"Imagine what someone who was born there goes through when their nationality is stripped from them. When you feel alienated from your own society, how do you justify participating in it? The damage has been done."

According to the Dominican embassy's statement, a deadline extension means that Dominicans without proof of their birth or the birth of their parents in the country now have until June 15 to register with the government's National Regularization Plan.

Haiti

Remember all that new voting equipment purchased after the 2000 presidential election, when those discredited punch card machines were tossed out? Now, the newer machines are starting to wear out.

Election officials are trying to figure out what to do before there's another big voting disaster and vendors have lined up to help.

During their annual meeting in Washington, D.C., this week, state election officials previewed the latest voting equipment from one of the industry's big vendors, Election Systems and Software.

"It's all still very much manual labor with people crossing off lists with pencils. And so ... the public is expecting more."

- Denise Merrill, Connecticut secretary of state

ES&S expects a huge surge in buying very soon. It hopes its new ExpressVote machine will appeal to those who want convenient voting as well as the security of a paper ballot that's counted separately.

"We're seeing a buying cycle that's starting now, and will probably go for the next maybe four or five years," said Kathy Rogers, a senior vice president at ES&S who used to run elections for the state of Georgia.

Rogers says companies have to be more flexible than they were 10 or so years ago. Both the technology and how people vote is changing rapidly.

"Some are moving to all vote by mail; some are increasingly becoming early vote sites," she said. "We have some that have moved as far away from direct record electronics as they possibly can, and then we have others who love that technology."

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That technology is those touchscreen voting machines that many states bought after 2000. Some states including Maryland are scrapping them in favor of paper-backed equipment, because of security concerns. But in a sign of the times, Maryland is leasing its new equipment from ES&S, instead of buying — just in case something better comes along in a few years.

"I don't have to tell you all, the technology is old and it's ancient by technology standards," said Matt Masterson in an address to the election officials. He helped run Ohio's elections and is a newly appointed commissioner on the federal Election Assistance Commission.

Masterson says most current voting equipment was purchased three years before the iPhone was introduced. Officials now have a lot of catching up to do.

"The public's out ahead of us on this one," Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill said. "I mean, they are amazed that we don't have them being checked in with laptops at the polling places, for example; it's all still very much manual labor with people crossing off lists with pencils. And so ... the public is expecting more."

Like the convenience they see today when they shop or bank. The big problem is figuring out who's going to pay for all these new machines. After the 2000 elections, Congress gave states $3 billion, but no one expects that to happen again. Merrill says state and local governments will have to figure out what to do, and soon.

"Because it could become a national embarrassment if we continue to have the problems we've had," she said. In her state, those problems include computer card failures.

Vendors say they're well aware that there's a tough sell ahead — that people are searching for something that's easy to use and accurate, but also cheap. This is why George Munro of Democracy Live says his company is pushing off-the-shelf technology that can be adapted for voting.

"So a voter can come in, use any Windows 8 tablet, it's not connected to the Internet or anything, but they can mark their ballot right on the screen and then print their ballot off," Munro says. He says it costs a lot less than regular voting equipment. And when it no longer serves its purpose, he says the tablets could be donated to schools or other government departments.

It's an idea that's gaining some attention, but not necessarily customers, yet. Election officials — at this conference, at least — are still just looking.

voting

Elections

People in West Africa often touch and wash the dead in their community. That's a problem when it comes to handling Ebola victims. Their bodies are known to be contagious. And so Red Cross body collectors receive careful training and protective gear before they embark, but it's tough to alter this tradition.

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Now researchers have confirmed how long those bodies can be contagious. The Ebola virus can survive for up to a week in a dead primate.

"As long as the virus is viable then there shouldn't be any difference between a live body and a dead body," head researcher Vincent Munster, a virus ecologist at the National Institute of Health, tells Goats and Soda. His findings will be published in May in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Ebola isn't the only virus that can linger after death.

"Just because a body dies, it doesn't mean that all cells die simultaneously," says Alan Schmaljohn, a microbiology and immunology professor at the University of Maryland, who is unaffiliated with the study. Viruses continue to reproduce, although the total number of viral cells decreases exponentially as the body decays.

Of all the viruses that stick around, the most persistent is smallpox. "It can last for an exceedingly long time," Schmaljohn says, describing how the virus remains viable in scabs. "That's part of what makes the smallpox vaccine such a good vaccine," he says. Because the virus is so tough to kill, doctors could easily move the vaccine from place to place without refrigeration.

But it'd be tough for a smallpox scab to harm another person. Schmaljohn says that a person would have to grind up the scab and apply it to broken skin before the virus would pose a risk. So exhuming a corpse from a 1910 victim "would not be hazardous," says Schmaljohn.

A respiratory illness like influenza also isn't such a concern, because the dead aren't likely to sneeze on you. Still, a living person who touches influenza-infected mucus, even from a dead person, might get sick.

As for Ebola, it can spread through many different channels. So it's really easy to catch from people living and dead. "When somebody succumbs to the Ebola virus, the virus is everywhere [on that person's body]," says Munster. "Anywhere you would take a swab you will find the virus." The decaying body emits fluids — blood, saliva, pus, feces — and all of them could carry the Ebola virus. So if any of those fluids come into contact with an orifice or an open cut on a living person, there's a decent chance that person will get infected. And that's the case for at least one other disease that seems far less exotic: norovirus or stomach flu.

ebola

The latest crop of 300 new North Korean slogans to mark North Korea's 70th anniversary has just been released. Stand back as they "cascade down and their sweet aroma [fills] the air":

— Thoroughly get rid of abuse of authority and bureaucratism!

— Let us raise a strong wind of studying the great Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism!

— Fire an opening salvo of an ideological campaign and make our fire concentrated, regular and accurate!

You get the idea.

Agence France-Presse describes the "exclamation-mark peppered list" of slogans published Thursday in translation by the the official KCNA news agency, as running the gambut from praise for dutiful wives to an exhortation to "make mushroom cultivation scientific!"

Even allowing that they probably come off more melodious in their original Korean, some of the commandments are so awkward that it's hard to imagine them sounding right in any language.

To wit: "Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland by the joint operation of the army and people!" or "Let this socialist country resound with Song of Big Fish Haul and be permeated with the fragrant smell of fish and other seafoods!" Then there's the simple "Grow vegetables extensively in greenhouses!"

Some of them are entirely lost in translation. Take the edict to "Play sports games in an offensive way!"

Reuters reports: "The slogans, which ran to more than 7,000 words in translation and spanned two pages of the party's broadsheet newspaper, called for a wide range of improvements including 'more stylish school uniforms' and 'organic farming on an extensive scale.'"

The BBC says: "Propaganda in the form of slogans, posters, stamps and books has played an important role in the country since the state was founded in 1948 so the appearance of a new batch of exhortations is not surprising."

James Grayson, an emeritus professor of modern Korean studies at Sheffield University tells the BBC that the new slogans are "typical of most totalitarian states."

He says they are reminiscent of China's Cultural Revolution and after the establishment of the Communist regime. "[If] you think of the Nazis and Italian fascism it's not an unusual thing... It's the strength and the quantity of the North Korean ones that is unusual," he tells the news agency.

Grayson, however, notes a theme that marks most of the slogans: "A lot of this has to do with very practical things to do with the economy, especially food."

The "enemy" United States, was not spared, of course: "Should the enemy dare to invade our country, annihilate them to the last man!"

AFP quotes defector Lee Min-Bok, who fled North Korea 14 years ago and now lives in the South as saying "We were permanently buried by an avalanche of slogans.

"We had to memorize a lot of them to show our loyalty, but they slowly lost any meaning for anyone, especially after the famine in the 90s," said Lee, 57.

"That greenhouse one has been around for decades. The problem is nobody had any plastic sheets of glass to build them, or fuel to heat them," he added.

North Korea