U.S. takes new approach to helping Haiti
WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The United States plans to spend an additional $1 billion to rebuild Haiti's infrastructure and re-create its fragile government, The Washington Post reports.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to announce the plan, which has not been made public, Wednesday at an international conference for donors to relief efforts in the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation, the Post said.
The newspaper said the broad effort comes after an internal Obama administration assessment found the U.S. government had provided $4 billion in aid to Haiti since 1990 but "struggled to demonstrate lasting impact."
The plan differs from past efforts to help the nation through its emphasis on building a strong government and training its officials while helping create building codes, regulatory systems and methods to root out corruption.
"We are completely focused on how to build the capacity of the Haitian government effectively," Cheryl Mills, Clinton's chief of staff, told the Post. "That is something everyone has recognized as being one of the failures of aid in the past."
Former President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, is to co-chair a commission of Haitian officials and donors overseeing billions of dollars in foreign aid, the Post said.
"The U.S. government is playing a leading role. It's not by accident Mr. Clinton is down there," said Ciro de Falco, head of the Haiti task force established by the Inter-American Development Bank. "They are committed to seeing this earthquake turn into an opportunity."
Camp Lejeune documents turned over
WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry says the Navy and Marines have withheld critical documents about toxic pollution near Camp Lejeune.
The agency, in a March 22 letter, ordered military officials to produce missing documents by April 15, The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported. Agency investigators say they now have access to the databases they need.
Scientists are trying to determine whether as many as 1 million U.S. Marines and their families were exposed to carcinogenic substances in the water at the North Carolina base between 1957 and 1987. Among the documents allegedly withheld was one describing spills of 400,000 and 1 million gallons of fuel at the base.
Jerry Ensminger, a former drill instructor at Camp Lejeune whose daughter died of leukemia in 1985, serves on two advisory committees.
"This is catch me if you can," Ensminger said. "The Marine Corps just wants to delay ATSDR's work as long as they possibly can."
Capt. Brian Block, a Marine Corps spokesman, said no documents have been withheld and the Marines only want the investigation to be completed as soon as possible.
Body of Abu Dhabi sheik found in Morocco
RABAT, Morocco, March 30 (UPI) -- The body of the manager of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a member of the emirate's ruling family, was found Tuesday in Morocco.
Sheik Ahmed bin Zayed al Nahyan, 38, disappeared Friday when his glider crashed into a lake near Rabat. WAM, a state news agency in the United Arab Emirates, reported one of the search teams combing the area discovered the body.
Ahmed's older brother, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan, is the emir of Abu Dhabi and president of the U.A.E. Their father, Sheik Zayed, became the U.A.E.'s first president in 1971 and served for more than 20 years.
As managing director of the emirate's investment fund, Sheik Ahmed was responsible for $400 billion in what is believed to be the largest sovereign wealth fund in the Middle East.
Obama hopeful of swaying some Tea Partiers
WASHINGTON, March 30 (UPI) -- Some in the Tea Party movement have legitimate concerns about the deficit and the scope of the federal government, U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
Obama said on NBC's "Today" show he hoped actions such as tackling the deficit and imposing a partial freeze on domestic spending will address those concerns and "that some of that group will dissipate."
A segment of Tea Party movement followers "is just dug in ideologically," Obama said, noting that some of the more radical elements were among those who questioned whether he was born in the United States and whether he was a socialist.
"That strain has existed in American politics for a long time," he said.
The Tea Party movement, a confederation of local activist groups united by fiscal conservatism and a belief that the federal government overstepped its bounds, burst onto the U.S. political scene last summer, notably by their noisy disruptions of healthcare town halls.
"I think that there is a broader circle around that core group, of people who are legitimately concerned about the deficit, who are legitimately concerned that the federal government may be taking on too much," Obama said. "(So) I wouldn't paint in broad bush and say that everybody who's involved or have gone to a Tea Party rally or a meeting are somehow on the fringe."
While saying he hoped he could alleviate some Tea Party followers' concerns, Obama said he recognized there would be an element that would "question my legitimacy or question the Democratic Party generally ... and that group we're probably not going to convince."
'Dating Game' killer gets death sentence
SANTA ANA, Calif., March 30 (UPI) -- Rodney Alcala, the "Dating Game" killer who murdered a 12-year-old girl and four women in the 1970s, was sentenced to death Tuesday by a California judge.
Judge Francisco Briseno followed the recommendation of the Orange County jury that found him guilty, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Alcala, 66, has been in custody since 1979, when he was charged with the murder of Robin Samsoe, who vanished on her way to ballet class. He was convicted and sentenced to die twice but won appeals both times.
After his second reversal, investigators linked Alcala to four unsolved killings in the 1970s, based on physical evidence including DNA. The victims were Jill Barcomb, 18, Georgia Wixted, 27, of Malibu, Charlotte Lamb, 32, of Santa Monica and Jill Parenteau, 21, of Burbank.
Alcala, a photographer, appeared on the "Dating Game" in 1978 and worked briefly as a typesetter at the Los Angeles Times. Investigators recently released photos found in his studio to determine if any of them show missing women.
Briseno, as he pronounced sentence, said Alcala's photographs show "sadistic sexual motives." He said evidence also showed he posed some of the women's bodies after killing them.
