2 rescued but Haiti survivor hopes ebb
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Two people were pulled alive from the Haitian earthquake wreckage Friday but hope of finding more survivors 10 days after the disaster was dim, officials said.
Britain's Sky News reported 84-year-old Marie Carida Roman was dug out of the rubble of her home near Port-au-Prince's soccer stadium and was being treated at Haiti's General Hospital where doctors said her situation was dire.
"I'm trying to find out how I can help her survive," Ernest Benjamin, an emergency volunteer from New York, said. "It's worth everything to try to save her."
SkyNews said the second survivor was a 22-year-old man freed by an Israeli rescue team. He was reported to have a limp and was suffering from dehydration.
Vincento Pugliese, a spokesman for the United Nations mission, said a total of 121 people had been found alive through Friday morning, The New York Times reported. Rescues have become less common as time has passed.
"We all hope that others have survived and can be found," SkyNews quoted U.N. mission spokesman David Wimhurst as saying. "But the more days that go by without signs of life, the dimmer these hopes will become."
A 5-member U.N. team from the offices of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the High Commissioner for Refugees was dispatched Friday to Port-au-Prince to ensure Haitians who have lost their homes are protected and their rights are not violated, officials said. Rupert Colville, a spokesman, said those who have moved into the countryside and, women, children, the elderly and disabled are vulnerable.
Many Haitians have also lost their identity documents, Colville said. The quick burial of many victims in mass graves is also expected to create legal problems.
The death toll remains uncertain, although officials say at least 72,000 people have been buried. The 7-magnitude quake may have killed as many as 200,000 people and affected about one-third of the nation's 9 million people.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the amount of medical supplies has increased dramatically this week and is being moved from the city to the countryside.
A Florida shipping company, Crowley Maritime, said Friday it was able to bypass the damaged port and unload a ship offshore. Containers were transferred to smaller vessels and unloaded at a temporary dock set up on a beach.
All-star lineup in Haiti relief telethon
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Alicia Keys opened the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon Friday night with a rendition of her song "Prelude to a Kiss."
The two-hour television program, which taped in New York, Los Angeles and London, is intended to raise money for victims of the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake, which by some estimates has killed as many as 200,000 people.
"Why? That's the question so many of you are asking," said telethon co-host George Clooney. "Why should be give more? Why should we believe our help can re-build a country where 80 percent of its people live on less than $2 a day, more than 3 million go without clean water and 1 in 3 children dies before the age of 5. If Haiti struggled so much before, then why should we have faith that we can make a difference now. This is a tragedy that reaches across all borders, all boundaries and demands our attention, our help and our compassion as fellow beings. ... This is an opportunity to help a neighbor in desperate need and to do it with swiftness, expertise, generosity and love that resides in the best of who we are."
"My country is in great pain and I know you can help," Haitian singer and telethon co-host Wyclef Jean said later in the evening. "From the ashes we shall rise, so please give what you can."
Tobey Maguire, Robin Williams, Meg Ryan, Chevy Chase, Jack Black, Tim Robbins, Steven Spielberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Mel Gibson, Ben Affleck, Billy Crystal, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Samuel L. Jackson and Andy Garcia were seen answering phones to accept pledges from callers.
Musical performers included Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, John Legend, Taylor Swift, Christina Aguilera and Madonna.
Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jon Stewart and Nicole Kidman were among the stars who related some of the heart-breaking and heroic stories from Haiti since the earthquake.
Most want healthcare reform put on hold
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Most Americans want Congress to halt existing healthcare reform efforts and instead consider alternatives that could win more Republican support, a poll shows.
The USA Today/Gallup poll found 55 percent of respondents said they want lawmakers to go back to the drawing board, compared with 39 percent who said they want healthcare legislation in Congress to move forward.
In the poll, taken the day after Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown's election to the U.S. Senate, 72 percent of respondents said his victory "reflects frustrations shared by many Americans, and the president and members of Congress should pay attention to it." Eighteen percent said the victory "reflects political conditions in Massachusetts and doesn't have a larger meaning for national politics."
Brown had campaigned against healthcare reform legislation in Congress and promised if elected to cast the 41st Republican Senate vote to block passage.
Many in the poll questioned whether reform "deserves the attention political leaders in Washington have given it over the past several months." About a third said President Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress are right to make healthcare reform their top priority, while 46 percent said other problems should be dealt with first and 19 percent said healthcare should not be a major legislative priority.
On the anniversary of Obama's first year in office, the poll asked respondents to rate the president's term thus far. The poll found 37 percent said they were pleased with the progress Obama has made on the issues facing the nation, and 37 percent said he's taking the country in the wrong direction.
The telephone poll of 1,010 adults has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
U.K. terror threat raised to 'severe'
LONDON, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Britain Friday raised its terrorism threat level to "severe" -- meaning an attack is considered "highly likely."
The Times of London reported the government raised the level because intelligence suggests the increased possibility of a "spectacular" attack by an al-Qaida-affiliated group as foreign ministers prepare to meet in London next week for a conference focusing on terrorism in Afghanistan and Yemen.
The threat level had been at "substantial" -- meaning a "strong possibility of attack" -- since July.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson, announcing the decision to the raise the threat level to "severe," the second-highest, said no intelligence suggested an imminent attack.
"This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent," he said. "We still face a real and serious threat to (Britain) from international terrorism, so I would urge the public to remain vigilant … and support the police and security services in their continuing efforts to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity."
Sources told The (London) Daily Telegraph the attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day was "one of the factors" in the decision to raise the terror threat level.
Johnson said the decision was not directly related to that attempt but did not offer more specifics, saying the government would not reveal specific intelligence details, the BBC reported.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday announced additional airline security measures, including a suspension of flights to Yemen. Brown said airport security officers will now be allowed to check all passengers getting onto Britain-bound flights against an expanding terrorist watch list.
By year's end, he said, authorities will be able to check all passengers boarding U.K. flights by checking against a terrorist watch list 24 hours before travel.
