Haiti School Collapse Kills At Least 30

Survivors increasingly desperate for aid

(AP) - The staggering scope of Haiti's nightmare came into sharper focus yesterday as authorities estimated 200,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless in the quake-ravaged heart of this tragic land. In one step to reassure frustrated aid groups, the US military agreed to give aid deliveries priority over military flights at the now-US-run airport here, a day after Doctors Without Borders said it was 48 hours behind on surgeries after three supply-filled planes were denied clearance and forced to land 200 miles away. A Navy official said about 100 flights a day were now landing. More»

France, Brazil, Red Cross furious at flight diversions

(NEWSER) - The global relief effort in Haiti has devolved into a nasty power struggle, with countries and aid agencies furious at the US takeover of emergency operations. France, Brazil, which runs the UN peacekeeping operation in Haiti, Doctors Without Borders, and the Red Cross all lodged complaints after their aid shipments were diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic so that US military flights could land at Port-au-Prince's congested airport, where just one runway is operable. More»

(NEWSER) - The death toll in the Haitian school collapse has risen to 75, the AP reports. The mayor of the Port-au-Prince suburb where it occurred said 17 dead students have been found so far today. Another 80 are being treated for injuries, many of them serious, and hundreds more children could have been in the building. Haiti’s president warned that structures all over the country were at risk of failure because of poor construction. More»

'Chavismo' unloved in region, which is making democratic strides

(NEWSER) - Hugo Chavez's regional popularity is largely hot air, a Pew survey shows, concluding that the Venezuelan president is “widely mistrusted.” In large numbers, Latin Americans also agree that “most people are better off in a free market economy”—including 72% of Chavez’s countrymen, Weekly Standard’s Duncan Currie notes. More»