Archive - Jan 15, 2010

• Aid and supplies trickle into Haiti as rescuers race against time
• Survivors in Haiti struggle for basic assistance on third day after earthquake
  (Click Here for web only special)
• Trial on California’s Proposition 8 shapes up as key legal battle for same sex marriage
• Supreme Court hears case that could reinstate sentence of Mumia Abu-Jamal
• Suspect in murder of reporter Brad Will could be released
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• Defense Secretary Gates points to security failings in Ft.  Hood shooting
• Guantanamo prisoner to be tried in DC?
• Unions reach deal on “Cadillac” health care plan tax
• Ukraine elections: changes in relations with Russia?
• New drone attack in Pakistan after major strike Thursday

The Red Cross is estimating that 45-50,000 people may have been killed by the earthquake in Haiti and close to 3 million Haitians are affected. On the third day after the earthquake struck near Port Au Prince, thousands remain trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings and rescuers are racing to clear the debris and find survivors. The UN estimates that half of all buildings in the worst-hit areas are damaged or destroyed.

Medical personnel continue to struggle to treat the thousands of injured using limited supplies and facilities, and salvaging equipment from hospitals destroyed from the quake. Doctors without Borders says it's a race against time as wounds become infected. Stefano Zannini is Head of the Mission in Haiti. He spoke to reporters earlier today by phone.

“Patients rescued during the last hours are transported by car, by motorbikes, by pickups, even by doors used like stretchers.”

The organization says food and water are running short. They are also waiting for inflatable operating centers and surgical specialists which have been delayed due to the devastated transportation infrastructure and a lack of aviation fuel on the island. Oxfam international has begun flying water, medical and shelter equipment to Santo Domingo, to be carried by land to the quake zone.

FSRN reporter Ansel Herz has been in Haiti since last Fall and was in Port au Prince when the quake hit. He spoke with Margaret Barnett, who was looking for her son, shortly after the disaster struck.

“My experience, I live in [Talbott] 36, my house is crushed down so I’m just out in the street looking for family members and see if my son was alive or not.

Any hope? What hope? Who’s going to -- What’s going to happen? What kind of help? There’s no hospital. I don’t see no emergency nothing. There’s nothing, nothing. Nothing.”

Earlier today we spoke with FSRN reporter, Ansel Herz. He joined us by Skype and began by describing what it was like to wake up this morning on the third day after the earthquake.

(Click here to find more information about relief agencies, and what you can do to help)

Earlier today we spoke with FSRN reporter, Ansel Herz. He joined us by Skype and began by describing what it was like to wake up this morning on the third day after the earthquake. (extended version)

(Click here for information about relief agencies and to find out what you can do to help)

The first federal trial over same-sex marriage ends its first week today in a San Francisco courtroom. The California Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2008, but months later voters passed Proposition 8 limiting marriage to a man and a woman. Two same sex couples filed a lawsuit, "Perry versus Schwarzenegger," in a federal district court, arguing that Prop 8 violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. Christopher Martinez reports from San Francisco.

Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence could be reinstated. The Supreme Court met Friday to discuss whether the argument that led a judge to overturn Abu-Jamal’s sentence in 2001 was valid. Tanya Snyder reports.