More than 200,000 bodies have been found in the aftermath of Haiti’s January earthquake, and the total could climb as high as 300,000, according to Haitian President Rene Preval. Preval issued a call for emergency shelters to house the 1.5 million people living in camps. Rebuilding costs could reach $14 billion, and Preval said Port-au-Prince may never be the same. “We will not try to reconstruct but rather to refound the country, where we don’t concentrate ourselves in one capital,” Preval said.
Tent deliveries lag as rains threaten Haiti
UN troops and relief agencies are dispersing plastic sheeting, tents and other materials in an effort to provide shelter to Haitian earthquake survivors who now must also contend with rain. Aid organizations have distributed 104,000 tarps and 19,000 tents to survivors with an additional 232,000 tarps and 22,000 tents scheduled to arrive by late March.
Italian ruling holds Google responsible for content
An Italian court convicted three executives from Google for not moving quickly enough to remove a video of a group of Italian boys harassing another boy with autism. The decision suggests that Google, a company that makes Internet service tools, is responsible for the content of its users in the same way as a company that creates its own content. The ruling has major implications for services such as YouTube and Facebook, according to experts.
UN body criticizes Australian “intervention”
UN special rapporteur on indigenous human rights James Anaya said that an Australian policy targeting Aborigines in an effort to crack down on child abuse curbed human rights for the disadvantaged minority group and represented racist legislation. After a government report on rampant child abuse among Aboriginal communities, Australia revoked an anti-discrimination law in order to write legislation banning the consumption of alcohol and pornography among Aborigines — and Aborigines alone.
UN reports a rise in date-rape drugs, recommends controls
The UN International Narcotics Control Board reports that the use of so-called date-rape drugs is on the rise worldwide but that controls have curbed the use of the most prominent drug in this class, Rohypnol. The report recommends that governments place this new generation of drugs on controlled-substance lists. The UN report also calls on manufacturers to add dyes, flavors and other safety features to the drugs.
Indian organization provides free prosthetics
An Indian organization’s use of locally sourced and inexpensive materials is providing amputees across the developing world with prosthetics free of cost. The Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti organization has outfitted more than a million people with prosthetics since 1975, primarily victims of war and natural disasters.
UN official says North Korea must receive food aid
UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe said that food aid should not be withheld from North Korea, despite the rogue nation’s refusal to abide by international restrictions and abandon its nuclear development program. Pascoe said that feeding the nation’s 1.3 million starving people — a number that falls short of the UN World Food Program’s estimate that one-third of the population depends on food aid — should not be subjected to politics.
New hope for Darfur peace deal
Sudanese authorities have reportedly reached a deal with Darfur’s largest rebel group to bring the Justice and Equality Movement back into negotiations. The agreement includes a cease-fire and a framework for peace talks.