British people donated £23 million through the charities’ Disasters Emergency Committee to help the people of Haiti within six days of the earthquake there; the British government also gave £20 million.
British people donated £23 million through the charities’ Disasters Emergency Committee to help the people of Haiti within six days of the earthquake there; the British government also gave £20 million. Mr Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, said in a speech: ‘The coming decade will provide the UK with more middle-class jobs than ever before.’ Cadbury agreed to an £11.5 billion takeover by Kraft; there were fears of job losses. Unemployment unexpectedly fell a smidgen in December to 2.45 million. The Consumer Price Index of inflation rose to 2.9 per cent in December from 1.9 per cent in November, and the Retail Price Index to 2.4 per cent from 2.1 per cent. Scots are drinking 25 per cent more than English people, NHS research found, downing the equivalent of 46 bottles of vodka a year. Eurostar said it expected to pay £10 million compensation to passengers affected by breakdowns for three days before Christmas. Bill McLaren, the rugby commentator, died, aged 86. Miss Loloahi Tapui, aged 27, the former housekeeper of Lady Scotland, the Attorney General, pleaded guilty to using a passport with a fake visa stamp, but denied intending to use it for fraud. A ballot was held for tickets to see Mr Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, give evidence next Friday at the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.
Mr David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said he planned to make teaching a ‘brazenly elite’ profession. Both Mr Ed Balls, the Children Secretary, and Mr Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, attacked Conservative plans to ‘recognise marriage in the tax system’. Social agencies missed 31 opportunities to prevent the serious assault on two boys aged 11 and nine by two brothers aged 11 and ten at Edlington, South Yorkshire, last year, according to a report by the Children’s Safety Board; there had been complaints of arson, the killing of ducks, and the prolonged beating and kicking of a choirboy. An electoral synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church rejected a woman candidate as Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway, electing instead one of two male candidates. Tablighi Jamaat, a group that wanted to build a mosque for 12,000 near the Olympic site in east London, was told to leave land that Newham Council said it had been using unlawfully after planning permission expired in 2006.
The United States took over the damaged airport at Port-au-Prince two days after the earthquake that hit Haiti at 4.53 p.m. (9.53 p.m. GMT) on 12 January. Three days after the earthquake the Haitian interior minister said 50,000 bodies had been collected. After five days, the leading US general in Haiti, Lieutenant General Ken Keen, said that 200,000 might have died. By then some 100,000 people a day were being fed, but thousands were left without food and water for days. In addition to perhaps 1.5 million homeless, thousands slept outdoors for fear of more shocks. Aid was hampered by the destruction of the port and by blocked roads. There was looting for movable goods; some took toothpaste to smear under their noses to mask the stench of bodies. After six days, US forces began air-drops of food and water. Mrs Hillary Clinton, the United States Secretary of State, visited Haiti. The United States pledged $100 million in aid and 7,000 US troops reached Haiti in the first week. European nations pledged $500 million. Mr Bill Clinton, the former US president, acted as a UN special envoy for Haiti. Mr Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, also visited the capital. The UN had appealed for $562 million, to look after three million people for six months. Among survivors were two children, Nazer, six and Frangina, 14, buried in the rubble of a house for five days but rescued after survivors heard tapping noises.
The Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Edward Kennedy for 47 years fell to the Republicans, imperilling the healthcare reforms of President Barack Obama on the first anniversary of his election. Twenty Taleban fought a gun battle in central Kabul after co-ordinated suicide bombers struck near the presidential palace, killing five. A day earlier, the Afghan parliament had gone into recess, having rejected 11 cabinet posts nominated by President Hamid Karzai. The Pope visited Rome’s synagogue. Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was released from prison in Turkey. Turkey and Israel mended fences after Israel’s deputy foreign minister had summoned the Turkish ambassador to complain about a television drama that depicted Israeli agents kidnapping children. In Jos, Nigeria, 150 died in clashes between Muslim and Christian gangs. Prince William represented the Queen in an official visit to New Zealand, donning a kiwi-feather cloak and turning sausages on a barbecue while Mr John Key, the Prime Minister, drank beer from a bottle. CSH
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