2010-01-20 BBC
BBC News with David Austin
The US military is increasing its operations in Haiti to help improve security and speed up the distribution of aid to survivors of last week's earthquake. Twenty helicopters carrying soldiers touched down near the shattered presidential palace in the capital Port-au-Prince. The troops unloaded aid supplies on the palace lawn then moved them on to hospitals nearby. Captain Steve McInerney, who's based on the aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson, said crowds were clearly desperate to get the food and water his teams were dropping, but that no one had resorted to violence.
"We control the vast majority the helicopter drops out in town in support of the humanitarian assistance, and we have not encountered any violence or any threats from the crowd. They follow instructions; they do rush the aircraft which \ can be expected. But we've had no issues at all with the crowds in Haiti."
The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to send 3,500 more UN peacekeepers to Haiti to help support earthquake relief efforts. There are already more than 9,000 UN security personnel in the country. Barbara Plett reports.
The Security Council voted to dispatch an extra 2,000 troops and 1,500 police to Haiti for a period of six months. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said they sent a clear signal that the world was with Haiti, and called on member states to respond quickly. Peacekeeping officials say the Dominican Republic has already pledged 800 troops. The extra security personnel will be used mostly to escort aid convoys and secure a number of supply routes overland. Ban Ki-moon also told journalists that capacity at the small and damaged airport was improving and one of the main ports would be ready to begin operating soon.
Luxury liners on Caribbean cruises will continue to dock at a port in northern Haiti despite last week's earthquake. Royal Caribbean International uses it as resort near the largely unaffected port of Labadee. A company's chief executive said it was important to support for Haitian economy, and the company's ships were also bringing in vital supplies.
Nigeria's Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered more troops into the city of Jos in the centre of the country where more than 100 people have been killed in religious clashes. He is also sending top security officials. Fighting between Christian and Muslim youths has spread beyond the city's boundaries, forcing thousands of people to flee. A curfew is enforced. Caroline Duffield has this report from Lagos.
After three days of killings, the Nigerian military is moving in to take control of the town of Jos. Colonel Galadima Shekari, a senior officer in charge of forces, told the BBC that the violence would be brought to a swift end. He promised that he would rigidly enforce the 24-hour curfew, and he predicted that the unrest would be over by Wednesday morning. Thousands of people have fled their homes since an apparent dispute over property fled into bloodshed.
Caroline Duffield in Lagos.
World News from the BBC.
The Kenyan minister for Immigration has warned Somali politicians taking refuge in Kenya that they should either stay in refugee camps or go home. Around 130 of Somalia's 550 members of parliament currently live in Nairobi. The minister Otieno Kajwang accused them of causing trouble inside Somalia and of creating problems in Kenya too.
"We think that the trouble in Somalia is caused largely by the politicians themselves, and by the politicians causing trouble in their country and coming to hide here. And all we reorganize how to relaunch their positions and their changes. It's not helpful to them and it's not helpful to us."
Twenty two people working in the arms industry have been charged with bribery in the United States. They were trying to secure a multimillion-dollar weapons contract with what they thought was a top African government official. The executives were arrested in Las Vegas and Miami as a result of an elaborate FBI sting. An undercover FBI agent posed as the defence minister of an unnamed African nation. The arms dealers had allegedly offered to pay him a 20% commission for a small arms deal worth 15 million dollars.
Government officials in Venezuela have taken control of stores belonging to the Franco-Colombian supermarket chain Exito. On Sunday, President Hugo Chavez said he would nationalize Exito after accusing it of inflating prices following a recent currency devaluation.
Police in the Italian city of Naples have uncovered a massive fraud, in which hundreds of people used falsified medical records to claim disability allowances. In just two streets alone, over half the population were falsely claiming to be blind or mentally ill. The authorities have arrested a local man thought to be the mastermind behind the scam, which is believed has cost the state around two million dollars.
That's the latest BBC News