What in the world?
Photo Credit: MCT CAMPUS
Thousands mobbed relief trucks that were distributing supplies to earthquake victims in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday, January 28, 2010. (Peter Andrew Bosch/Miami Herald/MCT)
January 28, 2010 • MEAGHAN WALLER
Filed under Columns, News
Massive earthquake devastates Haiti
Tens of thousands are feared dead in Haiti’s capital after a massive 7.0 magnitude hit the city of 2 million. Many main buildings in Port-Au-Prince collapsed, including hospitals, schools, the main prison, and the National Palace. Rescuers and aid workers are searching for any victims that may be trapped in the rubble.
Hospitals that are still standing have been filled to maximum capacity and make-shift field hospitals have been set up wherever possible, but there is not enough medical aid to get to the thousands that are wounded and waiting in the streets.
President Rene Preval told CNN, “It’s incredible. A lot of houses destroyed, hospitals, schools, personal homes. A lot of people in the street dead…I’m still looking to understand the magnitude of the event and how to manage.”
President Obama responded to the disaster by sending ships, helicopters, transport planes, and Marine units, along with humanitarian aid. “We have to be there for them in their hour of need,” he said.
Leaders from Haiti estimate that anywhere between 100,000 and 500,000 could be dead, but say that it is too early to tell.
Stunning Republican victory in Massachusetts
Republican Scott Brown has been elected to fill the Senate seat left by the late Ted Kennedy. Brown defied odds to beat his Democratic opponent, Martha Coakley, who at one time held a double digit lead. The GOP victory in Massachusetts, a Democratic stronghold for nearly 50 years, means that the Democrats no longer hold a super majority and the Senate will likely not get the 60 votes needed to pass a healthcare reform bill.
Senator-elect Brown said, “I’d like to look at the bill but I’m not in favor of higher taxes, cutting medicare half a trillion, affecting medical coverage for veterans and basically having a one size fits all. So I know what I don’t want, now I’m looking forward to reading the bills and coming up with a plan because you know if it’s something the President feels is important, I’m certainly willing to look at it.”
Reid apologizes for racial remarks
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid apologized to President Barack Obama after racial comments he made during the 2008 campaign surfaced. A new book reveals that during a private conversation, Reid made a comment saying that Obama could win because he is “light-skinned African-American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
Many Republicans believe that Reid should step down from his position as majority leader, but Democrats came to his defense, along with the NAACP, and the Congressional Black Caucus.
Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black Attorney General, also defended Reid and said, “I don’t think that there is a prejudiced bone in his body.”
Reid called President Obama to offer his apology, which the President accepted.
Google to possibly end operation in China
Google Inc. is threatening to suspend all operations in China, after alleged censorship and cyber-spying. The company said that it will stop censoring its Chinese search engine and may pull the company out from the country. Google has several other business operations in China that could be affected by the plan.
Google claims it discovered several cyber attacks against itself and other foreign companies. Google’s China branch operates out of Beijing and is required to follow Chinese regulations to censor search results, such as politically sensitive content.
Several other web based companies, including Yahoo Inc., have aligned themselves with Google. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the claims “raise very serious concerns and questions” and “we look to the Chinese government for an explanation.”
Iranian scientist killed in suspicious bombing
An Iranian physicist was killed in a bombing that the Iranian media is blaming on the West as an attempt to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program. However, many suspect Iran is to blame due to the amount of detail that has emerged so quickly after his death.
Masoud Ali Mohammadi has been hailed as a martyr by many in Iran for his work, but according to the BBC, Mohammadi was likely not working in Iran’s nuclear program at all. They also claim that Mohammadi’s field was not nuclear science, but quantum mechanics. Mohammadi was also featured on a list of academics who pledged to support the opposition leader in Iran’s disputed presidential elections.
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