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Mr Blair will face six hours of questioning

Tony Blair is set to mount a spirited defence when he is questioned in public for the first time about his decision to take the UK to war against Iraq.

He will be questioned at the Iraq war inquiry for six hours on the build-up to the 2003 invasion and its aftermath.

Controversial government dossiers justifying action will be discussed. vivienne westwood necklace

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said the ex-PM was expected to say Saddam Hussein had the "capacity and intent" to build weapons of mass destruction.

He added: I'm told that Tony Blair will claim that the fall of Saddam has improved and saved the lives of many Iraqis.

"He'll argue that despite the terrible bloodshed since, it has been worth it for Iraq and the world as a whole.

Demonstrators outside the inquiry venue will demand to know from Mr Blair where the weapons of mass destruction were that Saddam was supposed to have, the BBC's Nick Robinson went on.

"His answer, I'm told, is this. The weapons inspectors found Saddam had both the capacity and intent to build them at speed."

The session gets under way at 0930 GMT.

Families of some of the 179 British soldiers killed in Iraq are expected to take part in an anti-war demonstration outside the inquiry building in central London.

Brown reactionvivienne westwood cufflinks

Mr Blair's biographer, Anthony Seldon, said: "It's a pivotal day for him, for the British public and for Britain's moral authority in the world."

Millions of British people are still asking themselves: Why did we participate in an illegal invasion of another country? Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who will shortly face a grilling by the inquiry himself, said he was not concerned about Mr Blair's appearance before it.

He told Sky News: "Tony Blair is able to set out the case, to show the decisions he made, and to do so in the most professional and eloquent way, and I believe that he will be able to answer all the questions that the inquiry puts to him."

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who opposed the war, writing in an article for Friday's Daily Telegraph, said Mr Blair's appearance would be "a pivotal moment in answering a question millions of British people are still asking themselves: Why did we participate in an illegal invasion of another country?"

He said the invasion of Iraq was an example of "subservience by default to the White House" which raised wider questions about the "special relationship" between Britain and America.

Regime change

The Chilcot inquiry is also likely to ask Mr Blair at what stage he promised US President George W Bush Britain would support military action against Iraq.

Some witnesses have said assurances were given in 2002 - although the then Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has told the inquiry he had warned Mr Blair that using force for regime change would be illegal.

Lord Goldsmith, whose legal opinion the British government relied on to justify their involvement in the war, said he originally believed the United Nations had to approve the use of force and only changed his mind a month before the invasion.

Mr Blair has already pre-empted one potential line of questioning by saying in a recent BBC interview that he would have backed the invasion even if he had known beforehand that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.

'Overtly political'

A former head of the civil service, Lord Turnbull, told the inquiry they should question Mr Blair about this because throughout the period leading up to war, Mr Blair had been "unambiguous" that disarming Saddam was his primary objective.

Alastair Campbell defended Mr Blair in his appearance before Chilcot

In his appearance, Mr Blair's former director of communications Alastair Campbell sought to address some of the questions around the key September 2002 dossier on the alleged threat posed by Saddam published in the run up to the war.

The dossier included a foreword by Mr Blair in which he wrote that he believed the intelligence had established "beyond doubt" that Saddam Hussein had continued to produce chemical and biological weapons.

Sir John Scarlett, chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, told the inquiry in his evidence that the foreword was "overtly political" and "quite separate" from the rest of the dossier.

Mr Campbell, who drafted the first version of the foreword - ultimately approved by Mr Blair - said no-one in intelligence challenged this statement which, he added, never suggested Saddam Hussein "was able to do something terrible to the British mainland".

Campbell defence

On the claim that Saddam's weapons could be deployed within 45 minutes of the order being given, which was retracted after the war, Mr Campbell said it could have been clearer but had only been given "iconic" status by the press.

He said Mr Blair's policy had only ever been one of seeking Iraq's disarmament, by diplomacy if possible, by force if necessary, telling the panel: "He really believed in it."

But he also revealed Mr Blair had written to President Bush saying that if there was to be war to disarm Saddam, "Britain will be there." The letters have not so far been published.

This will be the third time Mr Blair has given evidence during an inquiry into the Iraq war.

He previously gave evidence to the Hutton inquiry, the Butler review and the Intelligence and Security Committee investigation - although the latter two took place behind closed doors.

Questions at the Hutton inquiry were restricted to events surrounding the death of government weapons scientist Dr David Kelly, rather than the political decisions behind the war.

Some Taliban militants are reportedly tired of fighting

Plans to engage the Taliban in talks have gathered pace, with Afghanistan inviting members to a peace council and reports of a secret UN meeting.

At a key Afghanistan summit in London, President Hamid Karzai vowed to reach out to "disenchanted brothers".

A UN official told news agencies special envoy Kai Eide had met Taliban members in Dubai on 8 January after they had asked for talks.

Mr Eide denied meeting on that date but refused to comment on other dates. vivienne westwood necklace

The one-day meeting in London saw world leaders pledge $140m (£87m) to win over low-level Taliban fighters.

Delegates also said that Afghan forces could take control of security in some provinces by the end of 2010 and that the process could be complete in five years.

'Talks about talks'

At the summit, Mr Karzai again urged the Taliban to renounce violence.

ANALYSIS By Lyse Doucet, BBC News Whether or not the report of UN talks is true, it's clear that anyone who mediates in this process would want to keep it secret. Taliban leaders who reach out face great danger. They would need to know they would be protected. The reports speak of talks about talks, underlining how this process is still at a very early, very delicate stage. A number of military and diplomatic sources in Afghanistan say they are hearing reports that some senior Taliban are tired of fighting, and would be interested in a political solution. But in a situation where intelligence has often proved to be dangerously faulty, it's very hard to get the measure of what the Taliban is thinking and whether indeed this movement is divided and capable of being split from al-Qaeda and more hardline elements as Hamid Karzai and his allies want to believe.

"We must reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers, who are not part of al-Qaeda, or other terrorist networks, who accept the Afghan constitution," he told delegates.

He invited moderate Taliban to a peace summit.

The UN official, who would not be named, told news agencies that Mr Eide had met members of Taliban's Quetta Shura - senior commanders known to be based in the southern Pakistani city. vivienne westwood bracelet

"They requested a meeting to talk about talks. They want protection, to be able to come out in public," the official was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Eide, the UN Special Representative, categorically denied any talks took place on 8 January, saying he was only in Dubai for several hours - in transit en route to Kabul.

As for other dates, Mr Eide said he never commented on reports like this, whether true or false.

Taliban spokesmen have repeatedly said they have no interest in talking to Mr Karzai's government.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet says that, if true, this report of secret talks would be a significant development.

'Corruption'

The final communique from the summit in London said it welcomed Afghanistan's goal of taking charge of the "majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years and taking responsibility for physical security within five years".

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: "The aim of the conference was to align the military and civilian resources of every coalition partner behind a clear political strategy, to help President Karzai and his government deliver the ambitious agenda that he set out in his inaugural speech last November.

"The themes of mutual responsibility - Afghan and international - and of unity behind a clear plan came through very strongly indeed."

The summit said the Afghan government had acknowledged that it had to tackle corruption.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said reforms planned by President Karzai, such as tackling corruption and effectively managing aid, were important and the US would be watching them carefully.

The summit said the Afghan government had made progress on economic development, and it hoped it would continue to boost agriculture, human resources and infrastructure.

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus said the theme of the conference was unity and coherence, but also an acknowledgement that there was no military solution to Afghanistan's problems.

A teenage girl has been pulled out of the rubble in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, a full 15 days after the earthquake struck, rescuers say.

They said she was happy and shocked despite being severely dehydrated and having a leg injury.

Her rescue comes five days after the Haitian government officially ended the search and rescue operation.

Meanwhile President Rene Preval has said parliamentary elections due to be held on 28 February will be postponed.

As many as 200,000 people died in the 12 January earthquake. At least 130 people have been pulled alive from the rubble.

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A rescue worker described the discovery of the teenager, two weeks after the quake destroyed the city, as a "miracle".

HAITI'S REMARKABLE SURVIVORS Darline, 16 - rescued after 15 days Rico Dibrivell, early 30s - rescued after 12 days Wismond Exantus, 24, found after 11 days Emmannuel Buso, 21 - rescued after 10 days Marie Carida, 84 - saved after 10 days Mendji Bahina Sanon, 11 - trapped for eight days Lozama Hotteline, 25 - pulled out after seven days Elisabeth Joassaint, 15 days - buried for seven days, half her life Ena Zizi, 69 - rescued after seven days

"I don't know how she happened to resist that long," said rescue worker JP Malaganne.

The 16-year-old girl, who Reuters named as Darline, was found in the rubble of the College St Gerard which one of her relatives said she had just started attending.

Neighbours had been searching in the rubble of their homes in the central Carrefour-Feuilles district when they heard a voice and called rescue teams to help.

After being removed from the wreckage of the school, the girl was immediately covered with a thermal blanket and given oxygen. She has now been taken to hospital.

"She just said 'Thank you', she's very weak, which suggests that she's been there for 15 days," said Samuel Bernes, the head of the rescue team that discovered her.

He described her location within the rubble as "in a pocket, surrounded by concrete".

The BBC's Karen Allen, in the Haitian capital, said that rescue workers had told her the teenager was trapped in the bathroom when the quake struck and was able to survive by drinking water from a bath.

On Tuesday, rescuers discovered a 31-year-old man who had been trapped for 12 days after being caught in one of the numerous aftershocks that rocked the city after the earthquake.

In announcing the election delay, Mr Preval said he would not seek to remain in office beyond the end of his term in February 2011.

He added: "I don't think the time is right to hold elections now given the conditions in which people are living."

President Rajapaksa and Gen Fonseka had a falling out last year

Polls have opened in Sri Lanka for the presidential election which comes after a bitter campaign.

Early voters have been seen queuing up near the capital, Colombo. A few hours ago, people in the northern Tamil city of Jaffna reported hearing four blasts.

The election is the first since the Tamil Tiger rebels were defeated last year after 25 years of war.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is facing a tough test against his former army chief-turned-rival Gen Sarath Fonseka. vivienne westwood bracelet

More than 14m voters are eligible to vote in 11,000 centres from 0700 local time (0130GMT). Polls will close at 1600 local time.

Counting will begin three hours later and the final results are expected to be announced on Wednesday morning, the election commission has said.

There are 22 candidates standing for the presidency.

If no candidate has 50% plus one vote after the first count, second preferences will be tallied and the candidate with the greatest number of votes wins.

Acrimonious campaignvivienne westwood necklace

About 250,000 Sri Lankan election officials have moved into position throughout the country after collecting polling cards and ballot boxes from central election offices.

Security is tight for the elections

Security is tight amid fears of violence and more than 68,000 police are being deployed to protect the polling stations.

Hours before the polling booths opened at dawn, people in Jaffna reported hearing up to four blasts.

A monitoring group said two bombs were thrown at a ruling party organiser while another account said an opposition MP's home and two polling booths were targeted, the BBC's Charles Haviland reports from Colombo.

Police in Jaffna told the BBC they had no information of any trouble.

Mr Rajapaksa vowed on Monday the election would be free and fair.

"The Sri Lanka government calls for a peaceful election and stands committed to taking whatever steps deemed necessary," his office said in a statement.

The two-month-long campaign, often marked by acrimony, officially closed on Saturday.

Election clashes have so far left four dead and hundreds wounded.

"We had in this election I think a scale of abuse of state resources which had not been registered before," news agency Reuters quoted Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, co-convenor of the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, as saying.

But he added: "If enough Sri Lankan citizens go in large numbers as we have always done in the past and for over six decades... resisting the violence and the intimidation... then we may well get a result that at the end of the day reflects overall the wishes of the people of this country."

On Sunday, President Rajapaksa suffered a blow when ex-President Chandrika Kumaratunga vowed to back his rival.

Mrs Kumaratunga, a senior member of Mr Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party, said she was deeply concerned about violence, intimidation and corruption in the fiercely-contested poll.

President Rajapaksa and Gen Fonseka were closely associated with the government's defeat of the Tamil Tigers last May but the pair fell out bitterly soon after.

Many Haitians left homeless by the quake still have no shelter

Haiti's government can lead efforts to rebuild the country in the wake of its devastating earthquake, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has said.

But Mr Bellerive told a meeting of world officials in the Canadian city of Montreal that "massive support" from the international community was needed.

The Montreal meeting was held to assess the aid effort and plan the next steps.

The delegates agreed to hold an international donors' conference at the UN headquarters in New York in March. vivienne westwood earrings

It is believed the 7.0 magnitude quake on 12 January killed as many as 200,000 people. An estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending the conference along with delegates from 20 countries and representatives from the UN and the World Bank.

'Vital needs'

"The Haitian government is working in precarious conditions but it can provide the leadership that people expect," Mr Bellerive said.

"The top priority right now is to satisfy the vital needs of victims, like food and water, shelter and health care."

He added: "Haiti needs the massive support of its partners in the international community in the medium and long term. The extent of the task requires that we do more, that we do better and, without a doubt, that we work differently."

Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon welcomed the US offer to host an international donors' conference in March. vivienne westwood jewellery

"We now have the beginnings of a road map toward Haiti's long-term reconstruction and a clear and sustained commitment to follow through," Mr Cannon was quoted as saying by French news agency AFP.

Mr Cannon said one goal was to "physically get the Haitian government back on its feet".

The quake destroyed key government buildings, including the National Palace.

'Vanity parade'

UK-based charity Oxfam has urged the international community to get Haiti's foreign debts cancelled.

It said about $900m (£557m) owed to donor countries and institutions should be written off.

Many operations are still taking place in makeshift outdoor theatres

The World Bank has already announced that it is waiving Haiti's debt payments for the next five years.

And the Paris Club of creditor governments - including the US, UK, France and Germany - has called on other nations to follow its lead in cancelling debts to Haiti. Venezuela and Taiwan are the other biggest creditors.

Although aid continues to flow into Haiti, the head of Italy's civil protection service has strongly criticised the relief effort and the role of thousands of US troops sent there.

Guido Bertolaso described the international aid operation as "a terrible situation that could have been managed much better".

"When there is an emergency, it triggers a vanity parade. Lots of people go there anxious to show that their country is big and important, showing solidarity," he said on Sunday.

Mr Bertolaso, an Italian government minister, said it was "commendable" for the US to lead relief efforts, but "too many officers" meant they had not been able to find a capable leader.

Christian Fraser describes the situation at Haiti's heavily-damaged port

Aid workers have also criticised Haitian government plans to relocate hundreds of thousands of people from the capital, Port-au-Prince, to large camps outside the city.

Caroline Gluck, from Oxfam, told the BBC the move could be dangerous for the survivors.

"In the past, experience has told us establishing some huge camps can cause all kinds of security problems, for example, robberies, rapes and kind of gang activities if the camps are kept too big," she said.

Oxfam was pressing for the camps to be smaller, she added.

Hundreds of Haitians joined open-air church services in the capital

The confirmed death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake has risen above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone, a government minister has said.

Communications Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue said the count was based on bodies collected in and around the capital by state company CNE.

Many more bodies remain uncounted under rubble in the capital, including the towns of Jacmel and Leogane.

The search for survivors has officially ended and the focus has shifted to aid. vivienne westwood jewellery

But there is disagreement about how well the aid operation is doing, with the head of Italy's civil protection service making highly critical comments.

Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble - 200,000, 300,000? Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue Communications Minister

Guido Bertolaso, who is in Haiti to co-ordinate relief efforts, also criticised what he saw as the presence of too many American soldiers.

He said they had no training in running a civilian relief operation.

"When there is an emergency, it triggers a vanity parade. Lots of people go there anxious to show that their country is big and important, showing solidarity", he said. vivienne westwood bracelet

He called on the United Nations to establish a procedure to follow when major natural disasters occur.

As the death toll in Haiti has risen, it has become clear the 12 January quake is one of the worst natural disasters to have struck in recent years.

Some say the 7.0-magnitude quake killed as many as 200,000 people, while an estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless.

Ms Lassegue said that the authorities were still far from knowing the total number of those killed.

"Nobody knows how many bodies are buried in the rubble - 200,000, 300,000? Who knows the overall death toll?" the Associated Press quotes her as saying on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters a day earlier, she said the general hospital had received about 10,000 corpses, which it had handed over to CNE for burial.

At least 75,000 people have been buried in mass graves since the disaster. Relatives have also burnt the bodies of some of the victims.

'Tremendous need'vivienne westwood necklace

Thousands of people joined open-air church services in Port-au-Prince, Leogane - the epicentre of the earthquake - and elsewhere on Sunday.

A day after the funeral of the capital's Roman Catholic archbishop, Father Glanda Toussaint celebrated Mass at an altar improvised on a wooden table by the wrecked cathedral.

HAITI'S REMARKABLE SURVIVORS Wismond Exantus, 24 - pulled out alive after 11 days Emmannuel Buso, 21 - rescued after 10 days Marie Carida, 84 - saved after 10 days Mendji Bahina Sanon, 11 - trapped for eight days Lozama Hotteline, 25 - pulled out after seven days Elisabeth Joassaint, 15 days - buried for seven days, half her life Ena Zizi, 69 - rescued after seven days

He told his congregation: "What we are going through is not finished, we must reconstruct the country and reconstruct our faith. As a Haitian, it hurts."

Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean, who set up the charity foundation Yele Haiti, arrived in the capital on Sunday.

He was expected to meet officials and help distribute aid to people left homeless.

He was among a number of high-profile artists to take part in a "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon in the US on Friday which raised more than $57m (£35m) for the aid effort.

Meanwhile, BBC correspondents in Port-au-Prince report a few signs of normal life returning to the city, with street stalls starting to sell fruit and vegetables and some shops and banks re-opening.

Queues to withdraw cash have been long, as prices for what is now on sale have increased dramatically and many Haitians have been without access to money for days.

The UN says more than 130,000 people have now been relocated out of Port-au-Prince by the authorities, easing the pressure on overcrowded camps in the city. Others have left independently.

Foreign ministers will discuss plans for reconstruction at an international donor conference to take place in the Canadian city of Montreal on Monday.

Hours after Haiti's government declared a formal end to the search for survivors on Saturday, a 24-year-old man was pulled alive from the remains of a hotel in the capital after 11 days under the rubble.

Rescuers described his survival as "a miracle".

Onlookers cheered as Wismond Exantus - smiling and apparently in a good condition - emerged on a stretcher from what remains of the Napoli Inn Hotel.

He later told reporters that soft drinks and snacks had kept him going. A French medic said he could expect to leave hospital within a day or two.

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Port-au-Prince says doctors believe he will make a full recovery.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Exantus appealed for search and rescue efforts to continue so that others could share his chance of rescue.

The authenticity of the audio tape has not been verified. Courtesy al-Jazeera

A tape said to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has warned US President Barack Obama there will be more attacks if the US continues to support Israel.

In the newly released audio tape aired on al-Jazeera, Bin Laden says the US will never live in peace until there is "peace in Palestine".

The authenticity of the audio tape has not been verified. vivienne westwood earrings

The message claims al-Qaeda was behind the 25 December attempt to blow up a passenger plane bound for the US.

A Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has been charged with attempting to blow up the Delta Airlines plane as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.

'No safe life'

The voice recording says that the message is from "Osama to Obama".

Directly addressing Americans, it says: "It is unfair you enjoy a safe life while our brothers in Gaza suffer greatly... Our attacks will continue as long as you support Israel."

It goes on: "America will never dream of security unless we will have it in reality in Palestine."

The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terror group communications, said the message was a possible indicator of an attack within the next 12 months.

'Hero' Abdulmutallabvivienne westwood jewellery

In a reference to the plane plot, the message said: "If it was possible to carry our messages to you by words we wouldn't have carried them to you by planes."

It said: "The message sent to you with the attempt by the hero Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is a confirmation of our previous message conveyed by the heroes of September 11."

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear but it failed to explode. He said he had been trained by al-Qaeda in Yemen.

White House adviser David Axelrod said the US could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the tape.

"But assuming that it is him [Bin Laden], his message contains the same hollow justifications for the mass slaughter of innocents that we've heard before," Mr Axelrod told CNN.

The al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula group has already claimed it was behind the Christmas Day bombing.

The BBC's Kim Ghattas in Washington says the message may cast some light over the inner workings of al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

Some US intelligence officials said the tape was an attempt by the al-Qaeda leader to portray himself as in direct command of the organisation and all its offshoots.

Analysts have long debated whether bin Laden is really in control, our correspondents says.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Andy David told Associated Press news agency: "This is nothing new; he has said this before. Terrorists always look for absurd excuses for their despicable deeds."

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he needed to study the message but pointed to the importance of the Detroit plot as "an attack on the West rather than an attack within the Middle East".

He added: "It obviously demonstrates both the dangers that exist, but also the links that can exist between different terrorist groups."

The al-Qaeda leader issues sporadic tape messages, the last being in September 2009 when President Obama was warned he was "powerless" to stop the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The last purported Bin Laden video appeared in September 2007, when he referred to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who had both recently come to power.

An 84-year-old woman has been rescued after spending 10 days under rubble following the Haiti quake.

Doctors say the woman has multiple wounds and her condition is grave, but are doing all they can to save her.

And an Israeli search team reported that it had pulled a 22-year-old man alive from the rubble. He is said to be in a stable condition.

The rescues came as the official government death toll from the earthquake rose to 110,000. vivienne westwood jewellery

UN spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs said some rescue teams were leaving, as they were exhausted and there was now little hope of finding more people alive under the rubble.

Those that remained were "concentrating more and more on humanitarian aid for those who need it", she said.

A benefit concert featuring more than 100 music and Hollywood stars has been broadcast around the world to raise money for the victims of the earthquake.

Security fearsvivienne westwood jewellery

In Port-au-Prince, life is slowly returning to normal, with shops opening and buses running - although many residents are continuing to leave the devastated capital.

On Thursday, the government announced plans to send 400,000 people to tented cities in the countryside, to try to halt the spread of disease in the makeshift settlements that have sprung up in the capital.

Construction for the temporary centres has already started, the Associated Press news agency says, but it is unclear when they will be populated.

Aid officials say about 200,000 people have already left the city, many to stay with relatives in other parts of the country. vivienne westwood earrings

The 84-year-old woman survivor, rescued on Friday after 10 days in the rubble, is being treated by doctors at the main city hospital with intravenous fluids and drugs.

"I'm trying to find out how I can help her survive," Dr Ernest Benjamin told AFP news agency.

"It's worth everything to try to save her."

Her son told the agency he had heard her cries on Thursday morning and, almost a day later, he dug her out with the help of friends.

Some 122 people have been saved by international search and rescue teams, according to the US government.

At least 75,000 bodies have so far been buried in mass graves, Haiti's government has said. Many more remain uncollected in the streets.

An estimated 1.5 million people were left homeless by the 7.0-magnitude quake, which some have estimated has killed as many as 200,000 people.

Robbing and looting

Security fears remain in the capital, with local police chief Insp Aristide Rosemont appealing for help to tackle criminals who escaped when the earthquake wrecked the main jail.

International efforts to get aid to Haitians continue

He told the BBC a large number of gangs had begun robbing and looting in the Cite Soleil slum area since the prison escape.

But despite problems in Cite Soleil, UN officials say the capital is largely calm, with only sporadic violence.

About 5,000 prisoners broke out of the capital's main jail after the walls collapsed, some of them hardened offenders belonging to violent criminal gangs.

Some Haitians have tried to flee abroad, but US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Haitians not to use the earthquake as an excuse to try to enter the US illegally.

She said anyone caught trying to do so would be repatriated.

"Haitians need to be there to help rebuild their country, this is not an opportunity for migration," she said.

Meanwhile, efforts to rebuild Haiti's main seaport - seen as vital to the international aid effort - are being stepped up.

The US and the UN World Food Programme insist the distribution of food and water is well under way, but BBC correspondents in Port-au-Prince say many people have still seen no international aid at all.

At least 500,000 people are currently living outdoors in 447 improvised camps in Port-au-Prince, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), with limited shelter and access to water.

Western countries were hoping to boost donations for the aid effort with a multi-network telethon.

Hope for Haiti Now, broadcast from New York, London, Los Angeles and Haiti, featured Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and other major artists.

The concert was shown on all major US TV channels, MTV in the UK and worldwide on YouTube.

The US has just missed a deadline to close the prison camp

The American Civil Liberties Union has criticised a recommendation that 47 Guantanamo Bay inmates should be held indefinitely without trial.

Justice department officials said the men were too dangerous to release, but could not be tried as evidence against them would not stand up in a US court.

ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said their detention would reduce the camp's closure to a "symbolic gesture".

The White House said the president did not have to accept the recommendation. vivienne westwood jewellery

It came as the deadline President Barack Obama had set himself on his second day in office for closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay passed.

'Not evidence at all'

Earlier on Friday, officials said a task force led by the justice department had recommended that while 35 detainees could be prosecuted through trials or military tribunals, 110 could be released either now or at a later date.vivienne westwood earrings

Just as important as closing the prison quickly is closing it right Anthony Romero American Civil Liberties Union

The other 47 detainees were considered too dangerous to release, but could not be tried because the evidence against them was too flimsy or was extracted from them by coercion, so would not hold up in court, it concluded.

In a statement, the ACLU said it disputed that any significant category of such detainees existed, and renewed its call for the closure of the prison. vivienne westwood earrings

"If there is credible evidence that these prisoners are dangerous, there is no reason why that evidence could not be introduced against them in criminal trials," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project.

"The criminal laws, and the material support laws in particular, are broad enough to reach anyone who presents a serious threat, and the federal courts are fully capable of affording defendants fair trials while protecting the government's legitimate interest in protecting information that is properly classified."

Mr Jaffer said evidence that had been "tainted" according to the task force's recommendation, was "not evidence at all". The US justice system, he added, "excludes coerced evidence not only because coercion and torture are illegal, but because coerced evidence is unreliable".

"Just as important as closing the prison quickly is closing it right, and that means putting an end to the illegal policy of indefinite detention without charge or trial," said Mr Romero.

'Dismay'

The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says the outcome will dismay many of Mr Obama's supporters, who had hoped the president would end the practice of detention without trial.

However, a White House official stressed that this was only a recommendation, which Mr Obama did not have to accept. The task force's findings will also be subject to review by the National Security Council.

Congress has laid down that only those to be tried can be moved to US soil, so the question of what to do with those who officials want to be detained indefinitely without trial has yet to be resolved.

More than 40 detainees have been transferred out of the prison during Mr Obama's first year in office.

But diplomatic hurdles and domestic opposition to the government's plan to house suspects on US soil have hampered his plans to close it down completely.

Plans to move detainees approved for trial to a prison facility in Illinois remain under consideration.

Yemen suspension

The task force recommended that among those cleared for release, 80 detainees, including about 30 Yemenis, could be freed immediately, the Washington Post said.

The panel said the release of another 30 Yemenis should be contingent on an improved situation in Yemen, the newspaper reported.

However, the US recently suspended the repatriation of Yemeni prisoners indefinitely, following an airliner bomb plot that was allegedly planned in Yemen.

Yemenis account for approximately half of the inmates at Guantanamo.

Mr Obama set himself the 22 January closure deadline a year ago, shortly after being sworn in.

He has subsequently said he wants the camp closed this year, without setting a specific deadline.

The defeat has come on Mr Obama's first anniversary in office

US President Barack Obama has warned Democrats not to "jam" healthcare reforms through the Senate after a Republican won a seat in Massachusetts.

Mr Obama told ABC News any vote should wait until Scott Brown had taken up his seat, and lawmakers should seek to "coalesce" around parts they agreed on.

Mr Brown will be Massachusetts' first Republican senator since 1972. vivienne westwood jewellery

His victory means the Republicans now have enough votes in the Senate to block the Democrats' healthcare plans.

The BBC's Paul Adams, in Boston, says it is a humiliating defeat for the Democrats, robbing them of their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority, and a deeply unwelcome anniversary present for President Obama exactly one year after his inauguration.

Our correspondent adds that it is one of the biggest political upsets in years - in a seat held for almost half a century by Edward Kennedy, a Democratic Party colossus, who died last year.

Senator-elect Brown, 50, told journalists his victory sent the message that "people are tired of business as usual in Washington politics", and vowed to get to work as soon as possible.

He said he would go to Washington on Thursday with the hope of taking up his seat.

Frustration

Earlier Mr Brown told NBC's Today show he did not think the vote was a referendum on President Obama's first year in power.

And he denied he was intent on derailing the reforms.

"I never said I was going to do everything I can to stop healthcare," he said.

"I believe everybody should have healthcare, it's just a question of how we do it."

Asked for his assessment of the Republican victory a year after taking office, President Obama told ABC: "The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office."

"People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because what has happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."

Scott Brown: "The main thing they want is good government back"

Mr Obama said he wanted to make clear that any plans by Democrats for a Senate vote on the reform plan before Mr Scott took up his seat were "off the table".

"The Senate certainly shouldn't try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated," he added.

"The people of Massachusetts spoke. He has got to be part of that process."

The president said it was important for Americans to understand that core elements of the bill such as cost containment and insurance reform were vital.

"I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on," he said.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said after a meeting with colleagues that legislators would take a few days to look at their options.

"We're not going to rush into anything," Reuters news agency quoted him as saying.

"There are many different things that we can do to move forward on healthcare, but we're not making any of those decisions now."

However, the Republican party chairman, Michael Steele, said Americans were breathing a "sigh of relief" over healthcare.

"People across the country are saying: 'Slow it down,'" he said, quoted by the Associated Press.

Dubbed Senator Beefcake in the US media, Mr Brown is a lawyer and former model who posed almost naked for Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1980s while in law school.

Correspondents say the vote does not bode well for the Democrats ahead of November's congressional elections.

The result comes amid opinion polls showing nearly half of Americans think President Obama is not delivering on his major campaign promises.

It was the third major loss for Democrats in state-wide elections since he became president: Republicans won governors' seats in Virginia and New Jersey in November.

Lemurs are among Madagascar's unique mammals

The ancestors of the current mammals found on the island of Madagascar could have been transported on floating vegetation from Africa, a study says.

Researchers modelled ancient ocean currents and found that favourable conditions existed in the same period as when mammals arrived on the island.

The idea of "rafting" first emerged in 1940, but some argued that a "land bridge" allowed animals to walk there.

The findings have been published online on the Nature website. vivienne westwood necklace

Madagascar, the fourth largest island on the planet, is deemed one of the world's biological hotspots.

Because of its isolation, most of its mammals, half its birds, and many of its plant species exist nowhere else on Earth.

The first mammals are believed to have appeared on the island about 60 million years ago, 100 million years after the landmass was thought to have separated from Africa.

This led to the emergence of two main hypotheses on how mammals managed to inhabit the island: via a "land bridge" or floating vegetation.

Ticket to ridevivienne westwood jewellery

Using a climate model used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), co-author Matthew Huber - a palaeoclimate modeller at Purdue University in Indiana, US - adapted it to shed light on the past.

"I had been doing these simulations for some time," he told BBC News.

"The paper's lead author (Dr Jason Ali from the University of Hong Kong) asked me to look at the Madagascar region because he thought that the ocean currents were different during that time.

"I looked, and - sure enough - the ocean currents went in the opposite direction than they do today," he explained.

Biologists and palaentologists say that rafting is the only sensible way for this [dispersal] to have happened Dr Matthew Huber, Purdue University

"The reason is primarily because, in the past, both Madagascar and Africa were 15 degrees further south.

This meant that the 430km (270 mile) Mozambique Channel that separates the two landmasses was located in a different ocean "gyre" (circular ocean current), which had an important impact on the direction and strength of the currents within the channel.

Dr Huber said that the model showed that this provided the right conditions to allow mammals to be transported across the channel.

"What the model suggests is that occasionally - say one month in 100 years - the currents were strong enough to allow a raft, for example a large log, carrying a family of lemurs to make the journey in about three weeks," he explained.

"Biologists and palaeontologists say that rafting is the only sensible way for this [dispersal] to have happened. But the problem has always been the currents."

"When you looked at present ocean currents, the journey is impossible. "So scientists have been stuck because when you are faced with impossibilities, what do you do?"

Current thinking

As a result, a number of scientists favoured the theory that a land bridge existed in the past.

But the theory would have required a "radical rethinking of the region's plate tectonics", Dr Huber explained.

"What we have done is resolved this conundrum by saying that ocean currents were actually different in the past.

"So it was possible - not probable, but possible."

The idea of mammals being transported on "rafts" of vegetation was first mooted back in 1940 by US researcher George Simpson.

He developed the "sweepstakes" hypothesis because the biodiversity on Madagascar was unique, lacking "megafauna" such as elephants, lions and zebras.

If the animals had reached Madagascar via a "land bridge" - meaning the landmass was connected to the African continent - Simpson argued that large mammals would have also made the journey.

He added that the match between the currents and the arrival of new mammals on Madagascar was "pretty good".

It is understood that the common ancestor of present-day lemurs arrived on Madagascar between 60 million and 50 million years ago; tenrecs (such as hedgehogs) appeared 42-25 million years ago, and rodents between 24 million and 20 million years ago.

"About 20 million years ago, the 'flow' of species stopped," Dr Huber observed.

"When I look at my simulations for 20 million years ago, the currents are going the same way as they do today."

He explained that change in the direction of the current in the Mozambique Channel was a result of the slow northward movement of Africa and Madagascar.

This meant that the influence of the southern oceanic gyre was gradually weakened, causing the "sweepstake" route to be closed.

He said: "The 'switch' might have turned off gradually between 50 million and 20 million years ago, but by 20 million years ago, the journey was impossible."

Omar al-Bashir faces a presidential election in April

Sudan would accept the south's secession if southerners were to vote for independence in a referendum next year, President Omar al-Bashir said.

Speaking at a ceremony marking five years since the end of the north-south war, he said his Northern Congress Party did not want the south to secede.

But he said the party would be the first to welcome such a decision. vivienne westwood jewellery

Analysts say Mr Bashir struck an unusually conciliatory tone in the speech, which has been well received.

In recent months tension has been rising between the two sides.

The north and south will continue to be economically and politically connected whatever the choice of the people of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir Southern Sudan president

Southern politicians have accused Mr Bashir and his allies of wanting to fix the referendum to ensure a "no" vote - to try to keep the south's oil wealth to themselves.

Mr Bashir has denied the allegations. vivienne westwood jewellery

Next year's referendum was part of the 2005 peace deal which brought to an end more than two decades of civil war.

The agreement also stipulated that a national election must be held. The vote is due in April.

Scepticism remains

In a televised address, Mr Bashir promised that the north would act as "good neighbours" to the south.

"The National Congress Party favours unity," he said.

"But if the result of the referendum is separation, then we in the NCP will be the first to take note of this decision and to support it."

The BBC's Peter Martell, in the south's capital Juba, says there is a generally positive feeling about Mr Bashir's comments - people in the crowd were cheering as he delivered his speech.

But he says plenty of people in the south remain sceptical and prefer to wait and see if he will honour his promises.

Mr Bashir is subject to an international arrest warrant for war crimes in the country's Darfur region.

And many in the south believe he and his allies have been arming rival ethnic groups in the south to destabilise the region.

The election in April will be the first multi-party national election in a generation.

Mr Bashir is standing for president, but the leader of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, is not.

Mr Kiir's SPLM party confirmed last week that he would seek re-election to the post of Southern Sudan president rather than national leader.

The SPLM is instead fielding another candidate for the post of national president, which correspondents says shows that the party's priority is independence for the south.

Economic connections

During the celebrations to mark the end of the war, Mr Kiir made a plea for southerners to accept the result of the referendum whatever it may be.

"The north and south will continue to be economically and politically connected whatever the choice of the people of Southern Sudan," he said.

He stressed that oil, which makes up 90% of the south's wealth, would still be pumped through the north for processing until the south could construct its own facilities.

After years of conflict, Southern Sudan is one of the poorest areas of the world.

Last year, some 2,000 people died in conflicts in the region, which the SPLM say are being stirred up by allies of Mr Bashir in order to destabilise the region ahead of the elections.

Mr Bashir's National Congress Party has denied the charges.

SUDAN'S STRUGGLING SOUTH Southern Sudan All Sudan Population: 7.5m to 9.7m Population: 42.2m Area: 640,000 sq km Area: 2.5m sq km Maternal mortality: 1,700 deaths per 100,000 births Maternal mortality: 1,107 deaths per 100,000 births Access to clean water: 50% Access to clean water: 70% Life expectancy: 42 years Life expectancy: 58.92 years Sources: CIA, UN, UNFPA

Ukraine's presidential election is set for a second round run-off after partial results showed no candidate would win more than 50% of the vote.

With almost one quarter of votes counted, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych led current PM Yulia Tymoshenko by 38% to 24%.

The two were on opposing sides of the Orange Revolution in 2004-5, but both now favour closer ties with Russia.

Current President Viktor Yushchenko has been eliminated from the vote. vivienne westwood jewellery

A total of 18 candidates took part in the election.

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, in Kiev, says there is much disillusionment among voters over the failure to tackle corruption and links with the EU.

It was Mr Yanukovych's victory in the 2004 election that was annulled by the Orange Revolution and brought Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko to power.

Turnout in the election was reported to be less than 50% by early afternoon. Polls closed at 2000 (1800 GMT).

In the capital Kiev, voters walked to polling stations through light snow. vivienne westwood jewellery

In the eastern city of Donetsk, one polling station encouraged voters with vodka and sausage.

President Yushchenko cast his ballot at a polling station in central Kiev with his wife, Kateryna, and their five children.

"Ukraine once again will demonstrate that it is a European democratic country, that it is a free nation, free people and free election," he said.

Warnings of unrest

The leading candidates have accused each other of trying to rig the election, and there have been warnings of unrest after the vote.

President Yushchenko has been blamed for a lack of reforms in Ukraine

In an effort to boost confidence in the election, foreign observers have spread out across Ukraine to monitor voting.

Jens-Hagen Eschenbacher, of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said about 600 OSCE election monitors are in place, as well as thousands of other foreign observers.

The Orange Revolution led Ukrainians to expect sweeping changes - integration with Europe and an end to corruption, our correspondent says.

But the reality has not lived up to expectations and there is widespread disillusionment with politicians across the spectrum, he adds.

Gervais won a Golden Globe in 2004 for his work in The Office

A host of stars have gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles for this year's Golden Globes, the first major Hollywood award ceremony of 2010.

Many arrived carrying umbrellas as rain lashed the traditional red carpet. vivienne westwood jewellery

Britain's Ricky Gervais is presenting the event, which will see both movies and TV shows honoured.

Comedian and talk show host Mo'Nique was the first winner of the evening, winning the best supporting actress award for her role in Precious.

"Thank you God for this amazing ride," she told the star-studded audience. "I am in the midst of my dream."

Segregatedvivienne westwood earrings

As she presented the first award, actress Nicole Kidman paid tribute to the victims of the Haiti earthquake and urged viewers to donate to relief efforts.

The Globes are awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a body of around 90 international journalists based in southern California.

Musical comedy Glee is up for four prizes, more than any other TV show

British hopes in the film categories rest on Carey Mulligan, Emily Blunt and Dame Helen Mirren, all up for best performance by an actress in a drama.

Colin Firth, nominated for best actor in a drama for his role as a gay academic in film A Single Man, will also fly the flag for the UK.

Unlike the Oscars, the Globes divides its film prizes between dramas and comedies or musicals.

The TV awards are similarly segregated, with additional accolades for mini-series or films made for the small screen.

Director Martin Scorsese will be honoured with a special award for his outstanding contribution to the entertainment field.

Haitian President Rene Preval has said thousands of people are feared dead following a huge quake which has devastated the country's capital.

Mr Preval said the UN mission chief in Haiti was among the dead, but the UN cannot confirm this. It said 14 other UN staff had died and 56 were injured.

The 7.0-magnitude quake, Haiti's worst in two centuries, struck on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told US network CNN he believed more than 100,000 people had died.

The Red Cross says up to three million people are affected.

The capital's Catholic archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, is also among those killed. vivienne westwood jewellery

In his first interview since the earthquake, President Preval told the Miami Herald newspaper in the US he feared thousands of his people had died.

Describing the scene in the capital as "unimaginable", he said: "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed.

Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed Haitian President Rene Preval

There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them."

Mr Preval later said that Hedi Annabi, the Tunisian head of the UN stabilisation mission in Haiti (Minustah), had died after the UN HQ building was destroyed.

The UN said it could not confirm the news but that Mr Annabi had been in the building at the time and was likely to be under the rubble, along with many others.

The main prison in Port-au-Prince has also collapsed, with a UN humanitarian spokeswoman saying there had been reports of escaped inmates.

A number of nations, including the US, UK and Venezuela, are gearing up to send aid. vivienne westwood earrings

Speaking in Washington, US President Barack Obama vowed "unwavering support" for Haiti after what he called a "cruel and incomprehensible" disaster.

He said he had ordered "a swift, co-ordinated and aggressive effort to save lives" and that the first US rescue teams would arrive later on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that she was cutting short a trip to the Pacific in order to return to Washington because of the earthquake.

A US Navy aircraft carrier is expected to reach Haiti in a couple of days and a number of smaller vessels are already in the area, US defence officials said.

Rajiv Shah, of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said US teams were on their way to Haiti with specialised rescue equipment and that some efforts were already under way on the ground.

International effort

The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.

The first tremor had hit at 1653 local time (2153 GMT) on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. Phone lines to the country failed shortly afterwards.

Ban Ki-moon: 'We are facing a major humanitarian emergency'

UN officials said at least 14 people had died when the UN's five-storey headquarters and two smaller buildings in Port-au-Prince collapsed. Around 100 were still thought to be missing, many feared to be under the rubble.

Ten Brazilians, three Jordanians and one Haitian had been confirmed killed, a senior UN official said, adding that the number was likely to rise.

Stressing a major international relief effort would be needed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the UN would immediately release $10m (£6.15m) from its emergency response fund.

He said aerial reconnaissance showed Port-au-Prince had been "devastated" by the quake, although other areas were largely unaffected.

The airport in Port-au-Prince is operational despite the collapse of the control tower, the UN said, allowing aid to start arriving soon.

The Brazilian army, which has the biggest UN contingent in Haiti, has said a large number of its peacekeepers are missing.

China has indicated in reports in state media that eight of its peacekeepers are dead, with another 10 unaccounted for.

A spokesman for medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) said it was able only to offer basic care to the "massive influx" of survivors seeking help because all its buildings had been destroyed.

"Unfortunately what we are seeing is a large number of patients in critical condition," he said.

There were some reports of looting overnight.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and has suffered a number of recent disasters, including four hurricanes and storms in 2008 that killed hundreds.

With communications destroyed by the earthquake, it is not yet possible to confirm the extent of the destruction, although there were reports on Wednesday of many bodies piled in the streets.

People in the capital were lifting sheets on bodies to try to identify loved ones.

Damage has also been reported in the towns of Jacmel and Carrefour, near Port-au-Prince.

Guido Cornale, a representative of the UN children's agency Unicef, in Jacmel, said it estimated more than a fifth of buildings there had been destroyed.

The Red Cross is dispatching a relief team from Geneva and the UN's World Food Programme is flying in two planes with emergency food aid.

The Inter-American Development Bank said it was immediately approving a $200,000 grant for emergency aid.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it would co-ordinate with other international agencies to offer help as swiftly as possible.

The World Bank also said it was sending a team to assess the damage and plan recovery. It said its offices in Port-au-Prince had been destroyed but that most staff were accounted for.

The UK said it was mobilising help and was "ready to provide whatever humanitarian assistance may be required".

Canada, Australia, France and a number of Latin American nations have also said they are mobilising their aid response.

Pope Benedict XVI has called for a generous response to the "tragic situation" in Haiti.

Emmet Murphy, who works for a non-governmental organisation in Haiti, told the BBC: "I was driving through the mountains on my way home to Jacmel when the car started to shake. It was like a very strong wind was blowing and I nearly lost control of the car.

"I drove further and found the road totally blocked by a massive landslide on the road. I just knew that if I had reached that spot five minutes earlier, I would have been killed."

Blogger Troy Livesay, in Port-au-Prince, wrote: "Thousands of people are currently trapped. To guess at a number would be like guessing at raindrops in the ocean. Precious lives hang in the balance.

"When pulled from the rubble there is no place to take them for care. I cannot imagine what the next few weeks and months will be like."

Haitian President Rene Preval has said thousands of people are feared dead following a huge quake which has devastated the country's capital.

Mr Preval said the UN mission chief in Haiti was among the dead, but the UN cannot confirm this. It said 14 other UN staff had died and 56 were injured.

The 7.0-magnitude quake, Haiti's worst in two centuries, struck on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told US network CNN he believed more than 100,000 people had died.

The Red Cross says up to three million people are affected.

The capital's Catholic archbishop, Monsignor Joseph Serge Miot, is also among those killed.

In his first interview since the earthquake, President Preval told the Miami Herald newspaper in the US he feared thousands of his people had died.

Describing the scene in the capital as "unimaginable", he said: "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed.

"There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them."

Mr Preval later said that Hedi Annabi, the Tunisian head of the UN stabilisation mission in Haiti (Minustah), had died after the UN HQ building was destroyed.

The UN said it could not confirm the news but that Mr Annabi had been in the building at the time and was likely to be under the rubble, along with many others.

The main prison in Port-au-Prince has also collapsed, with a UN humanitarian spokeswoman saying there had been reports of escaped inmates.

A number of nations, including the US, UK and Venezuela, are gearing up to send aid.

Speaking in Washington, US President Barack Obama vowed "unwavering support" for Haiti after what he called a "cruel and incomprehensible" disaster.

He said he had ordered "a swift, co-ordinated and aggressive effort to save lives" and that the first US rescue teams would arrive later on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that she was cutting short a trip to the Pacific in order to return to Washington because of the earthquake.

A US Navy aircraft carrier is expected to reach Haiti in a couple of days and a number of smaller vessels are already in the area, US defence officials said.

Rajiv Shah, of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said US teams were on their way to Haiti with specialised rescue equipment and that some efforts were already under way on the ground.

International effort

The quake, which struck about 15km (10 miles) south-west of Port-au-Prince, was quickly followed by two aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude.

The first tremor had hit at 1653 local time (2153 GMT) on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. Phone lines to the country failed shortly afterwards.

Ban Ki-moon: 'We are facing a major humanitarian emergency'

UN officials said at least 14 people had died when the UN's five-storey headquarters and two smaller buildings in Port-au-Prince collapsed. Around 100 were still thought to be missing, many feared to be under the rubble.

Ten Brazilians, three Jordanians and one Haitian had been confirmed killed, a senior UN official said, adding that the number was likely to rise.

Stressing a major international relief effort would be needed, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the UN would immediately release $10m (£6.15m) from its emergency response fund.

He said aerial reconnaissance showed Port-au-Prince had been "devastated" by the quake, although other areas were largely unaffected.

The airport in Port-au-Prince is operational despite the collapse of the control tower, the UN said, allowing aid to start arriving soon.

The Brazilian army, which has the biggest UN contingent in Haiti, has said a large number of its peacekeepers are missing.

China has indicated in reports in state media that eight of its peacekeepers are dead, with another 10 unaccounted for.

A spokesman for medical charity Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) said it was able only to offer basic care to the "massive influx" of survivors seeking help because all its buildings had been destroyed.

"Unfortunately what we are seeing is a large number of patients in critical condition," he said.

There were some reports of looting overnight.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and has suffered a number of recent disasters, including four hurricanes and storms in 2008 that killed hundreds.

With communications destroyed by the earthquake, it is not yet possible to confirm the extent of the destruction, although there were reports on Wednesday of many bodies piled in the streets.

People in the capital were lifting sheets on bodies to try to identify loved ones.

ANALYSIS Gary Duffy, BBC News, Sao Paulo Given Brazil's central role in leading the military side of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti the earthquake has caused a lot of concern and shock here. The authorities here say 11 soldiers have died and there have been several injuries, and there are fears this number could rise. It has also been confirmed that Zilda Arns, a prominent Brazilian aid worker and paediatrician, has been killed. She was a sister of the retired Cardinal Paulo Arns, a major figure in the Catholic Church here. Some soldiers have managed to make contact to reassure relatives, but given the damage to infrastructure at Brazilian bases, communication is proving difficult, even for the government.

Damage has also been reported in the towns of Jacmel and Carrefour, near Port-au-Prince.

Guido Cornale, a representative of the UN children's agency Unicef, in Jacmel, said it estimated more than a fifth of buildings there had been destroyed.

The Red Cross is dispatching a relief team from Geneva and the UN's World Food Programme is flying in two planes with emergency food aid.

The Inter-American Development Bank said it was immediately approving a $200,000 grant for emergency aid.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it would co-ordinate with other international agencies to offer help as swiftly as possible.

The World Bank also said it was sending a team to assess the damage and plan recovery. It said its offices in Port-au-Prince had been destroyed but that most staff were accounted for.

The UK said it was mobilising help and was "ready to provide whatever humanitarian assistance may be required".

Canada, Australia, France and a number of Latin American nations have also said they are mobilising their aid response.

Pope Benedict XVI has called for a generous response to the "tragic situation" in Haiti.

Emmet Murphy, who works for a non-governmental organisation in Haiti, told the BBC: "I was driving through the mountains on my way home to Jacmel when the car started to shake. It was like a very strong wind was blowing and I nearly lost control of the car.

"I drove further and found the road totally blocked by a massive landslide on the road. I just knew that if I had reached that spot five minutes earlier, I would have been killed."

Blogger Troy Livesay, in Port-au-Prince, wrote: "Thousands of people are currently trapped. To guess at a number would be like guessing at raindrops in the ocean. Precious lives hang in the balance.

"When pulled from the rubble there is no place to take them for care. I cannot imagine what the next few weeks and months will be like."

The Red Cross estimates 45,000-50,000 people have died in Haiti's devastating earthquake, as rescue teams race against time to find survivors.

The US is sending up to 3,500 troops and 2,200 marines but correspondents say aid is so far only trickling in.

President Barack Obama pledged one of the biggest relief efforts in recent US history and said Haiti would "not be forgotten" in its hour of need.

Aid groups say they need food, water, medical supplies and lifting equipment.

President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, working with Brazil, Canada and other countries, will organise a conference on reconstruction in Haiti, the French presidency has announced.

The Red Cross estimates that up to three million people in Haiti have been affected by Tuesday's earthquake.

President Obama: 'Search and rescue teams are actively working to save lives'vivienne westwood earrings

Many are spending another night without shelter or in makeshift camps in the ruined capital, Port-au-Prince.

Correspondents there say bodies are piling up in the streets and there is still no sign of a co-ordinated relief effort.

Speaking in Washington on Thursday, Mr Obama said some US rescuers were already on the ground in Haiti and more were on their way.

He promised the country "every element of our national capacity, our diplomacy, and development assistance, the power of our military and most importantly, the compassion of our country" following the disaster. vivienne westwood jewellery

"To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten," he said.

AT THE SCENE Andy Gallacher, BBC News, Haiti Haiti is at a critical juncture at the moment. I've come across two schools that have completely collapsed, you could see the bodies trapped inside - but there were no rescue teams on the ground. I haven't seen anyone in the two days I've been here. Haitians are still digging through the rubble with their hands. The bodies are beginning to build up, both on the streets and in public spaces. There are no coffins here, no arrangements for burials. There is no sense that the promised relief efforts have begun in earnest.

However he warned it would take time for much-needed help to reach people.

Mr Obama also promised an immediate $100m for Haiti's relief effort and said that investment would grow over the coming year to aid long-term recovery.

The first 100-strong contingent from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division was expected to arrive in Haiti by the end of Thursday, with several hundred more due by Friday.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and the USS Bataan, carrying a marine expeditionary unit, are on their way.

Gen Douglas Fraser, head of the US Southern Command, told reporters that logistics would be the key to providing relief and that US forces would strive to make Port-au-Prince's port functional again.

The US Federal Aviation Authority earlier temporarily stopped civilian relief flights to Haiti at the Haitian government's request because there was not enough space on the ground for more planes.

'Overwhelmed'

Aid groups say it is a race against time to find people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.

UN emergency relief co-ordinator John Holmes said search and rescue teams were the first priority and had begun to arrive in Haiti.

"They're now beginning, I hope, to make a difference. Every hour counts for this, as you know," he said.

"And of course we're trying to get the medical aid in as fast as possible but it's clear that the local facilities are overwhelmed. We need to get more doctors, field hospitals and supplies on the ground."

The BBC's Matthew Price in Port-au-Prince says Haiti is in massive need of food, water and medicine, as well as bulldozers and heavy lifting equipment.

But perhaps more than anything it needs someone to take charge here, our correspondent says. The government is fragile at the best of times and there is no sense it is able to do anything for now.

The director of Port-au-Prince's general hospital said that by 1100 (1600 GMT) at least 1,500 bodies were already stacked inside and outside the mortuary, with police continuing to bring more corpses on pick-up trucks, Reuters reports.

A United Nations spokesman in Haiti, David Wimhurst, said 188 UN staff remained unaccounted for following the collapse of the organisation's HQ in Port-au-Prince and that 36 UN military and police personnel were confirmed dead.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said it could be days before even an estimate of the overall death toll from the earthquake could be made, but said he feared it would be "very high".

Ban Ki-moon: "Haiti will need every ounce of help we can offer"

On a note of hope, he recounted the survival of an Estonian UN official who was detected under 4m (13ft) of rubble after scratching noises were heard. He was dug out and is now in hospital.

Mr Ban also praised the readiness of the international community to help.

A British rescue team with heavy lifting gear and dogs has reached Haiti. Other plane-loads of rescuers and relief supplies are being sent from China, the EU, Canada, Russia and Latin American nations.

Cuba had more than 300 doctors in Haiti before the earthquake and they have been treating the injured in field hospitals.

To magnify this image of Port-au-Prince mouse over the left-hand panel   US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who cancelled a trip to Asia to deal with the crisis, said Haiti's recovery was "going to be a long-term effort". The World Bank is funding $100m of emergency aid. The World Food Programme is working on supplying 15,000 tonnes of food and the Red Cross has begun a $10m appeal.

A senior US official has said the country is "troubled" by recent cyberattacks originating from China targeted human rights activists.

Internet giant Google has said it may end its operations in China following a spate of attacks on e-mail accounts.

Google, while not accusing Beijing directly, said it was no longer willing to censor its Chinese search engine.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said China must ensure a "secure" commercial environment for Google and other firms. vivienne westwood jewellery

"The recent cyber intrusion that Google attributes to China is troubling to the US government and American companies doing business in China," Mr Locke said in a statement.

Censorship

He said the incident should be just as troubling to the Chinese government and added that he had personally raised the issue with Chinese officials.

He said during these discussions he had emphasised the importance that US President Barack Obama placed on "the full and free flow of information on the internet".

Google has said that closing its google.cn site could mean it would shut its Chinese offices. vivienne westwood earrings

Google said the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists were the primary target of the attack, which occurred in December.

The search engine has now said it will hold talks with the government in the coming weeks to look at operating an unfiltered search engine within the law in the country, though no changes to filtering had yet been made.

Google launched google.cn in 2006, agreeing to some censorship of the search results, as required by the Chinese government.

It currently holds around a third of the Chinese search market, far behind Chinese rival Baidu with more than 60%.

Email targeted

In a blog post announcing its decision, Google's chief legal officer David Drummond said: "A primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists."

The company said its investigation into the attack found two accounts of its online mail service - Gmail - appeared to have been accessed.

However, the attack was limited to accessing account information such as the date the account was created and subject line, rather than e-mail content, it said.

It said it had also discovered that the accounts of dozens of US, China and Europe-based Gmail users, who are "advocates of human rights in China", appeared to have been "routinely accessed by third parties".

It said these accounts had not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but "most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on users' computers".

At least 20 other large companies from a wide range of businesses were similarly targeted, it added.

Google's decision to concede to China's demands on censorship in 2006 led to accusations it had betrayed its company motto - "don't be evil" - but Google argued it would be more damaging for civil liberties if it pulled out of China entirely.

Nearly 340 million Chinese people now online, compared with 10 million only a decade ago.

Last year, the search engine market in China was worth an estimated $1bn and analysts previously expected Google to make about $600m from China in 2010.

But, unlike most markets, Google comes second in search in China.

In US trade on Wednesday Baidu's shares were up 13%, and Google's down 0.57%.

The UN launches the International Year of Biodiversity on Monday, warning that the on-going loss of species affects human well-being around the world.

Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but already it is clear that the pledge will not be met.

The expansion of human cities, farming and infrastructure is the main reason. vivienne westwood jewellery

Dignitaries including UN chief Ban Ki-moon and German premier Angela Merkel will speak at the launch in Berlin.

Mr Ban is due to say that human expansion is wiping out species at about 1,000 times the "natural" or "background" rate, and that "business as usual is not an option".

The big opportunity during the International Year of Biodiversity is for governments to do for biodiversity what they failed to do for climate change in Copenhagen Simon Stuart Conservation International/IUCN

The Secretary-General is expected to argue that the failure to protect biodiversity "should be a wake-up call", leading to effective ways of protecting forests, watersheds, coral reefs and other ecosystems. vivienne westwood earrings

The UN argues that as natural systems such as forests and wetlands disappear, humanity loses the services they currently provide for free, such as the purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events and the provision of materials for shelter and fire.

The rate of species loss leads some biologists to say that we are in the middle of the Earth's sixth great extinction, the previous five stemming from natural events as asteroid impacts.

Cash log

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was agreed at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, alongside the climate change convention.

But it acquired its key global pledge during the Johannesburg summit of 2002, when governments agreed to achieve a "significant reduction" in the rate of biological diversity by 2010. vivienne westwood earrings

Conservation organisations acknowledge that despite some regional successes, the target is not going to be met; some analyses suggest that nature loss is accelerating rather than decelerating.

Nature loss 'dwarfs bank crisis'

"We are facing an extinction crisis," said Jane Smart, director of the biodiversity conservation group with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

"The loss of this beautiful and complex natural diversity that underpins all life on the planet is a serious threat to humankind now and in the future."

A large on-going UN-sponsored study into the economics of biodiversity suggests that deforestation alone costs the global economy $2-5 trillion each year.

In his speech at Monday's event, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) executive director Achim Steiner is due to highlight problems caused by invasive species, and the potential for ecosystems such as forests and wetlands to absorb and store carbon from the air.

The UN hopes some kind of legally-binding treaty to curb biodiversity loss can be agreed at the CBD summit, held in Japan in October.

One element is due to be a long-awaited protocol under which the genetic resources of financially-poor but biodiversity-rich nations can be exploited in a way that brings benefits to all.

However, given the lack of appetite for legally-binding environmental agreements that key countries displayed at last month's climate summit in Copenhagen, it is unclear just what kind of deal might materialise on biodiversity.

Political football

The UN has been pursuing new ways of raising public awareness on the issue, including a collaboration with the Cameroon football team taking part in the African Nations Cup finals.

Many environment organisations will be running special programmes and mounting events during the year.

"The big opportunity during the International Year of Biodiversity is for governments to do for biodiversity what they failed to do for climate change in Copenhagen," said Simon Stuart, a senior science advisor to Conservation International and chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission.

"They have the chance to make a major difference; and key to this will be halting species extinctions, the most irreversible aspect of biodiversity loss."

WWF is highlighting 10 species it considers especially threatened, ranging from commercially significant ones such as bluefin tuna to the Pacific walrus and the monarch butterfly.

In the UK, the Natural History Museum (NHM) is asking every citizen to "do one thing for biodiversity" in 2010.

The first US federal court case to determine whether states are allowed to ban same-sex marriages has opened in San Francisco, California.

Any ruling reached is expected to be challenged, possibly taking the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

A Supreme Court ruling would determine the fate of gay marriages nationwide, without the possibility of appeal.

The suit, filed by two gay couples, challenges Proposition 8 - a ban on gay marriage in the state of California.

Being able to call him my husband is so definitive Paul Katami plaintiff, talking about his partner Jeffrey Zarrillo

The law amended California's constitution to restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman. vivienne westwood earrings

Supporters of the challenge are comparing it to landmark cases which ended segregation in US schools and overturned a ban on interracial marriage, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani reports.

They say the Constitution enshrines the right to marry but, by limiting it to heterosexual couples, it discriminates against gay people.

'Social fabric'

Backers of Proposition 8 say the federal case is the latest attempt to overturn what they say is the will of the people as expressed by the 52% who backed the amendment in a 2008 referendum. vivienne westwood earrings

CALIFORNIA GAY MARRIAGE 2004 San Francisco begins issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples - a move annulled by Supreme Court months later May 2008 Supreme Court votes 4-3 to legalise same-sex marriage; introduced in June November 2008 Voters approve Proposition 8 limiting marriage to heterosexual couples March 2009 Civil-rights lawyers argue before Supreme Court that referendum is anti-constitutional May 2009 Supreme Court rules Proposition 8 is constitutional

Chief US District Judge Vaughn Walker will have to decide whether the ban on same-sex marriage in California is constitutional.

The case is being argued by high-profile lawyers Theodore Olson and David Boies.

Proceedings opened on Monday with testimony from two plaintiffs in the case, Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier, who wed in California 2004 only to have their union later declared invalid. vivienne westwood jewellery

Ms Stier said that being allowed to wed her partner would "provide me with a sense of inclusion in the social fabric of the society I live in".

"I want our children to feel proud of us," she told the court. "I don't want them to worry about us."

Kristen Perry said: "I want it to happen to me. The state isn't letting me feel happy."

Paul Katami and his partner Jeffrey Zarrillo described slights in gay life that ranged from being pelted with stones and eggs in college to the awkwardness of checking into a hotel and not being able to clarify the relationship.

This lawsuit is an attempt by Judge Walker to put the voters of California on trial, and it's wrong Brian Brown director of the National Organization for Marriage

"Being able to call him my husband is so definitive," Mr Katami said. "There is no subtlety to it. It is absolute."

Supporters of Proposition 8 will argue California does not discriminate against the gay community, as the current law allows them to get married - as long as they wed a partner of the opposite sex.

"This lawsuit is an attempt by Judge Walker to put the voters of California on trial, and it's wrong," said Brian Brown, director of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes gay marriage.

"I think our founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they heard that the constitution guarantees the right to redefine marriage," he told AFP news agency.

'Media circus'

The pros and cons of broadcasting the proceedings have become an issue of debate.

People backing both sides of the debate gathered as the trial began

Less than two hours before the trial was started, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a plan to post video of the proceeding on the internet site YouTube.

The Supreme Court complied with an emergency request by lawyers who had argued that broadcasting the trial would turn it into a media circus.

The court has blocked the broadcast until Wednesday afternoon to allow for further consideration of the arguments brought by both sides.

Judge Walker had agreed to the taping after a recent rule change allowed for televised coverage of some civil cases.

He said the case was appropriate for wide dissemination because it dealt with an issue of wide interest and importance.

Egyptian security sources said they would not object to the barrier

Israel's government has approved plans for the construction of a barrier along its border with Egypt in a bid to keep out illegal migrants and militants.

It will be built along two parts of the border - near the Red Sea city of Eilat and on the edge of the Gaza Strip.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision was taken to secure Israel's Jewish and democratic character, but that refugees would still be allowed to seek entry.

In recent years, thousands of migrants have crossed into Israel via Egypt. vivienne westwood jewellery

At least 17 migrants, mostly African, have been killed since May by Egyptian police, who say they are trying to stop people trafficking.

Eritrea is the most common country of origin for people trying to cross illegally from Egypt to Israel, followed by Ethiopia and Sudan.

'Illegal aliens'vivienne westwood earrings

On Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said he had approved the construction of sections of barrier that would block the main infiltration routes along the 266km (166-mile) frontier, and the installation of advanced surveillance equipment.

The project is set to cost $270m and take two years to complete.

"I took the decision to close Israel's southern border to infiltrators and terrorists. This is a strategic decision to secure Israel's Jewish and democratic character," the prime ministers said in a statement. vivienne westwood earrings

Mr Netanyahu said Israel would "remain open to refugees" from conflict zones, but added: "We cannot let tens of thousands of illegal workers infiltrate into Israel through the southern border and inundate our country with illegal aliens."

Egyptian security sources said Israel had not informed them of its plans, but that they would not object so long as the barrier was built on Israeli soil.

Israel has also been building a controversial barrier in and around the occupied West Bank in recent years. It says it is needed to defend Israeli citizens from attacks by militants. Palestinians, however, consider it a land grab.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued an advisory ruling that the barrier was illegal and should be removed.

Egypt is meanwhile building an underground barrier along its border with Gaza to stem the smuggling of weapons through tunnels.