The United Nations is scaling up its assistance to victims of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake, as the acting top UN envoy to the impoverished Caribbean nation has taken up his duties on the ground and has started the task of coordinating the relief effort, UN officials said here Friday. GHD IV

    The 7.0 magnitude tremors which struck Haiti — the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country — on Tuesday are estimated to have affected one third of the nation’s nine million people.

    While no official figures are available yet on the dead or injured, the death toll is expected to be high.

    The earthquake has devastated the capital, Port-au-Prince, wrecking buildings and leaving basic services on the brink of collapse.

    ”Past disaster response experience has shown that effective coordination is vital if the right help is to reach the most vulnerable in time,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes. “If we are to meet the needs on the ground, we must work together.”

    With the top UN official in Haiti, Hedi Annabi, still unaccounted for, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dispatched Edmond Mulet, his former special representative to Haiti and current assistant-secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, to the small island country, to assume full command of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

    Upon arriving in Port-au-Prince on Thursday, Mulet held talks with Haiti’s leaders, in which he stressed MINUSTAH is in the process of building back its capacity and emphasized the mission’s full support of the Government as it rebuilds the devastated capital.

    The Office for the Coordination Affairs (OCHA) said that food and medical help have started to arrive in Port-au-Prince, but that the scale is inevitably limited so far.

    The Office is coordinating some 25 search-and-rescue teams — considered a top priority as many people remained trapped under rubble — while a further 13 teams are set to arrive shortly.

    Dozens of nations have offered their assistance, and the UN is working to ensure that the aid reaches people as quickly as possible.

    The secretary-general said here Thursday that the international community’s outpouring of support to assist victims of the quake is encouraging. “Haiti will need every ounce of help we can offer,” he told reporters.

    Rescue teams from such countries as China, the United States and the Dominican Republic, already began their humanitarian operations in Haiti as massive influx of relief goods arrived in the Caribbean country, devastated by a strong earthquake on Tuesday that killed tens of thousands of Haitians and dozens of UN staff.

    Ban said Friday that he would travel “very soon” to Haiti, where nearly 200 UN staff, including peacekeepers and civilian staff, remained unaccounted for since the outbreak of the earthquake.

    With many survivors having sustained serious injuries, including traumatic wounds and crushed limbs, medical support has been identified as an immediate need, along with food, water and shelter.

    The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is coordinating medical assistance and sending a 12-member team specializing in victim care, while its partners are ramping up their efforts on the ground. hair straightener

    Also on Thursday, WHO said eight hospitals were damaged or destroyed in Haiti and two damaged in the neighboring Dominican Republic. “We fear that the impact of this earthquake will be particularly devastating to the already existing vulnerability of Haiti’s people, society and economy,” WHO’s Paul Garwood told reporters.

    OCHA on Friday said that it is conferring with Haitian authorities on the possibility of the national soccer stadium being used as a field hospital location.

    For its part, the World Food Program (WFP) is distributing food it already had in the country, and is moving nearly 90 metric tons of high-energy biscuits from El Salvador, while the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has sent in water purification and shelter supplies.

    The world body is working to overcome serious obstacles to providing aid posed by lack of infrastructure and other issues.

    ”Disaster survivors have a right to expect assistance as soon as possible, and we have been working to get assistance to Haiti since the first hour after this earthquake,” Holmes said. “The reality is that getting the quantities of supplies, equipment and expertise that are so desperately needed on the ground inevitably takes time.”

Immediately after the disaster, Ban ordered 10 million U.S. dollars to be released from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to kick-start humanitarian relief efforts. A flash appeal for Haiti is expected to be launched this afternoon.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has arrived in Afghanistan for a two-day visit that will include a series of meetings with political leaders, British troops and Afghan journalists, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

    The trip is part of the British international diplomatic push to pave the way for success at Afghanistan: The London Conference on Jan. 28.

    Miliband will use the visit to stress the need for Afghan leadership supported by an international partnership the main theme of the London Conference. Christmas Iron Straightener

    Speaking in the House of Commons before his trip, he said the London Conference will therefore focus on upgrading the international effort in three key areas: security, governance and development and regional relations.

    In Helmand province, he will meet Governor Gulab Mangal and British and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops as well as civilian Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) staff.

    Partnering with the Afghan National Security Forces is part of the transition strategy that will be a key area for discussion at the London Conference.

    Miliband told parliamentary members that the conference will focus on how international forces can help mentor, partner and develop the Afghan National Security Forces. GHD hair iron

    ”ISAF has already trained and equipped 96,000 members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) are also now about 90,000 strong. The current target for the end of this year is 134,000 ANA and 109,000 ANP and we will do everything we can to ensure that those targets are met and ideally exceeded,” he said.

The United Nations on Friday issued a flash appeal of 550 million U.S. dollars to provide emergency care to thousands of Haitians suffering from the fallout of Tuesday’s earthquake that has devastated the country and created an epic humanitarian challenge. CHI hair straightener sale

    ”The situation has been quite dramatic,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon told reporters, adding that roughly 3 million people in the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, need tents, water and food.

    The outpouring of support so far from the international community has been “generous and robust,” said Ban, but he admitted that logistics and the lack of coordination have made delivering aid extremely difficult.

    ”There is clearly some lack of coordination,” he said. “Roads are still not all opened and there are some problems in delivering assistance materials but as time goes by I’m sure we will be more coordinated.”

    Ban said he would travel to Haiti “very soon” but did not give a date and did not indicate whether former U.S. President and special UN envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton would accompany him.

    During the course of Thursday night, eight flights of humanitarian cargo arrived, said Ban, but clearly the airport in Port-au-Prince is has reached its capacity. Media reports from Haiti paint a picture where planes can arrive but cannot leave because of a lack of fuel. Roads remain blocked because of collapsed buildings and heavily lifting equipment is scant.

    ”The situation is more difficult than any of us would wish,” he said. “We are mobilizing all resources as fast as we can.”

    Preliminary estimates show widespread damage to infrastructure with as much as up to 50 percent of the buildings in the capital and other areas hit by the strong earthquake were damaged or destroyed. Later, John Holmes, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that 30 percent of the capital’s infrastructure has been destroyed.

    The 7.0-magnitude quake hit especially close to the United Nations family as it appears more staff were killed in one day than during any other incident.

    UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky said the death toll for United Nations staff has climbed to 37, with 36 people from the UN peacekeeping force, MINUSTAH, and one person from the World Food Program (WFP).

    The WFP confirmed that one of their staff had deceased but declined to give details.

    Out of a total of 12,000 UN national and international staff, 330 are missing or unaccounted for, said Nesirky, who added that many could be safe but because of failed communication lines, have been unable to relay information on their whereabouts.

    Meanwhile, the security situation on the ground appears to be growing more tense by the day, with UN officials warning that if victims of the quake do not receive food and water soon, tensions will begin to fray. CHI straightener

    Already, there are reports of widespread looting. Ban noted that he was “very much concerned” about deteriorating security but said that the UN peacekeeping force, of which there are 3,000 in Port-au-Prince, was working closely with the National Haitian Police (HNP).

    This contradicted earlier reports from UN peacekeeping force spokesperson David Wimhurst who told reporters in New York via video conference that the HNP had “simply vanished.”

    Wimhurst warned that with limited assistance, many Haitians are beginning to get “angry and impatient.”

    On Thursday, the WFP began distributing food to 8,000 people several times a day, said Ban, noting it is “only a drop in the bucket.”

    Within 15 days the UN food agency hopes to feed one million people and within one month that figure is expected to climb to 2 million.

A light plane crashed near the Oxford Airport of Britain on Friday, killing two people, local police announced. CHI flat iron

    Thames Valley Police said the two-seater aircraft came down in a field in Bladon at around 2 pm, bursting into flames. The type of the plane is not yet known.

    ”It looked like he was trying to pull the aircraft up but unfortunately crashed,” an eyewitness recalled. “Within five seconds it burst into flames which were 30 feet high.”

    The Air Accident Investigation Branch, based in Farnborough, Hampshire, said that a team was on its way to the scene to investigate the crash.CHI ceramic

On-location film, television and commercial production activities in Los Angeles have seen a 19 percent fall over the previous year as recession, runaway production and lingering effect of contract dispute between management and actors took their toll on local productions, the Los Angles Times reported Friday. best hair straightener

    Although 2009 has been a bumper year at the box office, the city still saw the steepest year-over-year decline since 1993 when the statistics became available, FilmL.A. Inc. said in a report. The production has been a major employer and key component of the city, home to Hollywood and related entertainment industry.

    The sector was buffeted on several fronts. These included the recession, which led to a decline in film, TV and commercial shoots; the ongoing exodus of production from the region; and the long-term effects of a contract dispute with actors, which caused financing for independent features to dwindle, FilmL.A. said.

    Hardest hit was feature film production, which had been steadily falling over much of the last decade as L.A. lost jobs to Canada and, increasingly, other states such as New Mexico, Louisiana and Michigan that offer tax credits and rebates to filmmakers.

    The uptick wasn’t enough to keep features from falling 30 percent for the year, however. Feature films accounted for 4,976 permitted production days (defined as a crew’s permission to film a single project at a single location over a 24-hour period), the lowest level since 1993 and less than half what it was a decade ago, according to the daily newspaper.

    California’s newly adopted film tax credit program helped to blunt the downturn, with production activity increasing by double digits in the second half of the year. About 50 productions qualified to receive about 100 million U.S. dollars in tax credits since the state program began this summer. Among those, 10 were feature films shot locally that would not have otherwise been made in California, according to FilmL.A.

    2009 has also been a difficult year for television and commercial productions, FilmL.A. said.

    Television, the largest sector of the production industry, saw its production days falling 17 percent to 15,933. Production days for commercial production also dropped 12 percent to 5,292 as advertisers scaled back spending because of the recession. That was the lowest level since 2000, when actors who work in commercials went on strike, FilmL.A said. CHI flat iron

    Founded in 1995, FilmL.A. is a nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and parts of the county.

Adriano returned to Flamengo’s pre-season practice for the first time on Wednesday wearing cleats.  GHD hair iron

    However, shortly after his appearance in his shoes, the striker abandoned the field workouts claiming that his persistent injury was unbearable.

    Adriano’s left ankle was burnt in an accident in late November of 2009. The player claims that he burnt himself on a garden lamp, however, rumors remain pertinent that the athlete burnt himself while joyriding on a friends motorcycle.

    Although nearly two months have passed, Adriano’s injury has not yet healed and has impeded his participation in Flamengo’s pre-season training in the Sao Paulo city of Porto Feliz.

    After entering the field on Wednesday wearing his cleats, it only took a matter of minutes before Adriano complained of pain. He took his cleats off and immediately left the field. GHD flat iron

Adriano is not expected to play in Flamengo’s debut against Duque de Caxias in the 2010 Rio de Janeiro state championship on January 17.

The administration of Flamengo’s soccer team announced on Wednesday that they are preparing to receive the midfielder Michael.

    The athlete currently plays for the Ukrainian team of Dynamo Kiev, but Flamengo is confident that the player will soon be released from his contract in order to return to Brazil in 2010. discount CHI hair straightener

    Michael played for Botafogo in the 2009 Brazilian Championship. However, he was placed on restriction due to indiscipline with the club.

    Dynamo owns the player’s rights and controls his future. Flamengo is confident that they will be able to work out a loan that will bring the player to the club from Rio de Janeiro shortly.

    Should the player receive the go-ahead from Dynamo, Michael will only be the second player to be announced as reinforcement for Flamengo in 2010.

    According to the director of soccer at Flamengo, Eduardo Manhaes, the club expects to make an official declaration regarding the player’s arrival on Thursday.

    The team is also actively attempting to resolve the financial dispute between the Russian team of CSKA regarding Vagner Love’s trade from Palmeiras to Flamengo. GHD IV

    As of now, nothing has been resolved despite Love’s liberation from his contractual loan with Palmeiras. Love, who is desperate to leave Palmeiras on account of lack of security, expressed his personal desire to play at Flamengo and participate in the 2010 Libertadores Cup.

At least 16 UN personnel were killed in an earthquake that struck Haiti’s capital of Port au Prince on Tuesday, UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday after an informal meeting of the General Assembly. CHI straightener

    The 16 include 11 Brazilian peacekeepers, one Argentinean, three Jordanian police officers, and one Chadian police officer, said Ban.

    As this is only a preliminary figure, more casualties are expected, he added.

    The UN has said that about 150 of its employees working there are still trapped in collapsed buildings and remain unaccounted for, including the mission chief Hedi Annabi and his deputy special representative Luiz Carlos da Costa.

    According to reports from Haitian President Rene Preval, Hedi Annabi is dead. Ban said he has been trying to contact Preval since early Wednesday morning.

    ”I have only been able to speak with the ambassador here,” Leo Merores, who has been trying to arrange for a telephone call. However, no one at UN headquarters appears to have been able to reach Preval because communication lines are either down or overloaded.

    ”But I am trying to reach him,” said Ban.

    In the meantime, Ban said he would be dispatching Edmond Mullet, a UN undersecretary general, to assume full command of the UN mission.

    Thousands of Haitians are feared dead after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the country on Tuesday. Many are still buried under the rubble of toppled buildings, said Ban, stressing the need for swift rescue operations.

    ”People buried under the rubble are still alive,” he said. “We must save them, as many as possible and we must move immediately.”

    The UN is expected to issue a flash appeal for aid in the coming days, said Ban. The UN has already released 10 million U.S. dollars from the emergency fund.

    There is very serious problem of infrastructure and a lack of heavy equipment to help in search and rescue efforts, said Ban, who added that “the situations seems to be very tough.”

    Ban said he spoke with U.S. President Barack Obama, who assured him that the United States will deploy all available resources to help in the relief efforts. Christmas Hair Straighteners

    Ban praised the commitment and solidarity shown by UN personnel working in Haiti, where he traveled last year with former U.S. President and UN special envoy Bill Clinton.

    Ban has said he is not going to Haiti immediately so as not to get in the way of rescue efforts. He said he will decide when to go after Mullet assesses the situation on the ground.

    ”To the people of Haiti, I say this, ‘We are with you.’ We are working quickly, as fast as humanly possible,” Ban added.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who serves as UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy for Haiti, on Wednesday urged people around the world to make donations for quake relief effort in Haiti. CHI ceramic

    ”For the next week or ten days, we need water, food, shelter, and first-aid supplies,” Clinton told an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly on the Haiti earthquake.

    Clinton stressed there is a great desire around the world to help the Haitian people and he encouraged people to donate money for the relief effort.

    ”So the most important thing individuals can do, who care, is to send cash — even if it’s a dollar, or two dollars,” he said.

    A website (www.clintonfoundation.org/haitiearthquake) has been set up for people who want to make their donations to the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) or any other humanitarian groups, he said. CHI hair iron

    ”All the money will be immediately dispersed to people on the ground for food, water, first-aid supplies, and shelter,” he pledged.

One pilot was dead after a Royal New Zealand Air Force CT4 Airtrainer crashed on Thursday. best hair straightener

    The accident happened near an air weapons range at Santoft, 18 km northwest of central North Island town of Bulls on Thursday morning, Radio New Zealand reported.

    The CT4 Airtrainer was conducting a practice routine from its base at Ohakea. Only one plane was involved in the crash.

An Air Force Iroquois helicopter has been sent to the crash site.CHI camo collection