US upgrades defense of Persian Gulf allies
The United States has begun beefing up its approach to defending its Persian Gulf allies against potential Iranian missile strikes, officials say. The defenses are being stepped up in advance of possible increased sanctions against Iran.
The Obama administration has quietly increased the capability of land-based Patriot defensive missiles in several Gulf Arab nations, and one military official said the Navy is increasing the presence of ships capable of knocking out hostile missiles in flight.
The officials discussed aspects of the defensive strategy Saturday on condition of anonymity because some elements are classified.
The moves, part of a broader adjustment in the U.S. approach to missile defense, including in Europe and Asia have been in the works for months. Details have not been publicly announced, in part because of diplomatic sensitivities in Gulf countries which worry about Iranian military capabilities but are cautious about acknowledging U.S. protection.
The White House will send a review of ballistic missile strategy to Congress on Monday that frames the larger shifts. Attention to defense of the Persian Gulf region, a focus on diffuse networks of sensors and weapons and cooperation with Russia are major elements of the study, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Russia opposed Bush administration plans for a land-based missile defense site in Eastern Europe, and President Barack Obama's decision to walk away from that plan last year was partly in pursuit of new capabilities that might hold greater promise and partly in deference to Russia.
One military official said the adjustments in the Gulf should be seen as prudent defensive measures designed to deter Iran from taking aggressive action in the region, more than as a signal that Washington expects Iran to retaliate for any additional sanctions.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton consulted with numerous allies during a visit to London this week. She told reporters that the evident failure of U.S. offers to engage Iran in negotiations over its nuclear program means the U.S. will now press for additional sanctions against the Iranian government.
Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. Central Command chief who is responsible for U.S. military operations across the Middle East, mentioned in several recent public speeches one element of the defensive strategy in the Gulf: upgrading Patriot missile systems, which originally were deployed in the region to shoot down aircraft but now can hit missiles in flight.
In remarks at Georgetown Law School on Jan. 21, Petraeus said the U.S. now has eight Patriot missile batteries stationed in the Gulf region — two each in four countries. He did not name the countries, but Kuwait has long been known to have Patriots on its territory.
A military official said Saturday that the three other countries are the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain — which also hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters — and Qatar, home to a modernized U.S. air operations center that has played a key role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Afghan leader appeals to Taliban to lay down guns
Afghanistan's president appealed to Taliban fighters Sunday to lay down their weapons and accept Afghan laws as the government and its international allies push a program to entice militants away from the insurgency.
President Hamid Karzai spoke three days after he and Western backers agreed at a conference in London to create a more comprehensive program to bring Taliban insurgents over to the government's side in order to reduce violence that has raged in recent years.
Incentives have existed for years for the Taliban to stop fighting, but these have generally been ineffective, attracting only the lowest-level fighters with no guarantees they wouldn't return to the insurgency or that promised aid would come through.
And despite incentives, the insurgency has expanded steadily in the past six years. In 2004, NATO estimated that fewer than 400 Taliban were left in Afghanistan. By last year that figure had grown to nearly 25,000, with the latest estimates in early 2010 putting the number of insurgents at close to 30,000.
Karzai stressed he plans to reconcile with Taliban leaders as much as they are willing, but he made clear his offer of reconciliation did not extend to anyone in al-Qaida, saying there was no room in Afghanistan for terrorists.
"We are trying our best to reach as high as possible to bring peace and security," Karzai said in his first news conference since returning from London.
Karzai has said previously he is willing to talk to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and welcome back any militants who are willing to recognize the Afghan constitution. However, the Taliban has always set the withdrawal of international troops as a precondition for any negotiations.
Karzai called that unrealistic, saying the NATO coalition should be expected to stay until they achieve their goal of removing al-Qaida and other terrorist threats.
Afghanistan's international backers agreed in London to provide funding for a renewed effort to woo Taliban away from al-Qaida and the insurgency, given the commitment of the Afghan government to institute a more comprehensive and thorough program, including jobs and education. The details will be worked out in a meeting of elders, clerics and other representatives to be held "very soon," Karzai said.
Karzai is scheduled to travel this week to Saudi Arabia, one of the few countries that recognized the Taliban regime before it was ousted in 2001 and whose leaders have acted as intermediaries before. Karzai declined to say if he planned to discuss the new reconciliation plan with the Saudis.
"The role of Saudi Arabia is extremely important for Afghanistan," Karzai said. "This role we're seeking is not only for talks with the Taliban. It's a broader role that we're seeking, which is for peace-building in Afghanistan, for improved relations with our nations and for reconstruction and assistance."
Saudi Arabia pledged an additional $150 million in aid to Afghanistan at the London conference.
Egypt to soon announce King Tut DNA test results
Egypt's archaeology chief will soon announce the results of DNA testing and CT scans on the mummy of King Tutankhamun to resolve mysteries about his lineage.
In a statement by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass says he would hold a press conference on Feb. 17 to reveal the results of the tests in comparison to those done on King Amenhotep III, a possible grandfather.
The effort is part of a wider program to check the DNA of hundreds of mummies to determine their identities and family relations. The program could help determine Tutankhamun's family lineage, which has long been a source of mystery.
Sunday's statement also said a robot would be sent into the Great Pyramid of Khufu to discover the secrets of its hidden passageways.
Egypt questions suspects of new militant group
Egyptian prosecutors are questioning 25 people suspected of forming a new Islamic militant group to carry out attacks inside the country, a security official and a lawyer said Sunday.
The group was planning to attack U.S. ships in the Suez Canal and the tomb of revered Jewish holy man Abu Hatzira in the Nile Delta, according to Egypt's independent Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. Quoting security officials, the paper reported that the group was also planning to ship weapons and explosives to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza for use in their rockets.
The 25 Egyptians were arrested in November on charges of stockpiling weapons and explosives to be used in "attacks against targets inside Egypt," a security official told The Associated Press. They were arrested in Mansoura, northeast of Cairo.
The official and the lawyer both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.
"They are accused of forming a new Islamic militant group based on ideas of Sayyid Qutb," the lawyer said, referring to an Egyptian ideologue executed in 1966 whose ideas provide much of the intellectual basis for today's militant groups.
The report in Al-Masry Al-Youm said some of the suspects received training in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.
Egyptian security forces have recently reported the arrests of members of several new militant groups looking to carry out attacks against Egyptian and foreign targets, including U.S. and Israeli interests.
Taylor rehearses, Ke$ha shares Grammy dreams
The music world is celebrating all over town this weekend with tributes, rehearsals, parties and, of course, a gift suite or two in anticipation of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night at Staples Center. Here's a look:
DANCE COMMANDER: Ke$ha — who has the No. 1 song in the country with her dance groove "TiK ToK" — spent part of Saturday afternoon at the Grammys Styling Studio, picking out accessories and other fashions available for talent who are taking part of the show.
While she's not up for any awards, the singer is presenting the best new artist category. Ke$ha's debut album was released this month, and she hopes next year she'll be at the Grammys for a different reason.
"It's been a dream of mine to go to the Grammys. Now that I'm gonna be on the stage it's pretty surreal, so I can only dream that maybe next year I can find my name in one of the categories," she said.
And while she's dominated the airwaves with her party girl anthem, she took a bit of offense — playfully, of course — when she was described as such on Saturday.
"Define party girl, because yeah, I'm a walking good time, but I'm not like some starlet who goes out, doesn't wear underwear, gets a DUI," said Ke$ha.
"I'm so not that girl. But I am like a walking good time, but I'm having a good time just walking around here. I feel like a more proper title for myself would be a dance commander," she said.
___
A SWIFT REHEARSAL: Taylor Swift performed a rollicking version of her hit "You Belong With Me" as she rehearsed for her big Grammy moment, but she may have provided the most excitement when she came off the stage.
Several young fans were waiting anxiously as Swift gave a couple of quick television interviews. Afterward, she posed for pictures, and made one young man swoon when she shook his hand.
Swift was among a parade of A-list artists rehearsing at Staples Center on Friday, including Dave Matthews, Maxwell, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks, Mary J. Blige, Andrea Bocelli, Drake, Eminem and Lil Wayne.
As for Swift, she said she planned a low key night at her hotel after rehearsal, but with a treat — In-N-Out Burgers.
___
TIMELESS TRIBUTE: Elton John, James Taylor, Dave Matthews and more than a dozen other artists honored Neil Young as the MusiCares Person of the Year at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The singer-songwriter and more than 2,000 other guests were treated to new interpretations of 20 of his timeless songs, including "Harvest Moon" and "Cinnamon Girl," during the nearly four-hour program.
Young was feted Friday night for his decades of philanthropic service, including work with Farm Aid and the Bridge School Concerts, which raise money to provide services for kids with severe speech and physical impairments.
"I'd forgotten how many songs I'd written," the 64-year-old musician said.
Young watched the show with his wife, Pegi, by his side. At the end of the night, a humble Young took the stage and said he hoped the songs he's writing today are as good as the ones performed Friday.
"It's been a great night. It wore me out," he said. "Now I've got to go back and try and write some songs."
Kathryn Bigelow tops directors with ‘Hurt Locker’
Kathryn Bigelow and "The Hurt Locker" became official awards-season front-runners Saturday after Bigelow won the top prize from the Directors Guild of America.
The 58-year-old filmmaker is the first woman to win the guild's top honor, which positions her and the film as shoe-ins for the Academy Awards. The DGA boasts that its winner has gone on to win the Oscar all but six times since 1948.
"This is the most incredible moment of my life," Bigelow said backstage. She downplayed her gender, saying, "I suppose I like to think of myself as a filmmaker."
Still, she was the only nominated director who earned accolades for her physique as well as her filmmaking. Bigelow was up against Quentin Tarantino for "Inglourious Basterds," Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air," Lee Daniels for "Precious" and her ex-husband James Cameron for "Avatar."
"Hurt Locker" star Jeremy Renner called Bigelow "a warrior, my champion and the most fortunate actor's director."
Tarantino praised her as "queen of directors." He said his fellow nominees have been spending so much time together, they have become "like a superstar rock band and we're going to go on tour together."
Clutching a shiny medallion as a souvenir of his DGA nomination, Tarantino said, "I don't give a (expletive) who wins, I am so happy to have this."
Daniels said the nominated directors, who have seen each other regularly throughout Hollywood's awards season, are "like a support group" for one another.
"We have each other's backs," he said.
He told Bigelow, "You are bold. You are brave. You are gutsy."
Reitman told the winning director that he grew up watching her films.
"You are more than a great director, you are one of the greats," he said. "I'm in awe of you, too."
Cameron praised his competitors as "truly excellent and brilliant filmmakers."
Bigelow said just being nominated for the Directors Guild honor is "kind of the pinnacle for the already wild ride 'The Hurt Locker' has put me on."
The four-hour affair at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel drew a spate of celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Jodie Foster, Jon Cryer, Cheryl Hines and Jason Bateman. All but Jolie served as presenters during Saturday's ceremony.
Carl Reiner hosted the event recognizing achievements in directing, as he has for 22 years.
"Modern Family" won the top honor for television comedy for its pilot, directed by Jason Winer.
"I want to thank the DGA for validating the Napoleon complex I've had ever since I was a smaller boy," the diminutive director said.
The drama prize went to "Mad Men" and director Lesli Linka Glatter. Ross Katz was honored for the HBO movie "Taking Chance." Louie Psihoyos' film "The Cove" won the documentary award.
"The film plays like a prequel to 'Avatar,' only it's real and set in the present," Psihoyos said.
Cher presented Norman Jewison with the guild's Lifetime Achievement Award for his career in film.
"The studio heads maybe have all the power, but we've got the glory," he said. "And when you receive the lifetime achievement award like this, it makes you very nervous, like maybe you're going to fall off the perch or something."
The 83-year-old filmmaker accepted the award surrounded by his family, including his four grandchildren.
Cher said she would have gone to the moon to present Jewison with the honor.
"He has changed my life," said Cher, who starred in "Moonstruck," Jewison's 1987 hit. "I love him so much."
Roger Goodman was presented the guild's lifetime achievement award in news direction. Disney chief Robert Iger and Warner Bros. chief Barry Meyer were granted honorary life memberships in the guild.
Among other guild winners:
• Reality programming: Craig Borders, "Hong Kong Bridge."
• Children's programs: Allison Liddi-Brown, "Princess Protection Program."
• Daytime serials: Christopher Goutman, "As the World Turns: Once Upon a Time."
• Commercials: Tom Kuntz.
Among Hollywood's many honors leading up to the Academy Awards, the Directors Guild prizes have one of the best track records for predicting eventual Oscar winners.
Academy Award nominations will be announced Tuesday.
___
Inspirational Hassan Shehata homes in on hat-trick for Egypt
Egypt went out of the Cup of Nations in the group stage six years ago but in 17 games since they are unbeaten. They won the tournament on home soil in 2006 and then became only the second North African side to win it in West Africa, triumphing in Ghana two years later.
Tomorrow, if they beat a youthful Ghana in the final, they will become the first team to win the tournament three times in succession.
It is not hard to pinpoint the reason for the upturn. After the departure of Marco Tardelli in 2004, Egypt turned to Hassan Shehata, and he has glowered successfully from behind his moustache ever since.
Once a prolific centre-forward with Zamalek, he was not an obvious choice, having developed a reputation as a promotion specialist, guiding Menia, Sharquia and Suez into the top flight in successive seasons before taking charge of the national youth set-up.
The 60-year-old insisted on a team ethic, stamping on the egos that had been so troublesome in the past. Perhaps the defining moment of his career came in the 2006 semi-final against Senegal after he substituted Mido. The then-Tottenham forward reacted furiously but as he and Shehata quarrelled on the touchline, his replacement Amr Zaki headed the winner: Shehata was vindicated and Mido has barely played for the national team since.
Religion is part of the process of bonding the team. In Ghana the squad joined in sacrificing a cow and they are expected to pray together. It is Islam that Shehata credits with having brought the at times tempestuous Borussia Dortmund forward Mohamed Zidan into line.
"I did not like how he used to be aloof and not mix with the rest," he said. "I convinced him of the need to pray and how important it is. He has been praying since."
It has clearly worked for Zidan, who missed the 2006 tournament because he preferred to fight for a place in the team at his German club Mainz. He has become an integral part of the side, setting up the only goal in the final two years ago and orchestrating the evisceration of Algeria on Thursday. "He's a very good coach," Zidan said. "What's important is that he has a good relationship with us."
With his refusal to co-operate with the media and brusque touchline manner, Shehata appears a sergeant-majorly figure but Zidan says the reality is very different. "He's like a father," he said. "We make jokes with him. He's not a young coach and it's strange to see somebody of his age who is so close to his team. Maybe other people don't see this – they just see him in the game when he is tense and is giving us instructions."
As ever, Shehata has imposed a media lockdown in the knockout stages of the tournament and it seems to work. If his side, who with 14 goals in five games have been by some way the best attacking team in the tournament, can overcome the best defence, he will equal the great Ghanaian coach CK Gyamfi's record of three African titles.
Ghana v Egypt: How they compare
Cup of Nations record This will be a record eighth final for both sides, although it is Ghana's first since they lost 11-10 on penalties to Ivory Coast in 1992. Egypt have won the title six times, Ghana four.
Key clash At 34 Ahmed Hassan remains probably the best creative midfielder in Africa but after almost a decade unchallenged the 21-year-old Ghanaian Kwadwo Asamoah has emerged as a worthy pretender. Their scrap in midfield could be crucial.
Preferred set-up Egypt will use the 3-5-2 that has brought them such sustained success, while Ghana will probably stick with their 4-4-1-1, which means Hany Said, the Egyptian sweeper, will have to step into midfield if they are not to be outnumbered there.
Africa Cup of Nations final: Ghana v Egypt, Luanda, Sunday 4pm (GMT)
U.S. regrets China’s riposte to arms sales
The United States said on Saturday it regretted China's announced cuts in bilateral contacts and its plans to punish U.S. companies involved in arms sales to Taiwan.
Washington defended arms sales, such as those notified to Congress Friday, as boosting regional security.
"We regret that the Chinese government has announced that it plans to curtail military-to-military and other security-related exchanges and take action against U.S. firms that supply defensive articles to Taiwan," said P.J. Crowley, the State Department's chief spokesman.
"We believe our policy contributes to stability and security in the region," he said.
Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, also voiced regret over the Chinese response.
China opposes all U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, which it regards as part of its territory. For the first time, it said would impose unspecified sanctions on unnamed companies involved in arms sales to Taiwan and scale down contacts with the United States unless it canceled the new, proposed $6.4 billion arms package.
Among the sales, subject to congressional review, would be Black Hawk utility helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp.; Lockheed Martin Corp-built and Raytheon Co.-integrated Patriot missile defenses; and Harpoon land- and sea-attack missiles built by Boeing Co..
Representatives of Sikorsky, Raytheon and Boeing either had no immediate comment or did not respond to questions left for them. A Lockheed spokesman referred a caller to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which formally announced the sales plans. An agency representative could not immediately be reached.
Boeing, the No. 1 U.S. exporter, has big commercial interests in China, the world's most populous market, including commercial aircraft sales. United Technologies also has significant sales in China, where it sells Carrier brand heating and air-conditioning, Otis elevators and escalators and other products.
The other arms makers appear to have more limited exposure to Chinese sanctions.
CHINA NAMES NO COMPANIES
The dispute deepens rifts between the world's biggest and third-biggest economies. Although they are cooperating on counter-terrorism, nuclear arms control, climate change and other major security issues, Beijing and Washington are at odds over trade as well as China's tight control of its currency, dissent in Tibet and the Internet.
Since 1949 when Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after losing the mainland to Communist rebels, Beijing has demanded Taiwan accept unification, threatening to use force if necessary.
"The United States will shoulder responsibility for the serious repercussions if it does not immediately reverse the mistaken decision to sell weapons to Taiwan," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei told U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman in comments reported on the ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
China's Defense Ministry said military exchanges would be put on hold and Beijing postponed vice ministerial-level talks on security, arms control and non-proliferation.
"China will also impose corresponding sanctions on U.S. companies that engage in weapons sales to Taiwan," the Foreign Ministry said, without naming any companies. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Beijing has shown no sign of trying to use its huge pile of U.S. dollar assets to pressure Washington, or impose broader trade penalties -- both steps that would undercut China's own economic strength.
BROADER RISK
The feud could damage broader diplomacy between the two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Washington has sought China's backing in its nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea and in fighting climate change, and is preparing for a world summit on nuclear weapons in April.
China's official Xinhua news agency said in an English-language commentary that the arms sales "will cause seriously negative effects on China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation in important areas, and ultimately will lead to consequences that neither side wishes to see."
The sales in effect constitute the second half of a package that former President George W. Bush had approved as early as 2001. The notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean a deal has been concluded. Congress has 30 days to block such sales, though it has never done so.
Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou told reporters the weapons would give "Taiwan more confidence and a sense of security to go forward in developing cross-Strait relations".
Under Ma, Taiwan has sought to ease tensions with the mainland and expand economic ties. But it worries China could develop an overwhelming military advantage.
Taiwan says China has 1,000 to 1,500 short-range and mid-range missiles aimed at the island.
U.S. officials have said Taiwan, which lags China in the balance of military power, needs updated weapons to give it more sway when negotiating with Beijing.
In coming months, President Barack Obama may meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China calls a dangerous separatist. Beijing is sure to condemn such a meeting.
Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to visit the United States later this year. Both sides praised an Obama visit to China in November as showing deepening cooperation.
The two countries traded angry words about Internet policy after the search engine giant Google Inc. this month threatened to shut its Chinese google.cn portal and pull out of China because of censorship and hacking attacks.
Latrines join food, water on Haiti’s crisis list
A lack of sanitation threatens to create killer diseases in the vast refugee camps where hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors have crammed in together, relief officials said Saturday.The need for latrines has joined food, water and shelter as a major concern.
Just one portable toilet serves about 2,000 people in a sprawling camp across from the collapsed National Palace. Most use a gutter next to where vendors cook food and mothers struggle to bathe their children.
"We wash the vegetables first from water brought in by trucks, but a lot of times the water isn't clean," said Marie Marthe, 45, cooking a large pot of collard greens, carrots and goat as flies gathered on her daughter's diaper. "We don't have any choice."
With an estimated 1 million made homeless by the quake, survivors have crammed into nearly every open space left in the capital, so tightly that finding a place to dig latrines is hard. "In some parks there is no physical space," said Silvia Gaya, UNICEF's coordinator for water and sanitation.
"As of yesterday we were in the process of digging latrines for about 20,000 people," Gaya said, adding that 1,100 squatting platforms were arriving Saturday, to be distributed in camps and covered with plastic sheeting for privacy.
Nearly three dozen organizations are joining in a U.N.-led effort to build latrines and handle solid waste disposal, said Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization. Authorities also plan to build more permanent resettlement camps with plumbing and sewage and have identified some locations.
The results of these efforts aren't yet evident in many places, exposing people to cholera, dysentery, tetanus; the mosquito-borne dengue and malaria, and other communicable diseases.
Some hospitals are already reporting that half the children they're treating have malaria. Although the rainy season won't start until April, thousands are living outside near standing water where mosquitoes breed.
Fumigation trucks to kill mosquitoes sprayed near camps across from the palace on Saturday.
Dr. Louise Ivers, Haiti clinical director for Partners in Health, said she fears "a mass outbreak of measles, which would really be potentially devastating for a camp where there are 10,000 people living."
Food distribution, at least, was becoming more organized. The World Food Program started its first systematic food distribution system on Saturday, handing out coupons that only women can use to collect food at 16 sites starting Sunday.
The idea is to ensure a dependable supply for families and prevent young men from forcing their way to the front and or stealing food from weaker people in line. The coupons entitle each family to 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of rice.
But the effort to respond to overwhelming emergency medical needs have suffered a setback, with the U.S. military halting flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims to the United States in an apparent dispute between states and the federal government over the cost of their care.
"We can't fly anyone without an accepting hospital on the other end," said Capt. Kevin Aandahl, spokesman for U.S. Transportation Command.
Quake survivors remain exposed not only to each other, but to the elements. Signs begging for help in English — not Haitian Creole — dot nearly every street corner in Port-au-Prince. It could take weeks to get the 200,000 tents needed for Haiti's homeless, said Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, the culture and communications minister. Haiti now has fewer than 5,000 donated tents and coordinating the aid operation remains a problem.
Some Haitians are so fed up with the camps that they are making a risky return to destroyed homes — the only semblance of property they have left.
"The situation is only getting worse," said Josielle Noel, 46, who was working with dozens of neighbors to rebuild in the concrete slum of Canape Vert, an area devastated by the Jan. 12 quake.
Tired of waiting for government help, they lugged heavy bundles of wood and tin up steep hillsides, putting up new structures amid the rubble.
"Even if it's unsafe, I can't imagine leaving. Even if the government helps, it will come too late. This is how it is in Haiti," said Noel Marie Jose, 44.
Jose and other families said they were worried both about the coming rainy season and fear they may lose their plots because they lack clear title or the government does not want them to rebuild on unsafe land.
Reconstruction, resettlement and land titles are all priorities of the government of President Rene Preval — but so far in name only.
The government has been nearly paralyzed by the quake, which destroyed its infrastructure and killed many officials. So far it has focused on appeals for foreign aid and dozens of meetings with potential outside contractors to discuss debris removal, sanitation and other long-term needs. It still hasn't produced detailed emergency response and recovery plans.
Its first priority is moving people from areas prone to more quakes and landslides into tent cities that have sanitation and security, but these resettlement camps have yet to be built.
About 200,000 people are in need of post-surgery follow-up treatment and an unknown number have untreated injuries, said Elisabeth Byrs, an official of the U.N.'s humanitarian coordination office. But she said sanitation is increasingly a major concern.
Obama taking populist tone in fight over jobs
President Barack Obama is shifting his administration's emphasis to battling unemployment, the scourge that is hurting households nationwide and threatening to inflict heavy losses on Democrats in November's elections.
In the process, he and his allies in Congress intend to force Republicans, through a series of upcoming votes, to choose between Wall Street's high fliers and Main Street's middle-class workers. With Democrats struggling to deliver on big promises such as overhauling health care, they hope their increasingly populist tone _coupled with Republican resistance to Democrats' budget-cutting proposals_ will prevent wavering voters from drifting to the GOP.
The White House has pushed a job-creation agenda for months. But it wasn't supposed to reign as the top priority until Democrats achieved their much-touted health care revisions.
That trouble-plagued campaign still drags on, however, leaving Obama little choice but to make it clear that creating jobs is his chief concern.
The shift in focus is not necessarily a death knell for the health care push. House and Senate Democratic leaders are trying to persuade colleagues to pass the contentious package despite fierce GOP opposition and polls that show substantial public dislike.
For now, at least, the legislative leaders seem content for Obama to remain fairly quiet while they work behind closed doors. If they can move the health care package close to the finish line in the next few weeks, they may call on him to buttonhole enough lawmakers for a final push.
That gives Obama leeway to focus heavily on trying to whittle down the nation's 10 percent unemployment rate. In Wednesday's State of the Union address, he declared, "Jobs must be our No. 1 focus in 2010." On Friday he rolled out details of a $33 billion, one-year tax incentive plan to encourage more hiring.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said in an interview that the administration also hopes Congress will approve a new stimulus bill in the next couple of weeks. The other most immediate priorities, he said, are votes on a bailout fee on big banks and a financial reform package, including a new consumer finance agency.
Congressional Republicans have opposed these and other proposals, saying Obama wants to slap stifling regulations on the nation's still-struggling financial sector.
Some Democrats view the GOP stance as a policy and political miscalculation.
White House officials and Democratic lawmakers described a strategy to put Republicans on the spot by scheduling regular votes on jobs, financial regulation and other matters that fall in line with the Democrats' populist message.
The strategy is meant to put Republicans in a box. They can vote with Democrats on items such as imposing a fee on big banks that received public bailout money. Or they can oppose such measures and risk being painted as protectors of big banks and stock traders rather than working-class Americans.
Many congressional Republicans, riding high after their stunning victory in the Jan. 19 Massachusetts Senate race, think the Democrats' strategy won't work. They appear almost united in their willingness to oppose Democrats on numerous measures that arguably might appeal to the public, calling them irresponsible, unworkable or overly intrusive.
Senate Republicans recently helped kill a proposed bipartisan commission meant to reduce the deficit, even though some originally had embraced it.
They also unanimously opposed an increase in the allowable level of federal borrowing. The measure, which Democrats passed on a party-line vote, includes requirements that the government pay up front for many new programs rather than finance them through borrowing. Republicans say the pay-as-you-go plan encourages higher taxes.
Many House Republicans, meanwhile, criticized Obama's call Friday for a $5,000 tax credit for each new worker hired this year, capped at $500,000 per employer. They said previous efforts proved ineffective.
Axelrod said the White House and the Democratic-controlled Congress will keep pushing such proposals and keep highlighting Republicans' opposition.
"It's hard to understand why they would not be for it," he said. "They're going to have to decide."
Obama himself hinted at the strategy in a recent interview with Time magazine.
"It'll be interesting to see how some, who have tried to exploit legitimate anger at the big banks this year by trying to put it on us, are going to position themselves — whether in fact they're going to want to protect all these financial institutions from the regulations that will prevent the kind of disaster that we've seen over the past couple of years," Obama said.
"They're going to have to vote yea or nay, aren't they?" the reporter said.
"Right," said the president.
Both parties have made some nods at bipartisanship in recent days. But chances for meaningful accords before the November elections seem remote.
Obama and House Republicans engaged in a freewheeling exchange Friday in Baltimore, but the most energetic portions involved each side sharply defending its positions and pointedly criticizing the others'.
House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio thanked Obama for coming. A short time later he issued a lengthy, point-by-point rebuttal of the president's comments, under the headline, "President Obama repeats discredited talking points during dialogue with House GOP."
