OTTAWA, Sept 26 (Reuters) – The Royal Canadian Mint is not suspending sales of its gold bullion coins and is able to meet rising investor demand for the precious metal, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

“Although we are facing growing demand, we can keep producing the coins to meet the demand as best we can,” said spokeswoman Christine Aquino.

Investors are increasingly interested in gold products as the crisis ripping through financial markets makes them appear as the safest haven.

Coin dealers from the United States and Canada have reported a surge in buying of coins and other gold products. On Thursday, the U.S. Mint was forced to temporarily suspend sales of its American Buffalo 24-karat gold one-ounce bullion coins because strong demand depleted its inventory.

There had been market talk that Canada might make a similar move. But Canada’s mint is less reliant on external suppliers than its U.S. counterpart.

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KINGSTON, Jamaica — Authorities in Jamaica have charged a police officer with raping a female colleague while they were on duty during Tropical Storm Gustav.

Detective Adrian Johnson is accused of raping a 36-year-old constable in late August when he took her home. Defense attorney Carolyn Reid-Cameron says Johnson is not guilty and she blames a local newspaper for running a story that influenced prosecutors.

Police say the woman told them she was raped at her house and that she reported the assault two days later.

A judge on Friday released Johnson on a $6,000 bond.

Source: MiamiHerald.Com

Top UN aid official visits a mud-encased Haitian city to attract desperately Needed Aid

By ARIANA CUBILLOS

GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) _ The U.N. World Food Program’s director flew to a Haitian city still encased in mud Friday to draw global attention to the ongoing disaster that has enormously complicated the country’s struggle to feed itself.

The WFP said it has asked for $54 million to help Haiti recover from four killer storms but so far has received only $1 million. Beginning a two-day survey of the disaster area, Executive Director Josette Sheeran said “concerted global action” will be needed in a country where local officials say famine looms.

“We need more and we are ready,” she told The Associated Press, adding that some previously flooded roads have reopened. “Now we can handle more food and water.”

She urged agriculture officials to buy seeds and other produce from local farmers to revive the economy.

“Haiti wants to grow its own food and to be self-sufficient, not just waiting on food assistance while they recover from this devastating storm,” Sheeran said.

Haitian President Rene Preval also pleaded for help, asking for long-term assistance Friday in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

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Recent hurricanes and storms have devastated Haiti, killing hundreds of people and destroying years of economic progress in the hemisphere’s poorest nation, President Rene Preval said on Friday.

He spoke after officials in Haiti reported that more than 800 people were killed when tropical storms Fay and Hanna and hurricanes Gustav and Ike hammered the impoverished Caribbean country in the space of just a few weeks.

The regional representative of the Red Cross in Haiti’s storm-ravaged northern port of Gonaives, Daniel Dupiton, told Reuters 520 bodies had been discovered in that city alone.

At least 283 others were killed elsewhere in Haiti, which has been overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster left by the storms, officials said.

“The damage caused by the passage of these four successive hurricanes in less than two months has set Haiti back several years,” Preval told the UN General Assembly in New York.

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A broad range of South Floridians are eager to aid the storm-devastated nation of Haiti.

BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com

Shoppers queued up at the Whole Foods Market in Aventura are greeted with a sign at the cashier soliciting $1, $2 and $5 donations for storm-ravaged Haiti.

Across the county line in Dania Beach, fishing enthusiasts bring in 40 bags’ worth of Haiti-bound clothing and food after reading about a plea for help in online chatrooms like Florida Sportsman and Swordfishing Central.

Even amid this season of financial ruin in the United States, Haiti has been showered with good deeds, rendering the troubled country something of a cause du jour for many South Floridians.

Do-gooders have rushed to the side of Florida’s southern neighbor before, pitching in, say, after Tropical Storm Jeanne brushed the western coast in 2004 and left some 3,000 dead and foot riots rocked the island nation in April.

But this time, the outpouring of support is being carried out on a much broader scale. From boating enthusiasts to hipster clubgoers — people who have no direct ties to Haiti or its people save physical proximity — everybody wants to do their part.

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