By Greg Quinn

(Bloomberg) – Canada will illuminate its Parliament and the 1,815-foot CN Tower with the colors of the Haitian flag to encourage donations and express sympathy with the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Haiti’s Red Cross says the quake may have killed 50,000 people. Three days after the magnitude-7.0 tremor hit the capital, destroying homes, hospitals, schools and such landmarks as the presidential palace and national cathedral, thousands of people are wandering the city’s streets.

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By Elaine Ganley
The Associated Press

LA VERRIERE, France — The man she married is French, her four children were born in France and she speaks French with only a trace of her native Arabic tongue. Faiza Silmi contends her clothes – a head-to-toe robe and filmy tissue covering her face – are the reason France has denied her citizenship in her adopted land.

The 32-year-old Moroccan may soon be facing an even fiercer blow. A top French lawmaker submitted a draft law this week that would ban such Islamic dress anywhere in public, a measure that would set a European precedent and trap thousands of women between their religious convictions and the law of the land.

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First Lady Michelle Obama has released a public service announcement telling people what they can do to help the situation in Haiti.

Source: AP

By Emma Vandore

PARIS-France moved to help disaster-hit Haiti on Friday by urging creditors to speed efforts to cancel the impoverished Caribbean nation’s debt in order to free funds that otherwise would be used on repayments.

Though the Paris Club of creditor nations agreed in July to clear Haiti’s remaining $215 million debt to club members, the process can still take years to finalize.

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said she asked members of the informal club to speed up the process. The next meeting is Wednesday.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy is calling for an international donors conference to help Haiti rebuild from the catastrophic earthquake that hit the impoverished island on Tuesday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would call his US counterpart Barack Obama to push for an international donors’ conference to help Haiti get back on its feet.

Mr. Sarkozy said the devastating earthquake that has killed an estimated tens of thousands of people and turned buildings into rubble was only the latest disaster to strike the poor Caribbean country. He said it was time to end what he called Haiti’s ‘curse’ once and for all.

Aid from all over the world is heading to Haiti, but it is slow to reach the needy. Experts are working to rescue those trapped in the rubble – and to pull out the dead. The International Red Cross estimates that about one-third of Haiti’s population – some three million people – may need emergency relief.

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