Wyclef defends his Yele Haiti Foundation, but admits mistakes

His country facing a veritable apocalypse, Wyclef Jean took time out Monday to make an impassioned plea for help and yet another emotional defense of his charitable motives.

Days after The Smoking Gun posted financial records suggesting his Yéle Haiti Foundation may have enriched the former Fugee, Wyclef reiterated remarks from this weekend and insisted that all donations were going directly to help his homeland.



"Have I made mistakes? Yes," Jean said a press conference Monday. "Did I use Yéle money for personal gains? Absolutely not. The books are open. We have a clean bill of health from an auditor."



The 37-year-old musician and his organization have been at the forefront of relief efforts in Haiti, rallying support from politicians and Hollywood bigwigs like George Clooney.



"We went inside the belly of the beast", Jean said. "I was the one carrying the little girls to the morgue. In reality, my people are dying. I have to go back for relief. I do not cry for myself, I cry for them."



Because the destruction is so severe, Jean called for a mass exodus from the capital.



"I am asking the world to move 2 million people out of Port-au-Prince," Jean said. "If I ask them to leave they will leave. We need to keep Haiti alive."



Meanwhile, celebrities are continuing to rally relief support for Haiti, with John Travolta, Bette Midler, Usher and Josh Duhamel among the latest to pitch in.



Travolta is planning to personall fly aid into Haiti.



"I have arranged for a plane to take down some volunteer ministers and some supplies and some medics," Travolta told Entertainment Tonight. "My church has also arranged for 80 medics and 33 volunteers to go down. I hope that inspires others as well. It's needed."



Duhamel, meanwhile, is participating in a two-mile beach run in Santa Monica on Jan. 23 that will benefit earthquake victims.



"If you're like me, you've seen the pain and suffering going on in Haiti right now, and really feel the need to help, to physically help-to actually DO SOMETHING, " Duhamel tweeted Monday. "Well, I think we can!"



The run will be used as a fund-raising vehicle for the American Red Cross. Those interested can RSVP at youthrun4haiti.com.



Usher has partnered up with the United Nations Foundation to send aid, encouraging young people worldwide to join in.



"If only 1 percent of the world's youth population raised $5 each, we could raise $150 million to support the United Nation's relief efforts," he said in a statement.



Amassed donations for Usher's initiative can be sent via www.ushersnewlook.org or by texting "CERF" to 90999 to donate $5 to the cause.



Finally, Midler announced that she will collect monetary donations from fans at her Las Vegas show match the amount she receives up until her final performance of The Showgirl Must Go On at Caesars Palace on Jan. 31.



Thus far, Midler has raised $38,742.62 for Doctors Without Borders.

Source:postzambia.com/

2 Filipino fatalities in Haiti confirmed

MANILA, Philippines— (UPDATE) The first two Filipino fatalities in the magnitude-7 earthquake that rocked Haiti last week was confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs Tuesday after the remains of Jerome Yap, a United Nations staffer, and Pearlie Panangui, a UN peace worker, were found.




Yap, who was from Pampanga, served as executive assistant to Luis Carlos Da Costa, the deputy special representative of the UN Secretary General who was also killed in the collapsed building of the headquarters of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah).



The body of Navy Petty Officer 3 Panangui was recovered by rescue operators early Tuesday morning from the rubble of the UN headquarters in the 2nd floor of Christopher Hotel in Haiti, said AFP spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner Jr.



Still missing are Air Force Sergeant Janice Arocena and Army Sergeant Eustacio Bermudes Jr., Brawner said.



The DFA expressed “regrets to inform the public that the Philippines lost one of its own in last week’s earthquake that struck Haiti with the recovery of the remains of Mr. Jerome Yap at 5:15 a.m. (Haiti time).”



Yap’s remains were recovered several hours after the bodies of the special representative of the UN Secretary General, Hedi Annabi, and several others were pulled out of the ruins, the DFA said, quoting the report from the Philippine Mission to the United Nations in New York.



The Philippine Mission has already informed Yap’s family in New York and Pampanga after learning about the recovery of remains by Lieutenant Colonel Lope Dagoy, Commander of the 10th Philippine Peacekeeping Contingent.



Arrangements are being made for the repatriation of the remains of Yap and Panangui to the Philippines.



Of the estimated 700 Filipinos in Haiti, including the 172 Filipino UN peacekeepers, 165 are confirmed alive and safe.



Earlier, two Filipinas, Grace Fabian and Aurora Aguinaldo, were saved from the rubble of the Caribbean Supermarket. Both are safe and well. A Filipino peacekeeper, Army Corporal David Catacutan, was also rescued from the Montana Hotel on Thursday.



Another Filipina, Geraldine Calican, is still trapped under the Caribbean Supermarket, the DFA said.



Last week, the UN and its partners launched an appeal for nearly $600 million to help the victims of the earthquake, which has left basic services on the brink of collapse in Port-au-Prince.



President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved the release of $50,000 as Philippines' contribution to the flash appeal for funds intended to assist an estimated 3 million affected people over a period of six months. Half of the funds will be earmarked for emergency food aid, with the rest targeted at health, water, sanitation, nutrition, early recovery, emergency education, and other key needs.



UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also called for an additional 3,500 UN troops and police officers to be deployed to Haiti, already the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation before the disaster, to ensure that aid would the victims of the disaster as quickly as possible.



Ban visited Port-au-Prince on Sunday and asked the Security Council for an extra 1,500 police officers and 2,000 troops to reinforce the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, known as Minustah, which has 9,000 uniformed personnel already on the ground.



“The heartbreaking scenes... witnessed yesterday compel us to act swiftly and generously,” Ban told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.



“The Haitian people need to see that today is better than yesterday. They need to believe that the future will be better than the past,” he added.



Minustah and others taking part in the operation have agreed on a clear division of responsibilities regarding the provision of security and humanitarian support, he said.

Source:globalnation.inquirer.net/