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Bush Orders Flag Tribute to Tsunami Victims Sat Jan 1, 3:56 PM ET By David Morgan CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Saturday ordered the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff for five days to honor victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami as a White House delegation prepared to visit devastated areas. A day after he raised the U.S. tsunami aid contribution ten-fold to $350 million amid pressure from critics, Bush used his weekly radio address to emphasize the need for private relief donations to a region where giant waves killed nearly 127,000 people...

Japan on Saturday raised its contribution of financial assistance to Indian Ocean nations affected by the tsunami to $500 million in a pledge that makes Tokyo the single largest donor of aid for the disaster.

US helicopters arrive at the airport in Banda Aceh Aid agencies and military transports are beginning to deliver aid to the areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka worst hit by the Asian tsunami, six days after the giant wave killed at least 124,000 people. But the scale of the devastation and the difficulty in co-ordinating relief efforts has meant that aid workers are facing major problems in reaching areas outside major towns. Indonesia, which bore the brunt of the tsunami last Sunday, has confirmed that 80,000 people died in the disaster, but has warned that it may never know...

STOCKHOLM, Dec 30 (AFP) - Sweden will give 500 million kronor (75 million dollars, 55 million euros) in emergency aid to the regions struck by the massive quake and tidal waves around the Indian Ocean, officials said Thursday.

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - The United States is pledging $350 million to help tsunami victims, a tenfold increase over its first wave of aid, President Bush announced Friday. "Initial findings of American assessment teams on the ground indicate that the need for financial and other assistance will steadily increase in the days and weeks ahead," Bush said Friday in a statement released in Crawford, Texas, where he is staying at his ranch. "Our contributions will continue to be revised as the full effects of this terrible tragedy become clearer," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected...

Translated since it's in Spanish... Maariv Newspaper from Tel Aviv posted a story today of an Israeli couple, who having barely survived the tsunami, were aided by a Palestinian couple who were also in the same area, Phuket Island in Thailand. The recently married Israeli couple had only been there for a day, when the huge wave stormed into their room, and literally imploded on top of them. While extremely lucky to have escaped without major injury, the couple did lose everything they had with them, including money. That is when a Palestinian couple from Jerusalem offered help, including money...

When four hurricanes hit us Floridians during this past summer, the United Nations never showed up to help. Perhaps they were simply gathering their resources to help the victims of the next disaster somewhere other than on U.S. soil. Then again, maybe not, since they are now screaming for money to help the tsunami victims and going so far as to call the United States "stingy" in our response. In addition, President Bush never sent direct monetary aid to those individuals affected in Florida. At best, some low interest loans may have been made available once FEMA did what it...

A Tel Aviv-based company is participating in the tsunami disaster relief efforts in Asia by protecting aid workers' noses. Patus said Thursday it has donated thousands of its OdorScreen products to counter the crippling odors on-scene. OdorScreen, designed at the Weizmann Institute of Science, is an "olfactory perception-altering gel compound" applied under the nose, and works by modifying smells to the user for up to two hours. The FDA-cleared gel-like substance also contains special calming fragrances, including a vanilla aroma for reducing tension in stressful environments. "Every current report from the devastated areas emphasizes the awful problem of the aftermath's...

At three-thirty Wednesday morning, the tsunami body count was 63,000; at three o’clock Wednesday afternoon it was 77,000; at eight o’clock Thursday night, 117,000 and threatening to increase a few times once hunger and disease take their appalling tolls. Perhaps paying close attention to the number of dead is too morose, even more so to recollect that, at its current rate of human devastation, the tsunami that ravaged Southern Asia stands as only the 38th worst natural disaster since 1900, according to the Disaster Center. (The DC provides a chart, which I pause to mention only because it lists the...

NEW YORK -- Roberto Clemente's son is sending money, clothing and medical supplies to south Asia's tsunami victims. The aid was originally headed for Nicaragua to honor the anniversary of his late father's ill-fated humanitarian flight 32 years ago. "My father always said, 'If you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't then you are wasting your time on earth,"' Roberto Clemente Jr. said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press from Puerto Rico on Thursday. On Dec. 31, 1972, the Hall of Fame outfielder who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955-1972 was killed when...

BEIJING (AFX) - Premier Wen Jiabao increased China's aid to tsunami hit nations around the Indian Ocean by 60.5 mln usd, Xinhua news agency reported. Wen made the announcement when meeting the ambassadors to China from the countries of South and Southeast Asia that were hit by sunday's devastating tidal wave that has so far killed nearly 125,000 people. China on tuesday announced a 2.6 mln usd aid package, but said it would reconsider the funding when the full extent of the disaster became known.

This is a message to my fellow professional (and amateur) artists:The plight of the people victimzed in the South Asia Tsunami Disaster has touched the world. We all want to help them, but, besides donating as much as we can to the various relief agencies involved in the global aid effort, what can any of us really do? As artists, it’s our duty to use the abilities God has given us to help our fellow men, but how can art help people who need food, water, medicine, clothes, and hope? I think I may have discovered a way. While there’s...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2004 — Three Marine Corps disaster relief assessment teams are on the ground or about to arrive in Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, and at least two P-3 aircraft are conducting initial reconnaissance of damaged areas as a wide range of other Defense Department assets works its way to tsunami-stricken regions of the Indian Ocean. U.S. Pacific Command has marshaled assets ranging from carrier strike groups to water purification ships to aircraft to provide emergency support for victims following the Dec. 26 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the...

The tragic loss of life from the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean now exceeds 100,000 and may eventually double that, due to disease, civil unrest, and other factors. In response, the United States and other nations have pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to aid the survivors and assist affected nations in recovering from the disaster. Unfortunately, some in the international aid business cannot seem to shake their reflexive criticism of America despite ample evidence of its generosity. The U.S. government initially announced that it would provide $15 million in humanitarian aid and send experts to help...

United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster. The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the world’s response. But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN. “I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,”...

OTTAWA -- Canada has increased to $40 million the money it will donate for emergency relief in the south Asian region hit by a killer tsunami and will also consider sending a disaster relief team. Defence Minister Bill Graham told a news conference Wednesday that $36 million has been added to the $4 million already pledged. As well, he said Canada will send a planeload of relief supplies to Indonesia, the nation hardest hit by the Dec. 26 earthquake and resulting tsunami. A planeload was sent to Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Graham said a 12-member reconnaissance team will go to...

President Bush defended American generosity Wednesday, even as his administration figures out how to pay for more help beyond the $35 million it has already promised to tsunami victims in Asia. In his first remarks since the weekend disaster that so far has killed more than 76,000, Bush - like some in his administration previously - took umbrage at a U.N. official's suggestion that the world's richest nations were "stingy," and indicated much more is expected to be spent to help the victims. "Well, I felt like the person who made that statement was very misguided and ill-informed," Bush said...

CLASSIC CLINTONFormer President Bill Clinton was advised not to speak with the BBC about the tsunami tragedy by several staffers, according to one knowledgeable source. Clinton was told to coordinate with the White House and the Bush Administration, but chose not to. "He just went and did his own thing," says a former staffer. "There haven't been many times when he has wanted to make a public appearance like this, but given the world attention and the criticism of Bush, he couldn't help himself. Classic Clinton." The Bush Administration has been taking a public relations pummeling from the press for...

President Bush assembled a four-nation coalition to organize humanitarian relief for Asia and made clear Wednesday the United States will help bankroll long-term rebuilding in the region leveled by a massive earthquake and tsunamis. U.S. officials braced for the death toll to exceed 100,000. From airlifts of rice and water purifiers to the deployment of an entire Marine expeditionary force, the United States marshaled resources across the globe to augment its initial $35 million aid package and make sure the hardest hit locations got the short-term help they requested.

INDIA has turned down foreign aid for victims of the tsunami that has killed tens of thousands of people across Asians, because it has "adequate resources", a government official said today. India had been flooded with generous offers of aid, the official said. "In fact, all friendly nations have offered help, but we feel we do have the resources to handle the situation," he said. "If at a later stage we feel we need assistance we will not hesitate to ask. "Right now we not only have adequate resources but have gone out and mounted a huge relief effort for...