Haiti earthquake: British rescue team returns

Sixty-two firefighters and doctors, who were scrambled to help with the biggest natural disaster since the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, pulled four alive from the rubble, including a two-year-old toddler called Mia, who spent three days trapped in debris.

Members of the UK International Search and Rescue Team were welcomed with applause from onlookers after they landed at Gatwick Airport early on Saturday morning.

Among those returning was Keith Bellamy, a member of the urban search and rescue team at Hampshire Fire and Rescue.

He said: "When we first arrived the country was in a state of chaos and confusion, with so many homes and public buildings having collapsed.

"We were based near the airport at Port au Prince and were helping to source fuel and purify water. The weather was extremely hot – about 38 Celsius in the shade – which made things even more challenging."

The 7.0-magnitude quake killed an estimated 200,000, according to Haitian government figures cited by the European Commission.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said: ''The government has declared the search and rescue phase over.''

A total of 132 people were pulled alive from the rubble of the devastated country, the United Nations (UN) said.

Countless dead remained buried in thousands of collapsed and toppled buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, while as many as 200,000 have fled the city of two million, the US Agency for International Development said.

As the UK teams headed back, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: ''We should all be proud of the brave UK firefighters who worked tirelessly to help the Haitians, in difficult and dangerous conditions.

''I would like to thank them on behalf of the UK Government.''

He added: ''Their work is now done, but the international aid effort continues.''

A spokesman for the Department for International Development said: ''The search for survivors in Haiti is coming to an end.

''Following consultation with the UN, the UK team, like other international search and rescue teams, is now leaving. They have done all they can and the rescue effort is now moving on to another phase.''

Among those due to land are nine Greater Manchester firefighters who will be reunited with their families and colleagues at Manchester Airport.

They were involved in the successful rescue of Mia from her collapsed kindergarten school in Port-au-Prince.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service's chief fire officer Steve McGuirk said: ''It is with great pride that I welcome back safely the members of our service to their families.

''They have demonstrated tenacity, professionalism and courage in taking part in the UK national response to help the people of Haiti.

''The successes they have achieved are truly commendable in a time of such devastation and suffering and our thoughts remain with the people of Haiti as they continue to try and rebuild their country.''

John Bonney, president of the Chief Fire Officers' Association, was among those waiting at dawn at Gatwick to welcome the rescue team home.

"They have been working in extremely challenging conditions and their achievements in Haiti are testament to their exceptional commitment, professionalism and dedication."

Despite the end of the search and rescue phase, survivors were still being pulled from the rubble in Haiti on Friday.

In one part of Port-au-Prince, an Israeli search team pulled a 21-year-old man from a crevasse in what once was a three-storey home, the Israeli Defence Force said.

Shirtless and covered in dust, the man appeared to be either unconscious or barely conscious as he was hoisted on to a stretcher.

Elsewhere, an 84-year-old woman was pulled from the wreckage of her home, according to doctors administering oxygen and intravenous fluids to her at the General Hospital. Doctors said she was in a critical condition.

The life-saving efforts continued ahead of a global, star-studded fund-raising effort in the form of the Hope For Haiti Now telethon.

The show, broadcast from New York, London, Los Angeles and Haiti, included musical performances by a variety of superstars, including Beyoncé, Madonna, Taylor Swift, U2's Bono and the Edge and Keith Urban.

Hollywood star George Clooney, who helped organise the two-hour event, said: ''The Haitian people need our help.

''They need to know that they are not alone. They need to know that we still care.''

Donations by Britons to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal have topped £42 million as UK fund-raising efforts continued.

Obama scrambles to revive economic optimism

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is seeking to reassure voters he's determined to create jobs while his administration is trying to protect an architect of the increasingly unpopular banking bailout that may have helped prevent a financial collapse.

Obama's efforts on the economy come after a Massachusetts Senate election this past week that suggested voter unrest when Republican Scott Brown claimed a Senate seat in Democratic hands for more than a half-century. Brown gives the GOP a 41st vote in the Senate, taking away the Democrats' supermajority and threatening Obama's agenda.

And the administration has been working to shore up eroding support for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is seeking another four-year term.

In the face of daunting political conditions, Obama was sounding feisty as he told a town hall crowd he was more determined than ever to help the economy and pursue his agenda.

"I'm not going to win every round," Obama said Friday in Ohio. But he pledged, "I can promise you there will be more fights in the days ahead."

He tried out a revamped message focused mainly on the economy that is part of a stepped up effort to convince Americans that he's doing all he can to create jobs.

"This isn't about me. This is about you," he said.

Obama told his audience at the Lorain County Community College "the worst of this economic storm has passed. But families like yours and communities like Elyria are still reeling from the devastation left in its wake. Folks have seen jobs you thought would last forever disappear."

He said a new stimulus spending bill emerging in Congress — the White House is calling it a jobs bill — must include tax breaks for small business hiring and for people trying to make their homes more energy efficient — two proposals he wasn't able to get into a bill the House passed last month.

Obama defended as necessary his administration's widely unpopular moves to bail out financial and auto companies. He also stepped up his recent attack on bankers and bonuses, defending his proposal to tax big banks to recover bailout costs and to limit their size and activities.

Obama just completed his first year in office and will address the nation Wednesday in his State of the Union address. But that address comes after one of the worst weeks in recent times for the White House.

Brown's seizing of the Massachusetts Senate seat held for decades by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy cost Democrats their filibuster-proof supermajority of 60 votes. That means Republicans will be able to stop or seriously slow down legislation at will. The GOP victory was also a poor omen for November's midterm elections.

And Thursday's Supreme Court ruling overturning limits on corporate political spending opened the way for businesses and special interests to spend money freely on commercials for or against individual candidates. Obama said the 5-4 decision would allow wealthy special interests to "drown out the voices of everyday Americans."

The White House, meanwhile, has been working aggressively to keep congressional support for Bernanke from eroding further as he seeks another term. Several Democratic senators have said they won't support Bernanke's renomination, but the administration's concerns about the nomination were lessened somewhat by the knowledge that some Republican lawmakers were committed for Bernanke.

Bernanke has no real Senate constituency with either party because he was appointed to his first term byPresident George W. Bush but is now closely linked to Obama's economic policies.

White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said the president has "a great deal of confidence" in the actions Bernanke already has taken and believes he's "the best person for the job."

Burton said the White House still believes that Bernanke, 56, will get enough votes in the Senate to run the nation's central bank for another term.

Obama acknowledges health overhaul hit 'buzz saw'

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul has "run into a bit of a buzz saw" and acknowledges the process is looking ugly. Nonetheless he says he'll keep working to finish sweeping legislation.

In comments prepared for a town hall meeting in Ohio Friday, Obama said that the GOP victory in Tuesday's Senate election in Massachusetts has thrown Washington into something of a frenzy. Republican Scott Brown's victory denied Democrats the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority needed to advance the health care bill.

Obama also said the health effort ran into a buzz saw of partisan politics and special interest opposition.

But Obama said he had no illusions that overhauling the health care system would be easy. And, added, "I am not going to walk away just because it's hard."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut is suggesting that Democrats take a month or more off from working on health care legislation to regroup in the wake of Tuesday's election loss in Massachusetts.

His comments are the latest sign that Republican Scott Brown's Senate victory has thrown President Barack Obama and Democrats completely off-track in their quest to remake the nation's health care system.

Dodd led the Senate's health committee as it passed sweeping legislation last year.

Just a week ago the legislation appeared on the cusp of completion. Now that Democrats have lost their filibuster-proof Senate majority there's no clear path forward. Dodd told reporters Friday that Obama and Democrats should "maybe take a breather for a month, six weeks" and work on other issues.