Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Maxim Surayev on Thursday moved through an airlock on the International Space Station to start the first spacewalk of 2010.
Wearing Orlan-MK computerized spacesuits, the Russians were scheduled to spend 5 hours and 40 minutes outside the orbiter.
Though their major technical tasks will be to connect cables between the Poisk and Zvezda modules, install docking targets and Kurs aerials and attach additional handrails to exit hatches, Kotov and Surayev also have to remove the Biorisk-MSN experiment from the exterior of the ISS.
The container has been in position for 30 months and will be returned to Earth in the spring to allow scientists to study the effects of space flight on microorganisms as part of research into the problems of ecological safety and planetary quarantine.
MISSION CONTROL (Korolyov, Moscow Region), January 14 (RIA Novosti)
End of MSDF refueling mission raises questions over Japan's national interests
(Mainichi Japan) January 15, 2010....
Japan's termination of the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) refueling mission in the Indian Ocean has raised questions over repercussions on national interests.
In Japan, the refueling mission received a cool reception from some critics, who described it as a "free ocean gas stand", but at the same time concerns have been raised that diminishing Japan's presence could hinder the nation's ability to obtain information relating to the war on terror.
"There is a possibility that terrorist information could become harder to come by and it will be a big loss in terms of Japan's national interests," said one former MSDF chief of staff, speaking anonymously.
Under the refueling activities and measures to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, the Ministry of Defense sent local liaison officers -- who conversed with naval forces from various countries -- to Tampa, Florida, the location of the U.S. Central Command, and to Bahrain, the location of the multinational naval force headquarters. Japan's forces had shared terrorist-related information with several dozen countries, including information pertaining to Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, Japan's withdrawal from the refueling mission means that some of the liaison officers will have to return to Japan, and concerns have been voiced within the Ministry of Defense that access to information vital for Japan's security will drop markedly as a result of the move.
Anti-terrorist activities were launched in 2001 following the terrorist attacks in the United States that year. The International Security Assistance Force, established under a United Nations Security Council resolution, has roughly 70,000 members from 45 counties including the United States, Britain, France and Germany. In addition, 26 Provincial Reconstruction Teams led by 14 countries are operating in Afghanistan, and eight countries including the United States have launched a combat mission dubbed "Operation Enduring Freedom." Part of this is Operation Enduring Freedom-Maritime Interdiction Operation, a monitoring operation aiming to hinder the movements of terrorists and the shipment of illegal drugs. Currently five to six countries are taking part in the operations, and the MSDF had provided fuel and water to those countries' vessels.
For the MSDF, whose activities face many restrictions, refueling was seen as a "low-risk, high-return" venture that would be highly valued by international society, with a low risk of becoming involved in fighting.
At the same time, the activities placed a high strain on MSDF members, some of whom were sent overseas as many as seven times with each mission lasting four to five months. The overall cost of refueling stood at about 24.4 billion yen as of the end of October last year, but refueling had gradually been decreasing each year, and in some months refueling was performed only once. Accordingly, some Defense Ministry workers had questioned the effectiveness of such activities in relation to the high cost.
Russian producers are ready for the potential ban on U.S. poultry imports, a spokeswoman for one of Russia's largest meat manufacturers said on Friday.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned the United States on Thursday that Russia could find other poultry suppliers if U.S. companies fail to meet the country's sanitary requirements.
Tougher sanitary regulations regarding poultry processing that restrict the use of chlorine and moisture content came into force in Russia January 1. U.S. companies have traditionally used chlorine in poultry processing and will not be able to supply their products to Russia any longer.
"Russian [poultry] producers will increase output and they were ready for [the ban] on the back of earlier forecasts on lower import quotas," Irina Ostryakova from Cherkizovo Group said.
She said Petelinka, one of Russia's key poultry producers and a Cherkizovo subsidiary, had long used air chilling in poultry processing and refused to comment on substitutes for U.S. chlorine-treated chicken.
Ostryakova described the government motion as pro-Russian.
"We are just taking the path Europe has chosen to improve production," she said referring to the ban on chlorine-rinsed poultry that has been in place in Europe since 1997.
Galina Bobyleva, general director of the Russian Poultry Union, also welcomed Putin's proposal.
"This is certainly a cause for celebration, that quality requirements for imports are being raised," she said.
She dismissed speculation that the ban would cause a poultry deficit on the domestic market or any price hike.
"We currently have huge reserves of unsold products," Bobyleva said.
Makeshift camps are sprouting up in Port-au-Prince
BBC Friday, 15 January 2010
Up to 10,000 US troops will be on the ground or off the coast of Haiti by Monday to help deal with the earthquake aid effort, US defence officials say.
Aid distribution has begun, but logistics continue to be extremely difficult, UN officials say.
Tuesday's earthquake has left as many as 50,000-100,000 people dead.
US President Barack Obama described the scale of the devastation as extraordinary and the losses suffered as "heartbreaking".
AT THE SCENE
Matt Frei, Port-au-Prince
No-one is in charge. The president is sleeping at the airport with quite a few journalists and aid workers.
Earlier this morning, I stood on top of the rubble of the Supreme Court, the Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry and the Senate - where a few senators had been killed when the quake hit. Their bodies have been dragged out and put in body bags. The representatives of state are literally lying on the pavement slowly rotting away.
This is a citizenry left to its own extremely meagre resources. You've got ordinary people trying to administer IV drips to their family members who are slowly dying, but not a single doctor or nurse at the general hospital.
In a statement at the White House, he said the US would "do what it takes to save lives and help people get back on their feet".
Correspondents say survivors seem increasingly desperate and angry as bottlenecks and infrastructure damage delay relief efforts.
Many are spending another day without food and shelter in the ruined capital.
UN humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters that 30% of buildings throughout Port-au-Prince had been damaged, with the figure at 50% in some areas.
The Pan American Health Organization has estimated that the death toll could be as high as 100,000.
The US has already sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, to Haiti and the USS Bataan, carrying a marine expeditionary unit, is on its way.
President Obama: "The scale of devastation is extraordinary ... and the losses heartbreaking"
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm Mike Mullen, said a hospital ship and more helicopters would be sent in the coming days, carrying more troops and marines.
He said the total number of US troops would rise to between 9,000 and 10,000.
"Right now, I mean, literally as we speak, the Vinson (aircraft carrier) and the company from the 82nd Airborne who got there last night are focusing on delivering water from the helicopters offshore to the people of Haiti."
They want us to provide them with help, which is, of course, what we want to do
US defence secretary Robert Gates said the relief effort was the "highest priority for US military assets in this hemisphere", and all necessary resources would be made available.
He described infrastructure problems which have led to delays in aid distribution as "facts of life".
"I don't know how ... [the US] government could have responded faster or more comprehensively than it has," he said.
The announcements came after Mr Obama pledged full American support in a phone call to his Haitian counterpart Rene Preval.
The US president also said he would meet former Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton on Saturday to discuss Haiti.
Relief problems
The UN said a total of about $310m (£190m) in international aid had been pledged so far for the relief effort.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: "Food and water are in critically short supply"
It will launch an emergency appeal for $550m later on Friday, officials said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that distribution of food and medicine was under way, but correspondents say there is little immediate sign of a co-ordinated relief effort on the ground.
The UN's World Food Programme says two million people will need food aid, but it has so far managed to feed just a few thousand.
Meanwhile, the head of the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said thousands of people were waiting for surgery in Haiti's hospitals, AFP news agency reported.
Port-au-Prince's small airport is filled to capacity and US air traffic controllers have taken charge to help manage the influx of planes.
Mr Holmes said everyone was "working desperately" to resolve the problems and the capacity to deal with flights was rising.
The port is too damaged to use and roads are blocked by debris, although the main route from the Dominican Republic is now clear.
The BBC's Andy Gallacher, in Port-au-Prince, says survivors are dying in huge numbers, and clean water, food and medical supplies are desperately needed.
"We hear on the radio that rescue teams are coming from the outside, but nothing is coming," said one man, Jean-Baptiste Lafontin Wilfried.
David Wimhurst, a spokesman for the Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, said: "Unfortunately, they're slowly getting more angry and impatient."
The UN headquarters has collapsed and correspondents say there is little official presence in Port-au-Prince despite incidents of looting.
To magnify this image of Port-au-Prince mouse over the left-hand panel
About 45,000-50,000 people have died since Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake and 300,000 have been made homeless, the UN estimates.
Aid groups say it is a race against time to find trapped survivors.
Plane-loads of rescuers and relief supplies are arriving from the UK, China, the EU, Canada, Russia and Latin American nations.
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Thousands of people injured in Haiti's massive earthquake spent a third night twisted in pain, lying on sidewalks and waiting for help as their despair turned to anger.
"We've been out here waiting for three days and three nights but nothing has been done for us, not even a word of encouragement from the president," said Pierre Jackson, nursing his mother and sister who lay whimpering with crushed legs.
"What should we do?"
Desperate Haitians blocked streets with corpses in one part of Port-au-Prince to demand quicker relief efforts following Tuesday's catastrophic quake, which flattened buildings and killed tens of thousands, leaving countless others homeless.
Bodies lay all around the hilly city, and people covered their noses with cloth to block the stench of death. Corpses were piled on pickup trucks and delivered to the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, where hospital director Guy LaRoche estimated the bodies piled outside the morgue numbered 1,500.
More than 48 hours after disaster struck, masses of people clamored for food and water, as well as help in digging out relatives still missing under the rubble.
Shaul Schwarz, a photographer for TIME magazine, said he saw at least two downtown roadblocks formed with bodies of earthquake victims and rocks.
"They are starting to block the roads with bodies. It's getting ugly out there. People are fed up with getting no help," he told Reuters.
Angry survivors staged the protest as international aid committed by 30 countries began arriving in Port-au-Prince in dozens of planes that clogged the city's small airport.
The Haitian Red Cross said it believed 45,000 to 50,000 people had died and 3 million more -- one third of Haiti's population -- were hurt or left homeless by the major 7.0 magnitude quake that hit its impoverished capital on Tuesday.
"We have already buried 7,000 in a mass grave," President Rene Preval said.
The Haitian Red Cross said it had run out of body bags.
Doctors in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, were ill-equipped to treat the injured. Relief workers warned that many more people will die if the injured, many with broken bones and serious loss of blood, do not get first aid in the next day or so.
"The next 24 hours will be critical," said U.S. Coast Guard officer Paul Cormier, 54, a qualified emergency worker who has triaged 300 people since Tuesday.
AID BOTTLENECK
Planes full of supplies and search and rescue equipment began to arrive at Port-au-Prince airport on Thursday faster than ground crews could unload them, jamming the limited ramp space and forcing arriving aircraft to circle for up to two hours before landing.
U.S. President Barack Obama pledged an initial $100 million for Haiti quake relief on Thursday and enlisted former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to help raise more, vowing to the Haitian people: "You will not be forsaken.
The United States was sending 3,500 soldiers, 300 medical personnel, several ships and 2,200 Marines to Haiti.
The U.S. Navy said its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson will arrive on Friday to serve as a "floating airport" for relief operations by its 19 helicopters.
The United States pledged long-term help for the crippled Haitian government. The presidential palace, the parliament, the cathedral and many government buildings collapsed. The main prison also fell, allowing dangerous criminals to escape.
Nations around the world pitched in to send rescue teams with search dogs and heavy equipment, helicopters, tents, water purification units, food, doctors and telecoms teams. But aid distribution was hampered because roads were blocked by rubble and smashed cars and normal communications were cut off.
Relief agencies' offices were damaged and their staff dead or missing. The port was too badly damaged to handle cargo.
Many hospitals were too battered to use, and doctors struggled to treat crushed limbs, head wounds and broken bones at makeshift facilities where medical supplies were scarce.
Makeshift tents were strung everywhere and Haitians at one informal camp approached journalists shouting "water, water."
"Please do anything you can. These people have no water, no food, no medicine, nobody is helping us," said Valery Louis, who organized one of the camps.
Haitians clawed at chunks of concrete with bare hands and hammers, trying to free those buried alive. From time to time, aftershocks shook the city, sending panicked people running away from buildings.
A 35-year-old Estonian, Tarmo Joveer, was freed from the rubble of the United Nations' five-story headquarters early Thursday, and told journalists he was fine.
The U.N. said at least 36 members of its 9,000-strong peacekeeping mission had been killed and scores remained missing. Brazil said 14 of its soldiers were among the dead.
Fourteen people were pulled alive on Thursday from the landmark Montana Hotel, which was largely flattened. Chilean Army Major Rodrigo Vazquez, who was directing the rescue, said: "We estimate 70 more inside. This is devastating."
They want us to provide them with help, which is, of course, what we want to do 
