2005.01.06

World leaders set to arrive in Sri Lanka  (AFP). A number of world leaders attending the emergency summit in Jakarta are due to arrive in Sri Lanka for a first-hand view of the island's tsunami tragedy that killed more than 30,500 people there. 2005.01.06

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250 India Tribe Members Survive Tsunami (AP). Members of the ancient Jarawa tribe emerged today from their forest habitat for the first time since the Dec. 26 tsunami rocked the isolated Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and in rare interaction with outsiders, said all 250 tribe members survived. 2005.01.06

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Powell: USA May Boost Asia Tsunami Aid (AP). Fourth in the lineup of nations bankrolling tsunami relief efforts, Secretary of State Powell says the United States will probably increase its pledge once "the true dimension of this tragedy" is clear. 2005.01.06

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Japan-CNMI JAPANESE INVESTORS ABANDONING CNMI SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety) – More and more Japanese investors are pulling out of the Northern Marianas and one of them says the business climate on the islands is no longer as conducive to investment as before. Hiroyuki Saito, vice president of Saipan LauLau Development Inc. which operates the LaoLao Bay Golf Resort, said the trend should alert the local government that there is something wrong with the system. Saito’s firm invested $61 million, but is now selling the company at a bargain price of just $8.5 million. “There must be suitable conditions for investors to come in. Like in terms of taxes, the legal system. If people are starting to withdraw and not coming in, then there is something wrong with the system. That is not suitable, at least to Japanese investors,” he said. Japanese companies invested heavily to the Northern Marianas 20 years ago when Saipan was profitable. 2005.01.06

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Survivors leave ghost Indian island to dogs, pigs (Reuters). It was once home to a venerated tribal people who were renowned carpenters, but today the Indian island of Chawra is deserted, left only to pigs and dogs howling in the wake of last month's tsunami. 2005.01.06

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Corruption of Tsunami Funds a Concern (AP). As relief officials struggle to reach homeless tsunami survivors, another concern is quietly making the rounds of donor meetings: the threat of corruption. 2005.01.06

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Japan-Quakes  (Mainichi Shimbun) Poll reveals Japanese shaking in fear of quakes. 2005.01.06

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Canada will fast-track immigration applications from tsunami-ravaged areas (CP). Canada will fast-track about 1,000 immigration applications for families in Asian tsunami-ravaged areas that have a Canadian connection. 2005.01.06

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World leaders gather for post-tsunami summit, aid pledges near 4 bln dlrs (AFP). World leaders are set to begin an emergency summit in the Indonesian capital with the United Nations saying aid pledges since the Asian tsunami disaster were now up to four billion dollars. 2005.01.06

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Teen's Letters Describe Tsunami Horrors (AP). Across his tsunami-devastated island, his relatives, friends and teachers lay dead, lost in water that submerged his home. As Koshi Mackenroe John hunkered down on a hill with his parents, there was little he could do except wait for rescuers. 2005.01.06

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The shifting politics of global giving. [Christian Science Monitor ] Government pledges of relief top $3 billion. Why some recipients say, 'No, thank you.' 2005.01.06

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