Japanese officials reported progress over the weekend in their battle to gain control over a nuclear complex that began leaking radiation after suffering quake and tsunami damage, though the crisis was far from over, with a dangerous new surge in pressure reported in one of the plant’s six reactors.

The announcement by Japan’s Health Ministry late Sunday that tests had detected excess amounts of radioactive elements on canola and chrysanthemum greens marked a low moment in a day that had been peppered with bits of positive news: First, a teenager and his grandmother were found alive nine days after being trapped in their earthquake-shattered home. Then, the operator of the overheated nuclear plant said two of the six reactor units were safely cooled down.

“We consider that now we have come to a situation where we are very close to getting the situation under control,” Deputy Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said.

Still, serious problems remained at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. Pressure unexpectedly rose in a third unit’s reactor, meaning plant operators may need to deliberately release radioactive steam. That has only added to public anxiety over radiation that began leaking from the plant after a monstrous earthquake and tsunami devastated northeastern Japan on March 11 and left the plant unstable. As day broke Monday, Japan’s military resumed dousing of the complex’s troubled Unit 4.

The World Bank said in report Monday that Japan may need five years to rebuild from the catastrophic disasters, which caused up to $235 billion in damage, saying the cost to private insurers will be up to $33 billion and that the government will spend $12 billion on reconstruction in the current national budget and much more later.

The safety of food and water was of particular concern. The government halted shipments of spinach from one area and raw milk from another near the nuclear plant after tests found iodine exceeded safety limits. Tokyo’s tap water, where iodine turned up Friday, now has cesium. Rain and dust are also tainted.

Early Monday , the Health Ministry advised Iitate, a village of 6,000 people about 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the Fukushima plant, not to drink tap water due to elevated levels of iodine. Ministry spokesman Takayuki Matsuda said iodine three times the normal level was detected there — about one twenty-sixth of the level of a chest X-ray in one liter of water.

In all cases, the government said the radiation levels were too small to pose an immediate health risk.

But Tsugumi Hasegawa was skeptical as she cared for her 4-year-old daughter at a shelter in a gymnasium crammed with 1,400 people about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the plant.

“I still have no idea what the numbers they are giving about radiation levels mean. It’s all so confusing,” said Hasegawa, 29, from the small town of Futuba in the shadow of the nuclear complex. “And I wonder if they aren’t playing down the dangers to keep us from panicking. I don’t know who to trust.”

All six of the nuclear complex’s reactor units saw trouble after the disasters knocked out cooling systems. In a small advance, the plant’s operator declared Units 5 and 6 — the least troublesome — under control after their nuclear fuel storage pools cooled to safe levels. Progress was made to reconnect two other units to the electric grid and in pumping seawater to cool another reactor and replenish it and a sixth reactor’s storage pools.

But the buildup in pressure inside the vessel holding Unit 3′s reactor presented some danger, forcing officials to consider venting. The tactic produced explosions of radioactive gas during the early days of the crisis.

“Even if certain things go smoothly, there would be twists and turns,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters. “At the moment, we are not so optimistic that there will be a breakthrough.”

Growing concerns about radiation add to the overwhelming chain of disasters Japan has struggled with since the 9.0-magnitude quake. The resulting tsunami ravaged the northeastern coast. All told, police estimates show more than about 18,400 died. More than 15,000 deaths are likely in Miyagi, the prefecture that took the full impact of the wave, said a police spokesman.

“It is very distressing as we recover more bodies day by days,” said Hitoshi Sugawara, the spokesman.

Police in other parts of the disaster area declined to provide estimates, but confirmed about 3,400 deaths. Nationwide, official figures show the disasters killing more than 8,600 people, and leaving more than 12,800 people missing, but those two lists may have some overlap.

The disasters have displaced another 452,000, who are living in shelters.

Fuel, food and water remain scarce. The government in recent days acknowledged being caught ill-prepared by an enormous disaster that the prime minister has called the worst crisis since World War II.

Bodies are piling up in some of the devastated communities and badly decomposing even amid chilly rain and snow.

“The recent bodies — we can’t show them to the families. The faces have been purple, which means they are starting to decompose,” says Shuji Horaguchi, a disaster relief official setting up a center to process the dead in Natori, on the outskirts of the tsunami-flattened city of Sendai. “Some we’re finding now have been in the water for a long time, they’re not in good shape. Crabs and fish have eaten parts.”

Contamination of food and water compounds the government’s difficulties, heightening the broader public’s sense of dread about safety. Consumers in markets snapped up bottled water, shunned spinach from Ibaraki — the prefecture where the tainted spinach was found — and overall expressed concern about food safety.

Experts have said the amounts of iodine detected in milk, spinach and water pose no discernible risks to public health unless consumed in enormous quantities over a long time. Iodine breaks down quickly, after eight days, minimizing its harmfulness, unlike other radioactive isotopes such as cesium-137 or uranium-238, which remain in the environment for decades or longer.

High levels of iodine are linked to thyroid cancer, one of the least deadly cancers if treated. Cesium is a longer-lasting element that affects the whole body and raises cancer risk.

Rain forecast for the Fukushima area also could further localize the contamination, bringing the radiation to the ground closer to the plant.

Edano tried to reassure the public for a second day in a row. “If you eat it once, or twice, or even for several days, it’s not just that it’s not an immediate threat to health, it’s that even in the future it is not a risk,” Edano said. “Experts say there is no threat to human health.”

No contamination has been reported in Japan’s main food export — seafood — worth about $1.6 billion a year and less than 0.3 percent of its total exports.

Amid the anxiety, there were moments of joy on Sunday. An 80-year-old woman and her teenage grandson were rescued from their flattened two-story house after nine days, when the teen pulled himself to the roof and shouted to police for help.

Other survivors enjoyed smaller victories. Kiyoshi Hiratsuka and his family managed to pull his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle from the rubble in their hometown of Onagawa. The 37-year-old mechanic said he knows it will never work anymore. “But I want to keep it as a memorial.”

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“We are increasing our support for reconstruction after natural disasters by NOK 50 million. Some of these funds will be allocated to environmental, afforestation, agriculture and energy projects in Haiti. We are also increasing our funding to Haiti through international organisations,” Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim commented.

Altogether, Norway has pledged NOK 800 million in aid to Haiti for the period up to 2014.

In addition, the Government is increasing its humanitarian assistance by NOK 142 million under this year’s budget.

“We know from experience that new natural disasters will hit the Horn of Africa, Asia and Latin America in the course of the year. So it’s important to set aside funds for dealing with acute crises,” Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.

The Government is also proposing to increase its funding for clean energy by NOK 88 million. These funds will help to promote hydroelectric power, solar power and wind power projects, for instance through increased public–private cooperation on investments in clean energy.

The additional aid is to be financed by redistributions in the aid budget, in connection with reduced expenses for refugees  in Norway.

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A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit northwest China’s Qinghai Province early on Wednesday. Following are the latest developments:

As of 13:30 pm Wednesday, the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit Yushu county in Northwest China’s Qinghai province has left at least 300 dead and more than 8,000 injured, according to China National Radio. [13:45]

China’s int’l rescue team on its way to Qinghai

The country’s international rescue team, made up of 30 medical staff, is leaving from Beijing for the quake-hit Qinghai province at 2:30 pm on Wednesday, China’s major Web portal sina.com said.[13:37]

School suspended after quake

School has been suspended in Chengduo County of quake-hit Yushu prefecture and there were no reports of student deaths, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.

Many houses were leveled during the major earthquake and most of them were bungalows, a local primary school teacher said. Residents remained in open areas for fear of possible aftershocks.[13:24]

China Eastern Air sends 2 planes

China Eastern Air has dispatched two planes to Xining for rescue efforts in the quake-hit Yushu county, Qinghai province.

The two A-319 planes will be used for transportation of rescue teams and materials between Xining and Yushu. [13:19]

More than 100 police officers were mobilized to guard oil depots, banks and the armory right after the 7.1-magitute earthquake hit Qinghai, CCTV reported on Wednesday. [13:12]

More than 100 rescuers from Shiqu county of Sichuan province arrived at the quake-hit region about noon, after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit the Yushu prefecture this morning.

The rescue team made of armed policemen and medical staff is set to embark on relief work once they arrive at the two worst-hit towns, 10 kilometers away from Yushu prefecture. [13:00]

There may be strong aftershocks in the next few days after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai province early on Wednesday, and local residents should make the necessary preparations, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. [12:52]

More than 30 students in a social welfare school in Yushu, in Northwest China’s Qinghai province, survived the 7.1-magnitude earthquake because they were late for school on Wednesday, chinanews.com.cn reported. [12:50]

A rescue team consisting of 13 firemen has been sent by a fire brigade in Tibet to the earthquake-hit Yushu county, Qinghai province, on Wednesday afternoon. It follows the first rescue team, which includes 58 officers and soldiers as well as seven fire engines, sent by the Tibetan fire brigade at 10 am. [12:48]

Sun Shihong, an expert with the China Earthquake Administration in Beijing, said the earthquake would not cause huge casualties because Yushu county is in a remote and underdeveloped region and most of the houses there have wooden frames.[12:40]

A special emergency relief flight between Xining, capital city of Qinghai and Yushu, has been established delivering desperately needed supplies to the region, Xinhua reporter Yang Shoude said. [12:17]

Over 100,000 permanent residents in Yushu are believed to be affected by the devastating quake.[12:01]

The Ministry of Civil affairs sounded a four-level disaster relief alarm at 8:30 am and dispatched a team to assist with the relief effort in quake-hit Qinghai province. Central government has sent 5,000 cotton tents, 50,000 cotton overcoats and 50, 000 cotton quilts to the region. 5,000 tents have also been dispatched urgently from Civil Affairs authorities of Qinghai province. [11:56]

Following the 7.1-magnitude earthquake, an aftershock measuring 3.9 in magnitude hit Yushu, Qinghai province at 11:15 am on April 14, 2010, according to China Earthquake Networks Center.[11:45]

Roads leading to Yushu airport have been destroyed, and communications is currently down.[11：38]

Some 85 percent of homes are believed to have collapsed. [11:26]

The affected area lacks tents, medical equipments and health workers, Zhuo Huaxia, Deputy Publicity Secretary of Yushu government, told Xinhua in a telephone interview. [11:00]

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On Wednesday, nearly 50 donors pledged $9.9 billion to help Haiti recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake destroyed the government and commercial center of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, said, however, the best sign that recovery was under way in Haiti would be an uptick in private investment.

“There need to be real investments that are really sustainable,” Holmes told The Associated Press. “Given half a chance this country can recover.”

Government-estimated death tolls from the quake — which rose without explanation ahead of the conference — range from 217,000 to 300,000 people. Most of the estimated 1.3 million people left homeless are still sheltering on broken streets, hillsides and riverbeds.

The effort to attract private is being led by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy to Haiti, who since before the quake has been tasked with encouraging private companies to provide jobs in a country where 80 percent of people live on less than $2 a day.

As co-chair of the committee that will oversee the $5.3 billion in near-term international aid pledged Wednesday, his role in Haiti will only grow.

“We’re going to have to create a financial system,” Clinton told the conference. “Haiti could become the first completely wireless country in the Caribbean. Haiti could become the first completely self-sufficient country in energy.”

Haitian business magnate and chamber of commerce president Reginald Boulos said investment was possible but that improvements in infrastructure were necessary along with other changes.

“I talk to a lot of foreign investors: hotel chains, energy companies. They want to invest in Haiti,” Boulos said after the speech. “They want to see a climate change in the business environment. They want to see a decrease of corruption … (and) a better functioning government.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who co-chaired the conference, called the pledges “an impressive sum by any standard.”

In the first minutes of the conference, Clinton announced the United States’ pledge of $1.15 billion over the next two years and Catherine Ashton, the European Union foreign affairs chief, announced the EU’s pledge equivalent to more than $1.6 billion.

Haiti’s President Rene Preval asked donors to focus on education and help the country’s 9 million people provide for their own future.

At the core of the quake-ravaged country’s request for help is the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, whose board will coordinate and pay out the aid money. It is a key step to allaying donor concerns over Haiti’s history of official corruption and political unrest who want assurances that the money will go where it is intended.

Bill Clinton will co-chair the committee with Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. But it is a source of consternation among some Haitian lawmakers who want Preval’s administration to publish a report on how aid money was spent in the initial aftermath of the disaster.

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The 9.9-billion-dollar pledge from some 50 donors includes 5.3 billion dollars for the 2010-2011 period, far in excess of the 3.8 billion that was sought by conference organizers for that period.

That target was meant to fund a 4.0-billion-dollar action plan put forward by the Haitian government to fund reconstruction projects over the next two years in the poorest country in the Americas.

“The member states and international partners have pledged 5.3 billion dollars for the next two years and 9.9 billion dollars in total for the next three years and beyond,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon told a press conference wrapping up the meeting.

“Friends of Haiti have acted far beyond expectations.”

The aim of the meeting was to help the battered Caribbean country “build back better” after the 7.0-magnitude quake on January 12 leveled parts of its capital Port-au-Prince, killing at least 220,000 people and leaving 1.3 million homeless.

Wednesday’s biggest contributions came from the United States and the 27-member European Union.

Several dignitaries emphasized the need to follow through on the pledges, which Ban said “will be published and tracked by a Web-based system” established by the UN and Haiti.

“Reconstruction will be Haitian-led, inclusive, accountable, transparent, coordinated and results oriented,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the press conference.

The US chief diplomat, co-hosting the conference with Ban, offered 1.15 billion dollars, saying the funds would go toward supporting Haiti’s plan “to strengthen agriculture, energy, health, and security and governance.”

The EU meanwhile pledged an additional 1.6 billion dollars, with France offering to disburse 180 million euros (243 million dollars) in 2010-2011 for food and the restoration of government authority.Facts: Haiti quake and UN donor conference

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told the meeting that the EU contribution was on top of 295 million euros already pledged, bringing total EU public and private contributions “close to three billion dollars.”

Some 138 countries, international bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, non-governmental organizations and Haitian expatriates took part in the one-day conference.

Officials have estimated Haiti needs 11.5 billion dollars in aid for reconstruction over the next 10 years.

Stressing the need not to repeat past errors in helping impoverished Haiti, Clinton appealed to the world to “do things differently” this time.

“We cannot retreat to failed strategies,” she added. “We need Haiti to succeed.”

Her husband, US special envoy to Haiti and former US president Bill Clinton meanwhile said that he and the Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive would lead an Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) tasked with overseeing the pledges.

The IHRC, which will have an 18-month mandate, is meant to give the Haitian government “influence over how and where aid is spent and will ensure that the reconstruction is well coordinated” and addresses the needs of all Haitians.

UN Development Program administrator Helen Clark joined calls to put “the government and people of Haiti… in the driver’s seat of the recovery” and stressed the need to involve civil society, the private sector and the Haitian diaspora.

The World Bank meanwhile said it would provide 479 million dollars in aid through June 2011, of which 250 million was new funding.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick called for another meeting in six months’ time, coinciding with the annual General Assembly session in September to assess the progress.

“This is an opportunity to go from tragedy to trying to do something very differently, and the key to this is to be able to combine capable Haitian ownership with an effective donor partnership,” he noted.

He said this would require “budget support to help the Haitian government.”

“To make this easier for the various donor countries, the Bank will be serving as the fiscal agent for the multidonor trust fund, that we’ve helped set up with the other international agencies so as to try to assure stronger fiduciary controls,’ he added.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn described the conference as “a unique occasion to try to rebuild the Haitian economy” and said the proposed Trust Fund was “the right way to move forward.”

Among other key donations, Canada, a major provider of aid to Port-au-Prince, said it would also chip in with 400 million Canadian dollars (390 million US) while Brazil pledged 172 million dollars, including 15 million in direct budget support for the Haitian government.

Japan offered 30 million dollars in addition to 70 million already announced.

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Officials said Clinton still planned to visit Chile, where she was due to hold talks on Tuesday with outgoing President Michelle Bachelet andPresident-elect Sebastian Pinera, both grappling with the aftermath of Saturday’s devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake.

“We’re still going to Chile as planned, though might change what we do there,” a senior U.S. official said on Sunday just hours before Clinton’s departure.

While Chile will likely dominate the early part of five-day trip, Brazil will be the diplomatic centerpiece as Clinton uses her March 3 stop there to seek support for the drive on the U.N. Security Council to put new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.

Brazil — a non-permanent member of the council — has been reluctant to get tough on Iran and analysts say Clinton faces a test as she seeks to bring President Inacio Lula da Silva on board in the final weeks before U.N. diplomats unveil the sanctions strategy in New York.

But the trip also marks a fresh U.S. start in Latin America, which saw early hopes for better ties with the Obama administration fade amid disputes over last year’s Honduras coup and the continued U.S. embargo on communist-ruled Cuba.

That disappointment was underscored this week when the “Rio Group” including Mexico and Brazil agreed to form a new regional bloc that explicitly leaves out the United States — a thumbed nose at a power many feel is still too cavalier in its dealings with its southern neighbors.

“Their early expectations were very large, and probably impossible to meet,” said Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“There has been a lot more continuity in policy than people expected.”

Latin America-watchers say Clinton’s itinerary speaks volumes. The first two stops on the trip, Uruguay and Chile, have both recently held smooth elections and are regarded as models of moderate, market-oriented economies.

The stop in Chile will be a sign of solidarity with the country after Saturday’s earthquake, one of the world’s most powerful in a century, killed more than 400 people.

She winds up with stops in Costa Rica, another stable longtime U.S. ally, and Guatemala, which has seen its strategic importance skyrocket as a major new front in the battle against international drug traffickers.

“She is making the right stops,” said Roberto Izurieta, head of the Latin America Department at The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.

“She is supporting moderate economic policies and democratic principles. It is the right message.”

TOUGH SELL ON IRAN

Despite the Latin America focus, Iran will top the agenda as the United States and other veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Germany, seek to agree on a resolution calling for new sanctions on Tehran.

Russia has sounded more positive about possible sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but which western powers fear is a cover for building atomic weapons.

But China has called for more talks, and Brazil – which hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in November — is also reluctant, a position Clinton may not be able to change.

Julia Sweig, director of the Latin American program at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Brazil’s own experience with both nuclear energy and democratic transformation made it leery of U.S. saber-rattling over Iran’s current crisis.

“They see themselves as having had an experience both in shifting toward a peaceful nuclear program and in shifting to democracy that Iran might have the potential to undergo right now,” Sweig said.

“They are still insisting on not isolating Iran, though I don’t know how long they will be able to play that out.”

Brazil has also pushed for a change in U.S. isolation of Cuba – Lula paid an “emotional” visit to the island last week — and those calls are likely to be repeated during Clinton’s two stops in Central America.

While the Obama administration resumed migration talks with Cuba that had been suspended by former President George W. Bush in 2004, it has been cautious on any broader policy change despite repeated prodding by its Latin American neighbors.

Clinton is also likely to be pressed on Honduras, which is struggling to return to stability and legitimacy after a coup last year toppled President Manuel Zelaya.

The United States helped to broker new democratic elections in November that brought President Porfirio Lobo to power. But Washington was widely accused of failing to take a strong enough line on Zelaya’s ouster — raising bitter memories of U.S. support for past military coups in the region.

“She’s got to make up for lost time, especially over Honduras,” Sweig said. “American credibility has really taken a hit.”

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The “Person Finder: Chile Earthquake” from the California-based Internet giant is located at Chilepersonfinder.appspot.com and offers users the choice of using it in English and Spanish.

It asks users “What is your situation?” and gives them the choice between “I’m looking for someone” and “I have information about someone.”

Users can then search records by name or input information about someone.

As of 1:15 pm (1815 GMT) Saturday, Google’s “person finder” was tracking around 1,400 records.

Google also deployed a “person finder” following last month’s earthquake in Haiti. It currently contains some 58,700 records.

Saturday’s 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile killed at least 122 people and sent tsunami waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean.

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“You have seen the images you are familiar with the pictures. More than 200,000 bodies were collected on the streets without counting those that are still under the rubble,” Preval told a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Mexico. “We might reach 300,000 people.”

That would make Haiti’s earthquake one of the most lethal natural disasters in modern history, more than the 200,000 people killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

The cost of rebuilding the impoverished country after the 7.0-magnitude quake could be as high as $14 billion (9 billion pounds), according to the Inter-American Development Bank.

Preval’s plea for aid will be at the top of the agenda at the regional summit being held near the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen.

With 250,000 houses destroyed and 1.5 million people living in tent camps made with bed sheets and plastic scraps in nearly every open space in the collapsed capital of Port-au-Prince, Preval said the most urgent need is for emergency shelter.

Aid workers worry that squalid conditions in the camps, many which have no latrines or source of clean water, could lead to disease outbreaks when the rainy season begins in earnest in March.

“The first rainy days that have started falling in Port-au-Prince have made it impossible to enjoy a dignified life and this is the reason for the request for shelters,” Preval said.

Looking ahead to a meeting with international donors to determine the overall shape of rebuilding plans, Preval suggested Haiti should decentralize away from Port-au-Prince, which suffered the heaviest damages.

“We will not try to reconstruct but rather to refound the country, where we don’t concentrate ourselves in one capital,” Preval said. He encouraged Latin American countries to step up investments in industry to help Haiti free itself from dependence on international aid.

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Emilio Estefan said he was talking with Quincy Jones about the importance of the Spanish market when the idea developed.

“You know, Latinos always want to do things in a positive way, to show the world that even we come from different places, we wanted to definitely help,” he said. “I think now is the best time because people forget.”

Actor Andy Garcia was also participating and said that as soon as Estefan called him, he said he would take part.

“You wish you wouldn’t have to do a fundraiser for Haiti,” he said. “It’s going to need attention for quite some time … It’s not just a question of raising money today and everything is going to be all right.”

Other singers who were to participate in recording the track includeBanda El Recodo, Carlos Santana, Chayanne, David Archuleta, Carlos Santana and Jose Feliciano.

The song, “Somos El Mundo,” was adapted by the Estefans, who partnered with Jones, Univision and the not-for-profit We are the World Foundation to gather the artists to record the song. Univision is underwriting, co-producing and doing distribution of the song, which goes on sale in March. All of the artists volunteered.

“I just feel real good. I am not here as an artist. I am here as a human being,” said Cuban-American singer and actor Jencarlos Canela.

“I think that the world needs to realize that we cannot wait for a tragedy to happen to come together and to be united.”

Singer Chayanne said he was moved by the opportunity to work on the song.

“You do it from the bottom of your heart and you really feel great to do something like this with Emilio and Gloria,” he said.

Singer Milly Quezada called it a chance to reach people who had not yet been moved by the events in Haiti.

“It is a divine opportunity for us to stand together in solidarity. Obviously, this song is a beautiful song. Gloria made a beautiful translation,” Quezada said.

Singer Ednita Nazario said she was “flabbergasted” when she saw images of the quake’s aftermath on TV.

“I think you do what comes straight from your heart. Its important to keep Haiti in people’s minds and heart. This is a longterm situation because it’s not rebuilding a building, its building a whole country that needs help,” she said “The difference is that Haiti has nothing.”

David Archuleta said it was great to see how many celebrities were willing to come together for the cause.

“I love this song. It’s just great to be able to be a part of it in Spanish,” he said.

Jon Secada called it a “momentous recording.”

“As a music community to be able to have the opportunity to come together and to do something that really matters, and give something back, it’s important,” he said.

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Eight of 10 Americans charged in the case were released on Wednesday and returned to the United States, but Judge Bernard Saint-Vil ordered the other two to remain for further investigation.

The remaining two are Laura Silsby, the head of the group of Baptist missionaries, and her close confidante Charisa Coulter.

All 10 were arrested on January 29 as they sought to take a busload of children across the border into the Dominican Republic in the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake.

Saint-Vil questioned the remaining two about why they visited Haiti in December prior to the disaster.

Their lawyer, Aviol Fleurant, said they came to Haiti to deliver school supplies and toys to an orphanage in the country’s northeast.

The pastor at the orphanage, Daniel Paul, spoke to the judge by phone, said Fleurant, who claimed the pastor confirmed the Americans’ explanation.

Saint-Vil is seeking to visit Paul’s orphanage and another one belonging to Silsby in the Dominican Republic.

The judge indicated he could visit both sites this weekend and issue a ruling within a week.

“I think they will be home after one week,” Fleurant said after the hearing.

The missionaries from the New Life Children’s Refuge sought to take the 33 children across the border to the Dominican Republic without authorization.

They at first presented the children as quake orphans but it quickly emerged that many of the children still had parents alive.

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