[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/WORLD/americas/01/20/haiti.earthquake.survivors/t1larg.jpg caption="Mendji Bahina Sanon, 11, sleeps at a hospital in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. She survived more than a week under the rubble of her collapsed house." width=416 height=234]
Tom Watkins
CNN
The fact that survivors have been unearthed more than a week after being entombed without food or water in quake-stricken Haiti is no surprise and simply underscores the body's resilience in the face of adversity, emergency medicine experts told CNN Wednesday.
"You can go 10, 12, 13 days without really having a problem," said Dr. Eric Weinstein, an emergency physician in Summerville, South Carolina, who is on the Disaster Preparedness and Response Committee of the American College of Emergency Physicians. "Particularly if you're healthy to begin with."
Weinstein's comments came hours after a 5-year-old boy, Monley, was pulled alive from rubble nearly eight days after the 7.0-magnitude quake had leveled much of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. More than 121 people have been pulled alive from the rubble, the United Nations said Wednesday.
Boy found alive in the rubble
Monley was taken to a hospital to be treated for severe dehydration and doctors attributed his survival to resilience and the strength of his young body.
"They'll have some electrolyte abnormalities; they might have some organ dysfunction like their kidneys might be starting to slow down, their liver, their bowels might have some issues, but with rehydration ... they should have good recovery," Weinstein said.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/21/art.mccain.jpg caption="Cindy McCain, the wife of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, has posed for a Web site promoting same-sex marriage."]
CNN
Cindy McCain, the wife of the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, has posed for a Web site promoting same-sex marriage.
McCain, who's married to Arizona Sen. John McCain, appears in a photograph on the site with a piece of silver duct tape over her mouth and the slogan "No H8" written on her cheek.
The site's owners were stunned when Mrs. McCain came to them with the idea of posing for them, they said when posting her photo Wednesday.
"We've often been surprised at some of the different individuals who have approached us showing their support. Few, though, have surprised us more than Cindy McCain," wrote Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley.
"The McCains are one of the most well-known Republican families in recent history, and for Mrs. McCain to have reached out to us to offer her support truly means a lot," they wrote.
"Cindy McCain wanted to participate in the campaign to show people that party doesn't matter – marriage equality isn't a Republican issue any more than it is a Democratic issue," they argued, saying it was "about human rights."
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Bill Mears
CNN Supreme Court Producer
The Supreme Court has given big business, unions and nonprofits more power to spend freely in federal elections, a major turnaround that threatens a century of government efforts to regulate the power of corporations to bankroll American politics.
A 5-4 conservative majority crafted a narrow overhaul of federal campaign spending Thursday that could have an immediate effect on this year's congressional midterm elections. The justices eased long-standing restrictions on "independent spending" by corporations and unions in political campaigns.
"When government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority. "The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves."
The opinion radically alters the election calculus, offering greater spending flexibility for a broader range of for-profit and nonprofit groups seeking a voice in the crowded national political debate.
Hours after the ruling, President Obama responded, saying the court has given "the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington - while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates."
Program Note: Tune in tonight for live coverage on the situation on the ground in Haiti. AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/01/21/t1.idf.clinic.doc.jpg caption="A medic at the IDF Field Hospital in Port-au-Prince checks on an injured child." width=300 height=169]
Ella Perlis
AC360° Associate Producer
Medical professionals in Haiti are struggling to help critically ill patients with limited resources. We've heard horror stories about doctors forced to substitute vodka for rubbing alcohol, and use hacksaws for amputations. These dramatic and desperate images are described by some as "civil war medicine." However, this is not the situation at an Israeli-run field hospital in the earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Located on a Port-au-Prince soccer field, the facility has operating rooms, an intensive care unit, a pediatric ward, and even a pharmacy. The technology is as sophisticated as most Western hospitals: it has x-ray equipment, respirators, monitors, and incubators that have sustained at least two pre-mature babies born since the earthquake.
How did a country that has never experienced a major earthquake respond so quickly and efficiently? To find out more about Israel's response in Haiti, I spoke with an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer. The man on the other end of the phone sounded familiar – a New York accent, distinctly from Queens – and the voice of my old friend from summer camp years ago.
Ivan Watson | BIO
CNN Correspondent
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Eliza Browning
AC360° Associate Producer
How is aid getting to the people in Haiti? After criticism that relief hasn’t made its way to victims of the earthquake-ravaged Haiti quickly enough, U.S. officials say they are taking steps to rectify the problem. About 100 aid flights are arriving daily at the Port-au-Prince airport, up from 25 a day just after the earthquake hit January 12, a senior administration official says.
Our team is on the ground in Haiti where the lines of thirsty and hungry survivors paint a different story. The lack of medical supplies is also straining overstretched doctors and makeshift field hospitals. We’re reporting live on whether or not the access to aid has improved and how relief organizations in Haiti are coordinating efforts.
We’re also hearing that 4,000 marines and sailors from Campe Lejeune, N.C. will go to Haiti to support humanitarian relief operations rather than go to Afghanistan as originally planned. How long will U.S. troops remain in the country?
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a surprise visit to Pakistan today. He said his talks with Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders intended to explain the U.S. war strategy in neighboring Afghanistan. Gates says Pakistan must know the U.S. is in it for the “long haul” and that it wants Pakistan to broaden its offensive to border areas where members of the Afghan Taliban have been seeking refuge.