9.04.2005
France, Cuba, Venezuela Among Those Offering Aid (USATODAY.com)
Posted 9/2/2005 5:39 PM Updated 9/2/2005 9:28 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an accelerating drive, more than 50 countries have pledged money or other assistance to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Cuba and Venezuela have offered to help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia and small countries like Sri Lanka and Dominica are among the nations making pledges.
"I hope that will remind Americans that we are all part of the same community," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday as offers kept pouring in.
None has been turned down, Rice said at a news conference, disputing a report from Moscow that a Russian offer had been rejected. However, she said some offers were being taken up immediately and others "somewhat later," depending on the needs on the ground.
But Cuban President Fidel Castro said he hoped an offer made Tuesday to send 1,100 Cuban doctors would be accepted "immediately so as not to lose another minute." Castro said in a live broadcast in Havana Friday night that he had just sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. mission in Havana to make the offer a second time.
In her news conference, Rice singled out Sri Lanka for praise for making a contribution even as it struggles to recover from the tsunami and earthquake disaster of last December.
And she said contributions from poor countries were being accepted because "it is very valuable for people being able to give to each other and to be able to do so without a sense of means."
(More ... USATODAY.com - France, Cuba, Venezuela among those offering aid) ¶ 11:54
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an accelerating drive, more than 50 countries have pledged money or other assistance to help Americans recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Cuba and Venezuela have offered to help despite differences with Washington. Oil giant Saudi Arabia and small countries like Sri Lanka and Dominica are among the nations making pledges.
"I hope that will remind Americans that we are all part of the same community," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday as offers kept pouring in.
None has been turned down, Rice said at a news conference, disputing a report from Moscow that a Russian offer had been rejected. However, she said some offers were being taken up immediately and others "somewhat later," depending on the needs on the ground.
But Cuban President Fidel Castro said he hoped an offer made Tuesday to send 1,100 Cuban doctors would be accepted "immediately so as not to lose another minute." Castro said in a live broadcast in Havana Friday night that he had just sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. mission in Havana to make the offer a second time.
In her news conference, Rice singled out Sri Lanka for praise for making a contribution even as it struggles to recover from the tsunami and earthquake disaster of last December.
And she said contributions from poor countries were being accepted because "it is very valuable for people being able to give to each other and to be able to do so without a sense of means."
(More ... USATODAY.com - France, Cuba, Venezuela among those offering aid) ¶ 11:54
