World No 1 Roger Federer survived an uncharacteristically sloppy display to edge past a battling Igor Andreev in four sets as he began his quest for a fourth Australian Open title.
The Swiss recovered from losing the opening set and, while not completely convincing, wrapped up the match 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), 6-0 in two hours and 44 minutes.
It was the first time in Roger Federer's past 25 first-round grand slam matches that he had been taken past three sets.
That was testament to some big shot-making from Andreev, the world No 37, whose aggressive style forced the top seed into some unlikely unforced errors.
After a closely-fought battle the turning point of the match came at the end of the third set when Andreev failed to take three set points on his serve, before losing the tie-break.
The Russian, who had taken Federer to five set in their previous meeting at the 2008 US Open, then meekly conceded the fourth set and the match in quick time.
"It was a tough third set, I definitely got lucky to get out of that one," Federer said. "It was a fortunate third set but that's the way it goes sometimes.
"I prefer easier matches, but this worked."
Federer uncharacteristically conceded the first set after having claimed the opening break.
The Swiss immediately handed the advantage back following some loose shot making, before Andreev gave himself a chance to serve for the set when he fired back-to-back winners.
The 26-year-old made no mistake to take the opener in 41 minutes on the back of 10 winners.
Federer had looked lethargic in the face of Andreev's free swinging, but with his radar was off at the start of the second set as Federer raced into a 3-0 lead.
The world No 1 did not let his advantage slip this time and with his usual steely focus returning the momentum was shifting his way.
Andreev, however, continued his full throttle shot-making and his enterprise again unsettled Federer in a pulsating third set.
After trading early breaks of serve the pair both failed to serve for the set.
Andreev had his chance at 6-5, but passed up three set points as it went to a tie-break, where the Russian was made to pay for his earlier profligacy.
After Andreev won the opening point of the tie-break Federer reeled off the next five and put his serving woes behind him to sew it up with an ace before Andreev could only fend a powerful serve long on set point.
That capitulation was the beginning of the end for Andreev, who for the first time looked tired as he was immediately broken in the opening game and failed to trouble the scoreboard in the fourth set.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Want payback? Vote for Scott Brown!
This election is payback, for everyone in Massachusetts who has to work for a living, who isn’t on the dole, or a trust fund. It’s for everyone who hates getting dozens of robo-calls from clueless pols pushing “Marsha” Coakley and from union thugs living large off your union dues.
Vote for Brown if you’re tired of the 25 percent increase in the sales tax, and the brand new 6.25 percent sales tax on alcohol, on top of the 37 percent excise tax.
Send the hacks a message.
Vote for Brown if they ignored you when you voted for the death penalty, and to cut income taxes, and they wouldn’t even let you vote on gay marriage. If you’re still waiting for your property tax cut. If you’re still waiting for the attorney general to send a corrupt pol - any corrupt pol - to the can.
Send them a message.
If you’re old and worried about the Medicare cuts they’re proposing, if you’re young and don’t want to pay the fine for not having health insurance, if you have a good health-care plan and you dread paying Obama’s 40 percent tax. Marsha - er, Martha - had a message on TV yesterday morning for everyone who falls in those three categories:
“They are wrong.”
That’s what these people always say. You’re wrong, they’re right. Nothing to see here, move along. And make damn sure you pay your taxes, and forget what Obama said about not raising taxes on anybody making under $250,000. That was then, this is now.
On Sunday I called Coakley “Mike Dukakis in a skirt.” I would now like to apologize to Mike Dukakis.
Did you see this woman on Ch. 25 yesterday? Does she ever take her foot out of her mouth? She claimed she’s been running a “positive” campaign - you know, like Chuck Schumer calling Scott Brown a “teabagger.” Then she said her big problems have been “bad weather” and “the holidays” - Christmas, in other words. You should check out the whole thing. She’s not standing for the big insurance companies, even though she went down to D.C. last week to pick up some cash from them.
You want irony? Do you realize that if the state Democrats hadn’t changed the Senate succession law twice in the past five years, they wouldn’t be in meltdown mode this morning?
Their lame (soon-to-be) lame-duck governor could have appointed whatever stiff he wanted.
Irony? Here’s another one: Steve Lynch, the congressman from Southie, was basically kicked to the curb by the unions because he wasn’t gung-ho enough for their scheme to destroy health care. Maybe he couldn’t have won the Democrat primary last month, but a couple of things you can say about Lynch.
Unlike Martha, he knows who Curt Schilling [stats] roots for, and he also knows that there are still terrorists in Afghanistan. Come to think of it, I’ll bet he can also spell Massachusetts.
This is Martha yesterday on the voters she says are wrong: “I think they’re gonna send someone to Massachusetts who has a proven record.”
Vote for Brown if you’re tired of the 25 percent increase in the sales tax, and the brand new 6.25 percent sales tax on alcohol, on top of the 37 percent excise tax.
Send the hacks a message.
Vote for Brown if they ignored you when you voted for the death penalty, and to cut income taxes, and they wouldn’t even let you vote on gay marriage. If you’re still waiting for your property tax cut. If you’re still waiting for the attorney general to send a corrupt pol - any corrupt pol - to the can.
Send them a message.
If you’re old and worried about the Medicare cuts they’re proposing, if you’re young and don’t want to pay the fine for not having health insurance, if you have a good health-care plan and you dread paying Obama’s 40 percent tax. Marsha - er, Martha - had a message on TV yesterday morning for everyone who falls in those three categories:
“They are wrong.”
That’s what these people always say. You’re wrong, they’re right. Nothing to see here, move along. And make damn sure you pay your taxes, and forget what Obama said about not raising taxes on anybody making under $250,000. That was then, this is now.
On Sunday I called Coakley “Mike Dukakis in a skirt.” I would now like to apologize to Mike Dukakis.
Did you see this woman on Ch. 25 yesterday? Does she ever take her foot out of her mouth? She claimed she’s been running a “positive” campaign - you know, like Chuck Schumer calling Scott Brown a “teabagger.” Then she said her big problems have been “bad weather” and “the holidays” - Christmas, in other words. You should check out the whole thing. She’s not standing for the big insurance companies, even though she went down to D.C. last week to pick up some cash from them.
You want irony? Do you realize that if the state Democrats hadn’t changed the Senate succession law twice in the past five years, they wouldn’t be in meltdown mode this morning?
Their lame (soon-to-be) lame-duck governor could have appointed whatever stiff he wanted.
Irony? Here’s another one: Steve Lynch, the congressman from Southie, was basically kicked to the curb by the unions because he wasn’t gung-ho enough for their scheme to destroy health care. Maybe he couldn’t have won the Democrat primary last month, but a couple of things you can say about Lynch.
Unlike Martha, he knows who Curt Schilling [stats] roots for, and he also knows that there are still terrorists in Afghanistan. Come to think of it, I’ll bet he can also spell Massachusetts.
This is Martha yesterday on the voters she says are wrong: “I think they’re gonna send someone to Massachusetts who has a proven record.”
Conan using 'Tonight Show' site for eBay sales
This is the finest NBC sit com since "The Office."
The spittle being tossed by Conan O'Brien toward NBC executives who have removed his show from its time slot and Jay Leno, who is re-taking it over, is both tautly orchestrated and touchingly sincere.
Last week, O'Brien offered to sell the "Tonight Show" on Craigslist.
Now, in what appears will be his final week as host of the NBC show, he is using the "Tonight Show" Web site to link to show memorabilia he claims to want to sell on eBay.
O'Brien is currently offering a "Tonight Show" carry-on bag. This Victorinox Mobilizer NXT 4.0 has some impressive features: A "legacy of both Swiss innovation and a 7-month-run of a late night institution!"; it also enjoys "Isotech ballistic nylon fabric" and a "43 inch aluminum handle".
The NBC site links through to the eBay listing for the bag. The seller is listed as "thetonightshowwithconanobrien" and, according to its eBay profile, this merchant of mirth has 100 percent positive feedback.
Bidding ends January 22, which might, indeed, be the last night of the show's existence.
At the time of writing, there were already 74 bids. Some, offering as much as $999,999, appear not to be entirely serious. However, the need to pay for the shipping appears to be entirely serious.
One can only hope that the proceeds will be shared among the members of O'Brien's staff.
The spittle being tossed by Conan O'Brien toward NBC executives who have removed his show from its time slot and Jay Leno, who is re-taking it over, is both tautly orchestrated and touchingly sincere.
Last week, O'Brien offered to sell the "Tonight Show" on Craigslist.
Now, in what appears will be his final week as host of the NBC show, he is using the "Tonight Show" Web site to link to show memorabilia he claims to want to sell on eBay.
O'Brien is currently offering a "Tonight Show" carry-on bag. This Victorinox Mobilizer NXT 4.0 has some impressive features: A "legacy of both Swiss innovation and a 7-month-run of a late night institution!"; it also enjoys "Isotech ballistic nylon fabric" and a "43 inch aluminum handle".
The NBC site links through to the eBay listing for the bag. The seller is listed as "thetonightshowwithconanobrien" and, according to its eBay profile, this merchant of mirth has 100 percent positive feedback.
Bidding ends January 22, which might, indeed, be the last night of the show's existence.
At the time of writing, there were already 74 bids. Some, offering as much as $999,999, appear not to be entirely serious. However, the need to pay for the shipping appears to be entirely serious.
One can only hope that the proceeds will be shared among the members of O'Brien's staff.
GOLDEN GLOBES RED CARPET: 'Inglourious Basterds' Director Quentin Tarantino 'Could Never Think Like' James Cameron
Quentin Tarantino walked the red carpet at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards last night to support his latest contender, "Inglourious Basterds." What if things had gone differently though? What if the filmmaker had helmed one of the other nominees? Perhaps Best Picture and Best Director winner "Avatar"?
"I'm not James Cameron, I could never think like that," he told MTV's Josh Horowitz. "I don't think he could think like me either."
"But," he continued, "If I could think like that-- if I could go into a time machine and think like that and be able to do what he could do, that would be great."
The director is fine with the way things turned out though. "Basterds" star Christoph Waltz scored a Best Supporting Golden Globe last night, for one. Also, Tarantino just liked the movie.
"Obviously, i loved ['Avatar,']" he said. It's a great movie. It's a fantastic experience."
What would a Tarantino-directed "Avatar" look like? How about a Cameron-directed "Inglourious"?
"I'm not James Cameron, I could never think like that," he told MTV's Josh Horowitz. "I don't think he could think like me either."
"But," he continued, "If I could think like that-- if I could go into a time machine and think like that and be able to do what he could do, that would be great."
The director is fine with the way things turned out though. "Basterds" star Christoph Waltz scored a Best Supporting Golden Globe last night, for one. Also, Tarantino just liked the movie.
"Obviously, i loved ['Avatar,']" he said. It's a great movie. It's a fantastic experience."
What would a Tarantino-directed "Avatar" look like? How about a Cameron-directed "Inglourious"?
UN chief arrives in quake-hit Port-au-Prince
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived on Sunday in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Caribbean nation Haiti, which was destroyed by a Tuesday quake that registered 7.3 on the Richter scale.
Ban came to see first hand the effects of the catastrophe, to show solidarity to Haiti's citizens and to the UN's workers, as well as to help boost the speed of aid distribution in the nation.
He began with an inspection of the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince, which collapsed in the quake killing both Hedi Annabi, the UN's special representative in Haiti, and his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa alongside dozens of UN staff.
Annabi, a Tunisian who led the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah), was found dead on Saturday by Chinese rescue workers in the ruins of the building.
Ban also met quake survivors, telling them that rescue teams and international aid are being accelerated.
"I am here with a message of hope, that aid is already on the way," said Ban, a South Korean, during a press conference at the National Palace, the presidential seat.
During the same conference, Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimated that around 100,000 people had died due to the quake and that more than 90 percent of the nation's buildings are damaged, adding that these were estimates and not final figures.
At a separate Sunday meeting with Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Ban proposed a special UN-backed European Union mission to Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with former Spanish colony the Dominican Republic. Spain is the current holder of the rotating, six-month EU presidency.
The UN is evaluating the opening of a so-called humanitarian corridor linking the Dominican Republic and Haiti, in order to boost the number of sources of aid, given that Port-au-Prince airport has been overwhelmed by the large number of planes arriving from across the world.
Ban came to see first hand the effects of the catastrophe, to show solidarity to Haiti's citizens and to the UN's workers, as well as to help boost the speed of aid distribution in the nation.
He began with an inspection of the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince, which collapsed in the quake killing both Hedi Annabi, the UN's special representative in Haiti, and his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa alongside dozens of UN staff.
Annabi, a Tunisian who led the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah), was found dead on Saturday by Chinese rescue workers in the ruins of the building.
Ban also met quake survivors, telling them that rescue teams and international aid are being accelerated.
"I am here with a message of hope, that aid is already on the way," said Ban, a South Korean, during a press conference at the National Palace, the presidential seat.
During the same conference, Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimated that around 100,000 people had died due to the quake and that more than 90 percent of the nation's buildings are damaged, adding that these were estimates and not final figures.
At a separate Sunday meeting with Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Ban proposed a special UN-backed European Union mission to Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with former Spanish colony the Dominican Republic. Spain is the current holder of the rotating, six-month EU presidency.
The UN is evaluating the opening of a so-called humanitarian corridor linking the Dominican Republic and Haiti, in order to boost the number of sources of aid, given that Port-au-Prince airport has been overwhelmed by the large number of planes arriving from across the world.
Marin celebrates Martin Luther King Jr.: 'Great outpouring in a downpour' as volunteers build community garden
Torrential rain failed to dampen the spirits of volunteers who built a community garden Monday morning in Marin City.
"There was a great outpouring in a downpour," said Will Becker, a manager with Conservation Corps North Bay, the group overseeing the garden's construction. "We had 277 volunteers sign up here today."
The garden is at the Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in the Sausalito Marin City School District and will become an outdoor classroom for students and community members. Cooperation between the district and area foundations, nonprofits, service organizations and businesses has made the community project a reality.
"The main focus of this garden is to grow healthy food and share it with members of the community,"
said
Gary Gherardi (left) and William Waters assemble a raised bed planter as other volunteers help build a community garden at the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy on Monday. (IJ photo/Robert Tong)
Marika Bergsund, founder and director of Growing Great Marin City, a nonprofit that promotes gardens, nutrition education and healthy eating.
The work session coincided with the 12th annual Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration held at the nearby Manzanita Community Center. It attracted an unprecedented slate of volunteers, including 30 students and the entire faculty from MLK Academy and members of Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps and HealthCorps, some of whom came from as far away as Ukiah, Becker said.
Bergsund said that inclement weather, soggy clothing, deep mud and standing water did not stop volunteers from installing plant boxes, spreading woodchips and planting apple and plum trees, grapes, blueberries, currants, elderberries,
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and in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., three peace rose bushes.
Marin businesses donated everything from woodchips to plants to coffee and bagels for the volunteers.
"We even had a drummer to get the energy going and to get people warm," Bergsund said. "And about 60 children in rainboots to tamp down trails for the workers."
Started by local rock icon Carlos Santana, the San Rafael-based Milagro Foundation received a $720,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich.,
Volunteers divert rain water from the community garden at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy as others wheels in mulch on Monday. (IJ photo/Robert Tong)
last year to fund three-year projects advancing healthy food and nutrition education projects in low-income communities.
Marin City was one of four such recipients nationwide and will receive $65,000 a year initially, said Shelley Brown, executive director of the Milagro Foundation.
"Our goal was to get nutrition programs and a garden installed locally," she said.
Aside from the garden, the three-part program includes a cooking and nutrition class for students kindergarten through eighth grade and community nutrition workshops, Bergsund said.
Natasha Griffin teaches nutrition and cooking to students at MLK Academy and Bayside Elementary School and is bullish about the garden's bounty.
"It will be good for the kids to see where food comes from, the work that goes into feeding the family and the basics of healthy living," she said.
Site preparation had been taking place for six weeks. The Conservation Corps put up a fence around the garden's perimeter and DD&L Trucking of Marin City loosened the soil in preparation for planting.
"The Marin Farmers Market grew the collard greens for this year's Martin Luther King celebration, but we will grow the greens in the garden for next year's celebration," Bergsund said.
"There was a great outpouring in a downpour," said Will Becker, a manager with Conservation Corps North Bay, the group overseeing the garden's construction. "We had 277 volunteers sign up here today."
The garden is at the Martin Luther King Jr. Academy in the Sausalito Marin City School District and will become an outdoor classroom for students and community members. Cooperation between the district and area foundations, nonprofits, service organizations and businesses has made the community project a reality.
"The main focus of this garden is to grow healthy food and share it with members of the community,"
said
Gary Gherardi (left) and William Waters assemble a raised bed planter as other volunteers help build a community garden at the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy on Monday. (IJ photo/Robert Tong)
Marika Bergsund, founder and director of Growing Great Marin City, a nonprofit that promotes gardens, nutrition education and healthy eating.
The work session coincided with the 12th annual Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration held at the nearby Manzanita Community Center. It attracted an unprecedented slate of volunteers, including 30 students and the entire faculty from MLK Academy and members of Conservation Corps, AmeriCorps and HealthCorps, some of whom came from as far away as Ukiah, Becker said.
Bergsund said that inclement weather, soggy clothing, deep mud and standing water did not stop volunteers from installing plant boxes, spreading woodchips and planting apple and plum trees, grapes, blueberries, currants, elderberries,
Advertisement
EarthShare
and in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., three peace rose bushes.
Marin businesses donated everything from woodchips to plants to coffee and bagels for the volunteers.
"We even had a drummer to get the energy going and to get people warm," Bergsund said. "And about 60 children in rainboots to tamp down trails for the workers."
Started by local rock icon Carlos Santana, the San Rafael-based Milagro Foundation received a $720,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich.,
Volunteers divert rain water from the community garden at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy as others wheels in mulch on Monday. (IJ photo/Robert Tong)
last year to fund three-year projects advancing healthy food and nutrition education projects in low-income communities.
Marin City was one of four such recipients nationwide and will receive $65,000 a year initially, said Shelley Brown, executive director of the Milagro Foundation.
"Our goal was to get nutrition programs and a garden installed locally," she said.
Aside from the garden, the three-part program includes a cooking and nutrition class for students kindergarten through eighth grade and community nutrition workshops, Bergsund said.
Natasha Griffin teaches nutrition and cooking to students at MLK Academy and Bayside Elementary School and is bullish about the garden's bounty.
"It will be good for the kids to see where food comes from, the work that goes into feeding the family and the basics of healthy living," she said.
Site preparation had been taking place for six weeks. The Conservation Corps put up a fence around the garden's perimeter and DD&L Trucking of Marin City loosened the soil in preparation for planting.
"The Marin Farmers Market grew the collard greens for this year's Martin Luther King celebration, but we will grow the greens in the garden for next year's celebration," Bergsund said.
Haiti earthquake: Drunk looters, desperate survivors
LOOTING is spreading in the Haitian capital as hundreds of young men, some drunk for extra "courage", roam the streets nearly a week after the earthquake which is now estimated to have killed 200,000 people.
While hundreds of millions of dollars have been pledged to help Haiti, aid is still not reaching some of the hardest hit areas because survivors are too scared of attacks on aid convoys to accept assistance.
But while the has Red Cross has warned that violence by desperate Haitians is growing, the top US officer on the ground, Lieutenant-General Ken Keen, has insisted: "The level of violence we see now is below pre-earthquake levels".
"Is there gang violence? Yes. Was there gang violence before the earthquake? Absolutely," he said.
Thousands of peacekeepers, police and soldiers have been sent in to Haiti from nearby nations to restore order and help distribute aid. Agencies on the ground in the capital, Port-au-Prince, have said the effort is now running more efficiently after the confusion of the initial aftermath of the 7.0 quake which hit last week.
But the situation for survivors is still one of unimaginable horror. Gangs of looters roam the streets - the top target is toothpaste, which is smeared under the nose to mask the constant stench of death.
In one instance, looters scavenging a collapsed market were fired on by police as they tried to steal bottles of rum, armed with broken bottles, machetes and razors. "I am drinking as much as I can. It gives courage," one young looter, carrying a piece of wood with nails in it, told the Associated Press.
As the death toll approaches that of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, there are still another 250,000 injured and 1.5 million left homeless in desperate need of attention. Even those whose homes survived are sleeping on the streets for fear of aftershocks.
About 50,000 people are sleeping on a golf course in Port-au-Prince and the World Food Program is planning a tent city on the outskirts for 100,000, the AP reported.
Reports from the city have said about 70,000 bodies have been buried, but many more bodies still line the streets.
Survivors are reportedly dumping corpses at intersections in the hope aid agencies or authorities - even garbage trucks - will eventually remove them.
There have been some uplifting tales of survival emerging - such as the story of the text message to the UN that led to the rescue two days later of two adults and a young girl after they were trapped in a collapsed supermarket for 100 hours.
When rescuers shouted out seeking signs of life, a girl's voice came back: "I'm seven". The girl, named as Ariel, reportedly said she was stuck next to a dead man but covered with food.
But while some hope remains, it is becoming more faint by the hour and Ariel's story is expected to be one of the last of its kind.
In another indication of the catastrophe Haiti is now living through, a Dutch charter plane is due to pick up 100 Haitian children - many but not all now orphans - for adoption outside the country.
The UN's humanitarian body has said hospitals are overwhelmed and suffering a severe shortage of supplies and staff. It has also said the fuel shortage in Haiti was becoming "more and more critical".
Emergency workers are now reaching battered communities outside the capital, including Gressier, Petit Goave and Leogane, which were all flattened by the quake. "Patients arrived on handcarts or on men's backs," said Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency coordinator Hans van Dillen.
Many foreigners are trying to flee - hundreds of US citizens, or people claiming to be, have formed a long line outside the US embassy in hopes of arranging a flight out of the country.
While hundreds of millions of dollars have been pledged to help Haiti, aid is still not reaching some of the hardest hit areas because survivors are too scared of attacks on aid convoys to accept assistance.
But while the has Red Cross has warned that violence by desperate Haitians is growing, the top US officer on the ground, Lieutenant-General Ken Keen, has insisted: "The level of violence we see now is below pre-earthquake levels".
"Is there gang violence? Yes. Was there gang violence before the earthquake? Absolutely," he said.
Thousands of peacekeepers, police and soldiers have been sent in to Haiti from nearby nations to restore order and help distribute aid. Agencies on the ground in the capital, Port-au-Prince, have said the effort is now running more efficiently after the confusion of the initial aftermath of the 7.0 quake which hit last week.
But the situation for survivors is still one of unimaginable horror. Gangs of looters roam the streets - the top target is toothpaste, which is smeared under the nose to mask the constant stench of death.
In one instance, looters scavenging a collapsed market were fired on by police as they tried to steal bottles of rum, armed with broken bottles, machetes and razors. "I am drinking as much as I can. It gives courage," one young looter, carrying a piece of wood with nails in it, told the Associated Press.
As the death toll approaches that of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, there are still another 250,000 injured and 1.5 million left homeless in desperate need of attention. Even those whose homes survived are sleeping on the streets for fear of aftershocks.
About 50,000 people are sleeping on a golf course in Port-au-Prince and the World Food Program is planning a tent city on the outskirts for 100,000, the AP reported.
Reports from the city have said about 70,000 bodies have been buried, but many more bodies still line the streets.
Survivors are reportedly dumping corpses at intersections in the hope aid agencies or authorities - even garbage trucks - will eventually remove them.
There have been some uplifting tales of survival emerging - such as the story of the text message to the UN that led to the rescue two days later of two adults and a young girl after they were trapped in a collapsed supermarket for 100 hours.
When rescuers shouted out seeking signs of life, a girl's voice came back: "I'm seven". The girl, named as Ariel, reportedly said she was stuck next to a dead man but covered with food.
But while some hope remains, it is becoming more faint by the hour and Ariel's story is expected to be one of the last of its kind.
In another indication of the catastrophe Haiti is now living through, a Dutch charter plane is due to pick up 100 Haitian children - many but not all now orphans - for adoption outside the country.
The UN's humanitarian body has said hospitals are overwhelmed and suffering a severe shortage of supplies and staff. It has also said the fuel shortage in Haiti was becoming "more and more critical".
Emergency workers are now reaching battered communities outside the capital, including Gressier, Petit Goave and Leogane, which were all flattened by the quake. "Patients arrived on handcarts or on men's backs," said Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency coordinator Hans van Dillen.
Many foreigners are trying to flee - hundreds of US citizens, or people claiming to be, have formed a long line outside the US embassy in hopes of arranging a flight out of the country.
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