Magnitude 7.0 devastated Haiti.

Tens of thousands of people were feared to have died after an earthquake of magnitude

Tens of thousands of people were feared to have died after an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 devastated Haiti. Schools, hospitals and homes in Port-au-Prince collapsed, as did the parliament building and the headquarters of the United Nations mission. The Red Cross said a third of Haiti's 9m people would probably need emergency help. Venezuela devalued its currency, setting up a multiple exchange-rate system under which most imports will now cost 4.3 bolivares to the dollar, twice the previous fixed rate. President Hugo Chavez threatened to close businesses that raised prices. Separately, Mr Chavez rowed back from a plan for rollingpower cuts and sacked his energy minister. In Guatemala un investigators said that a lawyer who accused th e country's president, Alvaro Colom, of his murder in a video made just before he was killed had himself hired hitmen to kill him. They found no evidence that the president was involved. Ecuador's foreign minister resigned after the president, Rafael Correa, criticised his officials for their handling of a scheme under which the government sought foreign aid in return for not exploiting an oil deposit in a rainforest reserve.