In Haiti, ten US missionaries have been charged with child kidnapping following their arrest for trying to leave the country with a busload of children. Some of the children reportedly had parents who survived the January 12 earthquake. The missionaries say they were only trying to rescue abandoned and traumatized children. Their attorney has faulted the group leader, who is said to have deliberately avoided seeking Haitian government permission. There has been speculation the missionaries will face trial in the United States because of the earthquake’s toll on the Haiti’s court system. US Ambassador Kenneth Merten said he’s in talks with the Haitian government on the case.

Kenneth Merten: “We’re in the process of talking with the Haitian government to — you know, we need — what we’d like to do is to make sure that they get treated according to the law, according to the Haitian law, that they get treated fairly, and that they are afforded, as anybody arrested in any country would be afforded, consular access, which has been the case. So, really, seriously, that’s all I have to say.”