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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti _ Aid workers hoping to distribute food, water and other supplies to a shattered Port-au-Prince are warning their efforts may need more security Friday as Haitians grow increasingly desperate and impatient for help.

United Nations peacekeepers patrolling the capital said people’s anger is rising that aid hasn’t been distributed quickly, and the Brazilian military warned aid convoys to add security to guard against looting.

“Unfortunately, they’re slowly getting more angry and impatient,” said David Wimhurst, spokesman for the Brazilian-commanded U.N. peacekeeping mission. “I fear, we’re all aware that the situation is getting more tense as the poorest people who need so much are waiting for deliveries. I think tempers might be frayed.”

The U.N. World Food Program reported Friday that its warehouses in the Haitian capital had been looted since Tuesday’s cataclysmic earthquake. It didn’t know how much of its pre-quake stockpile of 15,000 tons of food aid remained.

A spokeswoman for the Geneva-based agency, Emilia Casella, noted that regular food stores in the city also had been emptied by looters.

Bound for Haiti, 82nd Airborne brigade and a Navy carrier are part of US relief effort

WASHINGTON _ Some 800 infantry soldiers and a Navy aircraft carrier are bound for Haiti to aid the massive relief effort under way, the first major influx of U.S. troops since the catastrophe struck.

The troops, expected to arrive Friday, were a clear sign that President Barack Obama was intent on rescuing the ravaged nation, despite the strain that such a vast undertaking would invariably take.

“To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken,” Obama said. “You will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you.”

Military personnel began trickling into Haiti on Wednesday to restore operations at the airport and join the relief effort. An early assessment team has outlined an urgent requirement for helicopters to ferry supplies and victims, as well as equipment to purify water and clear road debris.

A primary challenge is the badly damaged seaport that will make it difficult for ships _ carrying the kinds of mass amounts of supplies and helicopters needed in a natural disaster _ to offload their equipment. Likewise, the small airport at Port-au-Prince was described as congested and chaotic with civilian flights canceled and planes stranded without the ability to refuel.

Official says as many as 8 officers could face punishment for Ft. Hood shooting rampage

WASHINGTON_ As many as eight Army officers could face punishment for failing to do anything when the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood rampage displayed erratic behavior early in his military career, a U.S. official says.

The officers supervised the suspect when he was a medical student and during his work as an Army psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to refer findings on the officers to the Army for further inquiry and possible punishment. The report on what went wrong in the case of Army Maj. Nidal Hasan is expected to be released Friday.

The official said Thursday that a Pentagon inquiry finds fault with five to eight supervisors who knew or should have known about the shortcomings and erratic behavior of Hasan, who’s accused of killing 13 people at the Texas Army base on Nov. 5.

The official described the confidential report on condition of anonymity because it has not been made public.

Democrats break logjam on tax dispute, reach for final deal on health care bill

WASHINGTON _ President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats stand within days if not hours of striking final deals on historic health care legislation after key labor unions won concessions and pledged their support.

“We are on the doorstep of accomplishing something that Washington has been talking about since Teddy Roosevelt was president, and that is reforming health care and health insurance here in America,” Obama told rank-and-file House Democrats on Thursday during a visit to the Capitol complex.

As he spoke, heads of the nation’s leading labor unions were announcing a deal to resolve a highly contentious dispute over Obama’s desire to tax high-cost insurance plans to help pay for the health legislation. Unions had objected strongly, saying union workers ultimately would pay the 40 percent levy, and House Democrats backed the unions. But labor bowed to the White House demands after extracting agreements that would significantly soften the blow of the tax.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that, assuming the deal and other labor priorities hold, labor will be behind the final bill.

“We will endorse it, and we’ll do that proudly,” he said.

Hudson River miracle passengers, crew gather for 1-year anniversary, celebration of survival

NEW YORK _ It should have been a death knell: “Brace for impact.”

But a year after 155 people lived through the water landing of the incapacitated US Airways Flight 1549 in the middle of the frigid Hudson River, many of them are gathering to celebrate the anniversary of their unlikely survival.

On Friday, Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is expected to join other crew and passengers to revisit the site where he deftly set down his Airbus A320 on Jan. 15, 2009, after it crossed paths with a flock of Canada geese that disabled its engines.

The group, which will include First Officer Jeffrey Skiles and the plane’s three flight attendants, is to gather in the morning for a breakfast to thank first responders and the Greater New York and Northern New Jersey chapters of the American Red Cross.

In the afternoon, they will meet with boat crews and other rescuers to board one of the passenger ferries that plucked them from the icy water. Together, they’ll return to the place where they made their escape.

China tries to keep Google conflict from damaging business confidence, ties with Washington

BEIJING _ China tried Friday to keep its censorship row with Google from damaging business confidence or ties with Washington, promising good conditions for foreign investors but giving no sign it might relax Internet controls.

U.S.-China trade and economic ties will not be affected by any Google Inc. decision to withdraw from China, said Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian at a regular briefing. However, he insisted foreign companies must obey Chinese law.

“China will still strictly adopt a policy of openness and offer a good investment environment,” Yao said. “We emphasize that foreign companies including Google should all follow international standards and respect local law and regulations and local culture and customs to shoulder social responsibility.”

The loss of such a high-profile company would be an embarrassment to communist leaders, who want to make China a technology leader. But the ruling party sees control over information as critical to maintaining its monopoly on power.

U.S.-Chinese ties are periodically strained by disputes over trade, human rights and U.S. support for self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by Beijing as its own territory. But the two sides maintain dialogue in a series of forums and say they want constructive relations.

Columbia social scientist says outlawing marriage creates added mental health issues for gays

SAN FRANCISCO _ A Columbia University social scientist says California’s voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriages contributed to the social stigma that makes gay men and lesbians more susceptible to depression, suicide and substance abuse.

Testifying in the federal trial to decide if Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution, Ilan Meyer said the measure sent a message of “You are not welcome here” to gay people by erecting a barrier to a “desirable and respected” institution.

“People in our society have goals that are cherished by all people, that are part of the social convention,” Meyer said. “We are all raised to think there are certain things we want to achieve in life, and this Proposition 8 says if you are gay or lesbian, you cannot achieve this particular goal.”

The trial, the first in a federal to examine the constitutionality of state gay marriage bans, is scheduled to resume Friday with testimony from Michael Lamb, a Cambridge University psychologist who will discuss gay and lesbian parenting and the benefits to children of allowing same-sex couples to marry.

During Thursday’s session, Howard Nielson Jr., a lawyer for the measure’s sponsors, mounted an exhaustive cross-examination, using Meyer’s own research showing that black and Latino gays had fewer mental health problems than white gays to try to undercut the professor’s assertion. Meyer had hypothesized in his study that black and Latino gays would have more mental health issues because of their dual minority identities.

Treasury Secy. Geithner defends secretive AIG bailouts as another committee joins probe

WASHINGTON _ Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner responded to a rising chorus of questions about controversial bailout deals Thursday, defending decisions that funneled billions to Wall Street banks.

Geithner said the “backdoor bailouts” of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and others were necessary and agreed to appear before a House committee probing his handing of the $182 billion rescue of American International Group Inc.

Geithner said he will appear at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs later this month to discuss the matter.

Hours earlier, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee said his panel also will investigate bailout decisions Geithner signed off on when he was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The New York Fed paid billions to banks to satisfy financial commitments AIG had with them. The deals might have cost taxpayers billions more than necessary because Geithner declined to demand concessions from the banks, an earlier watchdog report said.

Kimmel tweaks Leno, NBC over late-night dispute; NBC sets shows for post-Leno prime time

LOS ANGELES _ Jimmy Kimmel stepped into NBC’s late-night fray on Jay Leno’s turf, taking comic aim at him and NBC on “The Jay Leno Show.”

Appearing by satellite Thursday for Leno’s “Ten at Ten” question-and-answer segment, the ABC late-night host was asked to relate his best prank ever. Kimmel replied that he told a guy five years ago that he’d give him his show, and “then I took it back.”

It was a thinly veiled reference to Leno’s agreement in 2004 to surrender “The Tonight Show” to O’Brien in 2009, after 17 years as host.

NBC, which is ending Leno’s prime-time show, wants to return him to 11:30 p.m. EST by bumping O’Brien and “Tonight” to midnight, a plan O’Brien has rejected. The network was in talks with both hosts.

Kimmel also joked that Leno had “$800 million, for God’s sake,” and advised him to leave other hosts’ shows alone.

‘Goof ball’ goes before the judge: Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas charged with felony gun possession

WASHINGTON) _ Ever since he first acknowledged keeping guns in his locker, NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas has publicly employed the “goof ball” defense, claiming he wasn’t aware of the law, meant no harm and never takes anything seriously.

The NBA and the Washington Wizards had a far more serious response. Now it’s time to see how it plays before a judge.

Arenas is scheduled to appear in court Friday to answer a felony charge of carrying a pistol without a license, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The charge was filed Thursday in D.C. Superior Court in an “information,” a document that indicates Arenas has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

The three-time All-Star has acknowledged storing four unloaded guns in his locker at the Verizon Center, saying he wanted to keep them away from his young children and didn’t know it was a violation of the city’s strict gun laws. He says he took them out of the locker Dec. 21 in a “misguided effort to play a joke” on a teammate.

The charge was made hours after the teammate, Javaris Crittenton, had his northern Virginia apartment searched by police looking for a silver- or chrome-colored semiautomatic handgun with a black handle. The search warrant indicated police were investigating crimes that include brandishing a weapon. No evidence was seized, according to court documents, and Crittenton has not been charged.