$10,000 donated from sale of website

TORONTO -- A Canadian student dubbed the "wave rat" for offering the domain name "tsunamirelief.com" for $50,000 on the online auction site eBay has sold it and donated the money to relief efforts, the gaming company that bought it said yesterday. Josh Kaplan, 20, branded a "wave rat" by the New York Post, which suggested he was trying to profit from the disaster, sold the domain name to the Montreal-based internet gambling company for $10,000. The entire amount was given directly to Chabad of Thailand, a Jewish relief agency, the company said. Kaplan's mother Linda told Reuters last week that her son had always intended to donate the money from the online auction to charity and had not tried to profit from the Indian Ocean tsunami. A spokesman for the gaming company said yesterday he also believed Kaplan had the best intentions. "We spoke with him and we wanted to verify his story. We believed him to be quite sincere about not trying to profit from the sale of the website," said spokesman Drew Black. "He was helping to raise as much as he could for those in need." Tsunamirelief.com now lists 13 charities and has direct links to their websites to make donations. (Reuters)

United Nations

Clinton, UN launch $45m aid campaign

Former president Clinton launched a $45 million appeal with the UN children's agency yesterday to provide clean water and sanitation to victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami and said he expected the United States in the long run to contribute billions of dollars to rebuild the devastated areas. Clinton and former president George H. W. Bush were appointed by President Bush to increase private donations after the Dec. 26 earthquake off Indonesia triggered deadly waves that swept across southeast Asia to Africa -- and Clinton said more than one-third of a billion dollars already has been donated to charities. But he said he also tried to determine whether there was "an area of critical need" where there was not enough money to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of the millions of people affected by the tsunami, especially children. "Our inquiries determined that in the weeks and months ahead, more resources will be needed to provide clean water and adequate sanitation both for survival and for the prevention of disease," Clinton said. "The initial inquiry that we made . . . was that we ought to try to raise another $45 million for this purpose alone." The new fund is a joint project of the Clinton Foundation and the United Nations Children's Fund. Clinton said he and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, made the first contribution, the amount of which was not disclosed.

Malaysia

Survivor details his 14 days adrift at sea

PORT KLANG -- An Indonesian man swept out to sea by the Asian tsunami yesterday described how he survived adrift for two weeks, living on coconuts and chancing upon a leaky boat and a raft. Ari Afrizal, 21, spoke briefly to reporters late yesterday after arriving at a Malaysian port on a container ship that had spotted him in the Indian Ocean at midday on Sunday, 14 days after the wave tore him from his homeland. "I managed to survive as I ate the flesh of old coconuts for about 12 days. For three days I didn't get to eat anything," he said. "I gave up all hope of living." Ari, clutching a plastic bag containing the rags that were his clothes at the time of the tsunami, wore a T-shirt and jeans donated by the ship's crew. Exhausted, he gave sketchy details of his ordeal before being taken by ambulance to a hospital. He said he was with friends building a house in the town of Calang in Aceh province when the wave struck. It pushed them inland before dragging Ari out to sea, clutching a piece of wood. Ari is the third Indonesian tsunami survivor to be rescued at sea. (Reuters)