World News
May 9, 2008YANGON, Myanmar - More aid is on the way to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, but so is the heavy rain.
A week after cyclone Nargis flattened low-lying villages and killed whole families at a time, the military junta finally agreed Friday to allow a U.S. cargo plane to bring in food and other supplies to the isolated country. Myanmar gave the green light after confiscating other shipments, prompting the UN to order a temporary freeze in shipments.
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labour backing as elements of the Democratic party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.
Obama picked up the backing of nine superdelegates, including Representative Donald Payne of New Jersey, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who had been a Clinton supporter.
CRAWFORD, Texas - So close and yet so far: Tiny Crawford is sort of like a bridesmaid at arm's length from Jenna Bush's wedding Saturday.
All of the action is at President George W. Bush's 640-hectare ranch, 11 kilometres outside this one-stoplight town. The more than 200 Bush family and friends invited to the nuptials might never even set foot downtown.
BAGHDAD - Shiite militants launched rockets toward the fortified Green Zone on Friday, taking advantage of a sandstorm that gave cover from attacks by U.S. aircraft. Some rockets fell short, including one that damaged the British Broadcasting Corp. bureau.
At least seven other rocket explosions were heard. But U.S. authorities did not confirm any strikes inside the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and much of the Iraqi government.
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's opposition says no one from that party will meet with the visiting South African president.
It also says he should be replaced as mediator in the country's political crisis. President Robert Mugabe met Thabo Mbeki at the airport as the South African leader arrived. It's his third visit as mediator on behalf of the Southern African Development Community.
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The message travels among Guantanamo detainees in whispers between recreation areas and shouts through slots in cell doors: Don't trust the Americans. Boycott.
Guards call it the Detainee News Network, and it is now prompting inmates to turn their backs on their war-crimes trials at this U.S. naval station in southeast Cuba.
BANGKOK, Thailand - Myanmar's refusal to let foreign aid workers into the country has not stopped donors around the world, both large and small, from trying to help.
Besides the tens of millions of dollars in aid pledged by governments, help is also being offered by smaller groups and companies.
JERUSALEM - Calls are mounting for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation as police probe allegations that he accepted hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars in cash-stuffed envelopes from a U.S. citizen.
The investigation into Olmert's fiscal conduct is the fifth in two years and threatens to force him from office. It also could derail troubled peace talks with the Palestinians.
BEIRUT - Hezbollah gunmen have seized nearly all of the Lebanese capital's Muslim sector from forces loyal to the U.S.-backed government.
Security officials say at least 11 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in three days of street battles in West Beirut.
BERLIN - Berlin's Holocaust memorial played host to an open-air concert on Friday, with musicians spread out across the field of concrete slabs and performing a modern experimental piece.
The Kammersymphonie Berlin twice performed composer Harald Weiss' sombre 17-minute piece "Vor dem Verstummen" ("Before Silence Falls") to mark the third anniversary of the monument's opening to the public.
UNION, Mo. - A woman accused of slashing a young mother's throat, kidnapping her newborn and passing off the child as her own for five days reached a plea deal Friday and will be sentenced this summer.
Shannon Torrez, 38, of Lonedell, Mo., appeared entered an "Alford plea" to one count each of child kidnapping, armed criminal action and first-degree assault. Under the arrangement, she does not admit guilt but concedes there is sufficient evidence for a guilty verdict.
FRESNO, Calif. - The sheriff of the remote region where Charles Manson hid after a series of murders in the summer of 1969 said Friday that he will allow researchers to begin digging into the sandy soil in search of possible human remains.
In February, a team of forensic researchers visited the Death Valley ranch where Manson took refuge and found at least two sites that could be clandestine graves holding the bodies of additional victims.
SANTA FE, N.M. - Authorities say the leader of an apocalyptic sect in northeastern New Mexico has been released from jail after his son posted his bond.
The clerk of the magistrate court in Clayton, New Mexico, says a $55,000 bond was posted for Wayne Bent. Bent is accused of sex crimes against young female followers.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities and pro-Taliban militants are declaring a ceasefire in the volatile Swat Valley.
Officials say it's the latest bid to curtail an explosion of violence along the Afghan border. The ceasefire follows talks between representatives of the North West Frontier provincial government and a militant leader whose armed followers grabbed control of much of the valley last year.
JERUSALEM - Rescue workers say mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip have killed and Israeli man and wounded three other people.
The radio station of Gaza's ruling Hamas movement says Hamas fighters have claimed responsibility for the mortar fire on the southern Israeli town of Kfar Aza.
VIENNA, Austria - An Austrian judge has ordered continued custody for a man suspecting of imprisoning his daughter for two decades and fathering her children.
The decision to extend the pretrial custody of Josef Fritzl was made Friday during a routine, closed-door session required under Austrian law.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somali police are fortifying their headquarters in Mongadishu after Islamic insurgents attacked the facility in the heart of capital on Thursday.
Police officer Dalmar Mohamed Hassan said two policemen and five insurgents died when the rebels attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine-guns.
BANGKOK, Thailand - In the eyes of Myanmar's military leaders, everyone is a potential enemy. Even foreign aid workers.
As the international community waits to deliver desperately needed aid to Myanmar's cyclone survivors, it is getting a lesson in the mind-set of the country's military rulers: reclusive, xenophobic generals whose junta has held power for almost half a century.
