NewburyportNews.com, Newburyport, MA--World News

China: Quake death toll could reach 50,000

Fri, 16 May 2008 01:51:00 EDT

LUOSHUI TOWN, China (AP) — Troops dug burial pits in this quake-shattered town and black smoke poured from crematorium chimneys elsewhere in central China as priorities began shifting yesterday from the hunt for survivors to dealing with the dead. Officials said the final toll could more than double to 50,000.

Rescuers at China quake epicenter, digging by hand

Thu, 15 May 2008 02:13:00 EDT

HANWANG, China (AP) — Soldiers rushed to shore up a dam cracked by this week's powerful earthquake, and rescuers came by helicopter and ship yesterday into the isolated epicenter but still were forced to dig for survivors with their bare hands.

Swiss man soars above Alps with jet-powered wing

Thu, 15 May 2008 02:12:00 EDT

BEX, Switzerland (AP) — A Swiss pilot strapped on a jet-powered wing and leaped from a plane yesterday for the first public demonstration of the homemade device, turning figure eights and soaring high above the Alps.

Troops hike to quake-buried Chinese villages

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:42:00 EDT

MIANYANG, China (AP) — Soldiers hiking over landslide-blocked roads reached the epicenter of China's devastating earthquake Tuesday, pulling bodies and a few survivors from collapsed buildings. The death toll of more than 12,000 was certain to rise as the buried were found.

Police report 80 killed by bombs in western India

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:41:00 EDT

NEW DELHI (AP) — A series of bombs exploded across the ancient city of Jaipur on Tuesday, killing at least 80 people and transforming busy markets, a jewelry bazaar and a Hindu temple into scenes of carnage.

Myanmar police block aid workers, food piles up

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:40:00 EDT

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police barred foreign aid workers from reaching cyclone survivors in hard-hit areas Tuesday, while emergency food shipments backed up at the main airport for Myanmar's biggest city.

Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:39:00 EDT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.
The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

Effect of quake on panda preserve still unknown

Tue, 13 May 2008 11:02:00 EDT

DUJIANGYAN, China (AP) — The fate of the world's most famous panda preserve remained unknown Tuesday, more than a day after a devastating earthquake isolated the remote, mountainous area from the rest of the world.

UN chief slams Myanmar junta for slow response

Tue, 13 May 2008 08:39:00 EDT

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Myanmar's military junta yesterday for what he called its "unacceptably slow response" to helping cyclone victims.
Three of the U.N. Security Council's five veto-wielding members — France, Britain and the United States — remain interested in possible action to require Myanmar's government to open its doors to more aid, U.S. and other council diplomats said.

Debt woes drive thousands of Indian farmers to suicide

Mon, 12 May 2008 01:53:00 EDT

KOCHI, India (AP) — On the last night of his life, the farmer walked into his dusty fields, choked down pesticide and waited to die.
He owed more than $1,000 to banks and moneylenders and he had told his wife that if the cotton harvest was bad this year, he would kill himself.

Myanmar's junta holds referendum despite cyclone crisis

Sun, 11 May 2008 02:12:00 EDT

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military rulers held a referendum yesterday aimed at solidifying their hold on power while brazenly turning cyclone relief efforts into a propaganda campaign. In some cases, generals' names were scribbled onto boxes of foreign aid before being distributed.

Obama adds nine superdelegates

Sat, 10 May 2008 08:09:00 EDT

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Rodham Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on yesterday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign.

Medvedev sworn in as Russia's president

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:52:00 EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — With the swearing in of Dmitry Medvedev as Russia's president, the Kremlin leadership now mirrors one of its most potent symbols — the double-headed eagle.
Standing next to the new president during a ceremony yesterday in a gilded Kremlin hall was his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, the man who nurtured Medvedev's rise to power and who will now be his prime minister.

Cyclone survivors: journey from horror to misery in Myanmar

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:52:00 EDT

LABUTTA, Myanmar (AP) — Some survivors arrived half-naked, others wore clothes they scavenged from the dead.
Myanmar's rice-trading town of Labutta — the only spit of high ground in a vast watery landscape — has become a beacon of hope for tens of thousands who lived through the cyclone's fury, most losing homes and family members.

Sniper Muhammad seeks to halt death-row appeal

Wed, 07 May 2008 06:54:00 EDT

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Washington-area sniper John Allen Muhammad is asking prosecutors in a letter to help him end legal appeals of his conviction and death sentence "so that you can murder this innocent black man."

Marines ignore Taliban cash crop to not upset Afghan locals

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:04:00 EDT

GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) — The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a grove of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave.

First international aid reaches Myanmar after cyclone

Wed, 07 May 2008 02:04:00 EDT

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — International aid began to trickle into Myanmar yesterday, but the stricken Irrawaddy delta, the nation's rice bowl where 22,000 people perished and twice as many are missing, remained cut off from the world.

3 dead infants found in freezer in Germany, mother arrested

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:43:00 EDT

OLPE, Germany (AP) — A 44-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of killing three of her babies after their bodies were discovered in the family freezer by her grown children looking for pizza, police said Monday.

Interpol launches manhunt for pedophile suspect

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:43:00 EDT

LYON, France (AP) — Interpol launched a worldwide appeal to the public Tuesday to help identify a man suspected of sexually abusing young boys from Southeast Asia — hoping the rare move will lead to a quick arrest.

More than 10,000 feared dead in Myanmar cyclone

Mon, 05 May 2008 21:42:00 EDT

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's government said Monday more than 10,000 people were feared killed in a cyclone that unleashed 12-foot tidal surges and high winds that swept away bamboo homes in low-lying coastal regions, cutting off electricity and water in the country's largest city.