| Last updated 8:11pm EDT 05/15/2008 |
| China quake toll could reach 50,000; daunting recovery for millions affected |
LUOSHUI TOWN, China - Troops dug burial pits in this quake-shattered town and black smoke poured from crematorium chimneys elsewhere as priorities began shifting Thursday in China from the hunt for survivors to dealing with the dead. Officials said the final death toll could more than double to 50,000.
As the massive military-led recovery operation inched farther into regions cut off by Monday's quake, the government sought to enlist the public's help with an appeal for everything from hammers to cranes and, in a turnabout, began accepting foreign aid missions, the first from Japan.
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| Long wait for medical care adds pain, suffering for China quake survivors |
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DEYANG, China - After 11-year-old Zhang Jiazhi crawled free of the rubble that remained of his middle school, his parents began a 20-hour ordeal to get medical care for their son, whose arms were crushed to a pulp.
Jiazhi survived. But with care delayed for nearly a day, the boy who loved to play pingpong and carve wooden toys for his friends, had to have both his arms amputated.
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| China OKs foreign rescue teams from four countries for quake zone |
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BEIJING - After days of refusing foreign relief workers, China has accepted offers from four countries to send in rescue teams.
Hours after saying it will accept a Japanese rescue team, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that specialist crews from Russia, South Korea, and Singapore are welcome as well.
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| Death toll in Myanmar soars above 43,000; junta warns against hoarding |
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YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's junta warned Thursday that legal action would be taken against people who trade or hoard international aid as the cyclone's death toll soared above 43,000.
It was the first acknowledgment by the military government, albeit indirectly, of problems with relief operations in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis.
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| UN plans to send top emergency relief co-ordinator to Myanmar |
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UNITED NATIONS - The UN secretary general has decided to dispatch his top emergency relief co-ordinator to Myanmar, if he can get a visa from the country's military rulers.
Ban Ki-moon has been frustrated by the government's obstacles to foreign assistance for victims of the May 3 cyclone.
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| Bin Laden to release new message about Israel and Palestinians, website says |
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NEW YORK - A terrorism monitoring group says Osama bin Laden will be releasing a new Internet message dealing with Israel and the Palestinians.
The site Intelligence Group says the announcement of the impending comments by the head of al-Qaida was posted on websites often used by terror groups.
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| Bush leaves it to Israeli prime minister to push Mideast peace |
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JERUSALEM - U.S. President George W. Bush gently urged Mideast leaders to "make the hard choices necessary for peace," leaving it to embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to stand before a divided parliament Thursday and forcefully declare that this war-weary country is ready for a historic agreement with Palestinians.
On a day mourned by Palestinians as the 60th anniversary of their uprooting by Israel's independence, Bush mentioned the Palestinians only once in a 23-minute speech to the Knesset, and then only in the context of what a Palestinian state would look like six decades from now.
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| Obama attacks Bush for linking him to Nazi appeasers; White House denies it |
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WASHINGTON - Democratic front-runner Barack Obama accused President George W. Bush of launching a "sad" and "false" political attack on him Thursday by saying those in favour of negotiating with terrorists and radicals are like Nazi appeasers.
The White House denied Bush's words in a speech to Israel's parliament were directed at Obama, who has argued in favour of meeting with leaders of U.S. adversaries like Iran, Cuba and North Korea.
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| McCain predicts victory in Iraq, bin Laden removed by 2013 if he's president |
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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Republican John McCain declared for the first time Thursday he believes the Iraq war can be won by 2013, but he rejected suggestions his talk of a timetable put him on the same side as Democrats clamouring for fullscale troop withdrawals.
The Republican presidential contender, in a mystical speech that also envisioned Osama bin Laden dead or captured, said only a small number of U.S. troops would remain in Iraq by the end of a prospective first term.
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| Previously unknown Islamic militant group claims responsibility for India attack |
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JAIPUR, India - A previously unknown Islamic militant group claimed Thursday to have carried out deadly bombings in the historic Indian city of Jaipur by planting bicycles packed with explosives on the city's crowded streets, police said.
The claim of responsibility for Tuesday's attacks, which killed 61 people, was reportedly made in videos and an e-mail sent to Indian television stations and a Hindu nationalist political party, said Pankaj Singh, the city's inspector-general of police.
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