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This edition was generated on Thu May 8 08:45:02 EDT 2008
YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's isolationist regime allowed the first plane of a major international airlift to land Thursday with aid for cyclone survivors, a U.N. official said, amid fears that lack of safe food and drinking water could push the death toll above 100,000.
WASHINGTON - Strapped homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property under Democrats' housing aid plan.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sometimes during peak hours, the phones are silent in Andy Freitas' pizza restaurants, yet the cooks are busy keeping pace with hungry customers.
SYDNEY, Australia - Scientists said they have mapped the genetic makeup of the platypus one of nature's strangest animals with a bill like a duck's, a mammal's fur and snake-like venom.
NEW YORK - Simon Cowell once told Jason Castro that his face would save him from elimination. Not this time. The dreadlocked heartthrob was voted off "American Idol" Wednesday as the show narrowed the competition to three finalists: David Cook, David Archuleta and Syesha Mercado.
LOS ANGELES - The chants of "MVP, MVP" directed at Kobe Bryant by Los Angeles Lakers' fans have a different meaning now. They represent fact, not just sentiment. Bryant played like a Most Valuable Player on Wednesday night, getting 34 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 120-110 to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals and remain the only unbeaten team in the postseason.
YANGON (Reuters) - Desperate survivors cried out for aid on Thursday nearly a week after Cyclone Nargis killed up to 100,000 people, as pressure piled up on Myanmar to throw its doors open to an international relief operation.
EVEREST BASE CAMP, China (Reuters) - A Tibetan woman took the Olympic torch the last steps to the top of Everest on Thursday, realizing "a dream of all Chinese people," but rights groups criticized Beijing for politicizing the Games.
CINCINNATI (Reuters) - It's now common wisdom that Sen. Hillary Clinton attracts older voters, women and the white working class, while Sen. Barack Obama is the go-to guy for youth, African-Americans and the elite.
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian Josef Fritzl said he became addicted to incest with his daughter, who bore him seven children, and had imprisoned her in a cellar to save her from the outside world.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff was subpoenaed on Wednesday to testify in a congressional probe of the administration's treatment and possible torture of enemy combatants.
SEOUL (Reuters) - A team led by a U.S. State Department nuclear envoy entered North Korea on Thursday to persuade Pyongyang to declare its nuclear activities as called for in a six-country disarmament deal, an official said.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A Reuters photographer covering the aftermath of Zimbabwe's elections has been detained for three days for allegedly using a satellite phone to transmit pictures, the global news and information company said on Thursday.
MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Last week U.S. Captain Roger Hill led a patrol into the Jaldez valley, just southwest of Kabul, and was immediately ambushed from three sides by 50 Taliban fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades.
YANGON (AFP) - More than one million homeless in Myanmar were battling to stave off disease and hunger Thursday, with the military government still limiting foreign assistance six days after a massive cyclone.
MOSCOW (AFP) - Vladimir Putin will retain a "key role" in Russia for years as prime minister, new President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday, as the two men opened an unprecedented era of dual rule.
BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese and Tibetan climbers bearing an Olympic torch reached Mount Everest's summit on Thursday, state television showed, in an historic moment for China exactly three months ahead of the Beijing Games.
HARARE (AFP) - Pressure mounted on the Zimbabwe government Thursday to admit foreign observers to oversee a presidential election run-off amid fresh claims that pro-government militias were instilling terror in the countryside.
PARIS (AFP) - Arguably the oddest beast in Nature's menagerie, the platypus looks as if were assembled from spare parts left over after the animal kingdom was otherwise complete.
LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices held near record levels Thursday after gains overnight to nearly 124 dollars as speculators dived into a market concerned about potential supply disruption, traders said.
ATHENS (AFP) - Signs the eurozone economy was slowing down were unlikely to lead to lower interest rates as governors of the European Central Bank gathered here Thursday, analysts said.
LAGOS (Reuters) - Niger Delta rebels promised on Tuesday to halt attacks on the oil industry if the Nigerian government would allow former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to act as a mediator.
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government came under pressure on Wednesday to open its borders to more international help after a devastating cyclone that a U.S. diplomat said may have killed more than 100,000 people.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran is making allies in Latin America to counter Washington's traditional influence in the region and could use them to threaten U.S. security, a top U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON - With the other party still waist-deep in its presidential nomination fight, John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, has been quietly courting the white working-class Democrats who have proved elusive for Barack Obama, his most likely rival in the fall.
NEW YORK (AFP) - The capes, masks and fitted suits that make superheroes fly, zap and triumph over a villain are to be featured in an exhibition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York which looks into their influence on modern fashion.
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Lakers celebrated Kobe Bryant's MVP award the best way possible. Bryant had 34 points, eight rebounds and six assists Wednesday night, and the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 120-110 to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference semifinals and remain the NBA's only unbeaten team in the postseason.
NEW YORK - Consumers gave some of the nation's retailers a little relief in April following months of dismal sales, but business was helped along by heavy discounting that could hurt fiscal first-quarter earnings.