Govt.: Supplies, not foreigners, needed
YANGON, Myanmar, May 9 (UPI) -- Myanmar's military regime, responding to a U.N. appeal, says the country needs relief supplies not foreign aid workers.
A Foreign Ministry statement carried by the state media said strenuous efforts were being made to get supplies to cyclone-ravaged areas and that the country isn't ready for foreign workers, the BBC reported.
The ministry said it would welcome cash and emergency aid.
While some planes carrying relief supplies have arrived in the country, U.N. officials have expressed frustration over the limited access provided to aid workers by the military government even as the situation gets more desperate.
The death toll from the storm could top 100,000 and some aid agencies have said more people could die because help isn't reaching them.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the Myanmarese junta to give priority to aid relief than the referendum set for Saturday on a new constitution seen by critics as a way to allow the junta to continue in power.
The Foreign Ministry said it had refused entry to a relief flight from Qatar as it had an aid team and a media crew on board, the BBC report said.
Hezbollah gains control of western Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 9 (UPI) -- Hezbollah militias took control of several western Beirut neighborhoods Friday, shutting down pro-government media outlets, military observers said.
At least 11 people died in skirmishes around the city as forces loyal to the government clashed with Hezbollah gunmen, the Financial Times reported.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has accused the government of declaring war against his group through several recent decisions. He has demanded the reversal of the decisions, including a declaration that a Hezbollah communications network was illegal and the firing of a Shiite general from his post as head of airport security after surveillance equipment was found.
Seized were Future TV and al-Mustaqbal newspaper, both owned by by Saad Hariri, leader of the parliamentary majority backing Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the Financial Times reported. The airport also was closed and several highways blocked.
Hariri called on Nasrallah Thursday to end the "siege" of Beirut.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a member of the pro-government coalition, said the government was "now at the end of a gun barrel," and expecting conditions of surrender to be offered "sooner or later," CNN reported.
"I think ... it's a coup," Jumblatt told CNN. "The Lebanese army is in total paralysis."
Tornado kills one, closes highway in N.C.
GREENSBORO, N.C., May 9 (UPI) -- Police confirmed one person died and at least three others were injured after a tornado touched down in the Greensboro, N.C., area.
The tornado overturned cargo trucks, uprooted trees and snapped utility poles Thursday as it moved through an area along Interstate 40, the News and Record newspaper in Greensboro reported Friday.
High winds were blamed for at least two tractor-trailers overturning on the interstate, prompting its temporary closure, police said.
The brunt of the storm struck central and western North Carolina, officials said. Up to 20,000 customers were reported without electrical power.
Authorities in several counties also reported homes damaged, fallen trees, flooding and traffic accidents as a result of the storm system.
Calif. search possible for Manson victims
INDEPENDENCE, Calif., May 9 (UPI) -- Authorities are considering digging behind a remote California cabin for possible additional victims of the Charles Manson cult "family," CNN said Friday.
he Death Valley cabin, dubbed the Barker Ranch, is where the 1969 Manson murder spree ended in 1969, sitting virtually unchanged over the years. It was here that Manson, now serving a life sentence, and members of his group were arrested for the slaying of seven people in what were called the "Helter Skelter" killings.
New interest perked up about rumors of earlier Manson killings when Sgt. Paul Dostie of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department, reported his cadaver-hunting dog Buster, a 4-year-old black lab, found five possible graves behind the hideout.
"I don't know who's buried here but I think there are bodies," Dostie told CNN.
CNN said Manson didn't answer its query about the possible killings but his top lieutenant from those days, Charles "Tex" Watson, said he didn't think there were additional deaths. Police also said they they don't know of anyone associated with Manson who was reported missing after his arrest.
U.S. Marine sentenced in Japan
TOKYO, May 9 (UPI) -- A U.S. Marine in Japan was ordered confined for two years and dishonorably discharged following a conviction in a case of an alleged rape of a Japanese woman.
The 20-year-old lance corporal was was cleared of rape charges as there was no physical violence or threats required under U.S. military law for such a conviction, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. He was convicted Friday of "wrongful sexual misconduct and indecent acts."
Courts-martial hearings for three other Marines accused in the alleged incident last October will start later this month, the report said.
YANGON, Myanmar, May 9 (UPI) -- Myanmar's military regime, responding to a U.N. appeal, says the country needs relief supplies not foreign aid workers.
A Foreign Ministry statement carried by the state media said strenuous efforts were being made to get supplies to cyclone-ravaged areas and that the country isn't ready for foreign workers, the BBC reported.
The ministry said it would welcome cash and emergency aid.
While some planes carrying relief supplies have arrived in the country, U.N. officials have expressed frustration over the limited access provided to aid workers by the military government even as the situation gets more desperate.
The death toll from the storm could top 100,000 and some aid agencies have said more people could die because help isn't reaching them.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the Myanmarese junta to give priority to aid relief than the referendum set for Saturday on a new constitution seen by critics as a way to allow the junta to continue in power.
The Foreign Ministry said it had refused entry to a relief flight from Qatar as it had an aid team and a media crew on board, the BBC report said.
Hezbollah gains control of western Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 9 (UPI) -- Hezbollah militias took control of several western Beirut neighborhoods Friday, shutting down pro-government media outlets, military observers said.
At least 11 people died in skirmishes around the city as forces loyal to the government clashed with Hezbollah gunmen, the Financial Times reported.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has accused the government of declaring war against his group through several recent decisions. He has demanded the reversal of the decisions, including a declaration that a Hezbollah communications network was illegal and the firing of a Shiite general from his post as head of airport security after surveillance equipment was found.
Seized were Future TV and al-Mustaqbal newspaper, both owned by by Saad Hariri, leader of the parliamentary majority backing Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the Financial Times reported. The airport also was closed and several highways blocked.
Hariri called on Nasrallah Thursday to end the "siege" of Beirut.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a member of the pro-government coalition, said the government was "now at the end of a gun barrel," and expecting conditions of surrender to be offered "sooner or later," CNN reported.
"I think ... it's a coup," Jumblatt told CNN. "The Lebanese army is in total paralysis."
Tornado kills one, closes highway in N.C.
GREENSBORO, N.C., May 9 (UPI) -- Police confirmed one person died and at least three others were injured after a tornado touched down in the Greensboro, N.C., area.
The tornado overturned cargo trucks, uprooted trees and snapped utility poles Thursday as it moved through an area along Interstate 40, the News and Record newspaper in Greensboro reported Friday.
High winds were blamed for at least two tractor-trailers overturning on the interstate, prompting its temporary closure, police said.
The brunt of the storm struck central and western North Carolina, officials said. Up to 20,000 customers were reported without electrical power.
Authorities in several counties also reported homes damaged, fallen trees, flooding and traffic accidents as a result of the storm system.
Calif. search possible for Manson victims
INDEPENDENCE, Calif., May 9 (UPI) -- Authorities are considering digging behind a remote California cabin for possible additional victims of the Charles Manson cult "family," CNN said Friday.
he Death Valley cabin, dubbed the Barker Ranch, is where the 1969 Manson murder spree ended in 1969, sitting virtually unchanged over the years. It was here that Manson, now serving a life sentence, and members of his group were arrested for the slaying of seven people in what were called the "Helter Skelter" killings.
New interest perked up about rumors of earlier Manson killings when Sgt. Paul Dostie of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department, reported his cadaver-hunting dog Buster, a 4-year-old black lab, found five possible graves behind the hideout.
"I don't know who's buried here but I think there are bodies," Dostie told CNN.
CNN said Manson didn't answer its query about the possible killings but his top lieutenant from those days, Charles "Tex" Watson, said he didn't think there were additional deaths. Police also said they they don't know of anyone associated with Manson who was reported missing after his arrest.
U.S. Marine sentenced in Japan
TOKYO, May 9 (UPI) -- A U.S. Marine in Japan was ordered confined for two years and dishonorably discharged following a conviction in a case of an alleged rape of a Japanese woman.
The 20-year-old lance corporal was was cleared of rape charges as there was no physical violence or threats required under U.S. military law for such a conviction, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. He was convicted Friday of "wrongful sexual misconduct and indecent acts."
Courts-martial hearings for three other Marines accused in the alleged incident last October will start later this month, the report said.
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This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
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