Myanmar junta impounds food aid
YANGON, Myanmar, May 9 (UPI) -- The World Food Program said Friday it stopped shipping aid to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar after the government impounded the program's first delivery.
The U.N. unit said the military junta seized tons of aid sent to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, which killed tens of thousands, and left millions homeless, the BBC reported.
"It is sitting in a warehouse. It is not in trucks heading to Irrawaddy Delta where it is critically needed," WFP spokesman Paul Risley said.
The aid included high-energy biscuits that could feed 95,000 people, WFP said.
"It should be on trucks headed to the victims," said WFP regional director Tony Banbury told The Daily Telegraph. "That food is now sitting on a tarmac doing no good."
Myanmar's foreign ministry said in a statement Friday it was not ready to allow foreign aid workers to enter the country. Government leaders said they would gladly accept aid, but insisted they would handle the distribution.
The reclusive military government of the country formerly known as Burma has been criticized for its handling of the crisis.
John Holmes, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, said the situation of trying to provide relief to Myanmarese was becoming "increasingly desperate."
"Frustrations have been growing that this humanitarian response is being held back because of difficulties of access in different ways," he said, noting that many visas are pending. Holmes said in a U.N. news release he would appeal to the junta authorities to "step up their own relief efforts" and "to change their attitude completely to the efforts that we are making."
Hezbollah gains control of western Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 9 (UPI) -- Syrian Social Nationalist Party units were seen Friday entering Beirut to support Hezbollah's occupation of the city's western districts.
The SSNP is part of the pro-Syrian bloc, along with Amal and Hezbollah, which have been fighting pro-government forces in Beirut for three days.
Hezbollah and other Shiite fighters seized control of most of Sunni West Beirut, DEBKAfile.com reported, and shut down Lebanon's port, essentially closed the airport and blocked major highways.
At least 11 people died.
Meanwhile, Lebanese army Gen. Michel Suleiman wouldn't declare a state of emergency for the city, defying Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, DEBKAFile.com reported. The general said if an emergency were declared, he would order troops to return to barracks.
The army has had limited involvement, the military intelligence Web site said. Soldiers rescued majority leader Saad Hariri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt when Shiite forces stormed their mansions but the invading troops were allowed to remain. The Lebanese army also took over the pro-government Future TV station and newspaper owned by Hariri after their facilities were attacked, agreeing to keep the station off the air.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the only way to end the fighting was for the government to reverse its decisions to close Hezbollah's telecommunications network and restore Hezbollah supporters to positions at Beirut airport.
Head of al-Qaida in Iraq still free
BAGHDAD, May 9 (UPI) -- Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq, hasn't been captured despite reports to that effect, a senior U.S. military official said Friday.
Iraqi authorities had said Thursday that Masri had been captured in Mosul. U.S. military officials had expressed surprise and skepticism at the report, CNN said.
Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took over the Iraqi al-Qaida offshoot in June 2006 after a U.S. missile strike killed his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since then, Iraqi officials have reported his death three times, his capture twice and a mortal wounding once, CNN said.
Judge to review opinion on CIA tactics
WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- A U.S district judge in New York says he plans to review a controversial legal opinion related to specific CIA detainee interrogations.
At issue is a 2002 memo from the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel dealing with CIA interrogation techniques. It was accompanied by a broader document on the definition of torture and techniques deemed legally permissible at the CIA, including a discussion on waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning, The Washington Post said.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York previously ruled that the memo could be properly withheld from the public by the government because it was subject to attorney-client privilege.
But, Hellerstein said this week he hadn't given "sufficient consideration" to several factors. He mentioned evidence from the American Civil Liberties Union that the memo may have become a part of "official practice and policy," the Post report said.
The ACLU is suing the administration under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records related to the use of harsh interrogation tactics. A spokesman called the judge's ruling "encouraging."
Cash concerns cancel Clinton events, ads
WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- The cash-strapped campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton has forced curtailments of political events and advertising as the primary season winds down, aides say.
Advisers said Clinton would infuse her Democratic presidential campaign with more of her own money on top of the more than $11 million she already loaned the it, The New York Times said.
Hassan Nemazee, a Clinton national finance chairman, said the campaign raised more than $1 million after her primary loss in North Carolina and her razor-thin win in Indiana.
"We raised a million dollars in a 24-hour period for a candidate that every pundit is saying is either toast or dead on arrival," said Nemazee, who would not discuss the campaign's finances with the Times.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported options are being considered to allow Clinton a graceful exit from race with Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who leads in pledged delegates and popular vote.
One supporter familiar with the campaign said Clinton wanted to leave on an up note, possibly after winning a couple of the remaining primaries. The supporter also said Clinton would want a resolution concerning the seating of Florida and Michigan delegates, who lost their seats the Democratic national convention as punishment for the states' changing their primaries.
"If you've resolved Michigan and Florida and she wins a couple of more states ... and she still can't get the nomination barring an act of God, I don't think she stays in the race," the supporter said.
YANGON, Myanmar, May 9 (UPI) -- The World Food Program said Friday it stopped shipping aid to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar after the government impounded the program's first delivery.
The U.N. unit said the military junta seized tons of aid sent to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, which killed tens of thousands, and left millions homeless, the BBC reported.
"It is sitting in a warehouse. It is not in trucks heading to Irrawaddy Delta where it is critically needed," WFP spokesman Paul Risley said.
The aid included high-energy biscuits that could feed 95,000 people, WFP said.
"It should be on trucks headed to the victims," said WFP regional director Tony Banbury told The Daily Telegraph. "That food is now sitting on a tarmac doing no good."
Myanmar's foreign ministry said in a statement Friday it was not ready to allow foreign aid workers to enter the country. Government leaders said they would gladly accept aid, but insisted they would handle the distribution.
The reclusive military government of the country formerly known as Burma has been criticized for its handling of the crisis.
John Holmes, U.N. emergency relief coordinator, said the situation of trying to provide relief to Myanmarese was becoming "increasingly desperate."
"Frustrations have been growing that this humanitarian response is being held back because of difficulties of access in different ways," he said, noting that many visas are pending. Holmes said in a U.N. news release he would appeal to the junta authorities to "step up their own relief efforts" and "to change their attitude completely to the efforts that we are making."
Hezbollah gains control of western Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 9 (UPI) -- Syrian Social Nationalist Party units were seen Friday entering Beirut to support Hezbollah's occupation of the city's western districts.
The SSNP is part of the pro-Syrian bloc, along with Amal and Hezbollah, which have been fighting pro-government forces in Beirut for three days.
Hezbollah and other Shiite fighters seized control of most of Sunni West Beirut, DEBKAfile.com reported, and shut down Lebanon's port, essentially closed the airport and blocked major highways.
At least 11 people died.
Meanwhile, Lebanese army Gen. Michel Suleiman wouldn't declare a state of emergency for the city, defying Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, DEBKAFile.com reported. The general said if an emergency were declared, he would order troops to return to barracks.
The army has had limited involvement, the military intelligence Web site said. Soldiers rescued majority leader Saad Hariri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt when Shiite forces stormed their mansions but the invading troops were allowed to remain. The Lebanese army also took over the pro-government Future TV station and newspaper owned by Hariri after their facilities were attacked, agreeing to keep the station off the air.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the only way to end the fighting was for the government to reverse its decisions to close Hezbollah's telecommunications network and restore Hezbollah supporters to positions at Beirut airport.
Head of al-Qaida in Iraq still free
BAGHDAD, May 9 (UPI) -- Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al-Qaida in Iraq, hasn't been captured despite reports to that effect, a senior U.S. military official said Friday.
Iraqi authorities had said Thursday that Masri had been captured in Mosul. U.S. military officials had expressed surprise and skepticism at the report, CNN said.
Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, took over the Iraqi al-Qaida offshoot in June 2006 after a U.S. missile strike killed his predecessor, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Since then, Iraqi officials have reported his death three times, his capture twice and a mortal wounding once, CNN said.
Judge to review opinion on CIA tactics
WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- A U.S district judge in New York says he plans to review a controversial legal opinion related to specific CIA detainee interrogations.
At issue is a 2002 memo from the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel dealing with CIA interrogation techniques. It was accompanied by a broader document on the definition of torture and techniques deemed legally permissible at the CIA, including a discussion on waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning, The Washington Post said.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York previously ruled that the memo could be properly withheld from the public by the government because it was subject to attorney-client privilege.
But, Hellerstein said this week he hadn't given "sufficient consideration" to several factors. He mentioned evidence from the American Civil Liberties Union that the memo may have become a part of "official practice and policy," the Post report said.
The ACLU is suing the administration under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records related to the use of harsh interrogation tactics. A spokesman called the judge's ruling "encouraging."
Cash concerns cancel Clinton events, ads
WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- The cash-strapped campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton has forced curtailments of political events and advertising as the primary season winds down, aides say.
Advisers said Clinton would infuse her Democratic presidential campaign with more of her own money on top of the more than $11 million she already loaned the it, The New York Times said.
Hassan Nemazee, a Clinton national finance chairman, said the campaign raised more than $1 million after her primary loss in North Carolina and her razor-thin win in Indiana.
"We raised a million dollars in a 24-hour period for a candidate that every pundit is saying is either toast or dead on arrival," said Nemazee, who would not discuss the campaign's finances with the Times.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times reported options are being considered to allow Clinton a graceful exit from race with Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who leads in pledged delegates and popular vote.
One supporter familiar with the campaign said Clinton wanted to leave on an up note, possibly after winning a couple of the remaining primaries. The supporter also said Clinton would want a resolution concerning the seating of Florida and Michigan delegates, who lost their seats the Democratic national convention as punishment for the states' changing their primaries.
"If you've resolved Michigan and Florida and she wins a couple of more states ... and she still can't get the nomination barring an act of God, I don't think she stays in the race," the supporter said.
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This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
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