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Cyclone cracks Myanmar junta's isolation

YANGON, Myanmar, May 8 (UPI) -- Cyclone Nargis may have helped crack the Myanmar military junta's nearly 50 years of closed-door rule, exposing its claims of self-sufficiency.

The junta largely succeeded in ignoring international pressure during its brutal crackdown of the democracy protests last September, but after the cyclone's devastation, it is left with no choice than to seek help from outside, the International Herald Tribune reported Thursday.

There is still the government hesitation as seen by its slow response to accepting the aid and limiting access to foreign relief workers. But help has begun to reach people in the main city of Yangon and elsewhere in the Southeast Asian country, formerly known as Burma, which since the 1962 military takeover, has remained closed to outsiders.

"Normally they would be saying, 'We are going to stick it out, we don't need anyone's help,'" Zarni, a Myanmar visiting research fellow at Oxford University, told IHT. "That barrier has been broken."

But by accepting international help, the report noted the government runs the risk of being seen as incapable of helping its people.

The most likely place from where a change can come in the country eventually is from within the military, the report said.

Clinton campaign may be fading

WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton may vow to fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, but some advisers said they think her campaign is on the wane.

While advisers say they are unsure about the New York senator's future, aides to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., say they smell victory, The New York Times reported Thursday.

"We can see the finish line here," said Obama aide David Plouffe after the Illinois senator won the North Carolina primary handily and lost a squeaker in Indiana.

At a campaign stop in West Virginia, with a primary Tuesday, Clinton said she was in the race "until there is a nominee, and obviously I'm going to work as hard as I can to become that nominee."

One Clinton adviser said, at best, there was a 10 percent chance she would drop out before the last primaries June 3, The Washington Post reported.

Tuesday's results and reports she loaned her campaign $6.4 million made her path more difficult.

"It's narrowed," one adviser told the Post.

Clinton lost another supporter when former Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., switched his endorsement to Obama. He urged Clinton to bow out because it was mathematically impossible for her to capture the nomination.

Iran says U.S., Britain tied to blast

TEHRAN, May 8 (UPI) -- Iranian government officials say suspects in last month's deadly blast at a mosque have ties to the United States and Britain.

U.S. and British officials deny the Iranians' claim indicating the countries may have supported the suspects, CNN reported Thursday.

Thirteen people died and more than 200 were wounded in the April 12 blast in Shiraz. Iranian officials initially the explosion on a homemade bomb, then said it resulted from improper handling of munitions, subsequently launching an investigation, CNN reported.

At the time, Iranian Minister of Information Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie said there was no evidence of sabotage, CNN said, quoting from Islamic Republic News Agency, the official Iranian news agency.

But Ejeie Wednesday said the suspects had ties to several countries, including Britain and the United States, IRNA reported. Police arrested five people and reportedly recovered explosives and cyanide.

The minister said the Iranian Foreign Ministry alerted the countries reportedly linked to the suspects and the bombing. The countries didn't take action against the suspects, showed support for them instead, IRNA said.

The group allegedly was going to carry out similar bombings elsewhere in Iran, the minister said.

Zimbabwe election run-off may be year away

HARARE, Zimbabwe, May 8 (UPI) -- The atmosphere in Zimbabwe is too violent to conduct a presidential runoff election soon, an independent observer said.

Kingsley Mamabolo, head of the South African observer mission, said he was told of torture and that each side blamed the other for the the violence, the BBC reported.

"You cannot have the next round taking place in this atmosphere; it will not be helpful," Mamabolo said.

A date for a runoff between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tasvangirai hasn't been set, although the country's constitution says it should be within 21 days after the results become official.

Official results were announced last Friday, when the commission said Tasvangirai received more votes than Mugabe but didn't reach the 50-percent threshold needed to be declared the outright winner.

Meanwhile, the head of the Pan-African Parliament observation team said Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chief George Chiweshe indicated a runoff could be delayed for months, the BBC said.

Olympic flame taken atop Everest

BEIJING, May 8 (UPI) -- China announced a climbing team, traversing the Tibetan Himalayan route, on Thursday took the Beijing Olympic flame to the summit of Mount Everest.

The Chinese climbers reached the summit at 9:18 a.m. Thursday, Xinhua reported from the base camp of of the climbing crew. It said the final assault to the summit was led by 19 climbers who set out at 3 a.m. from an altitude of 27,000 feet. The climbers included Tibetans.

The event was televised live to mark the Olympic torch's highly publicized part of its world tour which also saw bitter protests in many world capitals against China's human rights record and its crackdown in Tibet. Tight security surrounded the Everest event to prevent pro-Tibetan protests.

Xinhua said climber Cering Wangmo hoisted the flame atop the 29,015-foot tall Mount Everest. The Everest flame was to be reunited with the main Olympic flame later in the relay, the report said.

The torches, the special flame fuel and the lantern to prevent it from being extinguished were developed by Chinese scientists.