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Bush addresses Israel on 60th anniversary

JERUSALEM, May 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President Bush celebrated Israel's 60th anniversary in Jerusalem Thursday with a warning and a hope for better co-existence between Jews and Arabs.

In a prepared speech before Israeli lawmakers, Bush warned against "the incendiary language" of Mideast extremists like Hamas and Hezbollah, whose leaders call for an end to Israel, in drawing a parallel with the Holocaust.

"There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain their words away," Bush said in his prepared speech. "But it is deadly wrong. As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously."

Bush denounced the idea of individual talks with adversaries, as former President Jimmy Carter did recently in meeting with Hamas leaders. He did not mention Carter by name in his prepared speech.

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said. "We have heard this foolish delusion before."

On the second day of his Middle East trip, Bush earlier toured the historic Dead Sea fortress Masada.

Abbas: Palestinians won't forget 'Nakba'

JERUSALEM, May 15 (UPI) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday the "time has come" for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Speaking in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, as the Palestinians refer to the founding of the state of Israel and the displacement of its Arab population, Abbas also warned the continued building of Jewish settlements on the West Bank would undermine chances for peace, the Jerusalem Post reported.

"After 60 years since the Nakba, the time has come for the Palestinian people to establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital," the Post reported Abbas saying during a televised speech. "I again emphasize that the settlements are destroying the chance for peace. All the settlement construction, especially in Jerusalem and in the E1 area must stop, in order not to lose the chance for peace."

In the speech, Abbas vowed that Palestinians would never forget the Nakba despite Israeli hopes that it would fade from their memories.

"Israel has failed in wiping out the memory of the Nakba from the minds of successive Palestinian generations," the Post quoted Abbas. "They thought that perhaps the elderly would forget. Everyone remembers the Nakba."

Quake death toll raised to 19,500

BEIJING, May 15 (UPI) -- The death toll from Monday's devastating Chinese earthquake has been raised to more than 19,500, government officials said Thursday.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said Sichuan provincial authorities released the new death count after troops had reached the quake's epicenter.

Meanwhile, the news agency reported that at least 270 students from a middle school in Qingchuan County were killed in the temblor. Some 400 students were taking afternoon naps in the school when it collapsed. Eighty-four students have been saved from the rubble while 139 others escaped.

The Chinese government has ordered 50 more military helicopters to airlift injured quake victims from areas unreachable by roads.

Besides the thousands of Chinese troops involved in relief work in quake-hit southwest Sichuan province, the government has been using helicopters to reach survivors in rugged terrain where roads have been blocked by fallen rocks and mudslides.

Dozens of helicopters also are involved in dropping supplies to survivors.

China Daily reported Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao ordered reinforcements to the worst-hit areas of Wenchuan and Beichuan counties. The report said more than 100,000 troops and police forces are involved in the rescue operation.

Myanmar cyclone tragedy's scope widens

YANGON, Myanmar, May 15 (UPI) -- Revised U.N. estimates indicate 2.5 million people were severely affected by the cyclone in Myanmar and the Red Cross says the death toll may top 120,000.

As international agencies struggled to bring relief to the desperate survivors in the secretive military-led country, estimates of the dead and surviving victims continued to soar. The new numbers compare with those from the Myanmar government, which put the death toll at nearly 38,500 with about 27,800 missing.

Aid, including that brought by U.S. planes, has begun to flow in but various agencies say it is not nearly enough to cope with the enormity of the situation.

Several heads of relief organizations in Myanmar also say some of the international aid is being stolen, diverted or warehoused by the country's army, The New York Times reported. They, however, did not want to be quoted directly, fearing adverse reaction from the junta, the report said.

The U.N. News Center said about 2.5 million people are now estimated to have been severely hit by the cyclone with the Irrawaddy delta area being the worst affected area.

Responding to international pressure, the junta has invited about 160 aid workers from neighboring India, China, Bangladesh and Thailand, John Holmes, head of the U.N. humanitarian affairs, said.

Holmes also said about 550,000 people had now gathered in rudimentary camps scattered through the delta area where supplies are inadequate.

12 die in Afghan market bombing

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 15 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber detonated a charge after walking up to a police convoy Thursday, killing 12 people at a western Afghanistan market, authorities said.

Afghan authorities said five of the dead were police officers while 26 others were injured in the explosion, CNN reported. The report said the Taliban claimed responsibility but there were conflicting reports over the identity of the bomber. The local police chief said the bomber was woman, while the Taliban said a man carried out the attack.

The bombing happened in the Del Aram district of Farah province in western Afghanistan, police said.