Chinese president visits quake-hit area
BEIJING, May 16 (UPI) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday assessed earthquake damage in Sichuan province where the death toll may top 50,000.
Hu described the rescue and relief effort mounted by tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians as "forceful, orderly and effective," the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"The challenge is still daunting, the task is still arduous and the time pressing," Hu said in Mianyang city.
He said while the so-called "golden time" of 72 hours after an earthquake had passed for relief work, "saving lives is still the top priority of our work."
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who had been in the quake-hit areas since the disaster struck Monday, said, "We won't give up if there is even the slightest hope of finding more survivors."
Xinhua said the confirmed death toll in Sichuan alone as of Thursday was 19,509 but more than 50,000 people are feared dead.
The Voice of America reported some survivors expressed frustration with the government's response as time seemed to be running out for an estimated 40,000 people still buried under buildings.
Heavy rains until Friday had severely hampered air drops of emergency food and medical supplies. Many roads to the disaster area remained blocked by falling rocks and mudslides.
The VOA said 90 helicopters were working non-stop to airlift supplies and evacuate survivors and another 101 choppers and 30,000 soldiers have been called in.
Voice on new tape thought to be bin Laden
LONDON, May 16 (UPI) -- Western analysts on Friday were attempting to authenticate an audiotape thought to be from Osama bin Laden and containing anti-Israel threats.
A voice on the tape, posted on a Web site known to be associated with al-Qaida, threatens to take back "every inch of Palestine" and seemed timed to coincide with celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding, The (London) Telegraph reported Friday.
"We will continue, God permitting, the fight against the Israelis and their allies," the newspaper quoted the voice as saying. "We will not give up a single inch of Palestine as long as there is one true Muslim on Earth."
If the voice is identified as bin Laden's, it would mark the fourth such message from the al-Qaida leader this year, the newspaper said, adding that it also demonstrates he is still at large and has enough support and infrastructure to produce regular communications.
Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and other terrorist actions, is assumed by U.S. authorities to be hiding in the lawless border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Lebanon, Hezbollah to meet in peace talks
DOHA, Qatar, May 16 (UPI) -- The Lebanese government and leaders of the Hezbollah opposition movement were preparing Friday to begin negotiations aimed a producing a unity government.
In a deal brokered by Qatar, the two sides agreed this week to end fighting that has resulted in 65 deaths and are moving toward talks that could produce the appointment of a new president for the country and reform its parliamentary election laws, al-Jazeera reported.
The crisis was precipitated when the Western-backed Lebanese government moved to shut down Hezbollah's private telecommunications network and reassign the Beirut airport's security chief.
Now, however, the two sides have already agreed to appoint Lebanese Gen. Michel Suleiman as president, al-Jazeera reported, but still must negotiate several other issues, including how to spread the state's sovereignty throughout the country's entire territory.
Hezbollah has agreed to allow the Beirut airport to fully reopen, to end sit-in protests and remove street barricades, while the government has dropped its attempts to destroy its telephone network.
McCain, Obama moving to center on Iraq
LOS ANGELES, May 16 (UPI) -- Despite the emotion the Iraq war causes among voters, analysts say the presumptive U.S. presidential nominees have moved toward a pragmatic center on the issue.
Republican hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., are getting close to meeting in the middle on Iraq, with McCain saying he'd like to get troops out by 2013 and Obama pushing a plan that would withdraw all combat brigades within 18 months, the Los Angeles Times said in a report published Friday.
McCain, the Times said, has bowed to the overwhelming unpopularity of the war after once saying he could envision a U.S. military presence there for many years, while Obama is acknowledging that withdrawing from Iraq could be a costly and time-consuming undertaking.
"It's one thing to stake out a relatively uncompromising position early in the presidential process," Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report told the Times. "But when the idea that you might move into the Oval Office hits you squarely between the eyes, it reminds you that there's a time to be pragmatic about these things."
Barkley facing bad debt charges
LAS VEGAS, May 16 (UPI) -- Prosecutors say former NBA star Charles Barkley, now a television sports analyst, faces possible felony charges as a Las Vegas casino sues him for bad debts.
Barkley's troubles stem from a legal action taken by casino owner Wynn Las Vegas, which is suing in Nevada district court to force Barkley to pay back $400,000 in gambling markers, the Las Vegas Sun reported Friday. It added that Clark County prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into a bad check allegation involving Barkley and the casino.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger told the newspaper Barkley will be given a chance to make restitution to Wynn Las Vegas before being charged with a felony.
"We prosecute cases like this every day," Roger said. "Mr. Barkley will be treated the same as everybody else."
Barkley, considered one the NBA's all-time great players, has been serving as an analyst during this year's league playoffs for the TNT cable television network. He once said during an interview that his total gambling losses have been more than $10 million, the Sun reported.
