BLOOMBERG      

As many as 500,000 children are in need of aid in Myanmar after Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the country two weeks ago, World Vision said.  

Flights resumed at Beirut’s airport and schools and stores opened as Lebanese politicians prepared for talks designed to ease the conflict between Lebanon’s pro-Western government and Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim party that took over parts of the city by force last week.  

Construction of U.S. single-family houses in April dropped to the lowest level in 17 years, even as building of condominiums and townhouses rebounded. 

The world’s most powerful central banks are telegraphing the end of interest-rate cuts, and traders already anticipate the first steps in the opposite direction.  

Crude oil rose above $127 a barrel for the first time after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its oil price forecast amid speculation Chinese diesel purchases will strain limited supplies.  

Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage- finance provider, will stop requiring bigger down payments in regions where home prices are dropping, responding to criticism from consumer and industry groups who said the company is exacerbating the housing slump.  

Myron Scholes, chairman of Platinum Grove Asset Management LP and 1997 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, said the worst of the crisis in credit markets may not be over. 

AP Top Stories      

Even as same-sex couples across California begin making plans to tie the knot, opponents are redoubling their efforts to make sure wedding bells never again ring for gay couples in the nation’s most populous state. 

Sorry, Sen. Clinton. Michigan and Florida can’t save your campaign. Interviews with those considering how to handle the two states’ banished convention delegates found little interest in the former first lady’s best-case scenario. 

General Electric Co. said Friday that it plans to sell or spin off its iconic appliance business, which has provided refrigerators, air conditioners and ovens for millions of U.S. homes. 

Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found — adding to evidence the “sunshine vitamin” has anti-cancer benefits. The results are sure to renew arguments about whether a little more sunshine is a good thing. 

China struggled to bury its dead and help tens of thousands of injured and homeless on Friday when a powerful aftershock brought new havoc four days after an earthquake thought to have killed more than 50,000. 

President George W. Bush held talks with Saudi King Abdullah on Friday to seek help in taming record oil prices and shore up Arab support for his efforts to contain Iran’s growing influence. 

The U.S. and Israel agree on the need for “tangible action” to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert’s spokesman said after a visit by President Bush. 

Zimbabwe said on Friday it would hold a delayed presidential election run-off on June 27 in which the opposition hopes to oust veteran leader Robert Mugabe after almost 30 years in power. 

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber crashed his motorbike into a police bus in the Sri Lankan capital on Friday, killing 10 people, the military and hospital authorities said. 

Osama bin Laden vowed in an audio tape to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary to continue to fight the Jewish state and its allies in the West. 

The world’s wildlife populations have reduced by around a quarter since the 1970s, according to a major report published Friday by the WWF conservation organization. 

Consumer confidence tumbled to its lowest in 28 years this month, a survey showed on Friday, as short-term inflation expectations hit their highest since the stagflationary early 1980s. 

New home construction starts rose 8.2 percent from March to an annual rate of 1.032 million units, the Commerce Department said. 

BBC      

A US military court has jailed a marine for three years for sexually abusing a 14-year-old Japanese girl on the southern island of Okinawa. British Airways has reported a 45% rise in annual profits but warned that economic uncertainty and sky-high fuel costs pose challenges. 

Chemotherapy treatments which aim to prolong patients’ lives and reduce suffering from asbestos-related cancer do not work, UK researchers suggest. 

Lebanon’s rival political leaders are due to meet in Qatar for talks aimed at pulling the country back from the brink of civil war. 

WorldNetDaily      

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services erroneously labeled 3,051 innocent people as child abusers by placing them on the state’s official list. According to a Belleville News-Democrat investigation, 11,473 people have appealed to strike their names from the state record. The list has a 27 percent error rate of parents falsely accused of abuse. Once on the list, people are required to remain there for a minimum of five years. 

The 50 U.S. states are holding more than $32 billion worth of unclaimed property that they’re supposed to safeguard for their citizens. But a “Good Morning America” investigation found some states aggressively seize property that isn’t really unclaimed and then use the money — your money — to balance their budgets. 

Two members of the California Supreme Court, which earlier today ruled the state cannot prevent homosexuals from “marrying,” have condemned the decision as “judicial fiat.” 

With films such as “Dark-Haired Sluts” and “Next Door Panties” on its movie menu, Marriott International is coming under heavy fire from family activists urging the hotel giant to banish such sexual fare from its bedrooms. 

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles charged a Missouri mother with fraudulently creating a MySpace account and using it to “cyber-bully” a 13-year-old girl who later committed suicide.

BLOOMBERG      

China said the death toll from the nation’s most powerful earthquake in 58 years may exceed 50,000, as the government poured troops and aircraft into Sichuan province in a race to free as many as 30,000 people still trapped under collapsed buildings.  

Senator Christopher Dodd said he’s near a compromise with Republican lawmakers on anti-foreclosure legislation, calling it the “last best chance” for Congress to address the problem.  

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke pushed U.S. banks to keep raising capital so they can help the economy by expanding lending as the credit crisis wanes. 

Blackstone Group LP, the buyout firm that went public at the peak of the takeover boom last year, reported a loss of $66.5 million as fees tumbled in every business, including deal-making, hedge funds and mergers advice.  

Industrial production in the U.S. fell more than forecast in April, as the slowdown in consumer spending prompted car and appliance makers to cut back.  

U.K. two-year government bonds headed for their biggest four-day drop in 12 years as traders abandoned bets the Bank of England will cut interest rates next month.  

Barclays Plc, the U.K.’s third-biggest bank, reported a drop in first-quarter earnings because of 3.3 billion of writedowns and said further losses from the credit markets are possible. 

AP Top Stories      

Media and entertainment company CBS Corp. is buying CNet Networks Inc., an online news and information provider, for $1.8 billion in cash in its latest bid to expand its reach on the Internet. 

A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said Thursday. 

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said  he believes the Iraq war can be won within four years, leaving a functioning democracy there and allowing most U.S. troops to come home. 

President George W. Bush will tell Israel’s parliament on Thursday that letting Iran acquire nuclear weapons would be an “unforgivable betrayal of future generations.” 

Myanmar’s military government said its cyclone relief effort was moving along swiftly even as foreign powers warned of starvation and disease among up to 2.5 million people left destitute. 

Arab League mediators brokered a deal to end Lebanon’s worst internal fighting since the civil war, political sources said, after the U.S.-supported government backed down in its conflict with Hezbollah. 

Indian police probed whether Indian Islamist groups or Bangladeshi infiltrators were behind bombings in a popular Indian tourist city that killed 61 people this week. 

Former U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards endorsed Democrat Barack Obama, giving a major boost to the Illinois senator’s effort to unify the party behind his bid for the White House. 

Visiting US President George W. Bush vowed to support Israel in battling “terror” groups, a day after a rocket fired from Gaza wounded 14 people and triggered warnings of retaliation. 

The US government has listed polar bears as a threatened species owing to a drastic reduction in Arctic sea ice, but insisted the step did not mark a policy shift to attack global warming. 

“Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” a nude by artist Lucian Freud, sold for more than 34 million dollars in New York, becoming the most expensive work ever by a living artist. 

The worst of the financial sector crisis is over although the impact on the broader economy will likely drag on in coming months, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. 

According to an April Pew poll, President Bush’s job approval rating is now at 27%, the lowest of his presidency, while almost two-thirds of Americans (65%) now dissaprove of the president’s job. 

Oil prices surged nearly $2 a barrel as the dollar fell against the euro and investors anticipated strong demand for diesel fuel in parts of China ravaged by Monday’s earthquake. Gas prices, meanwhile, advanced past $3.77 a gallon. 

BBC      

The central bank has issued a 500m Zimbabwe dollar banknote, worth US$2, to try to ease cash shortages amid the world’s highest rate of inflation. The previous highest denomination note was for Z$250m, issued 10 days ago. The annual inflation rate is 165,000% and one economist said prices now double every week.  

Pakistan is switching to daylight saving time next month to help reduce power shortages. 

WorldNetDaily      

Parents whose children attend a Mississippi school embroiled in controversy after a science teacher had 6th-graders vote on who was most likely to become pregnant – or be dead – by age 19 say officials now are stonewalling them. 

Students in a computer graphic arts class at Armijo High School in Fairfield, Calif., have reported their instructor was teaching a lesson on Adobe Photoshop Monday when the image that was projected to the screen revealed two men engaged in sex. 

N.J. ― Officials are banning a Hightstown high school senior from school and all activities after he was charged with setting fire to a student’s turban.

Even if she does not secure the Democratic nomination, will Hillary Clinton run for president as an independent? Nearly a third of Democrats would like her to do so. 

The Ohio branch of the leading player in the nation’s abortion industry, Planned Parenthood, is blaming the callers for a fiasco in which a local official was caught on tape agreeing to take a donation designated to eliminate blacks. 

North Carolina officials announced the state will stop enrolling illegal aliens in degree programs at its community colleges. 

In its quest to have 51 cents in unpaid taxes collected, the city of Brighton, Mich., spent $5.21 sending a certified letter to a local doctor notifying him of the shortage.

BLOOMBERG      

The death toll from China’s strongest earthquake in more than half a century has risen to almost 15,000 as disaster officials, battling bad weather and rubble-strewn roads, try to reach 25,000 people trapped under debris.  

Hillary Clinton won an overwhelming victory in yesterday’s West Virginia primary that did little to dent Barack Obama’s lead in the Democratic presidential race.  

U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2%, less than forecast in April, reflecting cheaper furniture and lodging costs that offset the biggest jump in food expenses in 18 years.  

Freddie Mac, second-largest U.S. mortgage-finance company, posted a loss narrower than analysts estimated and said it will raise $5.5 billion in capital to help overcome rising credit costs.  

BNP Paribas SA, France’s largest bank, ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial- services company, and Dexia SA, the world’s largest lender to local governments, reported lower first-quarter earnings as loan losses increased.  

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third- largest U.S. bank, may eliminate 4,000 of its own staff as it brings on employees from the purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. and financial markets continue to deteriorate, a person familiar with the matter said.  

Confidence in the global economy improved for the second consecutive month in May on signs the worst of the credit squeeze may be over, a Bloomberg survey showed.  

AP Top Stories      

President Bush said that 60 years of democracy in Israel is cause for optimism for democratic change throughout the Middle East. “What happened here is possible everywhere,” Bush said in a trip where he’ll make a new push for Israeli-Palestinian peace. 

A storm headed toward Myanmar’s cyclone-devastated delta and the U.N. warned that inadequate relief efforts could lead to a second wave of deaths among the estimated 2 million survivors. 

For nearly three in 10 households, don’t even bother trying to call them on a landline phone. They either only have a cell phone or seldom if ever take calls on their traditional phone. 

India - Authorities imposed a dawn-to-dusk curfew in parts of India’s historic western city of Jaipur, a day after eight bombs ripped through bustling streets, killing 61 people and injuring 216. 

The six powers negotiating with Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program could offer Tehran security guarantees, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters. 

The 1.5 million people left destitute by Myanmar’s cyclone are in increasing danger of disease and starvation, experts said. Its ruling junta said no to a Thai request to admit more aid workers. 

The House of Representatives followed the Senate in rejecting the Bush administration’s policy of adding oil to the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve while fuel prices are high. 

A US space probe sent to Mars to dig for signs of life is nearing the end of its nine-month voyage and should touch down on the Red Planet on schedule, NASA said Tuesday. 

Just a year ago, the sale of an average horse suitable for recreation — one with neither prized bloodlines nor a performance record to heighten its status — would have fetched several thousand dollars. Today, prices in some cases have dropped to just hundreds of dollars, largely because of higher costs for their maintenance and transport.  The situation for marginal horses — horses whose poor physical condition or disposition makes them targets for slaughter — is even worse. The result is that a growing number of unwanted horses are being starved or turned loose to fend for themselves in the U.S. West, according to animal welfare advocates. 

Gas prices roared above $3.75 a gallon Wednesday, while oil prices fell as investors anticipated that a government inventory report will show crude supplies rose last week. 

Mortgage applications rose for a second consecutive week, fueled by a jump in demand for home refinancing loans as interest rates dropped, an industry group said on Wednesday. 

BBC      

A new type of identity fraud, which sees hackers tapping into voice-over IP telephony accounts, has been highlighted by a VoIP equipment maker. Usernames and passwords from voice-over IP (VoIP) phone accounts are selling online for more than stolen credit cards. 

Scientists have used gene analysis techniques to help identify the genetic profile of IVF embryos that result in a successful pregnancy. 

The Arab League has sent a delegation to Lebanon to mediate between warring supporters and opponents of the pro-western government. 

WorldNetDaily      

A 6th-grade teacher in Jackson, Miss., asked her class to take a survey to determine which of their classmates were most likely to get pregnant, die and contract AIDS before graduation from high school.  Now the father of the honor student selected as most likely to get pregnant wants the teacher fired, according to local station WAPT. 

A group of private citizens in San Diego County is planning to file a large-scale lawsuit in federal court against public water districts and challenge the constitutionality of using industrial-grade hydrofluosilicic acid to fluoridate drinking water. Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama says Israel is a “constant wound” and a “constant sore” that infects “all of our foreign policy.” 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Israel is dying and that its 60th anniversary celebrations are an attempt to prevent its “annihilation.” 

Threatened with a lawsuit, the U.S. Coast Guard has reversed a decision to force a Catholic officer to receive a vaccine created from the lung cells of an aborted fetus. 

More than 131,000 Coloradans have endorsed a plan to put an initiative on the fall 2008 election ballot that would allow voters to extend the U.S. Constitution’s protections to those who haven’t been born yet, something supporters say the U.S. founders intended all along. “This proposed constitutional amendment will define a person in Colorado as a human being from the moment of fertilization, the moment when life begins.” 

A man authorities believe set at least some of the wildfires in Florida is in custody on suspicion of arson, police told FOX News.

BLOOMBERG      

Pakistan’s six-week-old coalition is unraveling because of a dispute over whether to remove President Musharraf, undermining efforts to rein in surging food prices and maintain stability.  

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said financial markets remain unsettled and the central bank will increase its auctions of cash to banks as needed. 

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, posted a higher first-quarter profit and forecast second-quarter earnings that may trail analysts’ estimates as consumers strained by $3.70-a-gallon gasoline slowed spending. 

Retail sales excluding cars rose 0.5 percent in April, more than twice what economists had forecast, a Commerce Department report showed. Total purchases slipped 0.2 percent. 

Bank of America Corp., the second- biggest U.S. bank, widened its forecast of home-equity loan losses beyond projections offered last month, adding to evidence that more consumers are falling behind on the debts. 

British financier Guy Hands said private equity firms that are buying leveraged buyout loans risk repeating the mistakes of investors in subprime mortgages. 

AP Top Stories      

Microsoft Corp. launched its WorldWide Telescope, bringing the free Web-based program for zooming around the universe to a broad audience. WorldWide Telescope, developed by Microsoft’s research arm, knits together images from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and others. 

China said 18,645 people were buried under debris in the city of Mianyang, neighboring Wenchuan county, the epicenter of Monday’s devastating earthquake. Some 3,629 people had been confirmed dead. 

Heavy rains pelted homeless cyclone survivors in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta, complicating already slow delivery of aid to more than 1.5 million people facing hunger and disease. 

Clinton appeared headed to a big West Virginia victory over front-runner Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race, although it could be too late to turn around her White House bid. 

An agreement aimed at ending fighting in the Baghdad bastion of Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was on the verge of collapse after gunmen launched a spate of attacks on U.S. troops. 

President Bush heads back to the Middle East facing broad skepticism over his chances of securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before he leaves office in less than nine months. 

Lebanon’s army stepped up patrols on Tuesday as part of a drive to restore order after a week of fighting between Hezbollah fighters and pro-government gunmen. 

Iran will soon put forward new proposals to resolve its dispute with the West over its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday. 

Colombia extradited more than a dozen former paramilitary leaders to face U.S. justice in the toughest measure against the warlords who are accused of drug trafficking and massacres. 

The UN warned Tuesday that post-election violence in Zimbabwe was rising to near crisis levels ahead of a planned presidential run-off, with opposition supporters bearing the brunt of attacks. 

French banking giant Credit Agricole said it was seeking 5.9 billion euros in fresh cash from shareholders after taking charges of 1.2 billion euros for problems in the US subprime market. 

If a man’s mother is highly educated, chances are the woman he marries will have a similar education, according to a new study. 

Women who breastfeed their babies longer are less likely to get rheumatoid arthritis. 

Businesses added to their stockpiles in March by the smallest amount in a year, another indication of a weakening economy. 

BBC      

Breathing in air pollution from traffic fumes can raise the risk of potentially deadly blood clots, a US study says. 

Hamas has said that the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in 2006, will not form part of any truce agreement with Israel. 

A robotic system designed to care for millions of biological samples in sub-zero temperatures has been chosen as a finalist for a top engineering award. 

WorldNetDaily      

A German couple already being threatened with jail time because they have been homeschooling their children say their nation has taken a turn for the worse, with a new federal law that gives family courts the authority to take custody of children “as soon as there is a suspicion of child abuse,” which is how that nation’s courts have defined homeschooling. 

A Muslim high school student’s intolerance for a service dog needed by a student teacher with a disability has reportedly prompted the student teacher to abandon the last 10 hours of his scheduled assignment at Technical High School in St. Cloud, Minn. He’s a student at St. Cloud State University, and was assigned to Technical High School in the St. Cloud district for his 50 hours of student teaching, and took with him his service dog, Emmitt. The newspaper said Hurd needs a service dog because of a childhood injury that leaves him with seizures, sometimes happening as often as weekly. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has a seizure. 

There is a “good possibility” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could be chosen as Sen. John McCain’s presidential running mate, Palestinian officials here say they were told by U.S. politicians in recent days. “We were told by U.S. politicians there is a good possibility we may still be dealing with Rice in the future, but this time as vice president.” 

Mike Huckabee, is currently at the top of John McCain’s short list for a running mate. At least that’s the word from a top McCain fundraiser and longtime Republican moneyman who has spoken to McCain’s inner circle.  

The White House will have to respond later to a report that Syrian, North Korea and China have begun working together on some issues. 

BLOOMBERG      

China was hit by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake, the nation’s strongest in 58 years causing buildings to shake in Beijing, more than 930 miles away. Between 3,000 and 5,000 were killed in one county alone, China state media said.  

Hillary Clinton may have a financial incentive to remain in the presidential race for a while. And she has Senator John McCain to thank for it.  

MBIA Inc., the bond insurer whose market value tumbled 87 % in the past year, posted a net loss, $2.4 billion,  that was wider than analysts estimates as the slump in mortgage securities deepened. 

Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit faces an “impossible feat” in turning around the biggest U.S. bank as it faces “seismic” costs to restructure, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney said.  

IndyMac Bancorp, the second- biggest U.S. mortgage company, reported a first- quarter loss, omitted some dividends and said it doesn’t expect to make money for the rest of this year.  

Local governments and mutual-fund managers that suffered the least from the collapse of the auction-rate bond market are refinancing securities rather than risking the loss of confidence from their investors.  

Sovereign Bancorp Inc., the second- biggest U.S. savings and loan, plans to raise about $1.5 billion in capital as the company tries to rebound from losses in 2007.  

AP Top Stories      

An Australian swimmer says he survived a mauling by a 16-foot shark by wrestling with the beast, finally getting free by poking it in the eye. 

The first U.S. military aid flight landed in Myanmar on Monday, but relief supplies continued to just dribble into the reclusive state nine days after a devastating cyclone. 

Republican John McCain pledged to take the lead in combating global climate change if elected president in a speech that set him apart from the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush. 

Cablevision Systems Corp said on Monday it will acquire a 97 percent stake in Newsday media group through a partnership with Tribune company in a $650 million transaction. 

Clashes resumed in Lebanon’s city of Tripoli and security sources said at least 36 people had been killed in fighting between Hezbollah and its pro-government Druze opponents east of Beirut. 

Iraq’s prime minister said a crackdown on Shi’ite militias proved his government was not sectarian, in the face of persistent accusations by Sunni Arabs that he has favored Shi’ites since taking office. 

Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim said on Monday he would launch more attacks on Sudan’s capital Khartoum until the government fell. 

China’s inflation rate rose to 8.5 percent in April, staying near 12-year highs, the government said, warning tougher measures were needed to handle the nation’s most economic problem. 

A Sherpa aiming to conquer Everest for the 18th time and septuagenarians battling for the title of oldest climber to reach the summit are lining up their record bids as the climbing season opens. 

Retail sales barely rose in April, as a relentless surge in gasoline prices made consumers cut back other types of spending, according to a report released on Monday. 

Commuters around the country are dusting off their old two-wheelers — or buying new ones — to cope with rising fuel prices, bicycle dealers say. 

BBC      

One of the main Pakistan parties, the PML-N, says it is pulling out of the government, three months after elections.  

South Korean officials say they have killed the entire poultry population of Seoul to curb the spread of bird flu. Quarantine officers destroyed 15,000 chickens, ducks and turkeys in farms and restaurants across the capital.  

Researchers have discovered a gene which may be linked with pre-eclampsia in some women - raising hopes of a diagnostic test and early treatment. 

WorldNetDaily      

“May we live long and die out” is the unofficial motto of a movement that seeks to improve the Earth’s ecosystem by ensuring that the human species does not survive. The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, or VHEMT, consists of volunteers who have made active life decisions to remain childless for the benefit of the Earth, thereby preventing the extinction of millions of species of plants and animals. 

The queen of Sheba’s palace at Axum in Ethiopia, purported to once have been the home of the Ark of the Covenant, has been found, archaeologists from the University of Hamburg report. 

Quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in St. Paul at the beginning of September. 

Barack Obama erased Hillary Rodham Clinton’s once-imposing lead among superdelegates Saturday when he added more endorsements from the group of Democrats who will decide the party’s nomination for president. 

With U.S. approval, Saudi Arabia in recent months provided weaponry to militias associated with anti-Syrian Lebanese opposition leaders to bolster them against the Hezbollah terror organization. 

A Pennsylvania elementary school has angered parents by giving them one-day’s notice of planned counseling sessions with 100 third-grade students to explain that one of their male classmates would soon begin wearing girls’ clothing and taking a female name and to ask that they accept him as a girl and not make unkind remarks. 

Mental health workers sent to emergency shelters in San Angelo last month to help care for the hundreds of women and children removed from a polygamist sect’s West Texas ranch have sharply criticized the Child Protective Services operation, telling their governing board it unnecessarily traumatized the kids. 

BLOOMBERG      

Gun battles raged across western and southern Beirut, leaving 10 people dead, as fighters from the Shiite group Hezbollah pressed their party’s challenge to Lebanon’s pro-Western government.  

Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Pandit said he plans to shed about $400 billion of “legacy assets” over the next three years as part of his plan to return the biggest U.S. bank to profitability.  

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed more than forecast in March as imports dropped by the most in more than six years, reflecting the economic slowdown.  

American International Group Inc., the world’s biggest insurer by assets, fell more than 5 percent in early New York trading after saying losses tied to faltering credit markets may continue.  

Circuit City Stores Inc., the second- largest U.S. electronics retailer, put itself up for sale, causing the shares to rise as much as 9.4 percent in early New York trading.  

AP Top Stories      

Myanmar’s junta seized U.N. aid shipments Friday meant for a multitude of hungry and homeless survivors of last week’s devastating cyclone, forcing the world body to suspend further help. 

Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday. 

Oil prices surpassed a record $126 per barrel Friday on the eve of the U.S. driving season as a weakening dollar drove investors to snap up commodities. 

The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq is still being hunted, the U.S. military said on Friday, after Iraqi officials wrongly declared Abu Ayyub al-Masri had been caught. 

He backs an unpopular war in Iraq, represents an unpopular political party and is endorsed by an unpopular president in the midst of an economic downturn. As if that’s not enough, Republican John McCain could be heavily outspent by his Democratic rival in the U.S. election in November to succeed President George W. Bush. 

Pakistan’s new government is trying to convince the United States that unilateral strikes against al Qaeda militants on its territory could be “counter-productive,” the country’s foreign minister said. 

Facebook has agreed to a child protection pact similar to the one sealed with leading social-networking website MySpace in January. 

Record prices for works by Monet and Edvard Munch at New York’s spring sales this week have helped eased fears over the effect of the faltering US economy on the international art market. 

The US trade deficit shrank to 58.2 billion dollars in March from a revised 61.7 billion a month earlier, as the weak dollar fueled a surge in exports, the Commerce Department said Friday. 

Democrat Barack Obama did not rule out selecting rival Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential running mate if he ultimately defeats her in a race in which he has an almost insurmountable lead. 

The U.S. economic downturn has spread personal financial worries far and wide, but women are more worried about paying bills, losing jobs, providing for children and saving for retirement. 

Caught in the maelstrom of higher gas and food prices, Americans — even more affluent ones — are seeking shelter in wholesale clubs and discount apparel chains. 

BBC      

North Korea has handed over more than 18,000 pages of records on its nuclear weapons program to the US. 

Funding for HIV prevention is being wasted on strategies which have little impact. Substantial investment in condom promotion, HIV testing and vaccine research has had limited success in Africa, they argue in Science. Instead male circumcision and reducing multiple sexual partners should become the “cornerstone” of prevention.  

Celebrations have taken place across Israel to mark the 60th anniversary of its founding. 

Pakistan says it has asked the United States not to appoint the former head of the US prison at Guantanamo as military envoy in Islamabad. 

WorldNetDaily      

Students at a California public school have written a series of letters to Chicago’s Heartland Institute, which works to discover and develop free-market solutions to society’s problems, attacking its members for “destroying our planet” by refusing to endorse the politics of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” film. 

A city in the United Kingdom has started promoting “right-to-die” cards for its young, healthy residents, earning the condemnation of pro-life organizations who have called it a “move towards legal suicide.” The report said cards designating a person’s “Advanced Decision to Refuse Treatment” already had been available for people suffering from terminal health problems. 

When Berkshire Hathaway, multi-billionaire Warren Buffett’s investment arm, held a recent stockholders meeting in Omaha, two sign trucks drove around with large photos of Buffett dispensing his pearls of wisdom, such as “Invest in Yourself.” And right behind was the “Truth Truck,” owned by the pro-life activist organization Operation Rescue, and driven by volunteers with the Rescue the Heartland organization. 

Britain’s intelligence service MI5 has launched a high priority search for more than 1,000 pieces of missing radioactive medical equipment used in the treatment of cancers and other illnesses. 

One of the world’s leading arms control experts said the Chinese have realized that their nuclear weaponry has fallen behind those of other major powers and might not survive a first strike. 

Chinese companies will be encouraged to buy farmland abroad, particularly in Africa and South America, to help guarantee food security under a plan being considered by Beijing. 

Thousands of key federal employees are being whisked from the Washington area by helicopter and car for a three-day test of their ability to run the government from remote locations during a disaster. The exodus, which began yesterday and will continue today, involves the White House and other parts of the executive branch. Congress and the judiciary are not part of the exercise, which is being overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.

BLOOMBERG      

Emergency aid began arriving in Myanmar in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, as the United Nations said further delays to the relief effort may cause the estimated death toll of 100,000 people to rise.  

Unrest spread across Lebanon as supporters of Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim party and militia, skirmished with armed Sunni Muslim rivals who support the pro-U.S. government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.  

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. reported sales that rose more than analysts estimated after U.S. consumers bought discounted clothing and food as they contended with higher gasoline prices.  

European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet said inflation will remain “high” for some time, signaling that the bank is in no rush to lower interest rates as economic growth slows.  

Rice gained for a fifth day after a cyclone in Myanmar flooded 1,930 square miles of farmland, and Malaysia began imports from Thailand.  

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s second- largest automaker, posted a steeper drop in quarterly profit than analysts estimated and said earnings this year will slump 27 percent on a stronger yen and declining U.S. sales.  

Inflation is reemerging as a threat to economic stability after years of “quiescence,” and officials must be wary of policies that stoke consumer prices.  

State Street Corp., the largest money manager for institutions, may have to pay more than 12 times the $625 million it set aside for damages from lawsuits over losses from subprime-mortgage investments made for pension funds.  

AP Top Stories      

Strapped homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property under Democrats’ plan. 

Scientists said they have mapped the genetic makeup of the platypus — one of nature’s strangest animals with a bill like a duck’s, a mammal’s fur and snake-like venom. 

A Tibetan woman took the Olympic torch the last steps to the top of Everest, realizing “a dream of all Chinese people,” but Tibetan exiles criticized Beijing for politicizing the Games. 

It’s now common wisdom that Sen. Clinton attracts older voters, women and the white working class, while Sen. Barack Obama is the go-to guy for youth, African-Americans and the elite. 

Austrian Josef Fritzl said he became addicted to incest with his daughter, who bore him seven children, and had imprisoned her in a cellar to save her from the outside world. 

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff was subpoenaed on Wednesday to testify in a congressional probe of the administration’s treatment and possible torture of enemy combatants. 

A team led by a U.S. State Department nuclear envoy entered North Korea to persuade Pyongyang to declare its nuclear activities as called for in a six-country disarmament deal. 

A Reuters photographer covering the aftermath of Zimbabwe’s elections has been detained for three days for allegedly using a satellite phone to transmit pictures. 

Vladimir Putin will retain a “key role” in Russia for years as prime minister, new President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday, as the two men opened an unprecedented era of dual rule. 

Oil prices held near record levels Thursday after gains overnight to nearly 124 dollars as speculators dived into a market concerned about potential supply disruption, traders said. 

Consumers gave some of the nation’s retailers a little relief in April after months of dismal sales, gravitating toward discounters and wholesale clubs but generally still shying away from stores selling clothes and other non-necessities. 

The Labor Department reported applications for unemployment benefits fell to 365,000, a decline of 18,000. Economists had been looking for a much smaller decrease of around 5,000. 

BBC      

Lebanon’s army warns its unity will be threatened if the political crisis continues, as a strike hits Beirut for a second day.  

Russia orders the expulsion of two military attaches from the American embassy in Moscow. 

There have been reports of further activity in the Chaiten volcano in Chile, which began erupting on Friday for the first time in some 9,000 years. 

The European Central Bank has kept interest rates for the 15-nation euro bloc unchanged at 4% for the 11th month in a row. 

The UK’s longstanding opposition to human spaceflight will be no bar to its citizens becoming astronauts, the European Space Agency (Esa) says.  

WorldNetDaily      

The FBI is now reviewing a Wikipedia photo of a nude adolescent that could violate federal child-pornography laws. 

San Francisco - A nonprofit digital library has successfully fought an FBI attempt to seize information about one of its users, and is calling on other groups to challenge government agencies attempting to obtain online customer information without a judge’s order. 

They are billed as the most professional Palestinian police force ever assembled.They received advanced U.S. training and were deployed this week amid much fanfare and claims they would fight crime and terrorism.But less than 30 minutes into their first mission, the force ran scared from armed terrorists they were charged with combating. 

By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active Muslims in Britain, compared with 1.63 million church-going Christians, according to calculations by Christian Research, a think- tank. 

Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money.

BLOOMBERG      

Barack Obama moved closer to clinching the Democratic presidential nomination by decisively defeating Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and losing to her by a narrow margin in Indiana.  

Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russia’s third president with promises to fight corruption and inflation in partnership with a predecessor who may try to overshadow him.  

U.S. worker productivity in the first quarter unexpectedly accelerated, 2.2%, as companies cut payrolls and hours worked to reduce costs during the weakest pace of economic growth in seven years.  

The dollar rose against the euro and the yen as Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said inflation may prompt policy makers to raise interest rates and European retail sales dropped by a record in March.  

UBS AG, reeling from record losses, said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether the world’s biggest money manager for the wealthy helped clients evade American taxes.  

Sprint Nextel Corp. will combine its high-speed wireless business with Clearwire Corp., reviving plans to create the first national WiMax network after losing more than a million mobile-phone customers last year.  

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, seeking ways to stabilize money markets, will ask Congress for authority to pay interest on commercial-bank reserves this year, a person familiar with the discussions said.  

Marsh & McLennan Cos., the world’s largest insurance brokerage, will seek to sell parts of its Kroll security unit after a $425 million writedown at the subsidiary caused a first-quarter loss.  

AP Top Stories      

A campaign aide says Hillary Rodham Clinton lent herself $6.4 million in the past month. 

A Georgia man who killed his live-in girlfriend was executed, the first inmate put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injections. 

A half-dozen police officers kicked and beat three men pulled from a car during a traffic stop as a TV helicopter taped the confrontation. 

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday the company isn’t pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its $47.5 billion takeover bid for Yahoo. 

Aid was trickling in on Wednesday for an estimated one million victims of Cyclone Nargis in military-ruled Myanmar, with the death toll of more than 22,500 expected to mount. 

The U.S. House of Representatives is due on Wednesday to begin debating a housing rescue package that could see the government buy up $15 billion of abandoned homes and help an estimated half million homeowners facing foreclosure. The sweeping bill would offer fresh spending, tax credits and a new government guarantee on many risky loans to bolster the national housing market. 

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari urged Iran and the United States to stop trading accusations and sit down for a fourth round of talks to seek solutions to Iraq’s security woes. 

Colombia extradited Carlos “Macaco” Jimenez to the U.S., marking the first time the government has sent a former right-wing paramilitary boss to face U.S. justice for drug trafficking. 

The first batch of taxpayers has already started to receive their federal tax rebates as part of the economic stimulus package, but very few consumers interviewed by Reuters in the past week said they plan to spend them on anything other than necessities. 

Thousands of shell-shocked survivors of the Myanmar cyclone emerged Wednesday, desperate for food and water after trekking for days through flood waters littered with the bodies of the dead. 

A viral outbreak in China has worsened further, claiming the life of a 27th child and the number of infections climbing to nearly 16,000, state-run media reported on Wednesday. 

World oil prices neared record levels close to 122 dollars per barrel on Wednesday as traders awaited a crucial weekly update on American energy reserves amid concern about tight global supplies. 

Niger Delta rebels promised on Tuesday to halt attacks on the oil industry if the Nigerian government would allow former U.S. President Jimmy Carter to act as a mediator. 

The credit crisis that has scorched international financial markets is on the wane but more shocks are ahead, US Secretary Treasury Henry Paulson told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Wednesday. “The worst is likely to be behind us.” 

BBC      

China and Japan have signed a historic deal agreeing a “new starting point” in relations, after summit talks in Tokyo. 

Rice prices have risen for the fourth consecutive day, as tight supplies are aggravated by the disaster in Burma’s key rice-growing region. 

Appropriate treatment can all but eradicate the risk that a pregnant woman with HIV will pass the virus to her child, research shows. 

India has test-fired its longest-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, Agni-III. With a range of more than 1,865 miles, the missile could hit targets as far off as Beijing and Shanghai.  

WorldNetDaily      

Authorities hope to get rid of online maps that wrongly depict China’s borders or that reveal military secrets, the People’s Daily said. 

A special interest program assembled by the Human Rights Campaign to promote homosexuality has been launched in the 91-school Minneapolis district, even as opponents are urging school officials to keep sexuality out of the social culture. 

BLOOMBERG      

The tropical cyclone that slammed into Myanmar May 3 killed as many as 22,000 people and left tens of thousands missing, making the storm Southeast Asia’s deadliest natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.  

Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party will probably amend the constitution to block efforts by prosecutors to ban the party on the grounds that it’s seeking Islamic rule.  

Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage- finance company, reported a wider loss than analysts estimated, $2.19billion, cut its dividend and said it will raise $6 billion in capital as the worst housing slump since the Great Depression deepens.  

UBS AG, battered by $17.3 billion of first-quarter losses at its investment-banking unit, plans to cut 5,500 jobs and said clients withdrew a net $12.2 billion from its asset-and wealth-management divisions.  

U.S. business bankruptcy filings in April increased 49 percent from a year earlier, the biggest gain so far this year, as the slowing economy prompted more companies to shut down.  

Merrill Lynch & Co. said so-called Level 3 assets climbed 70 percent in the first quarter, as the largest U.S. brokerage reclassified commercial mortgages and other assets as hard to value.  

Crude oil may rise to between $150 and $200 a barrel within two years as growth in supply fails to keep pace with increased demand from developing nations, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said. 

AP Top Stories      

A rising tide of late mortgage payments and home foreclosures poses considerable dangers to the national economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned anew Monday as he urged Congress to take additional steps to alleviate the problems. 

Georgia is set to execute a convicted murderer on Tuesday, the first U.S. inmate to be put to death since the Supreme Court ended a de facto moratorium on capital punishment last month. 

The military and its critics agree on one thing — there are not enough therapists to treat all the soldiers who return from Iraq and  Afghanistan traumatized by the experience. 

Russia and the United States signed a long awaited civilian nuclear cooperation pact that will allow firms from the world’s two biggest atomic powers to expand bilateral nuclear trade. 

Fears of a virus that has killed at least 26 children in China gripped parents in Beijing as officials temporarily closed two kindergartens amid a spreading outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease. 

President Hu Jintao started the first visit by a Chinese leader to Japan in 10 years as the Asian powers eased decades of tension, but hundreds took to the streets to protest over
Tibet. 

Talks between Chinese officials and envoys from the Tibetan government-in-exile were a “good first step,” one of the Dalai Lama’s representatives said. 

Low levels of vitamin D in elderly people may lead to increased depression and other psychiatric problems, Dutch researchers said. 

Global warming could pose a greater risk to tropical insects and other species sensitive to the slightest shifts in temperature than to creatures living in the world’s tundra, US scientists warned. 

With home prices continuing to drop and the pace of home sales slowing further, nobody has been looking for encouraging results from homebuilders. 

BBC      

A major new study adds to growing evidence suggesting breastfeeding boosts a child’s intelligence.  

Yahoo is introducing new technology to its search engine which will warn users if they are about to click on a website that hosts viruses, spyware and spam. 

Long-term use of ibuprofen may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a large US study reports. Data from almost 250,000 veterans showed those who used the painkiller for more than five years were more than 40% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s.  

Scientists have pinpointed a reason why people with Indian ancestry may be more prone to weight problems. They have found this group is more likely to carry a gene sequence linked to an expanding waist line, weight gain and type 2 diabetes.  

A free satellite television and radio service from the BBC and ITV is being launched across the UK. Freesat is available to 98% of homes, including those that are unable to receive Freeview through a TV aerial. It will carry 80 digital TV and radio channels, including free high definition programs, with that number due to rise to 200 by the end of 2008. Users will make a one-off payment for a dish, set-top box and installation, but will not pay a monthly subscription. 

WorldNetDaily      

From Pennsylvania to Nebraska and from Europe to New Zealand, there is growing and fierce opposition to plans to fluoridate public drinking water, fueled by a battery of shocking new studies that seriously question a practice routine among U.S. municipalities for nearly the last 50 years. 

Sen. John McCain announced today he will attend the national convention of La Raza, a radical Hispanic lobby tied to the movement to reconquer the Southwestern U.S. that was part of Mexico before the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848.Though La Raza bills itself as a civil rights organization, the group’s name literally means “The Race.” 

The University of Toledo suspended an administrator for stating in a guest column in a local newspaper that choosing homosexual behavior is not the same as being black or handicapped. A senior Muslim member of the elite crack shot team that guards the prime minister and other members of government has been removed from his work on “national security grounds,” and arguments now are pending over that action. 

A star-studded New York event hosted by Sting to raise money to save rainforests through special programs delivered less than half of the millions it raised, a charity watchdog says. 

Americans may be getting another helping of food inflation, and it seems likely to come from higher prices for chicken and pork. Overall food inflation could double this year, lifted by the rising costs of fuel, corn and soybeans, some analysts predict.  

BLOOMBERG      

Almost 4,000 people are dead and 3,000 missing in the aftermath of a devastating tropical cyclone that slammed into the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar.  

When Vladimir Putin hands Dmitry Medvedev the keys to the Kremlin on May 7, he may be locking his presidential successor into an economic box.  

Yahoo! Inc., the Web company that spent three months fighting a takeover by Microsoft Corp., fell 21 percent in early trading after the software maker scrapped the bid because executives failed to agree on the price.  

Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest U.S. bank, should abandon its $4 billion takeover of Countrywide Financial Corp. because the mortgage lender’s loans will hurt earnings.  

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. has slipped into an “awfully pale recession” and may continue to languish for the rest of the year.  

UBS AG may cut as many as 8,000 jobs as it grapples with the biggest credit writedowns of any European bank and a $11.4 billion first-quarter loss.  

Sprott Asset Management Inc.’s initial public offering this week will make a billionaire of the hedge fund company’s founder, spurring speculation Canada’s decade-old commodities boom is ending, investors say.  

AP Top Stories      

Ark. - Meteorologists were planning an aerial survey Monday of the destruction caused by at least 10 tornadoes late last week. Friday’s tornadoes killed seven people, damaged or destroyed about 400 homes and knocked out electrical and telephone service in nearly 20 counties.  

Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won’t get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die. Now, an influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn’t be treated. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients and those with severe dementia. The suggested list was compiled by a task force whose members come from prestigious universities, medical groups, the military and government agencies. They include the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

U.S. presidential primaries often divide party loyalists, but the drawn-out battle between Clinton and Obama may leave some Democrats too bitter to band together against the Republicans. 

Iran said it would not consider any incentives offered by world powers that violated its right to nuclear technology, ruling out a precondition to halt atomic work the West believes is aimed at making bombs. 

Democratic presidential candidate Obama faces tests in the N. Carolina and Indiana primaries this week that will help determine whether he survived a rough patch and can finally defeat Clinton. 

Democratic presidential candidate Clinton dismissed the “elite opinion” of economists who criticized her gas tax proposal, using a term that has dogged rival Obama in recent weeks. 

Envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials agreed to further contact during talks aimed at mending fences following a wave of unrest that pushed Tibet to centre stage ahead of the 2008 Olympics. 

Israel said it had made “significant progress” on the issue of the future borders of a Palestinian state following a top-level meeting between the two sides. 

In the latest case to shock Germany, authorities said on Monday they have discovered three dead babies in a freezer and arrested the woman believed to be the childrens’ mother. 

Investigations into obesity may identify people with an inherited risk of weight gain, explain why crash diets often fail and address a danger period in childhood that leads to obesity in adult life. 

Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species, the journal Nature declares. 

The U.S. Education Department will be ready to process emergency advances for student loans by June 1, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday, citing a letter to be sent Monday to state agencies that would enforce the program. 

The national average price for regular gasoline rose about 15 cents in the last two weeks, according to a survey. 

Soaring food prices are helping to push up inflation all around the world, central bankers said on Monday, urging more market competition and free trade to even out prices. 

BBC      

No amount of dieting will alter the number of fat-hoarding cells in our bodies, research has suggested. Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden say that the number is set during adolescence and stays the same, regardless of obesity later in life.  

The UN is to again suspend distribution of food aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip because of fuel shortages, the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) has said. 

The rate of farmer suicides in India’s Maharashtra state has gone up in recent years despite expensive relief schemes, a government report says. 

WorldNetDaily      

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israeli officials to remove more anti-terror roadblocks from the West Bank. 

Methodology used by NASA to estimate rates of climate change are resulting in dramatic shifts in previously published historical temperature data, causing figures for estimated global surface temperature prior to 1970 to now be lower and figures since 1970 to now be higher – and appearing to provide evidence for those who say the Earth is warming.  

Almost eight years after al-Qaeda nearly sank the USS Cole with an explosives-stuffed motorboat, killing 17 sailors, all the defendants convicted in the attack have escaped from prison or been freed by Yemeni officials.