NPR 2008-05-11

It’s been a week since a cyclone 1 struck Myanmar, killing 2 an estimated 100,000 people and leaving more than a million survivors 3 in need. The UN’s World Food Program says that it will resume aid flights today despite the seizure 4 of food shipments by the military junta 5 there. Meanwhile, the United Nations has launched a 187-million-dollar appeal for international aid to help Myanmar. Linda Fasulo has more from New York.

 UN Emergency Relief Coordinator 6 John Holmes said the funding would help ten UN organizations and nine NGOs address the needs of a minimum of 1.5 million persons for at least three months. Most of the appeal would be spent on providing food, water, sanitation 7, logistics, health and shelter. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon calls on Myanmar’s military leaders to allow aid and humanitarian 8 workers into the country without hindrance 9, stressing that their people’s survival is at stake. The United States has been given the green light by Myanmar to send in relief flights this Monday. But so far, a US aid team has not been granted visas to enter the country. For NPR News, I’m Linda Fasulo in New York.

 The military leaders of Myanmar are going ahead today with a referendum on a new constitution that would likely strengthen their hold on power. It would guarantee the military 25% of parliamentary seats and allow the president to turn over power to the military in a state of emergency. The proposed constitution would also bar democracy activist 10 Aung San Sun Kyi from public office.

 The Zimbabwe opposition 11 leader said today he will participate in a run-off against President Robert Mugabe if certain conditions are met. Morgan Tsvangirai has said that there was no need for a second election, that he had won outright 12 in the first round in March. The BBC’s Peter Greste reports from South Africa.

 According to Morgan Tsvangirai, his supporters would feel betrayed if he didn’t face President Robert Mugabe in the second round of the election which he said must now take place by the 23rd of May. That would be three weeks from the day the electoral commission announced that there would, indeed, need to be a run-off between the opposition leader and the incumbent 13 President Robert Mugabe. But at a news conference in Pretoria, Mr. Tsvangirai said his participation 14 was not unconditional 15. There would need to be what he described as “unfettered access” for international observers as well as international media. He also called for an end to the violence which human rights groups have blamed on the ruling ZANU-PF Party in an attempt to intimidate 16 opposition supporters ahead of the polls. The BBC’s Peter Greste. 

 A Sri Lankan navy ship sank in the eastern port in Sri Lanka today early after being bombed by Tamil-Tiger rebels. No one was aboard the ship at the time. The rebels are suspected in a bombing yesterday in a restaurant in which eleven people were killed.

 This is NPR News from Washington.

 Wall Street ended the week with a loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 120 points to close at 12,745. Broader stock indicators 17 also declined. The S&P 500 dropped nine points to end the day at 1388. And the NASDAQ closed at 2445, down 5.5 points. Analysts 18 say traders were unsettled by a report that American International Group lost 7.8 billion dollars in the first quarter, a bigger loss than expected. AIG is the largest insurance company in the world.

 The cost of gasoline continues to climb. Bob Hensley of member station KXJZ reports California has reached yet another record high.

 The American Automobile 19 Association reports the state-wide average price for a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.93. In the San Francisco Bay Area, prices are at or above the four-dollar mark. The Central Valley had the largest jump in prices over the past week. In Fresno, the region’s largest city, the average price is ($)3.97. The tens of thousands of long-distance commuters in the region are getting hit hard by the higher prices. Judy Dugan of Consumer Watch says mass transit 20 is not an option for most commuters. “There are a lot of people who just cannot use public transit, because in general, California’s public transit is pretty pathetic.” A spokesman for AAA says by summer, there are going to be a number of California cities where the average price of gasoline surpasses four dollars. For NPR News, I’m Bob Hensley, in Modesto, California.

 Jury selection got under way in Chicago yesterday in the trial of R Kelly. The singer is charged with child pornography that he videotaped himself having sex with a girl who may have been as young as 13.