U.N. criticizes Myanmar

U.N. criticizes Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Myanmar’s military junta Monday for what he called its “unacceptably slow response” to helping cyclone victims.

Three of the U.N. Security Council’s five veto-wielding members — France, Britain and the United States — remain interested in possible action to require Myanmar’s government to open its doors to more aid, U.S. and other council diplomats said.

“We’ll be pushing the issue in the council,” Deputy U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff told The Associated Press.

Cease-fire signed in Iraq

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s main Shiite political bloc and supporters of firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr signed a fragile cease-fire in Baghdad’s Sadr City on Monday, hoping to end seven weeks of fighting that has left hundreds dead.

But the U.S. military has alleged that most Shiite extremists fighting Iraqi and U.S. forces in the teeming slum have splintered away from al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, and that the cleric’s level of influence on those rogue groups is unclear. Many are thought to be trained and armed by Iranian forces. Iran denies the allegations.

Chavez blasts Merkel

CARACAS, Venezuela — Hugo Chavez accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party of sharing the same ideals as Adolf Hitler and warned he might confront her at Friday’s summit of Latin American and European leaders in Peru.

The Venezuelan president lashed out at Merkel late Sunday, after she told an interviewer that Chavez doesn’t speak for all of Latin America.

Chavez described Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union party as “the same right wing that supported Hitler and fascism.”

“Ms. Chancellor, you can go to ...” he said, pausing. “Because you are a lady, I won’t say any more.”

No bail for porn suspect

NEWARK, N.J. — A small-time New Jersey actor accused of traveling to Thailand to have sex with underage boys was denied bail Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Schipp ordered Wayne Nelson Corliss of Union City to remain in jail, saying that he was a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Corliss, 58, was arrested Thursday at his Union City home after an international manhunt. Interpol released photos of him last week and asked for the public’s help in identifying him.

Corliss is charged with producing child pornography.

Rocket kills Israeli, 75

JERUSALEM — A rocket fired by Palestinian militants killed a 75-year-old Israeli woman Monday, just as an Egyptian mediator was winding up truce talks in Israel — underlining both the urgency and complexity of working out a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.

The rocket hit a house in the village of Yesha, about four miles from the Gaza Strip. As recently as Friday, a fatal rocket attack drew reprisal Israeli airstrikes that killed five Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev denounced the latest attack but did not say it would halt the Gaza truce talks.

More violence in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fighting between pro- and anti-government factions jumped to Lebanon’s north Monday, but a grim calm hung over the nearly empty streets of Beirut — a capital crippled by roadblocks, suspicion and fear.

As black-clad Shiite militants of Hezbollah carried their latest dead to burial, so did the families and friends of civilians caught in the middle of combat that has routed Sunni factions supporting the Western-allied government from Muslim west Beirut.

More than 50 people were confirmed dead since fighting erupted Wednesday — first in Beirut, then in the mountains overlooking the city and on Monday in the northern city of Tripoli. It is the worst sectarian violence to wrack Lebanon since a 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Wildfires hit Florida

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dry, windy weather fueled several wildfires on Florida’s central Atlantic coast Monday, destroying more than a dozen homes and driving hundreds of residents away as the governor declared a state of emergency.

Fires in Palm Bay in Brevard County claimed at least a dozen homes; students at two schools were released early as a precaution.

Associated Press