Published: May 09, 2008 12:00 pm            

Nation/World Roundup for May 9

U.S. military denies Iraq government claim that leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has been arrested

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military on Friday denied Iraqi government claims that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was captured and said a man with a similar name had been arrested in the northern city of Mosul.

Iraqi authorities had announced Thursday that police commandos captured Abu Ayyub al-Masri in a raid in the northern city of Mosul.

"Neither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name," said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman in northern Iraq. She said no additional details were being immediately provided.

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the confusion arose because the commander of Iraqi forces in northern Ninevah province was convinced that he had arrested al-Masri — also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.



House passes massive homeowner rescue plan, defying Bush veto threat

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Thursday passed a massive homeowner rescue plan to provide cheaper, government-backed mortgages to half a million debt-ridden borrowers and bolster an economy crippled by the housing crisis.

Defying veto threats from President Bush, the House approved the measure by a vote of 266-154, with 39 Republicans — mostly from areas suffering worst from housing woes — supporting it.

It would let the Federal Housing Administration take on up to $300 billion in new mortgages so that financially strapped borrowers facing foreclosure could refinance.

The plan by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is the centerpiece of a broader package of bills approved Thursday that Democrats say will prevent more foreclosures and help homeowners and communities deal with the fallout from the mortgage meltdown.

"We are in a recession, and the major cause of that is the subprime crisis," said Frank, the Financial Services Committee chairman. "Diminishing the number of foreclosures is in the interest not simply of those who will avoid foreclosure, but people in their neighborhood, (in) the cities in which they are located, and the whole economy."



United Nations says Myanmar's refusal to grant visas unprecedented in modern relief history

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The United Nations blasted Myanmar's military junta on Friday, calling its refusal to let in foreign aid workers "unprecedented" as survivors of a devastating cyclone waited for food, shelter and medicine.

The junta said in a statement Friday it was grateful to the international community for its assistance — which has included 11 chartered planes loaded with aid supplies — but the best way to help was just to send in material rather than personnel.

One relief flight was sent back after landing in Yangon on Thursday because it carried a search-and-rescue team and media representatives who had not received permission to enter the country, the junta said. It did not give details, but said the plane had flown in from Qatar, apparently referring to a U.N. flight.

According to state media, 22,997 people died and 42,019 are missing from Cyclone Nargis, which hit the country's Irrawaddy delta on Saturday. Shari Villarosa, who heads the United States Embassy in Yangon, said the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because of illnesses.

On Friday, Japan said it will give aid worth $10 million through the U.N. to Myanmar, adding to the massive amounts of aid that has been pledged by foreign governments.



Clinton presses ahead, urges supporters to ignore calls for her to abandon presidential race

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Her voice raspy, her tone determined, Hillary Rodham Clinton urged her supporters Thursday to ignore the political pundits who have declared her toast.

The former first lady raced into a long West Virginia-to-the-West Coast campaign day, declaring she would move forward with her presidential effort and insisting anew that she, not Barack Obama, would be the stronger Democratic candidate to face Republican John McCain in November.

But her fresh comments about race dogged her as she pressed forward with her struggling candidacy.

In an interview with USA Today published Thursday, Clinton said, "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on." She cited an Associated Press article "that found how Senator Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.



Louisiana man who lost 2 homes in Katrina claims $97 million Powerball prize

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A construction company owner who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina claimed a $97 million Powerball prize, a jackpot won off a ticket he bought at a convenience store where he stopped to buy his wife a gallon of milk.

When he turned in the winning ticket, Carl Hunter became the largest Powerball winner in Louisiana's history. He won the jackpot in January, but the 73-year-old small businessman waited nearly four months to claim the prize.

An avid lottery player, Hunter said he already had bought a Powerball ticket on Jan. 16 at the gas station less than two blocks from his home in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie. But he stopped at the station again that day to buy milk — at the request of his wife, Dianne — and got a second "quick pick" ticket.

"I had some change, and one dollar was used to buy this ticket," Hunter said Thursday at the Louisiana Lottery Corp. headquarters in Baton Rouge, where he claimed his prize.

"It's all about milk," his wife said, smiling.



Government: Teen use of pot can lead to mental illness, dependency

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years," said John Walters, director of the office. "This is not just youthful experimentation that they'll get over as we used to think in the past."

Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview.

For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.



Severe storms damage several homes, businesses in 4 Southeastern states; 1 dead, 3 injured

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Authorities were waiting for daylight early Friday so they could begin assessing the damage from a reported tornado that killed one person and injured three others in central North Carolina.

What law enforcement officers said was a tornado touched down on the outskirts of Greensboro late Thursday as severe storms swept across the Southeast, damaging homes and businesses in at least three other states.

An apparent tornado also wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few barns were damaged.

The person killed was in a small truck that overturned in a parking lot in a parking lot west of Greensboro, said Alan Perdue, emergency services director for Guilford County. He did not have other details.

The storm also knocked down a wall at a distributing business, sending one person to the hospital, Perdue said. Two others were hurt while in vehicles, but Perdue said he did not know what happened. None of the injuries were considered life threatening.

The Winston-Salem Journal quoted the North Carolina Highway Patrol as saying the storm blew three tractor-trailers off Interstate 40.



Country music legent Eddy Arnold dies at 89

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful country singers in history, has died. He was 89.

Arnold died Thursday at a care facility near Nashville, said Don Cusic, a professor at Belmont University and author of a biography on the singer. Arnold's wife of 66 years, Sally, died in March, and in the same month, Arnold fell outside his home and injured his hip.

Folksy yet sophisticated, he became a pioneer of "The Nashville Sound," also called "countrypolitan," a mixture of country and pop styles. His crossover success paved the way for later singers such as Kenny Rogers.

He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. The following year he was the first person to receive the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association.

The reference book "Top Country Singles 1944-1993,'" by Joel Whitburn, ranked Arnold the No. 1 country singer in terms of overall success on the Billboard country charts.

Born May 15, 1918 to a sharecropper, Arnold invested wisely over the years and was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in country music.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.