EARLY EDITION

FDA Warns Of Fetal Risk With Transplant Drugs
U.S. health officials issued an alert on about the risks of miscarriages and birth defects from Novartis AGand Roche Holding AG transplant drugs. A strong warning about those risks was added to the labels of Roche's CellCept and Novartis' Myfortic in November. The new alert was meant, in part, to grab the attention of doctors who prescribe the drugs for unapproved uses such as treating lupus, Food and Drug Administration spokesman. The FDA alert also was issued as a reminder to doctors who prescribe the drugs for the approved use of preventing rejection of transplanted organs. Reuters

Gay Marriage Opponents Vow To Fight Ruling
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 ring for gay couples in the nation's most populous state. A conservative group said it would ask California's Supreme Court to postpone putting its decision legalizing gay marriage into effect until after the fall election. That's when voters will likely have a chance to weigh in on a proposed amendment to California's constitution that would bar same-sex couples from getting married. CBS News

Treasury Secretary Says Markets Are Calmer
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that financial markets are "considerably calmer" now than they were two months ago. He predicted the economy will be rebounding by the second half of this year.  In a speech to business executives in Washington, Paulson said the drag from housing, which he characterized as still the biggest risk to the economy, will soon be lessened by nearly $100 billion in economic stimulus payments to U.S. households.  In his remarks, Paulson never used the word recession, although many private economists believe the country is in one. Las Vegas Sun
VOA VIEW: The economy is not rebounding, and the so-called stimulus payments will do little to help.

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California Court Strips Children Of Right To Mother And Father
In Thursday's 4-3 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, the California Supreme Court stripped children of the right to be raised by a mother and a father. The California Supreme Court decision goes beyond simply giving same-sex couples the right to call their unions a "marriage." It also strips children of the right not to be artificially conceived or adopted by people other than a mother and a father. CNS

Fed, BOE Foreshadow End Of Rate Cuts As Prices Rise
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. Federal Reserve officials this week flagged inflation risks after slashing borrowing costs seven times since September and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King unveiled Britain's worst price outlook in a decade. Faster growth is vindicating European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet's refusal to cut rates in response to the credit crisis. The danger is that food and oil prices are rising so fast that inflation will replace costlier credit as the chief threat to the global economy. Bloomberg

Low Vitamin D May Mean Worse Breast Cancer
Vitamin D deficiencies have long been associated with disease, but new research suggests that low levels of vitamin D in women with breast cancer can lead to more aggressive forms of the disease, and even death. A new study shows that vitamin D can help fight breast cancer.Researchers at the University of Toronto studied the correlation between vitamin D levels in the blood, the rate of breast cancer metastases, the incidence of having the cancer spread, and the overall survival rates of 512 women who were diagnosed with breast cancer between 1989 and 1995. The women were followed until 2006.ABC News

Clinton Aide Says McCain ‘Flip-Flopped’ On Hamas Talks
John McCain’s campaign said that claims by former State Department official Jamie Rubin that the presumptive Republican nominee had advocated unconditional dialogue with Hamas were misleading. Rubin, who supports Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, wrote an op-ed in Friday’s Washington Post relating an interview he conducted with McCain on the British network Sky News shortly after Hamas won the Palestinian elections in January 2006. McCain said the United States would not be able to avoid a dialogue with the Islamic militant group. CNN
VOA VIEW: Typical Democratic twisting of the truth.

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Clean-Air Rules For National Parks May Be Eased
The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan. The new regulations, which are likely to be finalized this summer, rewrite a provision of the Clean Air Act that applies to "Class 1 areas," federal lands that currently have the highest level of protection under the law. Opponents predict the changes will worsen visibility at many of the nation's most prized tourist destinations, including Virginia's Shenandoah, Colorado's Mesa Verde and North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt national parks. MSNBC

US To Send 500,000 Tons Of Food To NKorea
The United States said it has reached a deal with North Korea to provide 500,000 metric tons of food aid over the coming year to the closed-off communist nation. The Bush administration says the aid is unrelated to its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang, although both have involved an unusual intensity of U.S. diplomacy with a nation President Bush once included as part of a rhetorical "axis of evil." The State Department announced the food agreement after weeks of talks over how the aid would be distributed. The United States wants assurances the food won't be diverted or used improperly by the government of Kim Jong Il.  Las Vegas Sun

Little Interest Shown In Clinton’s Call To Seat Disputed Delegates
Michigan and Florida alone can’t save Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 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. Her position, part of a formidable comeback challenge, is that all the delegates be seated in accordance with their disputed primaries. Even if they were, it wouldn’t erase Barack Obama’s growing lead in delegates. The Democratic Party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, a 30-member panel charged with interpreting and enforcing party rules, is scheduled to meet May 31 to consider how to handle Michigan and Florida’s 368 delegates. Fox News

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Consumers' Mood Grim As Early-80s In May
Consumer confidence tumbled to its lowest in 28 years this month, a survey showed, as short-term inflation expectations reached the highest levels since the stagflationary early 1980s. The news heightens the dilemma for the Federal Reserve, which has bet that slowing economic growth will tame inflation pressures. The report also showed that lower-income households were the focus of the downturn in sentiment. The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers' preliminary index of confidence fell to 59.5 in May, the lowest since June 1980. In April it was at 62.6. Reuters
VOA VIEW: There is no consumer confidence.

Marines Given Jail For Japan Sex Assaults
Two U.S. Marines were sentenced to prison time on charges related to sexual assaults on two different young women in Japan, but both men have avoided rape convictions. A U.S. court-martial had sentenced Staff Sgt. Tyrone L. Hadnott to four years after convicting him of abusive sexual conduct with a Japanese teenager in Okinawa, in southern Japan. Four other charges, including rape of a child under 16, making a false official statement, adultery and "kidnapping through inveigling," or trickery, were dropped in a plea bargain. Another U.S. Marine accused in the alleged gang rape of a Japanese woman last year was sentenced to two years in prison for "wrongful sexual contact and indecent acts" but cleared of rape, the U.S. military said. CBS News

McCain Iraq, Iran Policies Make Him Favored Candidate To Saudis
John McCain, who is trying to strike a distance from the policies of President George W. Bush, accuses Saudi Arabia of sponsoring insurgents in Iraq and condemns it for human-rights violations, including imprisoning people whose ``only crime is to worship God in their own way.'' That should make the prospect of a McCain presidency a nightmare for the Saudi rulers, who have enjoyed close ties to the Bush family. Instead, Saudis are privately rooting for the presumptive Republican nominee, discounting some of his rhetoric because he's the only candidate to promise to keep U.S. troops in Iraq and to deter Iran.
Bloomberg

US Warns Tourists Of 'Small-Unit Combat' At Mexico Border
The U.S. State Department has issued an alert, warning travelers that the "equivalent to military small-unit combat" is taking place across the southern U.S. border in Mexico and that Americans are being kidnapped and murdered there. Recent Mexican army and police force conflicts with heavily-armed narcotics cartels have escalated to levels equivalent to military small-unit combat and have included use of machine guns and fragmentation grenades, said the State Department alert. The State Department particularly urged that Americans be wary when traveling in that part of Mexico closest to the United States. CNS

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Saudi Arabia Refuses To Increase Oil Production Despite Request From President Bush
The White House says Saudi Arabia's leaders are making clear they see no reason to increase oil production until customers demand it. President Bush was in the oil-rich country to appeal to King Abdullah for greater production to help halt rising gas prices in the United States. But his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, says Saudi officials stuck to their position that they already are meeting demand. Hadley told reporters, What they're saying to us is Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy.Oil prices climbed to a new high on Friday, topping $127 a barrel. Fox News

Pentagon Pushes For Swift Passage Of War Funding
The Pentagon called for swift passage of a bill providing additional funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after Republicans blocked its passage in the House. The $163 billion for the war funding bill would pay for combat operations through the spring of 2009. Democrats suffered a surprising setback when the $163 billion war funding bill was defeated by a vote of 141-149, with 132, mostly Republicans, voting "present" a way of registering dissatisfaction with the bill without having to go on record as having opposed funding the troops. The money would fund the wars for the remainder of the year and into the spring of 2009. CNN

Construction Is Up
Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April, a rare bit of good news in what has been the worst downturn in housing in more than two decades. The Commerce Department reported Friday that housing construction rose by 8.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million units, as a big jump in apartment construction offset further weakness in single-family homes. The gain represented a recovery after a steep slump in March building pushed activity to the slowest pace in 17 years. The surprising rebound in April was expected to be temporary given all the headwinds builders are confronting at the present, from slumping sales to soaring home foreclosures. ABC News

Obama Criticizes McCain, Bush On Appeasement Talk
Barack Obama is criticizing Republican rival John McCain and President Bush for "dishonest and divisive" attacks in hinting that the Democratic presidential candidate would appease terrorists. Obama strongly responded to the comments Bush made in Israel on Thursday and McCain's subsequent words. Obama told a town hall meeting, That's the kind of hypocrisy that we've been seeing in our foreign policy, the kind of fear-peddling, fear mongering that has prevented us from actually making us safer. Obama said McCain had a naive and irresponsible belief that tough talk from Washington will somehow cause Iran to give up it's nuclear program and support for terrorism. Newsday
VOA VIEW: The truth hurts, terrorists and America's enemies pray of an Obama presidency.

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Burma Death Toll Jumps To 78,000
The official death toll for Burma's cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people, with nearly 56,000 missing, according to state TV. The numbers are nearly double those released, raising fears the final human toll may be enormous. The Red Cross is seeking more than $50m in aid to help survivors of the storm which struck on 2-3 May. Foreign aid agencies are frustrated at the slow progress of aid to areas worst hit, especially in the Irrawaddy Delta. A BBC reporter in the delta this week saw little sign of official help and foreign aid workers have been barred from the area. BBC

Tsvangirai Bullish As Zimbabwe Sets June
The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, today predicted he would win the long-delayed election run-off with President Robert Mugabe, provided it is a fair contest. Tsvangirai's prediction came as Zimbabwe's electoral commission finally set a date for the run-off vote. A terse statement in the government gazette said: "It is hereby notified that the Zimbabwe electoral commission with the approval of the minister of justice made the following notice: a poll shall be taken on Friday, June 27, 2008, for the purpose of electing a person to the office of president." Guardian

US Agrees To Help Saudi Arabia Develop Civilian Nuclear Program
President George W. Bush and King Abdullah formalized new cooperation on Friday between the kingdom and the United States on a range of topics, including the development of civilian nuclear energy in Saudi Arabia and US protection of Saudi oil fields. The agreements came as Saudi Arabian leaders made clear that they saw no reason to increase oil production until their customers demanded it, apparently rebuffing a request made by the president directly to the king in an effort to stay the soaring US gasoline prices. Jerusalem Post
VOA VIEW: The U.S. should be paid highly for Saudi protection.

Lebanon Leaders To Meet In Qatar
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. Fighting between pro-government groups and the Hezbollah-led opposition last week left at least 65 people dead. After the Lebanese government reversed moves aimed at curbing Hezbollah, the group agreed to join talks on the formation of a unity government. Under the Qatari-mediated agreement, the Western-backed government reversed attempts to outlaw Hezbollah's private telephone network and reassign Beirut airport's security chief. BBC

Aftershock Sparks Landslides In Earthquake
Children's bags lie in the foreground as a rescue worker carries a body bag near a wrecked school building in Hanwang, Sichuan province. A strong aftershock near the epicentre of Monday's powerful earthquake in China has been reported, sparking landslides, burying vehicles and again cutting off ravaged areas from the rescue effort. The official Xinhua news agency said an aftershock measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rattled parts of the Sichuan province earlier today. A number of vehicles were buried but it is not yet known whether there are any further casualties. Guardian

'Suicide Blast' Kills Nine In Sri Lanka
Nine people, including seven policemen, were killed when a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber on a motorbike rammed a bus in the Sri Lankan capital today. Doctors at the National Hospital in Colombo said seven policemen and two civilians were killed and more than 85 people were wounded in the blast, which happened in a commercial quarter of the capital near the Hilton Hotel. The area is a high security zone that is also the site of the Sri Lanka's presidential office and military headquarters. The military blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack. The Tigers, who routinely deny involvement in such attacks, were not immediately available for comment. Independent News

Israel's UN Mission: Ban Use Of 'Nakba'
Israel's UN mission is seeking to outlaw use of the term Nakbah, according to a statement issued by a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.  Deputy head of Israel's UN mission, Daniel Carmon, complained that the word Nakba is meant to undermine the legitimacy of Israel's founding and, therefore, use of the term should be should be forbidden. Ban telephoned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and expressed empathy with the Palestinian people in honor of Nakba Day. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that when there is true peace with the Palestinians, they will no longer observe Nakba Day to mourn the creation of the State of Israel. Jerusalem Post

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