The death toll from an earthquake that struck western China earlier this week stands now at 1,339 people.

Tibetan Buddhist monks early Saturday lifted hundreds of bodies of those killed in the earthquake into trucks and cars to take them for cremation in the foothills of Yushu, in western China's Qinghai province. Monks told reporters it is a Tibetan tradition to have a funeral for the dead within three days.

The area, high on the Tibetan plateau, was struck by a massive quake Wednesday.

Rescue efforts are still underway in the affected area.

Chinese television is bringing the relatively remote disaster zone area into living rooms across the country, with stories of heroic rescues and military convoys bringing relief supplies to survivors.

Authorities also are concerned about other things, such as providing clean drinking water and proper disposal of waste and hazardous materials.

The disaster has attracted attention at the highest levels of the country, with President Hu Jintao cutting short his trip to South America and Premier Wen Jiabao immediately visiting the stricken area.

At a news conference in Beijing Saturday, Gao Hongfeng, the Assistant Minister for Transportation, acknowledged some continuing challenges.

Gao says rescue workers are facing tough conditions - such as altitude sickness, bad weather conditions and poor living conditions.

But he added that he was in the quake-stricken area for the first three days, and he felt that conditions there are, in his words, "improving day by day."

Chinese authorities said starting Saturday, only vehicles carrying casualties, the injured, rescuers and relief supplies will be allowed on main roads surrounding the town of Jiegu, which is near the quake's epicenter.

The Tibet government in exile says Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, would like to visit the areas hit by the quake, since most of the residents are largely ethnic Tibetan.

The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in his homeland. Talks between his representatives and Chinese authorities have yielded no results.

Meanwhile, Chinese media are reporting that the young man Beijing has designated to be the Panchen Lama donated nearly $15,000 (100,000 yuan) to quake relief efforts.

The Panchen Lama is often seen as the second highest-ranking Tibetan monk. In 1995, the Chinese Communist government rejected the boy the Dalai Lama had selected as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, and instead installed its own candidate.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the U.S. to be removed from the International Atomic Energy Agency, in his opening speech at a nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran.

Mr. Ahmadinejad said Saturday countries that do not possess nuclear weapons should review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which aims to halt the spread of technologies that can be used to produce nuclear weapons. There was no immediate reaction from the U.S.

The Iranian government is hosting the two-day conference to counter the 47-nation nuclear security summit held earlier this week in Washington. Iran was not invited to the U.S. meeting.

The Iranian government said foreign ministers and other high-ranking officials from more than 60 countries were expected to attend the conference in Tehran.

The U.S. is pushing for a fourth round of United Nations sanctions over Iran's disputed nuclear program, but Iran insists the program is for peaceful, civilian purposes.

Two suicide bombers attacked a camp for refugees in northwest Pakistan Saturday, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 60 others. Police say the bombers struck minutes apart at the Kacha Pukka camp for displaced people as residents lined up to register for aid. Officials say the bombers were wearing burqas - the full body covering worn by conservative Muslim women. Reuters news agency says about 300 people were waiting in line at the time of the attack. The camp houses people fleeing violence in the Orakzai district, where Pakistani forces have recently intensified an offensive against Taliban militants. Northwest Pakistan has suffered a major internal displacement of people as a result of Taliban violence and a series of military operations targeting Islamist militants near the Afghan border.

A huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland has disrupted air travel across Europe for a second day, as stranded passengers face the most extensive shutdown of airspace since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The skies above large parts of Europe were empty for a second day Friday, as air safety authorities warned that the cloud of ash from Iceland's volcano is spreading.

Brian Flynn, head of operations at the European air traffic control body, addressed a press conference in Brussels.

"Today the situation has deteriorated somewhat," he said. "We would be expecting 29,500 flights today. We think we will only have about 12- or 13,000 flights able to operate. So effectively we will be losing more than 50 percent of the normal passenger movements in Europe today."

Civilian aircrafts are right now not flying in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, the north of France including all Paris airports, northern parts of Germany, parts of Poland including Warsaw airport and the Czech Republic.

And Flynn says the cloud is spreading. "The southern part of Europe is for the most part clear but the volcanic ash cloud is anticipated to extend slightly further south and eastward during this night," he said.


A huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland has disrupted air travel across Europe for a second day, as stranded passengers face the most extensive shutdown of airspace since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The skies above large parts of Europe were empty for a second day Friday, as air safety authorities warned that the cloud of ash from Iceland's volcano is spreading.

Brian Flynn, head of operations at the European air traffic control body, addressed a press conference in Brussels.

"Today the situation has deteriorated somewhat," he said. "We would be expecting 29,500 flights today. We think we will only have about 12- or 13,000 flights able to operate. So effectively we will be losing more than 50 percent of the normal passenger movements in Europe today."

Civilian aircrafts are right now not flying in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, the north of France including all Paris airports, northern parts of Germany, parts of Poland including Warsaw airport and the Czech Republic.

And Flynn says the cloud is spreading. "The southern part of Europe is for the most part clear but the volcanic ash cloud is anticipated to extend slightly further south and eastward during this night," he said.

The volcano on a glacier in Iceland erupted Wednesday.

The volcano has sent a massive cloud of microscopic ash particles swirling across northern Europe - particles that air specialists say are highly abrasive and could cause aircraft engines to fail.

They could also be bad for people's health, the World Health Organization said Friday.

Spokesperson David Epstein says the ash, which is drifting at an altitude of almost 10 kilometers, could be harmful when it hits the ground.

"These are the same kind of fine matter found in normal air pollution. These can be sulfate, nitrate, ammonia, sodium chloride and if these are small particles they can be dangerous because if they are inhaled they can reach the lungs."

Epstein says when the ash does settle people should remain indoors as much as possible. The United Kingdom Health Protection Agency warned that the ash could cause itchy eyes, a runny nose, sore throat or dry cough.

Colin Macpherson, a professor of Earth sciences at Britain's Durham University, says it's impossible to know how long the volcano will continue to erupt. The last time this volcano did erupt in the early 19th century, he says, it lasted two years.

"Some volcanic eruptions last for just a few days. Others last for months or even years. There is no clear way of predicting at the present time how long this activity might go on for," he said.

But he says, it's because of current wind patterns that the volcano is having such a major affect on European air travel. "It's because we have the prevailing wind at the moment coming from the north, pulling the material down towards Western Europe that we're seeing the impact on the travel of so many people," said Macpherson.

In the spring and summer, he says, he would expect the prevailing winds in Western Europe to come from the West or Southwest - which would mean that the ash would be pushed towards the Arctic or Siberia.

Millions of passengers have been stranded after a huge ash cloud spread from an Icelandic volcano toward Europe since Wednesday, April 14. Volcanic ash presents a particular challenge not only to airline passengers, but also to the travel industry, and the countries affected by the plume.

Air traffic controllers in Europe canceled more than 16,000 flights Friday because of the huge plume of ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The cloud drifted toward Europe and is predicted to cover as far north as northern Italy, Britain, the Scandinavian countries, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Switzerland.

The canceled flights are costing the airlines an estimated $200 million per day, and passengers are stranded at major airports including Frankfurt, London, and Rome.

Bill Miller is a Senior Vice President with CheapOair travel company, and he told VOA that the $200 million is a conservative estimate and the impact could be felt industry wide.

"Certainly at Heathrow British Airways has a very large presence, as do a lot of North-American based carriers. And in Frankfurt you've got Lufthansa that has a massive operation there. Europe is unique in that they have a lot of low-cost carriers. You've got Easy Jet operating out of Luton airport in London. Some other low-cost carriers throughout Europe. You know, there's like 30,000 flights a day in Europe and I believe about half of them have been canceled as of today," he said.

The ash cloud even trapped Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was stuck in New York after his flight home was canceled. Mr. Stoltenberg used his Apple iPad electronic device to run his government while he made his way home.

The difficulty with volcanic ash is that it is more like small particles of glass rather than the ash left over from a fire. The pumice and other minerals can severely damage aircraft engines, control surfaces and navigation equipment.

Bill Burton is a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey based outside Washington. He told VOA that volcanic ash is uniquely destructive to aircraft. "It's like sandblasting your aircraft if you fly in the middle of it. So millions of tiny hard pieces are flying into your jet engine. And they are abrading the engine and any forward facing surfaces including windshields. The silica in the ash can also melt and then re-solidify within the engine so you can actually coat the parts of your jet engine. And all of those things can be disastrous," he said.

In 1989, a KLM airlines 747 with 231 passengers aboard lost power to all four of its engines after flying through an ash cloud from the Redoubt Volcano in Alaska. The plane plunged from 27,000 to 13,000 feet before the pilots were able to re-start the engines and finish the flight to Anchorage Alaska.

And volcanic ash also can be toxic to humans, animals and plant life - not only from inhaling the particulates, but as Bill Burton said, from acid rain caused by the sulfur in the ash. "One of the main constituents of the (volcanic) gases is sulfur. And that comes out and oxidizes into sulfur dioxide and that combines with water to form sulfuric acid droplets. And those droplets can then be the source of acid rain. They also can block the sunlight to contribute to climate change, climate cooling in this case," he said.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in London says that the high atmospheric pressure over the Atlantic is dictating that the wind strengths and the cloud will stay in northern Europe. However, should the pressure change, the cloud could move more toward the Mediterranean.

Bill Miller of CheapOair says that many airlines are keeping travelers informed. But he said travelers need to be patient. "It's a volcano, so nobody can really accurately predict what is going to happen. How long it is going to take. There are some airports that are already shut down all the way through Monday (April, 19). So I think the traveling public needs to make sure that they are aware of what communications channels to stay tuned into," he said.

Miller told VOA that some insurers are covering the tickets for canceled flights. And while airlines are losing millions of dollars to lost tickets, Miller said they are also not spending money for fuel, flight crews, and other expenses. While that is small comfort for stranded travelers, for now, there is nothing to do but wait.

The deposed president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiev, has resigned and left the country. But the interim government says it wants to see him put on trial either inside the Central Asian nation or by an international court. Kyrgzstan's self-appointed provisional government says Mr. Bakiev is no longer "acting head of state" and the week-long standoff between him and the interim leadership has been resolved. The appointed head of the provisional government, Rosa Otunbayeva, early Friday read out the text of what she says is Bakiev's resignation, sent by fax to her from Kazakhstan. In his resignation, Ms. Otunbayeva says, President Bakiev writes that during these tragic days for the country, realizing all the responsibility for the future of the people, for the preservation of the country's unity, in accordance with article 50 of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, he resigns. The interim government says Mr. Bakiev, accused of leading a nepotistic and corrupt government, must be held accountable for any crimes he might be charged with. Ms. Otunbayeva's chief of staff, Edil Baisalov, told reporters that in view of the president's rule, the opposition had a "patriotic duty" during last week's turmoil to "seize power." "We were voicing our protests against political killings and murders and beatings and closing down newspapers and media channels. The legitimate government of Kyrgyzstan is now the interim government," he said. The provisional leadership is promising to rewrite the constitution and hold national elections within six months. Neighbor Kazakhstan, which currently chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, played a major role in persuading the deposed president to leave Kyrgyzstan. And that was where Mr. Bakiev headed late Thursday on a military aircraft. The president had fled the capital and headed south last week after his security forces fired on demonstrators outside government buildings in Bishkek. Hundreds of protesters were shot. At least 84 have died. Russian and American diplomats also helped the struggling Central Asian former Soviet republic defuse its political crisis. Russia and the United States are the top aid givers to Kyrgyzstan. Both countries, which have military facilities in Kyrgyzstan, are pledging further financial help.

A huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland has disrupted air travel across Europe for a second day, as stranded passengers face the most extensive shutdown of airspace since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The European air traffic conrol agency, Eurocontrol, said about 17,000 flights are likely to be canceled Friday and authorities say the disruptions will continue into Saturday. Officials say about half of the daily flights between Europe and North America would be cancelled Friday. Many flights between Asia and Europe were also affected. It is not clear how the ash cloud will affect the arrival of world leaders planning to attend the state funeral Sunday of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. The funeral is to be held in Krakow, in southeastern Poland. Polish officials have closed the airspace in the northern part of the country. Major European airports were shut down Thursday, leaving tens of thousands of passengers from the United States, Europe, and Asia stranded. Several northern European countries - including Britain, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark - had completely closed their airspace. Wednesday's eruption in southeastern Iceland melted part of a huge glacier, causing floods that forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes. The volcano sent ash and debris about eight kilometers into the sky. In addition to reducing visibility, aviation authorities say volcanic ash contains small particles of glass that can cause jet engines to shut down in midflight. They say airplanes struck by volcanic debris have in some cases plummeted thousands of meters before pilots were able to restart the engines. The Icelandic volcano has erupted twice since March 20. It had been dormant for nearly 200 years. Geologists say volcanoes are notoriously unpredictable.

In a new setback to the Thai government's efforts to ease mounting political tensions, protest leaders escaped from their hotel Friday after security forces arrived to arrest them. One, Arisman Pongruangrong, climbed down three floors using a rope, and was rushed away by supporters thronging the building. The police say Arisman led recent rallies at the national parliament, the election commission and satellite transmission bases. Officials earlier Friday said the government is preparing to arrest people linked to violent clashes with security forces last Saturday. A spokesman for the governing Democrat Party, Baranuj Smuthararaks, says arrest warrants have been issued for those suspected of being involved in the violence. Some of the suspects have been identified from photos taking during the clashes. "Right now the government's focusing on issuing warrants for acts of terrorism by the people who fortunately have been captured in action [in photos] by both the local and international media," he said. The government says armed men infiltrated protester ranks Saturday and fired on troops trying to disperse a rally. Five soldiers and 19 protesters died during the clashes. Thailand is facing its most severe political crisis in almost 20 years. The anti-government movement, led by the United Democratic Front against Dictatorship or UDD, demands that the government step down and call fresh elections. UDD supporters, known as red shirts, have held protests in Bangkok for more than a month. The UDD largely supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and remains overseas to avoid a jail sentence for corruption. Mr. Thaksin has strong support among the rural and urban poor, as well among some sections of the army and police. Some parties in the governing coalition want to set a clear time frame for elections to ease tensions. But the government says it will only call elections once the political situation has cooled.

The U.N. Commission of Inquiry charged with investigating the December 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto says her murder could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken. The 65-page report released Thursday faults the Pakistani government and local authories, as well as the police, for not taking the necessary measures to protect her. The commission also criticized the subsequent police investigation.

The highly-anticipated report says the ultimate responsibility for Ms. Bhutto's security on the day she was killed rested with the federal government, the local government of Punjab, and the police in Rawalpindi, where she died in a gun and suicide attack.

The head of the panel, Chilean U.N. Ambassador Heraldo Munoz told reporters in a news conference shortly after the report's release, that none of these entities took the necessary measures to protect her from the extraordinary security risks she faced. "A range of government officials failed profoundly in their efforts; first, to protect Ms. Bhutto; and second, to investigate with vigor all those responsible for her murder -- not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing," he said.

He said Ms. Bhutto had a clear understanding of the risks she faced in returning to Pakistan, as did the government of then-President Pervez Musharraf, but it was not adequate for the government to simply inform her of the dangers, it should have taken steps to protect her.

Munoz and the other two commission members -- Indonesian former attorney general Marzuki Darusman and Irish former police official Peter Fitzgerald - and their staff, interviewed more than 250 people inside Pakistan and elsewhere, and examined and analyzed hundreds of documents, videos, photographs and other documentary information during their nine and half month fact-finding investigation.

Among their other conclusions was that actions and omissions by the Rawalpindi police in the immediate aftermath of the assassination - including hosing down the crime scene and failing to collect and preserve evidence - caused irreparable damage to the investigation. "The collection of 23 pieces of evidence was manifestly inadequate in a case that should have resulted in thousands of pieces of evidence," he said.

The panel said a government news conference the day after the assassination was ordered by President Musharraf. During that event, a government official said Ms. Bhutto's death was caused when she hit her head on the lever of her vehicle's escape hatch. The government also blamed Pakistani Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and Al-Qaida for the suicide bomber that attacked her convoy.

Ambassador Munoz said those assertions were made well before any proper investigation had been initiated. "This action pre-empted, prejudiced and hindered the subsequent investigation," he said.

Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, the ISI, also came in for criticism in the report. The commission found that the agency conducted parallel investigations, gathering evidence and detaining suspects, which it selectively shared with police. It also failed to inform police of intelligence it had about terrorist cells targeting Ms. Bhutto.

The report concluded that failures of the police and other officials to react effectively to Ms. Bhutto's assassination were in most cases, deliberate. In other cases, the panel said failures were driven by officials' fears that intelligence agencies were involved.

The panel also criticized authorities for deliberately preventing an autopsy of Ms. Bhutto, saying it impeded a definitive determination on the cause of death.

The commission's report was supposed to be released on March 30, but after a last minute request from Pakistan's government to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a two week delay was agreed.

Ambassador Munoz said no changes were made to the report during that period.

The report was submitted to Mr. Ban Thursday afternoon. He then transmitted it to the Pakistani government, via their U.N. ambassador Abdullah Haroon. It was also to be given to the 15-member U.N. Security Council for 'information purposes.'

Ambassador Haroon abruptly canceled a news conference at U.N. headquarters moments before it was to happen. His spokesman said the government would respond to the report from Islamabad.

The commission's task was only to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding Ms. Bhutto's death. It was not a criminal investigation. That now lies with the Pakistani authorities.

The deposed president of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiev, has flown out of the country, ending a week-long standoff with the interim government. The Associated Press is reporting that Mr. Bakiev has formally resigned as president.

A week after fleeing the capital amid violent anti-government protests, President Bakiev boarded a military aircraft at Jalal-Abad in the southern part of the country and left Kyrgyzstan.

The flight landed in Taraz in neighboring Kazakhstan.

A representative of the interim government's press office, Melis Erdjigitov, confirmed to VOA News that Mr. Bakiev had departed the country, but would not comment on his destination.

Kazakhstan currently holds the presidency of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which had been involved in negotiations to resolve the standoff between the provisional leadership and the ousted president.

The interim government replaced Bakiev after security forces fired on demonstrators angry with his administration. More than 80 people died and hundreds more were wounded.

The president, in power for five years, lost support of the public amid accusations he gave family members influential positions and used their posts to enrich themselves. There were also complaints from civil society about of violations of human rights and muzzling the media.

The news of the president's departure came just hours after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake completed two days of meetings with Kyrgyzstan's provisional government.

"I encouraged them to be fully transparent in everything that they are doing to be in very close touch, in consultation, with members of Kyrgyz civil society who, in turn, represent the people of Kyrgyzstan," he said.

The U.S. envoy says technical support and other assistance for Kyrgyzstan to restore democracy was the focus of his visit, rather than the controversial Manas air base. The facility, just outside the capital Bishkek, is used to move American troops and supplies in and out of Afghanistan.

The U.S. envoy told reporters the United States is willing to review the transit center's lucrative fuel contracts, which are controlled by members of the family of the ousted president.

The interim government has pledged to honor the remainder of the facility's annual lease, which expires in July.


A slowly spreading cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland is covering parts of Europe, shutting down air travel and stranding tens of thousands of passengers around the world. The cloud forced several northern European countries - including Britain, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark - to close their airspace, causing problems for thousands of Asian and U.S. travelers. Airports in Paris, Berlin, and Hamburg have been shut down.

Polish officials have closed the airspace in the northern part of the country. It is unclear how it will affect world leaders heading to Poland for Sunday's funeral for President Lech Kaczynski.

A volcanic eruption in Iceland sent a plume of ash into the atmosphere. British airspace has been closed down for the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York.

"What we are seeing in Iceland is that as the magma particles get towards the surface, they interact with the very cold water and they chill to form glassy fragments and these glassy fragments are small, they have sharp edges and when those get up in the air that is what is causing the risk to aviation," says Colin Macpherson, a professor of Earth sciences at Britain's Durham University.

"Any substantial eruption of a volcano has a potential to do that over a short period of time. By geological standards, this is not what we would call a big eruption," he said.

Macpherson says there is also no way of knowing whether there could be another eruption that could cause a similar ash cloud.

"Because there are only a couple of previous records of eruption at this particular volcano, it is difficult to judge either how long the activity will go on there, or how long the volcano might then be dormant before it goes active again," he said.

Meteorologists and aviation authorities are monitoring wind direction and the ash cloud's movement from Iceland to determine where and when to shut down airspace in Europe. There has also been extensive flooding in the southeastern part of Iceland as parts of a glacier were melted by the volcano.

Poland is preparing to bury President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, and 94 other prominent military officials and civilians killed in a plane crash last Saturday in western Russia. But, some people object to the burial site chosen for the late president.

Poland is in mourning. In Warsaw, preparations are underway for a memorial service on Saturday for all those killed in the crash.

A state funeral is planned Sunday for President Lech Kaczynski and the first lady. A number of world leaders are expected to attend, including U.S. President Barack Obama and the leaders of Russia, France and Germany.

But the location of the burial that is stirring controversy. Wawel Cathedral in the southern city, Krakow, is the traditional burial site of Polish kings and national heroes. Some Poles say, although they mourn the death of President Kaczynski, they do not believe he falls into that category.

Hundreds of people have demonstrated in Krakow to make that point. In Warsaw, a smaller crowd of several dozen mostly young people gathered late Wednesday with a similar message.

Speaking with VOA, protest organizer Martina Schultz explained why she posted an Internet petition against the burial.

She says we think President Kaczynski should be buried in Warsaw not at Wawel. I am not talking about his achievements, she says, I am not trying to diminish them, I tried to write the petition so as not to hurt anyone's feelings."

Shultz says she believes the decision to bury President Kaczynski at Wawel was taken in haste and under emotional stress and not considered properly.

She says 10,000 people have signed the petition and another 35,000 have signed it on Facebook. And, she says the protests would continue.

Polish officials say the burial site was chosen by leaders of the Catholic Church and the Kaczynski family, which include the late president's twin brother Jaroslaw, the leader of Poland's opposition.

Magdalena, 18, says she came to the protest meeting to express her feelings, even though she believes it is too late to change burial plans.

At one point she says "I may be young, but I know what I think and can say it." She says she believes people's emotions of grief are being manipulated.

Those sentiments are not likely to hold sway with the many thousands who have lined up in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw to file past the coffins of the president and first lady lying in state inside.

Krzysztof is with a delegation of coal miners, who have come from near the city of Katowice in southern Poland.

He recalls that President Kaczynski came to the mining area on several occasions, he respected the president and he says it would be inappropriate not to be here to pay tribute.

A series of explosions in Burma have killed at least nine people and injured scores more.

Officials in Burma say there were three explosions Thursday afternoon in Rangoon, the country's largest city and former capital.

The blasts occurred in a park near Kandawgyi Lake where hundreds of people were celebrating an annual New Year's water festival.

The cause of the blasts is not known but authorities usually point the finger at ethnic rebel groups that have for decades been fighting against the military government.

Burma's military has been moving in on rebel and cease-fire groups to pressure them into submission.

Zin Linn, a spokesman for Burma's government in exile, says many of the armed groups oppose controversial elections the government plans to hold this year and that the explosions are a warning.

"These blasts are signs that if they go ahead with this election, with this constitution, there will be new civil strife, new civil war," he said.

Burma plans to hold its first elections in twenty years sometime later this year but authorities have yet to announce a date.

Rights groups and many western governments have dismissed the elections as a sham designed to keep the military in power.

A 2008 constitution it drafted guarantees the military a quarter of seats in the parliament, regardless of elections. Its election laws force political parties to expel current and former political prisoners from their ranks or face dissolution.

The biggest opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won Burma's last election in 1990 but the military ignored the results. A campaign of arresting and harassing NLD members led many to flee to Thailand where they formed the government in exile.

The authorities have kept the leader of the NLD, Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, locked up for most of the time since. Her house arrest was extended by 18 months in August for allowing an uninvited American man to stay in her house without official permission.

The NLD has refused to take part in the elections.

Emergency workers in western China are struggling against freezing cold and altitude sickness in the search for more survivors of this week's powerful earthquake that killed at least 760 people and left thousands homeless

Using their bare hands and shovels, rescuers continued Thursday to claw through the rubble of buildings that collapsed in a powerful earthquake in Qinghai Province.

The death toll is expected to rise with hundreds more still believed to buried under collapsed mud and wood structures. The quake, which struck the mainly Tibetan region early Wednesday, is the deadliest in China in almost two years.

Photographs of the victims are emerging and they show many school children among the dead.

State media reports say 66 pupils and 10 teachers have been killed and dozens of grieving parents are waiting for news near ruined schools.

Thousands of people spent the night out in the open wrapped in blankets against the below freezing temperatures.

Zou Ming is the Ministry of Civil Affairs' disaster relief head. He says medical aid, food and shelter are the top priority for the 100,000 people living in the quake zone.

Zou says a huge relief effort to send tents and medical equipment is under way.

He says soldiers and medical teams have been dispatched.

Doctors who have reached the worst affected areas in Yushu County - where 85 percent of buildings have been destroyed - have rigged makeshift hospitals.

But they say the region's high altitude hampers rescue and aid workers. At high altitudes, there is less oxygen in the air, and people from lower regions often have problems coping.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is to visit the area late Thursday. He and President Hu Jintao have called for an all-out rescue effort to reach the disaster zone on the Tibetan plateau known as the "Roof of the World".

The United States said it is "ready to assist" if China requests international aid.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama offered prayers for those who died while Pope Benedict called for "solidarity" with the victims.

The 6.9 quake and a score of aftershocks were centered in the mountains that divide Qinghai province from the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Some of the scenes are a reminiscent of those seen after the May 2008 earthquake that claimed more than 70,000 lives in neighboring Sichuan Province. Among the victims were thousands of school children killed when their schools crumbled in the quake.

Accusations that the schools were poorly built are still a source of controversy in China.

The Iranian government is hosting a nuclear conference Saturday and Sunday in Tehran, in counterpoint to the Washington summit this week to which it was not invited. The meeting comes as the U.S. pushes for a fourth set of sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, a drive that appears to be gaining momentum.

Looking ahead to the Tehran meeting, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted that his country is doing its best to work with world powers.

In an interview on state television, Mr. Ahmadinejad said "we are actually after cooperation and negotiation. We still are.” He added that Iran was willing to deal with a formula that protects Iran's rights, includes its independence, dignity and honor - and excludes the nuclear issue.

It's that kind of mixed message that frustrates so many. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian purposes. But by refusing to comply with U.N. nuclear agency requests, it deepens suspicions that it seeks nuclear weapons.

Ezzedine Choukri Fishere, political science professor at the American University in Cairo, says the Iranian program is worrying for almost everyone, both in the region and in the international community.

“The fact that Iran insists on pursuing these features and refusing to reassure the international community and its neighbors,” Fishere said, “means that those who are worried about it enough to take action, will eventually take action."

The conference in Iran appears aimed at showing Tehran still has supporters. India is one nuclear power sending a representative, though at a far lower official level than at the Washington summit.

There are signs others are losing patience. China, which has been holding out against further U.N. sanctions, has agreed to be involved at least in the drafting of new measures. The veto-wielding nation depends on Iran for some ten percent of its oil, although in recent months has been looking at other Persian Gulf nations as possible suppliers.

Further complicating efforts of those wishing to support Iran are comments by authorities that leave many simply baffled.

Earlier in the week, a senior official at Iran's atomic energy agency declared the country would become a member of the "nuclear club" within a month. The term is commonly used to describe nations with nuclear weapons.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was quick to dismiss the idea, saying he didn't believe it.

“I think most estimates that I've seen haven't changed since the last time we talked about it, which is, at least a year, maybe more," Gates said.

Political science professor Fishere argued both sides need to go beyond reacting to statements like that about the nuclear club, which he says could be aimed at a domestic audience or simply a matter of mistranslation. He urged the United States and Iran to sit down to direct dialogue about all the issues at stake. But he argues that the offer by President Barack Obama to reach out to Iran didn't go far enough.

"What the Obama administration did was incurring the political cost of calling for a dialogue with Iran, but without actually the benefit of engaging in that dialogue,” Fishere said.

He added that he hopes the administration will be bold enough to finally engage in face-to-face dialogue and put on the table the serious issues and the real issues it is worried about.

Fishere said the U.N. offer last year to enrich Iranian uranium abroad -an offer rejected by Iran - was a good start, arguing that broadening that dialogue will help bring Iran back from what he calls the "abyss" that it appears to be approaching.

A cyclone has hit eastern India and Bangladesh, killing at least 110 people and destroying more than 60,000 homes. The storm ripped across India's West Bengal and Bihar states and neighboring parts of Bangladesh late Tuesday. Four of the deaths were reported in Bangladesh, including a police officer who was crushed under a wall. The cyclone packed winds of up to 120 kilometers an hour, destroying power and telephone lines and uprooting trees in Bihar and West Bengal. Indian authorities are rushing aid to cyclone-hit areas, and the homeless are being shifted to temporary shelters. The Bay of Bengal region is frequently battered by storms and cyclones. In 2007, Cyclone Sidr killed more than 3,500 people in Bangladesh and displaced 2 million others. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

The leaders of the three main political parties are preparing to hold their first TV debate on Thursday evening.

The live broadcast will see Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg answer questions chosen by a 200-strong audience, and from viewers' e-mails.

Being filmed at Granada Studios in Manchester, the focus for the 90-minute programme is domestic affairs, but leaders can air other issues.

It is being shown on ITV 1. Sky and BBC 1 will broadcast the other two debates.

The US-style televised debates between the three party leaders are the first of their kind in the UK.

'Huge job interview'

Gordon Brown told ITV 1 "he was not nervous, but determined to get our views across".

"You gotta be realistic and honest that nothing will be the perfection you want it to be, but I'm determined to get my message across," he said.

Asked why he had agreed to do it, Mr Brown said: "I think the public in this television age have got a right to see the different parties' prospectuses through their leaders, and I think people will be able to judge whether our policies are better."

Conservative leader David Cameron said he was "looking forward to it".

"It is an historic first for our country to have live televised debates between the people putting themselves forward to be prime minister.

"It is a great opportunity to try to communicate to those millions of people in our country who are switched off politics."

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he "wouldn't be human" if he wasn't excited about the live debates.

"It's like having one big huge job interview in front of the whole nation," he said. "But the main thing is I know myself well enough, I've actually got to enjoy it.

"That's what I want to do, instead of constantly worrying about saying this or that or getting that fact wrong or right."

Rehearsals

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said both Labour and the Conservatives were resorting to mind games, playing down how well their leaders are likely to perform, each saying that the other will have the better debate.

Yet he added all three leaders had been hard at work practicing for the big night.

For Mr Cameron's rehearsals, he said shadow immigration minister Damian Green had been playing the role of Mr Brown; while the prime minister had enlisted Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communications, to play the Tory leader.

"But they know that when the big moment comes they are on their own," said our political editor.

He added that it was also a big night for Mr Clegg, and a question of whether he has just a "walk on part", or if he can show he should be treated as someone ready to claim his place in high office.

The debates are bound by more than 70 rules agreed after weeks of negotiations between senior Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat officials, and the broadcasters.

Before the questions begin, Mr Brown, Mr Cameron, and Mr Clegg will be allowed to make a one-minute opening address, and a 90-minute closing statement at the end of the show.

The audiences will be asked to applaud at the start and end of the programmes, and will not be allowed to make any response to the answers or comments given by the three leaders.

They will also not be allowed to ask their questions directly, instead they will be presented on their behalf by the presenter of each show, which in ITV 1's case is Alastair Stewart.

Mr Brown, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg will have a time limit enforced on their answers.

With the three only set to face eight questions on Thursday night, Mr Cameron said he was concerned the debate risked being "slow and sluggish".

Most of the 200-strong audience in each debate will be picked by pollsters ICM from the local area to ensure a balance of gender, age, ethnicity, social class and voting intention.

Broadcasters drew lots on the order in which debates will be screened and the themes.

Sky News will be showing the second debate on Thursday, 22 April, which will look at foreign affairs. The final debate on BBC 1 on Thursday, 29 April will focus on the economy.

The first debate follows after two opinion polls said the Conservatives had seen an increase in support.

The YouGov daily tracker poll for The Sun said on Wednesday night that the Conservatives had extended their lead over Labour to nine points.

It puts the Tories on 41%, up two points on the previous day, with Labour up one on 32%, and the Lib Dems down two on 18%.

A separate poll for the Daily Telegraph said the Conservatives were leading Labour in 100 key marginal constituencies. It put the Tories on 43%, with Labour on 31%, and the Lib Dems on 20%.

• The First Election Debate programme will be shown on ITV 1 on Thursday, 15 April, starting at 2030 BST. In Scotland it will be shown on STV, and on UTV in Northern Ireland.

The leaders of the three main political parties are preparing to hold their first TV debate on Thursday evening.

The live broadcast will see Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg answer questions chosen by a 200-strong audience, and from viewers' e-mails.

Being filmed at Granada Studios in Manchester, the focus for the 90-minute programme is domestic affairs, but leaders can air other issues.

It is being shown on ITV 1. Sky and BBC 1 will broadcast the other two debates.

The US-style televised debates between the three party leaders are the first of their kind in the UK.

'Huge job interview'

Gordon Brown told ITV 1 "he was not nervous, but determined to get our views across".

"You gotta be realistic and honest that nothing will be the perfection you want it to be, but I'm determined to get my message across," he said.

Asked why he had agreed to do it, Mr Brown said: "I think the public in this television age have got a right to see the different parties' prospectuses through their leaders, and I think people will be able to judge whether our policies are better."

Conservative leader David Cameron said he was "looking forward to it".

"It is an historic first for our country to have live televised debates between the people putting themselves forward to be prime minister.

"It is a great opportunity to try to communicate to those millions of people in our country who are switched off politics."

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said he "wouldn't be human" if he wasn't excited about the live debates.

"It's like having one big huge job interview in front of the whole nation," he said. "But the main thing is I know myself well enough, I've actually got to enjoy it.

"That's what I want to do, instead of constantly worrying about saying this or that or getting that fact wrong or right."

Rehearsals

BBC political editor Nick Robinson said both Labour and the Conservatives were resorting to mind games, playing down how well their leaders are likely to perform, each saying that the other will have the better debate.

Yet he added all three leaders had been hard at work practicing for the big night.

For Mr Cameron's rehearsals, he said shadow immigration minister Damian Green had been playing the role of Mr Brown; while the prime minister had enlisted Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair's former director of communications, to play the Tory leader.

"But they know that when the big moment comes they are on their own," said our political editor.

He added that it was also a big night for Mr Clegg, and a question of whether he has just a "walk on part", or if he can show he should be treated as someone ready to claim his place in high office.

The debates are bound by more than 70 rules agreed after weeks of negotiations between senior Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat officials, and the broadcasters.

Before the questions begin, Mr Brown, Mr Cameron, and Mr Clegg will be allowed to make a one-minute opening address, and a 90-minute closing statement at the end of the show.

The audiences will be asked to applaud at the start and end of the programmes, and will not be allowed to make any response to the answers or comments given by the three leaders.

They will also not be allowed to ask their questions directly, instead they will be presented on their behalf by the presenter of each show, which in ITV 1's case is Alastair Stewart.

Mr Brown, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg will have a time limit enforced on their answers.

With the three only set to face eight questions on Thursday night, Mr Cameron said he was concerned the debate risked being "slow and sluggish".

Most of the 200-strong audience in each debate will be picked by pollsters ICM from the local area to ensure a balance of gender, age, ethnicity, social class and voting intention.

Broadcasters drew lots on the order in which debates will be screened and the themes.

Sky News will be showing the second debate on Thursday, 22 April, which will look at foreign affairs. The final debate on BBC 1 on Thursday, 29 April will focus on the economy.

The first debate follows after two opinion polls said the Conservatives had seen an increase in support.

The YouGov daily tracker poll for The Sun said on Wednesday night that the Conservatives had extended their lead over Labour to nine points.

It puts the Tories on 41%, up two points on the previous day, with Labour up one on 32%, and the Lib Dems down two on 18%.

A separate poll for the Daily Telegraph said the Conservatives were leading Labour in 100 key marginal constituencies. It put the Tories on 43%, with Labour on 31%, and the Lib Dems on 20%.

• The First Election Debate programme will be shown on ITV 1 on Thursday, 15 April, starting at 2030 BST. In Scotland it will be shown on STV, and on UTV in Northern Ireland.

A row has broken out over the decision to bury Polish President Lech Kaczynski in Wawel cathedral in Krakow - a place reserved for Poland's kings and heroes.

Hundreds have taken to the streets of the southern city in protest at the plan for a second consecutive night.

Thousands have joined an internet campaign against it. Mr Kaczynski died in a plane crash on Saturday along with his wife and many senior officials.

A date for a presidential election will be set after the funeral on Sunday.

Acclaimed Polish film director Andrzej Wajda dubbed the burial arrangements "misplaced" and "hastily made as emotions ran high", in an open letter published by the newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza.

"Lech Kaczynski was an ordinary and good man, but there is no reason for him to lie in the Wawel among the kings of Poland and Marshal Jozef Pilsudski [the founder of modern-day Poland]," he said.

Officials said the site in a crypt close to Marshal Pilsudski was chosen by church leaders and the Kaczynski family, which include Mr Kaczynski's twin, Jaroslaw - the leader of Poland's opposition.

But Mr Wajda said the decision "will spark protests and could cause the deepest splits in Polish society since 1989".

Facebook protest

Hundreds of people staged a protest in front of the residence of Krakow's Archbishop, Stanislaw Dziwisz, on Tuesday evening, carrying banners reading: "Not Krakow, not Wawel", and "Are you sure he is the equal of kings?"

Late on Wednesday a second protest was held, as well as a smaller counter demonstration in favour of the plan.

A Facebook group called "No to the Kaczynskis' burial in Wawel" had attracted more than 26,000 members by Wednesday.

Many world leaders are to attend Sunday's funeral, including US President Barack Obama along with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany.

Polish officials have said that elections for a new president will be held in June.

In a parliamentary document they wrote that there were "two possible dates" - 13 or 20 June.

Poland's acting President, Bronislaw Komorowski, is expected to name the exact date after consulting political parties.

The bodies of the presidential couple have been lying in state together at the presidential palace in Warsaw.

They were among 96 people on board the Polish government jet that crashed in heavy fog while trying to land in the Smolensk region of Russia.

They had been travelling to attend a memorial service for Polish military officers and others massacred by Stalin's secret police at Katyn in 1940.

Other victims of the crash, whose bodies are believed to have been badly disfigured or burnt in the crash, are being identified by forensic scientists in Moscow.

A number of the dead have yet to be retrieved from the wreckage, officials said.

Russian investigators believe pilot error was to blame for the crash.

Air traffic controllers who handled the plane have been quoted as saying the Polish crew refused three times to heed advice to divert to another airport because of poor visibility.

China has been sifting rubble for survivors of the deadly quake which hit the remote Qinghai region as thousands spent a freezing night in the open.

Rescuers used bare hands and picks to search debris as night fell, with little heavy lifting equipment in the mountainous, mainly Tibetan area.

Officials say 589 people died and 10,000 were injured when the quake struck Yushu county early on Wednesday.

But the death toll is expected to rise and further aftershocks are feared.

Relief flights carrying medical workers and supplies have been landing in Yushu airport but the road to the town of 70,000 people has been blocked by a landslide, the Associated Press news agency reports from Qinghai's provincial capital, Xining.

The BBC's Chris Hogg, in Qinghai and travelling by road to the disaster area, passed long columns of military vehicles carrying diggers and other heavy lifting equipment as dawn was breaking on Thursday.

The columns, which included ambulances, were about eight or nine hours from the disaster zone, he said.

In the township of Jiegu, 85% of buildings were destroyed, officials say, and state TV has been showing street after street reduced to rubble.

Several schools collapsed and at least 56 students are known to have died, 22 of them in a school in Yushu.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has called for an all-out effort to save as many people as possible and some 5,000 rescuers, including 700 soldiers, have been sent to the disaster area.

The civil affairs ministry said it was to send 5,000 tents, 50,000 coats and 50,000 quilts as local officials in Yushu reported a lack of tents, medicines and medical equipment.

China has received messages of sympathy and offers of aid from foreign states including Japan, Russia and France.

'So much dust'

About 900 people have been pulled alive from under the rubble since the quake struck at 0749 on Wednesday (2349 GMT Tuesday), at the shallow depth of 10km (six miles), Chinese media say.

But Wu Yong, a local army commander, said the death toll could rise "as lots of houses collapsed".

Rescue operations were being hampered by the fact that the magnitude 6.9 quake disrupted telecommunications, knocked out electricity and triggered landslides.

In Xining, some 860km (530 miles) from the quake zone, soldiers, fire-fighters and rescue workers with sniffer dogs thronged the airport, which closed to civilian flights for several hours to make way for relief planes.

Efforts are being slowed down by the lack of jet fuel stored at Yushu airport. Relief planes are having to carry extra fuel, limiting their space for supplies.

As local officials struggled to find accommodation for the thousands of people left homeless, weather forecasters were predicting wind and sleet in the coming days, putting victims at risk of exposure.

Luo Song, a monk from a monastery in Yushu county, said his sister who worked at an orphanage there had told him three children were sent to a hospital but the facilities lacked equipment.

"She said the hospitals are facing a lot of difficulty right now because there are no doctors, they have only bandages, they can't give injections, they can't put people on intravenous drips," he told AP by phone from the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

In Jiegu, hotel manager Ren Yu said that nearly all of the local mud and wood houses had collapsed.

"There was so much dust in the air, we couldn't see anything," he said.

"There was a lot of panic. People were crying on the streets. Some of our staff, who were reunited with their parents, were also in tears."

Harrowing photographs have emerged of emergency workers removing dust-covered dead infants from rubble.

The high-altitude region is prone to earthquakes but, according to the US Geological Survey, this was the strongest tremor within 100km of the area since 1976.

In 2008, a huge quake struck neighbouring Sichuan province, about 800km from Yushu. That left 87,000 people dead or missing and five million homeless.

BEIJING - A series of strong earthquakes struck a far western Tibetan area of China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring thousands as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, trapping many more, officials said.

State television channel, CCTV, quoted an emergency official, Pubucairen, as saying that the number of injured was believed to be more than 10,000.

The main temblor of magnitude-6.9 struck in southern Qinghai province, near Tibet, on Wednesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registered 5.0 or higher.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported that a number of school buildings had collapsed, citing witness reports that some students had been killed and others were trapped in the rubble.

Workers were racing to release water from a reservoir in the disaster area where a crack had formed after the quake to prevent a flood, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

The quake was centered on Yushu county, a Tibetan area in Qinghai's south, with a population of about 100,000, mostly herders and farmers.

The main quake sent residents fleeing as it toppled houses made of mud and wood, said Karsum Nyima, the Yushu county television station's deputy head of news, speaking by phone with broadcaster CCTV.

In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake," he said. "In a small park, there is a Buddhist pagoda and the top of the pagoda fell off. ... Everybody is out on the streets, standing in front of their houses, trying to find their family members."

The earthquake comes a little less than two years after a magnitude-7.9 quake in neighboring Sichuan province left almost 90,000 people dead or missing. That quake flattened several schools, killing thousands of students. Poor design, shoddy construction and the lax enforcement of building codes were found to be rampant, causing public anger.

Students dead, others trapped
Xinhua reported that the early morning quake had caused some schools and part of a government office building to cave in.

Zhu Liang, a driver at the Yushu prefecture government, told Xinhua that half of the Yushu Vocational School's buildings had collapsed.

"I do not know how many students have died," Zhu, who is now in the rescue operation, told the news service. "Students just got up and were yet to go to class when the quake happened. I recovered several bodies from the debris and found they were fully dressed."

"Buildings in our school were all toppled, and five pupils have died," said a teacher surnamed Chang at the Yushu Primary School, a boarding school with about 1,000 students. "Morning sessions did not begin when the quake happened. Some pupils ran out of dorms alive, and those who had not escaped in time were buried."

Xinhua added that residents said most students had been able to flee to playgrounds.

"Most of the schools in Yushu were built fairly recently and should have been able to withstand the earthquake," said Wang Liling, a volunteer worker for Gesanghua, a Chinese charity that helps school children in Qinghai.

Her group, she said, had heard that a vocational school collapsed in Yushu. "Many homes have been damaged, but we'll have to wait until this evening, when our staff arrive there, to understand anything specific."

Samdrup Gyatso, 17, who ran a shop in his two-story house in Gyegu, told Xinhua: "There are 10 people in my family and only four of us escaped. One of my relatives died. All the others are buried under the rubble."

'Thronged with panic'
In Jiegu, a township near the epicenter, more than 85 percent of houses had collapsed, while large cracks have appeared on buildings still standing, Xinhua cited Zhuohuaxia, a local publicity official, as saying.

"The streets in Jiegu are thronged with panic and full of injured people, with many of them bleeding from their injuries," he told Xinhua. "Many students are buried under the debris due to building collapse at a vocational school."

"A large crack appears in the wall of the Yushu Hotel, and part of a government office building also collapsed," he added. "I can see injured people everywhere. The biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers."

State television Wednesday showed footage of paramilitary police using shovels to dig around a house with a collapsed wooden roof.

A local military official, Shi Huajie, told CCTV that rescuers were working with limited equipment.

"The difficulty we face is that we don't have any excavators. Many of the people have been buried and our soldiers are trying to pull them out with human labor," Shi said.

"It is very difficult to save people with our bare hands."

Officials said excavators were not available and, with most of the roads leading to the nearest airport damaged, equipment and rescuers would have a hard time reaching the area.

Downed phone lines, strong winds and frequent aftershocks were also hindering rescue efforts, said Wu Yong, a local military chief.

People from the Yushu prefecture highway department were frantically trying to dig out colleagues trapped in a collapsed building, department official Ji Guodong said by telephone.

"The homes are built with thick walls and are strong, but if they collapsed they could hurt many people inside," Zhuo De told Reuters by phone from the capital of Qinghai province after contacting his family in Yushu.

Five thousand tents and 100,000 thick, cotton coats and heavy blankets were being sent to help survivors cope with strong winds and near-freezing temperatures of around 43 degrees Fahrenheit, the Qinghai provincial government said in a statement.

The epicenter of the first quake was located 235 miles south-southeast of Golmud, a large city in Qinghai, at a depth of six miles, the USGS said.

Ten minutes later, the area was hit by a magnitude 5.3 quake, which was followed after two minutes by a temblor measuring 5.2, according to the U.S. agency. Both the subsequent earthquakes were measured at a depth of 6 miles. Another quake, measuring 5.8, was recorded at 9:25 a.m.

Xinhua cited officials at the China Earthquake Networks Center as saying at least 18 aftershocks have been reported and that more temblors exceeding magnitude 6 were likely to occur in the coming days.