GWEN IFILL: The worst earthquake to hit China in 30 years killed nearly 9,000 people today. State media also reported at least 10,000 injured.
The quake, with a magnitude of 7.9, ripped through Sichuan province. In one county, it demolished 80 percent of the buildings.
The Chinese reports said 900 students were trapped when their school collapsed, and a shattered chemical plant spilled more than 80 tons of toxic ammonia. We'll have more on this story right after the news summary.
The first U.S. aid flight arrived in Myanmar today. It came nine days after a cyclone ravaged the country, still known as Burma to much of the world. A cargo plane delivered relief supplies, including water, blankets and mosquito netting. The plane was greeted by members of the ruling military.
U.S. Admiral Timothy Keating went along on the flight. Later, back in Thailand, he urged the junta to accept more aid.
ADM. TIMOTHY KEATING, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command: We had good conversations. We're hopeful that we will get permission to begin operations. We don't have that permission yet from the Burmese government.
JOURNALIST: How long do you think before you get that permission?
ADM. TIMOTHY KEATING: I'm told it could be some time, too long, too long because there are people suffering in Burma now and we're ready to respond with all kinds of disaster relief now.
GWEN IFILL: Two additional U.S. flights are scheduled tomorrow. But in Washington, the State Department said it has "massive" concerns about letting the Myanmar regime distribute the aid. A spokesman warned it could end up on the black market.
And U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon complained of "immense frustration." He said the Myanmar government's response has been "unacceptably slow."
BAN KI-MOON, United Nations Secretary-General: We are at the critical point. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's crisis. I, therefore, call in the most strenuous tones on the government of Myanmar to put its peoples' lives first.
GWEN IFILL: Myanmar state TV placed the official death toll for the cyclone at 32,000, with nearly 30,000 others still missing. U.N. and U.S. officials have said the final tally could hit 100,000 or more. We'll have more on Myanmar later in the program tonight.
Tornado victims in this country focused on cleanup today. At least 22 people were killed when twisters hit five states over the weekend. The worst was along the Oklahoma-Missouri border and across central Georgia.
The town of Picher, Oklahoma, was especially hard-hit. A tornado there ripped homes off foundations and tossed cars about. The town was already a federal Superfund site, with mountains of mining waste. State officials said that complicates recovery efforts.
MICHELANN OOTEN, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management: Some of the property owners here were in the process of being bought out, because it being a Superfund site. That's simply another variable we need to work through at this point.
And we will be doing that in the next couple of days, finding out exactly what that means to not only the individual property owner here, but also what it means if we were to receive federal assistance.
GWEN IFILL: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency planned to do testing in Picher today for any sign of wind-blown lead.
In Iraq today, supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr signed a four-day cease-fire in Baghdad with lawmakers representing the government. It was the latest attempt to end weeks of fighting in the Sadr City district. There was no word on whether splinter groups, who have broken with Sadr's militia, will accept the truce.
The new coalition government in Pakistan was shaken today. Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his party split from the ruling cabinet. He'd failed to win agreement on reinstating judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf.
Sharif said he was "very pained" by the decision. He said his party would continue to support the government, but the split raised new doubts about the country's stability.
At home in the presidential race, Democrat Hillary Clinton campaigned for a big win in the West Virginia primary tomorrow. But Barack Obama continued building his overall lead, picking up several more super-delegates.
Also today, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia announced he'll run for the Libertarian Party's nomination. He dismissed talk that he'd take votes from Republican John McCain.
FORMER REP. BOB BARR (R), Georgia: If Senator McCain, at the end of the day, presuming he is the nominee for the Republican Party, does not succeed in securing, winning the presidency, it will be not because of Bob Barr, not because of Senator Obama.
It will be because Senator McCain did not present and his party did not present a vision, an agenda, a platform, and a series of programs that actually resonated positively with the American people.
GWEN IFILL: For his part, McCain focused today on global warming. In Portland, Oregon, he said the government must act to reduce carbon fuel emissions, but according to free-market principles. We'll have more on the campaign later in the program tonight.
The Supreme Court today allowed apartheid victims in South Africa to sue American corporations. The court declined to intervene when four of the nine justices recused themselves. They own stock or have relatives working in the affected companies.
More than 50 American companies are accused of violating international law by assisting South Africa's former apartheid government.
Dropping a letter in the mail got a little bit more expensive today. The price of a first-class stamp rose one cent, to 42 cents. The cost to send a postcard also went up a penny, to 27 cents. Forever stamps, purchased before today at the old rate, will cover the increase.
The cost of gasoline jumped nearly 11 cents in the last week. The Energy Department reported today the average price hit $3.72 a gallon, more than 60 cents higher than a year ago.
On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 130 points to close at 12,876. The Nasdaq rose nearly 43 points to close at 2,488.
