Hello,

       I hope that you are doing well, of course, and apologize in advance since I am writing to ask you for a favour.

I am starting a fundraiser for a critically ill lady that doesn't have the money for the needed care.

48 years old, she used to be perfectly healthy, but tragic life events brought her heart problems: she has, so far, incredibly survived three heart attacks, several TIAs, and a cardiac arrest. Another stroke would be lethal, but in Houston they could fully cure her, and she could go back to the shape and the life of a lady of her age.

The cost of all these years of treatments got her broke: she lost everything, including her own home (she now lives in a room with no hot water). Selling her last few things, she was able to advance most of the amount that the hospital is asking for, but is about $60,000 short. Here's where I come in: trying to gather the balance.

It is a rather unusual cause for me to take on, since, as you can see on my page, I normally help children, but have been confronted here with the value of a human life too.

Can you please contribute with a donation, with your time, asking your friends? Everything helps, really everything, especially because there is little time: she is now at high risk.

I am available, of course, to provide you any further information you might require.

Again, my deepest apologies for disturbing you.

Thank you for your time.

All the best

Isabel

CNN

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Authorities in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar have seized United Nations aid intended for victims of the disaster, prompting the organization to halt future relief flights, a U.N. World Food Program official said.

A child sleeps on the floor as cyclone-affected families shelter in a school in western Yangon.

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The organization, which insists on distributing its own relief supplies, says two aircraft-loads of food, medicine and equipment, were seized by the army in Myanmar's main city Yangon.

"This is another example of them actively getting in the way of relief getting to the victims," said Tony Banbury, Asia director of the World Food Program.

Asked whether the move would jeopardize future U.N. aid flights, he said, "absolutely, from our perspective, it shuts them down."

On Saturday, the United Nations had been planning three further aid flights, from Dubai, India and Cambodia. It would bring tons of biscuits, emergency ready-to-eat meals, and logistical support and equipment, such as boats, to reach isolated areas.

The powerful cyclone, which swept through the country's low-lying river delta regions last weekend killed 22,000, according to Myanmar officials. Foreign observers say 100,000 may have perished, while many more are at risk of disease and starvation.

The seizure of the planes is being seen as a tug of war over who controls aid distribution, and could have a major impact on aid distribution in Myanmar.

U.N. aid officials have warned in recent days that if there are no guarantees that this and future aid can be distributed under its rules. They say they plan to discuss the issue with officials from Myanmar. Watch how some aid is getting through »

The international community, including the United States, has been frustrated by the efforts to distribute aid in Myanmar.

In an effort it says is to speed relief delivery by its military personnel, the United States has devised a new plan that it hopes will be accepted by Myanmar's government.

The ruling junta is suspicious of any U.S. military presence it sees as potentially aimed at unseating the government, a prospect the Bush Administration has repeatedly denied.

One senior U.S. military official tells CNN that the United States is presenting Myanmar with an aid plan that would minimize the presence of American troops on the ground.

The United States is proposing that C-130s fly into the Myanmar carrying U.N. supplies. The planes would drop supplies off and then turn around and leave. But they would conduct as many flights as possible. Look at satellite pictures of the damage by the flooding »

The United States is also proposing that Navy helicopters already in Thailand and on board U.N. Navy ships in the region fly supplies to remote areas. The helicopters would conduct low-level flights and air drop the supplies but not touch the ground.

Four U.S. Navy ships are now moving to a region offshore Myanmar. They are the USS Essex, USS Juneau, USS Harpers Ferry and USS Mustin. Some U.S. Marines are ashore in Thailand for an exercise but could readily be moving to relief operations.

Meanwhile, Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program, told CNN the agency has never encountered such resistance to offers of help in such a mushrooming humanitarian crisis.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the military junta in Myanmar has behaved "appallingly" by declining to grant more visas to relief workers.

"This has never happened before," he told CNN on Friday.

To complicate matters, Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok, Thailand -- where aid groups have been waiting for days for entry permission -- was closed on Friday for a holiday.

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Reuters

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese government bombs have hit a primary school and a busy market place in Darfur, killing at least 13 people, including seven children, two aid organizations said on Monday. The Sudanese army was not immediately available to comment but has repeatedly denied bombing in the area, which would be a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution banning all offensive flying.

The aid groups said a government Antonov plane bombed the village of Shegeg Karo in North Darfur on Sunday. If confirmed, it would be the deadliest bombing raid in Darfur in years.

"According to information gathered by the villagers of Shegeg Karo, the Antonov hovered for a long time and then bombed repeatedly," a joint statement from Darfur Diaries and the Darfur Peace and Development Organisation said.

"The Shegeg Karo school was hit and one classroom was destroyed. It was in session," it added. The youngest child to die was 5-year-old Yusuf Adam Hamid. It said two other children were seriously wounded and 30 more lightly wounded.

Both organizations fund the primary school of 238 students.

The groups said the market was also hit with six people reported killed and 20 shops destroyed. They said it was unclear how many people were wounded at the market place. Hundreds of women usually gather there on market day.

The U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Richard Williamson, said in Norway where he was attending a Sudan donors conference that the reports were "extremely troubling and unacceptable."

"It is a big concern because if past history is an indication, many of those casualties will be innocent civilians and there will be more people having to flee their homes in an area where already 2.5 million have had to flee because of violence," he told Reuters.

Last week, a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission confirmed rebel reports of bombing in North Darfur in spite of government denials.

CONDEMNATION

On Monday UNAMID force commander Martin Luther Agwai issued a statement expressing deep concern at the "rising toll of civilian deaths and casualties as a result of the recent bombing of villages in Darfur."

It called the reported bombing raids: "unacceptable acts against civilians, compounding the extent of displacement, insecurity and untold human suffering."

UNAMID said it was mobilizing its helicopters to evacuate the injured.

Darfur rebels said three other areas were bombed on Sunday. Ein Sirro and Jabel Medop in North Darfur and an area in West Darfur near rebel-held Jabel Moun. There were no reports of casualties.

International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in five years of revolt in Darfur. Khartoum blames the Western media for exaggerating the conflict and puts the death toll at 10,000.

Deployment of the peacekeeping force, set to become the world's biggest, has been slow.

A May 2006 peace deal was signed by one of three rebel negotiating factions. But little has been done to implement the deal while insecurity has worsened because of infighting between rebel factions.

Minni Arcua Minnawi, a former rebel who signed the 2006 and became a presidential assistant, said he was suspending participation in the government for one day in protest at the lack of political will from President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government.

"The government is not serious and not committed to the peace deal," said a Minnawi spokesman, al-Tayyib Khamis.

Sudan is asking donor nations meeting in Norway this week for $6 billion over the next three years to help rebuild after decades of civil wars. A 2005 peace deal ended war between north and south, but did not cover Darfur.

(Editing by Richard Balmforth)

CNN

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the cyclone that ravaged the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar may exceed 100,000, the senior U.S. diplomat in the military-ruled country said Wednesday.

A girl drinks water from a container as her homeless family eat donated food in the outskirts of Yangon on May 7.

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"The information we are receiving indicates over 100,000 deaths," the U.S. Charge D'Affaires in Yangon, Shari Villarosa, said on a conference call.

The U.S. figure is almost five times more than the 22,000 the Myanmar government has estimated.

The U.S. estimate is based .. from an international non-governmental organization, Villarosa said without naming the group. She called the situation in Myanmar "more and more horrendous."

Villarosa also said about 95 percent of the buildings in the delta region were destroyed when Cyclone Nargis battered the area late Friday into Saturday.

Based on the same data, 70,000 people are missing in the Irrawaddy Delta, which has a population of nearly six million people, Villarosa said. The official Myanmar government figure for the missing is 41,000.

Little aid has reached the area since Nargis hit, and on Wednesday crowds of hungry survivors stormed reopened shops in the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

The United Nations urged the military junta to grant visas to international relief workers amid estimates of one million homeless.

A United Nations official said nearly 2,000 square miles (5,000 square km) of the hard-hit delta are still underwater. See amateur video of the cyclone's crashing ashore »

Charity workers have gathered at Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, with vehicles, emergency food supplies and medicine, waiting for their visa requests to be approved.

"We need this to move much faster," said John Holmes, UN humanitarian chief, after reading a statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

There were earlier reports of "civil unrest" in the worst-hit areas where people are scrambling for limited food supplies, a U.N. spokesman told CNN.

In the flood-soaked Irrawaddy delta townships, U.N. assessment teams observed "large crowds gathering around shops -- the few that were open -- literally fighting over the chance to buy what food was available," World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said Wednesday from his office in Bangkok.

There were also also reports of price gouging in urban areas around Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and former capital.

"There were long lines of people trying to buy what food was available, even at those higher prices," Risley said.

The delta, Myanmar's rice-growing heartland, has been devastated by Cyclone Nargis, threatening long-term food shortages for survivors, experts said.

"We can't delay on this -- this is a huge disaster and the longer (Myanmar) waits the worse it's going to become," International Rescue Committee spokesman Gregory Beck said.

The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that five states hit hardest by Saturday's cyclone produce 65 percent of the country's rice, The Associated Press reported.

"There is likely going to be incredible shortages in the next 18 to 24 months," Sean Turnell, an economist specializing in Myanmar at Australia's Macquarie University told AP.

Holmes said 24 countries had pledged financial support, with a total of $30 million expected in aid.

The WFP, which has started feeding the estimated one million homeless, said there were immediate concerns about salvaging harvested rice in the flooded Irrawaddy delta. An iReporter documents the destruction »

The cyclone battered the country with winds of 240kph (150mph) and 3.5 meter (11.48 feet) storm water surges.

Damage was also extensive in the country's largest city, Yangon. Much of the former capital is without power and littered with debris and fallen trees. See photos of the destruction »

CNN's Dan Rivers, the first Western journalist into the devastated town of Bogalay, said Wednesday that it was difficult to find the words to describe the level of destruction. Watch Rivers' report from Bogalay »

"Ninety percent of the houses have been flattened... the help that these people are getting seems to be pretty much nonexistent from what we've seen."

He saw members of Myanmar's army clearing roads, but handing out little food or medicine.

"There has been scant help, really. I think we saw one or two Red Cross vehicles in the entire time we were driving," Rivers said of his travels over a 12-hour period. Learn more about Myanmar »

Hundreds of World Vision staff are already in Myanmar with limited supplies, according to Bangkok spokesman James East.

Tons of supplies have been readied in Dubai and can be brought in quickly once clearance is given.

"Even when aid comes in, it's going to be a logistical nightmare to get it out to the remote delta region," East said.

However, Yangon is almost back to normal, World Vision health adviser Dr. Kyi Minn said. Roads have been cleared of debris, and electricity and potable water are available.

The Myanmar Red Cross has been handing out relief supplies, such as clean drinking water, plastic sheeting, clothing, insecticide-treated bed nets to help prevent malaria, and kitchen items, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

The United States has pledged $3.25 million and offered to send Navy ships to the region to help relief efforts -- if Myanmar's government agrees.

The U.S. military has flown six cargo helicopters onto a Thai airbase, as Washington awaits permission to go into the south Asian country, two senior military officials told CNN's Barbara Starr.

Based on a satellite map made available by the U.N., the storm's damage was concentrated over about a 30,000-square-kilometer area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines, home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's 57 million people. Watch as some aid arrives in Myanmar » 

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Associated Press contributed to this report.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush urged Congress Thursday to approve $770 million to help alleviate dramatically escalating food prices that threaten widespread hunger and increasing social unrest around the world.

In a surprise midafternoon appearance at the White House, Bush announced he is asking lawmakers to approve the additional funds for global food aid and development programs. The money — to be directed primarily at needy African nations — is being included in a broader $70 billion Iraq war funding measure for 2009 that the White House sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday.

"In some of the world's poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food," Bush said. "The American people are generous people and they're a compassionate people. We believe in the timeless truth ..to whom much is given, much is expected.'"

The new money comes on top of $200 million Bush ordered released two weeks ago for emergency food aid. It also is in addition to a pending $350 million request for emergengy food aid funds. Because the new funds are part of a 2009 budget, they wouldn't be available for distribution until the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, even if they are approved sooner.

Even so, Bush called it "just the beginning" of the U.S. effort to help. He said the United States would spend a total of $5 billion this year and next on food aid and related programs.

"America's in the lead, we'll stay in the lead and we expect others to participate along with us," he said.

The new funds are aimed at meeting immediate needs with direct shipments of food aid, and the White House said they would allow for millions more people to get help. Emergency aid accounts for $620 million of the request, said Steve McMillin, deputy director of the president's Office of Management and Budget.

The funds also have long-term aims, with $150 million aimed at boosting U.S. programs to help farmers in developing countries increase productivity and make cash purchases of local crops, so communities are less in need of emergency help in the first place.

The issue has become more urgent recently because of food shortages and rising prices that, combined with high gas costs and rising home foreclosures, are putting a huge squeeze on families at home and abroad. What has been termed the first global food crisis since World War II has resulted in cries for help from United Nations officials and raised questions about how Bush will respond.

Some have blamed the food crisis in part on Bush-backed policies that push food-based biofuels such as ethanol as alternative energy sources. Bush says diverting corn and soybeans into fuel is still a smart approach, though he favors increasing funding for research into eventually using wood chips or switchgrass rather than food crops.

Bush's top economic adviser, Edward Lazear, said ethanol made from corn is responsible for just 2-3 percent of the overall increase in global food prices, which are 43 percent up this year over last year.

Bush's announcement drew praise from several quarters.

"Millions of people around the world may be saved from starvation if we can quickly move forward with the president's request," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "Global aid is not only the right thing to do; it's the smart and safe thing to do. I commend the president for his leadership."

The United States is the world's largest provider of food aid, delivering more than $2.1 billion to 78 developing countries last year.

CNN

(CNN) -- A man, incensed that a 6-year-old girl chose to walk through a path reserved for upper caste villagers, pushed her into burning embers, police in north India said Wednesday. She was seriously burned.

 

Dalits, or "untouchables," are victims of discrimination in India despite laws aimed at eliminating prejudice.

The girl is a Dalit, or an "untouchable," according to India's traditional caste system.

India's constitution outlaws caste-based discrimination, and barriers have broken down in large cities. Prejudice, however, persists in some rural areas of the country.

The girl was walking with her mother down a path in the city of Mathura when she was accosted by a man in his late teens, said police superintendent R.K. Chaturvedi.

"He scolded them both and pushed her," Chaturvedi said. The girl fell about 3 to 4 feet into pile of burning embers by the side of the road.

The girl remained in critical condition Wednesday.

The man confessed to the crime and was charged with attempted murder, Chaturvedi said.

The assault took place in India's Uttar Pradesh state, about 150 km (93 miles) south of Delhi. The state is governed by Mayawati, a woman who goes by one name and is India's most powerful Dalit politician.

Her Bahujan Samaj Party seeks to get more political representation for Dalits, who are considered so low in the social order that they don't even rank among the four classes that make up the caste system.

Hindus believe there are five main groups of people, four of which sprang from the body of the first man.

The Brahmin class comes from the mouth. They are the priests and holy men, the most elevated of the castes.

Next is the Ksatriyas, the kings, warriors and soldiers created from the arms.

The Vaisyas come from the thighs. They are the merchants and traders of society.

And the Sudras, or laborers, come from the feet.

The last group is the Dalits, or the "untouchables." They're considered too impure to have come from the primordial being. Untouchables are often forced to work in menial jobs. They drink from separate wells. They use different entry ways, coming and going from buildings.

They number about 250 million in India, about 25 percent of the population, according to the Colorado, U.S.-based Dalit Freedom Network.

"Dalits are seen to pollute higher caste people if they come in touch with them, hence the 'untouchables,'" the group says on its Web site. "If a higher caste Hindu is touched by, or even had a Dalit's shadow fall across them, they consider themselves to be polluted and have to go through a rigorous series of rituals to be cleansed."

Recent weeks has seen a rise in violence against Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, CNN's sister network, CNN-IBN, reported Wednesday. E-mail to a friend

CNN

(CNN) -- Hundreds of armed police raided the offices of Zimbabwe's main opposition party and independent election observers on Friday amid the continuing turmoil caused by the delay in releasing results.

MDC supporters are taken by police from outside the opposition's headquarters in Harare on April 25.

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The police seized computers and documents from the Movement for Democratic Change party headquarters and arrested about 360 people, the majority of whom were refugees who had fled the countryside, Secretary-General Tendai Biti told CNN from South Africa.

Speaking by phone from Johannesburg, Biti said those arrested included "pregnant women and very young children, babies. Those arrested also include key members of staff, and some of our politicians."

He said he had received his information from eyewitnesses.

A police spokesman said 200 people were picked up at MDC headquarters, known as Harvest House. Watch CNN's report on the police's MDC raid. »

"We haven't arrested them officially. We are busy screening them and keeping those whom we are interested in," Wayne Bvudzijena said.

Biti called the police account "a fiction and a lie." Were you there? Send us your pictures, videos.

"They brought heavily armed personnel to the office of an unarmed civilian organization, and I ask you why are they going there? And what is the legal reason? They brought in hundreds of policemen to arrest the civilians, basically refugees," he said.

Biti also said that police were not writing up reports of complaints from the MDC "for fear of documenting this, for keeping records."

A journalist, who asked not to be named because of threats to his safety, earlier told CNN that police, who arrived in several trucks and a bus, took away several people from the MDC offices in Harare who were "limping and in pain."

Referring to those injured people, Bvudzijena said, "What are they doing at Harvest House if they were injured? It is not a hospital. It's folly on the part of the MDC to keep people who have been injured. Those cases should be reported so that investigations can commence."

Results of the presidential race, in which MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai claims to have defeated longtime leader Robert Mugabe, have not been announced almost four weeks after Zimbabweans voted. View a timeline of the controversial elections »

Zimbabwean police also raided on Friday offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network -- an independent election observation group -- in Harare, according to one of its program managers.

Tsungai Kokerai of electoral observation group ZESN told CNN that several police officers had arrived in their Harare offices with a search warrant looking for "subversive material."

The police were "taking away documents and cd's, anything to do with our activities," she said.

She said police had asked her to accompany them to the police station. They had not made any arrests, she said.

ZESN chairman Noel Kututwa told AP that police wanted to arrest him and his deputy Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, but they were away from the office and were now in hiding.

ZESN is a group of non-governmental organizations that monitored Zimbabwe's March 29 elections. In lieu of any official results, ZESN released exit polling data that showed Tsvangirai leading with more than 49 percent of the vote -- short of the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff election.

According to the group's data, President Mugabe was second with 41.8 percent and independent candidate Simba Makoni garnered 8.2 percent of the vote.

Meanwhile, the journalist present during the raid on the MDC offices told CNN there was an expectation that the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission may release the presidential vote results soon.

"There is a little frustration and anger, but there is nothing much they can do because security is pretty much on top of the situation," he said.

Tsvangirai is still away from Zimbabwe, having been in Mozambique on Wednesday as he continued to seek support from African leaders.

Mugabe attended the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo on Friday and spoke about his land redistribution policies where white-owned farms are given to black Zimbabweans.

Mugabe promotes the policy saying black Zimbabweans were cheated under colonial rule.

"It is our land, our treasure ... this is our land now, and forever," Mugabe said. "Please know that Zimbabwe has a history and heritage that will never, that will never be for sale. Zimbabwe is not for sale."

The number of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, once in the thousands, has dwindled to about 400. Most of the redistributed land is not being harvested and many analysts blame Zimbabwe's current economic collapse -- including staggering inflation and 80 percent unemployment -- on the farm seizures.

On Thursday, the top U.S. envoy to Africa claimed that Tsvangirai won the disputed presidential election and insisted that Mugabe should step down.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said: "My preferred option would be that the will of the people will be accepted. That Mr. Mugabe does the honorable thing and steps down." Watch Frazer's strong statement on Mugabe »

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown; Jacob Zuma, the leader of South Africa's governing party; and Human Rights Watch have all criticized the election and its aftermath. But Frazer is one of the first U.S. officials to take such an emphatic stance on the issue.

Zimbabwe is locked in a political crisis as the government refuses to release the results of an election that opposition leaders claim as a victory for Tsvangirai.

A recount is currently taking place for the presidential election and a partial recount of the parliamentary votes.

The MDC says Tsvangirai won the election. Mugabe's Zanu-PF party alleges that the opposition is engaged in election tampering. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Kim Norgaard contributed to this report.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

CNN

Work conditions in this shrimp plant met standards, but some workers live in near slavery, a report found.

A three year investigation by the AFL-CIO affiliated Solidarity Center found several leading U.S. retailers received shrimp from plants in Thailand and Bangladesh where workers as young as 8 are subject to sweatshop conditions.

The center's findings were supported by the State Department, which shares concerns about human trafficking in Thailand and worker abuse in both countries.

The report makes clear not all shrimp imports into the United States from Thailand and Bangladesh come from problem plants. Watch video of inside a shrimp factory »

However, with shrimp imports from those two nations totaling $1.5 billion annually each year, the report suggests U.S. consumers are in a position to put pressure on producers to improve worker conditions.

The report names some of the most popular retailers in America, including Wal-Mart, Costco and Trader Joes.

But only Wal-Mart responded to CNN inquiries about the shipments and pledged to examine allegations of abuse in plants which supply some of its shrimp.

Retailers receiving questionable shrimp:

"Safety is a top priority at Wal-Mart," spokesman Deisha Galberth said in a written statement to CNN. "We hold our shrimp suppliers to the highest safety and quality standards -- including maintaining processing plants and packaging facilities that meet or exceed Best Aquaculture Practices standards set by the Global Aquaculture Alliance.

"Although we have not seen the Solidarity Center's report, we are working with our suppliers to investigate the allegations shared by CNN. We're not aware of any issues in our supply chain," the company said in the statement.

The center's 40-page report found sexual and physical abuse, debt bondage, child labor and unsafe working conditions are common in Thailand and Bangladesh's shrimp processing factories, and that Thai plants often use trafficked workers.

"There's so much slime on the floor you can hardly stand up, and that just keeping your bearing and footing while you are trying to do work that involves using sharp knives," Ellie Larson, the Executive Director of the Solidarity Center, told CNN.

"They are treated in ways I'm sure most American people think went by in the days of slavery. In fact that's the kind of conditions these workers are engaged in -- slave conditions," Larson said.

In the past two years Thai police have raided several shrimp processing plants and rescued hundreds of trafficked workers.

Mark Lagon, the State Department's Ambassador at Large for Trafficking in Persons, visited Thailand and met a young Burmese girl rescued from one of the plants.

Lagon said guards at the factory made an example of her and a handful of other who tried to escape.

"Her head was shaved. She was beaten. You can't describe this in other fashion except slavery," he said.

The State Department and the International Labor Organization are working with both countries to improve the conditions for workers in their shrimp industries. The Department of Labor told CNN it has been working with the Thai government on a project aimed specifically at eliminating child labor from the shrimp industry.

In interviews with CNN, diplomats from both countries said their governments are working to address problems in the shrimp sector but stressed their economies were still developing.

"We proceed from the same common premise that this thing is evil. This thing has to be tackled squarely," Krit Granjana-Goonchorn, Thailand's Ambassador to the United States told CNN. "I don't think you will find anyone more willing than the government of Thailand in that regard."

Bangladesh's Ambassador to the United States Humayun Kabir said about 15 cases have come to the country's labor court since 2006. About half of them have gone to trial, he said and those responsible have been punished.

"So the government is taking those legal measures," he said.

The shrimp industry's global trade group, the Global Aquaculture Alliance, says it is not aware of its member plants operating under the conditions the Solidarity Center report describes, but said it is going to take a harder look and the offenders could be cut out from the global marketplace.

"We absolutely will investigate any specifics that come forth from this report," GAA's Executive Director Wally Stevens told CNN. "If those plants are in any way conducting themselves in an inappropriate way, they'll be dropped from our program"

The Solidarity Center says it is publishing this report in an effort to raise consumer awareness.

The State Department also hopes the report will force consumers to think before they buy, said Lagon.

"If consumers are concerned about the tuna they buy and if dolphins were harmed, surely the consumer would care about potential slavery." E-mail to a friend

CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The number of deaths in Sudan's Darfur region since 2006 may have been underestimated by as much as 50 percent, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said Tuesday.

An man injured in clashes with tribal fighters outside the African Union Mission in southern Darfur in 2007.

In March, international figures, including U.N. data, put the death toll in Darfur at 200,000, with another 2.5 million people displaced.

But 300,000 are believed to have died in the tribal conflict in the past two years, said John Holmes, who also is the United Nations emergency relief coordinator.

Holmes said sexual violence has increased and food allotments for civilians affected by the civil war will be halved in a few days.

Holmes gave the U.N. Security Council an update on conditions in the western Sudan region, revisiting a report he gave a year ago.

"I am sad to say that the humanitarian situation remains as grim today as it was then, if not more so," he said.

So far in 2008, 100,000 civilians have fled their homes, many not for the first time.

The Darfur conflict began five years ago when ethnic African tribesmen took up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Sudanese government.

Sudan's Arab-dominated government is accused of responding by unleashing tribal militias known as Janjaweed, which have allegedly committed the worst atrocities against Darfur's local communities.

There also have been intra-rebel and tribal clashes, Holmes added.

He blamed the military arm of the Justice and Equality Movement faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement for the most recent round of violence, and accused the government of using "disproportionate force" and failing to differentiate between civilians and rebels in their response.

"Darfur today is still characterized by insecurity, lawlessness and impunity," he said. "A particularly worrying feature is evidence of high levels of sexual violence and exploitation in the northern corridor of west Darfur over the past two months."

This is shown by the increased number of women and girls seeking treatment after sexual brutality, Holmes said.

The World Food Programme announced last week that it will have to cut back its food distributions in May, partly because of attacks on convoys that reduced the amount of supplies they can get through, Holmes said.

Six aid workers have been killed so far this year, and 42 humanitarian posts have been attacked.

The supply line also is hurt by soaring food prices -- the price of staples such as millet has doubled since April last year, Holmes said.

While expressing gratitude to the Sudanese government for improved cooperation under various agreements, Holmes said there still is no physical access to internally displaced persons and some other groups.

He said he was "saddened and angry" that after five years, there has been no lasting solution to the suffering.

He made several recommendations to the government, including disbanding the Janjaweed, providing security for citizens, ending impunity for criminals and shouldering more of the financial burden for humanitarian aid.

Holmes also said rebels must stop their attacks against people and humanitarian convoys. E-mail to a friend