[Tony Harris, Cnn Anchor:] Good morning to you. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
[Fredricka Whitfield, Cnn Anchor:] And I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
[Harris:] You will see events come into the NEWSROOM on this Friday, good Friday to you, May 9th. Here's what's on the rundown.
[Whitfield:] A North Carolina town beaten and battered by a suspected tornado. Stay alert. More rough weather may hit the south today.
[Harris:] Outrage over Myanmar. The military government seizes food and supplies meant for cyclone survivors.
[Whitfield:] Another superdelegate walks out on Clinton. The third to go for Obama since Tuesday. The switch goes on in the
[Newsroom. Harris:] Shocked in the southeast. More than 20 reported tornadoes touching down and look at this picture, Fred in six states. Many of them hitting last night in the dark. Homes and businesses damaged. Cars were tossed around as you can see. Trees, power lines, toppled. Officials say at least one person in North Carolina was killed when his truck flipped over in the storm. At least three other people were hurt. Four confirmed tornadoes touching down in Mississippi. One was extremely fierce, slamming the city of Tupelo with 140-mile- per-hour winds. A shopping area was destroyed. Several homes damaged and hundreds of trees came down.
[Whitfield:] Let's check in with Rob Marciano. Boy, this has been unrelenting. This weather is incredible.
[Harris:] And it really started for us, right here in these hours. What a busy morning. Yesterday morning was for us, Rob, right here in the
[Newsroom. Rob Marciano, Cnn Meteorologist:] It was and it's continuing today and it looks like it's going to continue not only today but I think for the next couple of days. We could have a pretty active weekend and some of the same spots that had the rough weather yesterday.
[Marciano:] The other area here is Beaufort County and Hyde County, you're also under the gun with this rough weather that's quickly moving off to the east and it's doing so in about 35 miles an hour. So going forward, we've got this area of severe weather that will exist for the next few hours here. Extremely parts of eastern North Carolina. And then what we saw yesterday in Tupelo could very well re-fire again today, places like Memphis into Nashville. Huntsville, Alabama will be under the gun. Damaging winds, large hail, isolated tornadoes, you've got a slight risk of seeing this pop up later on today. And then tomorrow the same area, another pulse of energy comes through and the same area will be, well, upwards of a moderate risk. So one category higher as described by the Storms Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. So these are the areas that we're watching carefully here, Tony and Fredricka, and...
[Harris:] Well, looks like...
[Whitfield:] A big area.
[Harris:] Yes, it is.
[Marciano:] A big area and right over the weekend as well. A quick shot of New York. We do have the flood threat for really places like Newark, south to D.C., along I-95 corridor today. Heavy rain possible. There you see Lady Liberty. Not the best of visibility today in New York City.
[Harris:] Yes.
[Marciano:] You'll see some rain.
[Harris:] Here we go again, Rob. Here we go again.
[Marciano:] Yes, be careful out there.
[Harris:] If you are in a situation where you know that some extreme weather is coming your way, what we would like you to do is let that weather pass. Go to an area that is safe. But once the weather clears, if you would wouldn't mind send us an iReport. Let me give the address, CNN.com, click on iReport, or type ireport@CNN.com into your cell phone. Send us those pictures and a description of what you are seeing. But as always be safe.
[Whitfield:] All right. Another superdelegate defection from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama. An Obama campaign aide confirms the switch. Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey is the third person to leave Clinton for Obama in the past 72 hours alone. Obama is campaigning in Oregon today ahead of the May 20th primary there. Clinton has campaign stops in Oregon and Kentucky today. She is urging supporters to ignore the calls for her to quit. She promises to keep going. Clinton is counting on a win in Tuesday's West Virginia primary. Meantime, on the Republican side, John McCain holds a news conference in New Jersey this morning. He delivered pizzas to a New York fire station yesterday. McCain heads to South Carolina later on today.
[Harris:] Divided Democrats, the battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton highlights another split of the one between so-called red and blue Democrats. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider explains.
[William Schneider, Cnn Senior Political Analyst:] You've heard about the red-blue divide in American politics. Barack Obama condemns Republicans for exploiting it.
[Sen. Barack Obama , Presidential Candidate:] To slice and dice this country into red states and blue states, blue collar and white collar, white, black, brown, young, old, rich, poor.
[Schneider:] Well, it's happening already inside the Democratic Party. Barack Obama is winning the blue Democrats young voters, upscale urban professionals, well educated liberals and African- Americans. Hillary Clinton is getting the red Democrats seniors, whites, blue collar and rural voters and more conservative Democrats. The split has gotten bigger since Clinton became a gun-toting, whiskey drinking, street fighting, tax-cutting populist.
[Sen. Hillary Clinton , Presidential Candidate:] And I know how hard you're working, working for yourselves and working your family. And I will never stop fighting for you.
[Schneider:] In Indiana, nearly half the Democratic primary voters said they have a gun in their household. They voted for Clinton. And the half of Democrats who did not own a gun? They voted for Obama. Red versus blue means left versus right. In Indiana, Clinton lost liberal Democrats to Obama. They are the blue voters. Clinton and Obama split the moderates. Conservatives or red Democrats voted heavily for Clinton. This is the first time this year we've seen such a sharp ideological division among Democratic voters. The deeper that split becomes, the greater to risk to Democrats in the fall if Obama wins the nomination. Among Clinton voters in North Carolina on Tuesday fewer than half said they would support Obama over McCain. Whereas 70 percent of Obama voters said they would vote for Clinton over McCain. [On Camera] Red Democrats, older, more blue collar, more conservative, are the most likely to vote for a Republican. The Clinton supporters argument, she would be the strongest nominee because she would be more likely to hold them. The Obama supporters' argument, he'll hold them because they are hurting so much under a Republican president. Bill Schneider, CNN, New York.
[Whitfield:] Outrage, desperation and a shocking development in Myanmar. United Nations is now suspending aid shipments to the country. It happened just a short time ago. Actually it's the World Food Program that works underneath the U.N. that is actually making these suspensions. The reason, it says the military government has seized some 38 tons of much-needed relief supplies for those cyclone survivors. CNN's Hugh Riminton is across the border in Bangkok, Thailand. He joins us now. Hugh, what do you have?
[Hugh Riminton, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, the World Food Program stars itself as the world's biggest humanitarian agency. Why would this agency stop now giving aid, suspend giving aid to the country that is so desperately in need of it? It's because it says Myanmar is breaking the rules. They got in two flights Friday. They were carrying 38 tons chiefly of food, high- energy biscuits and the like, and they brought it in. It was off- loaded on to the tarmac. It was immediately seized by Myanmar authorities. This is a breach of international humanitarian rules. The U.N. says it does not dump and run. It has its own networks of hundreds of expert people able to make sure this gets to the right people, the people who need it most out on the ground. And this development they see is a woeful breach of trust. Top officials are absolutely furious about it.
[Toby Banbury, U.n. World Food Program:] I am furious. It is unacceptable. You know, for a relief worker, for a World Food Program staff member, the worst thing in the world that can happen is for a disaster like this to strike. The second worst thing in the world to happen is not to be able to do anything about it. And that's what's happening now.
[Riminton:] Now the 38 tons that they put in there has the means to feed 95,000 people per day. 95,000 people for a day. That's just up two flights. They had three more flights that were going to go in over the next 24 hours not just with food, but medical equipment and the like, but also lots of logistical support including boats that they've loaded on to planes to fly in there because it is boats that is the only way to reach the hardest hit areas -Fredricka.
[Whitfield:] Wow. That's extraordinary. Now that's the U.N. effort there. Other NGOs on the ground or at least in the region want to help. And then of course, there's the U.S. as well, Hugh, which has made it clear they have another set of shiploads and cargo in which to deliver, but they can't get it into Myanmar. What's the latest on the U.S. efforts?
[Riminton:] Well, I mean, people might remember back to the tsunami, particularly in Indonesia, those pictures, their vision of U.S. army helicopters flying into these areas that couldn't be reached by any other means, giving out enormous amounts of aid, saving lives hour by hour. They've got that capacity right now to do that in Myanmar. They need the approval of the authorities. And if they are not letting the U.N. go to work there...
[Whitfield:] Right.
[Riminton:] ...are they going to let the U.S. in there? It would seem improbable at the moment. And so all the Americans hopes to be able to make a big difference are being held up by this intransigent by the military rulers in Myanmar.
[Whitfield:] Wow. That's extraordinary. Hugh Riminton, thank you so much. And in addition to this aid being suspended, I spoke with this man, an exclusive interview with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar and if the U.N. is willing to try to enter this country, distribute this aid without the permission of the government. I asked him and some candid remarks coming up.
[Harris:] Deadly battles in Beirut. Hezbollah militants take over a section of the city. A live report from the Lebanese capital straight ahead.