European Stocks Lower in Midday Trading

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 9:55 am (UTC-5)
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The major U.S. stock indexes were mixed at the start of Thursday's trading, following reports on jobless claims and the housing market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up slightly, while the S&P 500 Index gained one-tenth of a percent and the NASDAQ fell almost two-tenths of a percent.

European stock prices were lower in afternoon trading.

London's Financial Times index fell 1.3 percent. The CAC-40 in dropped 1 percent. And trading on the DAX index in Frankfurt slipped almost eight-tenths of a percent.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei index plunged 1.7 percent to finish at 9,411. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost almost 1.8 percent to finish the day's trading at 21,953.

The price of gold fell less than $2 to trade at $1,529.07 an ounce.

The dollar is down against the yen but rose against the euro.

Bangladesh, US Energy Giant Sign Gas Exploration Deal

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 9:45 am (UTC-5)
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Bangladesh has signed a deal with the American company ConocoPhillips in a bid to locate new sources of gas before the country's current reserves run out within the next few years.

Government officials announced the deal Thursday, saying the agreement gives the U.S. energy giant exploration rights to two areas in the Bay of Bengal.

A local group is criticizing the government for allegedly allowing a foreign company the siphon off Bangladeshi energy. However, the government says this is not true.

Officials also say the deal does not involve disputed waters also claimed by Burma and India.

Security Council to Recommend UN Chief for 2nd Term

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 9:40 am (UTC-5)
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The United Nations Security Council is expected to recommend the reappointment of Ban Ki-moon for a second term as U.N. chief.

Mr. Ban faces no other candidates. His bid has the backing of the United States and other key members of the U.N. Security Council, and he appears almost certain to be re-elected.

The Security Council is expected to endorse his bid this week. The U.N. General Assembly will then vote to confirm him on June 21.

U.S. President Barack Obama has welcomed Mr. Ban's candidacy. The White House said last week that the U.N. secretary-general has made important reforms and led the world body as it played a critical role in crises and challenges around the world — including in Haiti, Ivory Coast, Libya and South Sudan.

Mr. Ban formally announced his candidacy for a second five-year term last week.

The 66-year-old former South Korean foreign minister said he sent a letter to the 192 U.N. member states to “humbly” offer himself for re-election. Mr. Ban has been secretary-general since January 1, 2007, and his term ends on December 31.

Chinese Premier to Visit Germany, Britain

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 9:30 am (UTC-5)
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Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will make official visits to Hungary, Britain and Germany next week.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei says Mr. Wen is visiting at the invitation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

He says the meetings will focus on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern.

China's official Xinhua news agency says while in Germany, Mr. Wen will serve as a co-chairperson for the first China-Germany governmental consultation along with Ms. Merkel.

The trip will take place from June 24 to June 28.

Militants Launch More Attacks in Southern Yemen

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 9:25 am (UTC-5)
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Armed militants have attacked government buildings near the southern Yemeni town of Houta, which they assaulted on Wednesday.

Residents told Reuters news agency the attackers in the Thursday assault briefly took over a security forces administrative building and council offices before retreating.

On Wednesday, the al-Qaida-linked group Ansar al-Sharia, or Supporters of Sharia , attacked Houta before dawn, briefly seizing key areas of the provincial capital and battling with government security forces.

The assaults have raised concerns about increased violence from Islamist groups in Yemen's restive south amid nationwide anti-government protests and the absence of embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Meanwhile, the French news agency reports Yemeni authorities have arrested 10 al-Qaida suspects in the main southern city of Aden.

Militants seized two other southern cities in May, including Zinjibar. Continued fighting there has forced hundreds of civilians to flee to Aden.

President Saleh is recuperating in Saudi Arabia from injuries sustained in a bomb attack on his presidential compound earlier this month. Yemen's state-run news agency says the president told Saudi government officials by telephone Wednesday that his health was improving.

Anti-government demonstrators in Yemen want Mr. Saleh to step down. Protesters have been calling for a transitional council that excludes members of the current government.

Somali Pirates Rescue Crew as Ship Burns

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 8:45 am (UTC-5)
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Somali pirates say they have evacuated 19 crew members from a hijacked ship that caught fire Wednesday.

The Panama-flagged cargo ship MV Orna caught fire in the pirate stronghold of Harardhere, on Somalia's Indian Ocean coast.

VOA's Somali service talked to a regional piracy expert, Andrew Mwangura, who says the ship was still on fire as of Thursday afternoon local time.

A pirate said he and his colleagues were trying to put out the blaze.

It is not clear what caused the fire.

The ship's crew remains in pirate captivity.

Somali pirates continue to target vessels in the Indian Ocean despite international patrols aimed at stopping the hijackings.

The pirates have received hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom to release the ships and their crew.

Last week, pirates were reportedly paid $12 million for the release of a Kuwaiti oil tanker that had been held since late March.

Center-Right Leader Passos Coelho Named Portugal’s New PM

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 8:45 am (UTC-5)
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Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva has named center-right leader Pedro Passos Coelho as the new prime minister of the financially troubled country.

Mr. Coelho and his Social Democrat Party won this month's parliamentary elections, knocking the Socialists out of power.

The new prime minister says he will work quickly to form a new coalition government with the right-wing CDS-PP and start working to solve the country's economic problems.

The new government will have to implement an unpopular series of deep spending cuts and economic reforms demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

The EU and IMF granted Portugal a $110-billion bailout in exchange for implementing the reforms, which are aimed at helping the country emerge from its economic woes.

Former Socialist prime minister Jose Socrates resigned in March, when the old parliament rejected his economic reform package. Mr. Socrates had struggled to avoid turning to the EU and IMF for help.

Hackers Claim Breach of CIA Website

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 8:40 am (UTC-5)
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Computer hackers say they breached the Central Intelligence Agency's website late Wednesday.

The CIA's public website experienced problems throughout the evening, and a group of hackers who call themselves “Lulz Security” said in a Twitter message: “Tango down – cia.gov.”

“Lulz Security” only claimed that it attacked the CIA's website. There was no immediate indication that sensitive data in the agency's internal computer network was accessed.

A CIA spokeswoman said the agency is looking into the report.

The same group of hackers has claimed responsibility for recent attacks on websites operated by the U.S. Senate, Sony Corporation, Nintendo and the Public Broadcasting System television network in the United States.

The group is believed to have members in other countries as well as the United States. It has suggested its exploitation of public websites is intended to highlight weaknesses in cybersecurity.

Cross-Border Attack Kills 5 in Pakistan

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 8:30 am (UTC-5)
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More than 250 militants have crossed from Afghanistan, attacking a village in Pakistan's northwest tribal region with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.

Pakistani officials and local residents say the militants killed at least five civilians, including two women, in Thursday's cross-border attack in Bajaur. Three other women were wounded.

Pakistani security forces and members of a local tribal militia retaliated, sparking fighting that lasted several hours. Officials say militants also kidnapped some local tribesmen.

Thursday's cross-border attack was the second this month. Militants from Afghanistan swarmed into Pakistan's Upper Dir tribal district on June 1, sparking at least two days of fighting with security forces. At least 27 troops and some 35 militants were killed.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Upper Dir attack.

Pakistan has complained that Afghan and NATO forces in Afghanistan are not doing enough to crack down on insurgents on the Afghan side of the border.

Separately, police say gunmen on motorcycles have killed former Olympian boxer Abrar Hussain in Quetta, the capital of the Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan.

Authorities are investigating a motive, but police suspect Thursday's attack was a sectarian killing. Hussain was a member of the minority Shi'ite Muslim community.

The boxer represented Pakistan in the 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics and won gold at the 1990 Asian Games.

Blast Hits Nigeria Police Headquarters

Posted June 16th, 2011 at 8:30 am (UTC-5)
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A powerful bomb has exploded outside Nigerian police headquarters in the capital, Abuja, killing at least one person.

Officials with Nigeria's emergency management agency say they suspect a suicide bomber carried out the attack and died in the blast.

In an interview with VOA, a spokesman for the Islamic militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Boko Haram has been blamed for a string of attacks in northeastern Nigeria that targeted police, government officials, and other authority figures.

Thursday's bomb blast went off in a parking lot near police headquarters. Nigerian television aired video showing thick black smoke and flames rising from damaged cars.

Fire and rescue officials are at the scene and police have cordoned off all roads leading to the area.

Reuters news agency quotes a Red Cross spokesman as saying the agency is carrying out bodies and treating casualties at the attack site.

Nigeria experiences frequent bomb attacks, stemming from political and sectarian tensions.

Last October, 12 people died in twin car bombings in Abuja on Nigeria's independence day. Authorities blamed the attack on militants from the country's volatile Niger Delta region.

Boko Haram is believed to carry out most of the attacks in Nigeria's northeast, especially in Borno state. The group is pushing to impose strict Islamic law across the north.

Boko Haram began an uprising against the government in July 2009, sparking a week of fighting in the north that killed some 700 people.

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