U.S. stocks were higher at the closing Friday, following gains in Europe. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 1 percent to close at 11,269. The S&P 500 rose half a percent to 1,179, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed six-tenths of 1 percent to 2,508. In London, the Financial Times 100 index ended up 3 […]
Crude Oil Prices Fall
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 4:15 pm (UTC-5)
Here are the prices of some commodities traded in New York on Friday: Crude oil prices fell 34 cents to $85.38 per barrel. Copper prices rose half a cent to $4.01 per pound. Cocoa futures advanced $23 to $2,879 per ton. Coffee prices dropped half a cent to $2.40 per pound. In Chicago trading, wheat […]
Libya Cracks Down on Use of Satellite Phones
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 4:00 pm (UTC-5)
The government of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is threatening to execute citizens caught using satellite phones without official authorization. State-run media reports say the crackdown is intended to keep citizens from using the phones to aid NATO. The alliance has been targeting government positions in a bombing campaign over Libya. The JANA news agency quotes […]
Russia Charges Prison Doctors in Magnitsky’s Death
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 3:25 pm (UTC-5)
Russia has charged two doctors in the 2009 death of imprisoned lawyer Sergei Magnitsky after he spent almost a year in a pre-trial detention center. A spokesman for the Investigative Committee said Friday it had established a direct link between Magnitsky’s death and the actions of the doctors in the prison. The chief physician at […]
Syrian Forces Use Deadly Fire on Protesters
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 3:10 pm (UTC-5)
Syrian security forces have used live ammunition on protesters calling for President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster. Activists and witnesses say forces opened fire and killed at least 15 people on Friday when thousands of anti-government demonstrators rallied in streets across the country. They say protesters were killed in areas that include the cities of Hama, Homs […]
US Health Insurance Mandate Suffers Setback
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 2:25 pm (UTC-5)
A U.S. appeals court has ruled that part of the Obama administration’s overhaul of the health care system is unconstitutional. A divided three-judge panel Friday struck down the provision of the law that requires all Americans to pay for health insurance by 2014 or face a penalty. In its decision, the panel wrote that the […]
US Aid Chief Abruptly Leaves Egypt
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 2:20 pm (UTC-5)
The U.S. official who oversaw distribution of Washington’s aid to development programs in Egypt has abruptly left his post, amid criticism the United States has been improperly funding Egypt’s pro-democracy groups. Officials said Friday that the USAID director for Egypt, Jim Bever, had returned to Washington. They denied his departure was a result of anti-American […]
Chinese Rights Activist Goes on Trial
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 2:15 pm (UTC-5)
((Updates w/Amnesty React last graf) A Chinese human rights activist has gone on trial in Beijing, nearly four months after her arrest in a widespread crackdown on dissent. Wang Lihong — a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations — was taken into custody in April and charged with creating a disturbance. Rights groups say […]
Poland Train Derailment Kills 4
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 2:10 pm (UTC-5)
A passenger train has derailed in Poland, killing four people and injuring at least 20 others. The train was traveling between Warsaw and Katowice when it derailed near the town of Baby, with the engine and three cars leaving the tracks, and at least one car tipping over on its side. The cause of the […]
Al-Shabab Vows to Use Guerilla Tactics in Somalia
Posted August 12th, 2011 at 1:50 pm (UTC-5)
Somalia’s militant group al-Shabab says it will use guerilla tactics in the capital, Mogadishu, where a massive new shipment of foreign aid has just arrived in the famine-hit country. In an interview aired on London’s Somali Channel on Friday, al-Shabab leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys said the group will use the new strategy because it […]
