Two convicted in NY airport plot
August 3, 2010
Two men charged with plotting to blow up fuel tanks at New York’s JFK Airport have been found guilty.
Prosecutors had said Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir planned to cause a huge explosion by igniting the fuel depot and underground pipelines in 2007.
Seventeen partygoers shot dead in Mexico
July 19, 2010
An attack on a birthday party in the northern Mexican city of Torreon has left 17 people dead and more than a dozen injured, police say.
Gunmen sprayed bullets at revellers after storming the party inside a walled garden in the city in Coahuila state, across the border from Texas.
Argentine Senate backs bill legalising gay marriage
July 15, 2010
Argentina has become the first country in Latin America to legalise gay marriage after the Senate voted in favour.
The country’s Chamber of Deputies had already approved the legislation.
The vote in the Senate, which backed the bill by just six votes, came after 14 hours of at times heated debate.
US ’spies’ court move ahead of Russian ’swap’
July 8, 2010
Ten suspected Russian spies are being moved to New York to face charges ahead of a possible prisoner swap.
The suspects are due to appear together in a federal court on Thursday.
Reports from the US and Moscow suggest Washington may opt to deport the 10 in exchange for Russian prisoners.
Russian ’spy ring’ suspects denied bail by US courts
July 3, 2010
Three suspected Russian spies held by the US have been denied bail by a Virginia court.
The suspects were returned to jail after two admitted being Russian citizens living under assumed names.
CIA defends Blackwater contract worth $100m
June 28, 2010
The head of CIA has defended awarding a large contract to the controversial security company formerly known as Blackwater.
The director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, said the company’s bid was US $26m less than its nearest rival.
President Barack Obama berates North Korea over Cheonan
June 27, 2010
US President Barack Obama has said North Korea must be “held to account” for the sinking of a South Korean warship.
He said he stood with South Korean leader Lee Myung-Bak, and condemned Pyongyang’s “irresponsible behaviour”.
G20: Merkel insists there are no divisions with Obama
June 26, 2010
Germany’s chancellor has insisted that Europe’s leaders are making good progress in talks with the US about how to bolster fragile economic growth.
Angela Merkel told journalists at the G8 summit in Canada there was “mutual understanding” with President Barack Obama over deficit reduction plans.
The G8 leaders will be joined later by China and other rising economic powers for the G20 summit.
Dominating the agenda are the global economic situation and banking reform.
The twin summits, being held in and near Toronto, have come at a time when the world’s largest economies are divided over whether to pursue austerity measures to cut deficits, or continue public spending to stimulate economic growth.Mr Obama is worried that a series of deep budget cuts announced by European countries may delay global recovery.
But on Friday, after an initial meeting of the G8 - US, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, Japan - Mrs Merkel said there was much common ground.
“I have made it clear that we need sustainable growth and that growth and intelligent austerity measures don’t have to be contradictions,” Mrs Merkel told journalists.
“The discussion was not controversial, there was a lot of mutual understanding,” she said.
President Obama voiced his concerns about the speed of budget cuts in a letter to G20 leaders last week, while Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told the BBC that Europe should focus on growth as well as cutting spending.
‘Growth and confidence’
“Europe can make a choice to put in place the reforms and policies that will provide the possibility of stronger growth rates in the future,” Mr Geithner said.
“This [G20] meeting gives us the chance to sit together and look at whether we’ve got a broad strategy across countries that’s going to strengthen this recovery.
Earlier on Friday Mr Obama called for the G20 to pull together to promote economic growth, saying that world economies are “inextricably linked”.
The president was speaking just hours after US lawmakers agreed the biggest reform of financial regulation since the Great Depression.
Mr Obama said that the G20 had made progress in its last two meetings in responding to “the worst financial crisis of our time”.
“This weekend in Toronto I hope we can build on this progress by co-ordinating our efforts to promote economic growth, to pursue financial reform, and to strengthen the global economy,” Mr Obama said.
‘Big risk’
UK Prime Minister David Cameron denied that he was at odds with Mr Obama over the speed with which budget cuts should be made.
But Mr Cameron told the BBC before the G8 met that those countries with the biggest deficits “have to accelerate the process of dealing with them because the big risk to our economies is actually not dealing with the deficits.”
“The restoring of confidence in budgetary policies go hand in hand with effective growth strategies,” he said ahead of the meetings.
The G8 agreed to donate $5bn (£3.3bn) over five years towards improving the health of mothers and young children in the developing world.
The pledge, intended to help tackle one of the UN Millennium Developments goals, was descibred as inadequate by anti-povery groups.
Meanwhile, reports suggested that the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, would miss the G20 summit to stay in Brazil after a series of floods struck the north-east of the country.
Source: thedailystar.net
G20: Merkel insists there are no divisions with Obama
June 26, 2010
Germany’s chancellor has insisted that Europe’s leaders are making good progress in talks with the US about how to bolster fragile economic growth.
Angela Merkel told journalists at the G8 summit in Canada there was “mutual understanding” with President Barack Obama over deficit reduction plans.
BP CEO Tony Hayward criticised for yacht trip
June 20, 2010
BP CEO Tony Hayward has faced fresh criticism for taking time off to go sailing with his son instead of dealing with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP CEO Tony Hayward has faced fresh criticism for taking time off to go sailing with his son instead of dealing with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.