Tag: Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Better weather spurs hope over US oil spill

by Mira Oberman, AFP

Mon May 3, 11:16 am ET

VENICE, Louisiana (AFP) – Kinder weather Monday encouraged response teams to step up efforts to counter a massive oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico, but a wind shift also put the tourist beaches of Florida more at risk.

And the day after President Barack Obama visited the disaster zone on the southern coast of Louisiana and put the blame squarely at the firm’s door, BP accepted full responsibility and accepted to pay the cost.

“BP takes responsibility for responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We will clean it up,” the British energy giant said, vowing to consider all compensation claims “promptly” and pay them quickly if justified.

Afternoon Edition

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1 Disaster looms as oil slick reaches US coast

by Erica Berenstein, AFP

21 mins ago

VENICE, Louisiana (AFP) – Oil from a giant Gulf of Mexico slick washed onto Louisiana shores Friday, threatening an environmental calamity as President Barack Obama called for a “thorough review” of the disaster.

With up to 200,000 gallons of oil a day spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from a ruptured well, the accident stemming from a sunken offshore rig may soon rival the Exxon Valdez disaster as the worst oil spill in US history.

Strong southeast winds blew the first oily strands of the slick directly onto the coastal wetlands of South Pass near the mouth of the Mississippi river late Thursday, Billy Nungesser, president of Plaquemines Parish, where oil washed ashore, told AFP.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Louisiana coast under threat as oil spill worsens

by Allen Johnson, AFP

Thu Apr 29, 7:45 am ET

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – A giant oil slick threatened Thursday to pollute the fragile wetlands of Louisiana, as officials warned that toxic crude was pouring from a ruptured well into the Gulf of Mexico five times faster than previously estimated.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal called on the federal government for emergency help to stave off an environmental disaster after a sudden change in the wind direction turned week-long response efforts on their head.

The dangerous slick early Thursday reportedly was just 16 miles (25 kilometers) from shore, but hundreds of miles of coastline were under threat in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Pressure mounts on Germany to aid Greece

by Simon Sturdee, AFP

2 hrs 40 mins ago

BERLIN (AFP) – Pressure piled on Germany to stop stalling a package to rescue Greece from crippling debts Wednesday as the International Monetary Fund warned confidence in the whole eurozone was on the line.

The euro hit a one-year dollar low with a downgrade of Spain’s credit rating accelerating its fall, escalating fears that the Greek debt crisis is spreading across Europe a day after Greek debt was slashed to junk status.

Greece meanwhile acted to stop speculators operating on the Athens stock exchange as the interest rate it has to pay to borrow money hit 11.1 percent, only trailing Pakistan and Venezuela in the world’s highest interest payers.

Worth reading.

But with the General Workers Confederation announcing a general strike for May 5 against “neo-liberal blackmail”, his government is still holding out against proposals by the EU and IMF to cut salaries.

“We have been asked for a cut which we do not accept,” Labour Minister Andreas Loverdos said.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Chaos in Ukraine parliament as Russia deal ratified

by Anya Tsukanova, AFP

2 hrs 19 mins ago

KIEV (AFP) – Ukraine’s parliament erupted into chaos on Tuesday as deputies scuffled and hurled smoke bombs during a tumultuous session that ratified a bitterly contested deal with Russia extending a naval base lease.

Despite the extraordinary scenes that saw parliament — the Verkhovna Rada — filled with smoke, lawmakers ratified the deal to extend the stay of the Russian Black Sea fleet until at least 2042, denounced by the opposition as a sell-out for Ukraine.

The uproar started when the parliament speaker, Volodymr Lytvyn, was pelted with a volley of a dozen eggs, forcing him to duck for cover behind black umbrellas held by two aides.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Subs sent to seal leaks as US oil slick spreads

by Allen Johnson, AFP

2 hrs 48 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – Robotic submarines are on Monday racing to stop oil from a sunken rig streaming into the Gulf of Mexico, as BP warned that sealing the seabed leaks could take three months if the operation fails.

The British energy giant — which leases the stricken Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible platform — is desperately trying to prevent a massive slick from growing and spreading to Louisiana’s ecologically fragile coast.

Satellite images on Sunday showed the slick had spread by 50 percent in a day to cover an area of 600 square miles (1,550 square kilometers), although officials said almost all the oil was just a thin veneer on the sea’s surface.

Drill Baby Drill.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 58 dead as bombs sow mayhem in Iraq

by Marwa Sabah, AFP

1 hr 18 mins ago

BAGHDAD (AFP) – A wave of attacks across Iraq including five car bombs, three as prayers finished at Shiite mosques in Baghdad, killed 58 people on Friday just days after the government said Al-Qaeda was on the run.

The violence wounded dozens more and underscored the unrest that continues to plague a nation whose politicians are struggling to form a government almost seven weeks after a general election seen crucial to its long-term stability.

Two parked car bombs in the impoverished district of Sadr City killed 39 people and wounded 56, a security official said.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 One dead in Bangkok grenade attacks

by Thanaporn Promyamyai, AFP

1 hr 22 mins ago

BANGKOK (AFP) – A series of grenade attacks rocked central Bangkok on Thursday, killing one person and injuring more than 50, including foreigners, amid a tense stand-off between groups of rival protesters.

Five grenades were fired into a crowd in the capital’s business district, said army spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, where pro-government demonstrators were facing off with their rival “Red Shirts”.

One Thai woman died, according to a local hospital, after the grenades hit the mass of pro-government supporters. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva immediately called an emergency meeting with security officials.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Silent tribute as China mourns quake victims

by Marianne Barriaux, AFP

1 hr 49 mins ago

BEIJING (AFP) – China observed a day of national mourning on Wednesday for victims of its killer quake, with newspaper front pages bathed in black and flags lowered to half-mast around the country.

Top leaders and thousands of other people paid a silent tribute to the victims of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake that struck a remote area of northwestern China a week ago, leaving at least 2,064 people dead.

Another 175 people were still missing and more than 12,000 injured after the quake flattened thousands of mainly mudbrick and wood homes in the Yushu region of Qinghai province, a rugged area populated by ethnic Tibetans.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Thai protesters back down after live fire threat

by Boonradom Chitradon, AFP

Tue Apr 20, 11:50 am ET

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thailand on Tuesday toughened its stance against anti-government protesters, warning security forces would use live ammunition and tear gas in any fresh clashes.

Ten days after 25 people were killed and 800 wounded in a failed attempt to dislodge the red-shirted demonstrators, the government said it was determined to end four weeks of rallies but would not give a date for the crackdown.

Confronted by the newly muscular approach and an intimidating military presence in Bangkok’s financial hub, the protesters were forced to cancel plans for a march to the strategic district.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

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1 Bombs at market, school kill 24 in Pakistan’s Peshawar

by Lehaz Ali, AFP

2 hrs 27 mins ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) – At least 24 people including a child and police officials were killed Monday in bombings hours apart at a high school and a crowded market in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, officials said.

The attacks take the number of people killed in bombings in northwest Pakistan to 73 in three days, after weekend suicide strikes bearing the hallmarks of Taliban militants left 49 people dead in the city of Kohat.

As dusk fell Monday at Peshawar’s busy Qissa Khawani Bazaar, a suicide bomber walked into the crowd and detonated explosives, scattering shoes and human limbs on the street and destroying cars, witnesses said.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Goldman Sachs charged with fraud by SEC

By Jonathan Stempel and Steve Eder, Reuters

22 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc was charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its marketing of a debt product tied to subprime mortgages that was designed to fail.

The lawsuit is the biggest crisis in years for Goldman, which emerged from the global financial crisis as Wall Street’s most influential bank.

It is also a huge test for Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, who has faced a firestorm of criticism over the bank’s pay and business practices. It comes as lawmakers in Washington debate sweeping reform of financial industry regulation.

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