Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Suicide attack kills 65 in Pakistan tribal belt

by Lehaz Ali, AFP

1 hr 50 mins ago

YAKAGHUND, Pakistan (AFP) – A suicide attacker and a suspected car bomb unlea0shed carnage in a busy Pakistani market on Friday, killing 65 people including woman and children and burying victims under pulverised shops.

The attacks devastated Yakaghund town in the district of Mohmand, one of seven that make up Pakistan’s northwest tribal belt which Washington calls a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

It was the deadliest attack in nuclear-armed Pakistan since gunmen wearing suicide vests stormed prayer halls belonging to the minority Ahmadi community in the city of Lahore in May, killing at least 82 people.

2 Google says China has renewed its operating licence

by Robert Saiget, AFP

Fri Jul 9, 11:58 am ET

BEIJING (AFP) – US web giant Google said Friday its licence to operate in China, the world’s largest Internet market, has been renewed, ending weeks of tension over Beijing’s handling of the issue.

“We have got the renewal,” Google’s Beijing-based spokeswoman Marsha Wang told AFP.

“We are very pleased we got the ICP (Internet Content Provider) annual renewal. We are very pleased we can continue to provide products and services to our users.”

3 Cavendish equals Tour sprint greats with 12th win

by Justin Davis, AFP

1 hr 52 mins ago

GUEUGNON, France (AFP) – Mark Cavendish wrote a new page in British cycling history when he equalled the feats of three of the Tour de France’s top sprint greats with his 12th career victory on Friday.

Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland retained the race leader’s jersey after a long, 227.5km sixth stage from Montargis which, for the second day in a row, resulted in a bunch sprint after another futile breakaway.

For the second consecutive day Cavendish proved too fast for his rivals, the Isle of Man sprinter coming off the wheel of formidable lead-out man Mark Renshaw to finish the final 200 metres on his own.

4 Spanish party pooper plots Sneijder downfall

by David Legge, AFP

Fri Jul 9, 12:40 pm ET

JOHANNESBUERG (AFP) – Spaniard Sergio Busquets dreams of being a party pooper Sunday when he faces Dutch star Wesley Sneijder in the World Cup final.

While Busquets was part of the Barcelona team that won the Spanish title, Sneijder is chasing a fourth winners medal having helped Inter Milan conquer Europe after they raised the Italian league and cup trophies.

Spain are favoured to win a Soccer City clash of countries who have never been world champions, but Sneijder poses a major threat after a superb tournament that triggered a 35-million-euro offer from Manchester United.

5 New York lights fire under city’s smokers

by Sebastian Smith, AFP

Fri Jul 9, 9:55 am ET

NEW YORK (AFP) – New York’s smokers are puffing nervously in the face of new measures that leave them wondering how to afford their habit — and even where to light up.

A tax increase earlier this month sent prices, already the highest in the United States, shooting to anything between 11 and 15 dollars a pack, or as much as 75 cents a smoke.

Then this week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a passionate anti-smoking ex-smoker, for the first time gave public backing to an idea aired by health officials to outlaw smoking in parks and on beaches.

6 Mattis named overall US commander of Iraq, Afghan wars

AFP

Thu Jul 8, 3:23 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Defense Secretary Robert Gates named General James Mattis on Thursday as the new head of US Central Command, or CENTCOM, which has overall control of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mattis, whose appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, replaces General David Petraeus, who took over direct command of the faltering Afghan conflict after his predecessor was fired for giving a damaging magazine interview.

“The post General Mattis is taking is a critical one at a critical time,” Gates told reporters Thursday in announcing his recommendation to President Barack Obama.

7 Boeing joins rival in race for US military mega project

by Andrew Beatty, AFP

Fri Jul 9, 12:14 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US aerospace giant Boeing on Friday submitted its bid for a 40-billion dollar US military contract, joining battle with its bitter rival Airbus.

Boeing hand-delivered a 8,000-page proposal to build 179 aerial refuelling tankers to a US Air Force base in Ohio early Friday, setting the stage for a high-stakes transatlantic trade scrap.

The contract — worth an estimated 35-40 billion dollars — is seen as crucial in reinforcing US air power and could be a financial jackpot for the winning firm.

8 NBA giant James to join stars at Miami Heat

AFP

Fri Jul 9, 4:26 am ET

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The NBA’s reigning two-time MVP LeBron James ended months of suspense and guess work by announcing he is leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to sign with the Miami Heat.

James’ decision to leave his hometown and head south to Florida to play alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh gives the Heat one of the most dynamic power trios in league history.

“The attraction in Miami is being alongside Dwyane Wade and being alongside Chris Bosh. It is a new challenge for myself,” James said.

9 China’s AgBank on track for record IPO

by Peter Brieger, AFP

Fri Jul 9, 6:46 am ET

HONG KONG (AFP) – Agricultural Bank of China is on course for a record 22.1 billion US dollar initial public offering after pricing its Hong Kong shares, reflecting continued investor confidence in China.

The bank on Friday priced its shares in the Hong Kong portion of the IPO at 3.20 Hong Kong dollars (41 US cents).

Assuming an over-allotment option is exercised, the dual Hong Kong-Shanghai listing should outpace Industrial & Commercial Bank of China’s 21.9 billion dollar offering in 2006.

10 U.S. will announce new drilling moratorium soon

By Dan Whitcomb, Reuters

28 mins ago

MALIBU, California (Reuters) – The Obama administration promised on Friday it would announce a new deepwater oil drilling moratorium shortly, and a U.S. company became the first to pull a rig out of the Gulf of Mexico because of uncertainty surrounding the ban.

Diamond Offshore Drilling said it was moving its Ocean Endeavor rig to Egypt from the Gulf, where deepwater drilling has been halted because of the 81-day-old BP Plc oil spill.

A federal court in New Orleans on Thursday refused to reinstate the six-month ban on drilling below 500 feet, which the Obama administration imposed after BP’s Macondo undersea well blew out on April 20.

11 Russia, U.S. swap 14 in Cold War-style spy exchange

By Guy Faulconbridge and Heinz-Peter Bader, Reuters

27 mins ago

MOSCOW/VIENNA (Reuters) – Russia and the United States conducted the biggest spy swap since the Cold War on Friday, trading agents on Vienna airport tarmac in an evocative climax to an espionage drama that had threatened improving ties.

Two aircraft — one Russian, one American — parked side by side for around 90 minutes. The agents changed places under the cover of gangways as waves of heat rose from the tarmac.

The Russian plane then took off, followed by the U.S. jet in an echo of Soviet-era spy trades across the Iron Curtain in central Europe. Officials in Vienna, once a center of Cold War intrigue, maintained a news blackout.

12 Google gets nod from China to keep search page

By Melanie Lee, Reuters

1 hr 56 mins ago

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Google Inc said China has given it permission to continue operating its Chinese search page, resolving a censorship dispute that had threatened Google’s future in the world’s biggest Internet market.

The news sent Google shares up 2 percent as it eased immediate concerns that Beijing would kick the company out for taking a hard stance against Web censorship.

Analysts, however, stressed that Google’s position in China remains fragile and that the Chinese market likely will account for a fraction of Google’s revenue for some time.

13 Amid gunfire, U.S. troops try to bring governance to Kandahar

By Jonathon Burch, Reuters

Fri Jul 9, 12:17 pm ET

KUHAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) – As U.S. soldiers from Alpha Company stepped out of their outpost on a scorching July morning in Arghandab in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, an all too familiar sound rang through the air.

“Can you hear that? They’re blowing their horns again,” one soldier shouts down the line.

It is a sound the U.S. soldiers have become accustomed to nearly every time they go out on patrol — insurgents sounding their car and motorcycle horns, warning each other the Americans are on the move.

14 California transit cop verdict sparks looting

By Steve Gorman and Peter Henderson, Reuters

Fri Jul 9, 2:32 am ET

LOS ANGELES/OAKLAND, California (Reuters) – A white former transit police officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a videotaped shooting death of an unarmed black man last year in Oakland, California, sparking a wave of looting and destruction in the city on Thursday.

The verdict prompted a peaceful protest by up to 1,000 people in downtown Oakland, which gave way after nightfall to some people looting stores, smashing car windows, throwing powerful fireworks at police and lighting fires in trash cans.

The police, numbering in the hundreds, made more than 50 arrests, but Oakland police expected that figure could double.

15 Judge rules U.S. gay marriage ban unconstitutional

By Ros Krasny, Reuters

Thu Jul 8, 8:10 pm ET

BOSTON (Reuters) – In a victory for gay rights in the United States, a U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts ruled on Thursday that a federal ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

Judge Joseph Tauro in Boston ruled in favor of gay couples’ rights in two separate challenges to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, arguing that the law interferes with the right of states to define marriage.

Massachusetts had argued DOMA denied benefits to same-sex couples in the state, where such unions have been legal since 2004. Four other states — Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Iowa — also allow same-sex marriage, as does Washington, D.C.

16 Joblessness and housing add risks to U.S. recovery: IMF

By David Lawder, Reuters

Thu Jul 8, 6:53 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – High unemployment and a moribund housing market have increased risks to the U.S. economic recovery, while the public debt looms large and needs to be cut, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

In a statement after annual consultations with U.S. authorities, the IMF raised its U.S. growth forecasts slightly to 3.3 percent for 2010 and 2.9 percent for 2011, but said unemployment would remain above 9 percent for both years.

The lofty jobless rate, coupled with a large backlog of home foreclosures and high levels of negative home equity, posed risks of a “double dip” in the housing market, it said. But the IMF said it did not think a renewed recession was likely.

17 New cap, ships could contain Gulf leak by Monday

By TOM BREEN, Associated Press Writer

33 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – The federal official leading the Gulf oil spill cleanup said Friday a new containment cap and an additional ship collecting oil could effectively contain the spill in the next three days.

The work to replace a leaky containment cap on the well head with a tighter one will begin Saturday, National Incident Commander Thad Allen said. At the same time, a ship connecting to a different part of the leak is expected to come online Sunday.

Oil will flow unimpeded into the Gulf during the cap switch for at least part of the weekend.

18 Twin suicide bombs kill 62 in Pakistan tribal area

By RIAZ KHAN and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writers

41 mins ago

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A pair of suicide bombings killed 62 people Friday outside a government office in a region along the Afghan border where the Pakistani army and U.S. missiles have had some success in decreasing the number of such attacks.

The assault, which wounded at least 111 people, was one of the deadliest in Pakistan this year. There was speculation that the bombers were targeting anti-Taliban tribal elders visiting the government office in the village of Yakaghund, part of the Mohmand tribal area in the country’s northwest.

The attackers struck within seconds of each other as two U.S. senators met with Pakistani leaders in the capital, Islamabad, to discuss their countries’ cooperation in the fight against terrorism, much of it being waged in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan where al-Qaida and the Taliban have long had redoubts.

19 Feds opening investigation into transit killing

By PAUL ELIAS and GREG RISLING, Associated Press Writers

1 hr 33 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division will investigate a white former transit officer who was convicted in state court of killing an unarmed black man – a verdict that touched off angry protests and more than 80 arrests in Oakland.

In a move reminiscent of the Rodney King beating case in Los Angeles, the federal government said it intends to investigate Johannes Mehserle, who was found guilty Thursday in state court of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant.

Mehserle faces a range of possible sentences – from probation to 14 years in prison.

20 China renews Google license despite censorship row

By JOE MCDONALD, AP Business Writer

1 hr 13 mins ago

BEIJING – China renewed Google’s license to operate a website, preserving the search giant’s toehold in the world’s most populous country after the company gave up an attempt to skirt Beijing’s censorship practices.

Google said Friday that Chinese officials had approved its Internet content provider, or ICP, license but gave no details of what services it would offer.

Renewal had been in question after Google began automatically redirecting users in China to an uncensored Hong Kong search site. But the company dismantled the virtual bridge to Hong Kong last week after regulators objected to the sleight of hand and threatened to revoke its Internet license.

21 Cavendish takes 6th stage for 2nd straight TDF win

By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 39 mins ago

GUEUGNON, France – Mark Cavendish made it two straight Tour de France stage victories Friday, leading a sprint for the line as the main title contenders finished in a closely trailing pack.

The 25-year-old native of Britain’s Isle of Man raised his hands in celebration at the end of the hot, mostly flat 141.3-mile sixth stage from Montargis to Gueugnon.

The HTC Columbia rider earned his 12th career Tour stage victory and fifth in all races this year – clocking 5 hours, 37 minutes, 42 seconds to edge Tyler Farrar of the U.S. and Alessandro Petacchi of Italy.

22 Seer sucker: Octopus oracle picks Spain to win

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, Associated Press Writer

1 hr 32 mins ago

BERLIN – There’s been plenty of ink for Paul the octopus lately, and why not?

The octopus, also known as the “Oracle of Oberhausen,” has successfully predicted the winner of six World Cup matches so far.

Now, Paul has forecast the winner of Sunday’s championship match. And rather than go out on a limb – or maybe eight of them – the critter is sticking with the favorite, picking Spain over the Netherlands.

23 Into the cold: Swapped spies face uncertain lives

By JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Writers

1 hr 23 mins ago

MOSCOW – They are abruptly entering radically different lives – 10 spies for Russia who hid in suburban America bartered for four agents imprisoned by Moscow in the biggest spy swap since the Cold War.

Family dramas unfolded behind the scenes Friday as the fiction of ordinary American life was replaced by the realities of modern Russia – and early indications were that the spy ring did not get a hero’s welcome.

“They obviously were very bad spies if they got caught. They got caught, so they should be tried,” said Sasha Ivanov, a businessman walking by a Moscow train station.

24 China renews Google license despite censorship row

By JOE MCDONALD, AP Business Writer

1 hr 28 mins ago

BEIJING – China renewed Google’s license to operate a website, preserving the search giant’s toehold in the world’s most populous country after the company gave up an attempt to skirt Beijing’s censorship practices.

Google said Friday that Chinese officials had approved its Internet content provider, or ICP, license but gave no details of what services it would offer.

Renewal had been in question after Google began automatically redirecting users in China to an uncensored Hong Kong search site. But the company dismantled the virtual bridge to Hong Kong last week after regulators objected to the sleight of hand and threatened to revoke its Internet license.

25 Wholesale inventories rise in May, sales fall

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

Fri Jul 9, 1:20 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Inventories held by wholesalers rose for a fifth consecutive month in May but sales fell for the first time in more than a year, sending a cautionary signal about the strength of the recovery.

Wholesale inventories increased 0.5 percent while sales dropped 0.3 percent, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the first decline for sales since March of 2009.

The May sales decline is the latest sign that the economic recovery could be losing momentum in the second half of the year. Weakness in sales could discourage businesses from boosting their orders. That would translate into a slowdown in factory production.

26 White House silent on Mass. gay marriage ruling

By DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs Writer

12 mins ago

BOSTON – A key part of a law denying married gay couples federal benefits has been thrown out the window in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage. The ball now lies in the White House’s court, which must carefully calculate the next move by an administration that has faced accusations it has not vigorously defended the law of the land.

President Barack Obama has said repeatedly that he would like to see the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, repealed. But the Justice Department has defended the constitutionality of the law, which it is required to do.

The administration was silent Friday on whether it would appeal rulings by U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro. Spokespeople for the White House and the Justice Department said officials are still reviewing the rulings.

27 Pope names official to run Legionaries

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer

58 mins ago

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI on Friday named a senior Vatican official to run the scandal-plagued Legionaries of Christ after an eight-month investigation of the order.

The Vatican announcement said Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, an Italian who heads the Holy See’s financial office, will serve as papal delegate for the Legionaries.

The appointment is the latest in a series of moves aimed at shoring up the church amid a worldwide clerical sex abuse scandal.

28 GOP leaders let demagogues set tone, lawmaker says

By BEN EVANS, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jul 9, 8:59 am ET

WASHINGTON – Too many Republican leaders are acquiescing to a poisonous “demagoguery” that threatens the party’s long-term credibility, says a veteran GOP House member who was defeated in South Carolina’s primary last month.

While not naming names, 12-year incumbent Rep. Bob Inglis suggested in interviews with The Associated Press that tea party favorites such as former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck are the culprits.

He cited a claim made famous by Palin that the Democratic health care bill would create “death panels” to decide whether elderly or sick people should get care.

29 Presbyterians continue to be divided over gays

By PATRICK CONDON, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jul 9, 12:03 pm ET

MINNEAPOLIS – A split decision from Presbyterian leaders on two gay-friendly measures guarantees even more debate among the U.S. church’s members on an issue they’ve been divided over for years.

Delegates to the Presbyterian church’s convention in Minneapolis voted Thursday for a more liberal policy on gay clergy but decided not to redefine marriage in their church constitution to include same-sex couples. Approval of both measures could have made the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) one of the most gay-friendly major Christian churches in the U.S.

Even the more liberal stance on gay clergy faces more debate before it can become church policy. A majority of the church’s 173 U.S. presbyteries must approve it. Two years ago – after years of efforts by supporters – a similar measure was sent out to presbyteries but died when 94 of them voted against it.

30 APNewsBreak: BLM says survey confirms horse claims

By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press Writer

8 mins ago

RENO, Nev. – Faced with legal challenges accusing the government of rounding up too many wild horses in the West, federal land managers released a new aerial survey Friday, claiming it confirms that they left as many mustangs as they intended after a contentious roundup last winter.

Horse protection advocates complained their own surveys had found nowhere near the 900 mustangs the Bureau of Land Management said it intended to leave on the range when it removed nearly 2,000 of the animals from the Calico mountains about 200 miles north of Reno.

But a new census from an aerial survey the BLM conducted during the last half of June found 1,141 mustangs in the five management areas that make up the Calico complex. The complex covers an area from just north of Gerlach, about 35 miles wide, running 50 miles north to the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge on the Nevada-Oregon line.

31 Black political leaders to recapture ’08 momentum

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, Associated Press Writer

2 hrs 20 mins ago

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The head of the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization, fearing a loss of momentum since the 2008 election, plans to use the group’s annual convention to get people “off the couch” and renergized to fight back against a tea party movement that opposes much of President Barack Obama’s agenda.

The NAACP convention, set to start Saturday, also will focus on education and the mounting jobs losses that have disproportionately affected minorities. Headliners will include First Lady Michelle Obama and the Revs. Jesse L. Jackson and Al Sharpton.

“We have to close the enthusiasm gap and remind people that the majority that existed two years ago still exists today,” said Ben Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in a phone interview.

32 Sea turtle egg evacuations begin along oiled Gulf

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jul 9, 1:42 pm ET

PORT ST. JOE, Fla. – Biologist Lorna Patrick dug gingerly into the beach Friday, gently brushing away sand to reveal dozens of leathery, golfball-sized loggerhead sea turtle eggs.

Patrick, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, carefully plucked the eggs from the foot-deep hole and placed them one-by-one in a cooler layered with moist sand from the nest, the first step in a sweeping and unprecedented turtle egg evacuation to save thousands of threatened hatchlings from certain death in the oiled Gulf of Mexico.

After about 90 minutes of parting the sand with her fingers like an archaeological dig, 107 eggs were placed in two coolers and loaded onto a FedEx temperature-controlled truck. They are being transported to a warehouse at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center where they will incubate and, hopefully, hatch before being released into the Atlantic Ocean.

33 Kids might not follow deported Russian spy parents

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer

Fri Jul 9, 4:54 am ET

NEW YORK – Their cover blown, 10 Russian spies have given up their lives in the U.S. and headed home, but in at least one case their children probably won’t follow.

A lawyer for Vicky Pelaez said Thursday that the teenage son she had with fellow Russian agent Mikhail Vasenkov during the decades they spent living in New York will most likely remain in the U.S., as will her 38-year-old son from a prior marriage.

“He’s 17 years of age. He’ll probably stay with his brother,” attorney John Rodriguez said.

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    • on 07/09/2010 at 23:34
      Author
    • on 07/10/2010 at 00:31

    how much I hate traffic? Well, I not only hate traffic, I hate traffic in the heat even with a/c in the car.

    Tax increase on cigarettes hasn’t deterred the smoker in SI where there area third more smokers than any other borough. It’s like a challenge to do it more here.

    I would like to see Spain win the Cup. The restaurant where I ate lunch today had a Real Madrid game from the US. I would have stayed to watch but “Duty called”

    • on 07/10/2010 at 00:42

    Feds say new cap could contain Gulf leak by Monday

     By TOM BREEN, Associated Press Writer Tom Breen, Associated Press Writer   – 10 mins ago

    NEW ORLEANS – The BP oil leak could be completely contained as early as Monday if a new, tighter cap can be fitted over the blown-out well, the government official in charge of the crisis said Friday in some of the most encouraging news to come out of the Gulf in the 2 1/2 months since the disaster struck.

    Crews using remote-controlled submarines plan to swap out the cap over the weekend, taking advantage of a window of good weather following weeks of delays caused by choppy seas.

    “I use the word ‘contained,'” said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. “‘Stop’ is when we put the plug in down below.”

    So what does Adm. Allen really mean?

    • on 07/10/2010 at 00:53

    Haiti Six Months Later: Where Has The Money Gone?

    Six months ago, after the catastrophic 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, doctors were so desperate for medicine and supplies, some were forced to use vodka to sterilize equipment.

    “We have no instruments, plaster of paris,” one doctor told us in the days following the earthquake.

    Doctors performed surgeries with few supplies and dwindling medicine. ABC News was there with one surgeon as he performed an emergency c-section in a makeshift operating room, under a plastic tarp, while the mother was hemorrhaging. There was no blood to give her.

    Today, the tarp where the doctor saved both mother and child is now an empty garage. Across the street is a brand new portable operating room. The surgeons with Doctors Without Borders call it their “holy room.”

    “These are our sterile supplies,” the lead surgeon says as he points to the equipment they so desperately needed.

    snip

    Children, the smallest victims in the earthquake, now have a new pediatric hospital that Doctors Without Borders opened just four weeks ago.

    • on 07/10/2010 at 01:58

    Probably one of the most memorable lines from Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” which celebrates its 50th anniversary in print. It has never been out of print and is the only known novel by Ms. Lee. She has not spoken publicly about the novel since 1964. The book garnered a Pulitzer Prize and the 1962 movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture

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