Reuters World News Highlights at 0200 GMT, Sept 9
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Thursday September 09, 2010 03:00:02 AM GMT
TOP STORIES
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LONDON/WASHINGTON - BP Plc and its Gulf of Mexico oil well partners traded blame on Wednesday after an internal BP investigation tried to downplay the company's role in the world's biggest offshore spill.
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GAINESVILLE - An obscure U.S. Christian pastor whose plan to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11 has sparked an international outcry said on Wednesday he would go ahead with the event despite warnings it would endanger American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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PARMA, Ohio - President Barack Obama, fighting to keep Democrats in charge of Congress, said on Wednesday the United States could not afford to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the rich and accused Republicans of being fiscally irresponsible.
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TOKYO - Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Thursday the central bank must avoid giving markets the impression it is monetising debt or trying to directly influence long-term interest rates.
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SEOUL - South Korea's central bank on Thursday surprised markets by holding interest rates steady, defying expectations for a rise in the face of mounting concerns about a slowing global economic recovery.
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ATHENS - A wave of anti-austerity strikes hitting Europe this autumn will disrupt life and may hurt some economies but is unlikely to topple governments or shake their resolve to push on with tough salary and pension cuts.
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JOHANNESBURG - Most of South Africa's 1.3 million striking state workers returned to their posts on Wednesday as union leaders struggled to persuade members to accept a deal that would officially end the labour action.
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KABUL - Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar said on Wednesday his fighters were close to victory in driving foreign forces out of Afghanistan, flouting claims of progress against the militants by the top military commander there.
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UNITED NATIONS - U.S. President Barack Obama will attend a U.N.-organized summit on Sudan on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Wednesday.
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HAVANA - Fidel Castro said Cuba's economic model no longer works, a U.S.-based journalist reported on Wednesday following interviews with the former president last week.
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