WORLD at 0400GMT

2009-06-08 06:27:06 -

NEW THIS DIGEST
NKOREA-JOURNALISTS HELD. NKorea sentences 2 US journalists to 12 years jail
PERU-AMAZON PROTESTS. President accuses Indians of 'barbarity'; Indians say police attacked
NKOREA-MISSILE. NKorea bans ships from coastal waters
US-CLINTON-NKOREA. Clinton says interdiction possible for NKorea
US-ABORTION SHOOTING. Suspect in abortion doctor death warns of violence
AIRLINE LOSSES. World's airlines expected to lose $9 billion in 2009
TOP STORIES
NKOREA-JOURNALISTS HELD
SEOUL, South Korea _ North Korea's state news agency says the country's top court has convicted two U.S. journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison.
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
BRUSSELS _ Right-leaning parties hail European Parliament victories as a vote against stimulus spending and corporate bailouts, pledging to forge ahead with conservative approaches to the economic crisis. By Constant Brand. AP Photos.
LEBANON-ELECTIONS
BEIRUT _ Hezbollah and its allies seek to unseat a pro-Western coalition in Lebanese elections that could present an early test of President Barack Obama's efforts to forge Middle East peace. By Sam F. Ghattas
NKOREA-MISSILE
SEOUL, South Korea _ North Korea is stepping up preparations to test-fire a long-range missile from its new launching site near China, but a launch does not appear imminent, a news report says. By Jae-Soon Chang.
US-CLINTON-NKOREA
WASHINGTON _ The Obama administration wants help from U.S. allies and possibly China to cut off North Korean shipments that may be carrying nuclear technology or other weapons.
PAKISTAN
ISLAMABAD _ Hundreds of Pakistani tribesmen furious over a deadly suicide bombing at a mosque laid siege to several Taliban strongholds in their troubled northwestern region, killing at least 11 militants, officials say. By Asif Shahzad. AP Photos. AP Graphic.
PERU-AMAZON PROTESTS
BAGUA, Peru _ President Alan Garcia accuses Amazon Indians of «barbarity» in the killing of 22 members of a paramilitary police force sent to break up anti-development protests. Indian leaders say police attacked them unprovoked. By Franklin Briceno. AP Photos.
US-ABORTION SHOOTING
WICHITA, Kansas _ The man charged with murdering a high-profile abortion doctor claimed from his jail cell that similar violence was planned around the United States for as long as the procedure remained legal, a threat that comes days after the investigation turned to possible accomplices. By Roxana Hegeman.
NIRELAND-OMAGH
OMAGH, Northern Ireland _ A judge will decide Monday whether the men alleged to be responsible for Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocity should pay millions of pounds to the families of its victims. Family members of the some of the people who died in the 1998 Omagh bombing are seeking up to 14 million pounds ($22.3 million) from five men they hold responsible for the attack that killed 29 people. By Alan Erwin. Hearing starts at 1030 GMT.
US-TONYS
NEW YORK _ «Billy Elliot,» the big British musical about a coal miner's son who dreams to dance, bowls over Broadway, winning 10 Tonys, including best musical and a unique best actor prize for the three young performers who share the title character. By Michael Kuchwara. AP Photos.
THE OBAMAS IN PARIS
PARIS _ People gawk and cameras click as the Obamas cut a wide figure through the French capital even while confined to a presidential motorcade. President Barack Obama, wife Michelle and their two daughters touch lives in simple ways during a private stay in the French capital that closed out a six-day presidential tour rich in history, symbolism and giant messages to the world. By Elaine Ganley and Jenny Barchfield. AP Photos
US-WARTIME CONTRACTING-REPORT
WASHINGTON _ An independent panel investigating contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan has released a bleak assessment for how tens of billions of dollars have been spent since 2001. By Richard Lardner.
IRAN-ELECTION
TEHRAN, Iran _ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main reformist challenger says that the Iranian president has made false accusations against his supporters to try to sabotage his campaign with just days to go before Friday's presidential election. By Nasser Karimi.
SAUDI-RARE MOVIE
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia _ For the first time in three decades, Saudis in the nation's capital did something that most Westerners take for granted _ they went to the movies. But it wasn't exactly date night. No women were allowed. By Donna Abu-Nasr
IRAQ
BAGHDAD _ Five U.S. contractors have been detained in the investigation of the slaying of another American in Baghdad's Green Zone, officials say, in what may become the first case of U.S. citizens facing Iraqi justice under a security agreement that took effect this year. By Robert Reid.
DRUG WAR-MEXICO
ACAPULCO, Mexico _ It was a shootout straight from Hollywood in the former playground of its biggest stars: Outlaws holed up in a hillside mansion fight heavily armed Mexican soldiers with a rain of gunfire and grenades that have tourists cowering in hotels nearby. By Natalia Parra. AP Photos.
CHINA-DETAINED WRITER
BEIJING _ The lawyer for a prominent Chinese writer secretly detained six months ago says authorities must free his client or formally charge him. By 0430 GMT. By Alexa Olesen.
ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS
JERUSALEM _ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will deliver a major policy address next week laying out his proposed road to Mideast peace, after coming under stiff U.S. pressure to freeze West Bank settlement construction and endorse Palestinian statehood. By Matti Friedman
BRAZIL-PLANE
RECIFE, Brazil _ With 17 bodies pulled so far from the Atlantic, Brazilian and French military ships have no doubt they've located the wreckage of a doomed Air France flight a week after it disappeared. But the cause of the crash is likely to remain a mystery, unless searchers can locate the plane's black box data and voice recorders, likely buried deep in the Atlantic Ocean. By Marco Sibaja and Alan Clendenning. AP Photos.
BUSINESS & FINANCE
AIRLINE LOSSES
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia _ The world's airlines are collectively expected to lose $9 billion in 2009, with revenues forecast to shrink by $80 billion from a year ago, as the economic crisis saps demand for travel and cargo, a key industry body says. By 0400 GMT. By Eileen Ng.
US-SUPREME COURT-CHRYSLER
WASHINGTON _ Three Indiana state pension and construction funds want the Supreme Court to block Chrysler's sale to Fiat so they can pursue an appeal in hopes of getting a better deal. By Mark Sherman. AP Photos.
WITH: US-CHRYSLER-DEALERS' LAST DAYS
US-EU-CANADA-TRADE
WASHINGTON _ America's largest trading partners are warning that protectionist moves by Congress could poison global trade relations, despite President Barack Obama's assurances that he wants to keep U.S. markets open. By Desmond Butler.
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