Yearly euro inflation at record high of 4.1%

Yearly inflation in the 15 euro nations rose to a record high of 4.1 percent in July, the EU statistical agency Eurostat reported Thursday.

Prices have not climbed as fast since inflation records started in 1996 for the countries that eventually formed the euro.Soaring fuel and food prices are Europe's biggest economic problem, eating into household spending -- one of the engines of economic growth -- as people steer away from major purchases and luxury goods.Accelerating prices and signs that growth is stalling create a major dilemma for the European Central Bank, which acted last month to cool inflation by hiking borrowing costs for the first time in a year.But the bank may have to hold back from more interest rate increases as the European economy stumbles and companies slash staff.Eurostat reported that the jobless rate in the 15 countries that share the euro had risen to 7.3 percent in May and June from a year ago. It revised upward an earlier estimate of 7.2 percent for May as unemployment worsened from a record low it hit in December 2007.

Obama says he opposes slavery reparations, apology

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opposes offering reparations to the descendants of slaves, putting him at odds with some black groups and leaders.

The man with a serious chance to become the nation's first black president argues that government should instead combat the legacy of slavery by improving schools, health care and the economy for all."I have said in the past — and I'll repeat again — that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed," the Illinois Democrat said recently.Some two dozen members of Congress are co-sponsors of legislation to create a commission that would study reparations — that is, payments and programs to make up for the damage done by slavery.Obama has worked to be seen as someone who will bring people together, not divide them into various interest groups with checklists of demands. Supporting reparations could undermine that image and make him appear to be pandering to black voters."Let's not be naive. Sen. Obama is running for president of the United States, and so he is in a constant battle to save his political life," said Kibibi Tyehimba, co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America. "In light of the demographics of this country, I don't think it's realistic to expect him to do anything other than what he's done."But this is not a position Obama adopted just for the presidential campaign. He voiced the same concerns about reparations during his successful run for the Senate in 2004.
There's enough flexibility in the term "reparations" that Obama can oppose them and still have plenty of common ground with supporters.

BMW's profit slides nearly 33 percent

Germany automaker BMW says second-quarter net profit slid nearly 33 percent and it has abandoned its yearly profit forecast, blaming a drop in U.S. sales, rising costs for raw materials and the strong euro.
The Munich-based company is the world's biggest maker of luxury cars. It said Friday it earned euro507 million (US$791.5 million) in the April-June period, down 32.7 percent from last year.
Sales fell half a percent to euro14.6 billion (US$22.8 billion) in the quarter compared with a year earlier.The company has revised its earnings forecast. Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer says BMW now expects pre-tax return on sales for the year of at least 4 percent.The news spooked investors, who sent the company's shares plunging before they leveled off to euro26.90 (US$41.89), down 6.9 percent.

More than 10,000 detainees released in Iraq

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military said Saturday it has released more than 10,000 detainees in Iraq so far this year — more than in all of 2007 — as it continues to try phase out its running of Iraqi prisons.

The military said about 21,000 people remained in custody, and it is currently releasing about 45 detainees and detaining 30 a day.The United States wants to transfer the detainees to Iraqi control. Reaching that goal has been slowed partly by the lack of adequate Iraqi prison space and trained guards. More than 8,900 people were released from detention last year.The U.S. military says its detention system is authorized by a U.N. resolution under which the Iraqi government allows U.S. troops to arrest people at will. U.S. military attorneys say it also complies with international laws covering warfare and was created in "the spirit" of the Geneva Conventions.Commanders say they are entitled to hold any prisoner until the detainee is no longer considered a threat to U.S. forces. Local law and court rulings do not apply, they add. Rights groups have criticized U.S. detention policy as a misrepresentation of international law, which they say requires some form of legal process to detain someone.The military has increased control over prisons to correct widespread U.S. prison abuses that sparked international criticism.Allegations of abuse at U.S. prisons escalated in 2004 with the release of pictures of grinning U.S. soldiers posing with detainees at the Abu Ghraib facility west of Baghdad. Some were naked, being held on leashes or in painful and sexually humiliating positions.That prison has since been closed, and 11 U.S. soldiers were convicted of breaking military laws. Five others were disciplined in the scandal.

Britney’s new man: Bodyguard to boyfriend

Snapshots from Britney Spears’ vacation in Los Cabos, Mexico, show the pop star frolicking in the pool and having a good time on the dance floor with someone other than her ever-present conservator-dad, Jamie. According to The Sun, the new main man in Britney’s life is a bodyguard-turned-boyfriend named Lee.
An insider revealed that the former Israeli soldier started working for Britney six months ago, and it wasn’t long before the couple made a love connection. “Britney and Lee hit it off immediately,” the source told the paper. “They’ve spent so much time together that one thing led to another and their relationship became physical.” Boyfriend or not, Lee’s still on the payroll. According to the insider, he only assumes his new role on his days off.

Anthrax 'suspect' is found dead

A top US scientist suspected of anthrax attacks in 2001 has died from an apparent suicide just as he was about to be charged, a newspaper reported.

The Los Angeles Times says government scientist Bruce Ivins was found dead after an overdose of painkillers.The paper said that he had recently been told of the impending prosecution. Five people died when anthrax was posted to media organisations and politicians in the US shortly after the 11 September attacks in 2001. Mr Ivins, 62, had helped the FBI investigate anthrax-tainted envelopes as a icrobiologist for a government laboratory.The newspaper said Mr Ivins had worked at the government biodefense research laboratories in Fort Detrick, Maryland, for the past 18 years. Security measures in the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks crippled the US mail service and temporarily closed a Senate building.As well as the five deaths, more than 20 other people were made ill.
In June 2008, the US justice department agreed a multimillion-dollar settlement with another scientist at the Fort Detrick laboratory it had said was a "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks.Dr Steven Hatfill sued the department saying it had violated his privacy rights by speaking to reporters about the case. He has denied any involvement in the attacks.

Fear after Bissau death threats

Guinea-Bissau's justice minister has said she has received death threats over the arrest of five people suspected of drugs trafficking.Carmelita Pires said she was scared but the government would not be intimidated and would continue investigations.
Her comments came two days after Guinea-Bissau's attorney general also said he had received death threats.The arrests were made after at least one plane thought to have arrived from South America was seized last month.uthorities arrested three Venezuelans as well as the head of air traffic control at the airport and his deputy.Antonio Mazzitelli, West Africa director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, said no drugs had been found on the plane - despite reports that hundreds of kilos of cocaine had been seized.Drug-sniffing dogs had indicated the plane was carrying cocaine, but authorities had to wait five days before seizing it.

Eclipse delights crowds in Siberia, China

Blacked-out sun witnessed in far-flung regions ... and on the InternetThe moon's shadow swept across the planet from Canada to China on Friday, delighting skywatchers who flocked to remote regions to see a total eclipse of the sun. The stellar spectacle — which arises when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth — began in northern Canada, tracked across Greenland and the Arctic, then moved through Russia and Mongolia.The celestial display ended in China, where some saw it as a dark omen ahead of next week's start of the Olympic Games in Beijing.In Novosibirsk, one of the largest cities in the path of totality, thousands of people mixed awe with excitement as day turned into night. All gazed in wonder as an eerie silence descended on the Siberian city, and gushes of unusually strong wind tore through the crowd of skywatchers. Birds stopped chirping and the temperature suddenly dropped.It's very dramatic when the darkness suddenly comes. That's why thousands of tourists go to see.

No hope of saving beached whale

A 26ft (8m) whale that beached on a mudflat off the south coast of England has suffered kidney failure and faces being put down, rescuers said.
The Northern Bottlenose whale became trapped in Langstone Harbour, off Hampshire, on Thursday and beached overnight during low tide. Rescuers freed it from mudflats using a special lifting pontoon but it has remained in shallow water.When the whale beaches again at low tide, it will be put down, experts say.Experts from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said however that even if it made it back out to sea there was no chance of it surviving, because of the renal failure, which was confirmed through blood tests.The tide has begun to go back out and at some point later, the animal would be brought in and given a lethal injection.An operation to try to save the whale began on Thursday but was called off when it became dark. The whale later became beached on a mudflat at 2330 BST.

Bush warns Iraq gains reversible

President Bush has said the drop in violence in Iraq is a sign of the "durability" of progress but warned that gains made could be reversed.

Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr has again appealed to the Iraqi government not to sign a new security deal with the US.The deal Mr Bush told reporters outside the Oval Office that violence in Iraq had fallen to its to lowest level since spring 2004 and that "extremists who once terrified citizens have been driven from their strongholds".He said there was a "degree of durability" to the gains made by US and Iraqi forces which was due to the recent surge in US troop numbers and the "increasing capability of Iraqi forces". But he added that the chief US officials in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker "caution that the progress is still reversible". would replace the UN mandate which runs out at the end of the year. He said Iraqi troops would continue to take the lead in more military operations across the country. Mr Bush also said that the US and Iraqi governments were "making progress" on a deal to provide a legal basis for US troops to remain in Iraq once the UN mandate expires at the end of the year.