World In Brief

Power firm claims it was coerced

RUSSIA: Power giant Gazprom said the European Commission had coerced the firm into slashing gas prices today.

The commission launched an investigation last week to find out whether Gazprom blocked fair competition in central and eastern Europe.

Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said that this had prompted the company to revise its strategy by boosting exports to Asian markets.

Tribal clashes leave 38 dead

KENYA: Police mounted investigations today into clashes between farmers and herders in the south-east in which 38 people died, including nine police.

In the latest bloodshed about 300 armed farmers of the Pkomo trube raided Kilelengwani village of the semi-nomadic herding Orma tribe.

Eight children were among those killed in the dawn attack.

Ruckus calms down to remember 9/11

US: President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney muted the partisan rancour that has marked their race for the White House today on the 11th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

US citizens across the country marked the anniversary with ceremonies, readings and religious services in memory of the victims of the atrocity.

Heavy rains destroy crops

ARGENTINA: Heavy rains this year have flooded 8.6 million acres of farmland, prompting the governor of Buenos Aires province to declare an agricultural emergency today.

The government estimates 14 per cent of the province’s wheat and barley has been lost, and says cattle and beekeeping have been severely affected.

Coca plants destroyed

BOLIVIA: Health authorities said today that they have eradicated about 1,350 acres of coca plants found in the country’s biggest national park, Carrasco.

Netanyahu wants US strike on Iran

ISRAEL: PM Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his dissatisfaction today with Washington’s refusal to say what would provoke a US-led military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Washington is reluctant to be seen as using military force to press Iran to abandon its nuclear programme.

But Mr Netanyahu claims peaceful methods are not working and Iran is getting closer to acquiring a nuclear bomb.

Pame pickets ministry

GREECE: The Communist-linked Pame union picketed the Labour Ministry in Athens today during a visit by Troika debt inspectors.

Dozens of Pame members blocked access to the building, forcing ministry officials to delay their meeting with inspectors from the EU, IMF and European Central Bank — who are in Greece to monitor its implementation of its austerity programme.

Airline trade war

EU: Officials warned today that a global agreement on charging airlines for carbon emissions is needed by next year to avert a trade war.

China and India have prohibited their airlines from co-operating with the current EU scheme and Beijing has blocked purchases of European aircraft by its carriers in protest.

The US is considering banning US airlines from complying with EU law.

RPE cuts 2,200 jobs

NETHERLANDS: Royal Philips Electronics said today that it plans to cut 2,200 jobs by 2014 to save £240 million per year.

Saving money will lessen “the effects of macro-economic headwinds and changes in pension cost accounting” said Philips Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten — although he cast no light on what that peculiar statement was intended to convey.

Endangered animals named

SOUTH KOREA: International conservation groups meeting have unveiled a list of the most threatened 100 animals, plants and fungi and say urgent action is needed to protect them.