International Headline News

Date: Mon, 17 May 2010 20:02:03 -0400

>TOP STORIES as of 0800 HKT -- 18 May, 2010

> BANGKOK PROTESTERS DEFY DEADLINE
Protesters and Thai security forces continue to clash as
thousands of anti-government demonstrators defy a deadline to
withdraw from the center of Bangkok.

> U.S. PANEL WILL INVESTIGATE OIL SPILL
President Obama will sign an executive order establishing a
presidential commission to investigate the Gulf of Mexico oil
spill, an administration official said.

> HUGE OIL PLUMES UNDER GULF WATERS?
Efforts to mop up oil in the Gulf of Mexico are in week five,
but huge plumes may be lurking below the surface.

> COURT BLOCKS BRITISH AIRWAYS STRIKE
A series of four British Airways employee strikes cannot proceed
after a London court grants an injunction preventing the
stoppage.

> POLICE: 35 KILLED IN INDIA BUS ATTACK
Suspected Maoists killed 35 people in a land mine attack against
a bus in central India on Monday afternoon, a local police chief
Said.

> PLANE CARRYING 44 CRASHES IN AFGHANISTAN
A plane disappeared in Afghanistan on Monday with 38 passengers
and six crew aboard, a government official said.

> OBAMA'S AUNT CAN STAY IN U.S. - JUDGE
President Obama's aunt from Kenya can stay in the United States,
a U.S. immigration judge has ruled, ending a six-year-plus legal
battle over her status.

BUSINESS
~~~~~~~~~~~

> EUROPE'S AIRPORTS REOPEN, AIR TRAFFIC SNARLED
Heathrow and Gatwick airports in London, England, reopen Monday
morning after being closed overnight because of an ash cloud
from a volcano in Iceland, but travel remained severely
disrupted, both airports said.

> EUROPE: DANGER ZONE
As the Greek debt crisis spiraled, the head of European
Commission entreated German Chancellor Merkel: 'I'm asking you
to save the euro'

> INDIANS FLOCKED TO SHOP ON LUCKY DAY
Tens of thousands of Indian couples tied the knot Sunday, one of
the luckiest days in the Hindu calendar.