International Headlines

Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2010 20:02:04 -0400
>TOP STORIES as of 0800 HKT -- 07 June, 2010

> U.S. COAST GUARD: TOO EARLY TO BE 'PLEASED' WITH BP PROGRESS
Washington's response manager to the Gulf oil disaster says BP
has made progress, but cautioned it was too early to call the
effort a success.

> ISRAEL DEPORTS GAZA AID SHIP ACTIVISTS
The first of the 19 passengers and crew of the Rachel Corrie,
seized while transporting aid to Gaza, are deported from Israel.

> TURKEY: ISRAEL CAN'T 'FACE FACTS' ON RAID
Israel's resistance to an independent, international
investigation into its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship is
"another proof of their guilt," Turkey's foreign minister said
Sunday.

> MEN HELD AT JFK PLANNED 'VIOLENT JIHAD'
Authorities have arrested two men at New York's John F. Kennedy
International Airport as part of an ongoing investigation, the
FBI and New York police said early Sunday morning.

> VAN DER SLOOT'S PERU JAIL STAY EXTENDED
A judge has extended the investigation into murder suspect Joran
van der Sloot, accused of killing a Peruvian woman, for another
week, a spokeswoman for Peru's Interior Ministry said Sunday.

> POPE STARTS MIDDLE EAST BISHOPS GROUP
Pope Benedict XVI launched a "special assembly" of bishops
focused on the Middle East on Sunday, during a visit to the
divided island of Cyprus.

> AFRICAN UNION SNUBS SUDANESE LEADER
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has not been invited to attend
the African Union Conference in Uganda next month as he faces
charges for alleged war crimes in Sudan's restive Darfur region,
Ugandan officials said Sunday.

> DEADLY WEATHER SLAMS U.S. MIDWEST
Five people were killed in Ohio as severe thunderstorms and
tornadoes raked the Midwest Saturday and early today,
authorities said.

BUSINESS
~~~~~~~~~~~
> G-20 DROPS SUPPORT FOR FISCAL STIMULUS
Finance ministers from the world's leading economies rip up
their support for fiscal stimulus, recognizing that financial
market concerns over sovereign debt have forced a much greater
focus on deficit reduction.

> HUNGARY'S ECONOMY IN 'GRAVE SITUATION'
Hungary's currency fell to a one-year low against the euro on
Friday after a senior official warned for the second time in two
days about the weakness of its economy and public finances.

> MICROSOFT CHIEF DEFENDS WINDOWS' FUTURE
Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, on Thursday gave a
spirited defence of the software company's strategy following
comments from Steve Jobs that personal computers are in
permanent decline.