Dominican Republic vote: Hipolito Mejia decries result
Opposition candidate Hipolito Mejia has attacked the results of the Dominican Republic's presidential election, vowing to work for electoral reform.
But Mr Mejia, a former president, appeared to concede, saying he assumed his role as leader of the opposition.
Official results from Sunday's poll gave victory to Danilo Medina from the governing party by 51% to 47%.
Election observers said there were isolated cases of vote-buying but these did not affect the overall result.
Mr Medina, who succeeds President Leonel Fernandez, said he would be a leader for all Dominicans.
His running mate was Margarita Cedeno, Mr Fernandez's wife and the current First Lady.
Mr Fernandez, who has overseen one of the Caribbean's fastest-growing economies, was barred from standing for a third consecutive term.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Mejia said the election outcome was "the product of manipulation and an abuse of power", referring to alleged use of government resources to influence voters.
But Mr Mejia, president himself from 2000 to 2004, appeared to concede.
"I am assuming my role as leader of the opposition in the national interest, to preserve the peace and tranquillity of the Dominican family," he said.
Rising crime, unemployment and inflation in the Caribbean country were the main issues of the campaign.
Opinion polls had suggested a tight race, with the outcome possibly decided by the ballots cast by Dominicans in the United States.
The Dominican Republic is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Caribbean, and the economy has been growing steadily, at about 4.5% a year.
But more than 30% of its 10 million citizens still live below the poverty line.
War crimes suspects use blackmail, says new ICC chief
The incoming chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) says some countries are being blackmailed by suspected war criminals.
Fatou Bensouda said suspects were threatening to continue killing people unless arrest warrants were dropped.
She said world leaders should resist pressure from people such as Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda.
The ICC accuses him of recruiting child soldiers for the same rebel group as his co-accused, Thomas Lubanga.
In March Lubanga was the first person convicted by the court of war crimes.
Gen Ntaganda remains at large and is spearheading a mutiny that has left tens of thousands of people homeless.
Gambian lawyer Ms Bensouda takes over from Louis Moreno Ocampo as chief prosecutor of the ICC next month.
Gen Ntaganda - who is known as the Terminator - denies masterminding a mutiny by former members of the CNDP rebel group.
Euro Zone Assessing Possible Greek Exit
Sixteen nations in the euro currency union have started to assess what financial complications might occur if debt-ridden Greece leaves the monetary compact.
Even as they voice the hope that Greece stays in the eurozone, European leaders have in recent days increasingly discussed the possibility that the Athens government may end its euro alliance and resume use of its one-time currency, the drachma.
Analysts fear that a “Grexit,” as some are calling it in Europe, could disrupt international financial markets and cost European banks billions of dollars in losses if Greece defaults on its debts.
French President Francois Hollande has proposed using euro bonds as a way of averting the crisis, something Germany fiercely opposes. Klaus Larres, professor of international relations at the University of North Carolina, told VOA that bonds would mean sharing the debt among EU members and that Germany as the richest country in the bloc would bear the majority of the burden.
“(Using ) euro bonds really means that other European countries will pool all their resources to bail out Greece, or any other country which may be in danger. However, as the Germans are the richest country in Europe, economically, most of the euro bonds will actually be financed by the German government and the German government does not want to pay for the debts of the other EU countries, particularly those in the south. That actually is an old idea, which (President) Hollande has resurrected. From the German point of view that is understandable, but commentators have pointed out that at some stage, someone will have to make sacrifices for the common good and that country will probably have to be Germany.”
Larres said that Mr. Hollande's proposal to use EU structural funds to finance infrastructure projects in the whole of Europe, including Greece, is a good idea, but it is doubtful that it can prevent the collapse of the Greek economy.
Officials disclosed Wednesday that earlier this week key eurozone financial leaders agreed that each of the 16 other euro nations should prepare contingency plans about what the effect would be in their countries should Greece quit the currency union.
Greece's European neighbors and the International Monetary Fund earlier this year approved billions of dollars in the country's second bailout in two years, contingent on Athens adopting sharp austerity measures that have proved highly unpopular for the Greek populace. After a splintered election earlier this month, Greece's fractious political parties were unable to forge a new coalition government, and a new round of voting is set for mid-June.
Chinese manufacturing activity 'contracts in May'
China's manufacturing activity contracted in May, a survey has shown, indicating that the rate of growth in the economy is continuing to slow.
The HSBC Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) fell to 48.7 from 49.3 in April.
The data comes amid fears that a global economic slowdown may hurt demand for China's exports in key markets such as the US and Europe.
The PMI is a key indicator of manufacturing activity and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
The HSBC index has remained below that mark for seven straight months now. The official PMI data for May is expected to be released in the first week of June.
'Slew of measures'
China's economic growth has been slowing, but there are fears that the slowdown may be faster and bigger than previously expected.
China's government has pledged that it will take fresh measures to boost domestic consumption and investment to ensure that the economy continues to grow at a robust pace.
Analysts said the slowdown in manufacturing may see Beijing step up those efforts even more.
"Policymakers have been and will step up easing efforts to stabilise growth, as indicated by a slew of measures to boost liquidity, public housing and infrastructure investment and consumption," said Qu Hongbin, HSBC's chief economist.
Mr Qu added that once these measures start to take affect, the fears of a sharp slowdown were likely to abate.
Hewlett-Packard to cut 27,000 jobs by the end of 2014
Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest maker of personal computers, is to cut 27,000 jobs by end of 2014.
The company said the cuts - about 8% of its workforce - will reduce costs by up to $3.5bn (£2.2bn) a year.
HP said in a statement that the money would be reinvested into the company.
The move was part of a "productivity initiative designed to simplify business processes" and comes as rival products such as the iPad tablet computer eat into HP's sales.
As part of the changes, the head of HP's Autonomy division, Mike Lynch, is being replaced by Bill Veghte, HP's chief strategy officer. Mr Lynch will leave after what HP called a "transition period".
Mr Lynch founded software company Autonomy as a small start-up and turned into one of the UK's largest technology companies.
It was bought by HP last year for more than $10bn.
HP employs about 350,000 people worldwide and about 20,000 in the UK. A spokesman said it was too early to say exactly where the job cuts would hit, but no part of the business would escape some losses.
"We have not yet announced specific plans with regards to specific locations. We do expect the workforce reduction to impact just about every business and region," the spokesman said.
'Exceeded outlook'
News of the job losses overshadowed the release on Wednesday of HP's latest quarterly results. The company's profits and revenues were both better than analysts had estimated.
California-based HP reported a 31% fall in profits in the second quarter to $1.6bn. Revenue in the period fell 3% on a year ago to $30.7bn.
Meg Whitman, HP's chief executive, said: "This quarter we exceeded our previously provided outlook and are executing against our strategy, but we still have a lot of work to do."
The former chief executive of eBay joined HP in September, vowing to turn around the company after a series of problems including a failed tablet computer and an announcement that it was considering an exit from the PC business.
Her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, was ousted after just 11 months on the job.
HP's shares, which fell as much as 5% on Wednesday and closed 3% down, were up 6.6% in after-hours trading on Wall Street.
Google did not breach Oracle patents, a court has found
Google did not infringe patents owned by software developer Oracle, a jury in a California court found on Wednesday.
The Silicon Valley giants had fought over whether Google used Oracle's Java programming language in its Android mobile operating system.
Two weeks ago the same jury ruled that Google infringed Oracle's copyright, but could not agree whether Google's actions constituted "fair use".
The internet search giant maintains Android was built "from scratch".
Oracle sued Google in August 2010, saying Android infringed its intellectual property rights.
Google said it does not violate Oracle's patents and that Oracle cannot copyright certain parts of Java, which is an "open-source", or publicly available, software language.
Without a finding against Google on the "fair use" issue, Oracle cannot recover the up to $1bn (£637m) in damages it was seeking.
The case focused not on using the Java programming language itself, but rather the use of 37 application programming interfaces (APIs) which help developers create software on the platform.
With internet innovation moving fast, it is common for software writers to adapt APIs that mini-programs use to "talk" to one another.
The jury concluded that Google infringed on 37 copyrighted APIs but it also agreed that Google demonstrated that it was led to believe it did not need a license for using Java.
Facebook and banks behind flotation face lawsuit
Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg and the banks leading its flotation are being sued by disgruntled shareholders.
A writ, filed in a Manhattan court, alleges that Facebook's revised growth figures were not disclosed to all investors.
US financial regulators have already said Morgan Stanley may have questions to answer over the disclosure of information ahead of Friday's float.
The lead underwriter to Facebook said it had fully complied with the rules.
The lawsuit claims that defendants concealed from investors during the flotation marketing process "a severe and pronounced reduction" in revenue growth forecasts.
Meanwhile, the Reuters and AP news agencies reported that the Senate banking committee may look into the matter, but was still considering its options.
These latest developments continue to cast a cloud over one of the most anticipated stock market listings of recent times.
The flotation was disrupted on Friday by technical glitches on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The share price has since slumped amid worries that the company was over-valued by advisers marketing the float.
On Tuesday, the leading financial regulator in Massachusetts issued a subpoena to Morgan Stanley as part of an investigation into whether its analysts selectively disclosed revised revenue forecasts for Facebook.
Now, a group of investors has issued a class-action lawsuit alleging that Facebook revenues were revised down because of a surge in the number people using mobile devices for apps and connection to websites.
Morgan Stanley has not yet commented on the latest lawsuit.
On Tuesday, in response to the Massachusetts subpoena, the company said it was "in compliance with all applicable regulations" and had "followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all initial public offerings".
Meanwhile, there was some good news for the Facebook share price, which closed up 3.2% at $32-a-share.
The shares listed at $38-a-share, and fell as low as $31 on Tuesday.
German Leader Pressed to Soften Austerity Stance on Greece
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced pressure Wednesday in Brussels to soften her economic austerity stance that threatens to push Greece out of the euro currency zone.
Leaders of 27 European Union countries discussed ideas on how to spur economic growth across the bloc and solve the European currency crisis during a dinner summit in the Belgian capital.
France and Germany, once unified in pushing the tough measures, are at odds since France's new president, Socialist Francois Hollande, took office earlier this month.
Mr. Hollande is urging economic growth as a way out of crisis instead of austerity measures alone. The German leader said she was willing to look into ways of helping Greece, but rejected a call for eurobonds — jointly pooled eurozone debt — saying that they would help stimulate growth in the eurozone.
Ahead of the meeting, former Greek prime minister George Papandreou said this was a “make or break” moment for Greece and for Europe.
“We have made major sacrifices, because we want to see a transparent Greece, a competitive Greece, a dynamic Greece, and a just Greece. And we want to remain in the euro. But we also need time and understanding, and we need understanding that this is a wider crisis. It is a crisis where we need to go beyond name-calling and scapegoating (blaming each other) and we need to collectively pull our strength.”
Greek Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos said that the situation in Greece is very fragile and expressed hope that with the support of Europe's Socialists, a solution can be found.
Europe's leaders are not expected to come up with any concrete plan of action before new Greek elections in June. If anti-austerity politicians win out, Greece may have to leave the 17-member common currency zone.
Klaus Larres is a professor of international relations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an expert on European integration. Larres told VOA that Greece may be forced to leave the eurozone regardless of the election results because international creditors will stop financing the country if it does not commit to harsh debt-reducing measures.
“That will mean an escape from the country by all investors in Europe and all global investors. A lot of Greek people will withdraw all their funds from the Greek banks — their euro savings — before the drachma is introduced, and it will lead to collapse of the Greek banking system and also the Greek economy. It will make imports into Greece extremely expensive because the new drachma will be devalued at a considerable extent thus exports into Greece will become rather expensive, including medicine, oil, all other goods, the Greeks are actually very dependent on and it will lead to a severe crisis in Greece.”
Larres says European leaders are preparing contingency plans for a possible Greek exit from the currency zone, which would affect international banks and hurt the global economy.
Uri Dadush, an economist with the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told VOA he believes the austerity measures will prevail.
“I think in the end, the austerity measures will prevail because that is the logic of the market. So my view is that the austerity policies for virtually every country in Europe mandated, because of the fact that the markets will not finance increased deficits and indeed they will not finance current levels of deficit. They want to see reductions. The markets have lost confidence.”
On the eve of the summit, the European Parliament agreed to a pilot program that would use nearly $300 million of so-called project bonds in 2012 and 2013 to finance about $5.8 billion of investment projects.
Leaders at the summit may also consider assisting large and troubled European bank
s like those in Spain that are struggling under the economic crisis.
VOA
US Charges Chinese Salesman with Illegally Exporting Nuclear Equipment
U.S. authorities have arrested a Chinese employee of a technology manufacturer for allegedly smuggling uranium enrichment equipment into China.
Agents arrested Qiang Hu at a hotel in the northeastern state of Massachusetts.
He is suspected of illegally exporting thousands of pressure measuring sensors to China from MKS Instruments in Massachusetts.
The devices are used to enrich uranium and could be used in nuclear bombs.
The U.S. Justice Department says Qiang is MKS's sales representative in its Shanghai office.
Iran Nuclear Talks Hit Snag
Continuing talks between Iran and global powers have hit a snag as the West rebuffed Tehran's call for an immediate easing of economic sanctions and official Iranian media said the proposals on the table needed to be significantly revised.
The negotiations in Baghdad were extended for a second day into Thursday, as U.S. and European officials said they remained committed to finding a solution to the impasse.
Western representatives presented a package Wednesday that calls on Tehran to freeze production of nuclear fuel enriched to 20 percent purity, considered a short step away from weapons grade. The plan also seeks to close an Iranian enrichment facility built inside a fortified military bunker near the holy city of Qom.
In exchange, the P5+1 group offered benefits, including medical isotopes, some nuclear safety cooperation and spare parts for civilian airliners, much needed in Iran. The P5+1 includes the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.
The Iranian side indicated that ending impending Western sanctions on Tehran's oil trade is key for the talks to advance. But diplomats from the six world powers have refused to consider postponing the new harsher measures.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran presented its own package Wednesday, including details on what mutual compromises Iran and its international counterparts should make.
IRNA criticized the proposal from the six-nation group, saying it makes too many demands of Iran while offering too little in return.
Iran said its enrichment work is meant for medical research and generating electricity. Western nations fear Iran could quickly upgrade its uranium to the 90 percent purity needed for nuclear weapons.
Baghdad University professor Said Dahdhoh told VOA's Kurdish service that Iran wants the talks to be comprehensive and focus on more than just the nuclear dispute. He said Tehran also wants the West to clarify its stand on Bahrain and other regional issues.
Shi'ite Iran has strongly criticized plans by Bahrain's minority Sunni leadership to seek a political union with Sunni-dominated Gulf states. Bahrain's ruling family is an ally of Washington that provides the U.S. Navy with a key regional base.
World powers have insisted for months that talks focus solely on the disputes with Iran's nuclear program.
This is the second round of a dialogue that resumed last month in Istanbul after a break of more than a year.
Published reports say the six-nation group is reviving a 2009 proposal for Iran to ship out its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium in return for higher-enriched fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran.
Iran is seeking pledges from the world powers to ease U.N. and Western sanctions imposed on the country for defying international demands for a suspension of enrichment.
Israel sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence and refuses to rule out military action against the Iranian nuclear program.
Israeli officials have urged the world powers not to compromise on their demand for a stop to Iranian enrichment work. Those officials also have expressed concern that Iran will make empty promises of concessions to buy more time to covertly develop nuclear weapons.