The fireworks got started a bit early on Wall Street on Wednesday with all three major stock indices surging to records after a plethora of mediocre US economic data appeared to boost the odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.
In a session shortened ahead of the Independence Day holiday, the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all jumped to records a day before celebrations are to be marked with fireworks around the United States.
Such holiday sessions typically see lower trading volumes, which can magnify market moves. The excitement in New York came on the heels of a buoyant session in Europe, where investors were cheered by the appointment of IMF chief Christine Lagarde to be the first female head of the European Central Bank.
The Wall Street records came as the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note sagged below two per cent, the latest retreat in the wake of commentary from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other policymakers that has opened the door to an interest rate cut as soon as ...

Wall Street at records ahead of July 4 holiday, European stocks also up

PTI Automatic

Facebook acknowledged Wednesday an outage affecting users in various parts of the world and said it was working on a fix.
Online monitoring service DownDetector reported earlier the outage began around 1200 GMT and affected Facebook as well as its Instagram and WhatsApp services.
#Facebookdown and #instagramdown were trending on Twitter as users around the world reported these apps were not functioning.
Facebook said in a tweet: "We're aware that some people are having trouble uploading or sending images, videos and other files on our apps. We're sorry for the trouble and are working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible."
According to DownDetector, thousands of users around the world were reporting outages with Europe and North America most impacted.
Earlier this year, an outage lasting as long as 24 hours that hit Facebook services was blamed on a "server configuration change."
The March 13 outage was believed to be the worst ever for the internet giant, which reaches .

Outage hits Facebook services worldwide

Calls for an independent probe mounted Wednesday after more than 40 migrants were killed in an air strike on a detention centre in Libya that the UN said could constitute a war crime.
UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced the "horrendous" attack and demanded "an independent investigation", his spokesman said, as the Security Council was to hold urgent talks about the situation in Libya.
It came as the internationally-recognised government and its arch-foe strongman Khalifa Haftar traded blame for the the deadly assault, which the European Union called a "horrific" attack.
Bodies were strewn on the floor of a hangar in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura, mixed with the belongings and blood-soaked clothes of migrants, an AFP photographer said.
"There were bodies, blood and pieces of flesh everywhere," a survivor, 26-year-old Al-Mahdi Hafyan from Morocco, told AFP from his hospital bed where he was being treated for a leg wound.
Tuesday night's strike left a hole around three metres (10 feet) ..

UN, EU call for probe into deadly strike on Libya migrant centre

A volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli erupted dramatically on Wednesday, reportedly killing a hiker and sending tourists fleeing.
The volcano is known to be active but on Wednesday there was a particularly powerful eruption.
Italian media reported that a hiker had been killed and their partner injued, but firefighters could not immediately confirm any casualties.
"It was like being in hell because of the rain of fire coming from the sky," Italian news agencies quoted local priest Giovanni Longo as saying.
He said it was not known if there were any hikers on the volcano at the time of the eruption, which caused fires around the village of Ginostra.
Italian media reported that some tourists had fled into the sea after the eruption, while others had barricaded themselves into homes.
Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said there were two huge explosions on the central-southern side of the volcano's crater at around 1446 GMT Wednesday.
The explosions ...

One tourist reported dead in Stromboli volcano eruption

Sudanese protest leaders and ruling generals resumed talks Wednesday over forming a new governing body, the first such negotiations since a deadly crackdown on demonstrators last month.
Three generals from the ruling military council, including its deputy chief General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and five protest leaders, resumed talks at a luxury hotel in Khartoum, an AFP correspondent reported.
The dialogue came after African Union and Ethiopian mediators called on the two sides to resume long stalled negotiations on a transition to civilian rule.

Sudan protesters, generals resume talks over civilian rule

French high-school students face an anxious wait for exam results this week amid protests by teachers who are threatening not to hand over results and an embarrassing leak of baccalaureat maths papers.
Police arrested 19 high-school children on Tuesday and Wednesday in Marseille and Paris as part of an investigation into the leak of a maths paper sat by thousands of students which was shared via text message and WhatsApp in June.
Seven have since been released, while 12 remain in custody and could face charges of exam fraud, breaching trust and conspiracy, the Paris prosecutors office said Wednesday French education authorities have decided not to cancel the exam for the time being, which was sat by around half of the 740,000 students who completed their baccalaureat this year.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer faces another crisis caused by markers in some regions who are threatening not to return exam papers as part of efforts to resist reforms of the famed end-of-school exam .

French baccalaureat exam hit by leaks and strikes

Iranian officials slammed the country's state television on Wednesday for airing a programme on oil sales to China that contravene US sanctions, saying the report went "against national interests".
Washington abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers last year and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic republic's crucial oil sales as well as other parts of the economy.
The "Hello, Good Morning" talk show featured on Tuesday a programme on the Salina, an Iranian-flagged tanker under US sanctions that reportedly had delivered 1 million barrels of crude oil to China's Jinzhou port in late June.
China -- along with Britain, France, Germany and Russia -- is one of the partners in the nuclear deal and has rejected US President Donald Trump's administration's efforts to cut Iranian oil exports to zero.
"This shows that sanctions are ineffective and Iran's path to sell its oil is not blocked," the programme's host said, showing what he claimed were satellite photos of 

Iran state TV blasted over report on secret oil sales

Iran ignored US and EU warnings Wednesday and vowed to exceed within days the maximum uranium enrichment level it agreed to in the landmark 2015 nuclear accord.
Iran is acting on its May 8 threat to suspend parts of the agreement in response to US President Donald Trump's reimposition of crippling sanctions after withdrawing from it in May last year.
President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday's decision was in response to failure by other parties to the deal to keep up their promises and provide Iran relief from the US sanctions.
"On July 7, our enrichment level will no longer be 3.67 percent. We will put aside this commitment. We will increase (the enrichment level) beyond 3.67 percent to as much as we want, as much as is necessary, as much as we need," Rouhani told a cabinet meeting.
The enrichment maximum set in the agreement is sufficient for power generation but far below the more than 90 per cent level required for a nuclear warhead.
France reacted quickly by warning Iran that it ..

Iran to bypass uranium enrichment maximum despite calls for rethink

The United States on Wednesday sanctioned Cuba's state-run oil firm, Cubametales, over continued importation from Venezuela amid an American embargo meant to undermine the Caracas regime.
Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro "is clinging to Cuba to stay in power, buying military and intelligence operatives in exchange for oil," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
The United States has long accused its nemesis Cuba of propping up Maduro through such means.
The US oil embargo on Venezuela hits hard a country that has already suffered five years of recession marked by shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicines.
The new sanctions not only ban US companies from buying Venezuelan crude but also all foreign entities from using the American banking system to purchase the black gold from Caracas.
All property and entities owned 50 percent or more by Cubametales in the United State or in possession of US persons will be blocked, the Treasury Department ...

US sanctions Cuban state-run oil company over Venezuela

Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib admits his team would benefit from the emergence of a top-class pace bowler to supplement their quality spin attack.
Naib's side, who have lost all eight of their group-stage matches, will play their last game at this year's World Cup when they face the West Indies in Leeds on Thursday.
Although Afghanistan spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman are potential match-winners, Naib knows the team needs a sharper pace attack to trouble the world's best teams.
"If you look over the last two or three years, we're just depending on spinners, especially when Mujeeb joined the team," Naib said.
"We have two spinners in Rashid and Mujeeb. So if you work on the fast bowlers in the last two or three years, maybe we have good pacers now in this tournament.
"This is a problem. We didn't find the fast bowlers' department. We all worked on the spinners, so that's why we have world-class spinners."
Naib has not given up hope that his country's talent scouts can ...

Afghanistan have need for speed, admits World Cup skipper Naib

International condemnation mounted on Wednesday after more than 40 migrants were killed in an air strike on a detention centre in Libya that the UN said could constitute a war crime.
The UN Security Council was set to hold urgent talks about the situation in the North African country following what the European Union called a "horrific" attack that the UN-recognised government blamed on strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Bodies were strewn on the floor of a hangar in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura, mixed with the belongings and blood-soaked clothes of migrants, an AFP photographer said.
"There were bodies, blood and pieces of flesh everywhere," a survivor, 26-year-old Al-Mahdi Hafyan from Morocco, told AFP from his hospital bed where he was being treated for a leg wound.
Tuesday night's strike left a hole around three metres (10 feet) in diameter at the centre of the hangar, surrounded by debris ripped from the metal structure by the force of the blast.
At least 44 people were killed and more ..

Outcry as dozens killed in air strike on Libya migrant centre

Three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka was knocked out of Wimbledon on Wednesday, falling in five sets to 6ft 11in (2.1m) Reilly Opelka as defending champion Novak Djokovic waited to push his bid for a fifth title.
Two-time quarter-finalist Wawrinka, 34, was beaten 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 by his American opponent, the tallest man in the sport and 13 years his junior.
Opelka fired 23 aces and 59 winners and goes on to face either 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic of Canada or Robin Haase of the Netherlands.
Opelka will be appearing in the third round at a Slam for the first time having never won a grass court match in his career prior to coming to Wimbledon.
Wawrinka won warm applause for giving a line judge a warm embrace after accidentally colliding with her as he sprinted to hit a backhand.
"I was a bit too far to return a serve. I think I went against her, so I was sure she had some pain and was not happy, so I gave her a little hug," said the genial Swiss.
Also feeling the pain was ...

Wawrinka falls for tall tale at Wimbledon as Djokovic waits

The United States is driving a worldwide waste boom that poses a severe risk to human health, the environment and the economy, according to anew study of global garbage trends published Wednesday.
Data on the combined solid, plastic, food and hazardous waste of 194 countries showed that the world now produces an average of 2.1 billion tonnes of trash each year -- enough to fill more than 820,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Just 16 per cent of this (323 million tonnes) is recycled, while 950 million tonnes is disposed of "unsustainably", according to risk management firm Verisk Maplecroft.
Analysis showed that US citizens and businesses produce far more per capita than their fair share.
At an average of 773 kilograms per head, the country generates around 12 per cent of global municipal solid waste -- approximately 239 million tonnes annually.
This is over three times the global average and more than seven times that of Ethiopia, the least wasteful nation.
In addition, the US' ...

US waste driving global garbage glut: Study

The Kremlin on Wednesday refused to reveal the full story of a fire that killed 14 officers on what was reportedly a nuclear-powered mini-submarine, saying the details of the tragedy were a "state secret."
The seamen died on Monday as a result of poisoning from the fumes of the fire on a submersible in the Barents Sea in Russia's territorial waters but the disaster was only made public by the defence ministry on Tuesday.
The tragedy in the far north has echoes of the sinking of the Kursk submarine in 2000, also in the Barents Sea, that claimed 118 lives and shook the first year of Vladimir Putin's presidency.
Officials have released little information, saying the crew of a research submersible was studying the sea floor in the interests of the navy but Russian media reported the ship was a top-secret nuclear-powered mini-submarine.
President Putin did not go to a military base in the northern city of Severomorsk where the vessel is now, dispatching his defence minister instead.
The ...

Kremlin says details of deadly sub fire 'state secret'

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused China and Europe of deliberately weakening their currencies and stimulating their economies to gain competitive advantages over the United States.
Trump's latest Twitter outburst came as the Commerce Department reported that the US trade deficit surged to a five-month high in May, in part on record imports of automobiles -- goods on which Trump has threatened to impose steep duties.
The US Treasury, however, again reported in May that China was not manipulating its currency and departing European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi last month rejected similar accusations from Trump, saying the ECB does not target the exchange rate.
"China and Europe playing big currency manipulation game and pumping money into their system in order to compete with USA," Trump said on Twitter.
Trump also implied that the Federal Reserve should likewise ease monetary policy, something he has called for in the past.
"We should MATCH, or continue being the ...

Trump accuses China, Europe of currency manipulation, stimulus

Boeing announced Wednesday it would give USD 100 million to communities and families affected by two crashes on its 737 MAX planes that claimed 346 lives.
Describing the sum as an "initial investment" over multiple years, Boeing said it would work with local governments and non-profit organisations to provide living expenses and boost economic development in regions affected by crashes of planes operated by Ethiopian Airlines and Lion Air.
Boeing faces numerous lawsuits filed by the victims' families.

Boeing to give USD 100 mn to 737 MAX crash victims' families, communities

A Nairobi court Wednesday sentenced three men to terms ranging from 41 years to life for abetting the massacre of 148 people by Somali jihadists at Garissa University in northeast Kenya in 2015.
"In this attack, many lives were lost and members of the public left in a panic," said Judge Francis Anday.
He sentenced Rashid Charles Mberesero, a Tanzanian, to life for his involvement in the attack.
Two Kenyans, Mohamed Ali Abikar and Hassan Aden Hassan, were each given 41 years.
Mberesero was given the longer sentence as he was arrested at the scene of the massacre and could not explain why he was there, the court was told.
All three were found guilty last month of being members of Al-Shabaab, a Somali jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda that carried out the attack.
Four Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed the students' hall of residence firing their weapons at dawn on April 2, 2015, before separating the victims according to their religion.
Muslims were allowed to go but the rest were slaughtered, ..

Garissa accomplice gets life, two others 41 years, for Kenya massacre

Teachers demonstrated in Bangladesh's Chittagong port city Wednesday after a student doused a top professor with kerosene to protest against his allegedly lewd lectures, police and officials said.
Masud Mahmud, a professor of English literature at private University of Science and Technology, escaped unhurt Tuesday after other students and police came to his rescue.
Local police chief Pranab Kumar Chowdhury said a student had been arrested and remanded in custody.
The Bengali daily Prothom Alo said the professor was chased by around half a dozen students before two of them shoved him, and another doused him with kerosene.
Dilip Kumar Barua, the registrar of the university, said the attack came after some students complained that the professor's English literature lectures were "incoherent" and contained "sexually explicit" remarks.
"They felt uneasy about it," he said.
Some of the students even submitted a memorandum to the country's deputy education minister in April over the ...

Bangladesh professor doused in kerosene over 'lewd' lectures

Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to succeed British Prime Minister Theresa May, said Wednesday he backs Hong Kong protesters "every inch of the way" in their opposition to a  bill allowing extradition to China.
The ex-London mayor, vying with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to be Britain's next leader, said the people of Hong Kong were "perfectly within their rights to be very sceptical, very anxious" about the controversial plans.
"That could be politically motivated, that could be arbitrary and could infringe their human rights," he said of the extradition bill proposed by Hong Kong's leaders but suspended following huge demonstrations.
"I do support them and I will happily speak up for them and back them every inch of the way," Johnson added while campaigning in the Conservative Party leadership contest to be decided later this month.
Johnson's comments came as May reiterated it was "vital" Beijing respects Hong Kong's autonomy under the terms of the 1997 handover deal from British to .

UK's Johnson backs Hong Kong protesters 'every inch of way'

The struggling US media industry is facing its worst year for job layoffs in a decade as news organizations continue to cut staff and close shop, according to a new survey.
The consultancy Challenger Gray & Christmas reported this week that media companies, which include movies, television, publishing, music, and broadcast and print news, announced plans to cut 15,474 jobs so far this year, of which 11,878 of which were from news organizations.
That is nearly three times more than the 4,062 cuts announced in the media sector in 2017 and the highest total since the economic crisis in 2009.
"Members of the media, especially journalists, have had a tough few years," said Andrew Challenger, vice president of the Chicago-based firm.
"Many jobs were already in jeopardy due to a business model that tried to meet consumer demand for free news with ad revenue. As media outlets attempted to put news behind pay walls, in many markets, consumers opted not to pay." Some of the notable events ...

US media sector braces for brutal year for jobs

Imam-ul-Haq says Pakistan will go all out against Bangladesh on Friday even if they have no realistic chance of reaching the World Cup semi-finals.
Victory for New Zealand against England on Wednesday would leave the door open for Pakistan to seal a place in the last four if they win their final group match.
But a win for the tournament hosts would all but end the 1992 champions' chances of reaching the last four -- England would be out of reach on 12 points while New Zealand have a far-superior net run rate to Pakistan so would likely progress even if the two teams finished level on 11 points.
Imam said there was no despondency in the Pakistan camp despite the difficult situation.
"We are not thinking on the lines of not reaching semi-finals," said Imam.
"Our plan is to play the semi-final with an all-out effort and at the end if that doesn't happen then we have to play positive cricket and end on a high."
Pakistan won just one of their first five World Cup matches but bounced back ..

AFP

AFP

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