Stocks fall on concerns over economy
NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market were sharply lower in busy early afternoon trading Thursday, knocked down by disappointing earnings results from Exxon Mobil and weak readings on the economy. Analysts said stocks fell as investors digested another barrage of surprisingly weak economic reports that fanned fears the nation's economy may not be able to recover as quickly as hoped. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average, which gained 56.56 points Wednesday, was down 206.71 at 8,529.88. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index, which lost 15.93 points in the previous session, was down 37.82 to 1,290.44.
2 ex-WorldCom execs charged
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Justice Department charged two former WorldCom Inc. executives Thursday with conspiracy and securities fraud. The charges filed in Manhattan were only the latest brought by a Bush administration eager to show it is getting tough on alleged corporate corruption. The two former executives, Scott Sullivan and David Myers, were in FBI custody Thursday morning. Sullivan, former WorldCom chief financial officer, and Myers, its former controller, were fired shortly before the long-distance carrier announced it had improperly recorded $3.9 billion in expenses. The improper records allegedly allowed WorldCom to show a false profit for 2001.
EU defends accounting rules, reforms
BRUSSELS, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The European Commission was forced to defend how it manages almost $100 billion of taxpayers' money Thursday after the EU's Court of Auditors accused it of wasting public funds and using unsafe and unreliable accounting procedures. In a leaked report obtained by the Financial Times, the EU's financial watchdog says the commission's accounting system has "obvious risks as regards its reliability" and suffers from a "lack of security." The confidential paper is scathing about recent attempts to reform the commission's accounting practices.
Bush 'furious' over university attack
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush said Thursday he was "furious" about the attack that killed seven people -- including five Americans -- at Hebrew University in Jerusalem but would not be deterred from trying to bring peace to the region. Bush made the comment at the start of a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah, a key player in the Middle East peace process. Abdullah is expected to press Bush to reconsider action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
Bomb kills 1 at UK base, dissidents blamed
LONDON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A construction worker was killed Thursday when a bomb, believed to have been planted by an Irish dissident group, exploded near his face at a British army base in Northern Ireland. The bombing sparked fears of a fresh outbreak of violence targeting bases in the troubled province. David Caldwell, a 51-year-old civilian construction worker, was helping to renovate the disused base when the device, a booby-trapped lunch box, exploded when he moved it. Security forces have not used the base for at least 14 months according to a British army spokesman and he said it had no role in security operations in Northern Ireland.
Five killed in Kashmir militants attack
JAMMU, India, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- At least one Indian army officer and three suspected Islamic militants were killed in a gun battle in a residential enclave for senior police officials and civil servants in Kashmir state, Press Trust of India reported Thursday. Police said at least seven militants broke into the high-security residential colony in Rajouri town at 7:45 p.m. The attacks stopped at 11 p.m. but resumed at 5:25 a.m. Thursday. The attackers launched grenades and fired mortar shells but were turned back by Indian troops.
N.Korea rejects force-reduction plan
SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- North Korea has rejected a U.S. offer to discuss the reduction of military forces deployed along its border with South Korea during talks between Pyongyang and Washington, South Korean officials said Thursday. "The issue absolutely cannot be put on the agenda of discussion," said a Foreign Ministry official, quoting Pyongyang's report, which was submitted to a recent regional security forum. The report also called for abolition of the U.S.-led U.N. Command based in Seoul and an end to Washington's "hostile and vicious policy" against North Korea, the official told United Press International on condition of anonymity.
Two teens kidnapped in SoCal desert
LANCASTER, Calif., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A statewide alert was issued Thursday morning after two teenage girls were reported kidnapped at gunpoint from a secluded lover's lane in the Southern California desert. The apparent abduction of Tamera Brooks, 16, and Jaqueline Marris, 17, in the Quartz Hills area became the first test of the statewide "Amber Alert" system instituted in California last week in the wake of the kidnapping-slaying of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in Orange County. Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives said the teenagers were abducted around 1 a.m. PDT.
Amtrak heart victim dies after delay
BOSTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Amtrak was under orders Thursday to explain why a commuter rail train made two scheduled stops en route to Boston rather than get immediate medical help for a passenger who had suffered a heart attack. The passenger, James R. Allen, 61, of Wellesley, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, died after a nearly 20-minute delay in getting him to emergency medical personnel, officials said. Experts said a victim in cardiac arrest has a 50 percent chance of survival if the heart can be shocked with a portable defibrillator within 5 minutes but that the rate of survival goes down about 10 percent every minute thereafter.
China tightens rules on Internet content
SHANGHAI, China, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Strict new rules on Internet publishing in China went into effect Thursday as authorities in Beijing moved to silence online dissent and political criticism ahead of this year's 16th Communist Party Congress, when an entire generation of leaders will step down. The new regulations, a copy of which was obtained by United Press International, ban material that "threatens national unity, divulges state secrets or fuels ethnic hatred or discrimination." Electronic versions of published books, newspapers, periodicals, and audio and video products, as well as original literature, art, and material related to science and technology, social sciences and engineering, are listed in the government circular as subject to close scrutiny by authorities.
Players schedule strike date discussion
NEW YORK, Nev., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- As talks continued between baseball owners and players Thursday, the negotiating committee for the players union said it had set a conference call for Friday as a preliminary step toward possibly announcing a strike date. The conference call is a prelude to calling a meeting of the executive board, which could announce as early as next week that it's setting a strike date for some time between Aug. 16 and Sept. 16. Don Fehr, the union's executive director, said that any of baseball's 30 player representatives may take part in the Friday call. The main members of the union's negotiating committee include Fehr, his brother Steve, Gene Orza and Michael Weiner, both associate general counsels for the union.
