UPI News Update

Anti-IMF protesters snagged in mass arrest

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Police detained more than 100 people participating in anti-IMF/World Bank demonstrations Friday when they tried to reach the south entrance of the White House. Scuffles between demonstrators and police took place at Pershing Park, near the White House, before the demonstrators were peacefully loaded onto buses.

U.S. congressmen visit Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Three U.S. congressmen arrived in Baghdad Friday on a fact-finding mission to inspect health conditions and try to help prevent war between the United States and Iraq. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., David Bonior, D-Mich., and James McDermott D-Wash., described their mission as mainly humanitarian. They also wanted all possible diplomatic efforts made to settle the crisis in U.S.-Iraqi relations without recourse to war, Thompson said on arrival. The United States should not launch any pre-emptive strike against anyone in the world, he added, referring to President Bush's assertion of a U.S. right to strike to prevent attacks on it.

Ivanov: No proof of Iraq link with al Qaida

MOSCOW, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Russia questions the credibility of claims by Washington and London linking Iraq with the al Qaida and will insist on the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Baghdad, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday. Earlier this week, top U.S. officials linked Saddam Hussein's government to Osama bin Laden's group. "In the past few days, official representatives of the United States and Great Britain have persistently claimed that they possess irrefutable evidence testifying about Iraq's ties with the al Qaida terrorist organization and Iraqi assistance to (Osama) bin Laden's supporters in building chemical weapons," Ivanov said after meeting Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda. But Russia received no "concrete facts or proof" on the issue, he said.

India: Temple raiders were Pakistanis

NEW DELHI, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Indian investigators Friday identified two gunmen who killed 30 worshipers at a Hindu temple earlier this week as Pakistani nationals. The Press Trust of India quoted police sources as saying one of the men was identified as Mohammed Amjad Bhai of Lahore, Pakistan, and the other as Hafiz Yasir of Attock, near Islamabad. Police detained the driver and the owner of the car in that they said the militants drove up to the Swaminarayan temple in Gandhinagar town of western Gujarat state on Tuesday. The state was the scene of religious clashes in February that left more than 1,200 people, mostly Muslim, dead.

Russia won't abandon ISS project

MOSCOW, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Russia's space agency will not give up participation in the International Space Station despite funding hardships that have brought its chief spacecraft manufacturer to the brink of financial collapse, a space official told United Press International Friday. An earlier report of Russia's intention to walk out on the project had sparked speculation about the future of the Russian commitment to the ISS.

GDP expands 1.3 percent

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The Commerce Department Friday reported the U.S. economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, expanded at a revised 1.3 percent annual pace during the second quarter, faster than the 1.1 percent clip the government reported on Aug. 29. Wall Street economists had been expecting GDP to expand at a 1.1 percent pace in the second quarter after expanding 5 percent in the first quarter and 2.7 percent during the fourth quarter. For all of 2001, gross domestic product, or the total output of goods and services produced in the United States, grew at a 0.3 percent, down sharply from the 3.8 percent annual rate for all of 2000.

Mortgage rates fall below 6 percent

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Freddie Mac Friday said mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in 31 years as the possibility of a war with Iraq grew and new money flowed into the bond market, driving down yields. Freddie Mac said the 30-year loan fell to its lowest level since it began its survey in April 1971 -- 5.99 percent -- and the 15-year loan dropped to its lowest level since August 1991, 5.41 percent. A year ago, the 15-year loan averaged 6.23 percent.

Earnings warnings pressure stocks

NEW YORK, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange were lower while prices on the Nasdaq Stock Market inched slightly higher in moderate trading Friday as investors digested more earnings warnings and downgrades. In early afternoon trading, the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average, which jumped 155.30 points Thursday, was down 146.90 points, or 1.75 percent, at 7,850.22. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index, which eased 0.68 points in the previous session, was ahead 3.81 points, or 0.31 percent, at 1,225.42.

Venue chosen for Davis Cup final

LONDON, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Defending champion France will host the final of the 2002 Davis Cup in tennis at the "Palais Omnisports" in Paris Bercy. The International Tennis Federation confirmed the site Friday. According to French Tennis Federation President Christian Bimes, the tie between France and Russia will be contested on indoor clay from Nov. 29-Dec. 1.