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Murray: U.S. oil reserve should be used

WASHINGTON, July 19 (UPI) -- Congressional Democrats want the United States to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help bring down oil prices, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said Saturday.

Murray said during the Democrats' weekly radio address that with gasoline prices reaching new highs, it is time to use the emergency reserves and urge oil companies to drill on leased federal lands.

"We believe it's time for the oil companies to use that land and to make sure that it stays in America instead of shipping it to the highest bidder overseas," Murray said.

"Democrats also think it is time to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Right now we have more than 700 million barrels of oil sitting underground in Texas and Louisiana that can be used in times of emergency."

Murray also called for increased regulation of energy trading, which she contends is being affected by speculators seeking to profit from rising oil prices.

Democrats, she said, "believe we must rein in Wall Street and traders who are unfairly driving up oil prices."

"With regard for nothing but their own profits, some traders are bidding up oil prices by buying huge quantities of oil just to resell at an even higher price," she said.

Lithuania ready to host missile shield

BUENOS AIRES, July 19 (UPI) -- Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus says his country is ready to conduct talks with the United States about hosting elements of a missile defense system.

Negotiations between the United States and Poland to deploy 10 anti-missile missiles in the country as part of an eastern European missile shield have stalled, and Adamkus says his country is willing to step into the breach, RIA Novosti reported Saturday.

While visiting Buenos Aires, Adamkus told the Argentine newspaper La Nacion he's open to such discussions.

"Lithuania is not currently engaged in negotiations with the United States on deploying a missile shield on our territory," he reportedly said. "However, we believe that this anti-missile system is an important element of European and international security. Therefore, if necessary, we are ready to work with our partners to deploy it."

RIA Novosti said Poland is driving a hard bargain in talks with the United States. It wants generous upgrades to its air defense systems in return for hosting the anti-missile base, the Russian news agency said.

Nepal presidency undecided; runoff needed

KATHMANDU, Nepal, July 19 (UPI) -- A runoff will be held in Nepal to determine the country's first president after Saturday's election failed to produce a majority winner, an official says.

Constituent Assembly Chairman Kul Bahadur Gurung said since the assembly failed to give one of the three presidential candidates 298 of the 594 eligible votes, the election will now move into a runoff Monday.

Meanwhile, former supreme court justice Parmananda Jha did receive enough votes to be elected Nepal's vice president in the first election since the end of the nation's monarchy, CNN said.

The Press Trust of India said Nepali Congress candidate Ram Baran Yadav came close to earning the presidential seat, earning 294 votes from the assembly.

Maoist party candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh received 282 votes despite early predictions he likely would win the election.

The Press Trust said Singh's bid fell short after an alliance was formed between the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist to stop the former rebel group from winning the presidency.

Two aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 19 (UPI) -- A French humanitarian group says two of its aid workers have been abducted in the central Afghanistan province of Day Kundi.

The group Action Against Hunger, based in Paris, said its workers were kidnapped early Friday, RIA Novosti reported, adding that the French Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident Saturday. A crisis team was on its way to negotiate the hostages' release, the Russian news agency said.

No one had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.