On Wall Street: A day of no reprieve
NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A punishing sell-off on Wall Street went to a second day Thursday as investors rejected a U.S. Federal Reserve stimulus measure.
The Fed's announcement that it would begin an operation twist, exchanging $400 billion in short-term securities for an equal amount of long-term bonds, sent shivers through markets Wednesday afternoon. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 240 points between the afternoon announcement and the close of trading.
As markets opened in Asia Thursday, the hemorrhaging continued. Markets gave up 4 percent in Hong Kong and India and 2.7 percent in China. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 2.6 percent.
In Europe, stocks were off more than 4 percent in Sweden, Italy and Germany and off more than 5 percent in France and Belgium.
By close of trading on Wall Street, the DJIA shed 391.01 points or 3.51 percent to 10,733.83. The Standard & Poor's 500 lost 37.20 points or 3.19 percent to 1,129.56. The Nasdaq composite index lost 82.52 points or 3.25 percent to 2,455.67.
On the New York Stock Exchange, 343 stocks advanced and 2,750 declined on a volume of 6.7 billion shares traded.
Obama uses bridge to urge jobs bill action
CINCINNATI, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- President Obama spoke on a bridge between the home states of the top two congressional Republicans Thursday, urging Congress to pass his jobs bill.
"Behind us stands the Brent Spence Bridge … one of the busiest trucking routes in North America," Obama said on the bridge that joins Ohio, home state of House Speaker John Boehner, and northern Kentucky, home of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "It sees about 150,000 vehicles cross over every day. And it's in such poor condition that it has been labeled functionally obsolete."
Obama used the Brent Spence Bridge, a closed bridge that links Kentucky and Indiana at Louisville and a third in Ironton, Ohio, as examples of infrastructure projects that could be started if Congress passes his American Jobs Act.
"This bill is not that complicated. It's a bill that would put people back to work rebuilding America, repairing our roads, repairing our bridges, repairing our schools," Obama said.
As he has in other speeches touting his jobs plan, Obama urged people to tell Congress to pass the bill so "we can start rebuilding America" and putting people back to work.
Mullen: ISI involved in Kabul attack
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Pakistani support for Afghan insurgents and corruption in the Afghan government are major obstacles for the United States, Adm. Mike Mullen said Thursday.
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified before a Senate committee that Pakistan's intelligence agency was involved in the attack last week on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and in the truck bombing of a NATO outpost near Kabul Sept. 10.
"The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan's Internal Services Intelligence agency," Mullen said. "With ISI support, the Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy."
Mullen warned government corruption in Afghanistan "de-legitimizes" the institutions the United States is counting on to take over as its forces are withdrawn. If nothing is done, the result is likely to be local conflicts at best and a total government collapse and civil war at worst, he said.
But Mullen, who is about to retire, said he is leaving confident that the problems in Afghanistan are not insurmountable.
Chemical weapons captured in Libya
TRIPOLI, Libya, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Libyan rebels say they've found a stockpile of chemical weapons in the southern desert after pushing Moammar Gadhafi loyalists from the area.
A CNN crew taken to the site, near Sabha, by military forces loyal to Libya's National Transitional Council said there were two warehouses filled with barrels marked "radioactive" and several plastic bags of yellow powder.
The International Atomic Energy Agency in 2004 confirmed the Libyan government had yellowcake, or processed uranium ore, stored in Sabha. The yellowcake can be refined to produce enriched uranium for nuclear purposes, CNN said.
Old surface-to-air missiles and rockets were also found at the site.
CNN said a U.S. Defense Department official, who declined to be identified, said Libya's stockpile of uranium yellowcake would need to go through extensive processing, including enrichment, before it could be used to build a bomb. He told CNN the processes do not exist in Libya.
The NTC said the town of Sabha has been mostly taken over by revolutionaries. Gadhafi was thought to be hiding in the town but no trace of him has been found.
CNN said Gadhafi's Gaddadfa tribe is allegedly ready to negotiate an agreement with NTC.
Ahmadinejad attacks U.S. in U.N. speech
NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against the United States, Israel and the European Union in a speech Thursday at the U.N. General Assembly.
Ahmadinejad blamed the West for global recession and questioned the Holocaust in a 30-minute tirade that provoked a walkout by delegates from the United States and other countries, The New York Times reported.
Ahmadinejad again accused the West of using the Holocaust as an excuse to oppress the Palestinian people.
"They threaten anyone who questions the Holocaust and Sept. 11 with sanctions and military action?" he said.
Ahmadinejad spent most of his speech attacking the West and trying to raise conspiracy theories about Sept. 11, the newspaper said.
The United States condemned the speech.
ETA, Hamas personnel designated terrorists
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A Hamas operative and an operative of the Spanish militant group ETA have been designated as terrorists, the U.S. State Department said Thursday.
Hamas operative Muhammad Hisham Muhammad Ismail Abu Ghazala and Basque Fatherland and Liberty -- known by the initials ETA -- leader Jurdan Martitegui Lizaso were designated under an executive order that targets terrorists and those who provide support to terrorists or acts of terrorism, the State Department said in a release.
The designations will help disrupt the flow of money to Abu Ghazala and Martitegui by barring U.S. entities from conducting business with them and freezing any assets they have under U.S. jurisdiction, the department said.
Hamas and ETA both are designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.
Abu Ghazala is a Hamas operative and has ties to Iran and al-Qaida, the department said. He is an improvised explosive device facilitator with connections to IED networks in northern Iraq and is also responsible for distributing remote detonation device designs used by Iraq's former regime, as well as terror organizations.
Martitegui is a long-term ETA member and has engaged in terrorist activities such as murder, bombing, recruiting and training, and providing logistical support, the State Department said. Martitegui participated in ETA's Vizcaya Command, which the State Department said was responsible for many terrorist acts, including the 2006 bombing of the Madrid-Barajas Airport parking garage.
