New York - Major US stock indices fell on opening Wednesday after the election of Democrat Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.4 per cent at 1508 GMT, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.19 per cent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.23 per cent.
Obama celebrated a resounding victory over Republican John McCain Tuesday night after an election campaign that was dominated by concerns over the credit crisis and faltering US economy.
Tunis, Paris - On the 21st anniversary of his taking power, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has pardoned the last members of the banned Tunisian Islamic group Ennahdha still in prison, a judicial source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday.
According to the source, 21 leaders and activists of the Islamic movement, including the former head of the group, who was known as Sadok Chourou, received a "conditional release" from jail.
Several members of the group, including Chourou, were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992 for terrorist activities.
Tel Aviv, Gaza - A fragile Israeli-Palestinian truce in the Gaza Strip took a battering overnight Tuesday and on Wednesday as Israeli troops raided the salient and militants launched a barrage of rockets at the south of the Jewish state in response.
London - Rare footage of an "unscheduled" Beatles gig during the band's first US tour in 1964 has been sold for 4,100 pounds (6,500 dollars) at auction in Britain, it was reported Wednesday.
The two-minute silent footage, captured on 8-millimetre film, shows John, Paul, George and Ringo during a performance at the Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
It was re-discovered in the bottom of a drawer by fan Drew Dimmel who, as a 15-year-old boy, smuggled the movie camera into the concert hall.
Mogadishu/Paris - A group of armed Somali men kidnapped six foreigners - four aid workers and two pilots - near the town of Dusamareb in central Somali on Wednesday, residents said.
Mohamoud Dhaqane, a businessman in Dusamareb, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the six were seized by a convoy of armed gunmen at an airstrip.
Vilnius - Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus described Russia's plans to deploy missiles in its Kaliningrad enclave as "beyond comprehension" Wednesday.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier in the day that Russia would deploy short-range Iskander missiles in its Baltic Sea enclave, which borders Lithuania, in answer to US plans to site a missile defence system in Eastern Europe.
New York - Major US stock indices fell on opening Wednesday after the election of Democrat Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.
Tunis, Paris - On the 21st anniversary of his taking power, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has pardoned the last members of the banned Tunisian Islamic group Ennahdha still in prison, a judicial source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday.
Tel Aviv, Gaza - A fragile Israeli-Palestinian truce in the Gaza Strip took a battering overnight Tuesday and on Wednesday as Israeli troops raided the salient and militants launched a barrage of rockets at the south of the Jewish state in response.
London - Rare footage of an "unscheduled" Beatles gig during the band's first US tour in 1964 has been sold for 4,100 pounds (6,500 dollars) at auction in Britain, it was reported Wednesday.
Mogadishu/Paris - A group of armed Somali men kidnapped six foreigners - four aid workers and two pilots - near the town of Dusamareb in central Somali on Wednesday, residents said.
Vilnius - Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus described Russia's plans to deploy missiles in its Kaliningrad enclave as "beyond comprehension" Wednesday.
