DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Bangladesh stocks close lower” plus 9 more

DHAKA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's main bourse -- Dhaka Stock Exchange All Shares Price Index (DSI), the benchmark index, closed at 5,088.42 points Thursday, down 12.96 points or 0.25 percent from Wednesday's finish.

The total single day turnover came down to about 2.41 billion taka (about 34.43 million U.S. dollars) on Thursday from about 3. 08 billion taka (about 44.01 million U.S. dollars) on Wednesday.

Of the total 251 issues traded, 80 registered gains and 156 incurred losses while 15 remained unchanged.

HONG KONG, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong stocks closed down 135. 18 points, or 0.67 percent, at 19,912.82 on Thursday, tracking losses on Mainland markets.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 20,159.29 and 19, 799.49. Turnover totaled 64.1 billion HK dollars (about 8.22 billion U.S. dollars).

All of the four sub-indices lost ground. The Commerce and industry sub-index decreased the most at 0.96 percent, followed by the Utilities sub-index at 0.64 percent, the Finance at 0.49 percent, and the Properties at 0.35 percent.

Fashion retailer Belle International, the worst performing blue- chip on Thursday, tumbled 8.49 percent to 14.88 HK dollars.

Banking giant HSBC edged up 0.08 percent to close at 64.65 HK dollars, while its local unit Hang Seng Bank lost 0.45 percent at 109.80 HK dollars. Bank of East Asia, another Hong Kong's major bank, fell 1.2 percent to 28.90 HK dollars.

Local bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing dropped 0. 85 percent to 140.80 HK dollars.

Mainland-based financial stocks declined. ICBC, the world's largest bank by market value, fell 0.99 percent to 4.99 HK dollars. Bank of China ended 0.98 percent lower at 3.02 HK dollars. Bank of Communications, China's fifth biggest lender measured by assets, retreated 0.55 percent to 5.47 HK dollars. China Construction Bank ended flat at 5.73 HK dollars.

As for Mainland insurers, China Life added 0.22 to 18.62 HK dollars, while Ping An decreased 1.13 percent to 61.35 HK dollars.

Hong Kong developers moved up in general, Hang Lung Properties rose 1.08 percent to 28 HK dollars. Henderson Land, another major developer in Hong Kong, gained 0.11 percent to 44.05 HK dollars. Cheung Kong Holding, a powerful HK-based developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, went up 1.76 percent to 103.80 HK dollars. Sun Hung Kai lost 0.1 percent to 105.1 HK dollars.

CNOOC fell 0.99 percent to 14.06 HK dollars. China's top refiner Sinopec lost 1.63 percent to 3.01 HK dollars. PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, went up 0.31 percent to 9.72 HK dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 7.795 HK dollars)

PARIS, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The quarterly growth in seven major advanced countries, namely G7, for the second half of 2011 would be remarkably weak with "unusually large" uncertainty and risks, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said here Thursday.

The G7 is projected to have overall quarterly growths in the last two quarters of this year less than one percent on average compared with the level a year earlier, the OECD said in its newly released Interim Economic Assessment, leaving larger revision scope for each country.

While excluding Japan, OECD projections posted annualized quarterly growth in G7 economies below one percent in the second half of this year.

The impact of the sovereign debt crisis threatening eurozone and worryingly high deficit in the United States, together with the financial turmoil this summer may have been underestimated, said the report.

According to OECD, the United States is set to grow in the range of 0.5-1 percent during the second half; Japan could see significant growth buoyed by reconstruction in the third quarter after disaster impact, but its performance in the last quarter might be slack as the stimulus effect fades away.

Germany is expected to post one quarter of negative growth following the damping growth rate in the second quarter, while the same could also happen to Italy which has been haunted by sovereign debt problems.

For the last two quarters, Britain is estimated to see modest growth lower than 0.5 percent, whereas Canada's growth rates could range from 1.0-1.9 percent, the assessment said.

In many OECD countries, the economic activities approached to stagnation in the April-June period, said Pier Carlo Padoan, OECD Chief Economist and Deputy Secretary-General when presenting the report, warning that economic situation might become worse than previously forecast.

For the overall situation in the second half, the OECD report presented a combination of upwards and downturn risks.

Negative risks include low construction, business investment and consumption, while "better than expected" improvement in the Federal budgetary situations of the United States present positive dimensions.

In the second quarter, European biggest power Germany and France both saw near-zero growth rates, casting huge gloom of a recession for the eurozone, but OECD said temporary factors including the shutdown of nuclear plants and expiring of car scrapping policy damping growth in respective state is unwinding.

Facing the ongoing difficulties, the advisory agency suggested governments to decide on the space for fiscal polity according to the state of respective public finances.

"Countries with limited fiscal space have restricted scope for fiscal easing and some have to tighten amid cyclical weakness," Padoan said.

As to euro area debt issue, he underlined the first step was to implement the framework decided on the eurozone summit on 21 July, and meanwhile to improve governance and the capitalization of banks in a bid to stop contagion and restore confidence.

Additionally, policy rates in most OECD countries should be kept on hold, the report recommended, adding declining rate is feasible if weakness enduring or a recession looms in the coming months.

As long as necessary, further central bank interventions in security markets, even if at diminishing returns, and strong commitments to keep interest rates low over a certain period may be in need to ease the market, the OECD report added.

YAROSLAVL, Russia, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Car horns, sporting team chants and flowers filling the entrance to a local stadium mark this central Russian city not as a community celebrating a triumph but one in mourning.

Thousands of local residents have spent a sleepless night here, where 43 people, including the city's star ice hockey team, perished in an air crash Wednesday afternoon.

The town people started gathering in the streets after the news broke. A Yak-42 passenger plane, heading to the Belarussian capital of Minsk with 45 people onboard, crashed shortly after take-off at the Yaroslavl airport. The chartered plane from a small local airline plunged into the Volga River and broke into three parts.

The city lost the entire Lokomotiv team, including 11 foreigners from Canada, Sweden, Germany, Latvia, Ukraine, Czech and Belarus. Russian player Alexander Galimov is one of the only two survivors, but was in a critical condition due to severe burns.

Carrying flowers and lighting candles, Lokomotiv fans and other residents headed to the city's tiny airport, a former air force base.

"My three friends and I came here as soon as we heard about it. This is a huge loss for Russian ice hockey, not for Yaroslavl only," Eugeni Bazurin, who wore the Lokomotiv club's sweatshirt, told Xinhua. His three friends, all teenagers, also wore the team's insignia.

Local authorities were quick to seal the crash site near the village of Tunoshna, where many locals witnessed the disaster a few hundred meters from their houses.

"I saw the plane coming down overhead and heard a loud bang a few seconds later. We immediately ran in that direction and saw the plane's tail laying on the river's bank while the rest of the aircraft was half-sunk in the Volga," Tunoshna resident Andrei Gorshkov told Xinhua.

His friend Katya added, "The village residents tried to help the passengers even before the rescue teams arrived. They pulled out several burnt bodies with their bare hands."

Yaroslavl Mayor Victor Volonchunas, who arrived at the site a few hours later, declined to comment on the situation, saying only, "It's too early to make any comments."

Head of Yaroslavl Investigative Committee Valeri Lipatov was more communicative. He told Xinhua at the crash site that the disaster area would be combed for anything that would help determine the cause of the tragedy for another two days with participation of investigators from Moscow, Kostroma and Yaroslavl regions.

As Lipatov spoke, heavy vehicles sent by the Emergency Ministry drove along the streets of Tunoshna heading to the Volga's bank. Several motorized cranes and blade machines followed and a heavy cargo Ilyushin aircraft with the Emergency Ministry insignia landed at the Yaroslavl airport soon afterwards.

Meanwhile, in downtown Yaroslavl, people kept coming to a self-made memorial at Lokomotiv's stadium entrance throughout the night.

"I believe the club can resurrect soon with the help of the Loko junior team, but we'll never forget those who died today," Vera in her early 20s said while lighting a candle at the base of the meter-high hill of red carnations.

She said she had never been a devoted ice hockey fan but came here just to commemorate the people who died.

The crash has received extensive media coverage because major Russian and foreign media were in Yaroslavl for the Third World Political Forum, which started on the same day.

The forum which took place, by coincidence, in the premises of the Lokomotiv home stadium, was scaled down and all pre-scheduled entertainment programs were cancelled.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who planned to address the forum on Thursday, changed his agenda and instead will now meet here with government officials responsible for transportation safety.

Russian aviation experts said that, based on the information available by Thursday morning, the most likely cause of the crash might be "human factors," as the pilots appeared to have taken the plane off the runway too late.

BAGHDAD, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Two anti-Qaida paramilitary group members and a civilian were killed and two Iraqi soldiers wounded in separate gunfire and bomb attacks across Iraq, the police said Thursday.

Gunmen with silenced weapons killed two local Awakening Council group members when attacking their checkpoint in the al-Sherqat area some 110 km north of Tikrit, the capital city of Salahudin province, a source from Salahudin police told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The Awakening Council group, or Sahwa in Arabic, consists of armed groups, including some powerful anti-U.S. Sunni insurgent groups which fought al-Qaida militants in the Sunni Arab areas after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

In the south of Kirkuk City, some 250 km north of Baghdad, a civilian was killed late Wednesday when unidentified gunmen stabbed him with knives in the al-Taakhi neighborhood, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Two soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb struck their patrol Thursday morning in the Daquq area, some 40 km south of the Kirkuk, the source said.

The oil-rich province of Kirkuk and its capital Kirkuk City are part of the disputed areas between the Kurds and both Arabs and Turkomans. The province has long been the hotbed of insurgency since the invasion.

JILIN, Jilin Province, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Virtual flame will replace real fire at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Chinese National Winter Games, organizers said here on Thursday.

A star athlete, very likely being Zhou Yang, 2010 Olympic short track speed skating gold medalist, will symbolically light the cauldron as technicians simulate flame at the top of the 12-meter-high cauldron in Jilin Wuhuan Gymnasium, according to Wei Xiuyun, deputy director of Jilin Sports Bureau.

"We will use virtual flame to save cost and avoid pollution to the environment," Wei said.

The 2012 Chinese National Winter Games will be held in Changchun City and Jilin City from Jan. 1 to 13.

BANGKOK, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation reported on Thursday that some 72 people have been killed in floods and landslides caused by Nock-Ten tropical storm and monsoon since July 29.

Based on the report, currently there are 12 provinces, mostly in central region, still facing floods. Approximately 442,128 in these provinces have been suffering and some 142,101 houses inundated.

Those provinces include central Sukhothai, Pichit, Pisanulok, Nakhonsawan, Ayuddhaya, Angthong, Chainat, Singburi, Nakhon Pathom, Supanburi, Nonthaburi and northeastern Ubonracha Thani.

The department also warned people living near river banks in northern Chiang Mai, northeastern Yasothorn and Ubonracha Thani provinces to be well aware of rising water and river overflows in the next few days.

JAKARTA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- A total of 799 have been killed in road accidents in the Muslim festivity holidays, 31 percent higher from last holiday season, Traffic Affairs Deputy at Indonesian Police headquarters Brig. Gen. Didik Purnomo said Thursday.

The fatalities occurred in 4,744 travel-related mishaps that occurred one week before and after the Muslim festivity that was celebrated on Aug. 31, Didik said.

Didik said 70 percent of the dead were those riding motorbikes to return to their hometowns.

He added that some 1,334 people were also severely injured in traffic accidents across the country.

Earlier reports said that some 17 million people were returning to their hometowns across the country to celebrate Muslim's festivity of Eid with their families. Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population which accounts for around 80 percent of the country's 237 million of population.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysia stock market ended higher here on Thursday.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) was at 1,469.83 up 5.22 points or 0.36 percent, and the Emas was at 10,036.64 up 33.25 points or 0.33 percent.

There were 415 gainers, 265 losers and 284 counters traded unchanged.

Turnover decreased to 812.87 million shares valued at 1.14 billion ringgit Malaysia(380.76 million U.S. dollars), compared with 650.39 million shares valued at 1.25 billion ringgit Malaysia (418.83 million U.S. dollars) on Wednesday.

JERUSALEM, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- While Israeli-Turkish relations teetered on the edge of a total breakdown, senior Israeli officials either backed up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to issue an apology over the death of Turkish nationals in a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last year, or tried to cool mounting bilateral tensions.

The deepening crisis with Turkey "is not our choice," Netanyahu said Wednesday evening at a graduation ceremony for naval officers in Haifa, quoted by local media Thursday.

"We respect the Turkish people and their heritage. We definitely want relations to improve," the prime minister said in his first public remarks on the breakdown in diplomatic relations with Ankara.

However, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that Israel had broken existing defense agreements in not returning pilot-less drones that Turkey had purchased but sent back for maintenance.

"They are not loyal to agreements between us in the defense industry," Erdogan said, according to the Haaretz daily.

"There might be problems, you may not be speaking to each other, but you have to fulfill your responsibility under international agreements," Erdogan charged, referring to 10 Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) leased from Israel. Turkey uses the UAVs to monitor Kurdish militant activities in the north.

"Israel and Turkey are the two strongest, and in many respects, the most important states in the Middle East," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, a government source told Xinhua Thursday.

"We have a dispute between us, and, as in disputes, it's important that both sides operate from the head and not from the gut," Barak said.

On Thursday morning, in an interview with Israel Radio, Barak repeated his apology over the deaths of nine Turkish nationals on board the Mavi Marmara.

It remains unclear if Israeli military attach Col. Moshe Levy will be expelled from Turkey, along with other diplomatic personnel, as ordered by the Turkish government, as part of Erdogan's measures.

However, while Netanyahu and Barak called for restraint and repairing the break in relations, Minister of Transport and Road Safety Israel Katz said that "the prime minister was right in his refusal to apologize to the Turks," according to the source.

Katz, who made his remarks after discussing the issues involved with Netanyahu, added that, "The ones who should be apologizing are the Turks, to us."

Katz said that "Israel Defense Forces soldiers acted on a mission ordered by the State of Israel to keep the maritime blockade from being breached and Iranian arms from reaching terror groups in the Gaza Strip, in order to harm Israeli citizens," according to the government source.