xNews® World News: Thursday, May 03, 2012

Facebook pushes record-breaking IPO

Facebook pushes record-breaking IPO
VIDEO: What now for Japan's nuclear stations?
Japan switches off last nuclear power plant; will it cope?
VIDEO: Do negative reports hurt Africa?
China dissident says unable to meet U.S. officials
Nepal PM to set up unity government after cabinet quits
Yankees Face Life Without Their Biggest Star, Mariano Rivera
VIDEO: Do negative reports hurt Africa?
China dissident says unable to meet U.S. officials
Questions Arise Over Yahoo! Boss' Programming Chops
Suicide bomber kills 15 in northwest Pakistan
Haiti's foreign minister approved as new premier
Chinese activist calls his situation 'dangerous'
Bomb targeting security forces kill 16 in Pakistan
Nepal PM to resign by end of the month
VIDEO: On the hunt with US 'meteor zombies'
VIDEO: US toddler unfazed by hungry lion
VIDEO: Honduras: world's murder capital
VIDEO: The Queen - in cake form
Deadly blast hits northwestern Pakistan

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:49 PM PDT

Social networking site Facebook is tipped to be worth as much as $95bn as it goes public.

VIDEO: What now for Japan's nuclear stations?

Posted: 03 May 2012 11:03 PM PDT

With Japan's last operating nuclear reactor due to go offline for maintenance, the future of the country's nuclear industry is in doubt.

Japan switches off last nuclear power plant; will it cope?

Posted: 03 May 2012 11:14 PM PDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan shuts down its last working nuclear power reactor this weekend just over a year after a tsunami scarred the nation and if it survives the summer without major electricity shortages, producers fear the plants will stay offline for good.

VIDEO: Do negative reports hurt Africa?

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:42 PM PDT

World Have Your Say's Ros Atkins reports from Sierra Leone on how some people there believe negative media coverage of the country damages it.

China dissident says unable to meet U.S. officials

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:18 PM PDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng said on Friday he was increasingly worried after being unable to meet U.S. diplomats face-to-face since Wednesday, and he repeated his wish to stay in the United States "for a time". In a brief telephone interview, Chen told Reuters from a Beijing hospital that he was also worried because his wife Yuan Weijing's movements had been restricted and monitored. He said he had heard that his friends had also been harassed. ...

Nepal PM to set up unity government after cabinet quits

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:08 PM PDT

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's prime minister worked on Friday to form a coalition government that will include the main opposition parties after his cabinet quit as part of a negotiated effort to quell political tumult in the desperately poor Himalayan state. Nepal, wedged between its giant neighbours China and India, has been plagued by instability for years even though a Maoist insurgency ended in 2006 and the monarchy was abolished, as the rebels had demanded, two years later. ...

Yankees Face Life Without Their Biggest Star, Mariano Rivera

Posted: 03 May 2012 09:58 PM PDT

The , with the biggest payroll in baseball, have depended one thing since 1997: Mariano Rivera. With the rocking strains of Metallica?s ?Enter the Sandman,? Rivera has trotted out from the bullpen and saved 608 games. When the Yankees are winning, and the game is tight in the 9th inning, you know Mariano will save ...

VIDEO: Do negative reports hurt Africa?

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:42 PM PDT

World Have Your Say's Ros Atkins reports from Sierra Leone on how some people there believe negative media coverage of the country damages it.

China dissident says unable to meet U.S. officials

Posted: 03 May 2012 11:02 PM PDT

Questions Arise Over Yahoo! Boss' Programming Chops

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:10 PM PDT

An investment outfit named Third Point LLC is going public with its questions for??! CEO Scott Thompson and the executive who hired him, querying the web portal giant over whether both Thompson and search Patti Hart of perhaps???embellished his academic credentials.? Thompson reportedly claims earning a degree in Computer Science but Third Point seems to ...

Suicide bomber kills 15 in northwest Pakistan

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:28 PM PDT

KHAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and wounded 40 on Friday in an attack on a police checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, casting doubt on official assertions that security offensives have weakened militants. The bomber struck near a crowded market in Bajaur, one of the unruly Pashtun tribal regions near the Afghan border where the military has mounted offensives in recent years against the al Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban, the biggest security threat to the country. ...

Haiti's foreign minister approved as new premier

Posted: 03 May 2012 09:46 PM PDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haitian lawmakers approved the nomination of a close adviser to President Michel Martelly as prime minister on Thursday, raising hopes of ending a political stalemate that has stalled reconstruction efforts after Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake. The lower house of parliament voted 62-3, with two abstentions, to approve Martelly's nomination of Laurent Lamothe, currently Haiti's foreign minister. Lamothe, a 39-year-old former businessman and close friend of Martelly, was approved by Haiti's Senate last month. ...

Chinese activist calls his situation 'dangerous'

Posted: 03 May 2012 09:58 PM PDT

A blind Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic standoff between the United States and China said Friday his situation is "dangerous," and that American officials have been blocked from seeing him for two days and friends who have tried to visit have been beaten up.

Bomb targeting security forces kill 16 in Pakistan

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:08 PM PDT

A bombing in a Pakistani market close to the Afghan border killed 16 people Friday, a day after the U.S. released a letter written by Osama bin Laden that criticized similar attacks for killing too many civilians.

Nepal PM to resign by end of the month

Posted: 03 May 2012 09:33 PM PDT

An official with a Nepalese opposition party says the prime minister will resign by the end of the month to pave the way for a new constitution and new elections.

VIDEO: On the hunt with US 'meteor zombies'

Posted: 03 May 2012 07:51 PM PDT

When a meteor shower streaked across the north California skies 10 days ago, treasure-seekers rushed to California's Gold Country looking for space rocks.