OPEC may retain current oil output
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Oil-producing countries are expected to maintain current oil output quotas of 27 million barrels a day when OPEC ministers meet in Iran this week, the United Arab Emirates energy minister said Sunday.
Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamili said on the Emirates’ Web site that ministers from the 10 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries “may decide to maintain the current output ceiling to calm down oil markets.”
World oil prices are surging “remarkably upward,” he said.
Pope leaves hospital, says he’s on the mend
Vatican City Pope John Paul II was released from the hospital and returned to his apartment overlooking St. Peter’s Square on Sunday after reassuring Roman Catholic faithful that he’s on the mend.
The 84-year-old pontiff returned to the Vatican 2 1/2 weeks after he was rushed to Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic hospital and had surgery to insert a breathing tube in his windpipe.
Before leaving Gemelli, John Paul gave his first live public address since the Feb. 24 operation, managing a few words from a window to Catholics who gathered under his 10th-floor hospital suite.
U.S., Japanese vets recall Iwo Jima battle
Iwo Jima, Japan Aging U.S. combat veterans and a handful of former Japanese soldiers gathered on a hillside over the landing beaches of the Battle of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most symbolic battles of World War II.
About 50 U.S. veterans gathered with family members at a Japanese base on the island. A handful of Japanese survivors – only about a dozen are still alive – joined in the “honor reunion” during which they offered prayers for the dead.
During about a month of fighting that began Feb. 19, 1945, some 100,000 Americans battled more than 22,000 Japanese. Nearly 7,000 Americans died. Fewer than 1,000 Japanese survived. The island is about 700 miles southeast of Tokyo.
Iran says Europeans too slow over N-talks
Tehran, Iran Iran described progress on nuclear talks with Europe as unsatisfactory and too slow, and Tehran’s chief negotiator warned Sunday it may leave the discussion.
Iran has made such threats before, accusing Europe of not making proposals that conform to Iran’s bottom line – that it will develop peaceful nuclear technol- ogy. Europe seeks to ensure it does not use the technology to build bombs. Earlier, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said a permanent halt of Iran’s nuclear activities was out of the question, but that Tehran wasn’t yet ready to declare the talks a failure.
Other Iran news: A powerful earthquake rocked southeastern Iran Sunday. Iranian television said some houses were damaged by the 5.9-magnitude quake. There were no immediate reports of casualties.