somerleigh1183

NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is calling the U.S., Israel, and Britain "common enemies" against Iraq and is urging his Shiite followers to resist what he called "the occupiers" by all means. The radical cleric's comments Saturday came in his first public speech in Iraq since his self-imposed exile to Iran nearly four years ago. He told the crowd of thousands to "reject America" and urged his followers to "target only the occupier with all means of resistance." He said Iraqis should not kill Iraqis. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is giving his first speech to followers since returning to Iraq from nearly four years of self-imposed exile in Iran. The powerful cleric was greeted by shouts of "Long live the leader" outside his ancestral home in the holy Shiite city of Najaf. Thousands of Iraqis crowded the streets to see the firebrand leader, an influential figure in Iraq who heads a fearsome militia as well as an organized political movement. Followers and detractors alike will be watching his speech for signs of what direction he'll take his political movement. http://bit.ly/h8cpQM

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Get to feeling better Scooter!!!

GYEONGJU – The U.S., Europe and emerging economies struck a compromise on Saturday to fend off a “currency war” by agreeing to refrain from competitive devaluations and to give greater power in the International Monetary Fund to developing countries. Finance ministers of the Group of 20 adopted a joint communiqué wrapping up their two-day meeting in Gyeongju to set the agenda for their leaders’ meeting scheduled for Nov. 11-12. The G20 members “will move towards more market determined exchange rate systems that reflect underlying economic fundamentals and refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies,” the statement said. It also called for advanced economies to take measures to help mitigate the risk of excessive volatility in capital flows facing some emerging countries. “Advanced economies, including those with reserve currencies, will be vigilant against excess volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates.” The G20 will step up its efforts to promote “a stable and well-functioning international monetary system,” it said. Emerging economies accepted the language as the G20 agreed to transfer more than six percent of the voting rights at the IMF to rising powers including China. The landmark reform is designed to better reflect the growing importance of the emerging economies at the international lender. Under the agreement, Europe will relinquish two of its nine seats at the IMF’s 24-strong Executive Board, according to Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF. The communiqué will be reported to the G20 Seoul Summit slated for Nov. 11-12. G20 finance ministers were struggling to find a common ground to prevent a currency battle from derailing a fragile global recovery. The statement vaguely mentioned a U.S. proposal to set caps on current account balances, which was put forward this week as an option to resolve global imbalances while circumventing foreign exchange disputes. “We will strengthen multilateral cooperation to promote external sustainability and pursue the full range of policies conducive to reducing excessive imbalances and maintaining current account imbalances at sustainable levels,” it said. “Persistently large imbalances, assessed against indicative guidelines to be agreed, would warrant an assessment of their nature and the root causes of impediments to adjustment as part of the Mutual Assessment Process, recognizing the need to take into account national or regional circumstances, including large commodity producers,” it said. The G20 called on the IMF to provide an assessment as part of the MAP on the progress toward external sustainability and the consistency of fiscal, monetary, financial sector, structural, exchange rate and other policies. (kys@heraldm.com) (cynthiak@heraldm.com) By Kim Yon-se, Cynthia J. Kim http://bit.ly/9IF9Hf