In brief: Violence clouds Mideast talks

Jerusalem – Crowds of Palestinian youths violently rampaged in east Jerusalem Wednesday following the shooting death of a local man, clouding fragile peace efforts even as the Palestinian president signaled he may back away from threats to quit negotiations if Israel resumes West Bank settlement construction.

At one point, Israeli riot police stormed the hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary – the most explosive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Wednesday’s outburst comes less than a month after the sides resumed peace negotiations.

Lagos, Nigeria – Pirates armed with Kalashnikov rifles clashed with Nigerian navy forces in a failed bid to take over an offshore oil platform, then kidnapped three French employees of a marine services company while retreating, a Nigerian official said Wednesday.

Navy Commodore David Nabaida said a Thai employee also may have been taken hostage by the pirates during the attack.

The French-flagged vessel Bourbon Alexandre was working in an offshore oil field operated by Addax Petroleum, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned oil producer Sinopec Group.

Washington – The presidents of two countries that have banned shark fishing – Honduras and the Pacific island nation of Palau – called on the world to stop killing sharks for their fins, the key ingredient in Chinese shark fin soup.

Sharks are top ocean predators and necessary for the health and balance of the web of marine life. Because they grow slowly and produce few young, their numbers are slow to recover.

Scientists have identified 1,045 shark and ray species, and 30 percent of them are listed as threatened or near threatened with extinction, the Pew Environment Group reported.

President Johnson Toribiong of Palau declared his nation’s waters as the first sanctuary for sharks last year.

“We have done what we can in Palau’s waters to save these magnificent masters of the sea,” Toribiong said. “We have found that healthy shark populations keep our marine environment healthy and our tourism industry thriving.”