Nuclear talks remain stalled
Despite three days of hard bargaining, North Korean nuclear disarmament talks remained stuck Saturday over the energy aid North Korea would receive in return for closing its main nuclear reactor, diplomats said.
Discord over the compensation cast a pall over what had been high hopes that the six-nation talks could produce swift agreement on the first steps toward eliminating North Korea’s nuclear weapons and dismantling the nuclear facilities that produce its fissionable material.
As a result, diplomats from the six nations – North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, China and the United States – made plans to return to the negotiating table at the Chinese government’s secluded Diaoyutai guest compound here for additional sessions of negotiations today and perhaps into next week.
“It’s definitely an issue that has prevented us from sealing the deal right now,” said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the chief U.S. negotiator, without revealing the terms of the dispute. “It think it may take another day or two to get through this.”
Peshawar, Pakistan
No one injured in bomb blast
A bomb explosion Saturday at an office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in northwestern Pakistan damaged four vehicles, but no one was hurt, police said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack at the office of the aid agency in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
Raza Hamdani, a spokesman for the ICRC, confirmed the blast, but said the organization had not suspended field operations in northwestern Pakistan or elsewhere because of the attack.
Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, and offices of international aid agencies and westerners have been attacked in this Islamic nation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
London
Nasdaq loses bid for exchange
The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. failed for the second time in a year to win control of the London Stock Exchange PLC, revealing Saturday that its $5.3 billion hostile bid had been spurned by the British bourse’s shareholders.
Nasdaq, which abandoned its first attempt at the LSE several months ago, had extended its current offer by two weeks in an attempt to win over more shareholders – a move that proved fruitless.
In the end the New York-based exchange received acceptances worth just 0.41 percent of the LSE’s ordinary shares in return for its $24.35 per share bid.
Even added to the 28.75 percent share holding Nasdaq built up by buying in the market in recent months, that remained well short of the 50 percent it needed to begin taking control.
Nasdaq is now barred under British takeover law from renewing its bid for a year and declined to say Saturday what it planned to do with the 29.16 percent stake in the London bourse it retains.