Most Recent Posts

Qosh in northern Iraq has 7,000 Christian residents. Add to that, more than 2,000 displaced Christians and Muslims from Mosul, who fled their homes when an extremist group took control of that city.

LONDON (AP) — Policymakers at the Bank of England voted unanimously to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent — unwilling to tamper with an economy that is returning to normal.

Minutes published Wednesday for the June meeting showed policymakers were united in voting to keep interest rates steady, particularly since inflation remained in check. But the minutes show that policymakers are looking for a sustained rise in real wages before acting. Such a rise would suggest that slack in the economy had been eroded.

They were also united in opting to refrain from pumping more money into the economy.

The bank's governor, Mark Carney, predicted last week that an interest rate hike might come sooner than markets expect — and many had expected some divisions on the committee.

i i

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk says a plan to create an alliance of the world's three biggest container shipping operators has been scrapped after Chinese authorities blocked it.

Vincent Clerc of the Copenhagen-based company says the Chinese disapproval of the plan came as "a surprise to us."

Clerc said Tuesday the alliance of Maersk, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. and CMA CGM of France, "as initially planned will not come into existence."

The proposed alliance, which had been okayed by U.S. and European authorities, was to be an independently operated network with 255 vessels and was set to start operations in late 2014.

The so-called P3 alliance was to operate a capacity of 2.6 million containers between Asia and Europe, across the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.