Saudi Arabia Opens $585B Stock Market To Foreign Investors

A Saudi man looks at stocks at the Tadawul Saudi Stock Exchange, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, June 15, 2015. Saudi Arabia's stock market, valued at $585 billion, opened up to direct foreign investment for the first time Monday, as the kingdom seeks an economic boost amid low global oil prices. (AP)

DUBAI, United ARAB EMIRATES (AP) — Saudi Arabia's stock market, valued at $585 billion, opened up to direct foreign investment for the first time Monday, as the kingdom seeks an economic boost amid low global oil prices.

The opening of the Tadawul Saudi Stock Exchange allows companies, particularly those that are not in the oil business, to raise money straight from foreign investors, with the goal of expanding businesses, diversifying the economy and creating more jobs for the kingdom's growing population. Before Monday, foreigners only could access the market indirectly, through a local Saudi institution, which was costly and complicated.

The stock exchange's estimated value makes it the biggest in the Middle East. Petrochemical firms make up a fifth of Tadawul, with heavyweights like Saudi Basic Industries Corp. among those listed. The move comes at a crucial time for Saudi Arabia, whose revenue has suffered from a plunge in oil prices over the past year. That lower revenue could constrain government spending, which in turn would affect the many companies relying on government projects. The kingdom has been drawing from its robust foreign reserves to maintain spending.

An influx of foreign money could "help to plug some of the external shortfall and slow the pace at which Saudi Arabia is drawing down its reserves," says the London-based analysis firm Capital Economics.

The firm says Saudi Arabia has been traditionally cautious about foreign influence in its political and economic affairs. Its decision to open its stock market could be seen as part of a broader liberalization effort in the kingdom's economy. The socially and religiously ultraconservative country is already awash in some of the world's biggest brands and many multinational companies have their factories and facilities there.

However, foreign investors say they are taking a cautious approach and warn not to expect an immediate rush of foreign investment into the Middle East's biggest market. "In the immediate to short term, the money flow will be gradual," says Sachin Mohindra, Gulf portfolio manager for Invest AD.

In fact, the index was slightly down Monday, closing just shy of a percentage point below Sunday's closing mark. Tadawul, like other regional indexes, follows the traditional Middle Eastern work week with trading taking place Sunday to Thursday.

John Sfakiankis, Middle East director based in Riyadh at emerging markets investment firm Ashmore Group, says he too does not expect a big influx of foreign investment right away. He expects a gradual flow over the next few years of $20 billion to $25 billion.

One reason for the cautious approach: When local investors anticipated the opening of the market, they bid up stock prices, leaving them overvalued in the opinion of fund managers. Additionally, there are regulations in place for foreign investors and it remains unclear how many foreign institutions have been granted licenses. Only financial institutions with $5 billion or more of assets under management that have been in operation for five or more years are eligible to invest, thought the regulator says it could make exceptions.

Other regulations are that qualified foreign investors cannot own more than 5 percent of the shares of any company. These investors as a whole cannot own more than 20 percent of shares in the roughly 165 listed companies.

There are five companies that will be off limits to foreign investors. Most are in construction in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which are closed to non-Muslims. The kingdom's stock market regulator, the Capital Markets Authority, says the decision to open the market to direct foreign investment is aimed at supporting increased participation of institutional investors and reducing the role of smaller investors.

According to Tadawul, Saudi individuals make up 34.4 percent of stock market ownership, but account for nearly 90 percent of trading activity. That has exposed the market to volatility. Tadawul CEO Adel al-Ghamdi said at an economic conference in Riyadh last month that the framework was specifically customized to attract "sophisticated, longer-term" investors that take an active role in shaping and questioning the direction of the companies they are investing in, which would lead to higher standards of corporate governance.

"The point of the framework was never about increasing foreign investment flow into the kingdom. It was always about trying to bring foreign investors to enhance our practices and our market infrastructure," al-Ghamdi said.

Follow Aya Batrawy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ayaelb .

Migrants Refusing To Leave Italy-French Border In Standoff

Migrants sit together after waking up while the rest sleep on the rocky beach at the France's Mediterranean boarder with Italy near Menton, southeastern France, Monday, June 15, 2015. French border police blocked border crossings last week, citing the influx of migrants, principally from Eritrea and Sudan, and about 200 would-be refugees have refused to leave the rocks of Ventimiglia, Italy, just a few kilometers from the swank resorts of Nice and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the French Riviera. (AP)

VENTIMIGLIA, ITALY (AP) — A standoff between nearly 200 migrants and the French border police has entered its fourth day with the group refusing to leave Italy's Mediterranean border with France in hopes of continuing their journeys north.

The migrants, most from Sudan, Libya and Eritrea, again spent the night on the rocks at the Ventimiglia border crossing, kilometers from the posh resorts of the French Riviera. The French Interior Ministry said it had reinforced border controls over the past few weeks due to an influx of migrants.

Italy is expected to raise the matter at an EU interior ministers' meeting Tuesday in Luxembourg. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano called the Ventimiglia standoff a "slap in the face to Europe" and demanded EU countries take in asylum-seekers, since most don't want to stay in Italy.

South African Judge Orders Sudan's President Detained

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir speaks after meeting with South Sudan's President Salva Kiir, in the capital Juba, South Sudan. A South African judge has ordered authorities to prevent Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, from leaving the country because of an international order for his arrest, human rights activists said Sunday, June 14, 2015. It was unclear whether authorities would heed efforts to have al-Bashir detained on behalf of the International Criminal Court, if he is indeed in South Africa. (AP)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African judge on Sunday ordered authorities to prevent Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is in South Africa for an African Union summit, from leaving the country because of an international order for his arrest, human rights activists said.

Al-Bashir appeared for a group photo with other African leaders at the summit in Johannesburg on Sunday, wearing a blue three-piece suit, a tie and a smile as cameras flashed. A South African judge ordered authorities to prevent al-Bashir from leaving South Africa because he is wanted by the International Criminal Court, human rights activists said Sunday.

"President Omar al-Bashir is prohibited from leaving the Republic of South Africa until a final order is made in this application," Judge Hans Fabricius said, according to local media reports. The judge ordered the South African government to ensure that officials at all border posts enforce the court's decision, according to Caroline James, a lawyer with the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, a rights group. The court is expected to rule on Monday if al-Bashir should be handed over to the International Criminal Court to face charges of alleged genocide and human rights abuses.

Kamal Ismail, the Sudanese state minister for foreign affairs, told reporters in Khartoum that al-Bashir had received assurances from the South African government prior to his visit that he would be welcome and was expected to return to Sudan on schedule.

He said the court order preventing al-Bashir from leaving South Africa "has nothing to do with the reality on the ground there," adding that "until now things are normal and there is no threat to the life of the president of the Republic."

The African National Congress, which is South Africa's ruling party, said the South African government granted immunity "for all (summit) participants as part of the international norms for countries hosting such gathering of the AU or even the United Nations."

"It is on this basis, amongst others, that the ANC calls upon government to challenge the order now being brought to compel the South African government to detain President al-Bashir," the ANC said, adding that African and Eastern European countries "continue to unjustifiably bear the brunt of the decisions of the ICC."

Even before Sunday's events, the African Union had asked the International Criminal Court to stop proceedings against sitting presidents and said it will not compel any member states to arrest a leader on behalf of the court.

Al-Bashir has traveled abroad before and local authorities had not detained him at the behest of the International Criminal Court, which is based in The Hague, Netherlands. International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said South Africa is under a legal obligation to arrest al-Bashir and surrender him to the court. Her office has been in touch with South African authorities on the Sudanese president's reported visit.

If al-Bashir is not arrested, the matter will be reported to the court's assembly of states and the United Nations Security Council, which first referred the case of Sudan's Darfur region to the International Criminal Court in 2005, she said.

The charges against al-Bashir, who took power in a 1989 coup, stem from reported atrocities in the conflict in Darfur, in which 300,000 people were killed and 2 million displaced in a government campaign, according to United Nations figures.

He has visited Malawi, Kenya, Chad and Congo in the last few years, all of which are International Criminal Court member states. The court doesn't have any powers to compel countries to arrest him and can only tell them they have a legal obligation to do it.

In March, the International Criminal Court halted proceedings against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta after the prosecution said it did not have enough evidence against him. Kenyatta, who is attending the summit, was charged in 2011 as an "indirect co-perpetrator" in postelection violence that left more than 1,000 people dead in 2007 and 2008. He always maintained his innocence.

Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto is on trial for crimes against humanity in the election-related violence.

Associated Press writer Mohamed Osman contributed to this report from Khartoum, Sudan.

Hillary Clinton Looks To Build Organizational Edge In Iowa

Anita Wendt, of Sioux City, Iowa poses for a photo with Democratic presidential hopeful, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, during a campaign house party Saturday, June 13, 2015, in Sioux City, Iowa. (Justin Wan/The Sioux City Journal via AP)

DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) — Seeking an army of volunteers, Hillary Rodham Clinton is trying to build an organizational edge in Iowa as some of her lesser-known Democratic rivals clamor for attention in the state that tripped up her first presidential campaign.

Clinton flew to Iowa on Saturday night after her high-profile New York kickoff, telling supporters at a Sioux City house party that her campaign would seek to rally the country around an agenda for the future. "Everybody has a role to play," Clinton said, urging supporters to sign up to join her campaign.

Despite her dominant position in the Democratic primaries, Clinton's allies are trying to erase the memories of her third-place finish in Iowa's 2008 caucuses, the contest that fueled President Barack Obama's rise to the White House. The former secretary of state's Iowa event was streamed online to more than 600 similar gatherings around the country, covering every congressional district in an effort to add volunteers to the campaign's roster.

Clinton planned to address supporters at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines on Sunday and then travel to the Mississippi River city of Burlington. But she had company: One of her main Democratic challengers, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, was campaigning across the state during the weekend. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, who is exploring a potential Democratic bid, also was holding events in Iowa on Sunday.

During her New York speech, Clinton remained silent on some issues of critical importance to the Democratic base, most notably a Pacific Rim trade pact backed by Obama but opposed by organized labor, liberals and others who say it will cost the U.S. jobs. The agreement has not been finalized or submitted to Congress.

Sanders, who has opposed the trade deal, again questioned Clinton's refusal to say where she stood on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "Most Democrats in the Congress are against it. But I don't understand how you don't have a position on this issue," he said Saturday in Des Moines, where he opened a new campaign office.

"You can't take a position on a trade bill that you can't see," Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. Clinton and her advisers are not saying whether she supports legislation in Congress to give the president special negotiation authority on trade deals.

In New Hampshire, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley pointed to his executive experience while his campaign noted to supporters in an email that Clinton "didn't say that she would take any substantive actions to hold Wall Street CEOs accountable for reckless behavior. Nor did she weigh in on the secretive TPP deal that could depress American wages and cost American jobs."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is pondering a Republican presidential bid, said in an interview with ABC's "This Week" that Clinton's kickoff in New York showed a strategic tilt to the left. "I thought that (Massachusetts Sen.) Elizabeth Warren wasn't running for president. But when I listened to Hillary yesterday, it sounds like liberal political consultants put together that speech," Christie said.

In New York, Clinton offered herself as a fierce advocate for those still struggling from the Great Recession. "I think you know by now that I've been called many things by many people," Clinton said to cheers and laughter from the crowd of roughly 5,500 gathering on New York's Roosevelt Island in the East River. "Quitter is not one of them."

Hours later in Iowa, Clinton added, "I don't believe we should ever quit on our country."

Associated Press writers Lisa Lerer in New York, Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, Iowa, and Kathleen Ronayne in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/KThomasDC

Milan Appeals For Help Managing Migrants

Migrants wait to receive food at the Central railway station in Milan, Italy, Thursday, June 11, 2015. Milan city officials are appealing for help in managing the huge number of migrants arriving from southern Italy after rescue at sea as rising numbers are unable to find beds and are sleeping in the station. (AP)

MILAN (AP) — Milan city officials have appealed for help in managing the huge number of migrants arriving from southern Italy after rescue at sea, as rising numbers are unable to find beds and are sleeping in the train station.

According to the Progetto Arca charity, about 350 migrants have slept in and around the station the last two nights because of a lack of beds in city-organized centers. The Red Cross dispatched a team on Thursday in response to reports of scabies among migrants, "given the very serious situation in Milan's Central Station where hundreds of migrants are staying in the entrance hall."

The city's top welfare official, Pierfrancesco Majorino, appealed this week to station officials to provide space for new arrivals to receive assistance and rest away from the main arrivals hall. He also called for health officials to establish a permanent presence because of reports of scabies.

"Everyone would be better off, even travelers," Majorino said in an appeal on Wednesday. Milan is host to the Expo 2015 world's fair, now in its second month and which is expected to attract over 20 million visitors during its six-month run. While the Expo site is a half an hour ride on the metropolitan from the main station, many tourists pass through the monumental station each day

Milan city officials say more than 64,000 migrants have passed through the Central Station in the last 20 months, with 10,000 since Jan. 1. Most are Eritreans and Syrians fleeing conflict and oppression at home, and who avoid being officially recorded so they can reach relatives or friends in northern Europe and ask for international protection there.

Milan officials say the city finds places for some 800 people to sleep each night, including families with children, with a peak of 1,400 last August.

General: New US Hub In Iraq Could Be Model

Iraqi security forces in uniforms and plainclothes head to Baghdad on the main road between Baghdad and Mosul, a day after fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took control of much of Mosul, outside Kirkuk, Iraq. A year after the Islamic State group seized the city of Mosul and spread south, effectively dividing the country and plunging it into chaos, Iraq is struggling with a staggering political, economic and humanitarian crisis it may take generations to recover from. (AP)

NAPLES, ITALY (AP) — The new U.S. military hub setting up in Iraq's western desert could be a model for more such train-and-advise operations — and with it likely more U.S. troops — designed to help Iraq defeat the Islamic State, the top-ranking American general said Thursday.

"Sure, we're looking all the time at whether there might be additional sites necessary," Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him to Naples, Italy, where he is meeting with U.S. commanders.

"It's another one of the options" short of committing U.S. ground combat forces, he said. President Barack Obama has ruled out U.S. ground combat. Dempsey spoke the day after the Obama administration announced that as many as 450 U.S. troops will go over the next two months to al-Taqqadum, situated between the Islamic State-occupied cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in Anbar province, to advise Iraqi forces and help integrate a larger number of Sunni tribal fighters into the Iraqi campaign to retake Ramadi.

Dempsey said the mission for U.S. forces there "first and foremost" will be to assist the Iraqi military in organizing and executing its counteroffensive, while encouraging greater Sunni involvement. Integrating into the fight the Sunni tribes — who have either been sidelined by the Shiite-led central government in Baghdad or unwilling to join — is seen as a crucial to driving the Islamic State out of the Sunni-majority areas of western Iraq.

As the Iraqi campaign against the Islamic State progresses, Dempsey said, another such U.S. hub could be established along the route between Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, which has been under Islamic State control for a year. Prospects for launching a counteroffensive in Mosul this year, however, seem dim, given the Iraqi army's recent defeat in Ramadi.

Dempsey refused to offer a timeline for Iraq launching a counteroffensive in Ramadi, but his description of the plan for al-Taqqadum indicated the big counter-attack is not imminent. "It will take several weeks" for the U.S. to establish its base at al-Taqqadum, he said. It will include not only U.S. military advisers but also personnel to provide basic supplies and to protect the base. He said almost half of the 450 troops will be devoted to the "force protection" mission.

Asked about the reason for putting U.S. advisers closer to the fight for Ramadi, he said, "I think that this will be an enabler to what eventually will become a counterattack to reclaim Ramadi." Wednesday's announcement left out any move to send U.S. forces closer to the front lines, either to call in airstrikes or to advise smaller battlefront units, underscoring Obama's reluctance to plunge the military deeper into war and risk the sight of more body bags coming home from Iraq.

The U.S. is insistent that the Americans will not have a combat role but said they may venture out of the base in order to help identify and recruit Sunni tribes. "Is this a game changer? ... No. It's an extension of an existing campaign that makes the campaign more credible. The game changers are going to have to come from the Iraqi government," Dempsey told reporters traveling with him.

The expanded effort also will include expediting the delivery of U.S. equipment and arms to Iraq, including directly to troops at al-Taqaddum, under the authority of the government in Baghdad. Obama this week lamented that the U.S. lacks a "complete strategy" for defeating the Islamic State, and officials pointed to a glaring lack of recruits among Sunnis.

The Sunni-Shiite divide has been at the heart of the Islamic State's successes in Iraq. Officials blamed the Iraqi government for last year's collapse of the military in the face of the Islamic State onslaught. Many Sunnis in the armed forces dropped their weapons and fled, unwilling to fight for the Shiite-led government.

Some local citizens in Sunni-majority areas still fear an invasion and reprisals from Iran-backed Shiite militia even more than domination by the Islamic State. And Iraqi leaders in the Shiite-led government have been slow to recruit Sunni tribesmen, fearing that the fighters, once armed, could turn against them.

New Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has promised to address those concerns. Obama's new plan, however, doesn't go far enough for critics who have pressed for military coordinators and advisers closer to the front lines to augment the U.S. airstrike campaign.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday that sending several hundred military advisers to Iraq "is a step in the right direction," but he criticized Obama for not having "an overarching strategy." Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was harsher in his assessment: "This is incrementalism at its best or worst, depending on how you describe it."

And some Democrats were also concerned. "Absent significant reform, we can help the Iraqi forces win battles, but they will not stay won," said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat.

There now are nearly 3,100 U.S. troops in Iraq involved in training, advising, security and other support. In addition to bombing missions, the U.S. is conducting aerial reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions against Islamic State forces, while counting on Iraqi troops to do the fighting on the ground.

Baldor reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Deb Riechmann and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this article.

Court Temporarily Blocks Release Of 'Angola 3' Inmate

Albert Woodfox walks into a courthouse in Louisiana. A federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the release of Woodfox, the last of the “Angola Three” inmates who spent decades in isolation after forming a Black Panther Party to protest prison conditions. Tuesday’s order came a day after a federal judge ruled that the state can’t fairly try Woodfox, now 68, a third time for the death of a prison guard 43 years ago. (WBRZ-TV via AP)

ST. FRANCISVILLE, LA. (AP) — Prison activist Albert Woodfox, the last member of the "Angola Three" inmates held for decades in solitary confinement, will have to wait a bit longer to see if he'll experience the "immediate" and "unconditional" freedom ordered by a federal judge.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the release of Woodfox, who spent more than 40 years in isolation after being accused of killing a guard. His supporters say it was retribution for his Black Panther Party activism to protest prison conditions.

Tuesday's order came a day after a federal judge ruled that the state can't fairly try Woodfox, now 68, a third time for the killing of a prison guard 43 years ago, and that the "only just remedy" would be setting him free after all the years he spent in "extended lockdown."

Woodfox has long maintained his innocence in the guard's killing, which happened during protests of brutal conditions inside the huge penitentiary built on a former slave plantation in Angola, Louisiana. His two previous convictions were overturned for racial prejudice and lack of evidence.

Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell is appealing the order by U.S. District Judge James Brady, saying Woodfox is a killer who should remain locked up. The stay by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans blocks his release until 1 p.m. Friday, providing time for the court to decide whether to accept the state's appeal.

Woodfox is currently being held at the West Feliciana Parish Detention Center in St. Francisville, where he was transferred in preparation for a third trial. His attorney, George Kendall, met with Woodfox on Tuesday after the stay was granted.

Kendall said he is "hopeful and optimistic" the court will release Woodfox while the state's appeal is pending. But he acknowledged the court could order Woodfox to stay in jail while that process plays out.

Kendall described the conditions Woodfox has served his time under as "brutal," and blasted the attorney general for fighting to keep him incarcerated. "This case ought to end," he said. While not awaiting trial or attending hearings, Woodfox has remained in state prisons. Most of the time was spent at Angola, where for decades an "extended lockdown review board" renewed the decision to hold him in isolation every 90 days, his attorneys say. His attorneys say he was denied contact with the general prison population and kept in a roughly 55-square-foot cell 23 hours a day.

The isolation continued when he was moved to another state prison in 2010. Amnesty International and the United Nations have condemned Woodfox's imprisonment as inhumane. Human rights advocates call it a form of torture.

But he has been allowed visitors and reading material, and can see a television through the bars on his cell. State officials dispute that his circumstances constitute "solitary confinement," saying he is able to communicate with others, including other inmates and chaplains, through the bars of his cell.

"The perception of 'solitary confinement' is a far cry from the reality," said Aaron Sadler, a spokesman for the Attorney General's office. Angela Allen-Bell, an assistant professor of legal writing and analysis at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, said she talked with Woodfox on Monday night. She said he has been having panic attacks and is suffering from health problems, including diabetes.

"He does not allow himself to be very optimistic about things. I think that that is a coping mechanism that he has developed. But we talk often about the power of prayer and the ability of God to deliver miracles. And I do believe that he believes that that is possible," Allen-Bell said.

Woodfox was one of several prisoners accused of killing Brent Miller, a 23-year-old guard at the prison. A year earlier, Woodfox and Herman Wallace helped establish a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party, while Robert King helped establish a Black Panther chapter in the New Orleans prison.

All three were active in hunger strikes and work stoppages that spurred improvements to prison conditions, and all three suffered harsh treatment thereafter as prison authorities kept them isolated at Angola to prevent more disruption behind bars.

Parnell Herbert, a 66-year-old New Orleans playwright and boyhood friend of Woodfox, said that at one point, the Angola Three refused to submit to dehumanizing cavity searches for contraband. They were then taken to a chamber where prison guards beat them with clubs and baseball bats, but they eventually won a battle in court to end the searches.

"Albert told me, 'They will never break me,'" Herbert said. In ruling against a third trial, Brady cited the inmate's age and poor health; the unavailability of witnesses; "the prejudice done onto Mr. Woodfox by spending over forty years in solitary confinement"; and "the very fact that Mr. Woodfox has already been tried twice" before his convictions were overturned.

Wallace died in October 2013, days after a judge freed him and granted him a new trial. King has become a public speaker since his release in 2001 after the reversal of his conviction in the death of a fellow inmate in 1973.

Burdeau reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Kevin McGill and Rebecca Santana in New Orleans contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show that Herman Wallace died in October 2013, not last fall.

Nigeria's Legislature To Be Led By Presidential Opponents

Bukola Saraki, attends the Inauguration of the Nigerian President in Abuja, Nigeria. The former governor has been elected head of Nigeria's Senate Tuesday, June 9, 2015, becoming the third most powerful person in the country by challenging the wishes of the presidential coalition to which he belongs. Bukola Saraki's victory highlights the cracks appearing in the coalition that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to pow. (AP)

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Candidates for Nigeria's main opposition party were elected Tuesday to head both houses of the legislature in votes highlighting the cracks in the coalition that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power just last month.

Despite his coalition holding more seats in both houses, candidates with backing from the opposition People's Democratic Party of recently defeated President Goodluck Jonathan managed to get elected. Having opponents in powerful positions in the legislature will not make newly elected President Muhammadu Buhari's job any easier, especially since his own coalition is made up of politicians from many different political persuasions, including defectors from the PDP.

The biggest blow came with the election of former governor and two-term Sen. Bukola Saraki as head of Nigeria's Senate — the third most powerful figure in the country. Saraki ostensibly belongs to Buhari's coalition but he was not its choice for Senate president and instead engineered his own election with the backing of the opposition when the president's supporters were absent.

Party officials say Buhari was meeting with his party's senators, when Saraki pushed for a vote in the Senate with the help of the clerk who said the 57 senators present (out of 108) constituted a quorum.

While Saraki had defected to Buhari's side last year, it was his old colleagues in the PDP that voted him in. Later that day, another PDP candidate Yakubu Dogara was elected head of the House of Representatives, narrowly defeating the candidate of Buhari's coalition once again.

The two victories for the PDP could be a sign that it is rebuilding its power base following its electoral defeat and could pose a threat to Buhari just days after his May 29 inauguration. Saraki, 52, was a two-term governor of Kwara state best known abroad for importing white Zimbabwean farmers to develop commercial agriculture in his state, a move that he said has transformed Kwara from a food importer to an exporter.

Saudi Supreme Court Upholds Verdict Against Liberal Blogger

Members of the Austrian Greens protest against the punishment for Saudi blogger Raif Badawi in front of the KAICIID in Vienna, Austria. Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld a verdict against a liberal blogger who was flogged in January after being found guilty of insulting Islam and breaking technology laws, state-linked news websites reported Sunday, June 7. (AP)

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (AP) — Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court upheld an internationally condemned verdict against a liberal blogger who was publicly flogged after being found guilty of insulting Islam, state-linked news websites reported Sunday.

The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the sentence of Raif Badawi, a 31-year-old father of three who was lashed in January in a public square, is final and cannot be overturned without a royal pardon.

Badawi, imprisoned since 2012, initially was sentenced to seven years in prison and 600 lashes for breaking Saudi Arabia's technology laws and insulting Islamic religious figures through a blog he created.

After an appeal, a criminal court in Jiddah last year stiffened the punishment to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. He also was banned from traveling abroad for 10 years after his prison term and fined $266,000.

In January, security officials flogged Badawi outside a mosque in Jiddah. Saudi rights activists said it was meant as a warning to others who think to criticize the religious establishment, of which the ruling family derives much of its authority.

Subsequent floggings were halted as the Supreme Court reviewed the case. A person close to the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said that because Badawi's flogging has been halted since January, the Supreme Court ruling may exclude lashings. It was not immediately possible to clarify the details of the judges' ruling.

The lashes had been scheduled to be administered over 20 weekly sessions, with 50 lashes each week, according to the London-based rights group Amnesty International. The rights group has launched a global campaign to call for Badawi's release and said Sunday that he remains at risk of being flogged.

Saudi Arabia's Western allies, including Washington, have called on authorities to rescind the punishment. The kingdom maintains its judiciary is independent and has rejected international pressure as interference in the country's internal affairs.

Flooding Sparks Ghana Gas Station Blast, Killing At Least 73

Rescue workers carry the remains, of a person onto the back of a truck after being killed in a gas station explosion in Accra, Ghana, Thursday, June 4, 2015. Flooding in Ghana's capital swept stored fuel into a nearby fire, setting off a huge explosion at a gas station that killed dozens of people and set alight neighboring buildings, authorities said Thursday. (AP)

ACCRA, GHANA (AP) — Flooding in Ghana's capital swept stored fuel into a nearby fire, setting off a huge explosion at a gas station that killed 73 people and set alight neighboring buildings, authorities said Thursday.

The blast took place as dozens of people sought shelter at the gas station and in nearby shops in central Accra to escape the torrential rains. The disaster raised anew concerns over the city's inadequate infrastructure.

TV footage showed corpses being piled into the back of a pickup truck and other charred bodies trapped amid the debris. Floodwaters around the site hampered rescue and recovery efforts. Officials at the nearby 37 Military Hospital said its morgue had reached capacity.

President John Dramani Mahama visited the scene on Thursday, calling the death toll "catastrophic" and offering condolences to families of the victims. "Steps will be taken to ensure that disastrous floods and their attendant deaths do not occur again," he said.

Michael Plange, who lives a few blocks away, said many people had taken shelter under a shed at the station from the rain and were hit by the explosion. The flooding "caused the diesel and petrol to flow away from the gas station and a fire from a nearby house led to the explosion," said Billy Anaglate, spokesman for Ghana's national fire service.

In addition to the dead at the gas station, local media reported that many drowned in various parts of the city following two days of torrential rains. The combined death toll from the explosion and flooding is expected to rise. Anaglate said precise figures were not available at midday Thursday.

The explosion is likely to intensify criticism of the government's failure to improve the infrastructure. Though the downpours this week have been especially bad, heavy rains in June are not unusual yet drainage systems in Accra remain inadequate.

The area where the blast occurred is a heavily trafficked section of central Accra with several banks and other offices in addition to residences. Multiple bus terminals connect the area to the rest of the city.

Throughout Accra, drivers caught in the flooding abandoned their cars on the road. The Education Ministry instructed all children who were not already at school Thursday morning to stay home. The city is also grappling with an energy crisis resulting in blackouts lasting for as long as 48 hours in recent years, sparking large-scale demonstrations drawing everyone from blue-collar workers to local movie stars.

Problem Drinking Affects 33 Million, 14 Pct. Of US Adults

A bartender serves two mugs of beer at a tavern in Montpelier, Vt. Alcohol problems affect almost 33 million adults and most have never sought treatment. That's according to a government survey indicating that rates have increased in recent years. (AP)

CHICAGO (AP) — Alcohol problems affect almost 33 million adults and most have never sought treatment, according to a government survey that suggests rates have increased in recent years.

The study is the first national estimate based on a new term, "alcohol use disorder," in a widely used psychiatric handbook that was updated in 2013. Five things to know about the research published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry:

DEFINING ALCOHOL PROBLEMS The revised handbook, the DSM-5, defines problem drinkers or those with the disorder as people with at least two of 11 symptoms, including drinking that harms performance at work, school or home, frequent hangovers and failed attempts to limit drinking. Mild problems involve two to three symptoms; severe involve at least six symptoms. The new handbook combined alcohol abuse and dependence, which had been separate disorders, added craving as one symptom and eliminated alcohol-related legal problems as another.

THE NUMBERS Researchers from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism asked 36,000 adults during 2012 or 2013 about lifetime drinking habits, including current or within the past year. About 14 percent of adults were current or recent problem drinkers, or nearly 33 million nationally, and 30 percent — almost 69 million — had been at some point in their lives. Mild drinking problems were the most common, while 14 percent had ever experienced severe drinking problems.

Using the old definition, the rates were 13 percent for current or recent problem drinking and 44 percent for lifetime prevalence — up from 9 percent and 30 percent in the agency's 2001-02 survey. HEAVY DRINKING

Nearly 40 percent of adults who reported any recent drinking had engaged in binge drinking — downing at least five drinks in a day at least once in the past year, up from 31 percent in the earlier survey. Even heavier drinking also increased but was less common.

WHO'S DRINKING? Drinking problems were most prevalent among men, whites and Native Americans. Low-income adults, those younger than 30 and those who never married also relatively high rates. Problem drinking also was more common among city dwellers than those in rural areas, while the West and Midwest had higher rates than other regions.

STIGMA & DENIAL Dr. George Koob, director of the federal agency that did the survey, said it's unclear why problem drinking has increased but that many people underestimate the dangers of excessive alcohol. Many won't seek help because of "stigma and denial," and many don't realize that medications and behavior treatments can help.

"There's a lore that there's only Alcoholics Anonymous out there and that's not true," he said.

Online:

Alcohol Use Disorder: http://tinyurl.com/k73akjb

Rethinking Drinking: http://rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com