Leaders to set up euro-defense plan

Leaders to set up euro-defense plan

BRUSSELS

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced early today that the 16 eurozone nations will set up a financial-defense plan by the time markets open next week to shield their shared currency against further attack.

With Spain and Portugal’s fragile financial systems already pounded by markets in the wake of the Greek debt crisis, Sarkozy and Merkel laid out a plan to defend all euro nations against aggressive market movement.

Box in place to stop oil gusher in gulf

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO

A BP-chartered vessel lowered a 100-ton concrete-and-steel vault onto a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, an important step in a delicate and unprecedented attempt to stop most of the gushing crude fouling the sea.

Underwater robots guided the 40-foot-tall box into place. Now that the contraption is on the sea floor, workers will need at least 12 hours to let it settle and make sure it’s stable before the robots can hook up a pipe and hose that will funnel the oil up to a tanker.

Nuclear agency set to focus on Israel

VIENNA

Israel’s secretive nuclear activities may undergo unprecedented scrutiny next month, with a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency tentatively set to focus on the topic for the first time, according to documents shared Friday with The Associated Press.

A copy of the restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA’s June 7 board meeting lists “Israeli nuclear capabilities” as the eighth item — the first time that the agency’s decision-making body is being asked to deal with the issue in its 52 years of existence.

Simon Property drops bid for rival

LOS ANGELES

Simon Property Group Inc. on Friday withdrew its $6.5 billion bid to acquire rival shopping-mall owner General Growth Properties Inc., after a bankruptcy-court ruling that Simon said would have made the deal too expensive.

The move ends a months-long campaign by the nation’s largest shopping-mall owner to take over its closest competitor. It was an unlikely bidding war for a company that just over a year ago had the dubious honor of being the biggest real-estate bankruptcy case in U.S. history.

Simon owns the Southern Park Mall in Boardman.

Isabella and Jacob are top baby names

WASHINGTON

Mom and Dad may be looking to popular vampire books and the first family for baby names: Cullen is on the rise for boys and Malia for girls. But Miley and Jonas are down, proving that acclaim can be fleeting.

Isabella is now the top baby name for girls, Jacob for boys, the Social Security Administration said Friday. Isabella’s climb to the top in 2009 ends Emma’s one-year reign. Jacob is on an 11-year run at the top.

Many of the top names — and the fastest risers — match the popular “Twilight” series of books and movies about teen romance and vampires.

Ecologist finds 2,788-foot dam

TORONTO

A Canadian-based ecologist said Friday that he has located the world’s largest beaver dam in northwestern Canada using Google satellite technology.

Ecologist Jean Thie located the 2,788-foot dam using Google Earth and NASA technology while researching the rate of melting permafrost in the country’s far north.

Situated in northern Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park, the dam stretches more than eight football fields long, said Thie.

Associated Press