Tension Summary: Sat. 22 Apr. Evening

NATIONAL
Battered New Orleans votes as world watches
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) -- New Orleanians voted on Saturday in their battered city's first post-Katrina election, facing the tough choice of staying with Mayor Ray Nagin and his vision for rebuilding or opting for new blood.

At stake is the speed and shape of the massive recovery amid concerns over the strength of the levees before the next storm, drained city coffers, racial tension and questions about whether some badly damaged neighborhoods will get rebuilt.

MIDDLE EAST
Iran says no intention to use oil as weapon
DOHA (AFP) -- Iran's Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh told AFP that his country will not use oil as a weapon in the row over its nuclear program and that it was not to blame for current market tension.

Hamas, Fatah pledge to defuse tension after clashes
GAZA (Reuters) -- The Hamas-led Palestinian government and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group agreed early on Sunday to try to end tensions between them after their supporters clashed in the worst internal fighting in months.

ASIA
Tension in Nepal as protestors march on palace
(EuroNews) -- More than 100 people have been injured in Nepal after police opened fire on crowds defying a day-time curfew.

CPI-M leader shot at in N Dinajpur
Kolkata (IBN) -- Unidentified miscreants shot at CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) local branch secretary of Kamlai in North Dinajpur district near his house on Friday night, sparking tension in the area.

AFRICA
Political tension rises in the Comoros
(SABC) -- Political tensions in the Comoros are rising as the results of that country's first round of presidential elections have still not been made public. On Easter Sunday residents of the island of Anjouan went to the polls to elect three people out of a group of 13 to be eligible to become president in the next round of voting.

OIL CRISIS
World oil prices breach $ 75 a barrel as tension mounts
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Oil prices vaulted to a new peak over $ 75 a barrel on Friday as investment funds snapped up crude futures and tension mounted over Iran’s nuclear intentions.

OPEC can do little to tame record oil prices
DOHA (AFP) -- OPEC can do very little now to tame record oil prices said two member countries of the powerful oil cartel laying the blame on Middle East political tension and rampant speculation.

OFF-BEAT NEWS
Man dead after vandalising high tension wire
Abuja (iol) -- A 35-year-old Nigerian was electrocuted on Saturday on the outskirts of Abuja while vandalising a high tension wire that supplied electricity to the Nigerian capital, officials said.

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