HONG KONG, June 29 (Xinhua) — Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) announced Tuesday in Hong Kong a total of over 25.4 billion Hong Kong shares comprising initially 12.7 billion shares in the Hong Kong public offering, which will start on Wednesday.

ABC has set the price range for its Hong Kong IPO at 2.88 HK dollars to 3.48 HK dollars, said the bank at a press conference held in Hong Kong. Ninety-five percent of the global offering will initially be offered in the International Offering and 5 percent will initially be offered in the Hong Kong public offering.

The Hong Kong public offering is expected to close at noon on July 6, 2010. Trading of the bank’s Hong Kong shares on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is expected to commence on July 16, 2010.

As said by the bank, the net proceeds from the global offering will be used be to strengthen its capital base to support the ongoing growth of its business.

Xiang Junbo, Chairman of ABC Limited, said via a video connection from New York that he was confident about the prospects for rural finance in China. With the massive urbanization drive being one of the core issues in China in the future, the bank has an advantage over others with its extensive rural networks, said Xiang. (One U.S. dollar equals 7.785 HK dollars)

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GAZA, June 27 (Xinhua) — The Islamic Hamas movement Sunday accused Israel of thwarting a prisoner swap deal while saying the Hamas is keen to achieve the deal and release the Israeli soldier kidnapped in Gaza.

The Hamas will not change its conditions for reaching the prisoner exchange deal with Israel, Gaza-based Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum said in a press release.

Barhoum said by refusing to achieve the swap deal that would free Shalit, the Israeli government ignored the mounting anger of the international community and the family of the soldier who had been kidnapped by the Hamas fighters during a cross-border operation near Gaza-Israel borders years ago.

After the capture of Shalit, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip which reached its peak after the Hamas movement seized control of the enclave by violence in 2007.

The Hamas and Israel have been negotiating the prisoner swap deal through German and Egyptian mediators since the Jewish state and the Islamic movement do not directly contact with each other.

The Hamas wants Israel to free as many as 1,000 prisoners in exchange for Shalit, including 450 Palestinian prisoners who have been sentenced to life in jail.

Shalit’s release still outlying four years after captivity

GAZA, June 25 (Xinhua) — It has been already four years for abducting the Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit during a cross-border raid in southeast Gaza Strip in June 25, 2006 by militants of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the enclave, while finalizing a prisoners’ swap deal with Israel is still pending. Full story

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ISLAMABAD, June 28 (Xinhua) — At least two NATO oil tankers were torched near Chaman in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan on Monday morning, reported local media.

The incident happened at around 8 a.m. (local time) Monday at the border area of Spin Boldak near Chaman, a city in the northern part of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan, when some unknown gunmen attacked the NATO oil tankers and set them on fire.

Police sources said they had arrived at the scene shortly after the attack was reported and firemen were still trying to extinguish the fire.

No people were killed in the attack as the drivers ran out of the trucks carrying oil tanks, said police, adding the attackers had run away.

So far no organizations have claimed responsibility for the attack.

This is the sixth attack targeted at the NATO supply convoy in Pakistan since this month.

On June 8, terrorists attacked a NATO supply convoy at a parking lot near Islamabad and over 60 NATO supply trucks, mostly oil tanker carriers, were destroyed and about eight people died in the attack.

The June 8 incident was followed by another four attacks on NATO supply convoy, one in Khuzdar on June 10, leaving one NATO truck burnt; the second in Quetta on June 12, leaving one NATO oil tanker seriously damaged; the third in Chaman on June 15, leaving a NATO oil tanker destroyed; and the fourth in Peshawar about a week ago, in which three NATO oil tankers were burnt.

The frequent attacks on the NATO supply convoy in Pakistan has forced NATO to decide in mid-June on opening another new logistic route from the north into Afghanistan through central Asian countries. However, local analysts say the northern route is neither feasible nor effective due to the rough terrain and weather there. So far Pakistan is still the shortest route for NATO supplies for their troops in Afghanistan.

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