World

CANBERRA,  (Reuters) – Kevin Rudd was sworn in as Australian prime minister for the second time yesterday, a day after toppling Julia Gillard and three months out from scheduled elections with polls suggesting the ruling Labor Party is staring at a devastating defeat.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma cancelled a trip to neighbouring Mozambique yesterday, intensifying speculation about a deterioration in the health of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, who remains critically ill in hospital.

BRASILIA/BELO HORIZONTE,  (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets yesterday in new demonstrations calling for a crackdown on corruption and better public services, just a day after Congress ceded to some of the key demands galvanizing protests across the country.

CAIRO, (Reuters) – President Mohamed Mursi offered opponents a say yesterday in amending a controversial new constitution and a forum to seek “national reconciliation”, as he sought to avert a violent showdown in the streets.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court today handed a significant victory to gay rights advocates by recognizing that married gay men and women are eligible for federal benefits and paving the way for same-sex marriage in California.

CANBERRA,  (Reuters) – Australia’s ruling Labor Party elected former leader Kevin Rudd as prime minister and dumped Julia Gillard today, in a dramatic move to try and head off a catastrophic defeat at elections due within three months.

MIAMI,  (Reuters) – A U.S. government program to build housing in Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake will only construct one-sixth of the homes intended because of poor planning, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released yesterday.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Mexico yesterday arrested former state governor Andres Granier, who has been accused of embezzling millions of pesos of public money in a scandal that will test the new president’s promise to crack down on corruption.

MOSCOW/NAANTALI, Finland,  (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed yesterday a former U.S.

LUXEMBOURG, (Reuters) – European Union farm ministers reached a revised negotiating position as the clock struck midnight on Tuesday, raising hopes that a new common agricultural policy will be agreed today as talks moved to Brussels.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday gutted a core part of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act and challenged Congress to come up with a replacement plan to protect blacks and other minorities in places where discrimination still persists rather than target former slaveholding states in the South.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court today gutted a key portion of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, ruling that Congress used obsolete reasoning in continuing to force nine states, mainly in the South, to get federal approval for voting rule changes affecting blacks and other minorities.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – Former South African president Nelson Mandela remains in a critical condition in hospital after being admitted more than two weeks ago with a lung infection, the government said today.

KABUL (Reuters) – The Taliban claimed responsibility today for an early morning attack on the presidential palace and nearby government and other buildings as fighting raged in the area.

MILAN (Reuters) – Silvio Berlusconi was handed a seven-year jail sentence yesterday for abuse of office and paying for sex with a minor, adding to the complications facing Italy’s fragile left-right government.

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sought to overcome a sudden wave of national discontent with a surprising call yesterday for a referendum on what would be the country’s most ambitious political reform in decades.

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – The United States increased pressure on Russia yesterday to hand over Edward Snowden, the American charged with disclosing secret US surveillance programs, and said it believed he was still in Moscow.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An immigration bill endorsed by President Barack Obama easily cleared an important test yesterday when the US Senate backed new border security steps seen as essential to the legislation’s fate.

MILAN,  (Reuters) – A Milan court sentenced former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday to s even years in jail and banned him from public office after finding him guilty of paying for sex with a minor and abusing his powers of office to cover up the affair.

HONG KONG/MOSCOW,  (Reuters) – Fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor 2 sought asylum in Ecuador yesterday after Hong Kong allowed his departure for Russia in a blow to Washington’s efforts to extradite him on espionage charges.