World

WASHINGTON  (Reuters) – Hiring screeners at Booz Allen Hamilton, a contractor for the National Security Agency, found possible discrepancies in a resume submitted by Edward Snowden, but the company still employed him, a source with detailed knowledge of the matter said yesterday.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – India has launched a wide-ranging surveillance programme that will give its security agencies and even income tax officials the ability to tap directly into e-mails and phone calls without oversight by courts or parliament, several sources said.

DHAKA, (Reuters) – The number of people living in poverty in Bangladesh has fallen sharply over a decade, to 47 million from 63 million, a new World Bank report said yesterday.

(Reuters) – A U.S. Christian group that once promoted therapy to encourage gays and lesbians to overcome their sexual preferences has closed its doors and apologized to those who underwent treatment, acknowledging its mission had been hurtful and ignorant.

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – Britain and a representative of the Falkland Islands yesterday rejected the idea of Pope Francis intervening in the long-running dispute with Argentina over the islands, which Buenos Aires claims are Argentine territory.

RIYADH,  (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Muqrin, once told American diplomats the Middle East’s so-called Shi’ite Crescent where the Muslim sect holds sway was “becoming a full moon” as Iranian influence spread.

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – The Sri Lankan government’s proposed code of ethics for the media is a threat to free speech, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.

(Reuters) – Revived Afghan peace talks hit their first roadblock yesterday, a day after they were announced, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would not join U.S.

MIAMI,  (Reuters) – The United States and Cuba will resume immigration talks next month after a break of more than two years, the State Department said yesterday.

BUDAPEST,  (Reuters) – Gyula Horn, who as Hungary’s last communist foreign minister ripped a hole in the Iron Curtain in 1989, has died at the age of 80 after long illness, the government said yesterday.

BERLIN,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama used a speech in Berlin yesterday to call on Russia to revive the push for a world without nuclear weapons, offering to cut deployed nuclear arsenals by a third, but Moscow immediately poured scorn on his proposal.

LONDON, (Reuters) – A deputy speaker of parliament was arrested on three counts of indecent assault yesterday, six weeks after he was first detained on suspicion of rape and sexual assault, police said.

BUDAPEST,  (Reuters) – Hungary’s tax authority has questioned two men over a fake contract that, if fulfilled, would have involved the sale of nearly half a million tonnes of sugar – more than the country’s annual sugar consumption – and a massive tax refund.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Much of Bangkok could flood within the next two decades if global warming stays on its current trajectory, as sea levels rise and cyclones intensify, the World Bank said in a new report today.

WASHINGTON/KABUL,  (Reuters) – The United States and the Taliban raised hopes yesterday for a negotiated peace in Afghanistan with commitments to meet this week after 12 years of bloody and costly war between American-led forces and the insurgents.

CAIRO,  (Reuters) – Egypt’s tourism minister tendered his resignation yesterday over President Mohamed Mursi’s decision to appoint as governor of Luxor a member of a hardline Islamist group blamed for slaughtering 58 tourists there in 1997.

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland,  (Reuters) – Russia’s Vladimir Putin derailed Barack Obama’s efforts to win backing for the downfall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad at a G8 summit yesterday, warning the West that arms supplied to the rebels could be used for attacks on European soil.

BOSTON, (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp said that an assault it led earlier this month on one of the world’s biggest cyber crime rings has freed at least 2 million PCs infected with a virus believed to have been used to steal more than $500 million from bank accounts worldwide.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina’s Supreme Court yesterday struck down a key part of a judicial reform law championed by President Cristina Fernandez that would have mandated the election of members of the board that chooses federal judges.

SAN JUAN,  (Reuters) – The FBI is investigating allegations that high-ranking bank officials in Puerto Rico conspired to have a former Doral Bank executive killed after he claimed he uncovered fraud, the U.S.