World

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – More than 1,000 people were killed in violence in Iraq in May, making it the deadliest month since the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07, the United Nations reported yesterday, stoking fears of a return to civil war.

DOHA (Reuters) – Leading Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi called yesterday for holy war against the Syrian government after fighters from Shi’ite Lebanese group Hezbollah intervened to help President Bashar al-Assad.

LIMA (Reuters) – Jailed murderer Joran van der Sloot plans to wed his Peruvian girlfriend for love, not to avoid extradition to the United States in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, his lawyer said yesterday.

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – More than 1,000 people were killed in violence in Iraq in May, making it the deadliest month since the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07, the United Nations reported on Saturday, stoking fears of a return to civil war.

OKLAHOMA CITY, (Reuters) – Tornadoes killed five people in central Oklahoma including a mother and her baby and menaced Oklahoma City and its hard-hit suburb of Moore, before the storm system tracked northeast early on Saturday.

VIENNA,  (Reuters) – OPEC’s halcyon days of high prices and high production may be drawing to a close as soaring U.S.

BRASILIA,(Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden wound up a visit to Brazil yesterday saying it was high time the two largest economies in the Americas became closer partners in trade, investment and energy.

ISTANBUL,  (Reuters) – Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon yesterday at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests in years.

(Jamaica Gleaner) In a major decision by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) on Thursday, the regulatory body approved a mobile termination rate (MTR) of J$1.10 effective July 1, which will see consumers benefitting from a sharp decline from the current J$5.00 per minute.

ISTANBUL,  (Reuters) – Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon today at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests in years.

VIENNA,  (Reuters) – OPEC’s halcyon days of high prices and high production may be drawing to a close as soaring U.S.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told media editors yesterday that he would change the way the Justice Department handles investigations that involve reporters and not repeat searches that have raised concerns about freedom of the press, the editors said.

BEIRUT – Syrian rebels under siege near the Lebanese border pleaded for help on Thursday against government troops and their Hezbollah allies as a confident President Bashar al-Assad spoke of having new Russian missiles.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – With no miracle in sight, Roman Catholic churches are being asked to ration wine in the latest shortage to illustrate Venezuela’s economic troubles.

PHNOM PENH,  (Reuters) – A leader of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge expressed remorse yesterday for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people during the “Killing Fields” regime in the 1970s and accepted responsibility for the first time during court proceedings.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Protests in northern Peru over the $5 billion Conga gold mine make “no sense” and could spell the end of the project if they succeed in preventing the draining of a nearby lake, the project’s junior partner said yesterday.

SAN JOSE, (Reuters) – The regional human rights court for the Americas yesterday told El Salvador it must let doctors perform an abortion on a woman carrying a seriously deformed fetus that has put her life at risk, but the Central American nation was not bound by the move.

SAN PEDRO TAPANATEPEC, Mexico,  (Reuters) – Hurricane Barbara hit Mexico’s southern Pacific coast yesterday, flooding roads, toppling trees and killing two men before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved inland.

RIO DE JANEIRO, (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden encouraged Brazil  yesterday to open its economy further to keep up with free trade trends worldwide as he started a visit aimed at boosting business between the two largest economies in the Americas.

ACCRA,  (Reuters) – Ghana’s Supreme Court must decide in the coming months whether or not to overturn December elections that handed the presidency to John Mahama, in a rare case of African judicial vigour that has transfixed the country.