World

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – President Barack Obama yesterday chose veteran agent Julia Pierson as Secret Service director, the first woman to lead the male-dominated agency, a year after its reputation was tarnished by a scandal involving agents and prostitutes in Colombia.

DOHA,  (Reuters) – To applause from Arab heads of state, a foe of Bashar al-Assad took Syria’s vacant seat at an Arab summit yesterday, deepening the president’s diplomatic isolation and diverting attention from rifts among his opponents.

ROME, (Reuters) – Italy’s top court yesterday ordered a retrial of American Amanda Knox and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, re-opening a case that prompted harsh criticism of the Italian justice system.

DOHA,  (Reuters) – To applause from Arab heads of state, a foe of Bashar al-Assad took Syria’s vacant seat at an Arab summit today, deepening the president’s diplomatic isolation and diverting attention from rifts among his opponents.

ROME,  (Reuters) – Italy’s top court today ordered a retrial of American Amanda Knox and a former boyfriend for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, re-opening a case that prompted harsh criticism of the Italian justice system.

BANGUI (Reuters) – The leader of rebels in Central African Republic pledged to name a power-sharing government in a bid to defuse international criticism of a coup that killed 13 South African soldiers and has plunged the mineral-rich nation into chaos.

LONDON (Reuters) – Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, whose body was found in the locked bathroom of his luxury mansion near London over the weekend, died by hanging, British police said yesterday.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda makes his first public appearance before the International Criminal Court in The Hague today after evading arrest on war crimes charges for seven years – a boost to the court following a string of setbacks.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rengan Rajaratnam, the younger brother of imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, pleaded not guilty yesterday to insider trading charges.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, whose body was found in the locked bathroom of his luxury mansion near London over the weekend, died by hanging, British police said on Monday.

DAR ES SALAAM,  (Reuters) – China’s new president told Africans today he wanted a relationship of equals that would help the continent develop, responding to concerns that Beijing is only interested in shipping out its raw materials.

BRUSSELS/NICOSIA,  (Reuters) – Cyprus reached a last-ditch deal with international lenders on a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) rescue plan to avoid economic meltdown, agreeing to close down its second-largest bank and inflict heavy losses on big depositors.

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW  (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation denied a report today that it had detained Roman Abramovich, the Russian metals tycoon who owns London’s Chelsea soccer club.

LUSAKA,  (Reuters) – Zambia officially charged former President Rupiah Banda for abuse of authority over a Nigerian oil deal, a government spokeswoman said today.

DURBAN, South Africa,  (Reuters) – The French dubbed it the neglected “Cinderella” of their African colonial empire; modern observers have called it a “phantom state”.

OSLO,  (Reuters) – Middle East-style oil wealth combined with a generous Nordic welfare model is slowly throttling big chunks of Norway’s economy, threatening western Europe’s biggest success story.

CAIRO/AMMAN,  (Reuters) – The head of Syria’s main opposition group resigned yesterday, in a blow to a diminishing moderate wing of the two-year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

KARACHI,  (Reuters) – Pakistan’s former President, Pervez Musharraf, returned home yesterday after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest elections despite the possibility of arrest and death threats from the Taliban.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron will unveil a sweeping immigration crackdown on Monday aimed at discouraging migrants from Romania and Bulgaria from moving to Britain when EU restrictions on their right to travel and work there expire next year.

DAR ES SALAAM,  (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping faces growing calls from policymakers and economists in Africa for a more balanced trade relationship between the continent and China as he arrives in Tanzania at the beginning of an African tour today.