World

BANGUI,  (Reuters) – Rebels in Central African Republic seized control of the country’s riverside capital Bangui today, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee into neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, government officials said.

LONDON (Reuters) – Boris Berezovsky, the Russian oligarch who helped broker Vladimir Putin’s rise to the Kremlin’s top job only to become his sworn enemy, has been found dead at his home in Britain in unclear circumstances.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group declared a “formal and clear ceasefire” with Turkey yesterday after the rebels’ jailed leader this week ordered a halt to the decades-long armed campaign for autonomy.

BANGUI (Reuters) – Central African Republic rebels clashed with government forces inside the capital yesterday as they sought to topple President Francois Bozize, prompting France to send in more troops to secure the international airport.

BAMAKO (Reuters) – Mali’s army repulsed an attack by a group of Islamist rebels who had slipped past army checkpoints to enter the northern Malian town of Gao, a military official said yesterday.

MOSCOW,  (Reuters)  – From car salesman to Kremlin king-maker to billionaire political exile, Boris Berezovsky seemed to play a role in nearly every crucial scene in the roller coaster drama of post-Soviet Russia.

ISLAMABAD,  (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Taliban have threatened to despatch suicide bombers and snipers to kill former President Pervez Musharraf when he returns home from exile on Sunday to contest elections.

NICOSIA,  (Reuters) – Cyprus is expected to make a dramatic U-turn today to avert the imminent threat of financial meltdown, having signalled it is willing to tax big savers in its stricken banks to clinch a bailout from the European Union.

KIGALI, (Reuters) – A Congolese warlord known as “the Terminator” who is accused of murder, rape and other atrocities arrived at the International Criminal Court’s jail in the Netherlands yesterday, the court said.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – French oil major Total yesterday launched a new supercomputer that will help it find oil 15 times faster than before and rank it among the world’s top 10 institutions in terms of computing power.

WASHINGTON – As the U.S. government prepares for years of austerity, a bipartisan group of senators is aiming to give the agency that maintains ports and waterways extraordinary protection from budget cuts.

UNITED NATIONS,  (Reuters) – The United Nations said yesterday it would investigate Syria’s allegations that rebel forces used chemical weapons in an attack near Aleppo, but Western countries sought a probe of all claims concerning the use of such banned arms.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – Airfares to some of the most popular U.S.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Represen-tatives eliminated the threat of a government shutdown next week, approving yesterday a stop-gap funding bill that temporarily eases partisan tensions after months of bitter fights over budgets.

JERUSALEM,  (Reuters) – Israel apologised to Turkey today for killing nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla and the two feuding U.S.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was sentenced to five years jail by India’s Supreme Court yesterday for possession of illegal weapons in a long-running case linked to the 1993 Mumbai bombings.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – An explosion at a mosque in the Syrian capital yesterday killed at least 42 people, including a senior pro-government Muslim cleric, and wounded 84, the Syrian health ministry said.

NICOSIA,  (Reuters) – The European Union gave Cyprus till Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to secure an international bailout or face a collapse of its financial system that could push it out of the euro currency zone.

JERUSALEM,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama was given a rapturous reception by Israeli students yesterday as he made a rousing call for peace with the Palestinians, but his lofty oratory got lower marks beyond the conference hall.

SEOUL,  (Reuters) – A hacking attack that brought down three South Korean broadcasters and two major banks has been identified by most commentators as North Korea flexing its muscles as military tensions on the divided peninsula sky-rocket.