World

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States yesterday announced new sanctions on a Chinese businessman and several companies for selling to Iran items banned under US laws aimed at curbing that country’s missile program.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Some 28.1 million Americans watched the Grammy Awards show on television, a predictable 30 per cent drop from last year’s emotion-filled ceremony following the death of singer Whitney Houston, according to ratings data yesterday.

GAO, Mali (Reuters) – Malian troops hunted house-to-house in Gao yesterday for Islamist insurgents whose attack inside the northern town at the weekend showed the risk that French forces might become entangled in a messy guerrilla war.

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) – A gunman stalking a woman in a long running custody dispute opened fire in a courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday and in the ensuing gun battle with police two women and the gunman were killed, authorities said.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg and other European ministers will meet in Brussels tomorrow to consider the implications of horsemeat found in products sold as beef, Ireland, the current EU president country, said yesterday.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Latin America senses an opportunity to break Europe’s grip on the papacy as Pope Benedict’s decision today to step down stirs hopes the world’s biggest Roman Catholic bloc may finally get to lead the Church.

ROME,  (Reuters) – Pope Benedict surprised the world today by saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to cope with the demands of his ministry, becoming the first pontiff to step down since the Middle Ages and leaving his aides “incredulous”.

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Syrian National Coalition leader Moaz Alkhatib said yesterday he was willing to hold talks with President Bashar al-Assad’s representatives in rebel-held areas of northern Syria to try to end a conflict that has killed about 60,000 people.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – A record $1 million reward was posted yesterday for information leading to the capture of a fugitive former Los Angeles cop suspected of targeting police officers and their families in three killings committed in retaliation for his 2008 firing.

ABOARD HAUNES, Norwegian Sea,  (Reuters) – It was hours before dawn on a heaving Arctic sea, and snow showers were making it hard for Kurt Ludvigsen to find his fishing buoys with the trawler’s powerful searchlight.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A top U.S. Republican lawmaker said today he would support granting citizenship to children who are in the country illegally in a sign that conservatives who oppose immigration amnesty will be playing defense as Congress takes on immigration reform in the coming months.

ALLAHABAD, India,  (Reuters) – At least 18 people were killed in a stampede in the Indian city of Allahabad today as Hindus returned from a river dip at the world’s largest religious festival.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass./NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Northeast started digging itself out today after a blizzard dumped up to 40 inches (1 meter) of snow with hurricane force winds, killing at least nine people and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – As Britons choke on discovering they may have eaten horse that was imported as beef, and ministers blame an “international criminal conspiracy”, this new scandal has exposed the sometimes murky labyrinth by which food reaches Europe’s dinner tables.

BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – A record-breaking blizzard packing hurricane-force winds hammered the northeastern United States yesterday, cutting power to 700,000 homes and businesses, shutting down travel and leaving at least five people dead.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s education minister resigned yesterday after being stripped of her doctorate for plagiarism, embarrassing Chancellor Angela Merkel and depriving her of a close ally in the run-up to a September election.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India hanged a Kashmiri man yesterday for an attack on the country’s parliament in 2001, sparking clashes in Kashmir between protesters and police who wielded batons and fired teargas.

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s prime minister published his tax returns yesterday in a bid to quell reports he and other conservative politicians received secret cash payments but the opposition said many questions remain unanswered.

BOSTON/NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A record-breaking blizzard packing hurricane-force winds hammered the northeastern United States today, cutting power to 700,000 homes and businesses, shutting down travel and leaving at least four people dead.

BOGOTA,  (Reuters) – A strong earthquake rocked southwestern Colombia today rattling residents near the border with Ecuador, but there were no reports of deaths or major damage, authorities said.