World

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – A prosecutor questioned former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Wednesday over accusations he used homeless children to elicit donations that were later used to help fund his political career.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s top court endorsed the postponement of Hugo Chavez’s inauguration this week and ruled today that the cancer-stricken president and his deputy would continue in their roles, despite a cacophony of opposition complaints.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – Comments by an Indian spiritual leader that a gang-rape victim shared blame for her assault disgusted many in a country shaken by the crime, but his view represents a deep streak of chauvinism shared by a broad swathe of a society in transition.

KABUL,  (Reuters) – Afghan lawmakers said today disaster and civil war would follow if Washington pushed ahead with a suggestion to withdraw all its troops from the country after 2014.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela will postpone the inauguration of President Hugo Chavez for a new term due to health problems, the government said yesterday, another sign the socialist leader’s cancer may be bringing an end to his 14 years in power.

ALEPPO, Syria, (Reuters) – At a crowded market stall in Syria, a middle-aged couple, well dressed, shuffle over to press a folded note, furtively, into the hand of a foreign reporter.

KAMPALA, (Reuters) – Uganda has returned to Ireland $5 million of aid money that was embezzled by state officials, it said yesterday, promising to reimburse other governments in the hope of unblocking vital payments.

JAMMU, India, (Reuters) – India accused old enemy Pakistan of sending troops across the heavily militarised line dividing the disputed region of Kashmir yesterday, and said two of its soldiers were killed and one wounded in a gunfight.

JAMMU, India, (Reuters) – India accused old enemy Pakistan of sending troops across the heavily militarised line dividing the disputed region of Kashmir today, and said two of its soldiers were killed and one wounded in a gunfight.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff cut short her vacation today to deal with a budding energy crisis that could wreck her efforts to restore vitality to Brazil’s economy this year.

GENEVA,  (Reuters) – About one million Syrians are going short of food, most of them in conflict zones, due to government restrictions on aid distribution, the United Nations said today.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Five men accused of raping and murdering an Indian student were read the charges in a near-empty courtroom yesterday after the judge cleared out lawyers for bickering over whether the men deserved a defence.

A former nursing student accused of killing seven people – including a Guyanese woman – at a Christian college in Oakland last April was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, Reuters reported yesterday.

WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) – In a case US officials say is the first of its kind, a Chinese businessman pleaded guilty yesterday to selling stolen American software used in defense, space technology and engineering – programs prosecutors said held a retail value of more than $100 million.

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – A recent advisory by the Obama administration warning that Americans were victims of murder and kidnappings in Haiti could unfairly hurt efforts to get the earthquake-crippled nation back on its feet, Haiti’s government officials said yesterday.

LIMA (Reuters) – A helicopter carrying seven people crashed in Peru’s Amazon jungle yesterday and all aboard perished, a judicial official said.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Barack Obama today nominated former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary and counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to head the CIA, potentially setting up at least one Senate confirmation battle and establishing a tough tone to start his second term.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – A group of 10 mortgage servicers agreed today to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government-mandated case-by-case review of foreclosures in an acknowledgement the reviews had proven too cumbersome and expensive.

VATICAN CITY,  (Reuters) – Pope Benedict today urged the international community to end what he called the endless slaughter in Syria before the entire country became a “a field of ruins.”

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – Five men accused of the gang rape and murder of an Indian student appeared in court today to hear charges against them, after two of them offered evidence possibly in return for a lighter sentence in a case that has provoked widespread anger.