World

LARKANA, Pakistan, (Reuters) – The only son of assassinated former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto told hundreds of thousands of supporters yesterday, the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death, that he would carry forward her legacy, an appearance designed to anoint him as a political heir.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Britain’s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wrote an emotional letter to U.S.

AUSTIN, Texas, (Reuters) – Former President George H.W. Bush remained in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital yesterday, but his longtime chief of staff issued a reassuring message, urging the media and the public to “put the harps back in the closet.”

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – After a decade away from the big screen, funnyman Billy Crystal has mined his real-life experiences as a grandfather and is back in the holiday season movie “Parental Guidance.”

(Reuters) – American soul singer Fontella Bass, who topped the R&B chart in 1965 with the song “Rescue Me,” died in St.

LONDON, (Reuters) – British Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has married for the third time, her publicist confirmed yesterday.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – R&B singer and actress Brandy Norwood is engaged to music executive Ryan Press, a spokeswoman for the singer said yesterday.

WASHINGTON/HONOLULU,  (Reuters) – Efforts to prevent the U.S. economy from going over a “fiscal cliff” stirred back to life yesterday with less than a week to go before potentially disastrous tax hikes and spending cuts kick in at the New Year.

BANGUI, (Reuters) – A government minister in the Central African Republic yesterday called for French soldiers stationed there to intervene as rebels closed in on the capital having passed the last major town to the north.

CAIRO, (Reuters) – President Mohamed Mursi admitted yesterday that Egypt’s economy faces serious problems after he enacted a new, bitterly contested constitution that is supposed to help end political unrest and allow him to focus on the financial crisis.

AUSTIN, Texas,  (Reuters) – Former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital and is in “guarded condition,” family spokesman Jim McGrath said yesterday.

DUBAI, (Reuters) – Iran’s parliament has banned on airplanes from flying in the country during the Azan call to Islamic prayer, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported yesterday.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel upgraded a college in a West Bank Jewish settlement to a university yesterday, reflecting a determination to keep control of the enclave in any peace deal with the Palestinians.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – More than 48,000 people have signed a petition that they posted on the White House website demanding that British CNN talk show host Piers Morgan be deported over comments he made on air about gun control.

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The head of Ireland’s Catholic Church urged followers in his Christmas Day message to lobby against government plans to legalise abortion.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Emmy-winning actor Jack Klugman, a versatile, raspy-voiced mainstay of US television during the 1970s and early ‘80s through his starring roles in “The Odd Couple” and “Quincy, ME,” died yesterday at the age of 90.

SKOPJE (Reuters) – The opposition in Macedonia was ejected from parliament yesterday for brawling, prompting it to pledge to boycott the chamber and initiate a campaign of civil disobedience after a rancorous disagreement over the size of next year’s budget.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Dozens of people were killed and many more wounded in a Syrian government air strike that hit a bakery where a crowd was queuing for bread yesterday, activists said.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Some U.S. lawmakers voiced concern yesterday that the country would go over “the fiscal cliff” in nine days, triggering harsh spending cuts and tax hikes, and some Republicans charged that was President Barack Obama’s goal.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – Sonia Gandhi, the usually reserved and poised leader of India’s ruling Congress party, leapt from her front-bench seat in parliament last week to grab back a document that a lawmaker had snatched from a government minister’s hands.