World

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – China, Russia, Pakistan and Azerbaijan abstained from a UN Security Council vote on children and armed conflict yesterday over concerns that the UN envoy on the issue can investigate any conflict, not just those before the council.

(Reuters) – A financial services industry group warned US banks, brokerages and insurers on Wednesday to be on heightened alert for cyber attacks after Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase experienced unexplained outages on their public websites.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – As Muslim countries reverberate with fierce protests over a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad, an ad equating Islamic jihad with savagery is due to appear next week in 10 New York City subway stations despite transit officials’ efforts to block it.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday the maker of an anti-Islam film that triggered violent protests across the Muslim world abused his right to freedom of expression by making the movie, which he called a “disgraceful and shameful act.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow accused the United States yesterday of using its aid mission in Russiato meddle in politics and influence elections, a charge likely to push relations between the former Cold War foes to a new low after Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Colombian singer Shakira said yesterday she is expecting her first child, with her Spanish soccer player boyfriend Gerard Pique.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Iran has been using civilian aircraft to fly military personnel and large quantities of weapons across Iraqi airspace to Syria to aid President Bashar al-Assad in his attempt to crush an 18-month uprising against his government, according to a Western intelligence report seen by Reuters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Russia has forced the United States to close its aid mission in Moscow, the US government said yesterday, in a blow to US efforts to improve ties and a step that may aid the Kremlin’s crackdown on pro-democracy groups.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Rebels have set up a de facto administration in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Tuesday as the Security Council urged a political solution to the crisis rather than applying sanctions.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – One of Colombia’s most wanted drug traffickers was captured in neighbouring Venezuela yesterday with the help of Caracas as well as British and US intelligence agencies, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said.

REYNOSA, Mexico (Reuters) – At least 26 people were killed and as many injured when a Pemex gas facility burst into flames in northern Mexico yesterday, one of the worst accidents to hit the state oil monopoly in recent years.

CHENGDU, China (Reuters) – A former police chief at the centre of China’s biggest political scandal in decades admitted attempting to defect to the United States, and did not contest charges of bribery and illegal surveillance at his trial today, a court official said.

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) – Hundreds of Japanese businesses and the country’s embassy suspended services in China today, as anti-Japan protests threatened to reignite and drag a territorial dispute between Asia’s two biggest economies deeper into crisis.

BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – An amateur video appears to show Libyans trying to rescue US ambassador Christopher Stevens from a room filled with smoke at the US mission where he was found unconscious after last week’s attack by a mob protesting against a film that denigrates the Prophet Mohammad.

(Reuters) – The Boy Scouts of America could face a wave of bad publicity as decades of records of confirmed or alleged child molesters within the US organization are expected to be released in coming weeks.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – More than 130 inmates escaped through a tunnel from a Mexican prison on the border with the United States in one of the worst jailbreaks the country’s beleaguered penal system has suffered in recent years.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Family members of a California man linked to an anti-Islam film that triggered violent protests across the Muslim world went into hiding yesterday, with sheriff’s deputies escorting them from their home to an undisclosed location, authorities said.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Coca cultivation in Bolivia, the world’s third-biggest cocaine producer after Peru and Colombia, fell last year as the government stepped up eradication efforts, official data released yesterday showed.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are providing non-military assistance in Syria and Iran may get involved militarily if its closest ally comes under attack, commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said yesterday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – There were quiet celebrations in the offices of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late last week after he stunned the country with a slew of steps to revive the tanking economy.