World

KAMPALA,  (Reuters) – A number of Ugandan military helicopters went missing in Kenyan airspace yesterday on their way to Somalia to reinforce African Union peacekeeping forces battling al Shabaab rebels, the Ugandan military said.

(Reuters) – Pregnant women who fasted during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan were no more likely to give birth prematurely than women who didn’t observe the fast, but the babies of women who fasted were smaller on average, a Lebanese study has found.

NORFOLK, Virginia (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate could dramatically shift the race for the White House into a debate between two sharply contrasting views of government spending and debt and its role in the daily lives of Americans.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The United States and Turkey are looking at all measures to help Syrian rebel forces fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, including a no-fly zone, as the conflict there deepens, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Two powerful earthquakes killed 180 people and injured about 1,500 in northwest Iran where rescuers frantically combed the rubble of dozens of villages through the night into Sunday.

ALEPPO, Syria/AMMAN,  (Reuters) – Fighting broke out between Jordanian and Syrian forces in a border region between the two countries overnight, but a Jordanian source said yesterday no one on Jordan’s side appeared to have been killed.

MOSCOW/KIROV, Russia,  (Reuters) – The timber industry in the vast forests of Russia’s Kirov region, far from prying eyes in Moscow, has long been easy prey for unscrupulous businessmen.

HEFEI, China/BEIJING,  (Reuters) – The Chinese woman accused of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood admitted guilt and blamed a mental breakdown for the events that brought her to trial and toppled her once-powerful politician husband, Bo Xilai, state media said yesterday.

LUCKNOW, India,  (Reuters) – A minister in India’s most populous and politically crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, has said bureaucrats can steal a little as long as they work hard – sparking national outcry in a country whose ruling class has long been mired in corruption scandals.

TEL AVIV,  (Reuters) – Israeli sources say there is evidence Egypt’s north Sinai region is becoming not only a rallying point for jihadist gunmen but a firing range for Gaza’s indefatigable rocket builders, seeking ever greater range and accuracy for mainly homemade weapons.

BOSTON, (Reuters) – A new cyber surveillance virus has been found in the Middle East that can spy on banking transactions and steal login information for social networking sites, email and instant messaging, according to a leading computer security firm, Kaspersky Lab.

HEFEI, China,  (Reuters) – The woman at the centre of China’s most politically explosive trial in three decades did not contest charges of murder yesterday in a hearing that lasted just seven hours and could determine the fate of former Politburo member Bo Xilai.

ALEPPO, Syria,  (Reuters) – Syrian forces have pushed rebels back from a strategic district of Aleppo, but skirmishes continued in the city and the United Nations said the conflict engulfing Syria would have no winner.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said it will not pursue criminal charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc or its employees related to accusations that the firm bet against the same subprime mortgage securities it was selling to clients.

PHILADELPHIA,  (Reuters) – A doctor known for his research into near-death experiences of children was in jail on Thursday on charges he disciplined his 11-year-old daughter with a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding, Delaware State Police said.

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Libya’s ruling council handed over power to a newly elected national assembly yesterday in the North African country’s first peaceful transition of power in its modern history but which comes amid heightened violence.

ALEPPO, Syria,  (Reuters) – Syrian troops and rebels fought over the country’s biggest city Aleppo as President Bashar al-Assad’s key foreign backer Iran gathered ministers from like-minded states for talks today about how to end the conflict.

CHETUMAL, Mexico, (Reuters) – Tropical storm Ernesto weakened yesterday as it dumped heavy rains over Mexico’s southern Yucatan peninsula and headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, where the country’s main oil operations are located.

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – Canada must do much more to meet its 2020 target for reducing greenhouse gases, given rising emissions as the energy sector develops the oil-rich tar sands of northern Alberta, government officials said yesterday.

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Seventy members of an Islamist sect who have been living in an underground bunker without heat or sunlight for nearly a decade have been discovered living on the outskirts of the city of Kazan in Russia, local media reported.