World

(Reuters) – Delta Air Lines Inc said it was taking new steps to ensure the safety of food it serves and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it began a criminal probe after what appeared to be sewing needles were found in sandwiches on four flights from Amsterdam to the United States.

SEOUL,  (Reuters) – North Korea’s young leader promoted a new army marshal after sacking his top general in what a South Korean official report said was a bid to impose authority on a military that has been the backbone of his family’s long rule over the isolated state.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Officials of HSBC Holdings Plc pledged to a U.S.

TORONTO, (Reuters) – Two people were killed and 23 injured when a Toronto street party ended in gunfire late on Monday, raising fears of violent retaliation in Canada’s largest city.

BERLIN, (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that Germany could become a laughing stock if it fails to overturn a district court ban on circumcision that has enraged Jews and Muslims.

BEIRUT – Syrian rebels said they shot down an army helicopter yesterday as they battled government forces backed by air power and artillery in the fiercest fighting to hit Damascus since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad erupted last year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A “pervasively polluted” culture at HSBC Holdings Plc allowed the bank to act as financier to clients seeking to route shadowy funds from the world’s most dangerous and secretive corners, including Mexico, Iran, the Cayman Islands, Saudi Arabia and Syria, according to a scathing US Senate report issued yesterday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats yesterday to require political fundraising groups to reveal their anonymous contributors who are fueling negative television advertisements ahead of the November election.

PARIS (Reuters) – Rights groups said yesterday UNESCO’s decision to award a science prize sponsored by the president of Equatorial Guinea was “shameful and utterly irresponsible”.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Police in Ghana questioned two US nationals working as volunteers for the Peace Corps aid programme in connection with the killing of a local man who tried to rob them on Saturday, officials said yesterday.

ADDIS ABABA, (Reuters) – South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected yesterday to become the first female head of the African Union (AU) Commission, ending a bruising leadership battle that had threatened to divide and weaken the organisation.

VIENNA,  (Reuters) – Offering immunity or an easing of the sanctions pressure may be the only way – if there is one at all – to coax Iran to end years of stonewalling a U.N.

(Reuters) – Opposition fighters battled Syrian government forces in Damascus into the early hours of today in what residents described as the fiercest fighting yet inside the capital.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – An epic Bruce Springsteen concert in London’s Hyde Park ended on Saturday with organisers pulling the plug with the singer and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney still on stage and playing at full throttle after more than three hours of music.

(Reuters) Mumbai, Dara Singh, the wrestler-turned-actor best known for his role as Hanuman in the television series ‘Ramayan’, died on Thursday.

(Reuters) – Stage and film actress Celeste Holm, who won an Oscar for her role in the 1947 movie “Gentleman’s Agreement,” has died at home in New York City, age 95, according to reports citing her niece.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The Red Cross now views fighting in Syria as an internal armed conflict – a civil war in layman’s terms – crossing a threshold experts say can help lay the ground for future prosecutions for war crimes.

CAIRO  (Reuters) – Hundreds of people chanted anti-US and anti-Islamist slogans outside Hillary Clinton’s hotel on Saturday as the US secretary of state urged Egypt’s military and Muslim Brotherhood to complete a transition to full democratic rule.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Africa faces a serious threat from al Qaeda and its allies trying to set up a sanctuary in northern Mali, African leaders said yesterday as they pondered political and military strategies aimed at reuniting the divided West African state.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa/ CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Russell Wasendorf Sr, arrested yesterday, confessed to a 20-year fraud at his now-bankrupt Iowa brokerage, saying business troubles and his “big” ego left him no choice: “So I cheated.”