World

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – U.N. observers in Syria described an attack on a village in the Hama region in which about 220 people were reported killed as part of a continuing Syrian air force operation, the U.N.

(Reuters) – A former U.S. federal immigration intelligence director who lured four subordinates into fraudulently claiming more than $500,000 in fake expense and pay claims was sentenced to 20 months in prison yesterday, authorities said.

HOUSTON, (Reuters) – The biggest U.S. civil rights group’s two-month-old decision to support same-sex marriage has opened rifts at its convention in Houston this week, pitting religious conservatives against political progressives.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – A small cargo ship sailed into Havana Bay yesterday with the first maritime shipment from Miami to Cuba in 50 years.

PHILADELPHIA,  (Reuters) – Penn State leaders including the late football coach Joe Paterno covered up Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children for years, showing a callous disregard for the victims to protect a multimillion-dollar football programme, former FBI director Louis Freeh said yesterday.

AMMAN/BEIRUT, (Reuters) – More than 200 Syrians, mostly civilians, were massacred in a village in the rebellious Hama region when it was bombarded by helicopter gunships and tanks and then stormed by militiamen, opposition activists said.

SANTIAGO,  (Reuters) – Chile yesterday became one of the last Latin American nations to pass an anti-discrimination law, after a brutal beating that led to a young gay man’s death put pressure on conservative president Sebastian Pinera’s government to act.

HERZLIYA, Israel,  (Reuters) – A 1,000-year-old hoard of gold coins has been unearthed at a famous Crusader battleground where Christian and Muslim forces once fought for control of the Holy Land, Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Despite a glorious past that includes five World Cup triumphs, Brazil have never struck gold in the Olympics and former striker Ronaldo thinks it is now their time to shine.

LONDON, (Reuters) – The FBI has opened a criminal investigation into ZTE Corp over the Chinese company’s sale of banned U.S.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Billionaire Oleg Deripaska was successful and “established” by the time he met rival oligarch Michael Cherney in 1994 at 26, his lawyers told a London court, arguing the magnate would not have needed his rival’s support to build his aluminium empire.

BEIRUT – Syria’s ambassador to Iraq defected yesterday in protest over President Bashar al-Assad’s military crackdown on a 16-month uprising, Syrian opposition sources said.

CAIRO, (Reuters) – Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court said yesterday it had overruled President Mohamed Mursi’s decision to recall the Islamist-led parliament that was dissolved by the country’s generals last month.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – A cholera outbreak in Cuba blamed for at least three deaths has been mostly contained so far to the eastern city of Manzanillo and surrounding towns, with just a few scattered cases confirmed elsewhere in the country, a public health official told Reuters yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Facing its first major parliamentary defeat, Britain’s coalition government yesterday at the last minute dropped plans for a controversial vote on reforming parliament’s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords.

NEW YORK/CHICAGO/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. futures trading industry reeled on yesterday as federal regulators accused Iowa-based broker PFGBest of misappropriating over $200 million in customer funds for more than two years in an alarming echo of MF Global’s collapse.

BEIRUT,  (Reuters) – U.N. peace envoy Kofi Annan waded into big power politics yesterday, insisting regional heavyweight Iran should be involved in efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Syria crisis despite the West’s firm rejection of a role for Tehran.

LONDON, (Reuters) – British lawmakers yesterday accused Barclays former chief executive Bob Diamond of misleading a parliamentary inquiry into an interest rate-fixing scandal that has forced him to resign and give up bonuses worth up to 20 million pounds ($30 million).

THE HAGUE,  (Reuters) – Delivering its first sentence, the International Criminal Court jailed Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for 14 years yesterday for recruiting child soldiers.

DAMASCUS (Reuters) – UN peace envoy Kofi Annan said he and President Bashar al-Assad agreed yesterday on an approach to Syria’s conflict that he would now take to the opposition, and flew on to Iran for talks with the main regional ally of Damascus.