World

ATHENS – Greek voters enraged by economic hardship caused by the terms of an international bailout turned on ruling parties in an election yesterday, putting the country’s future in the euro zone at risk and threatening to revive Europe’s debt crisis.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – “The Avengers” proved that five superheroes are better than one by bursting into Hollywood’s record books with a massive $200.3 million in ticket sales over its opening weekend in U.S.

MUMBAI,  (Reuters) – Political thrillers are not that common in Bollywood but then director and producer Dibakar Banerjee rarely chooses conventional subjects for his films.

ISTANBUL, (Reuters) – Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes said on Sunday he would not have made the latest James Bond film “Skyfall” without Daniel Craig playing the MI6 agent because of the complexity the British actor has brought to the character.

GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) – The arraignment of five Guantanamo prisoners accused of plotting the Sept 11 attacks got off to a chaotic start yesterday when all the defendants defiantly refused to answer the judge’s questions and one made outbursts in court.

BAMAKO (Reuters) – Malian fighters from the Ansar Dine Islamist group attacked and burned the tomb of one of the town’s saints, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, residents and a regional official said yesterday.

PARIS (Reuters) – Nicolas Sarkozy was headed for an election defeat today that could make him the 11th European leader to be swept from office by the economic crisis and crown Francois Hollande as France’s first Socialist president in 17 years.

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – The United States must do more to heal the wounds of indigenous peoples caused by more than a century of oppression, including restoring control over lands Native Americans consider to be sacred, a UN human rights investigator said yesterday.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, now out of favour with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suffered more setbacks in a run-off parliamentary election seen as a pointer for next year’s presidential race, results showed yesterday.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s absence from the spotlight, his creation of a formal advisory committee, and media leaks of medical details are feeding speculation of a downturn in his nearly year-long battle with cancer.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haitian lawmakers approved the nomination of a close adviser to President Michel Martelly as prime minister on Thursday, raising hopes of ending a political stalemate that has stalled reconstruction efforts after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake.

BEIJING, (Reuters) – China said yesterday that blind dissident Chen Guangcheng could apply to study abroad, a move praised by U.S.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. employers cut back on hiring in April and more people stopped looking for work, troubling signs for President Barack Obama whose re-election prospects could hinge on his handling of the economy.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – The bodies of 23 people were found hanging from a bridge or dismembered in ice boxes and garbage bags in northeastern Mexico on Friday, in an escalation of brutal violence involving rival drug gangs on the U.S.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina’s Congress nationalized the country’s biggest oil company, YPF, by an overwhelming lower house vote on Thursday that underscored broad popular support for a measure that threatens to scare off foreign investment.

BEIJING/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng made a dramatic plea for help in a cellphone call to a U.S.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Osama bin Laden showed disdain for al Qaeda affiliates, fretted about his organization’s image and was deeply worried about its security, according to documents seized from his hideout in Pakistan and released publicly yesterday.

BEIJING,  (Reuters) – Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng says he wants to leave for the United States rather than stay in China, throwing into doubt a deal used to coax him out of the U.S.

GENEVA, (Reuters) – The Global Fund, an organisation that has received millions of dollars from Bill Gates but found grant money was being misused, is cutting its workforce and tightening its focus on 20 countries hardest hit by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream,” one of the world’s most recognizable works of art, sold for $120 million at Sotheby’s on Wednesday, setting a new record as the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction.