World

PARIS, (Reuters) – Far-rightist Marine Le Pen threw France’s presidential race wide open yesterday by polling nearly 19 percent in the first round – votes that may tip a runoff between Socialist favourite Francois Hollande and conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy.

ZURICH, (Reuters) – North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un spent more of his childhood being educated under a pseudonym in Switzerland than originally thought, Swiss newspapers reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Two senior Republicans in the House of Representatives expressed confidence yesterday in the head of the U.S.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – Whether you are the world’s No. 1 retailer or a humble street vendor, paying public officials a bribe may be the quickest way to get your business growing in Mexico.

REYKJAVIK,  (Reuters) – Few suspicions are raised by the sight of another geologist pottering around Iceland’s natural wonders of rock, fire and ice – unless that geologist is also the Chinese premier.

BEIJING,  (Reuters) – When one of your big oil suppliers splits into rival states, that’s a problem for any country.

(Jamaica Gleaner) The Government fears that a bustling business may develop selling new widescreen television sets with obsolete analogue technology dumped from developed digitised markets for cheap sale in Jamaica.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb is conscious and able to speak to his wife and family after waking from a coma caused by a combination of illnesses that nearly cost him his life, his doctors said yesterday.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – For 30 years the Grateful Dead recorded music and toured the world with their unique blend of rock, folk and psychedelic songs, gathering an army of followers known as Deadheads.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – The box office competition finally overwhelmed “The Hunger Games” as the romantic comedy “Think Like a Man” beat expectations with a chart-topping $33.0 million in U.S.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – Neil Diamond has married his manager Katie McNeil in front of family and close friends in Los Angeles, People magazine said yesterday.

(Jamaica Observer) A trial involving some of Jamaica’s most prominent politicians and businessmen shaping up in a Florida court is likely to be sensational and could impact the way people use e-mails.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Information about a Chinese policeman who implicated the wife of a top Chinese official in a British businessman’s murder was not circulated widely in Washington as he was considered of marginal intelligence value, current and former US officials said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New state laws designed to fight voter fraud could reduce the number of Americans signing up to vote in this year’s presidential election by hundreds of thousands, a potential problem for President Barack Obama’s re-election bid.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Formula One drivers will race in Bahrain today while rage boils on the streets outside, among protesters who denounce the Grand Prix as a gaudy spectacle by a ruling family that crushed Arab Spring demonstrations last year.

PARIS (Reuters) – France votes today in round one of a presidential vote, with a feeble economy that could make Nicolas Sarkozy the country’s first president to lose a fight for re-election in more than 30 years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States believes a Chinese firm sold North Korea components for a missile transporter showcased in a recent military parade and will press Beijing to tighten enforcement of a UN ban on such military sales, a US official said yesterday.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Almost 125 people were injured, many seriously, when two Dutch commuter trains crashed head-on in Amsterdam yesterday, police said.

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) – Russia and the European Union yesterday circulated separate draft U.N.

ISLAMABAD,  (Reuters) – A Pakistani airliner with 127 people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad yesterday, scattering wreckage and leaving no sign of survivors.