World

KABUL,  (Reuters) – A U.S. Army sergeant was formally charged with 17 counts of murder yesterday for killing eight adults and nine children in a pre-dawn shooting rampage in southern Afghanistan that further eroded U.S.-Afghan

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – A military comrade of Hugo Chavez who was once Venezuela’s president for a day has become his most powerful ally at a delicate time when the socialist leader is seeking re-election despite cancer.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – A former U.S. game show host is paying $880,000 to fly three elephants to sunny California in style aboard a private cargo plane.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accused of killing Afghan civilians in a shooting rampage in Kandahar province last week, will be charged with 17 counts of murder, a U.S.

TOULOUSE, France,  (Reuters) – A 23-year-old gunman who said al Qaeda inspired him to kill seven people in France died in a hail of bullets yesterday as he scrambled out of a ground-floor window during a gunbattle with elite police commandos.

DUBLIN,  (Reuters) – Former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern failed to give a truthful account of the source of payments he received, an inquiry concluded yesterday in a long-awaited report into the dealings of one of the architects of Ireland’s ill-fated economic boom.

BAMAKO,  (Reuters) – Mutinous soldiers said they seized power in Mali yesterday and ordered its borders closed, threatening to reignite conflict in a Saharan region shaken by the turmoil in Libya.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Pop star Whitney Houston died of accidental drowning due to the effects of cocaine use and heart disease, a Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman said yesterday.

AMMAN, (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council, including Russia and China, threw its weight yesterday behind efforts by Kofi Annan to end the bloody conflict in Syria, providing a rare moment of global unity in the face of the year-long crisis.

ORLANDO, Fla.,  (Reuters) – Florida politicians and civil rights leaders joined calls for the firing of a police chief in the case of a neighbourhood watch captain who killed an unarmed black teenager, as new details emerged yesterday about police handling of the investigation.

RIO DE JANEIRO/NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – A Brazilian federal prosecutor filed criminal charges yesterday against Chevron and drill-rig operator Transocean for a November oil spill, raising the stakes in a legal saga that has added to Chevron’s woes in Latin America and could slow Brazil’s offshore oil boom.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Three new studies published on Wednesday added to growing scientific evidence suggesting that taking a daily dose of aspirin can help prevent, and possibly treat, cancer.

BAMAKO,  (Reuters) – Mutineering soldiers attacked Mali’s presidential palace overnight yesterday as a protest over the government’s handling of a nomad-led rebellion in the north turned into an all-out coup.

BAGHDAD,  (Reuters) – More than 30 bombs struck cities and towns across Iraq yesterday, killing at least 52 people and wounding about 250, despite a massive security clampdown ahead of next week’s Arab League summit in Baghdad.

CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Republican Mitt Romney cruised to an easy victory over top rival Rick Santorum in Illinois yesterday, moving him one step closer to clinching the party’s volatile battle for the presidential nomination.

ORLANDO, Fla.,  (Reuters) – The case of an unarmed black teenager shot dead by a white neighbourhood watch captain who police have failed to arrest will go before a grand jury, Florida prosecutors said yesterday.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – A major earthquake struck Mexico yesterday, unleashing panic as it damaged hundreds of buildings and caused homes in the capital to bounce like “trampolines”.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said yesterday he had information about a planned assassination attempt against opposition rival Henrique Capriles, who hopes to block his bid for re-election in October.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With just five days to go for nations to put forward nominees to lead the World Bank, there are few signs the United States has finalized its choice to lead the global development lender.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Rebels fought gun battles with government forces in Damascus, in the most violent clashes Syria’s capital has seen since the start of the year-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.