World

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin praised Cold War-era scientists today for stealing US nuclear secrets so that United States would not be the world’s sole atomic power, in comments reflecting his vision of Russia as a counterweight to US power.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for calm yesterday after officials said six people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, at NATO’s main base in the country.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Shortly before the United States ended a two-month pause in missile strikes on militants in Pakistan last month, senior US officials telephoned their Pakistani counterparts and told them Washington would be resuming its covert drone programme despite mounting objections in Islamabad.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran would take pre-emptive action against its enemies if it felt its national interests were endangered, the deputy head of the Islamic Republic’s armed forces was quoted by a semi-official news agency as saying yesterday.

SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) – Separatist violence in the south loomed over a presidential election in Yemen that had just a single candidate, but Washington praised the vote ending three decades of rule by its ally Ali Abdullah Saleh.

BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) – Syrian government forces killed at least 100 people yesterday in assaults on villages and an artillery barrage in the restive city of Homs, activists said, and the Red Cross called for daily ceasefires to allow in urgently needed aid.

LILLE, France (Reuters) – Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was questioned by police yesterday over his dealings with an alleged prostitution ring that was run from the northern French city of Lille and organized sex parties in Paris, Brussels and Washington.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – A devastating prison fire that killed 360 inmates in a Honduran penitentiary was likely caused by a candle or cigarette that set a mattress alight, investigators said yesterday.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian forces opened fire with live ammunition on demonstrators in Damascus overnight, wounding at least four, activists said early today as unrest continued to spread in the capital.

TUNIS (Reuters) – The third-largest party in Tunisia’s constituent assembly, charged with writing a new constitution, yesterday proposed a draft document based on Islamic law which will likely alarm the country’s secularists.

LIMA (Reuters) – Flooding rivers in Peru and Chile have ruined houses, displaced people, and turned up something more sinister: land mines, which closed the border between the two countries yesterday.

ADEN/SANAA (Reuters) – Yemenis vote today for a successor to President Ali Abdullah Saleh in hopes of ending a year-long struggle that began with mass protests to oust him and almost led to the collapse of the state.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said yesterday it was putting its border guards under separate control ahead of the London Olympics after a critical report found hundreds of thousands of people had been allowed into the country without full security checks.

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe praised the coalition pact that has seen him share power with his political enemies, saying in an interview yesterday that he and long-time foe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai can now share a cup of tea.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top US military officer said yesterday that a military strike against Iran would be premature, because it is unclear that Tehran will actually use its nuclear capabilities to build an atomic bomb.

AMMAN/BEIRUT – Police and militia patrols fan out in the Syrian capital’s Mezze district to prevent a repeat of protests against President Bashar al-Assad that have threatened his grip on Damascus, opposition activists say.

CAIRO (Reuters) – The judicial committtee supervising Egypt’s first presidential election since Hosni Mubarak was overthrown last year said yesterday it had yet to finalise a date for the vote, although an election official said it would be in the first week of June.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran ordered a halt to its oil sales to Britain and France yesterday in a move seen as retaliation against tightening EU sanctions, as a team of UN inspectors flew to Tehran to press the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear programme.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A fight between rival gangs at a prison on the outskirts of the northern Mexican manufacturing city of Monterrey left at least 44 dead yesterday, authorities said.

(Reuters) – Stars, family and friends mourned Whitney Houston in a spirited Baptist funeral service at her hometown church yesterday, a week after the death of the singer whose spectacular voice made her one of the biggest pop stars of her era.