World

(Reuters) – Syrian security forces fired on a huge protest against President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus yesterday, soon after a Chinese envoy had appealed for a halt to 11 months of violence, opposition activists said.

 (Reuters) – Greece’s cabinet yesterday approved a final set of austerity measures sought by the EU and IMF as a condition for a 130-billion euro ($171 billion) rescue package, raising the chances of a deal next week to avert a chaotic default on its debt.

(Reuters) – Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is to be questioned next week by police investigating an alleged prostitution ring in Lille, northern France, a police source said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum challenged President Barack Obama’s Christian beliefs yesterday, saying White House policies were motivated by a “different theology.”

BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s hand-picked choice for the ceremonial post of president resigned yesterday in a scandal over political favors, dealing a blow to the German chancellor in the midst of the euro zone debt crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and European Union expressed cautious optimism on Friday over prospects that Iran may be willing to engage major powers in new talks, but underscored any resumed negotiations must be sustained and focus on the nuclear issue.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping yesterday dismissed worries of a hard landing for his country’s economy and turned to courting American companies and states hungry for a slice of Chinese growth on the final day of his US visit.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – It took just seconds to ignite the fire that killed more than 350 inmates in a Honduran prison on Valentine’s Day, but the country’s messy spiral into lawlessness has been years in the making.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A star-studded lineup will sing and speak at pop star Whitney Houston’s funeral today, from Alicia Keys and Kevin Costner to the soul and gospel music royalty from which she hails, including her cousin Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of Cuba’s leading dissidents, Oscar Elias Biscet, testified by telephone from Cuba on Thursday to the US Congress and said the international community did not seem to understand that human rights violations continued there.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The 193-nation UN General Assembly ratcheted up the pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yesterday by overwhelmingly approving a resolution that endorses an Arab League plan calling for him to step aside.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Oscar-winning documentary maker Kevin Macdonald has made what critics are calling the definitive biography of reggae legend Bob Marley, aided by the singer’s family and record label who have given the project their blessing.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The Afghan Taliban and the United States have made only “exploratory” contacts for possible reconciliation which do not involve the Kabul government, the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan said yesterday.

BANGKOK/LONDON (Reuters) – The loudest noise that Thongma Danoi had ever heard was followed 20 minutes later by the strangest sight: a dazed and bloodied Iranian carrying two wire-adorned devices through the usually sleepy Bangkok neighbourhood.

HONG KONG/BEIJING, (Reuters) – Leaders battling for promotion in China’s Communist Party are using pages out of an old manual for negotiating the rungs of power, with the launch of separate probes that have tarnished the chances of one rising star and burnished those of another.

WASHINGTON – China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping wooed and warned the United States on Wednesday, offering deeper cooperation on trade and global troublespots while demanding Washington heed Beijing’s demands on Tibet and other contentious “core interests.”

COMAYAGUA, Honduras (Reuters) – A massive fire raged through an overcrowded prison in Honduras, killing more than 350 inmates, many of them trapped and screaming inside their cells.

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Syrian government forces launched an offensive on the city of Hama early yesterday, firing on residential neighbourhoods from armoured vehicles and mobile anti-aircraft guns, opposition activists said.

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – A new law gives police stronger powers to track what Canadians do online, but raises concern from the privacy watchdog about “warrantless access to personal information.”

ABUJA,  (Reuters) – Nigeria’s corrupt police force acts on the whims of the highest bidder and officers carry out extra-judicial killings and torture, the acting inspector general of police said.