World

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Three decades ago, an Israeli prime minister faced his cabinet and invoked the Holocaust in an emotional appeal to approve an air strike against an Arab atomic reactor.

LONDON (Reuters) – Sixty years after she ascended to the throne in an austere Britain still facing post-war rationing, Queen Elizabeth marked the milestone yesterday with a new website that showed just how much the world has changed during her reign.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – The leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Qatar yesterday to form a unity government of independent technocrats for the West Bank and Gaza, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

MANILA (Reuters) – A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck the central Philippine island of Negros yesterday, triggering landslides that toppled houses and killing at least 12 people, including two children, officials said.

WASHINGTON/TEHRAN,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said yesterday there were important risks to consider before any military strike against Iran and made clear he does not want to see more conflict in the oil-producing Gulf region.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Syria’s victory in dodging a U.N. resolution it deemed a license for regime change may only escalate its internal conflict into a full-fledged civil war that many analysts believe President Bashar al-Assad cannot ultimately win.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – There is no clamour for an early general election in India, but the latest blow dealt to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a massive corruption scandal raises the risk that his wounded government could fall well before its mandate runs out in 2014.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia and China vetoed yesterday a UN resolution that backed an Arab plan calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit, stalling global efforts to end his bloody crackdown on unrest after hundreds were reported killed in the city of Homs.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mounted a lavish celebration yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of the failed coup that helped launch his political career, as opposition leaders slammed the event as a blemish on the country’s democracy.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – In the latest twist of a messy internal conflict shaking the Vatican, four clerics in the office that manages the tiny city-state yesterday rejected charges of corruption, mismanagement and greed levelled by a former deputy governor.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – More than 100 people have been killed in shelling by Syrian armed forces of the city of Homs, and hundreds more have been wounded, the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights said on Friday, citing witnesses.

JUBA, (Reuters) – A shoot-out among South Sudanese security forces using truck-mounted machineguns killed 37 people and injured a United Nations policeman on Wednesday, U.N.

PHNOM PENH, (Reuters) – The U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia ruled yesterday that the Khmer Rouge’s prison chief should serve the rest of his life in jail, extending a 19-year sentence handed down in July 2010 that outraged survivors of the “killing fields” regime.

LONDON, (Reuters) – British Energy Secretary Chris Huhne resigned yesterday after learning he would face criminal charges for allegedly lying to police, a fall from grace that could tweak the dynamics of the coalition government and weaken its environmental agenda.

ROME, (Reuters) – A ruling by Italy’s highest appeals court that said those charged with gang rape do not always have to go to prison while awaiting trial has outraged women’s groups and some politicians who fear it will make rape a “third-class crime”.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Planned Parenthood Federation of America said yesterday it welcomed news that breast cancer charity Susan G.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The world’s leading breast cancer charity, Susan G.

BRUSSELS, (Reuters) – U.S. forces will cede the lead role in combat operations in Afghanistan next year, but will keep fighting alongside Afghan troops, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said yesterday, as the Obama administration struggled to clear up confusion over its Afghan exit strategy.

BAMAKO, (Reuters) – Hundreds of Malians set up barricades and burned tyres in the streets of Bamako yesterday, shutting down the capital in protests against the government’s handling of a rebellion that has seized several northern towns.

LONDON, (Reuters) – For Daniel Radcliffe, it’s time to forget Harry Potter.