World

NEW YORK, – Apple Inc unveiled a new digital  textbook service called iBooks 2 yesterday, aiming to  revitalize the U.S.

LILONGWE, (Reuters) – Malawi’s president has  ordered police to arrest anyone who attacks women wearing  trousers or miniskirts after several females were stripped by  mobs angry at their non-traditional dress.

(Reuters) – Some members of the U.S. Congress  switched sides to oppose antipiracy legislation as protests  blanketed the Internet yesterday, turning Wikipedia dark and  putting black slashes on Google and other sites as if they had  been censored.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s wily President  Hugo Chavez is keeping his military happy and quashing talk of  succession with a reshuffle of allies to strengthen his hand as  he seeks re-election in October.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain accused Argentina  of “colonialism” in its claim to the Falkland Islands on  Wednesday, as the 30th anniversary of their conflict over the  British-ruled territory approaches.

LIMA, (Reuters) – Peru plans to focus on  development rather than military force to curtail drug  trafficking in the world’s most densely planted coca region,  where it is battling the remnants of the Shining Path rebels,  its new defense minister said yesterday.

GIGLIO, Italy, Reuters) – Italian coastguards  pleaded angrily with the captain of a stricken super-liner to  return to his ship, according to recordings released yesterday  as divers found five more bodies in the half-submerged wreck of  the Costa Concordia.

LISBON, (Reuters) – Angola’s government has  denied a report by Human Rights Watch suggesting that US$32  billion are missing from state funds thought to be linked to the  state oil company Sonangol, state news agency Angop reported yesterday.

RAE BAREILLY, India, (Reuters) – India’s  Priyanka Gandhi joined the election campaign in the country’s  most politically important state yesterday, injecting sparkle  into a tightly fought race and overshadowing her brother Rahul,  heir-apparent of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The White House was  locked down on Tuesday night as authorities  investigated what appeared to be a smoke bomb that was tossed  over the fence of the White House compound, a Secret Service  spokesman said.

MADRID,  (Reuters) – A Spanish judge who won  fame with his attempt to extradite former Chilean dictator  Augusto Pinochet in the 1990s denied breaching the rights of  defendants yesterday in a trial many supporters say is a  politically motivated vendetta against him.

ISTANBUL, (Reuters) – A Syrian tribal leader  apologised yesterday for backing President Bashar al-Assad on  state television, saying a gun was being pointed at his head  while he made the broadcast last year.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court yesterday ordered Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to appear before it for failing to pursue corruption cases against the president and other officials, a sharp escalation in the government’s battle for survival.

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) – A stricken Italian cruise liner shifted on its rocky resting place yesterday as worsening weather disrupted an increasingly despairing hunt for survivors and authorities raised their estimate of the number missing to 29 people.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Protesters forced their way into a Tripoli hotel where Egypt’s military leader was meeting Libyan officials yesterday and lambasted him for failing to extradite supporters of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi who have fled to Egypt.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain condemned Israeli settlements yesterday as “deliberate vandalism” of efforts to establish a Palestinian state, and warned that time was running out for the peace process in the Middle East.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said yesterday the country’s largest rebel group was increasingly selling its cattle to finance South America’s longest-running insurgency as income from trafficking cocaine drops.

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Iran warned Gulf Arab  neighbours yesterday they would suffer consequences if they  raised oil output to replace Iranian crude facing an  international ban.

GIGLIO, Italy, (Reuters) – Three survivors and  two more dead bodies were pulled from the partially submerged  wreck of a cruiseliner off the Italian coast, while a search  continued though thousands of cabins for 15 people still  missing.

MONROVIA, (Reuters) – Liberian President Ellen  Johnson-Sirleaf’s main rival fled his party headquarters in the  capital Monrovia yesterday when it was besieged by dozens of  supporters angry at his decision to recognise her government  after a disputed November election.