World

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Pieces of a failed Russian  Mars probe plummeted into the Pacific Ocean far off the Chilean  coast yesterday, Russian news agencies cited a military official  as saying.

(Trinidad Guardian) An invasion of Guyanese farmers in the food basket of Aranguez is stirring up a hornet’s nest among local farmers who claim they are forced to pay exorbitant rent for agricultural lands and are being denied a livelihood, the result of the outsiders’ presence.

PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy (Reuters) – Passengers leapt into the sea and fought over lifejackets in panic when an Italian cruise ship ran aground and keeled over, killing at least three and leaving dozens missing.

PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy (Reuters) – The captain of the Italian cruise liner that ran aground off Italy was arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, police said yesterday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran said yesterday it had evidence Washington was behind the latest killing of one of its nuclear scientists, state television reported, at a time when tensions over the country’s nuclear programme have escalated to their highest level ever.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Qatar has proposed sending Arab troops to halt the bloodshed in Syria, where violence has raged on despite the presence of Arab League monitors sent to check if an Arab peace plan is working.

BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) – European leaders promised yesterday to speed up plans to strengthen spending rules and get a permanent bailout fund up and running as soon as possible, a day after US agency S&P cut the ratings of several eurozone countries’ creditworthiness.

Erik Solheim is Norway’s Minister for Development and Environment. By Erik Solheim OSLO – Poverty is not only about not having enough money.

YANGON, (Reuters) – Myanmar freed at least 200  political prisoners yesterday in an amnesty that prompted the  United States to upgrade diplomatic relations as one of the  world’s most reclusive states opens up after half a century of  authoritarian rule.

NAIROBI,  (Reuters) – Kenya’s top judge called  yesterday for his deputy to be suspended while she is  investigated for threatening a shopping mall security guard with  a pistol.

LIMA,  (Reuters) – Dutch citizen Joran Van der  Sloot was sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Peruvian court yesterday for killing a woman in Lima in 2010, exactly five years  since 18-year-old Alabama native Natalee Holloway disappeared  after spending time with him.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Standard & Poor’s  stripped France of its top AAA rating yesterday and carried out  a mass downgrade of half the nations in the euro zone, a move  that may complicate European efforts to solve a two-year old  debt crisis. 

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Barack Obama  asked Congress yesterday for broad powers to overhaul the U.S. 

OTTAWA, (Reuters) – The Canadian government,  bowing to the power of Twitter and Facebook, announced yesterday  it would end a ban on posting early election results before  polls close across the country.

(Reuters) – A federal judge in Houston said a team of  attorneys representing Allen Stanford, who is accused of running  a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, must stay on the case despite their  request to withdraw.

KABUL/WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – A video showing  what appears to be American forces urinating on dead Taliban  fighters prompted anger in Afghanistan and promises of a U.S. 

TEHRAN – U.S. allies in Asia and Europe voiced support yesterday for Washington’s drive to cut Iran’s oil exports,  although fear of self-inflicted pain is curbing enthusiasm for  an embargo that a defiant Iran says will not halt its nuclear  programme.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – Haitians marked the  second anniversary of the earthquake that ravaged their  impoverished Caribbean nation yesterday, mourning the dead as  their president held out hope for a better future.

PORT BLAIR, India, (Reuters) – India ordered  the arrest yesterday of a tour operator for running a “human  safari” after a video emerged showing police making half-naked  women from a tiny island tribe dance in return for food.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – After years of  predictions that the “$1,000 genome” – a read-out of a person’s  complete genetic information for about the cost of a dental  crown – was just around the corner, a U.S.