World

 TEHRAN – An Iranian nuclear scientist was blown up in his  car by a motorbike hitman yesterday, prompting Tehran to  blame Israeli and U.S.

CHICAGO, (Reuters) – A respiratory illness that  strikes the elderly knocked homicide off the list of the top  killers in the United States for the first time in 45 years in  2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. first lady  Michelle Obama shot down any notion of infighting between her  and the president’s top aides in a television interview yesterday, downplaying her role and influence in the White  House.

MANCHESTER, N.H., (Reuters) – Mitt Romney took  a crucial step toward the Republican U.S.

BEIRUT,  (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar  al-Assad vowed yesterday to strike  “terrorists” with an iron  fist and derided Arab League efforts to halt violence in a  10-month-old revolt against his rule.

PARIS,  (Reuters) – A French probe into what  sparked the 1994 Rwandan genocide appears to exonerate current  President Paul Kagame and his Tutsi allies after Paris had  previously accused him of triggering the killing of 800,000  people in 100 days.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil will grant  residence visas to thousands of poor Haitian migrants who  entered the country illegally from Bolivia and Peru looking for  work, government officials said yesterday.

TEHRAN/VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran has begun enriching uranium deep inside a mountain and sentenced an American to death for spying, angering the West and undermining hopes that diplomacy could avert further sanctions or war.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, locked in a violent struggle against a wave of unrest, is to make a speech today on “the internal issue and international and regional developments”, state media said.

BISSAU (Reuters) – Guinea Bissau President Malam Bacai Sanha died yesterday in a Paris hospital, his office said, raising fears of a fresh power struggle in the chaotic West African state.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) – Rapper Snoop Dogg was arrested over the weekend after border control agents found what they said was a small amount of marijuana on his tour bus.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s navy captured a leader of the Zetas drug cartel, Raul Fernandez, President Felipe Calderon said yesterday via his Twitter account.

KUALA LUMPUR, (Reuters) – A Malaysian court  acquitted opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomy charges last night, a surprise ruling that could accelerate the political  comeback of one of Asia’s most celebrated reformers ahead of an  expected election this year.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro  said on Thursday the world was on an “inexorable march toward  the abyss,” which he blamed in part on the discovery and  exploitation of vast reserves of so-called “shale gas” around     the world.

CAIRO,  (Reuters) – The Arab League has urged the  Syrian government to end its violence against protesters and  allow League monitors in the country to work more freely, but  stopped short of asking the U.N.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez said yesterday that his country would not recognize any  ruling by a World Bank tribunal in a multibillion-dollar  arbitration case with Exxon Mobil Corp.

CONCORD – U.S. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney emerged  yesterday from back-to-back debates in New Hampshire a bit  dinged but not seriously dented as rivals stepped up attacks to  slow his march toward the presidential nomination.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez dismissed a U.S. warning to avoid close ties with Iran yesterday, denouncing what he said was Washington’s attempt to  dominate the world as he welcomed the Iranian president to the  Latin American nation.

ABUJA (Reuters) – President Goodluck Jonathan pleaded with Nigerians yesterday to support the removal of fuel subsidies and pledged to cut government salaries, in an effort to prevent a nationwide strike planned for tomorrow.

LONDON, (Reuters) – No one inflames British  passions quite like Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister  whose biopic “The Iron Lady” has rekindled debate on her legacy  ahead of the film’s release yesterday.