World

(Reuters) – Allen Stanford, accused of running a $7.2  billion Ponzi scheme, yesterday lost his bid for a  three-month delay in his criminal fraud trial, clearing the way  for jury selection to begin on Jan.

(Reuters) – Arab monitors head to three more  Syrian cities today to check if government forces are  complying with a peace plan after a delegation to Homs, centre  of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, was mobbed by  a protesters demanding  protection.

YANGON, (Reuters) – At least 17 people died and  80 were injured in an unexplained explosion in an eastern suburb  of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, at about 2:00 a.m

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez speculated yesterday that the United States might have  developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after  Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents  diagnosed with the disease.

ATHENS,  (Reuters) – The abbot of one of  Greece’s richest and most powerful monasteries was sent to  prison yesterday while awaiting trial for fraud in a  high-profile land swap deal. 

MASON CITY, Iowa, (Reuters) – U.S. Republican  presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said yesterday his  failure to meet the requirements to take part in Virginia’s  presidential nominating contest resulted from fraud by a worker  hired by his campaign.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Cheetah the Chimp, co-star  of the 1930s “Tarzan” films with Johnny Weissmuller and one of  the world’s oldest chimpanzees, has died in Florida.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of  Syrians have taken to the streets in the flashpoint city of Homs  to rally against President Bashar al-Assad and plead for  newly-arrived Arab peace monitors to bear witness to their  plight.

BUENOS AIRES,  (Reuters) – Argentine President  Cristina Fernandez has thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery  next month, a government spokesman said yesterday,  adding that the cancerous cells had not spread.

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – The architect of Vladimir  Putin’s tightly controlled political system became one of its  most senior victims yesterday when he was shunted out of the  Kremlin in the wake of the biggest opposition protests of  Putin’s 12-year rule.

CAIRO, (Reuters) – An Egyptian civilian court  ordered the army yesterday to end forced virginity tests on  female detainees in military prisons, and the woman who won the  legal victory urged other victims to press charges against the  army.

(Reuters) – Sears Holdings Corp will  close as many as 120 of its Kmart and Sears discount and  department stores after its holiday sales slumped, sending its  shares sliding more than 27 percent to their lowest level in  three years.

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin said today that mass protests against his 12-year rule were being  stoked by a hollow collection of leaderless opposition groups  who wanted to sow chaos in Russia.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The Gandhi dynasty that  has ruled India for most of the 64 years since independence has  kept the world’s largest democracy in poverty, leaders of a  protest movement said on Monday as they prepared renewed rallies  to target the government on corruption.

ABUJA, (Reuters) – Islamist militants set off bombs  across in Nigeria on Christmas Day – three targeting churches  including one that killed at least 27 people – raising fears  that they are trying to ignite sectarian civil war.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of flag-waving and chanting protesters called yesterday for a disputed parliamentary election to be rerun and an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule, increasing pressure on the Russian leader as he tries to win back the presidency.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s two leading Islamist parties won about two-thirds of votes for party lists in the second round of polling for a parliament that will help draft a new constitution after decades of autocratic rule, the election committee said yesterday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Funerals for 44 people killed in twin suicide car bombs in Damascus turned into a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad yesterday, with thousands of mourners denouncing the United States and its Arab allies for interfering in Syria.

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea appears to be making an orderly transition after the death of leader Kim Jong-il last week, but the risk of collapse is higher than before and regional powers need to start discussing that contingency with China, diplomats and analysts say.

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) – Gun battles between Nigerian security forces and an Islamist sect killed at least 68 people in two days of fighting in northern Nigeria, authorities and hospital sources said yesterday.