World

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Brazil’s environment inspector fined Chevron Corp 10 million reais ($5.4 million) yesterday for breaching the terms of the U.S.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Steven Spielberg is among  the most prolific film directors ever, and as if to prove it,  he has two movies in theaters this holiday week during what is  one of the biggest box office periods of the year.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Suicide car bombers struck Damascus yesterday, officials said, sending human limbs flying in the bloodiest violence in Syria’s capital since a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began nine months ago.

HONG KONG, (Reuters) – Like battle-hardened  boxers, China’s Communist Party leaders are leaning back on the  ropes, patiently absorbing the blows from angry village  protesters who have grabbed headlines but lack a knockout punch.

PRAGUE, (Reuters) – International leaders bade  farewell yesterday to former Czech President Vaclav Havel, the  anti-communist dissident who led the peaceful “Velvet  Revolution” and inspired human rights campaigners around the  world.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. House of  Representatives Speaker John Boehner caved in to growing  criticism from within and outside his Republican Party, agreeing  yesterday to a short-term deal to extend a payroll tax cut for  160 million Americans.

HOUSTON, (Reuters) – Financier Allen Stanford was  judged mentally fit to stand trial by a federal judge yesterday, setting the stage for a trial next year in one of the  biggest white-collar fraud cases since Bernard Madoff.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – At least 11 people  were killed by an armed gang yesterday in the Mexican Gulf  coast state of Veracruz, where drug-related violence flared this  autumn, before five of the gunmen were shot dead by security  forces.

SAO PAULO, (Reuters) – Federal police in Brazil   yesterday recommended the indictment of several  Chevron and Transocean officials involved in an oil spill in  early November for environmental crimes and withholding  information in an investigation.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp’s   Countrywide Financial unit agreed on Wednesday to pay a  record $335 million to settle civil charges that it  discriminated against minority homebuyers, an historic  settlement for the Obama administration in the wake of the  subprime mortgage morass.

DAR ES SALAAM, (Reuters) – The U.N. war crimes  tribunal for Rwanda yesterday found two bosses of the former  ruling Hutu-led party guilty of genocide for their leading roles  in the 1994 massacre of Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and sentenced  them to life in prison.

BEIJING – North Korea will shift to collective rule from a  strongman dictatorship after last week’s death of Kim Jong-il,  although his untested young son will be at the head of the  ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and  Beijing said.

BEIRUT,  (Reuters) – Syrian forces killed 111  people ahead of the start of a mission to monitor President  Bashar al-Assad’s implementation of an Arab League peace plan,  activists said yesterday, and France branded the killings an  “unprecedented massacre”.

MONTEVIDEO,  (Reuters) – Presidents of the  Mercosur trade bloc yesterday agreed to individually raise  tariffs on imports to shield their industries from a flood of  cheaper imported goods stemming from the global economic crisis.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A U.S. scientific  advisory board yesterday asked two scientific  journals to leave out data from research studies on a lab-made  version of bird flu that could spread more easily to humans,  fearing it could be used as a potential weapon.

HAVANA (Reuters) Flags flew at half-staff yesterday as Cuba began three days of official mourning for  late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in a show of solidarity  with its fellow communist state.

BEIRUT,  (Reuters) – Nearly 50 people were  killed in Syria yesterday, an activist group said, two days  before Arab League officials were due to arrive to prepare for a  monitoring mission assessing Syrian compliance with a plan to  stem the bloodshed.

WASHINGTON – The United States has signaled to North Korea’s  new leaders it hopes for progress on the nuclear issue and has  pushed ahead with discussions on resuming food aid despite the  death of leader Kim Jong-il, U.S.

WUKAN, China, (Reuters) – Chinese villagers who  have protested for days over seized land and a suspicious death  postponed a march on a government office today, while top  provincial officials blamed the conflict on pent-up social ills  and laid out a compromise offer.

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – Iraqi authorities issued  an arrest warrant for Sunni Muslim Vice-President Tareq  al-Hashemi on Monday for suspected ties to assassinations and  bombings, a decision likely to fuel sectarian tensions after the  U.S.