World

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Koreans poured into the streets yesterday to mourn the death of leader Kim Jong-il and state media hailed his untested son as the “Great Successor” of the reclusive state whose atomic weapons ambitions are a major threat to the region.

(Reuters) – More than 100 people have been killed in Syria, rights activists said, as the Arab League announced an advance party would be sent to the country this week to pave the way for monitors who will try to help end nine months of violence.

FORT MEADE, MD (Reuters) – Military prosecutors sought to link US Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning directly to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange yesterday at a hearing to determine whether Manning will be court-martialled in the biggest leak of classified documents in American history.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian police and soldiers using batons and teargas have fought opponents of army rule in Cairo for a fourth day, taking the death toll since Friday to 13, according to medical sources.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba, trying to lure people back to the land and lift food production, has modified a land lease program so that private farmers can rent more land and keep it in their family as if they owned it, farmers said over the weekend.

CARACAS (Reuters) – In September, he played baseball in the midday sun.

CARACAS (Reuters) – The United States believes in-creasingly warm ties between Venezuela, Iran and Cuba do not benefit the Venezuelan people, US President Barack Obama said in an interview with a Venezuelan newspaper published yesterday.

MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is expected to attend a regional summit in Uruguay today in what would be his first official trip abroad since undergoing cancer surgery in June, the Uruguayan foreign minister said yesterday.

SEOUL, (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong-il,  revered at home by a propaganda machine that turned him into a  demi-god and vilified in the West as a temperamental tyrant with  a nuclear arsenal, has died, North Korean state television  reported last night.

PRAGUE,  (Reuters) – Vaclav Havel, a dissident  playwright jailed by Communists who became Czech president and a  symbol of peace and freedom after leading the bloodless “Velvet  Revolution”, died at 75 yesterday.

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – The crew and captain of an  Indonesian boat packed with illegal immigrants grabbed life  vests and swam away as it sank during a heavy storm, leaving  more than 200 passengers missing, Australian media reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – After 10 months of secret  dialogue with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, senior U.S. 

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (Reuters) – More than 400 people were killed and an unknown number were missing after a typhoon struck the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes.

BUENOS AIRES/LONDON (Reuters) – Oil exploration by British companies off the Falkland Islands is irritating old wounds with Argentina, where sovereignty claims over the remote South Atlantic archipelago are as strong as ever.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Soldiers beat demonstrators with batons in Cairo’s Tahrir Square yesterday in a second day of clashes that have killed 10 people and wounded hundreds, marring the first free election most Egyptians can remember.

ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) – A comprehensive solution to the euro zone debt crisis is beyond the region’s reach, rating agency Fitch said, warning that six of its economies including Italy and Spain could be hit with credit downgrades in the near future.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Arab states may take their proposals for ending Syria’s crackdown on protests to the UN Security Council next week unless Damascus agrees to implement the initiative, Qatar’s foreign minister said yesterday.

TORONTO,  (Reuters) – It might seem like corporate  heresy but an increasing number of technology investors and  experts are asking whether Research in Motion    needs to ditch its BlackBerry handset business to survive.

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, (Reuters) – It was hailed  as a way to make it possible to buy a diamond ring for your  sweetheart free from worry that you were funding civil wars and  rights abuses.

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – Frustrated executives  while away time in five-star hotels waiting for deals that never  come, and civil servants play video games in their offices –  growing signs of the reform limbo and crisis of confidence  behind India’s economic malaise.