World

TOKYO/LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s  new iPhone debuted with a splash around the globe, spurring  thousands to queue around city blocks and snap up the last  gadget unveiled during co-founder Steve Jobs’ life.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Raj Rajaratnam, a self-made  hedge fund tycoon convicted in the biggest Wall Street trading  scandal in a generation, was ordered to serve 11 years in  prison, the longest sentence ever in an insider-trading case  but far less than prosecutors sought.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The Obama administration,  under fire for not taking a harder line on China over its  currency, appears set to move against the Asia export  powerhouse on other fronts as next year’s U.S.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Of many surreal moments in the  life and times of Hugo Chavez, the flamboyant Venezuelan  leader’s encounter with a puppet of himself this week was one  of the wackiest.

GUATEMALA CITY,  (Reuters) – Authorities in Guatemala  declared former president Oscar Mejia a fugitive yesterday  after ordering his arrest to face charges of genocide during  the 36-year civil war in the Central American country.

BOGOTA, (Reuters) – Relieved after five years of  waiting, Colombia celebrated U.S.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress yesterday approved long-delayed trade pacts with South Korea,  Colombia and Panama that are expected to lift exports by about  $13 billion a year and give U.S.

BAGHDAD, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Suicide bombers and roadside  blasts targeted police across Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at  least 28 people and wounding dozens on the second day of serial  bombings in the Iraqi capital in less than a week.

SEAL BEACH, Calif.,  (Reuters) – A gunman opened fire  at a busy hair salon in the Southern California coastal town of  Seal Beach yesterday, killing eight people and critically  wounding another, police said.

DETROIT,  (Reuters) – The Nigerian man accused of  trying to use a bomb in his underwear to blow up a U.S. 

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Dr Conrad Murray’s defense  in the death of Michael Jackson suffered major blows yesterday when his attorneys dropped a claim that the singer  swallowed a fatal dose of an anesthetic, and two doctors  slammed his treatment standards.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Businessman Herman Cain now  leads the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination,  while former front-runner Rick Perry has dropped to third,  according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released yesterday.

MANZANILLO/PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico, (Reuters) –  Hurricane Jova flooded the streets of Mexico’s main Pacific  port with torrential rain yesterday, inundating popular  beach resorts and killing at least two people in a mud slide.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate defeated  President Barack Obama’s job-creation package yesterday in a  sign that Washington is likely too paralyzed to take major  steps to spur hiring before the 2012 elections.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, (Reuters) – The United States  accused Iran yesterday of backing a plot to kill the Saudi  ambassador to Wash-ington, escalating tensions with Tehran and  stirring up a hornet’s nest in the Gulf, where Saudi Arabia and  Iran have long jostled for power.

BEIJING,  (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Ministry warned  yesterday that a U.S.

JOHANNESBURG,  (Reuters) – Former Cape Verde president  Pedro Verona Pires won the $5 million Mo Ibrahim award for  African leadership on Monday for shepherding his tiny Atlantic  Ocean island state from autocracy to prosperous democracy.

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Coptic Christians turned their fury against the army yesterday after at least 25 people were killed when troops broke up a protest, deepening public doubts about the military’s ability to steer the country peacefully towards democracy.

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea and the United States are adamant that there will be no food relief for crisis-hit North Korea until it guarantees that all aid will reach the most needy and there is an improvement in ties between the two Koreas.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US government obtained secret court orders to force Google Inc and a small Internet provider to hand over information from email accounts of a WikiLeaks volunteer, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.