World

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Syrian forces may have committed  crimes against humanity when they crushed protests in the town  of Tel Kelakh in May, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

LONDON, (Reuters) –     Prime Minister David Cameron  led a chorus of condemnation yesterday over allegations a  top-selling British newspaper from Rupert Murdoch’s global media  empire hacked the voicemail of a missing schoolgirl who was  later found murdered.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez saluted his people on their 200th anniversary of  independence yesterday, looking pale but defiant after a  triumphant return from cancer surgery in Cuba.

AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – The Dutch state is responsible  for the deaths of three Muslim men after the fall of Srebrenica  during the Bosnian war, a Dutch appeals court ruled yesterday,  opening the door to compensation claims.

LONDON, (Reuters) – In an analysis likely to fuel a  long-running debate over the health impacts of too much salt,  researchers have found no evidence that moderate cuts to salt  intake reduce the risk of developing heart disease or dying  prematurely.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – A Mexican prisoner hoped to  take a trip to freedom by packing himself into his girlfriend’s  suitcase.

BERLIN, (Reuters) – Authorities seized 1.1 tonnes of  cocaine worth 42 million euros ($61 million) aboard a yacht  sailing from the Caribbean to Europe, the German Federal  Criminal Police Office (BKA) said yesterday.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian tanks surrounded Hama today, residents and activists said, threatening a large-scale assault on the city after the biggest protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Socialist Party said yesterday it was unlikely its erstwhile star Dominique Strauss-Kahn would enter the 2012 presidential race, despite the weakening of the sex assault case against him in New York.

TUNIS (Reuters) – A Tunisian court sentenced former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in absentia yesterday to more than 15 years in prison for illegal possession of drugs and weapons.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – The Libyan government said yesterday it was in talks with opposition figures but there seemed little chance of a swift end to the conflict as both sides stuck to entrenched positions on the fate of Muammar Gaddafi.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The nation’s largest teachers union voted yesterday to recommend that President Barack Obama be elected for another term.

BANGKOK, (Reuters) – Thailand’s opposition won a  landslide election victory on Sunday, led by the sister of  former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a triumph for  red-shirt protesters who clashed with the army last year.

KABUL,  (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency  said yesterday that a senior commander from the Pakistani  Taliban sold a suicide bomber to an Afghan militant network, to  carry out an attack on a local commander in eastern Afghanistan.

AMMAN, (Reuters) – Syrian tanks deployed at the  entrances to the city of Hama yesterday but later pulled back,  residents said, two days after it saw the largest protest  against President Bashar al-Assad since an uprising began three  months ago.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India, (Reuters) – A treasure  trove of gold, diamonds and precious stones hidden for centuries  was discovered in the underground vaults of a temple in southern  India, a temple official said yesterday, as authorities  scrambled armed police to guard the shrine.

TOKYO, (Reuters) – Vast deposits of rare earth  minerals have been discovered on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean  amounting to 1,000 times those on land, media reported yesterday  citing a study by Japanese researchers.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez’s supporters rallied and prayed yesterday for the speedy  recovery of a man whose cancer has rattled the country he has  dominated for more than a decade.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Big-budget Hollywood flick  “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” smashed rivals and delighted  movie fans around the world, ringing up $372 million at global  box offices since its Wednesday debut, Paramount Pictures said  yesterday.

BENGHAZI, Libya,  (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi is  welcome to live out his retirement inside Libya as long as he  gives up all power, Libya’s rebel chief said in the clearest  concession the rebels have so far offered.