World

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The top US military officer accused Pakistani intelligence yesterday of backing violence against US targets including the American Embassy in Afghanistan, a stunning remark that fueled a war of words and seemed certain to deepen tensions in South Asia.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Diplomats scrambled yesterday to head off a clash over Palestinian plans to seek full UN recognition with little visible sign of progress and a deadline less than 24 hours away.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala (Reuters) – A man convicted of the 1994 execution-style shooting of a store clerk in Alabama was put to death yesterday by lethal injection in the third US execution this week.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s lower house of Congress has approved the creation of a Truth Commission charged with investigating human rights abuses, including those committed during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship.

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Senior Australian ministers sought to douse speculation that former leader Kevin Rudd is preparing a leadership challenge against Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who unseated Rudd last year to trigger dead-heat elections.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – US President Barack Obama told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday that UN action would not achieve a Palestinian state and the United States would veto any Security Council move to recognize Palestinian statehood, the White House said.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran yesterday freed two US men it jailed for over two years on espionage charges after $500,000 bail for each was paid by Oman, Reuters witnesses and diplomatic sources said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US officials say there is mounting evidence that Pakistan’s chief intelligence agency has been encouraging a Pakistan-based militant network to attack US targets.

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni forces clashed with soldiers backing a mass protest movement in the capital Sanaa yesterday, breaching a short-lived truce on a day when six protesters were killed by snipers, shelling and gunfire.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A strong typhoon has left 6 people dead and 6 missing after pounding Japan with heavy rain and strong winds, public broadcaster NHK said, but it did not have a major impact on the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Libya’s new flag flew at the United Nations yesterday for the first time since Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow as US President Barack Obama called for the last of the deposed leader’s loyalists to stop fighting.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – US President Barack Obama will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today to urge him to drop plans to ask the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state despite US and Israeli objections.

KABUL (Reuters) – A Taliban suicide bomber yesterday killed Burhanuddin Rabbani, former Afghan president and head of the government’s peace council, a dramatic show of insurgent reach and a heavy blow to hopes of reaching a political end to the war.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The bodies of 35 people with suspected links to organized crime were found in two abandoned trucks on a highway underpass in the eastern Mexican city of Veracruz yesterday, the local prosecutor said.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told US President Barack Obama yesterday that Brazil is working with other emerging markets to provide help for troubled European economies, an official told Reuters.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Liberal Democrats are paying a high price for their place in coalition government, with most voters seeing them as divided and unlikely to keep their promises, a Reuters Ipsos/MORI poll showed today.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – US prosecutors made new allegations yesterday in a probe of the Full Tilt Poker website, accusing self-styled “Poker Professor” Howard Lederer and professional poker champion Christopher Ferguson and others of paying themselves more than $440 million while defrauding other players.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As the US government grapples to find ways to trim the bloated federal deficit, a new report suggests officials might start with cutting out $16 muffins and $10 cookies.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN chief yesterday he would seek full membership for a Palestinian state at the United Nations, a move the United States and Israel warn could derail hopes for resuming peace talks.

PARIS (Reuters) – The French media scorned what it called an insincere and staged TV apology by Dominique Strauss-Kahn for his sexual encounter with a New York hotel maid, with many noting he left the door ajar for a eventual political comeback.