World

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., (Reuters) – The space shuttle  Atlantis returned from NASA’s final shuttle mission yesterday, ending a 30-year era that opened the space frontier,  exposed its dangers and established a toehold for future  endeavors beyond Earth.

GEORGE TOWN, (Reuters) – Cayman Islands Premier W.  McKeeva Bush is being investigated by police over “an alleged  financial irregularity” in the British-ruled Caribbean  territory, the governor’s office said yesterday.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Crowds flocked to waterfronts  and swimming pools on the U.S.

BLANTYRE, (Reuters) – At least 18 people have been  killed in clashes between police and demonstrators during  violent nationwide protests against President Bingu wa  Mutharika, the Malawian health ministry said yesterday.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Cable & Wireless Worldwide   suffered a backlash from investors over executive  bonuses yesterday, reflecting shareholder anger at chairman  John Pluthero being given a second stint as chief executive  after the group issued a string of profit warnings.

NAIROBI, (Reuters) – The United Nations said yesterday two regions of southern Somalia had been hit by the  worst famine in the area for 20 years and that 3.7 million  people in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation risked starvation.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron,  defending his integrity to parliament in emergency session yesterday, said he regretted hiring a journalist at the heart of  a scandal that has rocked Britain’s press, police and politics.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The White House signaled on  Wednesday it could support a short-term increase in the U.S. 

CHENNAI, India, (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State  Hillary Clinton pushed one of her simplest but potentially most  transformative diplomatic priorities in India yesterday:  clean cooking stoves.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo  Chavez, humbled by a cancer that has upended the OPEC nation’s  politics, has set clemency proceedings in motion for convicted  opposition activists suffering from health problems.  

CONAKRY (Reuters) – Guinean President Alpha Conde escaped two attacks on his residence yesterday that killed at least three people and left his home riddled with bullets, in assaults which authorities linked to former senior officers in the army.

ALMATY (Reuters) – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Central Asia’s densely populated Ferghana valley, the US Geological Survey said yesterday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The FBI arrested at least 14 people yesterday as part of a wide-ranging investigation of the Internet vigilante hacking group Anonymous, a law enforcement source said.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan yesterday appointed its first woman and youngest foreign minister within weeks of important talks with India.

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Solicitor General’s office banned a former agriculture minister from public service for 16 years yesterday over a subsidy scandal, the latest involving appointees of former President Alvaro Uribe.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – News Corp Chief  Executive Rupert Murdoch and his son James face questions from  parliament today in a phone-hacking scandal that has rocked  Britain’s establishment right up to Prime Minister David  Cameron.

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Libyan and U.S. officials met  face-to-face, but while Tripoli said it was seeking talks with  no preconditions, Washington said it delivered a clear message:  Muammar Gaddafi must go.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO,  (Reuters) – Cisco Systems  plans to cut 15 percent of its jobs and sell a factory as part  of a plan to cut annual expenses by $1 billion as the network  equipment maker tries to revive its fortunes.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – In many ways, it’s the  perfect weapon for a war-weary nation that suddenly finds  itself on a tight budget.

LIMA,  (Reuters) – Peru’s leftist President-elect  Ollanta Humala has launched a “shock of confidence” to show  investors he has shed his radical past and will prudently lead  one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.