World

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.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition said yesterday President Hugo Chavez’s prolonged convalescence from cancer in Cuba put the country’s security and sovereignty at risk and it stepped up calls for him to delegate his powers.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said yesterday that authorities would never arrest members of the Shi’ite militant group indicted by a UN-backed tribunal seeking the killers of statesman Rafik al-Hariri.

BEIRUT  (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad sacked the governor of Hama province yesterday, a day after tens of thousands of protesters massed in the provincial capital to demand the Syrian leader step down.

SAN JUAN (Reuters) – Puerto Rico’s top police official resigned yesterday as the US Caribbean territory battles a crime wave with killings on pace to set a record this year.

MADRID/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stepped up Western calls on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to quit yesterday, brushing off his threat to attack Europeans in their homes and offices.

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s revelation he is being treated for cancer has cast doubt on the left-wing populist’s capacity to sustain his self-styled revolution and raised the possibility of a power struggle among his allies.

VIENNA, (Reuters) – The technical sophistication of  cybercriminals is swamping the world’s ability to cope, a top  U.S.

RABAT,  (Reuters) – Morocco’s King Mohammed scored a  landslide victory in a referendum on a reformed constitution he  proposed to placate “Arab Spring” protests as voters defied  critics who said it did little to curb his powers.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – Former IMF chief Dominique  Strauss-Kahn was released from house arrest yesterday after  prosecutors said the hotel maid who accuses him of attempted  rape lied to a grand jury and made other false statements.

HAVANA,  (Reuters) – Cuba will authorize limited  housing and car markets by 2012, the Communist party newspaper  Granma said yesterday, a move awaited by local residents since  the early 1960s when home and most auto sales were banned.

BIR-AYYAD, Libya,  (Reuters) – Libyan rebels who had  advanced to within 80 km (50 miles) of Muammar Gaddafi’s  stronghold in the capital were forced to retreat yesterday after  coming under a barrage of rocket fire from government forces.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s flamboyant  socialist leader Hugo Chavez said yesterday he had undergone  a successful operation in Cuba to remove cancerous cells from a  tumor and was on the road to full recovery.