World

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Some of Syria’s leading intellectuals called yesterday for sweeping political change that could end 41 years of Assad family rule, at a rare conference allowed by the authorities under pressure from a three-month uprising.

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Missile strikes from two US drones killed at least 21 suspected militants in Pakistan’s South Waziristan yesterday, Pakistani officials said, part of an intensified US assault in the tribal belt this month.

MIAMI (Reuters) – An American man who ran a home for impoverished boys in Haiti has been arrested on charges that he forced them to perform sex acts in exchange for food, shelter and schooling, US prosecutors said on Friday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A jury convicted former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich yesterday of corruption for trying to trade the US senate seat once held by President Barack Obama for financial and political gain.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – An asteroid with an estimated girth as large as a garbage truck soared within 7,500 miles (12,070 km) of the Earth yesterday as it passed harmlessly over the Atlantic Ocean, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Senior allies of Venezuela’s  socialist President Hugo Chavez have dismissed reports he is  sicker than the government has admitted, telling his enemies to  “stop dreaming” of his death.

KABUL, (Reuters) – The United Nations urged the  Afghan parliament yesterday not to take any action that might  provoke unrest after election officials rejected a ruling by a  specially appointed court that threw out a quarter of lawmakers  elected last year.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria,  (Reuters) – Suspected members of  a radical Islamist sect threw bombs at a drinking spot in  Nigeria’s northeastern town of Maiduguri yesterday, killing  around 25 people, witnesses and military sources said.

CASABLANCA, Morocco,  (Reuters) – Thousands of rival  demonstrators marched through cities in Morocco yesterday over  constitutional reforms proposed by King Mohammed after unrest  inspired by “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Arab world.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s political crisis worsened yesterday with lawmakers voting to sack the five most senior judicial officials and international consternation growing after a presidential tribunal threw out a quarter of parliament.

KIEV (Reuters) – Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko must stand trial next Wednesday on a charge of abuse of power, a judge ruled in a pre-trial hearing late yesterday.

PARIS (Reuters) – At least two people suffering from E.coli in the French city of Bordeaux have the strain that caused scores of deaths in Germany, French authorities said, and they halted sales of vegetable seeds from a British gardening firm.

BEIJING (Reuters) – One of China’s most prominent dissidents, Hu Jia, was reunited with his family in the early hours today after serving three and a half-years in jail on subversion charges, his wife said.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – NATO missiles hit a site in Libya used by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces to stockpile military supplies and vehicles, the alliance said yesterday, adding it was unaware of 15 civilian deaths reported by state media.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican John Boehner faces his greatest test yet as the leader of the US House of Representatives, one that may determine his political fate and the country’s fiscal well-being.

LIMA (Reuters) – Thousands of protesters opposed to mining and energy projects in southern Peru took over a commercial airport yesterday, officials said, as the government struggled to restore calm a day after five died in a clash with police.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – When New York became the sixth and by far the largest state to legalize same-sex marriage, following a grueling overtime session in the state Legislature on Friday, it immediately transformed the national debate over the issue, legal experts said.

LONDON/SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – The number of adults with diabetes worldwide has more than doubled since 1980 to 347 million, a far larger number than previously thought and one that suggests costs of treating the disease will also balloon.

WARSAW (Reuters) – An Israeli couple ha ve been given suspended jail sentences for the theft of historic artefacts from the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz, Poland’s PAP news agency quoted a prosecutor as saying yesterday.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian security forces shot dead five civilians during funerals which turned into protests against President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.