World

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syria has banned most imports except raw materials and grains, local businessmen said yesterday, in a move to preserve foreign currency reserves as pressure grows from a popular rebellion and Western sanctions against Syria’s rulers.

SANAA, (Reuters) – At least 17 protesters and soldiers were killed during an attack by government forces on an opposition protest camp in Yemen’s capital after President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned after a three-month absence, witnesses and protesters said  yesterday.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Weapons seized from sites in Tripoli have been taken to other parts of Libya by fighters who filled the capital to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi, a representative of one of the city’s armed groups said yesterday.

PARIS (Reuters) – A corruption investigation is circling closer to President Nicolas Sarkozy as a third ally comes under pressure in the so-called “Karachi Affair”, accused of alerting a friend in police custody to secret witness testimony.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Europe is working on ways to boost the firepower of its bailout fund, top officials said yesterday, after the United States, China and other countries urged swift action to contain its debt crisis.

(Reuters) – The killing of chief peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani has robbed Afghanistan of the only figure with the range of international contacts to end the conflict there, an influential Arab colleague said  yesterday.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked the United Nations yesterday to recognize a state for his people, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the world body as a “theatre of the absurd” and said only direct talks could deliver peace.

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistan warned the United States it risked losing an ally if it kept accusing Islamabad of playing a double game in the war against militancy, escalating the crisis in relations between the two countries.

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – A judge yesterday raised to $217,500 the total bill Casey Anthony must pay to compensate law enforcement agencies for lying in 2008 about the fate of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – Olympic track star Carl Lewis said yesterday he was dropping his run for political office in New Jersey after a court ruled that he had not established proper residency to run for the post he sought.

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.