WorldNews

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's central bank said Wednesday that the ringgit, which has plunged 14.4 percent against the U.S. dollar since September, was sharply undervalued but ruled out reintroducing capital controls. Continue reading...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government must pay compensation to widows and children of Indonesian men summarily executed in their country's war for independence, according to a court ruling Wednesday that could open the door to many more claims. Continue reading...

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cypriots from both sides of the east Mediterranean island's ethnic divide are banding together to oppose plans to build a nuclear power station on nearby Turkey's southern coast. Continue reading...

By Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - The wife of an American blogger and critic of religious extremism who was hacked to death in Dhaka last month said that police stood nearby when the couple were attacked on a university campus in the Bangladesh capital. Avijit Roy, an engineer of Bangladeshi origin, was killed by machete-wielding assailants when returning from a book fair. His wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed, suffered head injuries and lost a finger. "While Avijit and I were being ruthlessly attacked, the local police stood close by and did not act," Rafida told Reuters. Continue reading...

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's prime minister has appeared before a court to give evidence in a probe into allegations of voter fraud during a referendum to impeach the former president. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18736[/attach] LIMA, Peru (AP) — Teresa de Jesus Tello never thought she would be incarcerated in a Peruvian prison at age 82. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18735[/attach] WASHINGTON (AP) — The death last week of a Canadian soldier, reportedly killed by friendly fire from Kurdish troops near the northern village of Bashiq, has put the spotlight once again on the dangers that U.S. troops could face in Iraq. Continue reading...

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Civil protection authorities say an explosion inside an asphalt plant in northern Mexico has killed three workers and gravely injured three more. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18734[/attach] VILLA CASTELLI, Argentina (AP) — The two helicopters had just taken off and were flying in tandem over some of Argentina's most rugged terrain, carrying well-known French athletes and others who were participating in the popular TV reality show "Dropped." Continue reading...

[attach=full]18733[/attach] A quarter-century after Lithuania's split from the Soviet Union, the architect of the Baltic state's independence Vytautas Landsbergis has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin's brand of imperialism risks new wars in Europe. Russia didn't want to be an aggressive empire... he treated our freedom favourably," Landsbergis told AFP of the reform-minded Yeltsin who was president 1991-99. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18731[/attach] Italy's top court on Tuesday definitively cleared Silvio Berlusconi of charges that he paid for sex with an underage dancer and then abused his position as prime minister to cover it up. After nine hours of deliberations, the judges at the Court of Cassation delivered a ruling that brings to an end a lengthy legal saga which lifted the lid on the "bunga bunga" sex parties the billionaire tycoon and former prime minister organised in his Milan villa. It also leaves the 78-year-old, who served three terms as premier, free to resume a central role in politics at the helm of his centre-right Forza Italia party. Berlusconi has just finished serving a community service order for corporate tax fraud and remains embroiled in several other legal cases. Continue reading...

By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's largest iron ore export terminal Port Hedland is likely to escape the worst of a tropical cyclone that is forming off the country's northwest coast, the weather bureau said on Wednesday. A tropical low is expected to form a cyclone over the next few hours and is on track to strike the coast on Thursday, just to the west of Port Hedland, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said. Tropical cyclones are frequent at this time of year and can disrupt loading operations at the port. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18730[/attach] GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed two journalists and wounded a third Tuesday as they walked in a park in southern Guatemala, the editor of Prensa Libre newspaper said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18729[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — The son of the president of Suriname received leniency Tuesday from a judge who ordered him to serve over 16 years in prison, about half of the 30-to-life term the U.S. government sought after he admitted that he offered a home base in his South American country to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18728[/attach] Billionaire tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, whose acquittal for paying for sex with a minor was confirmed Tuesday, has been plagued by over 20 years of legal woes since he first entered Italy's political scene in 1993. The majority of trials have either ended in guilty verdicts being overturned or charges expiring under statute of limitations rules which critics say his lawyers have skilfully exploited. 1994: Berlusconi is accused of bribing tax police and is sentenced to 33 months in prison. 1995: He is accused of buying a football player for his club AC Milan with a slush fund. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18717[/attach] RENO, Nev. (AP) — The FBI is investigating an apparent attempt to firebomb a fast-food restaurant in Reno because of the possibility it could have been an act of domestic terrorism after the initials of an animal rights group were found scrawled on a drive-thru sign, local fire officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Continue reading...

The government of President Ollanta Humala said on Tuesday it might back a bill that would lift a 14-year-old ban on shooting down aircraft suspected of carrying drugs, even though the U.S. government opposes the practice. Passage threatens joint anti-narcotics efforts with the United States and possibly millions of dollars in aid. "It's under evaluation," Interior Minister Jose Luis Perez told reporters on Tuesday, referring to the bill authored by opposition lawmaker Carlos Tubino. The legislation would allow the military to shoot down unauthorized airplanes flying in Peru's airspace. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18716[/attach] The top US diplomat for Europe said Tuesday that Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine are living under a "reign of terror," blaming Russia for a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives. "Even as Ukraine is building a peaceful, democratic, independent nation across 93 percent of its territory, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine are suffering a reign of terror," Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Continue reading...

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Four men have gone on trial in Greece over a severe attack on an Egyptian bakery worker, who was allegedly chained, beaten and sexually assaulted because his employer accused him of theft. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18715[/attach] Ivory Coast may pardon former first lady Simone Gbagbo in a gesture of national reconciliation after she was sentenced to 20 years behind bars Tuesday over deadly post-election violence. With her husband -- ex-president Laurent Gbagbo -- still awaiting trial on crimes against humanity charges, and no rival leaders prosecuted over 2010-2011 violence that killed nearly 3,000 people, Simone Gbagbo's hefty sentence has provoked complaints the verdict smacked of "victor's justice". Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara raised the possibility of a pardon in January, as Simone Gbagbo's trial was under way for "undermining state security". Simone Gbagbo, 65, and 82 fellow defendants were accused of playing roles in violence that broke out in Abidjan when Laurent Gbagbo refused to admit defeat in the December 2010 election. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18702[/attach] WASHINGTON (AP) — Both Democratic and Republican U.S. senators asked Tuesday why the Obama administration hasn't decided whether to send defensive weapons to Ukraine and what's the holdup in getting promised assistance to the country in the face of Russian violations of the cease-fire. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18701[/attach] By Ulf Laessing CAIRO (Reuters) - An attack by Islamist militants on a Libyan oilfield where they beheaded security guards and kidnapped foreign workers underlines the difficulties facing U.N.-sponsored peace talks due to resume this week. Libyans have become accustomed to chaos, with their country split between two rival governments each allied to heavily armed groups that have been fighting for control of the oil-producing nation since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Instead, they mounted a show of force that appeared in line with warnings that the Islamists are bent on exploiting Libya's turmoil to extend their influence. "They came to burn the facilities and kidnap or kill the workers and guards," said Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for an oilfield security force. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18700[/attach] MEXICO CITY (AP) — The leader of a rural vigilante group says he may run for Congress after murder charges against him and about two dozen followers were dropped and they were freed from prison. Continue reading...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's largest Coca Cola bottler has reopened a distribution plant that it had closed in the southern state of Guerrero after protesters seized trucks, merchandise and company employees. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18699[/attach] CAIRO (AP) — Egypt has been pumping up the hype for months for its international conference opening Friday, aimed at drawing investors from around the world. Television channels show a countdown clock to the start alongside heroic footage of factories and captains of industry. Ads for the gathering are blasted to passengers on incoming flights of the national airline EgyptAir. Continue reading...