World

FREETOWN, (Reuters) – Sierra Leone failed to fully account for nearly a third of the $20 million earmarked for fighting Ebola during six months last year, the national auditor said yesterday, suggesting bad governance may have hampered the battle against the epidemic.

DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Shelling suddenly stopped at midnight in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk after President Petro Poroshenko gave the order to government forces to halt firing in line with a ceasefire agreement reached last Thursday.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A civilian was killed and three police wounded yesterday when a masked gunman sprayed bullets at a Copenhagen venue holding a meeting attended by a Swedish artist threatened with death for his cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s rising demand for healthcare is exposing a chronic shortage of an essential commodity: blood.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif (Reuters) – It may not have been a hacking, but a computer outage at the hotel where US President Barack Obama resided this week could not have come at a more inconvenient time.

TORONTO (Reuters) – A group of “murderous misfits” planned a massacre on Valentine’s Day at Canada’s largest regional shopping mall, the justice minister said yesterday, but the alleged plot was foiled by police after an anonymous tip-off.

By Kathryn Cramer Brownell  (Reuters) – “Saturday Night Live” celebrates its 40th anniversary today, saluting the late-night comedy programme’s rich history with a three-hour show.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – “State of Chaos”, was how one South African newspaper described the images of police and politicians trading blows at the opening of parliament, a damning assessment of the country’s democracy twenty years after apartheid.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A former U.S. soldier accused of recruiting an international team of military-trained snipers to carry out contract killings for a drug cartel pleaded guilty in New York federal court yesterday.

GENEVA, (Reuters) – A United Nations watchdog called on Mexico yesterday to probe and prosecute alleged complicity of state forces in “disappearances”, including a notorious case of 43 students believed murdered last year.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – An Argentine prosecutor yesterday said he was taking over an investigation into claims President Cristina Fernandez tried to cover up Iran’s role in a 1994 bombing, after the previous prosecutor died mysteriously last month.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama described the deaths of three young Muslims gunned down in North Carolina as “brutal and outrageous murders” yesterday and said no one in the United States should be targeted for their religion.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States yesterday dramatically eased restrictions on imports of goods and services from private Cuban entrepreneurs as part of Washington’s rapprochement with Havana after more than half a century of enmity.

MINSK, (Reuters) – Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a deal offering a “glimmer of hope” for an end to conflict in eastern Ukraine, but the United States and NATO said further intense fighting yesterday ran counter to the spirit of the accord.

CAPE TOWN, (Reuters) – South Africa’s parliament descended into chaos yesterday as opposition lawmakers were removed by force after disrupting Jacob Zuma’s annual address, an unprecedented sign of discontent at his administration.

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Two women accused Bill Cosby on Thursday of drugging them decades ago when they met him as young models, and one said he sexually assaulted her, as more of his performances were shelved amid an outcry from activists over similar allegations.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A Jamaican man accused of cheating elderly Americans in a lottery scheme was extradited to the United States yesterday, the first such action by Jamaica in a crackdown on global fraud, the U.S.

SEOUL, (Reuters) – A South Korean court sentenced the daughter of Korean Air Lines’ chairman to one year in prison after finding her guilty over an on-board incident in New York concerning the way she was served nuts in first class.

MINSK, (Reuters) – The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine have agreed a deal to end fighting in eastern Ukraine, participants at the summit talks said today.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday sent Congress his long-awaited formal request to authorize military force against Islamic State, meeting swift resistance from Republicans as well as his fellow Democrats wary of another war in the Middle East.