World

TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels occupying four eastern oil ports agreed with the government yesterday to gradually end their eight-month petroleum blockade, which has cost the North African state billions in lost revenues.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – CIA officials had rave reviews for Boris Pasternak’s classic Russian novel Doctor Zhivago – not for its literary merit but as a propaganda weapon in the Cold War, the Washington Post reported today.

KUALA LUMPUR/PERTH, Australia (Reuters) – A Chinese patrol ship hunting for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner detected a pulse signal in the south Indian Ocean yesterday, the state news agency Xinhua reported, in a possible indicator of the underwater beacon from a plane’s “black box.”

KABUL/KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) –   Afghanistan’s presidential election closed yesterday amid relief that attacks by Taliban fighters were fewer than feared for a vote that will bring the first-ever democratic transfer of power in a country plagued by conflict for decades.

BANGUI (Reuters) – French and African soldiers serving in Central African Republic are “overwhelmed” by the “state of anarchy” in the country, U.N.

(OneIndia) Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut who is on cloud nine with her latest hit Queen says that she wants to be in a relationship but is finding it hard owing to her hectic schedule.

PERTH, (Reuters) – International search planes and ships are heading to an area where a Chinese ship twice heard what could be signals from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370’s black box locators, Australian search authorities Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told a media conference in Perth that two reported acoustic detections from the Haixun 01 were a good lead but there remained no certainty that they had come from the missing plane.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi appeared on course to become the next prime minister on Friday, with an opinion poll showing his Hindu nationalist party maintaining a strong lead ahead of a general election that begins next week.

SACRAMENTO, Calif., (Reuters) – A prominent Democratic California state senator and gun-control advocate was indicted by a San Francisco grand jury on charges of corruption and conspiracy to traffic in firearms, according to court documents released on Friday.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass (Reuters) – A 17th century book owned by Harvard Law School, thought to have been bound in human skin because of an inscription that referred to a man “flayed alive,” has been shown through scientific testing to have been bound in sheepskin.

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) – The suspected gunman at Fort Hood in Texas argued heatedly with fellow soldiers before going on a shooting spree that left three dead and 16 injured at the expansive US Army base, a military investigator said on Friday.

KAMPALA (Reuters) – A US-funded health project in Uganda has suspended operations after police arrested a staff member on suspicion of promoting homosexuality, highlighting the mounting legal risks confronting the gay community in the east African state.

BAMAKO/CONAKRY (Reuters) – An angry crowd attacked an Ebola treatment centre in Guinea yesterday, accusing its staff of bringing the deadly disease to the town, Medecins Sans Frontieres said, as Mali identified its first suspected cases.

FORT HOOD, Texas, (Reuters) – The soldier suspected of shooting dead three people before killing himself at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas was identified as Ivan Lopez, a man battling mental illness when he went on a rampage, the base commander said yesterday.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. government created a service similar to Twitter in Cuba in a “discreet” operation intended to promote democracy on the communist-ruled island, officials said on Thursday, but denied that the $1.2 million effort was aimed at fomenting unrest.

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – Haiti’s prime minister announced a new cabinet, drafting in 10 new ministers in a major reshuffle designed to build political support amid controversial negotiations over long overdue parliamentary and municipal polls.

SAO PAULO,  (Reuters) – A Brazilian court has sentenced 15 police officers to 48 years in prison each for their roles in the deaths of four inmates in the bloody crackdown of a 1992 prison riot that left 111 people dead.

PANAMA CITY, (Reuters) – The presidents of Mexico and Panama signed a free trade deal yesterday, moving the smaller nation a step closer to joining a regional pact that includes several major Latin American economies.

AUSTIN, Texas,  (Reuters) – Several people were killed and at least 14 injured yesterday when a gunman opened fire at a U.S.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday struck down a key pillar of federal campaign finance law by allowing donors to give money to as many political candidates, parties and committees as they wish.