World

SANTIAGO,  (Reuters) – A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of Chile last night, triggering a tsunami that hit the northern part of the country.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s Roman Catholic Church accused President Nicolas Maduro’s government yesterday of “totalitarian” tendencies and “brutal repression” of demonstrators during two months of political unrest that has killed several dozen people.

SAN JUAN,  (Reuters) – A 1.8 ton cocaine shipment worth an estimated $50 million that was thought to be destined for the U.S.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s national healthcare program signed up more than 7 million people by the end of March, the president said yesterday, notching a rare victory after a months-long, glitch-filled rollout of the law.

PANAMA CITY,  (Reuters) – Guatemala could present a plan to legalize production of marijuana and opium poppies towards the end of 2014 as it seeks ways to curb the power of organized crime, President Otto Perez said yesterday.

 BRUSSELS,  (Reuters) – Russia has massed all the forces it needs on Ukraine’s border if it were to decide to carry out an “incursion” into the country, and it could achieve its objective in three to five days, NATO’s top military commander said yesterday.

SANTIAGO,  (Reuters) – A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of northern Chile yesterday, causing five deaths and triggering a tsunami that pounded the shore with 2-meter-tall waves.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan troops dispersed opposition demonstrators with tear gas yesterday and blocked anti-government activist Maria Corina Machado, recently stripped of her seat in the National Assembly, from reaching the legislature.

KUALA LUMPUR/PERTH,  (Reuters) – The last words from the cockpit of a missing Malaysian jet were a standard “Good night Malaysian three seven zero”, Malaysian authorities said, changing their account of the critical last communication from a more casual “All right, good night”.

BRUSSELS,  (Reuters) – NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia yesterday in protest at its annexation of Crimea, and ordered military planners to draft measures to strengthen its defences and reassure nervous Eastern European countries.

SANTIAGO,  (Reuters) – A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of Chile today, triggering a tsunami that hit the northern part of the country, but the government reported no deaths or serious damage.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelan troops dispersed opposition demonstrators with tear gas today and blocked anti-government activist Maria Corina Machado, recently stripped of her seat in the National Assembly, from reaching the legislature.

CONAKRY,  (Reuters) – Guinea faces an Ebola epidemic on an unprecedented scale as it battles to contain confirmed cases now scattered across several locations that are far apart, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said yesterday.

THE HAGUE,  (Reuters) – Judges at the highest U.N. court ordered Japan yesterday to halt whaling in the Antarctic, rejecting its long-held argument that the catch was for scientific purposes and not primarily for human consumption.

BEIJING,  (Reuters) – China has charged former senior army officer Gu Junshan with corruption, state news agency Xinhua said, in what is likely to be the country’s worst military scandal since a vice admiral was jailed for life for embezzlement in 2006.

TEL AVIV, (Reuters) – An Israeli court convicted former prime minister Ehud Olmert today of accepting a six-figure sum in bribes linked to a real-estate deal, probably ending any prospects of a political comeback.

BEIJING, Reuters) – Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from family members and associates of retired domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is at the centre of China’s biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades, two sources said.

ANKARA/ISTANBUL,  (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in local polls that had become a referendum on his rule and said he would “enter the lair” of enemies who have accused him of corruption and leaked state secrets.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Senior U.S. lawmakers yesterday said investigators had found no evidence thus far pointing to terrorism in the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 three weeks ago, and that it was critical to find the plane to understand what happened on board.

KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents attacked the Independent Election Commission headquarters in Kabul yesterday, staff and police said, in the their third big assault on the capital this week aimed at derailing the April 5 presidential election.