World

CARACAS/MARACAIBO, Venezuela,  (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro’s government scrambled yesterday to return power to western Venezuela following heavy looting in the country’s second largest city, while China offered to help the OPEC-member nation end its worst blackout on record.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to about 3-1/2 more years in prison and was hit with a fresh set of criminal charges in New York on Wednesday, drawing sympathy from a president who declined to say whether he would issue a pardon.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States today joined Europe, China and other countries in grounding Boeing Co’s 737 MAX jets, because of safety concerns after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed 157 people, the second disaster involving the 737 in less than five months.

SUZANO, Brazil,  (Reuters) – Two armed men wearing face masks entered a Brazilian elementary school today and shot and killed at least six children who were on their snack breaks, as well as two school officials, before fatally turning their guns on themselves, police said.

BEIJING, (Reuters) – China offered today to help Venezuela restore its power grid, after President Nicolas Maduro accused U.S.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – British lawmakers crushed Prime Minister Theresa May’s European Union divorce deal yesterday, thrusting Britain deeper into crisis and forcing parliament to decide within days whether to back a no-deal Brexit or seek a last-minute delay.

WASHINGTON/ADDIS ABABA,  (Reuters) – The U.S. aviation regulator said yesterday it would not ground Boeing Co 737 MAX planes after a crash in Ethiopia that killed 157 people, bucking a trend of countries around the world that have suspended the aircraft’s operations.

BOSTON,  (Reuters) – Nearly 50 people, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were charged yesterday in what federal authorities say was a $25 million scam to help wealthy Americans get their children into elite universities like Yale and Stanford.

MELBOURNE,  (Reuters) – Former Vatican treasurer Cardinal George Pell was sentenced to six years in jail yesterday by an Australian court for sexually abusing two choir boys in Melbourne in the 1990s, and will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

LONDON, (Reuters) – British lawmakers crushed Prime Minister Theresa May’s European Union divorce deal today, thrusting Britain deeper into crisis and forcing parliament to decide within days whether to back a no-deal Brexit or seek a last-minute delay.

ADDIS ABABA/SINGAPORE,  (Reuters) – Singapore and Australia became the latest nations to suspend Boeing 737 MAX aircraft today, while identification of the Ethiopian Airlines crash’s 157 victims dragged and black box recorders were yet to yield the cause.

LONDON/STRASBOURG,  (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May won legally binding Brexit assurances from the European Union yesterday in a last ditch attempt to sway rebellious British lawmakers who have threatened to vote down her divorce deal again.

CARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition-run congress yesterday declared a “state of alarm” over a five-day power blackout that has crippled the OPEC member country’s oil exports and left millions of citizens scrambling to find food and water.

GARA-BOKKA, Ethiopia/WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The United States told airlines it was safe to fly 737 MAX 8 planes yesterday as investigators found two black box recorders that will help piece together the final moments of an Ethiopian Airlines jet before it plunged to the ground on Sunday.

ALGIERS,  (Reuters) – Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika abandoned his bid for a fifth term in power yesterday, bowing to weeks of mass demonstrations against his 20-year rule by people demanding a new era of politics in a country dominated by an old guard.

BRUSSELS,  (Reuters) – European Union finance ministers are set to add the British overseas territory of Bermuda and the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba to the bloc’s blacklist of tax havens today, according to EU documents and officials.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The chief U.S. envoy for North Korea said yesterday that “diplomacy is still very much alive” with Pyongyang despite a failed summit last month, but cautioned that Washington was closely watching activity at a North Korean rocket site and did not know if it might be planning a new launch.

OTTAWA,  (Reuters) – A major intergovernmental economic group expressed its concern yesterday over allegations the Canadian government tried to interfere in a criminal case against a major construction firm and reminded Ottawa of its promise to respect the independence of prosecutors.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump should not be impeached unless the reasons are overwhelming and bipartisan, given how divisive it would be for the country, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a Washington Post interview published yesterday.

ADDIS ABABA/BEIJING, (Reuters) – China, Indonesia and Ethiopia grounded their Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 fleets today while investigators found the black box from a crash that killed 157 people in the second disaster involving that airplane model in six months.