World

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world is swimming in a record $152 trillion in debt, the IMF said yesterday, even as the institution encourages some countries to spend more to boost flagging growth if they can afford it.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI has arrested a National Security Agency contractor on charges of stealing highly classified information and is investigating possible links to a recent leak of secret hacking tools used to break into the computers of adversaries such as Russia and China, US officials said yesterday.

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s federal police have requested formal corruption charges against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a case involving contracts obtained by building and engineering conglomerate Odebrecht in Angola, a source said yesterday.

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (Reu-ters) – For decades, jobs at  Vene-zuela’s state-run oil giant PDVSA were coveted for above average salaries, generous benefits and cheap credit that brought home ownership and vacationing abroad within reach for many workers.

Farmville, Va.,(Reuters) – U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “small and bullying leader” on Tuesday and condemned his actions in Syria, taking a harder line than Donald Trump at a contentious debate with Democratic rival Tim Kaine.

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte yesterday told US President Barack Obama to “go to hell” and said the United States had refused to sell some weapons to his country but he did not care because Russia and China were willing suppliers.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is trying to hasten a deal with the United States to buy Predator drone aircraft for military surveillance, one of several defence and nuclear projects the two sides are pursuing in the final months of the Obama administration.

ABUJA (Reuters) – Two of Nigeria’s 10 presidential jets have been put up for sale as part of a drive to cut costs, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday.

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe is losing at least $1 billion annually to corruption, with police and local government officials among the worst offenders, Transparency International said in a report yesterday.

BERLIN (Reuters) – WikiLeaks  founder Julian Assange said yesterday the group would publish about one million documents related to the US election and three governments in coming weeks, but denied the release was aimed at damaging Hillary Clinton.

LES CAYES, Haiti, (Reuters) – The fiercest Caribbean storm in almost a decade ripped into Haiti’s southwestern peninsula early today, packing 145 mile-per-hour (230 kph) winds and storm surges that killed at least one person and damaged homes.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States broke off talks with Russia yesterday on implementing a ceasefire agreement in Syria and accused Moscow of not living up to its commitments under the Septem-ber 9 deal to halt fighting and ensure aid reached besieged communities.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US officials are doing their best to ignore Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s hostile rhetoric and taking comfort in the fact that he has yet to translate his words into less military cooperation.

BRUSSELS/KABUL (Reuters) – World powers will convene on Brussels today to raise billions more dollars for Afghanistan to keep the country running until 2020, but the bigger prize would be a peace deal after almost four decades of conflict.

ROME (Reuters) – About 6,055 migrants were rescued yesterday as they tried to reach Europe on about 40 boats, one of the highest numbers in a single day, Italy’s coast guard said.

LES CAYES, Haiti/ KINGSTON,  (Reuters) – Haiti and Jamaica urged residents in vulnerable coastal areas to evacuate and Cuba suspended flights yesterday as bands of rain from Hurricane Matthew, the strongest storm to menace Caribbean nations since 2007, drenched the Jamaican capital.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazilian political parties implicated in the massive Petrobras corruption scandal, including that of President Michel Temer, suffered major setbacks in yesterday’s municipal elections that put right-leaning candidates ahead in key cities.

ADDIS ABABA, (Reuters) – More than 50 people were killed in a stampede in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region that was triggered when police used teargas and shot in the air yesterday to disperse anti-government protesters at a religious festival.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s decision to take a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax return showed his business acumen and “genius” at figuring out how to minimize his tax bill, two of the Republican presidential candidate’s advisers said yesterday.

MANILA, (Reuters) – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte apologised “profoundly and deeply” to the Jewish community yesterday, and said his references to the Holocaust while discussing his war on drugs were to hit back at critics who had likened him to Adolf Hitler.