World

HARARE, (Reuters) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has granted amnesty to all female prisoners except those on death row or serving life sentences, as prisons struggle to feed inmates due to lack of funding from the government.

DAKAR, (Reuters) – Forests in Senegal’s lush Casamance region risk disappearing within two years because of illegal timber smuggling, one of the West African country’s foremost environmentalists said yesterday.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – Cuba will recognize small and medium-sized private firms as legal entities, a Communist Party document published yesterday showed, a move that could remove obstacles for businesses and foster the emerging private sector.

NORRISTOWN, Pa., (Reuters) – A Pennsylvania judge yesterday ordered comedian Bill Cosby to stand trial on accusations of sexual assault, the most serious setback so far for a man who epitomized the all-American dad on the 1980s sitcom “The Cosby Show.”

LONDON, (Reuters) – People with diabetes should be offered gastric surgery as a standard treatment option which could help control it for years without medication, the world’s leading diabetes groups said.

DUBAI, (Reuters) – Venezuela expects to rejoin the global watchdog established to stop trade in conflict diamonds as it seeks to resume diamond exports, its central bank director said yesterday.

CAIRO/PARIS, (Reuters) – The EgyptAir jet that disappeared last week did not show technical problems before taking off from Paris, sources within the Egyptian investigation committee said late on Tuesday.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Bombs killed nearly 150 people and wounded at least 200 in Jableh and Tartous on Syria’s Mediterranean coast yesterday in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases, monitors and state media said.

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s interim government was rocked on Monday by the loss of one of its  key  figures, Planning  Minister  Romero Juca, who stepped aside amid accusations he had conspired to obstruct the country’s biggest-ever corruption investigation.

MANILA (Reuters) – More than three months have passed since $81 million was stolen in a brazen cyber-heist from Bangladesh’s central bank and sent to Manila – yet authorities in the Philippines appear no closer to nabbing those who laundered most of the money through a bank and casinos here.

KABUL/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The Afghan Taliban’s leadership council met yesterday to start considering succession after a U.S.

SEOUL,  (Reuters) – From the way it chooses smartphone components to the models it brings to market, Samsung Electronics has undergone a painful process of breaking from its past to reverse a slide in its handset business.

BAGHDAD, (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the launching of an offensive to retake the Islamic State stronghold of Falluja after the military told residents yesterday to get ready to leave before fighting started.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders cranked up his fight with party leaders yesterday, backing a challenger to the Democratic National Committee’s chairwoman and accusing the party’s establishment of trying to anoint Hillary Clinton as the nominee for president.

CARACAS (Reuters) – The United States “dreams of dividing” a “Chavista” military fiercely loyal to Venezuela’s socialist government, President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday, as the military comes under scrutiny in the crisis-gripped OPEC nation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States conducted a drone strike yesterday against the leader of Afghan Taliban, likely killing him on the Pakistan side of the remote border region with Afghanistan in a mission authorized by US President Barack Obama, officials said.

PARIS/CAIRO (Reuters) – The EgyptAir jet which crashed in the Mediterranean on Thursday sent a series of warnings indicating that smoke had been detected on board, shortly before it disappeared off radar screens, French investigators said yesterday.

(Reuters) – The United States plans a major overhaul of the way packaged foods are labelled, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Bookmaker William Hill has cut its odds of Britons voting to remain in the European Union in a June 23 referendum to 1/6, the shortest odds to date and indicating a probability of 85 percent.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – A teenage protester reads the constitution to Venezuelan soldiers blocking a march.