WorldWorld
Surge in drug-resistant tuberculosis cases has affected both the rich and the poor
LONDON — On New Year’s Eve 2004, after months of losing weight and suffering fevers, night sweats and shortness of breath, student Anna Watterson was taken into hospital coughing up blood.
It was strange to be diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) — an ancient disease associated with poverty — especially since Watterson was a well-off trainee lawyer living in the affluent British capital of London. Yet it was also a relief, she says, finally to know what had been making her ill for so long.
But when Watterson’s infection refused to yield to the three-pronged antibiotic attack doctors prescribed to fight it, her relief turned to dread.
Assad faces growing Western anger as Syrian forces block aid from entering defeated rebel city of Homs
BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad faced growing Western anger Tuesday for preventing aid from entering a devastated district of Homs and over accusations of human rights abuses, including pictures said to show torture victims at a hospital in the city.
Dozens of men, women and children returned on foot to Baba Amr, state television said, passing bullet-pocked and damaged buildings, days after rebel fighters pulled out after a sustained and heavy military assault.
The Red Cross was awaiting approval to distribute aid to the devastated district which endured a month of siege.
Liberal family values, same-sex marriage a threat to the future of humanity: Pope
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Monday warned that liberal family values were threatening the future of humanity, in a veiled reference to homosexual marriage and adoptions by gay couples.
Mexico claims two Gadhafi extraction plots foiled
MEXICO CITY — Mexican prosecutors say they broke up not one, but two Indiana Jones-style plots to "extract" the son of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi from Libya as his father's regime crumbled.
Assistant Attorney General Jose Cuitlahuac Salinas says the plan to bring al-Saadi Gadhafi to Mexico involved piles of stolen passports, white-knuckle flights with pilots who refused to land in war-torn Libya and luxury homes bought under false names in Mexico.
Israeli, Palestinian negotiators meet in Jordan after 16 months of silence
AMMAN — Israeli and Palestinian negotiators gather in the Jordanian capital on Tuesday for their first face-to-face meeting in 16 months, but both sides insisted full-blown talks remained some way off.
France, Britain join Syria peace push at U.N.
(Reuters) - Arab League monitors said the withdrawal of colleagues by Gulf Arab states would not hinder their work in Syria while France and Britain Wednesday joined efforts at the United Nations to end President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
"The U.N. Security Council must support the Arab League's courageous decisions which are trying to end the repression and violence in Syria and find a solution to the political crisis," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
"Our aim is to get a resolution approved." The Security Council could vote as early as next week on a Western-Arab draft resolution, council diplomats said.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address that Assad would "soon discover that the forces of change can't be reversed."
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country remained opposed to sanctions on Syria and reiterated its opposition to military intervention.
U.S. to Aid Gay Rights Abroad, Obama and Clinton Say
GENEVA — The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that the United States would use all the tools of American diplomacy, including the potent enticement of foreign aid, to promote gay rights around the world. In a memorandum issued by President Obama in Washington and in a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton here, the administration vowed to actively combat efforts by other nations that criminalize homosexual conduct, abuse gay men, lesbians, bisexuals or transgendered people, or ignore abuse against them.
UK to allow commercial abortion clinics to advertise on radio, television
The United Kingdom’s Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) will soon allow for-profit abortion providers to run ads on television and radio programs. The move was met with scorn from conservative members of Parliament and Christian charities.
Egypt Islamists offer vision for sin-free tourism
CAIRO (AP) — Islamists are dominating Egypt's elections and some of them have a new message for tourists: welcome, but no booze, bikinis or mixed bathing at beaches, please.
N. Korea punishing bad actors
Authorities in North Korea are reportedly punishing citizens - six months of hard labour - who didn't mourn hard enough over the death of "eternal leader" Kim Jong-il.
Norway mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik tells court: ‘I am the commander of Norway’s resistance movement’
OSLO — Norway mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik claimed in his first court appearance Monday that he was the “commander of Norway’s resistance movement.”
The embattled Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Gadhafi’s grim choice of “fight or flight” just got more complicated. 
Consultation draws objections to proposed fee increase. 
