World News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to send weapons to rebels fighting Syria's government, but it was not clear who would get the arms even if the bill succeeds, as Washington struggles to deal with its response to the conflict.

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - The trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has likely collapsed after the country's top court struck down his conviction for genocide, defense and prosecution lawyers said on Tuesday.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's opposition parties and trade unions accused the government on Tuesday of threatening state employees with the sack if they took part in planned street protests against a sharp rise in electricity prices.

A senior Japanese official says Tokyo will stick with its policy of making its own overtures to North Korea on what it believes are abductions of its citizens, dismissing U.S. and South Korean concerns that the North may try to drive a wedge between the three allied nations.

An extract from the gallbladder of bears is believed to have medicinal benefits, but animal welfare advocates aim to convince Chinese consumers of the barbarity of bile farming.    

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to authorize the Obama administration to provide arms to Syrian rebels, confirming a growing sentiment in Congress in favor of a shift in U.S. strategy on Syria.

The clerical committee that vets election candidates in Iran barred two important contenders from the ballot for next month's presidential election, virtually guaranteeing that the next head of government will be loyal to the regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A Tunisian man who died after returning from a pilgrimage to the Saudi holy city of Mecca is believed to have been sickened by the novel coronavirus, and two of his children tested positive for the virus.

The Taliban, aided by foreign fighters, have tried to overrun the district of Sangin in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, triggering a two-day battle, Afghan officials said.

SHEIKH ZUWAID, Egypt (Reuters) - Egyptian army and police forces stepped up roadblocks in north Sinai in a hunt for militant Islamists who kidnapped seven security officers last week, a security source said on Tuesday.

The Department of Defense has identified 2,208 American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations.    

Prosecutors say that Vano Merabishvili, one of President Mikheil Saakashvili’s top political partners and a former prime minister, used a government employment program to pay campaign workers.    

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's deputy prime minister will take the unusual step of holding a news conference on Wednesday to say the country's two-party coalition will hold together until 2015 as he tries to stabilize a government beset by infighting and rifts.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities barred two potentially powerful and disruptive candidates from running in next month's presidential election on Tuesday, ensuring a contest largely among hardliners loyal to the clerical supreme leader.

A prominent Muslim questioined why Muslims had been prosecuted when human rights groups agreed that most of the violence had been carried out by Buddhists.    

The Guardian Council, which vets all candidates, approved eight names, but left out an influential former president and a top aide to the current president. Their exclusion gives establishment-friendly candidates a clear path to the presidency in the June 14 election.

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Developed economies returned to growth in the first three months of the year, although the euro zone continued to lag behind the U.S. and Japan, according to figures released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to send weapons to rebels fighting Syria's government, but it was not clear who would get the arms even if the bill succeeds, as Washington struggles to deal with its response to the conflict.

Presidents of some of the most economically dynamic countries in Latin America are meeting to promote a new trade group.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar suggested on Tuesday he may seek to make a political comeback by mounting a challenge to his party mate and political heir Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.