World News

Reuters - Russia said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad presented reform plans on Tuesday to help end the bloodshed in Syria, but Western and Arab states acted to isolate Assad further as his forces resumed bombarding the protest hotbed of Homs.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to film or take pictures in Tehran. A view of the inside of a shopping mall is seen in northwestern Tehran February 3, 2012. With just a month to go before a parliamentary election, Iran has been hit hard in recent months by new U.S. and European economic sanctions over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is peaceful but the West says is aimed at making a bomb. Picture taken February 3, 2012. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)Reuters - Iran castigated its U.S. adversary on Tuesday over new financial measures to disrupt Iranian commerce, and a default on payment for rice purchases highlighted the encroachment of sanctions on the staples of everyday life.



Reuters - President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives, widely credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean archipelago, resigned on Tuesday after weeks of opposition protests erupted into a police mutiny and what an aide said amounted to a coup.
Reuters - Three decades ago, an Israeli prime minister faced his cabinet and invoked the Holocaust in an emotional appeal to approve an air strike against an Arab atomic reactor.
Reuters - Iranian buyers have defaulted on payments for about 200,000 tonnes of rice from their top supplier India, exporters and rice millers said on Tuesday, a sign of the mounting pressure on Tehran from a new wave of Western sanctions.
Time.com - Will the Brazilian mega-city's crumbling infrastructure spoil the World Cup and the Olympics?

Volunteers shovel away snow from the frozen Holkenmeer or Holken lake in Gallemadammen, Netherlands, Tuesday Feb. 7, 2012. Volunteers poured onto frozen rivers and lakes in the northern Netherlands on Tuesday to shovel away snow that is one of the major hurdles in the way of a grueling speedskating race called Elfstedentocht, or 11 Cities Tour being held for the first time in 15 years. (AP Photo/Vincent Jannink)AP - Volunteers poured onto frozen rivers and lakes in the northern Netherlands on Tuesday to shovel away snow that is one of the major hurdles in the way of a grueling speedskating race being held for the first time in 15 years.



The needle used to sedate Adolph Eichmann is part of the display in the 'Operation Finale' exhibit, revealing the story behind the Mossad spy agency's most legendary operation ever, the daring 1960 capture of the Nazi mastermind, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012. The exhibit, curated by a Mossad officer who can't be fully identified displays never before seen items, names and documents that led to Eichmann's nabbing in Argentina, and also provides a behind the scenes look at how the country's most secretive organization operated and evolved.(AP Photo/Dan Balilty)AP - Lifting a half-century veil of secrecy, Israel's Mossad spy agency is opening its archive this week to reveal the story behind the legendary 1960 capture of Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann.



AP - A 13-story building partially collapsed in an industrial suburb outside Sao Paulo, Brazil killing a 3-year-old girl, firefighters said Tuesday.

People gather around a minibus struck in an apparent explosion as it sits near a highway overpass in Kaduna, Nigeria, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012. Two explosions struck Tuesday near army and air force bases on the outskirts of the central Nigerian city at the heart of riots last year that killed hundreds, officials said . (AP Photo)AP - Bombs exploded Tuesday outside of two major military bases on the outskirts of a central Nigerian city at the heart of ethnic and religious unrest in Africa's most populous nation, injuring an unknown number of people.



Reuters - China is scouring the world for alternative oil supplies to replace a fall in its imports from Iran, as it seeks to negotiate lower prices from Tehran, and has been drawing heavily on Saudi Arabia.
Reuters - A crash between a flatbed truck and a van carrying migrant farm workers on a rural crossroads in southwestern Ontario killed 11 people, media reported on Tuesday, in one of the most deadly vehicle accidents in Canadian history.
Reuters - Australia's projections for a bumper cotton crop remain on track despite a week-long deluge in major growing regions that forced thousands of residents from their homes and left rivers dangerously swollen.
The Christian Science Monitor - The eight candidates came in convoys from their respective corners of Dakar to Obelisk Square in the heart of the Senegalese capital, where crowds of color-coordinated supporters awaited them while listening to political hip-hop anthems in Wolof - the local dialect. A single microphone stood on stage and each of them were introduced as "president" before they took it.
Time.com - Nobody likely envies the challenge President Barack Obama faces getting his "messaging" right on Iran
The Christian Science Monitor - Russia and China’s joint veto of a United Nations resolution urging Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step down has kicked up a firestorm of criticism from the West and from human rights activists.