ZAATARI, Jordan (AP) -- A wave of 21,000 Syrian refugees in the past week, moving into northern Jordan at about five times the usual daily rate, has overwhelmed this crowded camp that's already struggling with flooding, short supplies and tent fires. Floods hit two Australian states, thousands evacuated
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Massive summer floods have killed four people and forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes across two Australian states on Tuesday, disrupting air and rail tr avel and coal production. A deluge fed by the ex-tropical cyclone Oswald dumped more than 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rain in some areas of the Queensland and New South Wales states over the past three days, swelling rivers and swamping towns. The worst-hit areas were around Bundaberg, Rockhampton and Ipswich in the Queensland state, and around the northern New South Wales towns of Grafton and Lismore. … Bodies of missing Mexican band members found in well
MONTERREY (Reuters) – Police found a dozen bodies inside a well in northern Mexico, some of them members of a band abducted last week by an armed group, a spokesman for the state of Nuevo Leon, Jorge Domene, said on Monday. Authorities have identified four of the bodies, including that of a Colombian national. All were wearing jeans and T-shirts with the logo of the music group – “Poderoso Kombo Kolombia.” One band member who managed to escape told police that after he and the others were kidnapped, their armed men captors asked them if they belonged to an organized crime gang. …
Amplats talks with South Africa government "constructive"
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Anglo American Platinum Ltd has had “constructive” consultations with the South African government about a company restructuring that could lead to 14,000 job cuts, chief executive Chris Griffith said on Tuesday. The world’s largest platinum producer agreed to postpone the massive job cuts to allow for more talks. “We have had very constructive conversations. I think our relationship is sort of back where it should be. This is going to be a difficult process,” Griffith told Talk Radio 702. …
10 dead Borneo pygmy elephants feared poisoned
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Ten endangered Borneo pygmy elephants have been found dead in a Malaysian forest under mysterious circumstances, and wildlife authorities suspect that they were poisoned.
India's central bank cuts policy rate by 25 bps, as expected
MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s central bank reduced its policy interest rate by a widely expected 25 basis points on Tuesday, taking comfort from cooling inflation as it made the first cut in nine months to support an economy headed for its slowest growth in a decade. The Reserve Bank of India cut its key repo rate to 7.75 percent, as forecast by a Reuters poll. The RBI unexpectedly also reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the share of deposits banks must keep with the central bank by 25 bps to 4.00 percent, which will infuse an additional 180 billion rupees into the banking system. …
Calgary psychiatrist guilty of three charges of sexually assaulting patients
CALGARY – After days of deliberation, a jury found a Calgary psychiatrist guilty Monday on three counts of sexual assault against his male patients.
LONDON (Reuters) – New laws should be introduced to force English football clubs to clean up their finances unless they adopt European rules to curb spending, a group of British MPs said on Tuesday. The call adds to pressure on the 20-team Premier League to implement Financial Fair Play (FFP) measures which European soccer's governing body UEFA has already introduced for leading teams across the continent. New television contracts are expected to generate more than five billion pounds over the next three years for the Premier League, the world's richest in term of revenue. … 
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A former Ecuadorean judge has claimed that after stepping down from the bench, he illegally ghostwrote a judgment in whic h Chevron was ordered to pay $18.2 billion (11.5 billion pounds) for polluting the rain forest, and that the plaintiffs paid a $500,000 bribe to the judge who issued the ruling. Alberto Guerra, who presided over the case from 2003 to 2004, made the allegations in a sworn statement filed by Chevron on Monday in support of a lawsuit in Manhattan federal district court accusing the Ecuadorean plaintiffs and their lawyers of fraud. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – A senior Bank of England policymaker raised doubts on Monday about whether the bank would benefit from longer-term policy commitments of the type championed two days ag o by its future governor, Mark Carney. The intervention by David Miles, an external member of the bank's Monetary Policy Committee, adds to growing uncertainty about whether Carney's arrival from the Bank of Canada in July will lead to big changes at the British central bank. "I don't think it would be helpful for the MPC to say: 'Here is where policy is going to be for the next several months'. … 
SANTA MARIA, Brazil (Reuters) – Brazilian police investigating a nightclub fire that killed 231 people detained on Monday the owners of the club and two band members w hose pyrotechnics show authorities say triggered the blaze. No charges were filed against the four men, but prosecutors said they could be held for up to five days as police press them for clues as to how the fire early Sunday morning could have caused so many deaths. Stunned residents in the southern city of Santa Maria attended a marathon of funerals beginning in the pre-dawn hours. … 
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares rose on Tuesday after solid U.S. data, but investors remained cautious ahead of more U.S. economic reports and a Federal Reserve policy decision later in the week that may offer clues to the Fed's stimulus plans. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3 percent. Australian shares rallied 0.8 percent to a fresh 21-month high led by shares in the financials sectors as the U.S. S&P 500 index closed above 1,500 for the first time since 2007. Australian markets were closed on Monday for a holiday. South Korean shares opened up 0. … 
DETROIT (Reuters) – Elon Musk has long considered Tesla Motors Inc the bold, nimble answer to the auto industry's cautious culture. Now the electric car maker's top executive has extended his help to another industrial giant: Boeing Co . In a January 26 message on Twitter, Musk said he was in talks with the chief engineer of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner plane, which regulators have grounded indefinitely after a string of malfunctions ranging from fuel leaks to battery meltdowns. "Desire to help Boeing is real & am corresponding w 787 chief engineer," Musk wrote on the social media website. … 
LONDO N (Reuters) – Britain's financial ombudsman service is receiving up to 10,000 new complaints about mis-sold loan insurance each week, pointing to a further rise in the compensation bill for banks. Banks have already set aside 12 billion pounds to compensate customers wrongly sold policies meant to protect borrowers who lost jobs or became ill, and industry sources have told Reuters they expect the number to double. … 
MANIL A, Philippines (AP) -- Almost four decades after he was arrested and tortured and his sister disappeared into a maze of Philippine police cells and military houses, playwright Bonifacio Ilagan is finally seeing his suffering officially recognized. 
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- Thousands of Australians huddled in shelters Tuesday as torrential rains flooded cities and towns in the northeast, killing four people and prompting around 1,000 helicopter evacuations. 
(Reuters) – Bank of America Corp must focus on improving customer service as it moves past its crisis-era prob lems, CEO Brian Moynihan said in a letter sent to employees, signaling one of his strategies for boosting revenue at the bank. The letter, mailed to the homes of nearly 270,000 employees worldwide and seen by Reuters, says employees need to make it easier for customers to do business with the company, which has fared poorly in U.S. customer satisfaction surveys. Bank of America posted the lowest score among four large U.S. … 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, fresh from a record-setting sale of Israeli bonds to investors in Florida, said on Monday that balancing the government bu dget will require "moderate but still significant" cuts to the defense sector. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Steinitz, a leading member of the weakened Likud party of hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also said there are no plans to further raise taxes in order to hit a deficit target of 3 percent of economic output. … 
SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) -- The nightclub Kiss was hot, steamy from the press of beer-fueled bodies dancing close. The Brazilian country band on stage was whipping the young crowd into a frenzy, launching into another fast-paced, accordion-driven tune and lighting flares that spewed silver sparks into the air. 
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) -- The 16-member Colombian-style music group was playing at a ranch in northern Mexico when at least 10 gunmen entered the warehouse where the private party was being held and forced them and four crew members into waiting vehicles, a survivor of the attack told authorities. 
(Reuters) – Moody's Investors Service has cut the ratings of six Canadian financial institutions, including the previously "Aaa" rated Toronto-Dominion Bank, due to concerns about rising consumer debt and high h ousing prices. TD, the only publicly traded bank that still carried Moody's top rating, was downgraded, along with Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of Montreal, National Bank of Canada and Caisse Central Desjardins, Canada's largest association of credit unions, Moody's said on Monday. … 
(Reuters) – Hess Corp on Monday announced plans to sell its oil storage terminal network and exit the oil refining business, after activist hedge fund Elliott Associates said it was considering nominating directors to the Hess board. Hess' decision to become predominantly an exploration and production company is similar to the strategy employed by others such as ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil , which spun off their refining operations in recent years. "Hess is now facing some activist shareholder interest. … 
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix announced Monday that she is ending her reign after 33 years and passing the crown to her eldest son, who has long been groomed to be king but who will have to work hard to match his mother's popularity. 
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada's biggest opposition party introduced a bill on Monday that would make it easier for the French-speaking province of Quebec to secede, although the proposal has no chance of becoming law now. The bill, from the opposition New Democratic Party, would allow Quebec to leave Canada if there were a simple majority vote on a clear question – 50 percent plus one vote, offering clues to NDP policy on the matter if it wins the 2015 election. … 
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – A Guatemalan court ordered 86-year-old former dictator Efrain Rios Montt on Monday to face charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, throwing out 13 appeals presented by his defense. A judge found sufficient proof linking Rios Montt, who ruled during a particularly bloody period of the country's 36-year civil war, to the killing of more than 1,700 indigenous people in a counterinsurgency operation in 1982 and 1983. … 
A unique feature along the coast of Western Australia, where water surges through a "horizontal waterfall," is part of a new Australian national park and marine park declared by the national government along the scenic shoreline. 
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- A Guantanamo Bay prisoner charged in the Sept. 11 attacks fired one of his military attorneys Monday in an apparent sign of frustration and distrust of his Pentagon-appointed legal counsel. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch apologized on Monday for a "grotesque" cartoon in his London-based Sunday Times newspaper depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu building a bloody wall trapping the bodies of Palestinians, after complaints from Jewish groups. The image, which shows Netanyahu holding a trowel dripping blood, was published on Holocaust Memorial Day and carried the caption "Israeli elections. … 
CAIRO (AP) -- Protesters battled police for hours in Cairo on Monday and thousands marched through Egypt's three Suez Canal cities in direct defiance of a night-time curfew and state of emergency, handing a blow to the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's attempts to contain five days of spiraling political violence. 
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- A gray-tufted monkey strapped in a pod resembling an infant's car seat rode an Iranian rocket into space and returned safely, officials said Monday in what was described as a step toward Tehran's goal of a manned space flight. 
CAIRO (AP) -- An unpredictable new element has entered Egypt's wave of political unrest: a mysterious group of masked young men called the Black Bloc who present themselves as the defenders of protesters opposed to the Islamist president's rule. 
PARIS/DETROIT (Reuters) – Airbus warned the airline industry of risks related to lithium batteri es almost a year before two safety incidents grounded 787 Dreamliners built by its chief rival Boeing , according to a presentation seen by Reuters. The European planemaker spelled out lithium hazards at a forum of airline customers in March 2012, citing the risk of flames, explosion, smoke and leakage in the event of a so-called thermal runaway or uncontrolled battery overheating. … 
A frustrating four-day search-and-rescue operation for a small plane that crashed in a remote part of Antarctica has come to an end with the location of the wreckage site and the confirmation that all three crew members perished in the crash. 
SEVARE, Mali (AP) -- Backed by French helicopters and paratroopers, Malian soldiers entered the fabled city of Timbuktu on Monday after al-Qaida-linked militants who ruled the outpost by fear for nearly 10 months fled into the desert, setting fire to a library that held thousands of manuscripts dating to the Middle Ages. 
BEIRUT (AP) -- Syrian opposition leaders pleaded Monday for funds and political backing from the international community as France warned that extremists could prevail in Syria if nations fail to honor their pledges of support. 
ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) – Investors must not be complacent in valuing assets after efforts by central banks to pump mo ney into struggling economies, a global financial risk watchdog said on Monday. After a meeting in Zurich, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) chaired by Mark Carney said risks remain even though markets have improved and banks are in a healthier state. "Medium-term downside risks remain, given weak growth prospects and high levels of public and private sector debt in many economies. … 
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- A former U.S.-backed dictator who presided over one of the bloodiest periods of Guatemala's civil war will stand trial on charges he ordered the murder, torture and displacement of thousands of Mayan Indians, a judge ruled Monday. 
LONDON (AP) -- Media baron Rupert Murdoch has apologized for a Sunday Times cartoon depicting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu b uilding a wall using blood-red mortar, an image Jewish leaders said was reminiscent of anti-Semitic propaganda. 
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Seven years after a massive stroke removed him from office and left him in a vegetative state, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is able to process information and has exhibited "robust activity" in his brain, according to doctors who conducted recent tests. 
MIAMI BEACH, Florida (Reuter s) – IntercontinentalExchange Inc has received inquiries from rivals interested in buying NYSE Euronext's European stock exchanges once ICE completes its planned purchase of the New York-based exchange operator, ICE's chief executive said on Monday. Jeff Sprecher, whose $8.2 billion deal to buy the Big Board parent took markets by surprise in late 2012, said he is not considering any offers. … 
ABUJA (Reuters) – Free trade talks between Canada and the European Union are progressing but there is no e nd date for an deal that was supposed to have been finished by the end of 2012, Canada's Trade Minister Ed Fast said on Monday. Canada, keen to diversify its exports away from the United States, says a deal with the European Union would increase two-way trade by 20 percent. The talks started in 2009. …