(Reuters) – Lawyers for Standard and Poor's, responding to a U.S. government probe, have tried for months to show it did nothing wrong in rating exotic securities in the run-up to the financial crisis. In one meeting, the McGraw-Hill Cos Inc unit, which owns Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC, made a two-hour presentation in front of about 50 lawyers from the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. But the Justice Department stood firm, telling S&P lawyers that their views were "miles apart," the source said. … Stabbing at Ecuador campaign rally not politically motivated: Correa
QUITO (Reuters) – A knife attack in Ecuador that killed two government supporters was perpetrated by a man under the influence of drugs and alcohol and wa s not politically motivated, President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday. The man killed two Correa supporters and injured five more at a campaign rally on Monday, about two weeks before a presidential election that the leftist leader is expected to win comfortably. "There is no indication that this attack may have been politically motivated. … Tsunami generated by 8.0 quake in South Pacific
SYDNEY (AP) -- A powerful earthquake in the South Pacific generated a tsunami Wednesday that prompting warnings to several island nations.
CAIRO (AP) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Cairo on Tuesday, the first by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, highlights efforts by Egypt's Islamist leader to thaw long frigid ties between the two reg ional heavyweights. 
(Reuters) – John Malone's Liberty Global Inc struck a deal to buy British cable group Virgin Media for about $15.75 billion, a move that would put the U.S. billio naire up against old rival Rupert Murdoch. Libert and Virgin said in a statement on Tuesday that under the terms of the deal, Virgin Media shareholders will receive $17.50 in cash, 0.2582 Liberty Global class A shares and 0.1928 Liberty Global class C shares for each Virgin Media share. Using Tuesday's closing prices for those shares, that implies a value of $47.02 for each Virgin Media share. … 
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walt Disney Co adjusted earnings on Tuesday beat analysts' estimates despite rising costs of acquiring sports programming for its ESPN sports juggernaut. Shares of the media giant rose 1.7 percent in after-hours trading. Before the announcement, Disney closed up 39 cents at $54.29 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company said net income fell 6 percent to $1.38 billion from $1.46 billion for its fiscal first quarter. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain's parliament voted heavily in favor of legalizing gay marriage on Tuesday, but Prime Minister David Cameron's a uthority in his own party took a blow as his Conservatives split in two over the measure he had championed. In the first of several votes required for its passage, the lower house of parliament backed the legislation by 400-175, but more than half of Cameron's 303 lawmakers voted against or abstained, signaling deep unease with it and his leadership. … 
TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) -- French troops may start pulling out of their anti-extremist operation in Mali as early as next month, handing over to a still-developing African force, the French foreign minister was quoted as saying. 
HAVANA (AP) -- The French "Spider-Man" continues to dazzle Havana with his unassisted, death-defying climbs. 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Uncomfortable with the Obama administration's use of deadly drones, a growing number in Congress is looking to limit America's authority to kill suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens. The Democratic-led outcry was emboldened by the revelation in a newly surfaced Justice Department memo that shows drones can strike against a wider range of threats, with less evidence, than previously believed. 
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) -- Hezbollah was behind a bus attack that killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year, investigators said Tuesday, describing a sop histicated bombing carried out by a terrorist cell that included Canadian and Australian citizens. 
(Reuters) – KFC parent Yum Brands Inc on Tuesday said time, not ad spending, is the cure for a steep sales decline at its restaurants in China that was sparked by a food safety scare late last ye ar. The fast-food operator makes more than half of its overall sales in China, and customers there began shunning Yum's restaurants in December after news reports and government investigations focused on chemical residue found in a small portion of its chicken supply. The company was not fined by food safety authorities. … 
ROME (Reuters) – The Vatican's new sexual crimes prosecutor on Tuesday acknowledged that the U.S. media "did a service" to the Catholic Church through its aggressive reporting on child abuse that helped the Church "confront the truth". The rare acknowledgement came from Father Robert Oliver, a canon lawyer from the U.S. diocese of Boston, speaking at his first public appearance since becoming the Vatican's "Promoter of Justice" last week. … 
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A water-heating system may have leaked gas into a tunnel beneath the headquarters of Mexico's national oil company for more than seven months before it was accidentally detonated by a maintenance crew's improvised lighting system, officials said Tuesday, adding fresh detail to the narrative of the petroleum giant's worst disaster in a decade. 
TORONTO (Reuters) – Barely a week after launching an all-new, make-or-break line of smartphones, BlackBerry is already looking at a future in which it is a leader in "mobile computing," Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on Tuesday. Heins said BlackBerry is aiming to reclaim its spot as an innovator in a world where smartphones already have the processing power to replace tablets and laptops. … 
JERUSALEM (AP) -- As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to take office for a third time, his attempts to form a new coalition government have gotten off to a rocky start. 
LONDON (AP) -- British lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage championed by Prime Minister David Cameron, despite stronger-than-expected opposition from within his Conservative Party. 
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) -- Six Spanish tourists were raped by a gang of armed, masked men in the Mexican resort of Acapulco, the latest chapter of violence that has tarnished the once-glamorous Pacific coast resort. 
AL-MUHARRAQ MONASTERY, Egypt (AP) -- Egypt's Coptic patriarch delivered a cautious but unusually sharp criticism of the nation's Islamist leadership in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, dismissing the new constitution as discriminatory and rounds of national dialogues sponsored by the president as meaningless. 
YEREVAN (Reuters) – An Armenian presidential candidate who was shot last week will not seek a postponement to this month's election to avoid the risk of further instability in the former Soviet republic, his lawyer and other backers said on Tuesday. Paruyr Hayrikyan, an outsider in the race in which President Serzh Sarksyan is widely expected to win a new five-year term, was shot in the shoulder on January 31 near his home in Yerevan. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Argentina accused Britain on Tuesday of promoting Israeli-type sett lement on occupied land in the Falkland Islands, while British parliamentarians said Buenos Aires was using "megaphone diplomacy" to assert its claims to the islands. A bid to build confidence and bolster trade between Britain and Argentina in London's parliament descended into acrimony as British lawmakers and Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman traded barbs over the remote South Atlantic islands. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Argentina accused Britain on Tuesday of promoting Israeli-type settlement on occupied land in the Falkland Islands , while British parliamentarians said Buenos Aires was using "megaphone diplomacy" to assert its claims to the islands. A bid to build confidence and bolster trade between Britain and Argentina in London's parliament descended into acrimony as British lawmakers and Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman traded barbs over the remote South Atlantic islands. … 
BRUSSELS (AP) -- International officials said Tuesday they are discussing the possibility of using a U.N. force to provide long-term security in the troubled African country of Mali so that a political transition can take place. 
DUBLIN (AP) -- Ireland's government oversaw workhouses run by Catholic nuns that once held thousands of women and teenage girls in unpaid labor, often against their will, a fact-finding report concluded Tuesday, establishing state involvement in the country's infamous Magdalene Laundries for the first time. 
TOKYO (Reuters) – A Chinese navy vessel aimed a type of radar normally used to aim weapons at a target at a Japanese navy ship in t he East China Sea, prompting Japan to protest, Japan's defense minister said on Tuesday, an action that could complicate efforts to cool tension in a territorial row between the rivals. "Projecting fire control radar is very unusual," Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters of the incident, which he said occurred on January 30 but took time to confirm. "One mistake, and the situation would become very dangerous. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Ministe r David Cameron hopes to enlist the support of Germany and other rich north European countries in his fight to freeze EU spending at budget talks this week and is prepared to block a deal unless more savings are found. It will be the Cameron's first European summit since he set out his plan last month to claw back powers from Brussels and put the changes to voters in an "in or out" referendum on Britain's membership of the 27-nation bloc. … 
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- In years past, keeping track of Iran's claims of military and technological advances was relatively easy: Wait until early February and watch the parades and announcements in the buildup to celebrations marking the Islamic Revolution. Now, with the strategic stakes ever higher, Iranian officials are boasting louder, pressing harder and leaving questions about how much is real. 
They are called "homegrown terrorists," Western citizens highly prized by Islamic militant groups because they can move across borders and carry out attacks easier than people from Middle East or South Asian nations. 
CAIRO (AP) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed the crisis in Syria with his Egyptian counterpart Tuesday in the first visit by an Iranian leader to Cairo in more than three decades, marking a historic departure from years of frigid ties between the regional heavyweights. 
DHAKA (Reuters) – A war crimes tribunal sentenced a senior leader of Bangladesh's biggest Islamist party to life in prison on Tuesday, the second verdict in trials that have reopened the wounds of Bangladesh's 1971 independence war and sparked violent unrest. At least three people were killed in violent protests after Abdul Quader Mollah, 64, was found guilty of charges including murder, rape, torture and arson during Bangladesh's war to break away from Pakistan. … 
(Advisory: Note strong language in paragraph 20) LONDON (Reuters) – The wife of a Briti sh cabinet minister plotted with newspapers to wreck his career because she wanted revenge after he left her for another woman, a London court heard on Tuesday. Vicky Pryce, 60, went on trial for perverting the course of justice over a 2003 incident in which she took the penalty for a speeding offence committed by her then husband, Liberal Democrat politician Chris Huhne, to allow him to avoid a driving ban. … 
(Note strong language in paragraph 20) LONDON (Reuters) – The wife of a British cabinet minister plotted with newspapers to wreck his career because she wanted revenge after he left her for another woman, a London court heard on Tuesday. Vicky Pryce, 60, went on trial for perverting the course of justice over a 2003 incident in which she took the penalty for a speeding offence committed by her then husband, Liberal Democrat politician Chris Huhne, to allow him to avoid a driving ban. … 
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- A gunman tried to shoot a Danish writer and prominent critic of Islam on Tuesday, but missed and fled after a scuffle with his intended victim, police and the writer said. 
ROME (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that it believed Italy's central bank did a good job in its oversight of crisis- hit Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Italy's third largest bank. "The IMF team's prel iminary view is that the Bank of Italy took timely and appropriate action – within the limits of the legal framework – to address problems at MPS," the IMF's chief spokesman Gerry Rice told Reuters. "Oversight was close and supervisory action escalated appropriately as MPS's problems became acute," Rice said in a written statement. … 
PARIS (Reuters) – Countries that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi will meet in Paris next week to discuss how to stabilize Libya, which has been beset by security problems since the late dictator was toppled, French sources said on Tuesday. France, which led international efforts to oust Gaddafi, will convene ministers and senior diplomats from the United States, Britain, Arab nations, the United Nations and European Union to Tuesday's meeting in Paris. The French foreign ministry said the agenda would include "security co-operation, the legal system and the rule of law". … 
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's most prominent Muslim cleric, the sheik of al-Azhar, has warned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against interfering in Arab Gulf countries or trying to spread Shiite influence. 
GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N. investigator for human rights in North Korea urged the world body Tuesday to open an inquiry into the secretive Asian nation for possible crimes against humanity. 
LONDON (AP) -- The art world loves hype. Works are touted as the biggest, the rarest, the most expensive. 
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria said on Tuesday it had evidence showing that Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah carried out a bomb attack on a bus in the Black Sea city of Burgas that killed five Israeli tourists last year. The conclusions of the Bulgarian investigation, citing a clear connection to an attack on European Union soil, might open the way for the EU to join the United States in branding the Iranian-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organization. …