FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – A school board in northern Alberta has rejected a proposal that would have seen it adopt a four-day week.
Syria "Scud-type" missile said to kill 20 in Aleppo
AMMAN (Reuters) – A Syrian missile killed at least 20 people in a rebel-held district of Alep po on Tuesday, opposition activists said, as the army turns to longer-range weapons after losing bases in the country's second-largest city. The use of what opposition activists said was a large missile of the same type as Russian-made Scuds against an Aleppo residential district came after rebels overran army bases over the past two months from which troops had fired artillery. … Jeff Carter scores late winner as Los Angeles Kings defeat Edmonton Oilers 3-1
EDMONTON – Jeff Carter scored the winner with just 49.6 seconds remaining in regulation Tuesday as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-1.
Prosecution to outline argument as Oscar Pistorius arrives for 2nd day of bail hearing
PRETORIA, South Africa – Oscar Pistorius is at the court building for the second day of his bail hearing, arriving in a police car with a blue blanket covering his head.
Pistorius arrives for 2nd day of bail hearing
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) -- Oscar Pistorius is at the court building for the second day of his bail hearing, arriving in a police car with a blue blanket covering his head. 
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday after failing to replace a government pulled apart by acrimony between his Islamist allies and their secular opponents. Jebali ha d threatened to quit if his plan for a non-partisan cabinet of technocrats to lead the north African country into early elections foundered. In the end it was his own party, Ennahda, that rejected the proposal, prolonging the political stand-off that has cast a shadow over Tunisia's fledgling democracy and deepened an economic crisis. … 
HAVANA (Reuters) – A seven-member U.S. congressional delegation met on Tuesday with Cuban President Raul Castro, official media reported, to improve relations that have been strained since U.S. government contractor Alan Gross was imprisoned there in 2009. Members of the group, which arrived on Monday, also met with Gross, said a delegation member who asked not to be identified. … 
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek workers walk off the job on Wednesday in a nationwide anti-austerity strike that will disrupt transport, shut public schools and tax offices and leave hospitals working with emergency staff. Greece's two biggest labor unions plan to bring much of the near-bankrupt country to a standstill during a 24-hour strike over the cuts, which they say only deepen the plight of a people struggling to get through the country's worst peacetime downturn. Representing about 2. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain named veteran Bank of England official Andrew Bailey on Tuesday to head its new banking regulator just a month befor e he must present a plan to help two partly state-owned banks to become independent. Bailey will become a deputy governor of the Bank of England and chief executive of the bank's new prudential regulation authority (PRA) from April 1. He is already head of prudential supervision at the UK's Financial Services Authority and was expected to be confirmed in the new job. … 
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – The euro zone economy should show signs of a recovery in the first quarter, European Central Bank policymaker Joerg Asmussen said on Tuesday, expecting a very gradual improvement over the rest of the year. The euro zone slipped deeper into recession in late 201 2 than had been expected, data showed last week, which together with a stronger euro against other major currencies raised speculation whether the ECB may have to do more to boost growth. … 
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Hugo Chavez's sudden return to Venezuela after more than two months of cancer treatments in Cuba has fanned speculation that the president could be preparing to relinquish power and make way for a successor and a new election. 
NEW YORK (Reuters) – London elbowed its way past Hong Kong to regain the title as the world's most expensive market in which to rent office space, while Rio de Janeiro jumped to the No. 3 spot from No. 8, accordi ng to a report by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. It was the first time since 2008 that London took the top spot. Competition for the scarce high quality office space in London fuelled office rents by 2 percent in the city's West End bolstering rents sufficiently to leapfrog over Hong Kong, according to the report on Tuesday. … 
TORONTO (Reuters) – Ontario's Liberal government with its newly minted female premier pledged on Tuesday to work with its opposition parties to bring its spending under control. Ontario, Canada's richest province, kicked off its new legislative session with a traditional speech from the throne that outlined the priorities of Premier Kathleen Wynne's government that could soon face a vote of confidence. … 
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Dell Inc on Tuesday reported an 11 percent drop in revenue, hurt by a shrinking consumer business, as investors weighed founder Michael Dell's offer to buy out the world& #039;s No.3 personal computer maker. Michael Dell, teaming up with private equity firm Silver Lake and software maker Microsoft, is offering $13.65 a share to buy out the company, but at least four of its largest investors are opposed to the $24.4 billion deal. Dell said revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter fell to $14.3 billion, slightly higher than the average analyst estimate of $14. … 
SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) – The investment committee of Calpers, the biggest U.S. pension fund, voted on Tuesday to divest its holding in two manufacturers of guns and high-capacity ammunition clips banned i n California. The move affects about $5 million in investments in Smith & Wesson Holding Corp and Sturm, Ruger & Co at the $254 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, best known at Calpers. … 
LONDON (AP) -- At a time when many robberies take place at the click of a mouse, a group of jewel thieves has shown there's still a potential payoff for old-fashioned criminals willing to use disguises, planning and pluck to nab their loot. 
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus's socialist party sat on th e fence on Tuesday for upcoming elections closely watched by investors as the island teeters on the brink of default, saying it could not back either candidate in a presidential runoff scheduled for February 24. Sunday's vote pits Nicos Anastasiades, a conservative in favor of a swift bailout deal with international lenders, against Communist-backed Stavros Malas, who supports a bailout but with fewer austerity measures. … 
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel on Tuesday for the first time identified the Australian-Israeli at the heart of an espionage saga that has tested ties between the close allies, relations that Israel's prime minister said remain strong. 
DUBLIN (AP) -- Ireland ignored the mistreatment of thousands of women who were incarcerated within Catholic nun-operated laundries and must pay the survivors compensation, Prime Minister Enda Kenny said Tuesday in an emotional state apology for the decades of abuses in the so-calle d Magdalene Laundries. 
BEIRUT (AP) -- A Syrian missile strike leveled a block of buildings in an impoverished district of Aleppo on Tuesday, killing at least 33 people, almost half of them children, anti-regime activists said. 
BRUSSELS (AP) -- When the armored car set off for the Brussels airport carrying $50 million worth of precious stones from Antwerp's diamond district, eight gunmen knew all about it. 
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a one-day fast on Tuesday in solidarity with four inmates whose hunger strike has fuelled anti-Israel protests in the occupied West Bank. Samer al-Issawi, one of the four Palestinians who have been on hunger strike, has been refusing food, intermittently, for more than 200 days. His lawyer says his health has deteriorated. Gaunt and using a wheelchair, Issawi appeared on Tuesday before a Jerusalem civil court, which deferred releasing him for at least another month. … 
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny apologized on Tuesday for the "national shame" of forcing thousand s of women to work without pay at the Catholic Church's notorious Magdalene Laundries and promised compensation for the survivors. The laundries, depicted in the award-winning film "The Magdalene Sisters", put 10,000 women and girls as young as nine through uncompromising hardship from the foundation of the Irish state in 1922 until 1996. … 
PARIS (AP) -- A French soldier was shot to death on Tuesday in a clash with jihadists in a mountainous region of Mali's far north, a critical operation in France's bid to end a growing stranglehold by radicals who had imposed an extreme brand of Islam over more than half the West African country and threatened the borders beyond. 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister B enjamin Netanyahu took a first step in forming a new government on Tuesday, announcing a coalition deal with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and naming her to handle efforts to renew stalled diplomacy with the Palestinians. Netanyahu's choice of Livni, a moderate voice for a government led by his right-wing Likud party, seemed a positive signal ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit next month on a push to resume peace talks deadlocked since 2010. … 
BRASILIA (Reuters) 211; President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday raised the monthly stipend of 2.5 million people living below the poverty line to make good on her promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil, a nation with enormous income gaps between rich and poor. She said she has almost met her anti-poverty target halfway through her four-year term, though Brazil's last census points to 700,000 Brazilian families who still live in extreme poverty but are not registered on government social programs. … 
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus's socialist party said on Tuesday it would not throw its support behind either remaining candidate in a runoff vote on February 24, closely watched by investors as the cash-starved island teeters on the brink of default. The vote will pit Nicos Anastasiades, a conservative candidate in favor of a swift bailout deal with international lenders, against Communist-backed Stavros Malas, who supports a bailout but with fewer austerity measures. "The positions (of the party) … … 
SOFIA (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boiko Borisov sought to calm protests on Tuesday by promising to slash electricity prices and punish foreign-owned power companies, setting Bulgaria on a coll ision course with EU partner the Czech Republic. A day after sacking his finance minister, Borisov said the distribution license of central Europe's largest listed company, Czech-based CEZ will be revoked, and other firms fined after the latest round of increasingly violent protests. … 
CONAKRY (Reuters) – Security forces clashed with youths throwing stones in Guinea's capital on Tuesday as opponents of President Al pha Conde began a nationwide strike to demand a corruption-free election. The strike began a day after street protests by opposition groups who say preparations have been flawed for the May 12 parliamentary vote, the first in a decade and a test of Conde's democratic credentials after the West African state emerged from two years of violent military rule. … 
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Negotiations to introduce a cap on bankers' bonuses in the European Union stalled on Tuesday, after EU countries and the bloc's parliament clashed over how far to go in curbing pay for the industry's top earners . The talks, described as tense by one person present, with some in the room "doing a lot of yelling", resume next week. Although a cap on bonuses still appears likely, it is unclear whether the limit will be set at the level of a banker's annual salary as early indications suggested, or higher. … 
RAMADI, Iraq (AP) -- The Sunni tribesmen camped out on the edge of this one-time Iraqi insurgent stronghold are digging in and growing more organized, vowing to keep up their protests against a Shiite-led government they feel has left them behind. 
The strange creatures that thrive on the bottom of the chilly ocean surrounding Antarctica have been revealed in a comprehensive collection of snapshots and datasets now available online. 
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is expanding meat testing to a wider range of products, including ready-made meals, as the scandal spreads over the sale of mislabeled horsemeat, the country� 39;s food regulatory agency said on Tuesday. The Food Standards Agency said that as well as its original plans to check 224 samples of raw beef products for horse and pork DNA, it was now overseeing the testing of 140 meals such as lasagne, cottage pie and ravioli. "This will give us a full a picture as we can possibly have," an FSA spokesman said. … 
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The command, equipment quality and fighting ability of rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo when they captured the frontier city of Gom a in November suggests they had external support, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday. While Ban did not say from where the external support came to help the M23 rebels take Goma on November 20, U.N. experts have accused Rwanda and Uganda of aiding the revolt in the resource-rich region. Both governments strongly deny any involvement. In a three-month report on the U.N. … 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel denied on Tuesday that an Australian immigrant who committed suicide in 2010 while jailed for security offences had spied for his native country. The statement by Prime Ministe r Benjamin Netanyahu's office, which oversees Israel's intelligence services, was the first to confirm the affair concerned Ben Zygier, who was named in an Australian TV expose last week. … 
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Reeva Steenkamp's coffin was draped in a white cloth and carried by six pallbearers at a private funeral Tuesday, just a few hours before Oscar Pistorius said in a court affidavit that he mistakenly killed his girlfriend by shooting her through a bathroom door. 
Tunis (Reuters) – Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday after his attempt to form a government of technocrats and end a political crisis failed. "I vowed that if my initiative did not succeed, I would resign and … I have already done so," Jebali told a news conference after meeting with President Moncef Marzouki. Jebali had proposed forming a cabinet of apolitical technocrats to end protests and political turmoil caused by the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid. (Reporting By Tarek Amara; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer) 
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland will drop charges against a former intelligence chief prompted by allegations that the CIA was allowed to run a secret prison in Poland for al Qaeda suspects, a major Warsaw newspaper said on Tuesday. Human rights activists and lawyers for men who allege they were detained by the CIA in Poland say the Polish authorities are trying to stifle the investigation because it would become politically embarrassing if it led to trials. … 
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo was prepared to go to any lengths -- including using lethal force -- to cling to power after losing elections in 2010, and should stand trial for his alleged involvement in post-election violence, the International Criminal Court's prosecutor said Tuesday. 
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday gave final approval to Transocean's $1 billion civil settlement related to BP Plc's massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier signed the agreement, according to the court document filed in federal court in New Orleans. Transocean, which employed nine of the 11 workers killed in the accident, reached a $1.4 billion agreement to settle criminal and civil charges with the U.S. government in January. Last week, U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo accepted Transocean's guilty plea for violating the U.S. … 
ROME (Reuters) – Italy's politicians on Tuesday stepped up their campaigns in the last few days before next weekend's election with the outcome deeply uncertain and up to a third of vot ers still up for grabs. Opinion polls on party standings are banned in the last two weeks before the February 24-25 poll but one of Italy's leading pollsters, Renato Mannheimer, said 27.7 percent of Italians were still undecided or could abstain. This makes the final few days of campaigning crucial for an election which has the potential to again destabilize the euro zone. … 
(Reuters) – BMW is recalling about 750,000 of its vehicles in the United States, Japan, Canada and South Africa due the chance of an electrical failure that may cause the cars to stall unexpectedly, U.S. regulators and the company said. Vehicles sold in Germany, BMW's home market, and the rest of Europe are not involved in the recall. The recall affects Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's popular 3-Series sedans, convertibles, coupes and sports wagons, as well as its 1-Series coupes and convertibles and Z4 two-seat roadsters. In some markets, the X1 crossover vehicle is also part of the recall. … 
HAWARA, West Bank (AP) -- Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers at a pair of rallies in the West Bank on Tuesday in support of four imprisoned countrymen on hunger strike, as hundreds of inmates said they were refusing food for the day in a show of solidarity. 
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) -- The statements from Oscar Pistorius' defense and the prosecution give conflicting accounts of what happened in the shooting death of Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Feb. 14. 
DAKAR (Reuters) – More than 20 Islamist rebels were killed during a raid by French special forces and Malian troops in the Adrar des Ifoghas mountain range of Mali, the defense ministry said on Tuesday. The raid, during which one French legionnaire was killed, aimed at disrupting "terrorist" groups and dismantling their camps in an area where militants are believed to have taken refuge, the ministry said. (Reporting By John Irish and Bate Felix; Editing by Michael Roddy) 
SANAA (Reuters) – A Yemeni air force plane crashed in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, security sources said. State news agency Saba said three women and two children were among those killed when the plane, on a training flight, came down in a western residential district. Eleven people were wounded, security sources said. Pictures of the crash on social media sites showed one body near burning wreckage of the aircraft. Several cars were on fire and debris littered the street. A security official said the pilot had ejected from the plane. … 
ROME (Reuters) – An Italian woman has demanded an apology from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after he crudely joked with her on stage about sex, days before a national election. Angela Bruno, a 30-year-old e mployee of renewable energy firm Gruppo Green Power, said in an interview on the La7 Channel that her 13-year-old daughter had cried for days after seeing a video of the encounter at a business event, and the response it provoked. "I want an apology for all Italian women because they should not have to suffer insults like this, at work or outside work," she said. … 
PRETORIA (Reuters) – "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius put on his artificial legs and walked across his bedroom before firing four sho ts through a locked toilet door, killing his cowering girlfriend in cold blood, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Reeva Steenkamp, a 30-year-old law graduate and model, died after being hit by three rounds from a 9-mm pistol, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said. … 
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- The caretakers of the Olympics may have inadvertently accomplished what has eluded diplomats: Galvanizing Iran and the U.S. on a common goal. 
PARIS (Reuters) – A French soldier has been killed while fighting Islamist rebels in northern Mali, French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday. "A legionnaire from the 22nd parachute regiment has died in a c lash with Islamists in northern Mali," Hollande told reporters on a visit to Athens. (Reporting By Vicky Buffery; Editing by Michael Roddy) 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took his first step in forming a new government on Tuesday by reaching a coalition deal with former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a political source said. A draft copy of a five-page coalition deal, obtained by Reuters, said the centrist Livni would be named Justice Minister and would also resume a role similar to one she held in a previous government as a peace negotiator with the Palestinians. … 
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Shiite leaders called for an end to three days of protests by thousands of members of the minority Muslim sect in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, after the government launched a paramilitary operation against militants responsible for a weekend bombing that killed 89 people. 
YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenian President Serzh Sarks yan promised on Tuesday to make the country secure and stable after cruising to victory in an election which international vote monitors said lacked real competition. But Sarksyan faces a challenge in his second five-year term to prevent tensions increasing with Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh that could lead to a new war in the South Caucasus, where pipelines carry Caspian oil and gas to Europe. Preliminary results showed Sarksyan won 58.6 percent of votes cast in Monday's election, enough to avoid a run-off. … 
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian defense company Finmeccanica , at the center of a probe into alleged bribery to win an Indian helicopter tender, said on Tuesday it was ready to cooperate with Indian authorities to clarify the matter. India's defense ministry has threatened Finmeccanica unit AgustaWestland with cancellation of a 560 million euro ($750 million) deal for 12 helicopters unless it can give assurances that no bribes were paid in the deal. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – For Britons worried last week's beef lasagne was in fact a helping of horse, peace of mind that such a meal will never reach dining tables again may come at a price. Livestock specialists say that contrary to some public comments by supermarke ts, ensuring a chain of quality from farm to table will cost money – particularly at the cheaper, ready-made meal end. "How can you supply a meal for two people for a pound," said Andrew Hyde, managing director of British meat supplier Traymoor. … 
LONDON (Reuters) – For Britons worried last week's beef lasagne was in fact a helping of horse, peace of mind that such a meal will never reach dining tables again may come at a price. Livestock specialists say that contrary to some public comments by supermarkets, ensuring a chain of quality from farm to table will cost money – particularly at the cheaper, ready-made meal end. "How can you supply a meal for two people for a pound," said Andrew Hyde, managing director of British meat supplier Traymoor. … 
TORONTO (Reuters) – Inmet Mining Corp said on Tuesday it would waive it s so-called poison pill takeover defense against a hostile offer by First Quantum Minerals Ltd and hinted it may execute strategic alternatives to the C$5.1 billion ($5.05 billion) bid. Earlier this month, mining and metals firm First Quantum extended its C$72-a-share bid to February 27, 2013 for rival Inmet. The offer, announced in mid-December, tops its earlier bids of C$62.50 and C$70 a share. …