Reuters World News Highlights 1400 GMT, Feb 13
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict, in his first public comments since he announced that he would become the first pontiff in centuries to resign, on Wednesday said he was fully aware of the gravity of his decision but confident that it would not hurt the Church.
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BRUSSELS - All companies that have handled falsely labelled horsemeat are under suspicion, the European Union's health chief said on Wednesday, adding the Commission was considering strengthening relevant law.
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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday that 34,000 troops - about half the U.S. force in Afghanistan - will withdraw by early 2014, bringing the United States one step closer to wrapping up the costly, unpopular war.
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LONDON/MOSCOW - A Group of Seven statement designed to cool international currency tensions should be taken at face value and anonymous officials should not try to reinterpret it, the Bank of England's chief said on Wednesday.
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AMMAN - President Bashar al-Assad's forces bombarded the southeast of Damascus with air strikes and artillery on Wednesday to try and dislodge rebel fighters who have gained a foothold in the Syrian capital, opposition activists said.
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ANGELUS OAKS - A massive California manhunt for a fugitive former cop looked to have ended on Wednesday after authorities found human remains in the charred ruins of a cabin where he was thought to have holed up.
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NEW DELHI - India will cancel a $750 million deal to buy helicopters from Finmeccanica SpA and blacklist the Italian defence group if bribery allegations are proven, India's defence minister said, as political opponents tried to capitalise on the scandal.
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LONDON - A third patient in Britain has contracted a new SARS-like virus, becoming the second confirmed UK case in a week and showing the deadly infection is being spread from person to person, health officials said on Wednesday.
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MALE - Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed took refuge in the Indian High Commission in Male on Wednesday as police attempted to arrest him, risking fresh protests by his supporters who say he was overthrown in a coup last February.
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GAZA - Egyptian forces have flooded smuggling tunnels under the border with the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip in a campaign to shut them down, Egyptian and Palestinian officials said.
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WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama challenged a divided Congress on Tuesday to raise the minimum wage and make government work for "the many" in a State of the Union speech focused on economic fairness for the middle class as the Democrat takes a more assertive tack in his second term.
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SEOUL - U.S. President Barack Obama said North Korea's third nuclear test, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, was a threat and a provocation and that the United States would lead the world in responding.
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WASHINGTON - A U.S. Senate panel approved Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama's new secretary of defense on Tuesday, setting the stage for a vote on his confirmation by the full Senate, possibly this week.
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SYDNEY - The theft of a fully grown emu from an Australian wildlife park this week has left only a pile of feathers at the scene of the crime, and questions about the motive for snatching an ungainly bird with practically no cash value.