Attorney General Holder says immigration agents will get new powers to fight drug cartels

WASHINGTON — More federal agents will be able to investigate drug cases under a new agreement between government agencies battling Mexican cartels, Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress on Wednesday.

Diamond-rich Namibia’s economy to shrink by 0.6 percent; mining slows in world economic crisis

WINDHOEK, Namibia — Namibia’s central bank governor said Wednesday the diamond-rich southern African nation’s economy will shrink by 0.6 percent in 2009 as mining slows in the global economic crisis.

Mogadishu police chief among 17 killed in fighting between government, Islamists in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali government forces attacked rebel strongholds in Mogadishu on Wednesday, triggering battles that killed at least 17 people, including the capital’s police chief, witnesses and officials said.

GM signs deal to sell Swedish unit Saab to luxury sports carmaker Koenigsegg

STOCKHOLM — Saab Automobile, General Motors Corp.’s struggling Swedish unit known for its family cars, was rescued Tuesday by a consortium led by Koenigsegg Automotive AB, a tiny luxury carmaker which produces only a dozen custom-made models a year.

Freebies may cause consumers to devalue products

WASHINGTON - Retailers who bundle together two different products-like razors and blades-and describe one as free hoping for immediate gains may actually have to face a reduction in their long-term profits, for a new study has shown that this strategy leads consumers to devalue the items when they are sold individually.

Maguire Properties sells office tower in Irvine to Emmes Group of Cos. for $160M

LOS ANGELES — Facing mounting debt payments and lagging demand for office space, Maguire Properties Inc. has sold a 19-story office high rise in Southern California to another real estate investment firm for $160 million — a discount of roughly 35 percent.

With funds tight, universities tire of propping up their presses; Yale, LSU, others threatened

BATON ROUGE, La. — Chancellor Michael Martin doesn’t question the prestige the Louisiana State University Press brings to his school, with Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction and poetry, tomes on Southern history and culture and other noted works to its credit.

British PM Gordon Brown announces long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq war

LONDON — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown authorized a long-awaited inquiry into the Iraq war on Monday, but defied requests from bereaved families and campaigners to hold sessions in public.

Value in the vines: A trip to California’s wine country doesn’t have to drain your wallet dry

SONOMA, Calif. — With a wedding planned for California’s wine country in the middle of the recession, my fiance and I worried not just about what we were spending, but also about our guests. After all, the July event is taking place in a region where $400-a-night hotel rooms and $240 fixed price meals can intimidate even the most budget-savvy traveler.

Suspected Muslim rebels bomb bus as violence escalates in southern Thailand

PATTANI, Thailand — Suspected Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand Saturday killed two persons and wounded 20 others in separate incidents, police said, the latest in a spree of violence since a prayer-time massacre at a mosque nearly a week ago.

Indian and Royal Navy to participate in ‘Exercise Konkan 2009′ in UK waters

NEW DELHI - An Indian Navy Task Group led by the destroyer-INS Delhi, along with frigates INS Beas and INS Brahmaputra, and the tanker INS Aditya will reach Portsmouth on June 17, for ‘Exercise Konkan’ with the Royal Navy.

Polish woman defends her book on John Paul’s friendship, says it’s not delaying beatification

WARSAW, Poland — To him, she was “My Dear Dusia” and he signed his letters “Br” — short for brother.

Greens fume at night traffic in Bandipur sanctuary

BANGALORE - Environmentalists across Karnataka are fuming over the state government’s latest decision to put on hold an eco-friendly ban on vehicular movement at night through the famous Bandipur game sanctuary.

Report criticizes awarding of oil, gas leases in Utah by Bush administration

SALT LAKE CITY — Bush administration officials pushed aside the National Park Service and sought to lease public lands for drilling on the borders of Utah’s most famous redrock parks during their final days in power, a special report to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says.

Three terrorists killed in Assam (Lead, superseding earlier story)

GUWAHATI - Three separatist militants were killed in Assam and a large cache of arms recovered in separate gunbattles with the army in the restive northeastern state, police said here Thursday.

Graduation day in prison: Seminary awards degrees, trains inmates to be missionaries inside

PARCHMAN, Miss. — The graduates patted each other’s backs, and nervously chatted with their families. Some sat quietly, meditating about their future while others wept.

Central team surveys cyclone-hit Sundarbans

KOLKATA - The 11-member central team, which visited West Bengal to take stock of the post Cyclone Aila situation, will submit a detailed report to the central government Wednesday.

Shell pays $15.5M to settle claims it supported the 1995 executions of Nigerian activists

NEW YORK — Royal Dutch Shell agreed to a $15.5 million settlement Monday to end a lawsuit alleging that the oil giant was complicit in the executions of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and other civilians by Nigeria’s former military regime.

Eleven Muslim rebels killed in the Philippines

COTABATO CITY - At least 11 Muslim rebels were killed in the latest clashes between government troops and guerrillas in the southern Philippines, a regional army spokesman said Monday.

Westward ho! Hundreds of Amish leaving East, Midwest to escape high land prices, crowding

WESTCLIFFE, Colo. — A new road sign cautions drivers to watch for Amish horse-drawn carriages in the valley beneath Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo mountains. Highway pull-offs and dedicated horse-and-buggy paths are in the works.

A look at key players in the Lebanese elections

Key players in Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Lebanon:

Philippine troops seize Muslim rebel camp, kill 30 guerrillas

MANILA, Philippines — Government troops seized a Muslim separatist rebel camp Saturday following three days of fighting that left 30 guerrillas dead, a Philippine military spokesman said.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot find Humpty Dumpty costume missing in NH

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. — Missing: One Humpty Dumpty costume, last seen with Cheshire Cat.

Russian minister shot dead

MAKHACHKALA - The interior minister of the southern Russian republic of Daghestan was shot dead Friday afternoon at a wedding reception here.

Fisheries agency’s plan to protect struggling chinook salmon would trim Calif.’s water supply

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal regulators on Thursday released a court-ordered plan to help struggling chinook salmon that includes opening California dams and restricting pumping, prompting howls of protest from state officials because it will further reduce the amount of water available to farms and urban areas.

China blocks Twitter, bars reporters from Tiananmen ahead of 20th anniversary of crackdown

BEIJING — Foreign journalists were barred from Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Wednesday as an Internet clampdown that blocked Twitter expanded to include more blogs on the eve of the 20th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

11 Taliban fighters killed in raid; 1 NATO soldier dies in roadside bomb blast in Afghanistan

KABUL — Eleven Taliban militants were killed in a joint operation by coalition and Afghan troops while a roadside bomb took the life of a NATO soldier in southern Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.

Suspect in recruiting office killing pleads not guilty; judge orders him held without bail

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A Muslim convert who already was under federal investigation pleaded not guilty Tuesday in what police called a likely “political and religious” attack that killed a young soldier at a military recruiting center.

Taliban commander among seven killed in Afghanistan

KABUL - Six people were killed Tuesday in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan’s northeastern Bagram district, while a senior Taliban commander was killed in a separate incident in the country’s southern Helmand province, officials said.

Bankruptcy judge appointed to GM case said to be thoughtful and meticulous, also no-nonsense

NEW YORK — The judge appointed to oversee the bankruptcy proceedings of General Motors Corp. has a reputation for being thoughtful and thorough, and definitely not hasty, in his approach from the bench.