World

Nonessential US Embassy staffers were ordered out of Chad as antigovernment rebels claimed they've seized a third town in their advance on the capital, N'Djamena. President Idriss Déby accused Sudan of sending troops to help the rebels, which could not be confirmed independently. He also alleged that the European Union protection force in Chad has "cooperated with the invaders ... and closed its eyes before the systematic massacre of civilians and refugees."

Blaring horns and banging pots and pans, thousands of people thronged the streets of Buenos Aires Monday night to protest the Argentine government's handling of a dispute with farmers over a tax increase on exports. Similar scenes took place in smaller cities as demonstrators demanded that President Cristina Fernandez resume negotiations with the farmers to find a solution to the three-month-old dispute. Pro-government groups plan to hold counterdemonstrations Wednesday.

Amid growing concern over violent crime in Japan, the Justice Ministry executed three convicted murderers Tuesday – one of them a serial killer. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda rejected a protest by Amnesty International, saying there was no need to abandon capital punishment. The executions came 10 days after a man in Tokyo knifed 17 people, killing seven of them. Since then, police have arrested two adults and two teenagers, each in a different city, for threatening copycat attacks.

President Felipe Calderón of Mexico signed off Tuesday on a constitutional amendment to allow public, US-style trials and the presumption of innocence for defendants. Until now, trials have been held behind closed doors, with judges relying on written, rather than oral, evidence.

Only two of an estimated 150 people appear to have survived the sinking of a fishing boat carrying them from Libya to hoped-for employment in Italy, reports said Tuesday. Egypt's ambassador to Libya said he learned of the incident when he visited a countryman who'd been aboard the vessel but later was taken to jail. The boat, carrying other Egyptians, Moroccans, Bangladeshis, and Somalis, reportedly sank in the Mediterranean Sea June 7.

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