AFP - Queen Elizabeth II escaped assassination in Australia nearly 40 years ago when plotters tried to derail her train on a mountain pass, a retired detective has claimed.

Source:Queen escaped Australian train assassination plot, says cop
(AFP)

AFP - French-Italian semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics has said it will cut 4,500 jobs — a tenth of its workforce — as tries to respond to the global slowdown.

Source:STMicro says to cut 4,500 jobs in 2009
(AFP)

AP - Some were killed when tank shells hit their homes. Others died when bombs erased their offices. Still others met their end battling Israeli troops.

Source:After offensive, posters of dead sell well in Gaza
(AP)

AP - The money sent home by Mexican migrants fell in 2008 for the first time on record, Mexico’s central bank said Tuesday ? part of a global trend that could worsen as emigrants from developing countries lose jobs in the global financial crisis.

Source:Yearly Mexican remittances drop for 1st time
(AP)

Reuters - South Korean civic groups that send anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea are breaking the law and face prosecution if they enclose the communist state’s money, a South Korean spokesman said on Wednesday.

Source:North Korea cash sent with leaflets illegal: Seoul
(Reuters)

AP - An 1,800-year-old figurine believed to have originated from the eastern stretches of the Roman Empire has been discovered by archaeologists outside the walls of the old city, the Israeli Antiquities Authority said. The 2-inch marble bust depicts the head of a man with a short curly beard and almond-shaped eyes who may portray a boxer, the authority said.

Source:Rare 1,800-year-old figurine found in Jerusalem
(AP)

AP - The streets of Mullaittivu ? patrolled by rebels just last week ? were empty Tuesday except for stray dogs, abandoned cows and a few government soldiers.

Source:Rebels lose last key town to Sri Lankan troops
(AP)

AP - Thieves apparently targeting people who exchange money at Mexico City’s international airport shot a French citizen in the head on Tuesday, and authorities warned that gangs have put lookouts at exchange windows in the terminal.

Source:Thieves target Mexico airport, shoot Frenchman
(AP)

AP - A Palestinian roadside bomb killed an Israeli soldier patrolling the border with Gaza on Tuesday, and Israel responded with an airstrike that wounded a Hamas militant in a flare-up of violence that undermined a cease-fire on the eve of a visit by the new U.S. Mideast envoy.

Source:Hamas bombing, Israeli airstrike shake Gaza truce
(AP)

Reuters - Chinese businessmen are taking a long-term view and pursuing strategic expansion in Africa even though China’s multiplying investments on the continent have lost some luster in the global downturn.

Source:China marches on in Africa despite downturn
(Reuters)