Digest of international news for the week

Leaders of G-8 group of most powerful economies say they want debt-stricken Greece to remain in eurozone

Saturday

Washington: The leaders of the G-8 group of the world's most powerful economies say they want debt-stricken Greece to remain in the eurozone and vowed to promote economic growth to reinvigorate their economies in the face of the European debt crisis.

Islamabad: The trial of seven Pakistani suspects, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks are adjourned till June 2 as the prosecutors were unwell.

Sunday

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities briefly block access to Twitter on the ground that it was being used to promote a contest on Facebook for blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed before Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stepped in to end the ban.

New York: Dismissing the perception of policy paralysis surrounding the union government, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia feels the government should raise petroleum prices as part of tough decisions and to attract international investment.

Colombo: Sri Lanka's war hero Sarath Fonseka is set to walk out of prison as President Mahinda Rajapaksa signs the orders for the imminent release of his former Army Chief turned political rival after two years of incarceration.

New York: Facebook's billionaire founder Mark Zuckerberg caps an extremely eventful week with a surprising update about his relationship status - he married his long time girlfriend Priscilla Chan in a private ceremony.

Monday

New York: Indian American student Dharun Ravi is sentenced to 30 days in jail by a US judge on hate crime charges by using a webcam to spy on a homosexual roommate who later committed suicide, terming his behavior "cold, calculated and methodically conceived."

New York: The trial of former Indian- American Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta begins here in what is the most high profile case of insider trading in US history.

London: Indian citizens besides those from 66 other "high risk" countries seeking to enter Britain for over six months will need to be screened for tuberculosis before they are granted a visa, the Home Office said here.

Tuesday

Vienna: Despite some remaining differences, a deal has been reached with Iran that will allow the UN nuclear agency to restart a long-stalled probe into suspicions that Tehran has secretly worked on developing nuclear arms says the UN nuclear chief.

Washington: A former Yahoo executive and an Indian-American hedge fund manager have pleaded guilty to insider trading charges that involved exchanging confidential information on a deal between Yahoo and Microsoft for personal gains.

Wednesday

United Nations: Italy's foreign minister says India's arrest of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen they mistook for pirates is having "a very, very negative effect" on international efforts to combat piracy.

Cairo: Millions of Egyptians queue outside polling stations and cast ballots to pick their first post-Mubarak President today in a landmark poll, marking the culmination of a popular uprising that ousted an entrenched autocratic ruler and inspired millions across the Arab world.

Islamabad: A Pakistani doctor who ran a fake vaccination campaign for the CIA to help find Osama bin Laden is sentenced to 33 years of rigorous imprisonment for committing treason under harsh British-era tribal laws.

Thursday

Islamabad: In a reprieve for Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan Parliament's Speaker rules out his disqualification in wake of his conviction for contempt by Supreme Court for refusing to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Islamabad: Countering Pakistan's stand that there is no "concrete" evidence against LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, India insists that it had provided additional evidence against him and his associates, which should be presented in Pakistani court to prosecute the suspects in Mumbai attacks case.

Friday

Islamabad: India and Pakistan fail to ink the much anticipated liberalised visa regime, merely agreeing to do it an an early date after Islamabad insisted on political participation.

Washington: Outraged over the conviction of a Pakistani doctor who helped CIA track Osama bin Laden, two US Senate panels have voted overwhelmingly to cut aid to Islamabad by $33 million - one million for every year of the physician's 33-year sentence for high treason.