News in Brief

Mubarak trial resumes
CNN

The retrial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resumed behind closed doors Saturday, state-run MENA news agency reported.
The autocratic strongman, who ruled Egypt for three decades with the military's support, faces charges involving the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster.
Mubarak was convicted on the charges last year and sentenced to life in prison, but appealed the ruling and was granted a retrial.

NASA reverses ban on Chinese scientists
Cnn, Hong Kong

NASA's management apparently misinterpreted a security law when it barred Chinese researchers from attending the space agency's Kepler Science Conference in November, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday.
The confusion apparently stemmed from a U.S. law passed in 2011 that prevents NASA funds from being used to collaborate with China or to host Chinese visitors at its facilities.

Eight suicide bombers kill six
Afp, Ramadi

Eight suicide bombers targeted police and local officials in Rawa, northwest of Baghdad, Sunday killing six people in the second major attack in the area in less than a month.
The bombings come as Iraq witnesses its worst violence since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a brutal sectarian conflict.

Philippine quake toll nears 200
Afp, Manila

The death toll from a killer quake in the central Philippines is likely to approach 200 as rescue teams focused on finding dead bodies buried under landslides and fallen structures, an official said Sunday.
A total of 185 deaths have been confirmed so far from the 7.1 quake that shook the tourist island of Bohol on Tuesday, toppling bridges, shattering roads, causing landslides and reducing historic churches to rubble.

Killer 'clowns' murder Mexican ex-drug capo
Afp, La Paz

Gunmen disguised as clowns at a children's party shot dead the eldest brother of Mexico's once powerful Arellano Felix drug cartel family, authorities said Saturday.
Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, 63, was gunned down at a family event Friday in Cabo San Lucas, a tourist resort in the Baja California peninsula, state special investigations prosecutor Isai Arias told reporters.