NY Times to rebrand Herald Tribune

US: For a decade the International Herald Tribune has been the global edition of the New York Times in all but name. On Monday, the parent company made it official.

In a statement, the New York Times Company said the 125-year-old offshoot of the defunct New York Herald Tribune will be rechristened sometime this fall as the International New York Times. The International Herald Tribune (IHT) was co-owned by the New York Times and the Washington Post from 1967 until 2003, when the Times became its sole proprietor and restyled it as “the global edition of the New York Times.”

AFP

Split vote throws Italy into political gridlock

ITALY: Italy headed for gridlock and financial markets tumbled on Tuesday with a stalemate in parliament between right and left after critical elections in which the real winner might be a new protest party calling for a referendum on the euro.

Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani and his leftist coalition scraped a razor-thin victory in the lower chamber of parliament. They won just 29.55 percent to 29.18 percent for Silvio Berlusconi, with 99.9 percent of the ballots counted. The victor’s bonus will give the left a handy majority in the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies.

AFP

Tutu to meet Suu Kyi on Myanmar visit

MYANMAR: Archbishop Desmond Tutu was to meet fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday, her party said, during a visit to Myanmar that also includes talks with dissidents imprisoned by the former junta.

“He met some political prisoners this morning. Daw Suu will meet him in Yangon this afternoon -- she will come back from Naypyidaw to meet him,” he said. Daw is a term of respect in Myanmar.

AFP

Temptations singer dies at 62

US: Otis “Damon” Harris, who as first tenor of the Motown ensemble The Temptations sang on such 1970s hits as “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” has died at the age of 62, US news media reported Monday.

Prostate cancer was the cause of death, a family spokesman told the Sun newspaper in Harris’s hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.

Harris joined The Temptations in 1971 when he was 21 and the group was looking for a new tenor. He stayed on for four years, during which time it won four Grammy awards -- including three for “Papa.” He took the stage name Damon to avoid confusion with Otis Williams, who to this day remains leader of the chart-topping group and its only surviving founding member.

AFP

Tourist balloon explodes in Egypt, 19 dead

EGYPT: A hot air balloon exploded as it was flying over Egypt’s ancient temple city of Luxor on Tuesday, killing 19 people including tourists from Hong Kong, Japan, France and Britain, a security official said.

“Nineteen people died,” the official told AFP. The balloon which was carrying 21 people was flying at 300 metres (yards) over Qurna, in Luxor’s West Bank, when it caught fire before exploding, the official said.

The two survivors, including the balloon’s pilot, have been taken to hospital, he said.

AFP