Briefs, March 3, 2013

Queen cancels visit due to stomach bug

LONDON - Britain's Queen Elizabeth is recovering after coming down with a stomach bug that forced the cancellation of a royal engagement. The 86-year-old monarch yesterday cancelled a visit to Swansea, Wales. The queen is spending the weekend as usual at Windsor Castle outside London. AP

Fiscal emergency is declared in Detroit

MICHIGAN - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder officially declared Detroit in a fiscal emergency on Friday, setting the stage for a state takeover of the city's financial management and ultimately the possibility of the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history. Detroit officials now have 10 days to request a hearing with the governor. Reuters

Russian anger after adopted boy's death

MOSCOW - Russia said it was concerned by a US ruling that the death of an adopted Russian boy in Texas was an accident, fuelling a diplomatic row as thousands marched in Moscow demanding an end to all foreign adoptions. Russia's foreign ministry said it had learned of the US coroner's findings, which cleared the boy's parents of wrongdoing, "with concern". AFP

New oil pipeline gets a guarded all-clear

WASHINGTON - The State Department raised no major objections to the Keystone XL oil pipeline and said other options to get the oil from Canada to US Gulf Coast refineries are worse for climate change. But the latest environmental review stops short of recommending whether the project should go ahead. AP

Protest over failure to prosecute HSBC

WASHINGTON - Two US senators said a Department of Justice response to their criticism that it didn't criminally prosecute HSBC for money laundering was "aggressively evasive". Senators Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, and Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, sent the Justice Department a letter on January 29 asking whether the federal government avoided prosecuting banks that they described as "too big to jail". Bloomberg

Al-Qaeda chief killed during fighting in Mali

BAMAKO - Al-Qaeda's top commander in Mali has been killed, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno said. Deby said Abou Zeid, the Mali-based operative of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was killed during fighting between Chadian troops and Islamist fighters on February 22. AFP