Mexico City, July 5 (Xinhua-RHC) -- Mexico’s electoral authorities have announced the recount of votes from some 54 percent of its polling stations countrywide. The decision was made in response to claims of fraud and demands for recounts in Sunday’s presidential race by the left-wing coalition Progressive Movement.

Kabul, July 5 (RHC)-- Trucks supplying NATO troops in Afghanistan crossed the border from Pakistan for the first time this year, after Islamabad reopened transit routes.  Pakistani officials said at least two NATO containers passed through the Chaman border point on Thursday.

Caracas, July 5 (PL-RHC) -- Participants in the First Meeting of Left-wing Parliamentarians underway in Venezuela have called for greater South-South integration and to strengthen links within the world’s left-wing movement, in search of alternatives against the global crisis of capitalism.

Ramallah, July 5 (RHC)-- The Palestinian Authority has called for an international investigation of the death of Yasser Arafat after traces of radioactive material were found on his belongings.  An investigation by the news network Al Jazeera found Arafat may have died of poisoning after high levels of polonium were discovered on personal items including his clothes and toothbrush.

Montevideo, July 5 (PL-RHC) -- Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has pointed to the need to modify the South Common Market (MERCOSUR) to adapt the bloc to conceptual changes that have occurred over the last two decades.

Paris, July 5 (RHC)-- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared parts of the West Bank city of Bethlehem and its Church of the Nativity to be endangered World Heritage sites.

Castries, St. Lucia, July 5 (RHC) -- The heads of State of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are meeting in St. Lucia for the 33rd regular summit of the 15-member trade bloc.

New York, July 5 (RHC)-- A New York judge has ordered the social media site Twitter to hand over the account details and message history of an Occupy Wall Street protester.  Twitter had been called on to provide prosecutors with tweets written by Malcolm Harris, a protester who was arrested with hundreds of others during the Occupy march across the Brooklyn Bridge last October.

San Salvador, July 5 (PL-RHC) -- Secretary General of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) of El Salvador, Medardo González, ratified Thursday the party’s commitment to defend democracy in the country.

Lima, July 5 (ANDINA-RHC) -- The Andean Community (CAN) is to launch the Andean Observatory on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises with the aim of promoting the development of these businesses in its four member countries.

Washington, July 5 (RHC)-- The U.S. recovery "remains tepid," according to the annual report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  It has cut its growth forecast for the U.S. economy to 2% this year from an earlier estimate of 2.1%.

Santo Domingo, July 5 (PL-RHC) -- The 18th Meeting of the Central American and Dominican Republic Health Sector got underway Wednesday in the Dominican Republic with the attendance of ministers and public health representatives from 10 countries.

Brussels, July 5 (RHC)-- The European Central Bank (ECB) has reduced its key interest rate from 1% to 0.75%, a record low for the Eurozone.  The move comes as the Eurozone economy continues to be weak.  The ECB also cut its deposit rate -- from 0.25% to zero.

Washington, July 5 (RHC)-- More than one million homes and businesses in the United States remain without power in the aftermath of last week’s massive storms in the eastern part of that country.

Kabul, July 5, (RHC), -- At least 17 people were killed and scores of others injured in a huge fire triggered by a propane gas reservoir blast in an eastern suburb of the Afghan capital Kabul, authorities said Thursday.