World datelines

Peru: Killed for fat?

LIMA — A gang in the remote Peruvian jungle has been killing people for their fat, police charged Thursday, draining it from their corpses and offering it on the black market for use in cosmetics. Medical experts expressed skepticism that a major market for fat might exist.

Three suspects have confessed to killing five people for their fat, said Col. Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police. He said the suspects, two of whom were arrested carrying bottles of liquid fat, told police it was worth $60,000 a gallon.

Belgium: EU leaders

BRUSSELS — After years of effort the European Union named its first full-time president and powerful foreign policy chief on Thursday — but handed the jobs to two little-known compromise figures instead of global heavy hitters.

The choice by national leaders behind closed doors broke a stalemate in choppy, often pained negotiations intended to give Europe a voice on the world stage commensurate with its economic heft. Belgian Premier Herman Van Rompuy — a soft-spoken technocrat who shuns the public eye and has written haikus about European unity — will be the EU's new president. EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton of Britain, recognized by few in her home country and never elected to public office, was named foreign policy chief.

Mexico: Old woman

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican once put forward for the title of world's oldest woman has died at 119, government officials said Thursday.

Ana Maria Perez died of pneumonia Tuesday at a hospital in the Pacific state of Colima, said Dora Yanez, an official with the Colima state Institute for Attention to the Elderly.

Perez has a valid birth certificate stating she was born June 22, 1890, in western Michoacan state, Yanez told The Associated Press.

Cuba: No Obama visit

HAVANA — President Barack Obama has answered questions submitted by a celebrated Cuban blogger, saying he isn't interested in "talking for the sake of talking" with Raul Castro and indicating he won't visit the island until the communist government changes its ways.

In an unusual written response to Yoani Sanchez, who has gained international acclaim for daring to criticize her government online, Obama also said it is up to Cuba to act if it wants normal relations with Washington, saying that a true thaw in nearly 50 years of deep-freeze "will require action by the Cuban government."

Russia: Death penalty

ST. PETERSBURG — Russia's Constitutional Court effectively outlawed the death penalty Thursday, saying a moratorium on capital punishment should remain in force until the nation fully bans executions.