World
EU slips up with olive oil ban, reverses course
The European Commission has torn up new rules on how restaurants should serve olive oil less than a week after unveiling them, following widespread ridicule and accusations of unwanted interference. Last week, the Commission said restaurants would be banned from serving oil to diners in refillable glass jugs or dipping bowls from next year. Instead, to...
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Bulgaria still facing stalemate
The centre-right Gerb yesterday emerged from Bulgaria’s election as the largest party but it is short of coalition options, and any new government will almost certainly need backing from a nationalist party, which alarms the European Union. Gerb,...
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Mubarak ‘sad’ about Egypt’s plight
In his first comments to the media since he was detained more than two years ago, Egypt’s ousted leader Hosni Mubarak said he was dismayed at the country’s state of affairs and, particularly, the plight of the poor. In remarks published by Al-Watan...
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Space oddity
An astronaut has said goodbye to life on the International Space Station by making a cover version of David Bowie's Space Oddity. Commander Chris Hadfield, who was to fly home yesterday as his five-month mission came to an end, is shown playing an...
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World briefs
A lawyer representing the terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal has urged Venezuela to demand that France return him to his homeland. Isabelle Coutant-Peyre said Venezuela should press for the repatriation of Illich Ramirez Sanchez on the grounds...
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Prosecutors seek 6-year jail term for Berlusconi in sex trial
Italian prosecutors today called for a six-year jail sentence and a lifetime ban on holding public office for centre-right leader and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is charged with abuse of office and paying for sex with a minor. The...
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Car bomb kills at least nine in Benghazi
A car bomb killed at least nine people outside a hospital in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi this afternoon, witnesses said, in a further sign of the violent disorder plaguing the country since the 2011 revolution that toppled Muammar...
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Hong Kong has world's most expensive retail space
There's expensive and then there's Hong Kong. The Asian shopping haven in the first quarter kept its crown as having the world's highest rent for prime retail properties, at nearly 50 percent more than for similar districts such as upper Fifth...
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Cash-strapped France turns reform focus to pensions
President France Hollande's government launched consultations today with trade union leaders and employers on an overhaul of France's pension system, a reform seen as vital to sorting out French public finances. The European Commission has given...
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Gunfire at New Orleans Mother's Day parade
At least nineteen people were shot when gunfire erupted at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans. The injured were ten men, seven women and two children. Officers saw three suspects running away although no arrests have been made so far. In...
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Berlusconi attacks judges, backs Letta
Silvio Berlusconi has launched a fierce attack on magistrates at a stormy political rally, accusing them of trying to eliminate him politically but he pledged to keep supporting the fragile coalition of centre-left Prime Minister Enrico Letta. The...
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Pope Francis proclaims his first saints
Pope Francis yesterday proclaimed as saints some 800 Italians killed in the 15th century for refusing to convert to Islam, and said many Christians were still being persecuted for their faith. The Vatican seemed at pains not to allow the first...
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Space station’s leaky pump is replaced
A pair of spacewalking astronauts have wrapped up a hastily planned repair job to replace a suspect coolant pump needed to keep the International Space Station at full power. Nasa astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn put on spacesuits and...
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Sharif triumphant in election comeback
Toppled in a 1999 military coup, jailed and exiled, Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif yesterday made a triumphant election comeback and now looks set to form a stable government capable of implementing reforms needed to rescue the fragile economy. Sharif may...
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End of siege fails to clear out Libyan security fears
Gunmen have ended a siege of Libya’s foreign and justice ministries but the two-week standoff has left many unresolved questions about the government’s ability to impose its authority in the capital, let alone the restive east of the country. The...
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Turkey says Syria may be behind border bombings
Turkey accused a group loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad yesterday of carrying out car bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town and said the risk of unrest spreading to Syria’s neighbours was increasing. The twin car bombs,...
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Sars-like virus might pass from person to person
World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said yesterday it seemed likely a new coronavirus that has killed at least 18 people in the Middle East and Europe could be passed between humans, but only after prolonged contact. A virus from the same...
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Teenager charged over acid attack
A British teenager was yesterday charged following an acid attack on a woman on her own doorstep. The 28-year-old victim suffered horrific injuries to her face and upper body after acid was sprayed in her face in Romford, north-east London. Scotland...
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DiCaprio joins Christie’s in environmental fundraiser
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the star of the new film The Great Gatsby, and his foundation have teamed up with Christie’s for a charity auction to benefit environmental causes. Thirty-three works, many created for and donated to the auction by some of...
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World briefs
Rising levels of obesity in middle age could cause a major rise in the number of dementia sufferers, researchers have warned. The risk of having dementia almost doubles with midlife obesity, the UK Health Forum said. Dr Laura Webber and Tim Marsh...
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Nine held over Turkey car bombings
Turkish citizens believed to have links to the Syrian intelligence agency have been detained in connection with twin car bombings that shattered a Turkish border town yesterday, officials said. Turkey's prime minister insisted the country would not...
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