World
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China launch seen as anti-satellite muscle
The US government believes a Chinese missile launch this week was the first test of a new interceptor that could be used to destroy a satellite in orbit, a US defence official said yesterday. China launched a rocket into space on Monday, but no...
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Car bomber kills at least 15 in Kabul, six from US
A suicide bomber in a car attacked a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul yesterday, killing at least 15 people including six Americans, Afghan and foreign officials said, in one of the worst attacks in the Afghan capital in months. Forty people were...
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Seventeen dead following Baghdad market attacks
At least 17 people were killed by bombs in markets in Baghdad and attacks in northern Iraq yesterday, police said, adding to a surge of sectarian-tinged violence in the past four weeks. Attacks on Sunni and Shi’ite mosques, security forces and...
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Women can’t be president, says Iran
Iranian women seeking to run in the presidential election next month have been told they are not allowed to take part. The remark by a member of Iran’s constitutional watchdog group effectively kills the largely symbolic bids by about 30 women...
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Google branded ‘devious’ over tax
Google was today branded devious, calculating and unethical as furious MPs stepped up pressure on the internet giant over its efforts to shelter its multi-billion profits from UK taxes. At a stormy session of the Commons Public Accounts Committee...
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Pope rails against a dictatorship of the economy
Pope Francis issued a strong call for world financial reform yesterday, condemning a heartless “dictatorship of the economy” and saying the economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries. “Money has to serve, not to...
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Vatican Bank soon to publish yearly report
The Vatican Bank, a centre of scandals for decades, is to launch its own website and publish its annual report in an effort to increase transparency, its new president said yesterday. Ernst von Freyberg told the bank’s employees of the changes,...
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Syrian rebels launch offensive to reverse losses
Syrian rebels said they attacked an important military base in the south and checkpoints in the city of Deraa yesterday, trying to regain ground lost to President Bashar al-Assad’s forces near the Jordanian border. The rebels were thrown onto the...
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Topless protest disrupts opening of Barbie house
Women’s rights protesters disrupted the opening of a giant pink doll’s house in Berlin yesterday, saying the Barbie “Dreamhouse Experience” objectified women. Promoting the doll made by Mattel Inc, the house allows paying visitors to try on Barbie’s...
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Gatsby stars grace Cannes
The Cannes Film Festival conjured up the Roaring Twenties on Wednesday with a glamorous opening night premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, complete with dancers in flapper dresses on the red carpet and umbrellas to keep off the rain. Nicole...
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Dambusters honoured
A Lancaster bomber swooping over Derwent dam to mark the 70th anniversary of the raids on German dams in May 1943, at Derwent Reservoir in central England yesterday. The fly over yesterday marked the anniversary of one of the most memorable...
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World briefs
Silencing a noisy cockerel and supplying Olympic tickets were among the more unusual requests made to British consular staff abroad last year. In Rome, a man asked Foreign Office (FO) staff to translate a phrase for a tattoo he wanted. A woman...
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70th anniversary of dambusters' raid
The famous Dam Busters raid of the second world war was recalled today with a flypast over Derwent dam in Central England to mark the 70th anniversary of the raids on German dams in May 16 and 17, 1943. The Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron flew in...
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Boston bombing suspect wrote message in boat
Accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found hiding in a boat days after the blasts, left a handwritten message describing the attack as retribution for U.S. wars in Muslim countries, CBS News reported. The CBS News report, citing...
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Money has to serve, not to rule - Pope
Pope Francis issued a strong call for world financial reform on Thursday, condemning a heartless "dictatorship of the economy" and saying the economic crisis had made life worse for millions in rich and poor countries. "Money has to serve, not to...
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Car bombers kill 12 in Baghdad
Two car bombs have exploded in sprawling Shiite neighbourhoods of the Iraqi capital killing at least 12 civilians and wounding 30, officials said. The first blast struck a bus and taxi stop around rush hour in the eastern Sadr City. Among the nine...
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1 million evacuated in Bangladesh storm
The outer bands of Cyclone Mahasen struck the southern coast of Bangladesh today, lashing remote fishing villages with heavy rain and fierce winds and forcing the evacuation of more than a million people. The eye of the storm is expected to reach...
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Six killed by Texas tornadoes
A tornado outbreak has devastated parts of Texas, killing at least six people, injuring dozens more and destroying or damaging scores of homes. The worst-hit area was Granbury, where authorities say a storm tore through two neighbourhoods. Sheriff...
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Nuclear talks with Iran fail
The United Nations’ nuclear agency failed to persuade Iran yesterday to let it resume an investigation into suspected atomic bomb research, leaving the high-stakes diplomacy in deadlock. With Iran focused on a presidential election next month,...
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UN urges support for Syria opposition
The UN General Assembly yesterday condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and praised the opposition, but a decline in support for the Gulf Arab-drafted resolution suggested growing uneasiness about Syria’s fractious rebels. While the...
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