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By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Award-winning journalist and war correspondent Michael Hastings, whose unflinching reporting ended the career of top US Army general Stanley McChrystal, died in a car accident in Los Angeles, his family said. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Journalist Michael Hastings killed in car accident
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> President Barack Obama said Russian and US nuclear weapons should be slashed by up to a third, in a keynote speech in front of Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate, where he called for a world of “peace and justice”. Obama used the once-divided city’s rebirth as a metaphor for progress, as he stood on the east side of the route of the Berlin Wall, and warned the “complacent” West that history did not stop with its cold war victory. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Barack Obama calls for more nuclear weapons cuts
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Under the watchful eye of stern-faced American advisers, hundreds of US-trained Jordanian commandos fanned across the dusty desert plain, holding war games that could eventually form the basis of an assault in Syria. With the recent deployment of Patriot missiles near the Syrian border, and the mock Syrian accents of those playing the enemy, the message was clear: there is fear of spillover from the Syrian war in this US-allied kingdom, and the potential for a Jordanian role in securing Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles should Bashar al-Assad’s regime lose control. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading War games in Jordan send a signal to Syria
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> In November 2008, Abid Naseer, a Pakistani student living in Manchester, England, began to e-mail a Yahoo account ultimately traced to his home country. The young man’s e-mails appeared to be about four women – Nadia, Huma, Gulnaz and Fozia – and which one would make a “faithful and loving wife”. Investigating terrorism is not an exact science. It’s like a mosaic SEAN JOYCE, FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR British investigators later determined that the four names were code for types of explosives. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading US defends surveillance tactics in war on terrorism
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> In the context of the war in Syria, the G8′s support for convening peace talks in Geneva “as soon as possible” and a pledge of US$1.5 billion in humanitarian aid are the diplomatic equivalent of motherhood and apple pie – a comforting reaffirmation of the decent and unobjectionable. But neither will do much to end the crisis any time soon. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Fine words but no action from G8
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> The incongruous appearance of a multimillion-dollar yacht at a North Korean fishery station is being cited as evidence that Kim Jong-un has inherited his late father’s taste for the trappings of wealth, and that he’s found a way to get around UN sanctions to satisfy them. Spotted in the background of photos of Kim published by the state-run KCNA news agency, the vessel was identified by the NK News web site on Tuesday as a 29-metre Princess 95MY. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Kim Jong-un skirts UN ban with luxury yacht
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> If you have just seen a play that you think is drivel, would you keep silent when everyone around you demands an encore? Possibly not, according to research published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. Combining a psychological experiment and mathematical analysis, the research marked a scientific attempt to quantify the fuzzy notion of “social contagion” – how individual behaviour is influenced by group dynamics. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Research shows that peer pressure drives social behaviour
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> China’s three-week border stand-off during April in Ladakh, in Indian-administered Kashmir, had misfired, an Indian security expert told a forum in Manila, saying Beijing’s move galvanised Indian leaders into finally sealing an historic security deal with Japan. The dispute strained ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours, but both sides pulled troops back ahead of a visit to New Delhi by Premier Li Keqiang, who agreed to fresh talks to settle their long-running border row. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading China’s border row with India has misfired, says regional security expert
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> US first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha yesterday visited key sites of Germany’s troubled Nazi and cold war history, walking through the haunting Holocaust Memorial and laying flowers for those killed at the Berlin Wall. As President Barack Obama attended to matters of state in a 24-hour visit to the German capital, his family went on a whirlwind tour in an armoured limousine on their first visit to the city. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Michelle Obama, daughters visit sites of Germany’s Nazi, cold war history
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Canada, among the 10 least corrupt countries in the world the past six years, according to rankings by Transparency International, is mired in scandals. Montreal Mayor Michael Applebaum was arrested by Quebec’s anti-corruption task force on Monday over fraud allegations, adding to controversies rocking political circles in Toronto and Ottawa that have taken the shine off Canada’s image as a squeaky-clean nation. Applebaum quit on Tuesday, saying he plans to focus on defending himself against the “unfounded” accusations. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Canada reels from corruption scandals
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> A mentally disabled woman and her daughter were forced to live in an Ohio basement with snakes and pitbulls and were treated like slaves for more than two years, US prosecutors said. The case came to light after the woman was caught stealing confectionery and told police she would rather go to jail than go home because her roommates “were mean to her”. Three of her tormentors were arrested on human trafficking charges. “We are yet again reminded that modern-day slavery exists all around us,” US attorney for the northern district of Ohio, Steven Dettelbach, said. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Mentally-ill woman and her daughter ‘lived in slavery’ in Ohio basement
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> A grand jury has indicted a US man on charges he strangled his ex-wife and tossed her off a cruise ship in Italy. The Orange County Register said Lonnie Kocontes, 55, did not enter a plea on Monday. He was indicted on Friday on a charge of murder for financial gain. He will try to have the case dismissed on June 26, arguing that Californian authorities lack jurisdiction. Kocontes and Micki Kanesaki, 52, were divorced but had lived together on and off. They were sharing a cabin on the cruise when she went overboard. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Lonnie Kocontes allegedly strangled ex-wife and threw her from cruise ship
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> President Dilma Rousseff sought to defuse a massive protest movement sweeping Brazil, acknowledging the need for better public services and more responsive governance. She insisted on Tuesday – the day after more than 200,000 Brazilians marched in cities around the country – that her government remained committed to social change and was listening attentively to the many grievances expressed. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Brazil president Rousseff tries to appease protesters
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> By lunchtime in the waterfront district of Besiktas in Istanbul, Ismail Orhan had been standing silently under a yellow parasol in the blistering heat for more than four hours. “We’ll be here for weeks, for months,” said the 25-year-old, as office workers used their lunch break to join him in a new wave of passive resistance to the authorities. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading ‘Standing man’ inspires silent opposition in Turkey
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Italy’s top court said it had ordered a retrial of American Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend in the murder of British student Meredith Kercher because their acquittals contained “shortcomings, contradictions and inconsistencies”. Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito were initially found guilty of killing the 21-year-old Leeds University student in 2007 during what was described as a drug-fuelled sexual assault, but both were cleared on appeal in 2011. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Knox retrial due to acquittal flaws
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> Fashion design duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were yesterday each handed a suspended prison sentence of one year and eight months for hiding hundreds of millions of euros from the tax authorities. The designers, who are nearly as famous as the stars they dress, were not present in court in Milan and denied the charges. Given the complexity and length of the appeals process, they are unlikely to spend any time in jail. Public prosecutor Gaetano Ruta had asked that they be jailed for two- and-a-half years. A spokesman for the company declined to comment immediately. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Dolce and Gabbana get suspended jail terms for tax evasion
By By JACKIE CALMES, on June 19th, 2013 Speaking Wednesday in Berlin, President Obama said that German terrorist threats were among those foiled by American surveillance programs, which the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, seemed to confirm.
Continue reading Merkel Challenges Obama on Surveillance
By By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, on June 19th, 2013 Mr. Hastings, the journalist whose reporting led to the ouster of the commander of American forces in Afghanistan in 2010, was killed in a car crash, the news Web site BuzzFeed said.
Continue reading Michael Hastings, Polk Winner, Dies in Crash at 33
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> STOCKHOLM (AP) — Iceland says a WikiLeaks spokesman who claims to represent Edward Snowden has reached out to government officials about the potential of the NSA leaker applying for asylum in the Nordic country. Johannes Skulason, an Icelandic government official, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson had held informal talks with assistants at the Interior Ministry and the prime minister’s office. Skulason said Hrafnsson “presented his case that he was in contact with Snowden and wanted to see what the legal framework was like.” <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Iceland: ‘informal talks’ about Snowden asylum
By , on June 19th, 2013 <!– google_ad_section_start –> BEIJING (AP) — China’s new leader Xi Jinping is commanding wayward Communist Party cadres to purify themselves of corruption, and he’s summed it up in a pithy slogan as Mao Zedong might have done: Look in the mirror, take a bath. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading China’s Xi harks back to Mao in party ‘cleanup’
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Journalist Michael Hastings killed in car accident
<!– google_ad_section_start –> Award-winning journalist and war correspondent Michael Hastings, whose unflinching reporting ended the career of top US Army general Stanley McChrystal, died in a car accident in Los Angeles, his family said. <!– google_ad_section_end –>
Continue reading Journalist Michael Hastings killed in car accident
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