The Malaysian Insider :: world

Stretched by riots, Swedish police call reinforcements

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:45:07 GMT

STOCKHOLM, May 24 — Police in Stockholm called in reinforcements today after youths set cars and a school ablaze in a fifth night of rioting, the worst to hit Sweden for years. Pupils at a primary school in Kista - an IT hub that is home to the likes of telecoms equipment maker Ericsson and the Swedish office of Microsoft - arrived to find the ...

UK fighters escort Pakistan plane to airport, 2 arrests

Fri, 24 May 2013 15:41:07 GMT

LONDON, May 24 — British fighter jets escorted a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane to Stansted Airport near London today, where police went on board and arrested two men on suspicion of endangering an aircraft. Passengers were leaving the plane and no one was hurt in the incident, a spokesman for the airport said. Flight PK709 from ...

British security services in spotlight after soldier murder

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:07:04 GMT

LONDON, May 24 — Britain's security services faced questions today over whether they could have done more to prevent the murder of a soldier hacked to death in a busy London street after it emerged that his suspected killers were known to intelligence officers. The two suspects, Michael Adebolajo, 28 and Michael Adebowale, 22, are under guard in ...

New bird flu strain may be capable of spreading from human to human, says study

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:55:32 GMT

HONG KONG, May 24 — The H7N9 bird flu virus may be capable of spreading from human to human and can be transmitted not only through direct contact but also through airborne exposure, researchers at the University of Hong Kong have found. The researchers found in a study, presented at a news briefing today, that three ferrets - the main animal ...

Obama seeks end to perpetual US ‘war on terror’

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:47:25 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 24 — Twelve years after the “war on terror” began, President Barack Obama wants to pull the United States back from some of the most controversial aspects of its global fight against Islamist militants. In a major policy speech yesterday, Obama narrowed the scope of the targeted-killing drone campaign against al Qaeda and its ...

China says hopes visit of North Korean envoy can ease tension

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:24:31 GMT

BEIJING, May 24 — China hopes that this week's visit by a senior North Korean envoy can ease tension in the region and help spur efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said today. Choe Ryong-hae, a special envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, met Chinese officials in the highest-ranking ...

BA plane makes Heathrow emergency landing after engine fire

Fri, 24 May 2013 09:06:06 GMT

LONDON, May 24 — A British Airways plane travelling from London to Oslo was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow today after a technical fault in an engine. “The BA762, Heathrow to Oslo service, returned back to Heathrow shortly after take-off due to a technical fault,” BA parent company IAG said. The Airbus A319 aircraft was carrying ...

Magnitude 5.7 quake strikes northern California

Fri, 24 May 2013 07:56:38 GMT

RESTON, Virginia, May 24 — A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck Northern California yesterday, according to the US Geological Survey. The epicentre of the quake was 11 km northwest of the town of Greenville, and near the smaller community of Canyondam, the USGS said. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Allen Shephard, a hunting and fishing ...

Magnitude 8.2 earthquake strikes Russian Far East

Fri, 24 May 2013 07:19:54 GMT

MOSCOW, May 24 — A magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck off Russia’s eastern coast today, briefly prompting a tsunami scare but causing no casualties or substantial damage, Russian emergency authorities said. The epicentre of the quake was located at a depth of 620 km in the Sea of Okhotsk, 390 km west of the nearest city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the ...

Syrian opposition scrambles to save credibility ahead of peace talks

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:27:24 GMT

ISTANBUL, May 24 — The Syrian opposition in exile met yesterday to decide whether to attend a peace conference that the United States and Russia see as a crucial path to ending two years of civil war. Under international pressure to swiftly resolve internal divisions, the Syrian National Coalition began talks in Istanbul to elect a coherent ...

Islamists kill 21 in suicide attacks in Niger

Fri, 24 May 2013 03:09:43 GMT

NIAMEY, May 24 — Islamist suicide bombers struck an army barracks and a French-run uranium mine in Niger yesterday, officials said, killing 21 people and wounding dozens more in attacks that showed militant violence spreading in West Africa. The MUJWA militant group claimed the coordinated dawn assaults on Areva’s mine at Arlit and the military ...

One dead, about 10 injured in Guinea opposition protest

Fri, 24 May 2013 01:11:32 GMT

CONAKRY, May 24 — One person was killed and about were 10 injured when security forces and supporters of Guinea’s president clashed with protesters marching in the capital yesterday against planned legislative elections. President Alpha Conde’s opponents say he plans to rig the long-delayed polls due to take place on June 30. Conde took office in ...

Obama shifts US from ‘perpetual war footing’, limits drone strikes

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:46:17 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 24 — President Barack Obama yesterday shifted the United States away from a “boundless global war on terror”, restricting deadly US drone strikes abroad and taking steps toward closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison. In a major policy speech, Obama defended his administration’s drone war against al Qaeda and its allies but made ...

FBI reviews death of Chechen man shot during Florida questioning

Thu, 23 May 2013 23:19:38 GMT

ORLANDO, Florida, May 24 — A special Federal Bureau of Investigation team from Washington yesterday began reviewing the death of a Chechen immigrant linked to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, a day after he was shot and killed by an agent during questioning in Orlando. The dead man, Ibragim Todashev, 27, was a friend of suspected bomber ...

Obama may limit drone use, discuss Guantanamo in major speech

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:45:03 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 23 — President Barack Obama will vow on Thursday to be more open to the public about the US fight against terrorism and may lay out limits for the use of lethal drones abroad while sketching a vision for closing the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In a major foreign policy speech after some two weeks of dealing with ...

France wants Hezbollah armed wing on EU terror list by end-June

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:14:58 GMT

PARIS, May 23 — France said on Thursday it hoped an initiative could be agreed by the end of June to put the armed wing of Hezbollah on the EU's list of terrorist organisations on grounds the group is importing Syria's war into Lebanon. Paris has traditionally been cautious about backing steps to sanction Hezbollah, fearing it could destabilise ...

At least 18 soldiers, four Islamists killed in Niger

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:24:11 GMT

NIAMEY, May 23 — At least 18 soldiers and four suspected Islamists were killed in a fierce gunbattle following a dawn car bomb attack at a barracks in the northern Niger town of Agadez, military sources and a local official said. “There are 18 soldiers and four attackers dead in Agadez,” said one source. “One of the attackers has taken two or ...

UN report stokes concern over Iran’s nuclear programme, says EU

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:16:40 GMT

BRUSSELS, May 23 — Iran's expansion of sensitive nuclear activity breaks United Nations resolutions and increases concerns about whether its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, the European Union said on Thursday. A UN nuclear agency report released on Wednesday showed Iran was expanding nuclear activities, in clear violation of resolutions of ...

China warns blind dissident ahead of Taiwan trip

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:10:32 GMT

BEIJING, May 23 — China warned blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng on Thursday to mind his language ahead of his trip next month to political rival Taiwan, on a visit which could infuriate Beijing if, as expected, Chen uses it to criticise Chinese rights abuses. China has been largely silent on the issue of Chen since he fled from house arrest ...

Iran seeks to speed up nuclear activity, capacity unclear

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:06:04 GMT

VIENNA, May 23 — Iran is trying to accelerate its uranium enrichment programme, a UN nuclear report showed, but experts said it was unclear when Tehran's new machines could start operating and how efficiently they would work. The Islamic state's progress in introducing next-generation centrifuges is closely watched in the West and Israel as it ...

China’s Li effusive in praise of Pakistan, but not everyone buys it

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:26:19 GMT

ISLAMABAD, May 23 — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang praised the Sino-Pakistan relationship to the hilt on Thursday, urging the "all-weather friends" to boost cooperation in business, trade, energy and infrastructure and build a long-vaunted economic corridor. But not everyone is convinced China has Pakistan interests totally at heart. Li arrived in the ...

Japan’s wartime brothels were wrong, says 91-year-old veteran

Thu, 23 May 2013 05:08:56 GMT

SAGAMIHARA, May 23 — When Masayoshi Matsumoto joined the Japanese army in 1943 and was sent to occupied China as a medic, he thought he was taking part in a righteous war to free Asia from the yoke of Western imperialism. Seven decades later, the 91-year-old retired Christian pastor says it’s his mission to speak out about the injustice of the war ...

Switching from scandals, Obama to address drones and Guantanamo

Thu, 23 May 2013 05:04:39 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 23 — President Barack Obama will seek to draw attention away from a series of domestic scandals with a speech today that defends the US use of drones abroad and lays out a vision for closing the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After nearly two weeks of controversies about his handling of attacks that killed four Americans ...

British soldier hacked to death in suspected Islamist attack

Thu, 23 May 2013 01:46:51 GMT

LONDON, May 23 — A British soldier was hacked to death by two men shouting Islamic slogans in a south London street yesterday, in what the government said appeared to be a terrorist attack. A dramatic clip filmed by an onlooker minutes after the killing showed a man with hands covered in blood, brandishing a bloodied meat cleaver and a knife. “We ...

Stockholm riots challenge image of happy, generous state

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:44:22 GMT

STOCKHOLM, May 23 — Hundreds of youth have torched cars and attacked police in four nights of riots in immigrant suburbs of Sweden’s capital, shocking a country that dodged the worst of the financial crisis but failed to solve youth unemployment and resentment among asylum seekers. Violence spread from the north to the south of the city yesterday ...

FBI says man shot dead while being questioned about Boston bombings

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:08:04 GMT

ORLANDO, Florida, May 23 — An FBI agent shot and killed a man of Chechen origin who turned violent while being questioned yesterday about his connection to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of two Chechen brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings. A friend of the dead man identified him to local media as 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev, ...

Rescuers search Oklahoma tornado town ruins as recovery starts

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:52:16 GMT

MOORE, (Oklahoma), May 22 — Rescue workers with sniffer dogs picked through the ruins of an Oklahoma town on Wednesday to ensure no survivors remained buried after a deadly tornado left thousands homeless and trying to salvage what was left of their belongings. "Yesterday I was numb. Today I cried a lot. Now I'm on the victory side of it," said ...

Egypt court sentences four men to hang for killing priest

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:46:58 GMT

CAIRO, May 22 — An Egyptian court sentenced four men on Wednesday to death by hanging for the 2011 killing of a Coptic Christian priest in his apartment in the southern city of Assiut, state news agency MENA reported. The four were found guilty of killing Reverend Dauoud Peter Boules during a robbery that was aided by his maid, MENA said. The men ...

General says Israel ready to attack Syria should Assad fall

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:29:06 GMT

HERZLIYA (Israel), May 22 — Israel is prepared to attack Syria to prevent advanced weapons reaching jihadi rebels or Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon if President Bashar al-Assad is toppled, Israel's air force chief said on Wednesday. Major-General Amir Eshel also said Israelis should brace for a protracted and painful conflict should their forces ...

Pussy Riot member starts hunger strike to protest court ruling

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:18:32 GMT

MOSCOW, May 22 — A member of the band Pussy Riot who was jailed over a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a Russian cathedral said on Wednesday she was starting a hunger strike after she was barred from a parole hearing. Maria Alyokhina also told her lawyers to quit the proceedings. She and bandmate Nadezhda Tolokonnikova are serving ...

Costa Concordia shipwreck captain to face manslaughter trial

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:12:45 GMT

ROME, May 22 — The captain of the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which capsized off Italy's west coast last year killing 32 people, will face trial for manslaughter as well as other charges, an Italian judge ruled on Wednesday. The giant Costa Concordia flipped on its side outside the Tuscan port of Giglio in January last year after it struck rocks ...

Sectarian violence over Syria war rages in Lebanon’s Tripoli

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:49:38 GMT

TRIPOLI (Lebanon), May 22 — Lebanese supporters of rival factions in Syria's civil war battled overnight in the city of Tripoli in the worst such bout of spillover violence since the conflict started two years ago. One person was killed and many were wounded as Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim gunmen fired mortar bombs and rocket-propelled grenades at ...

Hawkish general makes comeback as North Korea’s military chief

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:33:01 GMT

SEOUL, May 22 — North Korea has reappointed a hardline and loyal general as military chief in a move experts said was part of young leader Kim Jong-un's attempt to tighten his grip on the armed forces. Kim Kyok-sik, widely believed to have been behind the shelling of a South Korean island in 2010 that killed four people, was named "chief of the ...

North Korea sends top Kim Jong-un aide to Beijing

Wed, 22 May 2013 05:45:11 GMT

SEOUL, May 22 — North Korea sent one of its top military officials as a “special envoy” from its leader Kim Jong-un to Beijing today, accompanied by a high-powered delegation in what appeared to be a bid to mend frayed relations with its most important ally. The delegation led by Choe Ryong-hae, vice chairman of the country’s top military body, ...

Japan reported weighing resuming talks with North Korea

Wed, 22 May 2013 03:27:40 GMT

TOKYO, May 22 — Japan has started looking into resuming inter-governmental talks with North Korea after a surprise visit to Pyongyang by an aide to Japan’s prime minister, the Asahi Shimbun and other newspapers said today. Such talks, intended to discuss North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens decades ago and other issues, were last held in ...

With wary eye on the US, China courts India

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:30:35 GMT

NEW DELHI, May 22 — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, smiling and effusive, was out to smooth ruffled feathers in India this week, promising to ease tensions and increase trade between Asia’s fastest growing economies in his first trip overseas since taking office. “China will make your dream come true,” Li told a banquet hall filled with Chinese and ...

Whole neighbourhoods razed by Oklahoma tornado that killed 24

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:22:31 GMT

MOORE, Oklahoma, May 22 — Rescuers went building to building in search of victims and thousands of survivors were homeless yesterday, a day after a massive tornado tore through a suburb of Oklahoma City, wiping out whole blocks of homes and killing at least 24 people. The death toll was lower than initially feared, but nine children were among the ...

Iran acts to expand sensitive nuclear capacity, says diplomats

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:15:10 GMT

VIENNA, May 21 — A UN nuclear agency report due this week is expected to show Iran further increasing its capacity to produce material that its adversaries fear could eventually be put to developing atomic bombs, Western diplomats said on Tuesday. But they said it is also likely to indicate that growth in Iran's most sensitive nuclear stockpile ...

Saudi Arabia executes five Yemenis and displays corpses

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:39:02 GMT

DUBAI, May 21 — Saudi Arabia executed five Yemenis on Tuesday for robbery and murder, then put their bodies on public display as a further punishment, state news agency SPA said. A sixth man, a Saudi national, was separately executed for murder, the agency said. It was the second time in less than three months that Saudi Arabia executed several ...

Vatican marks anniversary of 1972 attack on Michelangelo’s Pieta

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:40:44 GMT

VATICAN CITY, May 21 — Forty-one years ago, a crazed Hungarian named Laszlo Toth jumped an altar railing in St. Peter's Basilica and dealt 12 hammer blows to Michelangelo's Pieta, severely damaging the Renaissance masterpiece. To mark the attack on May 21, 1972, the Vatican Museums held a day-long seminar on Tuesday on the statue, the incident, ...

North Korea releases detained Chinese fishing boat

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:53:37 GMT

BEIJING, May 21 — North Korea released a Chinese fishing boat today after it was taken from waters between the two countries, the boat’s owner said, in an incident that had proven a new irritant in ties between the often uneasy allies. Chinese counsellor to North Korea Jiang Yaxian had told state media earlier that North Korea had “grabbed” the ...

Many children among 91 feared dead in tornado-hit Oklahoma

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:24:01 GMT

MOORE, Oklahoma, May 21 — At least 91 people, including 20 children, were feared killed when a 3.2km-wide tornado tore through an Oklahoma City suburb, trapping victims beneath the rubble as one elementary school took a direct hit and another was destroyed. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster area in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to ...

Hezbollah in big Syria battle, Obama ‘concerned’

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:46:38 GMT

AMMAN, May 21 — Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas have fought their biggest battle yet for Syria’s beleaguered president, prompting international alarm that the civil war may spread, and an urgent call for restraint from the United States. About 30 Hezbollah fighters were killed on Sunday, Syrian activists said, along with 20 Syrian troops and ...

Ugandan police raid newspaper over Museveni succession letter

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:38:34 GMT

KAMPALA, May 20 — Police raided a leading Ugandan newspaper and disabled its printing press and website today after it published a letter about a purported plot to stifle allegations President Yoweri Museveni is grooming his son for power, a senior editor said. Speculation is growing that Museveni, in office since 1986, is lining up his son ...

Israel’s Lapid speaks of removing some settlers for peace

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:29:16 GMT

JERUSALEM, May 20 — Finance Minister Yair Lapid, whose new centrist party is the second largest in Israel’s government, said today thousands of Jewish settlers would have to be removed from occupied land under any peace deal with the Palestinians. But, echoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position, Lapid said Israel intended to hold onto ...

Hezbollah suffers big losses in Syria battle

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:08:20 GMT

AMMAN, May 20 — About 30 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been killed in the fiercest fighting this year in the rebel stronghold of Qusair, Syrian activists said today. If confirmed, the Hezbollah toll from Sunday's battles in Qusair near the Lebanese border would highlight a ...

South Sudan army says retakes town from rebels in east

Mon, 20 May 2013 15:05:01 GMT

JUBA, May 20 — South Sudan's army has retaken an eastern town captured by rebels two weeks ago, a military spokesman said today, in a conflict that has uprooted thousands of people and hampered government plans to explore for oil. Army spokesman Philip Aguer said four soldiers and a dozen rebels were killed during a brief battle yesterday to ...

Obama walks a fine line with Myanmar president’s landmark visit

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:33:14 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 20 — President Barack Obama will walk a fine line between fostering a US ally in China’s backyard and trying to defend human rights when the president of Myanmar becomes the first head of his country to visit the White House in 47 years today. Rights groups and some US lawmakers fear Obama has moved too quickly since forging a ...

Magnitude 6.8 quake strikes off Chile; no tsunami seen

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:45:05 GMT

SANTIAGO, May 20 — A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile today, the US Geological Survey said, but Chilean emergency authorities said they saw no prospect that the tremor would generate a tsunami. The quake struck 400 miles (640km) west of Puerto Aisen at a depth of 6.2 miles, the USGS said. It said the quake had occurred at ...

Tensions over Syria convulse Lebanese city again, 3 killed

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:39:50 GMT

TRIPOLI, May 20 — Three people have been killed and about 40 wounded in two days of fighting in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, security sources said today, as sectarian violence spilled over from the civil war in Syria. Rocket-propelled grenades and heavy gunfire shook the city overnight but the exchanges had tapered off into sporadic sniper ...