The Malaysian Insider :: world

Colombia prostitution scandal sparks probe of US drug enforcers

Tue, 22 May 2012 03:33:55 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 22 — A prostitution scandal in Colombia involving US Secret Service and military personnel ahead of a presidential visit has spawned a separate investigation into the behaviour of Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Cartagena, officials said yesterday. A spokesman for the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector-General said ...

Fired for being ‘too hot’, New Jersey woman claims

Tue, 22 May 2012 01:26:41 GMT

NEWYORK, May 22 — A New Jersey woman said yesterday that she was dismissed from a temporary job at a New York lingerie warehouse because her male employers felt she was too busty and dressed too provocatively for the workplace. Wearing a form-fitting sequined black dress and black leather, sequin-studded boots, Lauren Odes, 29, said her Orthodox ...

Obama sketches four-pronged strategy for Europe, sees EU consensus

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:51:36 GMT

CHICAGO, May 22 — US President Barack Obama yesterday urged Europe to strengthen its defences against financial market turmoil and recapitalise its banks as part of a four-pronged strategy for tackling the euro zone crisis. European leaders had shown an increased resolve to address these issues, and there was a “consensus across the board” from ...

Suicide bomber kills 90 in Yemen, al Qaeda vows more attacks

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:25:09 GMT

SANAA, May 22 — A suicide bomber in army uniform killed more than 90 soldiers in the heart of the Yemeni capital yesterday and an al Qaeda affiliate threatened more attacks if a US-backed campaign against militants in the front-line state did not stop. The bombing, which wounded more than 200 people, underscored the dangers Yemen faces as it ...

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi buried in Libya

Mon, 21 May 2012 15:33:53 GMT

TRIPOLI, May 21 – The Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of a PanAm flight over Lockerbie was buried today in a quiet ceremony that Libyans hope will allow them to leave behind the controversy that surrounded him in life. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who always said he was not responsible for bringing down the jumbo jet on the Scottish town and ...

Prominent rival of Sri Lanka president walks free

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:46:26 GMT

COLOMBO, May 21 – Sri Lanka’s former army chief walked free from jail today with a pardon from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who appears to have bowed to international demands for the release of his high-profile rival while erasing the image of him as a victim. Ex-General Sarath Fonseka kissed his hands and raised them to 2,000 supporters who ...

Strauss-Kahn investigators open group rape inquiry

Mon, 21 May 2012 11:56:01 GMT

LILLE, May 21 – French prosecutors said today they had opened an inquiry into allegations of group rape by Dominique Strauss-Kahn and three friends, as part of an investigation into his ties to a suspected prostitution ring in the northern city of Lille. The former IMF chief (picture) is under formal investigation over whether he was aware he was ...

Three climbers including a German die on Everest

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:44:24 GMT

KATHMANDU, May 21 – Three climbers including a German physician died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest, officials said today. Eberhard Schaaf, 61, from Aachen, Germany, who was climbing with the Eco Everest Expedition to remove decades-old garbage from the mountain, died on Saturday along the normal Southeast Ridge Route on the ...

UN atom chief starts talks in Tehran, hopes for deal

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:47:50 GMT

VIENNA, May 21 – The UN nuclear watchdog chief began rare talks in Tehran today after voicing hope for a deal to investigate suspected atomic bomb research – a gesture that Iran may count on to get international sanctions relaxed and deflect threats of war. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Yukiya Amano met the head of Iran’s ...

Defiant Australian legislator rejects brothel claims

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:23:50 GMT

CANBERRA, May 21 — An Australian member of parliament accused of spending union money on prostitutes said today he had been framed by union rivals and he made no mention of resigning, which would threaten the government’s thin majority. The legislator, Craig Thomson, has been suspended from the ruling Labor Party over the scandal, but he continues ...

Two killed in heavy clashes in Beirut

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:06:22 GMT

BEIRUT, May 21 — At least two people were killed in Beirut in heavy clashes early today between rival Sunni Muslim gunmen, the latest violence fuelled by tensions over the uprising in neighbouring Syria. Gunmen firing rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns clashed in the Lebanese capital’s Tariq al-Jadideh district in some of the fiercest ...

Putin to dominate new Russian government

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:39:30 GMT

MOSCOW, May 21 — Russian President Vladimir Putin will unveil a government dominated by loyalists today, leaving Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev limited scope to pursue his reform agenda and entrenching the Kremlin’s grip over the economy’s commanding heights. Medvedev, 46, named premier after Putin returned to the Kremlin on May 7, has pledged to ...

China reformer sees his opportunity after Bo’s fall

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:13:31 GMT

BEIJING, May 21 — One of China’s most conspicuously reform-minded leaders has stepped back into the spotlight after the nation’s biggest political convulsion in a generation, positioning himself to gain from the fall of populist politician Bo Xilai. Wang Yang, leader of Guangdong province and well known for his deft handling of recent civil unrest ...

Blind Chinese activist Chen rests in New York City

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:38:02 GMT

NEW YORK, May 21 — Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng soaked up the sun in New York City yesterday as his children played in a garden, a break in a day of meetings to arrange his studies at New York University. “(Chen) said he hadn’t sat in the sun for many, many years,” said Jerome Cohen, a China law expert and professor at New York ...

Rare ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse dims skies

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:26:21 GMT

KANARRAVILLE (Utah), May 21 — The sun and moon aligned over the earth in a rare astronomical event yesterday — an annular eclipse that dimmed the skies over parts of Asia and North America, briefly turning the sun into a blazing ring of fire. Eclipses of some type occur almost every year, but stargazers have not seen an annular — shaped like a ...

Top cop in China’s Bo drama to be tried for treason

Mon, 21 May 2012 03:08:36 GMT

HONG KONG, May 21 — The former police chief at the heart of China’s biggest political scandal in two decades will be tried for treason as early as next month, the South China Morning Post reported today, citing unnamed sources briefed on the case. Wang Lijun, former Chongqing police chief and a key ally of the city’s former ambitious leader Bo ...

Michelle Obama shows South Side of Chicago to first ladies

Mon, 21 May 2012 02:45:42 GMT

CHICAGO, May 21 — Michelle Obama showed off her neighbourhood on the South Side of Chicago to some NATO visitors yesterday, taking five other first ladies to a youth centre for lunch and for a musical performance by the children. The women toured the Gary Komer Youth Centre, which features a gymnasium, dance studio and a theater. The centre ...

Two more men charged in probe of NATO attack plots

Mon, 21 May 2012 01:51:00 GMT

CHICAGO, May 21 — One man was arrested on terrorism-related charges and another for possession of explosives, bringing to five the number of people arrested ahead of the NATO summit yesterday in an alleged plot to target US President Barack re-election headquarters. Chicago residents Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, and Mark Neiweem, 28, were charged as ...

North Korea releases detained Chinese fishermen

Mon, 21 May 2012 01:18:02 GMT

BEIJING, May 21 — North Korea released a number of Chinese fishermen and boats yesterday two weeks after seizing them, ending a rare public dispute between the two allies, Chinese state media reported. The boats were taken in the Yellow Sea between China and North Korea on May 8 — although it remains unclear whether the action was authorised by ...

Russia says military action on Iran being considered in West

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:34:38 GMT

MOSCOW, May 21 — Russia’s deputy foreign minister said yesterday that military action against Iran over its nuclear programme was being considered in some Western countries. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was speaking to reporters on a plane on his way back from the G8 summit in Camp David, where the G8 leaders signalled their readiness ...

NATO to embrace pivot to Afghanistan support role in 2013

Mon, 21 May 2012 00:23:44 GMT

CHICAGO, May 21 − Western leaders gathering this weekend to define their path out of Afghanistan will announce a pivot in the NATO mission next year, formally putting Afghan soldiers in charge of combat operations across the country, US and NATO officials said yesterday. The leaders are expected to endorse a US decision − telegraphed by the ...

NATO seeks unity on Afghan war despite French exit plan

Sun, 20 May 2012 22:38:09 GMT

CHICAGO, May 21 − NATO leaders charting a path out of Afghanistan sought yesterday to dispel fears of a rush for the exits in the unpopular war even as France‘s new president vowed to stick by his pledge to withdraw French troops by year’s end. President Barack Obama, who once called the Afghan conflict a “war of necessity” but is now looking for ...

Pakistan urges a ‘permanent solution’ on US drone strikes

Sun, 20 May 2012 22:27:50 GMT

CHICAGO, May 21 − Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari pressed the United States during a NATO meeting yesterday to help find a “permanent solution” to US drone strikes that have fueled tensions between the two uneasy allies. “The president said that Pakistan wanted to find a permanent solution to the drone issue as it not only violated our ...

‘Mighty’ Merkel may be the odd woman out

Sun, 20 May 2012 22:18:10 GMT

CHICAGO, May 21 — There are weeks in the political life of Angela Merkel that were surely more pleasant than the last one. Last Sunday, the German chancellor’s party suffered a big loss in the regional election of North Rhine-Westphalia. On Wednesday, she sacked one of her cabinet ministers, a rare move for her, after he led the party to the ...

Le Pen would lose to leftist in France assembly vote, poll shows

Sun, 20 May 2012 14:26:57 GMT

PARIS, May 20 — An opinion poll published today showed that French far-right leader Marine Le Pen would lose to far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon in her home district in parliamentary elections next month. The Ifop-Fiducial poll showed that Le Pen would win the June 10 first round with 34 per cent of the votes against 29 per cent for Melenchon ...

Blast near UN ceasefire monitor chief’s convoy in Syria

Sun, 20 May 2012 13:15:21 GMT

DOUMA, May 20 — A roadside bomb exploded today about 150 metres from a United Nations convoy carrying the head of a Syria ceasefire monitoring mission and a senior UN official in the town of Douma, a Reuters witness said. Major General Robert Mood’s car was stopped at an army checkpoint when the bomb detonated in an nearby alleyway and the convoy ...

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi has died in Libya, says brother

Sun, 20 May 2012 13:08:48 GMT

TRIPOLI, May 20 — The former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people has died, his brother said today. He was 60. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi died at home after a long battle with cancer. His health had deteriorated quickly overnight, his brother Abdulhakim told ...

Italy quake kills five, damages historic buildings

Sun, 20 May 2012 05:01:37 GMT

SANT’ AGOSTINO, May 20 — A strong earthquake in northern Italy killed five people, injured dozens and damaged historic buildings including a famed mediaeval castle early today, waking terrified citizens and sending thousands running into the streets. The quake, which the US Geological Survey recorded at magnitude 6.0, struck at 0204 GMT and was ...

Impatient Thai red shirts want justice from PM Yingluck

Sun, 20 May 2012 04:50:51 GMT

BANGKOK, May 20 — Thailand's "red shirts" took to the street this weekend to mark the anniversary of the army's bloody repression of their mass rally in Bangkok in 2010 amid growing signs of a rift with the government they helped elect last July. Many red shirts are angry at the failure of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to bring to account ...

Chicago protests on eve of NATO summit small, peaceful

Sun, 20 May 2012 03:16:36 GMT

CHICAGO, May 20 — Hundreds of demonstrators protested peacefully yesterday on the eve of the NATO summit in Chicago, gathering outside Mayor Rahm Emanuel's home to criticize cuts in mental health services before moving downtown under the close eye of police. An estimated 500 demonstrators participated in the march to Emanuel's home, police said. ...

Syria bomb kills 9, Damascus blames foreign plot

Sun, 20 May 2012 02:54:21 GMT

BEIRUT, May 20 — A car bomb killed nine people at a Syrian military post in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor yesterday, an attack the government said was the latest proof that an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad was a foreign plot. The official SANA news agency said the blast had been the work of a suicide bomber, and had also wounded ...

Blind Chinese activist arrives in New York

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:41:28 GMT

NEW YORK, May 20 — Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday after China allowed him to leave a hospital in Beijing in a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic rift between the two countries. Chen's escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the US Embassy was a ...

Thousands march in Frankfurt against austerity measures

Sat, 19 May 2012 16:24:01 GMT

FRANKFURT, May 19 — At least 20,000 demonstrators marched through Frankfurt today in a peaceful protest against austerity measures implemented to tackle the intensifying euro zone debt crisis. Police closed off main roads in the centre of Frankfurt and set up check points on highways around the city as part of a heavy security operation to protect ...

Europe’s economic woes dominate G8 gathering

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:08:06 GMT

CAMP DAVID, Maryland, May 19 — US President Barack Obama pledged at a Group of Eight summit today to work with Europe on a package that balances growth with debt reduction as world leaders try to prevent the worsening euro zone crisis from destabilising the global economy. At the wooded Camp David retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, Obama ...

Blind Chinese activist leaves Beijing for US

Sat, 19 May 2012 09:16:30 GMT

BEIJING, May 19 — China allowed a blind legal activist, Chen Guangcheng, to leave a hospital in Beijing today and board a plane bound for the United States, a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic standoff between the two countries. Chen’s escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the US embassy ...

Bomb at south Italy school, several hurt

Sat, 19 May 2012 07:36:49 GMT

ROME, May 19 — A bomb exploded in front of a school in the southern Italian town of Brindisi today, injuring at least five people, two of them seriously, the Italian news agency ANSA reported, citing an official from the Civil Protection Service. ANSA said police were investigating but no other details were available. No comment was immediately ...

Italy says envoy recall signals ‘strong displeasure’ with India

Sat, 19 May 2012 07:05:59 GMT

NEW DELHI, May 19 — Italy’s recall of its envoy from New Delhi is aimed at signalling its “strong displeasure” with the Indian government‘s handling of a case involving two Italian sailors charged with murder, a top Italian official said today. The ambassador’s recall yesterday escalated an increasingly tense diplomatic spat between Italy and ...

Blind activist: China’s ‘manipulation’ of nephew’s case will fail

Sat, 19 May 2012 05:26:24 GMT

BEIJING, May 19 — Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng said today the authorities’ drive to manipulate his nephew’s case would not succeed, but instead would increase public discontent over an episode that has renewed international focus on China’s human rights and legal system. Chen Guangcheng’s nephew, Chen Kegui, was denied his family’s ...

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi to address British parliament in June

Sat, 19 May 2012 04:59:34 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 19 — Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be given the rare honour of addressing both houses of Britain’s parliament when she makes her first trip outside Myanmar in 24 years next month, British officials said today. The Nobel peace laureate has accepted Prime Minister David Cameron’s invitation to visit Britain and will ...

G8 leaders broadly united on Iran and Syria

Sat, 19 May 2012 04:39:59 GMT

CAMP DAVID, May 19 — Group of Eight leaders agreed in their initial discussions at Camp David yesterday that Iran needs to disclose more about its nuclear ambitions and that it was time to focus on a political transition in Syria, a US official said. The leaders, including newly elected French President Francois Hollande and Russian Prime Minister ...

Putin seeking control in Russian Cabinet selection

Sat, 19 May 2012 03:14:22 GMT

MOSCOW, May 19 — President Vladimir Putin will likely name allies to key economic posts when he unveils his new cabinet on Monday, asserting control over the government in a move that could hamstring reforms backed by his more liberal premier. At stake is the future of Russia’s privatisation programme and the drive to diversify a US$1.7 trillion ...

Refloat of Italy’s Concordia wreck to be biggest ever

Sat, 19 May 2012 03:02:38 GMT

ROME, May 19 — Salvage crews will employ huge cranes and air tanks to refloat the half-submerged Costa Concordia cruise liner in the largest ever operation of its kind, according to a plan unveiled yesterday. Estimated to cost at least US$300 million (RM939 million), the work is expected to begin within a few days and last about a year, said the ...

Italy court upholds ruling clearing Berlusconi

Sat, 19 May 2012 02:56:28 GMT

ROME, May 19 — Italy’s highest appeals court yesterday upheld a decision that cleared former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a fraud and embezzlement case related to his private broadcaster Mediaset. Milan magistrates who wanted Berlusconi to be indicted lodged an appeal after a judge ruled last October that there was not enough evidence for a ...

Thousands protest in Chicago ahead of NATO summit

Sat, 19 May 2012 02:18:57 GMT

CHICAGO, May 19 — An estimated 2,500 people, including hundreds of nurses, protested peacefully in a downtown Chicago plaza under the watchful eye of police yesterday, chanting mostly about economic issues that have little to do with the summit of the NATO military alliance starting this weekend. The rally, which Chicago police estimated at about ...

Syria’s Assad: Nations that sow chaos will suffer

Sat, 19 May 2012 01:37:41 GMT

AMMAN, May 19 — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that countries trying to “sow chaos” in Syria could be infected with it themselves, an apparent warning to Arab Gulf nations that back the insurgency aimed at forcing him from power. Assad’s remarks, to a Russian TV channel, came after UN staff monitoring an increasingly shaky ...

Mexican crime reporter kidnapped and murdered

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:28:04 GMT

CIUDAD OBREGON, May 19 − The corpse of a crime reporter was found stuffed into a garbage bag in a suspected gangland killing in the northern Mexican state of Sonora, prosecutors said yesterday. Police officers located the body of Marco Antonio Avila on the side of a rural road the day after he was kidnapped by a group of gunmen at a car wash in ...

Nightmare foretold if Greece heads for euro exit

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:36:57 GMT

ATHENS, May 19 — In Athens, the homeless are on the streets in growing numbers, soup kitchens feed twice as many people as a year ago, and the poor are diving into garbage bins in search of scrap they can sell. Greece is close to breaking point as it struggles with austerity targets set by creditors, but this is just a foretaste of the nightmare ...

Obama presses Europe for shift to growth focus

Fri, 18 May 2012 22:15:26 GMT

WASHINGTON, May 19 — US President Barack Obama pressed Europe yesterday to shift toward a more pro-growth policy and away from austerity to tackle a crisis that threatens to push Greece out of the euro zone and send economic shockwaves worldwide. Setting the tone for a weekend G8 summit, Obama made clear he was aligning himself with the new French ...

After stinging report, Pope softens tone for US nuns

Fri, 18 May 2012 15:23:49 GMT

VATICAN CITY, May 18 ¬ Pope Benedict today held out an olive branch to American Roman Catholic nuns, who are reeling from a stinging Vatican report that criticised them as being feminist and politicised. “I wish to reaffirm my deep gratitude for the example of fidelity and self-sacrifice given by many consecrated women (nuns) in your country,” he ...

UN nuclear chief to visit Tehran for talks

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:34:06 GMT

VIENNA, May 18 — United Nations nuclear agency chief Yukiya Amano will travel to Tehran on Sunday for talks with senior Iranian officials, the Vienna-based IAEA said today. The surprise development comes as Western diplomats say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran are making headway towards a framework deal on how to tackle ...