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Turkmenistan's president wins 97% of vote

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:16:44 GMT

Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won a new five-year term by capturing 97 per cent of the vote, election officials said today, but a Western expert called the vote a democratic sham.

Pirates murder ship's officers off coast of Nigeria

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:44:43 GMT

Pirates have killed the captain and chief engineer of a cargo ship they attacked off the coast of Nigeria.

Thai couples face off in Valentine's Day kissing marathon

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:46:54 GMT

Lips locked at all times - including for bathroom breaks and meals - is the less than romantic challenge facing Thai couples trying for the kiss to blow away all kisses at a Valentine's Day marathon.

Blast hits Israeli diplomat's car in India

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:34:55 GMT

Assailants targeted Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia in near-simultaneous strikes today that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed on archenemy Iran, and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.

Greeks clean up after riots against austerity vote

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:57:05 GMT

Firefighters doused smoldering buildings and cleanup crews swept rubble from the streets of central Athens today following a night of rioting during which politicians approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the nation from bankruptcy.

Chinese seize iPads in legal row

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:37:37 GMT

Apple's iPads have been banned from sale in part of China after a local firm claimed it had rights to the tablet computer's brand name.

Rebels repel troops in Syrian town

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:19:46 GMT

Syrian rebels have repelled a push by government tanks into a key central town held by forces fighting against President Bashar Assad's regime, an activist group said today.

Whitney Houston cause of death 'not known'

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:37:26 GMT

US officials have said it is too soon to determine whether prescription drugs were involved in Whitney Houston's death.

'No foul play' in Whitney Houston death says Coroner

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:37:26 GMT

Music's biggest stars gathered to remember the life of singing legend Whitney Houston at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony as official details of her death began to emerge.

'No foul play' in Houston murder says Coroner

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:37:26 GMT

Music's biggest stars gathered to remember the life of singing legend Whitney Houston at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony as official details of her death began to emerge.

'No foul play' in Houston death says Coroner

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:37:26 GMT

Music's biggest stars gathered to remember the life of singing legend Whitney Houston at this year's Grammy Awards ceremony as official details of her death began to emerge.

Hague backs Syria peacekeeping force

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:42:08 GMT

Plans to send a joint United Nations and Arab League peacekeeping force in to Syria must be discussed “urgently”, Foreign Secretary William Hague said today.

Olympic sponsorship row fuelled by Bhopal revelations

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Olympic sponsors Dow Chemical Company secretly traded through a web of intermediaries to avoid a legal ban on selling products in India after the Bhopal gas disaster which killed up to 25,000 people.

Critics line up to ridicule Romney after he claims to be 'severely conservative'

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Mitt Romney's latest attempt to woo the Republican rank and file misfired spectacularly, as popular figures lined up to ridicule his description of himself as "severely conservative".

Fight for the right: Sarkozy's bid to win Le Pen's people

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Marine Le Pen yesterday tore up her presidential campaign – or at least her standard stump speech. From now on, she told a cheering audience supporters in Strasbourg, it would be "back to basics": immigration, immigration, insecurity, love of country and immigration.

Clinton aides feared Lewinsky was part of a setup, documentary claims

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Bill Clinton's political allies were so stunned by the revelation of his affair with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky that they believed the president must have been set up, according to a new documentary about the infamous sex scandal.

Lesson in extremism at Israel 'peace' school

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

A school set up to promote peace and understanding between Arab and Jewish communities in Jerusalem has been hit by vandals who have daubed racist threats on its playground walls, including "Death to Arabs".

Pumping of Concordia fuel begins

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Underwater pumping operations began yesterday to remove some of the 500,000 gallons of fuel on the Costa Concordia.

Venezuelan opposition holds first primary

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Venezuelans voted yesterday in the country's first opposition primary, which is expected to select a young state governor to challenge Hugo Chavez later this year in what could be a close-run presidential election.

Saudi journalist left facing the death penalty over Twitter posts

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Defying pleas from human rights groups, Malaysia has extradited a young Saudi journalist who faces a possible death sentence in his home country for posting a tweet deemed to insult the Prophet Mohamed.

The Russian satirical poet, his billionaire backer and a tour that Putin won't find funny

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

In the days before their compatriots go to the polls next month, London's sizeable Russian community will be treated to performances from a darkly satirical act that mocks Vladimir Putin and the system he has created, all thanks to a renegade Russian businessman living in exile in the British capital.

Letters raise fears for last Briton in Guantanamo

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

On the day he marks 10 years locked inside the world's most notorious prison without having been charged with an offence, the last UK resident in Guantanamo Bay pleads with his captors: "Please torture me in the old way ... Here they destroy people mentally and physically without leaving marks."

Saif will stand trial in Tripoli

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was the presumed heir to the toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, will be moved to a Tripoli prison within two months and then face trial, the chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, said yesterday.

Homs bloodshed spills over into Lebanon

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

The Syrian war cost the life of Mohamed Bathish and he was buried amid volleys of gunfire yesterday in the city where he died - in northern Lebanon.

Carla's £67,000 statue ruffles a few feathers in Paris

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 GMT

A proposed bronze statue portraying Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as a poor Italian feather-plucker is ruffling political feathers in the Paris suburbs. The centre-right mayor of Nogent-sur-Marne won support for a two-metre-high, €82,000 (£67,000) statue to commemorate the "plumassières" – women of Italian origin who worked in the feather industry in the town from the 19th century. He failed to inform his council that he had asked President Sarkozy's Italian-born supermodel and pop-singer wife, to pose for the statue.