The Independent - World RSS Feed

Pushchair maker defends lack of EU recall

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:00:39 GMT

Maclaren today defended its decision not to organise a European recall of children's pushchairs at the centre of a safety scare despite doing so in the US.

Murdered teacher's father hails Japanese arrest

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:52:15 GMT

The father of a British teacher murdered in Japan welcomed the arrest of her suspected killer today, saying: "We wanted justice and we've finally got justice."

Murdered techer's father hails Japanese arrest

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:52:15 GMT

The father of a British teacher murdered in Japan welcomed the arrest of her suspected killer today, saying: "We wanted justice and we've finally got justice."

Japanese police arrest British teacher murder suspect

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:56:05 GMT

A man wanted over the murder of British teacher Linsday Hawker has been arrested in Japan, it was confirmed today.

Woman raped in McDonalds toilet, court told

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:21:43 GMT

A woman was allegedly raped at knifepoint by her former partner in the toilets of a fast food restaurant in Belfast city centre, the High Court has heard.

Pushchairs recalled over finger amputations

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:18:23 GMT

Maclaren recalled about one million folding pushchairs in the United States following reports that 12 children suffered amputations after getting their fingertips caught in the hinges, authorities said.

Korean navies clash ahead of Obama visit

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:01:47 GMT

North and South Korea's navies clashed briefly in the Yellow Sea today, just ahead of a visit to Asia this week by US President Barack Obama, in an incident that left a northern vessel damaged.

In their own words: East Berliners on the Wall

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:22:02 GMT

Case against Ohio bodies suspect expands overseas

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:42:09 GMT

Authorities are investigating whether a suspected serial killer whose home and yard harboured the remains of at least 11 people is connected to any killings in places he lived while in the military, including Japan, California and the Carolinas.

Brazilian university expels girl for wearing mini-dress

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The Brazilian government sought an explanation on Monday from the private university that expelled a woman for wearing a short, pink dress to class, creating an uproar on the internet and throughout a nation where skimpy attire is common.

Mark Hughes in Baltimore: The trials of 'Baltimore's Boris'

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Yesterday, the first female mayor of Baltimore, Sheila Dixon, went on trial accused of stealing gift cards meant for the poor and using them to fund lavish shopping trips. If convicted she faces up to 15 years in prison. For reasons of race and distrust of the police, not many people in Baltimore think a jury will convict her. But in a city where mayors have a history of dabbling all too readily in the world of policing, crime and punishment, it would certainly be ironic.

Tensions grow as Chavez masses troops on border

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Telling his people, "If you want peace, prepare for war," and accusing the US of secretly plotting to invade and seize Venezuela's oil reserves, Hugo Chavez announced that he intends to send 15,000 troops to his country's border with Colombia.

Frantic search for survivors begins after El Salvador floods

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

El Salvador was beginning a vast recovery operation yesterday as the death toll from mudslides and flooding driven by Hurricane Ida continued to climb.

Couture, Karachi-style

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The designers were Pakistani, as were the models. Even the cotton from which some of the eye-catching couture was created was homegrown. And as Pakistan's first ever fashion week drew to a close, the message from the beautiful people gathered in Karachi was that this glamorous scene was as much a part of the country as headlines about bombs and terrorism.

Fort Hood shootings: soldier now able to speak, say doctors

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The American soldier accused of shooting dead 13 people at an army base in Texas has regained consciousness and is able to speak to doctors, hospital officials revealed yesterday.

Somali pirates in record attack

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Somali pirates yesterday attacked an oil tanker and fired automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades farther out at sea than any previous assault, suggesting that pirate capabilities are growing as they increase activity off East Africa.

Tsvangirai ally faces death penalty as trial begins

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's ally Roy Bennett went on trial accused of terrorism yesterday in a case that has stoked tensions in the unity government with President Robert Mugabe.

Fertility crisis in Japan: let the state find you a mate

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

With fat black clouds hanging ominously overhead, a sludgy field of sweet potatoes in rural Japan might not seem the best place for a date with the woman of your dreams. Still, 33-year-old bachelor Naoki Nakai hopes to get lucky before the rain comes. "Yes, there could be someone for me here," he nods, glancing over at a long-haired beauty in knee-high boots. "There are some nice people here," he adds before his face darkens: "I think some of them are from the city."

China executes nine people over riots that left 200 dead

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Nine men have been executed for participating in violent ethnic riots in China's mainly Muslim north-west that left nearly 200 people dead.

US hikers will stand trial for espionage, says Iran

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Iran's judiciary indicated yesterday that three young American trekkers who apparently blundered into Iran from neighbouring Iraq in July and who have been in custody since are to be tried for espionage.

North Korea's reclusive dictator 'has six luxurious armoured trains'

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il – known for shunning air travel – has six luxurious trains equipped with reception halls, conference rooms and hi-tech communication facilities, a South Korean newspaper reported yesterday.

Dictator's wife defiant over forced adoptions

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

More than 2,000 Germans are still searching for family members lost as a result of the forced adoption policies instigated by Margot Honecker. The widow of Erich Honecker, the East German dictator who ordered the building of the Berlin Wall, lives in exile in South America on a German state pension. And 20 years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain she remains unrepentant. In a rare interview recently the 82-year-old insisted that people "lived good lives" under the regime headed by her husband.

Oxford-based 'guru' accused of torturing French aristocrats

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

To his followers in a large suburban Oxford house, Thierry Tilly is a "super-man" – a secret agent for a centuries-old, Da Vinci Code-style, secret society, sworn to protect the world from evil.

Sarkozy challenged over claims of smashing Wall

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

President Nicolas Sarkozy became embroiled in a bizarre verbal ping-pong match yesterday after he announced that he had personally helped to demolish the Berlin Wall on the first day of its fall 20 years ago.

The joy of freedom: 20 years on

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

It was the same sort of miserable November weather, grey and drizzling; the mass of humanity was large, chaotic and giddy as then; and there in the midst of it, three figures as solidly "eastern" as any of those who teemed across the Berlin Wall 20 years ago.