Russia intervened in the row over the death of Slobodan Milosevic on Monday, when it sent a team of doctors to The Hague to examine his body after expressing doubts about the reliability of the post-mortem examination. As Belgrade indicated that it would allow the funeral of the former Serbian leader to take place on its soil, the Russian government voiced ”alarm” at the sudden death of Milosevic.
A man was being held in a United States military prison on Monday for deserting from the marines 38 years ago after being caught on the American-Canadian border amid a new drive to track down Vietnam-era deserters. Allen Abney (56) who lives in British Columbia and who is now a Canadian citizen, had frequently crossed into the US without incident.
Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave British Prime Minister Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the United States was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos. John Sawers, Blair’s envoy in Baghdad in the aftermath of the invasion, sent a series of confidential memos to Downing Street cataloguing US failures.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday accused Tamil Tiger rebels of conscripting more child soldiers despite pledges to end the internationally-condemned practice of enlisting underage combatants. The defence ministry in a statement accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of abducting two schoolboys in the restive eastern district of Batticaloa on Monday.
High above the traffic jams and street vendors choking on exhaust fumes, Nigeria’s larger-than-life politicians stride majestically towards the edge of towering billboards, arms gesturing to the great visions that lie just beyond the paper borders. The elections might be more than a year away, but the country is throwing itself into one of its favourite sports — politics — with a vengeance.
”Chris McGreal has been unable to untangle the confusion and complexities of group relations in Israel. He is muddled in distinguishing between the situations of Israeli Arabs and West Bank Arabs and Jerusalem Arabs,” writes the former deputy editor of the Rand Daily Mail, Benjamin Pogrund.
At a diplomatic reception in Beijing a few years ago, the former president of Harvard, Larry Summers, dropped a spicy chicken wing into the turn-up of his trousers and continued to make small talk with finger food bobbing closer to his toes than is generally considered decent. A man who displays such a lack of social graces can still go far (for a woman it would be terminal).
Australia are without their world beaters Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett but South Africa will have their two inspirational team leaders in this week’s swimming at the Commonwealth Games, team coach Dirk Lange said on Tuesday. The Australian men look vulnerable for the first time at a Commonwealth Games in over 20 years and the South Africans believe their time has come.
Ever since the days of Henry Ford, Detroit has been the hub of the world’s motor industry. Motor City boasted the big three — Ford, General Motors and Chrysler — but it is now a shadow of its former self. Chrysler has been swallowed by Daimler, while between them Ford and General Motors have announced 60 000 job cuts.
A sex scandal involving an official from India threatened to overshadow the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday, with police and organisers on the backfoot over an assault in the Games village. A 16-year-old girl working as a cleaner was indecently assaulted at the village on Monday, police said.