A group of American security guards in Iraq have alleged they were beaten, stripped and threatened with a snarling dog by United States marines when they were detained after an alleged shooting incident outside Fallujah last month. ”I never in my career have treated anybody so inhumane,” said one of the contractors, Rick Blanchard.
Newly crowned French Open champion Rafael Nadal was brought down to earth in Germany on Wednesday losing his first match of the season on grass to lowly ranked German Alexander Waske. Doubles specialist Waske won 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, ending a 24-match unbeaten run from the 19-year-old Spaniard.
France’s new Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, refused on Wednesday to push the country down the road towards free-market reform, saying ”Gallic genius” would help put back on its feet a ”suffering, impatient and angry” nation that has failed to adapt fully to a changing world.
A wealthy American banker was drugged with a spiked strawberry milkshake and then bludgeoned to death by his wife, a court in Hong Kong heard on Wednesday, at the start of one of the most talked-about murder cases in the territory’s recent history.
Behind the barbed wire, the floodlights and the high redbrick walls of the county penitentiary in The Hague Tim MacFadden has never been so busy. The Irish military officer came here eight years ago to take charge of a challenging experiment in international justice — running the remand unit for the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal.
Documents released by a United States watchdog group, the Government Accountability Project, show that as chief of staff for the White House council on environmental quality, Philip Cooney, watered down government scientific papers on climate change and played up uncertainties in the scientific literature.
On a sultry summer’s night, men crowd into a tent on the edge of Lahore’s red light district. They silently eyeball the slinking female figure on stage before them. She flirts, pouts and bats an eyelid, rolling her hips and running a suggestive finger across the lips.
The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) remained firm at midday on Thursday as the weak rand boosted resources and mining stocks. Traders said the market was waiting for the announcement on interest rates following the conclusion of the Reserve Bank monetary policy committee’s two-day meeting.
Argentina qualified for their ninth successive World Cup with a sweet 3-1 defeat of arch-rival Brazil on Wednesday. The Argentines joined Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia and South Korea as the first nations to qualify for next year’s finals, along with host Germany, an automatic qualifier in the 32-nation field.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are on the prowl for summer signings to help tip the balance in what could be the closest Premiership race for years. Arsenal are in negotiations with Stuttgart about Belarus winger Alexander Hleb as manager Arsene Wenger tries to strengthen the right side of his midfield.