…V. His defection was seen as a major blow to the Damascus government. Not only did he command the elite 10th Brigade of the Republican Guard, but his father Mustafa Tlas served as defence minister for 30 years and was a confidant of Hafez al-Assad, the president’s father and predecessor. Key Syrian defector General Manaf Tlas has hinted that French secret agents helped him flee Syria in ear…
…r documents it had seen showed Mohamed Merah had made more than 1,800 calls to over 180 contacts in 20 different countries. Mohamed Merah was shot dead on 22 March after a huge manhunt culminated in a 32-hour stand-off with police at an apartment in Toulouse. The Jewish victims included three children murdered at a school. Mohamed Merah’s rampage, from 11 to 19 March, terrorized the region….
…s recently been reported that the Colorado Muslim Society has offered to provide burial services for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the individuals who perpetrated the grave and destructive bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon. “This report is absolutely untrue. The individual who has reportedly made this offer does not speak on behalf of the Colorado Muslim Society,” the statement says. It continues…
French turnout in the first round of the presidential election was more than 80%, one of the highest in the world. It’s a measure of the Gallic fervor for election campaigning that the candidate who went on to earn fourth place in Sunday’s vote was able to draw crowds in their tens of thousands. Jean-Luc Melenchon, the Left Front leader, invoked France’s revolutionary past while…
Maria Sharapova blasted her way to victory over Italian Sara Errani in the French Open final to become only the 10th woman to complete a career Grand Slam. Maria Sharapova, 25, claimed a one-sided 6-3 6-2 win to add to the Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open titles from earlier in her career. The Russian overwhelmed her Italian opponent, who was playing in her first Grand Slam singles final. M…
…him naked. French Muslim leaders condemned the magazine and said an appeal for calm would be read in mosques across the country on Friday. Charlie Hebdo sold out on Wednesday but is publishing another 70,000 copies, to coincide with Friday prayers. In Tunisia – where France is the former colonial power – the government has banned Friday protests. Calls to protest against the caricature…
…positive relations with Muslims in the region in his brief comments at the end of the ceremony. Standing on a platform overlooking the procession route, Pope Francis recalled Pope Benedict XVI’s 2012 visit to Lebanon when “we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others….
The French translation of British erotic novel Fifty Shades Of Grey was only released on Wednesday, but has already become the fastest selling book in French publishing history. The astonishing sales figures – of around 75,000 every day – come after the book was panned by French critics as “crass pseudo-porn” that reads like a Mills & Boon novel. One high-brow reviewer even wrote:…
Stefan Ramin’s teeth found in a cannibal fire camp on Nuku Hiva island. Stefan Ramin, a German round-the-world sailor is feared to have been eaten by cannibals during a visit to Nuku Hiva, a South Sea island of French Polynesia. Police found remains on a camp fire which are believed to belong to Stefan Ramin, a 40-year-old business adviser from Haselau in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. S…
rts In a blogpost, Lucy Bradshaw said Maxis could have built a “subset offline mode” for the game that did away with the need to be constantly connected.Since SimCity was launched on March 5, many players have blamed the “always online” requirement for causing bugs, in-game glitches and long waits to play the game. To get around the always-on requirement, some players have…
…use Full Tilt was based overseas. In July, regulators on the British Channel island of Alderney, where Full Tilt was licensed, suspended Full Tilt’s international operations. Debi O’Neill, 53, from Georgia, an administrator for online poker forum CardsChat, recouped all of the $7,500 she had kept at PokerStars. But she still has $2,000 trapped in Full Tilt. “I don’t really…
…Sao Paulo officials and players accused the Argentines of spoiling for a fight, and then running away. The controversy at Sao Paulo’s Morumbi stadium comes just 18 months before Brazil hosts the 2014 World Cup. The Argentines said they were attacked by about 20 men following scuffles involving players and officials as the teams left the pitch at half time. Following Tigre’s refusal to…
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has charged eight female Olympic badminton players with “not using one’s best efforts to win a match”. Four pairs of players – two from South Korea, one from China and one from Indonesia – could be disciplined. Spectators booed the two badminton matches played at Wembley Arena on Tuesday, in which the four accused pairs of players…
“a walking coffin”. Militant Muslim woman Hind Ahmas, 32 – dubbed France’s first “burka martyr” – is currently facing two years in prison for wearing the veil after refusing to pay a 50 Euros fine for the offence. She is appealing the fine on the grounds that the new law is unconstitutional and preparing to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Senior police chiefs…
…oons of the Prophet Muhammad Feelings in the Islamic world have already been running high over amateur video Innocence of Muslims mocking the Prophet Muhammad, which emerged in the US this month. Some 30 people have died in violent protests over the film. Concern has been expressed by the White House over the decision to publish the cartoons. The complaint against Charlie Hebdo was filed on Wednes…
…ns, who specializes in intellectual property rights and human rights, said the photographer would have broken the law to take the photographs. “Unless they’ve driven a motorway through the 648 acres, you’ll find that the property [where the duchess was] is at the centre of that location and it’s surrounded by hills, so I’m certainly advised that without trespassing &#…
ian town of Nechin just over the French border. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault described the decision as “shabby”. Next year, the top rate of income tax in France is due to become 75% on earnings above 1m euros. It is currently 50% in Belgium. “I am not asking to be approved of, but I could at least be respected. All of those who have left France have not been insulted a…
8211; which will attack anything that smacks of money or privilege,” he says. “And it’s allied to a journalistic profession that is overwhelmingly on the left. “Polls show that 80 to 95% of journalists are on the left or far-left, and with their obsessive focus on the so-called vices of Nicolas Sarkozy, they are pushing the same agenda.” Another interpretation of Sark…
…dor to Libya was among four Americans killed on the day protests first broke out. Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdul Al has dismissed a claim on Sunday by the president of the national congress that 50 people have been arrested in connection with the deaths. He said only four people had been detained so far, although up to 50 could be under investigation. • About 3,000 protesters burned US and I…
…at the school, police sources said. The dead were Jonathan Sandler, a 30-year-old rabbi and teacher of religion originally from Jerusalem, and his two sons, aged 4 and 5. The fourth person killed was 7-year-old girl Myriam Monsonego, daughter of the head teacher. She died in her father’s arms. All the dead were dual French-Israeli nationals and will be buried in Israel, the Israeli foreign…
…as taking out an injunction to stop their publication. All the palace will be able to do is express their anger and disgust. The photographs were taken at the magnificent Chateau D’Aulet, set in 640 acres of rolling countryside and surrounded by fields of lavender. Close to the medieval village of Viens, it is owned by Viscount Linley, the Queen’s nephew and his wife Serena. Although i…
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has vowed to cast a blank vote in Sunday’s French presidential poll run-off. Marine Le Pen told a rally of her National Front party that she could back neither incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy nor Socialist Francois Hollande and told supporters to follow their conscience. Marine Le Pen won 6.5 million votes – 17.9% – in the first round of the election. Th…
Vanilla Chamu is a Japanese model who has undergone a startling physical transformation that has so far involved more than 30 cosmetic procedures at a cost of 10 million yen ($102,000) just to look like a French doll. Vanilla Chamu has said she intends to keep having surgeries until she has achieved her lifelong goal. Photos of Vanilla Chamu prior to her first procedures reveal a rather mousy Jap…
her Roger Garaudy has died on Wednesday, June 13, at the age of 98 at his home in Chennevieres-sur-Marne, near Paris During the war Roger Garaudy joined the French Resistance and later wrote more than 50 books – mainly on political philosophy and Marxism. He was expelled from the French Communist Party in 1970 after criticising the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. Born into a Catholic fami…
Market statistics show the French confectionery industry has been unaffected by the country’s financial problems and continues to grow at about 8% a year. And there is one particular treat that has always proved a favorite – ourson guimauve. Oursons guimauve are small chocolate-covered marshmallow teddy bears (an ourson is a “bear cub”, guimauve is “marshmallow”…
North Korea releases Chinese fishing crew The Chinese fishing crew seized by North Koreans two weeks ago has been freed along with their boat, reports say. The 16-man crew was taken captive by unidentified North…
China urges North Korea to release Yu Xuejun's fishing boat captured for $100,000 ransomChina has called on North Korea to secure the release of a fishing boat and its crew seized earlier this month. Owner Yu Xuejun said the vessel had been in Chinese waters…
Zahra Shahid Hussain funeral: Murdered PTI's vice-president buried in KarachiThe funeral of the murdered vice-president of Pakistan's PTI party, Zahra Shahid Hussain, has been held at a mosque in the country’s capital, Karachi. Zahra Shahid Hussain…
Imran Khan blames MQM's Altaf Hussain for Zahra Shahid Hussain's killing in KarachiFormer cricketer Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan's PTI party, has blamed one of his political rivals for the killing of PTI vice-president Zahra Shahid Hussain. Zahra…
Zahra Shahid Hussain shot dead in KarachiSenior Pakistani politician Zahra Shahid Hussain has been shot dead in the southern port city of Karachi. Zahra Shahid Hussain was the senior vice-president of Pakistan's…
North Korea fires short-range missiles from its east coastNorth Korea has launched three short-range missiles from its east coast, South Korea's defence ministry said. Two missiles were fired on Saturday morning and one in the…
Carl Pistorius: Oscar Pistorius’ brother acquitted in Marietjie Barnard’s death case
Jose Manuel Barroso urges full tax data exchange
Why penguin can’t fly
Apple among America’s big tax avoiders
North Korea releases Chinese fishing crew
Efrain Rios Montt genocide and crimes against humanity conviction overturned
Hilaria Baldwin joins husband Alec at Cannes Film Festival 2013 to promote his documentary Seduced and Abandoned
Jennifer Lawrence wears blue body paint to portray X-Men’s Mystique
Oklahoma tornado kills at least 51 people as two entire schools flattened in Moore
Ray Manzarek dead: The Doors co-founder dies aged 74 after long battle with cancer
Christine White dies in a nursing home in Washington at the age of 86
Brazilian husband caught cheating wife as lover escapes from window
Travis Alexander case: Jodi Arias’ attorneys file motion for mistrial
Laura Fernee claims she is too pretty to work
Full spring cleaning burns more calories than running a marathon
Face Trainer: Training balaclava claims to tone up saggy faces
Macaulay Culkin at risk of lung cancer
Eurovision 2013: Azerbaijan inquiry into “nul points” for Russia
Oscar Pistorius will not compete in 2013
Kate Middleton has a Marilyn Monroe dress blow up moment at William van Cutsem wedding
Iraq: At least 54 people killed in series of car bomb attacks in Baghdad, Basra and Samarra
Richard DeCoatsworth: Philadelphia police recommended bringing charges of witness intimidation against former officer
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Jep and Jessica Robertson
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Jase and Missy Robertson
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Willie and Korie Robertson
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Si Robertson and Christine
How Duck Dynasty couples met: Phil Robertson and Miss Kay
2013 Billboard Music Awards: Taylor Swift picks up 8 statues including Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist
Selena Gomez gives Justin Bieber a tender kiss on cheek backstage at 2013 Billboard Music Awards
2013 Billboard Music Awards winners. Full list.