World

A court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has ruled that homosexual intercourse between consenting adults is not a criminal act. The ruling overturns a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an “unnatural offence”. Homosexual acts were punishable by a 10-year prison sentence.

Entertainer Michael Jackson died after being taken to a hospital on Thursday having suffered cardiac arrest, said his brother Jermaine Jackson. Paramedics took Jackson, 50, from his west Los Angeles home Thursday afternoon to UCLA Medical Center, where a team of physicians attempted to resuscitate him for more than an hour, said his brother Jermaine ... Read more

Italy’s prime minister has told a gossip magazine he never paid for sex amid scandalous claims about women at his parties. Silvio Berlusconi has been dogged by suspicions stemming from his purported fondness for young models and starlets. The 72-year-old billionaire gave his first direct response to the claims in an interview with Chi magazine. ... Read more

NEW YORK (CNN)–For more than a half-century Jerry and Marilyn Damman wondered what happened to their 2-year-old boy, who mysteriously vanished into thin air outside a Long Island bakery. Now, 54 years later, a Michigan man claims he is the missing child whose name was Steven Damman. Within the last six months, the unidentified man ... Read more

The trial of Deng Yujiao, who stabbed an official demanding sex, highlighted the power of the Internet to rally popular support. Beijing – A karaoke bar waitress who won nationwide sympathy and support after killing a local official who demanded sex was freed Tuesday by a Chinese court. The surprise decision provided fresh evidence of ... Read more

US President Barack Obama has said he is “deeply concerned” by North Korea’s reported sentencing of two US journalists to 12 years’ hard labour. The US was working through all channels to secure their release, a spokesman for Mr Obama said. The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, were found guilty of “hostile acts” and ... Read more

Women sent to labour camp after being found guilty of illegally entering country and committing ‘grave crime’ A North Korean court today sentenced two American journalists to 12 years’ hard labour after finding them guilty of committing “hostile acts”, in a move certain to raise tensions with the US. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were ... Read more

New law would require officials to move street kids into schools or other programs – or face a $420-per-child fine. Mexico City – Children selling gum or washing windshields in the streets of Mexico are as ubiquitous as traffic lights. But a new proposal here would forbid the presence of street children in cities and ... Read more

COLOMBO – The leader of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was shot dead Monday while trying to flee advancing troops, defence officials told AFP. Prabhakaran was in a small convoy of a van and ambulance along with several close aides which tried to drive out of the battle zone, but was attacked and killed, ... Read more

Doctors are trying to unravel the mystery of an Indian village boasting 250 sets of twins born to just 2,000 families Baffled doctors are trying to unravel the mystery of an Indian village boasting more than 220 sets of twins born to just 2,000 families Photo: BARCROFT 78 pairs of twins Photo: BARCROFT The phenomenon ... Read more

TEHRAN: Iranian-Ameican journalist Roxana Saberi has been released from Evin prison after an Iranian Appeals Court downgraded her spying conviction from its original 8-year term to a lesser, suspended sentence of two years, her lawyer said. Saberi’s father, Reza, of Fargo, ND, said today in Tehran that he plans to bring his daughter home within ... Read more

ITALIAN Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has compared himself to Jesus Christ and Napoleon, boasted today that he was the world’s most popular leader. The conservative premier, in his third term in office, said opinion poll findings in his possession showed his popularity at just over 75 per cent, making him far more popular than ... Read more

Over 100 Taliban fighters have been killed in six days of operations in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the military said Friday, even as the provincial government opened peace talks with a radical cleric and a top US commander served notice that Islamabad had just two weeks left to deal with the militants. ... Read more

L’AQUILA, Italy – Jarring aftershocks sowed panic in Italy’s earthquake zone Thursday, terrifying the thousands of homeless victims sheltering in crowded tent camps as the death toll reached 278. Two lifeless bodies were pulled from the ruins of a student dormitory in the centre of the Abruzzo capital L’Aquila early in the morning after a ... Read more

A WOMAN’S secret affair with her 13-year-old lover was exposed when her suspicious sister paid her a surprise visit late one evening and found the boy hiding in a wardrobe. The 32-year-old former canteen stall assistant had earlier had sex with the minor after inviting him to her flat. Yesterday, the unemployed woman was jailed ... Read more

L’AQUILA, Italy – A powerful earthquake tore through central Italy on Monday devastating historic mountain towns and killing at least 50 people, authorities said. Many remained unaccounted for as emergency services scrambled to find victims trapped under collapsed buildings in L’Aquila, which bore the brunt of the quake, and officials warned that the toll would ... Read more

One of the world’s most prestigious medical journals, the Lancet, has accused Pope Benedict XVI of distorting science in his remarks on condom use. It said the Pope’s recent comments that condoms exacerbated the problem of HIV/Aids were wildly inaccurate and could have devastating consequences. The Pope had said the “cruel epidemic” should be tackled ... Read more

AP, Baghdad The Iraqi journalist, who threw shoes at then-president George W Bush, was convicted Thursday of assaulting a foreign leader and sentenced to three years in prison, lawyers said. He defiantly shouted, “long live Iraq,” when the sentence was read. Muntadhar al-Zeidi’s bold act in December electrified many across the Middle East who consider ... Read more

DHARAMSHALA, India : Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was to address his community of exiles Tuesday, the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against China that forced him to flee to India. Prayers, vigils and protests were planned throughout the day in Dharamshala, the northern Indian hill town where the Tibetan government-in-exile has been ... Read more

From The Times Jeremy Page The US was secretly flying unmanned drones from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan as early as 2006, according to an image of the base from Google Earth. The image — that is no longer on the site but which was obtained by The News, Pakistan’s English ... Read more