Singer charged over murder-plot

Prosecutors say a heavy metal singer slipped an envelope containing US$1,000 in cash to an undercover agent with detailed instructions on how to kill his estranged wife. The disclosure came in a San Diego-area courtroom on Thursday after 32-year-old Tim Lambesis pleaded not guilty to solicitation of murder

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Arming Libya’s Rebels: A Debate in Doha

Guns, money, oil, and an ex-spy chief slinking in the shadows: that’s what it came down to Wednesday in Qatar’s capital Doha when the NATO-led alliance marshaling air strikes on Libya gathered to defend its actions and brainstorm on how to help a ragtag rebel army finally dethrone Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. The coalition dismissed recent criticism and claims of inner discord with an early statement that the “international community remained united and firm in its resolve.” The same statement boasted that the alliance’s “efforts to date had exerted significant pressure on Gaddafi, protected civilians ..

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Missing couple’s yacht found abandoned in Indian Ocean

The British Royal Navy has found the yacht belonging to a British couple missing in the Indian Ocean since last week, but the yacht was empty, the British Ministry of Defence said Thursday. International military forces have been treating the case as a “potential hijacking,” Lt

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H1N1 vaccinations rolled out in UK

A mass H1N1 immunization program began in the UK Wednesday, with the country’s health minister urging all priority groups to take up the vaccine. Health and social care workers are among those identified in the “priority” group given first access to the vaccine against the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.

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Sri Lanka claims billionaire trader funded terrorists

Raj Rajaratnam, the New York-based billionaire and hedge fund manager charged in an alleged insider trading scheme on Friday, was funding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is considered a terrorist group by the US, the Sri Lankan government claimed on Sunday. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, spokesman for the Sri Lankan defence ministry, told the Financial Times that the government had been monitoring Mr Rajaratnam for several years.

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Last British Army WWI veteran dead at 111

Harry Patch — the last surviving British soldier from World War I — died Saturday at the age of 111, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said. Patch died peacefully at his care home in the southwestern English city of Wells, the ministry announced. His death came a week after fellow British World War I veteran Henry Allingham died at the age of 113

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Colombo: Tamil Tiger Leader Killed in Ambush

Firecrackers exploded around Colombo on Monday as Sri Lankans celebrated what they hoped would be the end to a civil war that has plagued the nation since 1983. At 1:40PM in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s government radio made the official announcement that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , was killed early this morning by special forces in the island’s northern Karayamullavaikkal area.

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