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Bosses sentenced to 16 years for Italian asbestos deaths

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

An Italian court has handed two company executives 16-year jail terms for the asbestos-related deaths of more than 3,000 people.

François Hollande holds out olive branch to City of London

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The man who may be the next President of France said yesterday that he wants Britain – even the City of London – to feel "part of Europe".

Nauru and Abkhazia: One is a destitute microstate marooned in the South Pacific, the other is a disputed former Soviet Republic 13,000km away, so why are they so keen to be friends?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

At first glance, Nauru and Abkhazia make an unlikely pairing on the world stage, with little in common other than their obscurity, and desperate need for new friends. Nauru, the world's smallest republic, is a destitute South Pacific island microstate of just 8.5 square miles, with about 10,000 inhabitants and a critical shortage of funds following the collapse of its only industry of note, mining phosphate deposits created by bird droppings.

Athens wakes up from night of rage to dawn of austerity

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The acrid smell of tear gas and charred debris lingered in the vandalised streets of Athens yesterday as clearing operations began and shopkeepers counted their losses after Sunday's five hours of rioting.

Turkmenistan's president wins 97% of vote

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:16:44 +0000

Turkmenistan's President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won a new five-year term by capturing 97 per cent of the vote, election officials said today, but a Western expert called the vote a democratic sham.

Greeks clean up after riots against austerity vote

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:57:05 +0000

Firefighters doused smoldering buildings and cleanup crews swept rubble from the streets of central Athens today following a night of rioting during which politicians approved harsh new austerity measures demanded by bailout creditors to save the nation from bankruptcy.

Greek MPs warned of catastrophe as Athens erupts in violence

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Violence and looting engulfed central Athens last night as the Greek parliament passed a highly divisive austerity and debt-relief bill, which the government hopes will help save Greece from a disorderly bankruptcy and a potential exit from the eurozone.

Carla's £67,000 statue ruffles a few feathers in Paris

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

A proposed bronze statue portraying Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as a poor Italian feather-plucker is ruffling political feathers in the Paris suburbs. The centre-right mayor of Nogent-sur-Marne won support for a two-metre-high, €82,000 (£67,000) statue to commemorate the "plumassières" – women of Italian origin who worked in the feather industry in the town from the 19th century. He failed to inform his council that he had asked President Sarkozy's Italian-born supermodel and pop-singer wife, to pose for the statue.

The Russian satirical poet, his billionaire backer and a tour that Putin won't find funny

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

In the days before their compatriots go to the polls next month, London's sizeable Russian community will be treated to performances from a darkly satirical act that mocks Vladimir Putin and the system he has created, all thanks to a renegade Russian businessman living in exile in the British capital.

Pumping of Concordia fuel begins

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Underwater pumping operations began yesterday to remove some of the 500,000 gallons of fuel on the Costa Concordia.

Fight for the right: Sarkozy's bid to win Le Pen's people

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Marine Le Pen yesterday tore up her presidential campaign – or at least her standard stump speech. From now on, she told a cheering audience supporters in Strasbourg, it would be "back to basics": immigration, immigration, insecurity, love of country and immigration.

At least 7 dead in Kosovo avalanche

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:59:57 +0000

Officials say four more bodies have been found after an avalanche struck a mountain village in southern Kosovo, bringing the death toll to at least seven. Three people are still missing, but a 5-year-old girl was pulled alive from the snow.

Boos in Berlin for Jolie's war drama

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The Hollywood diva Angelina Jolie celebrated her turn to directing at the Berlin Film Festival yesterday, defending her debut feature In the Land of Blood and Honey. The war drama, shot in Bosnia and Hungary, is set during the Yugoslav conflict of the 1990s, and draws attention to the rapes of Bosnian Muslim women by Serb militia.

Greek conservative leader insists on snap election

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:12:27 +0000

The leader of Greece's main conservative party says the country must hold a snap election once the bond swap called for in a deal with Greece's private creditors is completed.

What really happened on the bridge when the Costa Concordia crashed