LOS ANGELES – Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer. The Oscar-winning actress and partner to Brad Pitt made the announcement in the form of an op-ed she authored for Tuesday’s New York Times under…
LONDON – A fresh attempt to curb immigration is the centre piece the government’s planned new laws, set out by the Queen at the state opening of Parliament. Access to the NHS will be tightened, landlords forced to check immigration status and illegal migrants prevented from obtaining driving licences. But alcohol pricing and monitoring web…
DAMASCUS – Syria has accused Israel of launching rocket attacks on Damascus, after a night of huge explosions near the city. Syrian state media said the rockets hit the Jamraya research centre, which Western officials have suggested is involved in chemical weapons research. Israeli radio quoted a senior security official confirming an attack, and sources…
PYONGYANG – North Korea says it has sentenced a US citizen to 15 years of hard labour. The announcement, from state news agency KCNA, said Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was tried on 30 April. He was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist. Pyongyang said he was…
DAMASCUS – Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi has survived a car bomb attack in the capital, Damascus, state media say. The blast in the capital’s western Mazzeh district targeted Mr Halqi’s convoy, state TV said, reportedly causing a number of casualties. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, said Mr Halqi’s bodyguard…
NEW YORK – One of the Boston bomb suspects was added to a terrorism database 18 months ago at the request of the CIA, officials have told US media. The FBI has already said it investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, but had found no evidence of a threat. Tsarnaev was killed during a police chase last…
TORONTO – Iran has denied any links to two men arrested in Canada on suspicion of planning an attack on a train. Canadian officials said an attack had been planned with support from al-Qaeda elements in Iran, although there was no evidence of state sponsorship. Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, are due to…
BOSTON – US federal prosecutors are preparing charges against the surviving Boston Marathon bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as more details emerge of his capture. If he is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill people, he could face the death penalty. Mr Tsarnaev is in hospital, unable to speak because of a…
ASUNCION – Voters in Paraguay are electing a new president in a poll seen as key to restoring the country’s democratic credentials. Horacio Cartes, of the conservative Colorado Party, and the centre-right Liberal Party’s Efrain Alegre are seen as front-runners among 10 candidates. The country’s standing dipped in the region after last year’s disputed impeachment…
BOSTON – An investigation is under way after two explosions near the finishing line of the Boston Marathon left three people dead and at least 140 injured. The FBI has taken over co-ordination of what it described as a “potential terrorist inquiry”. Boston police say officers are working around the clock and all leave has…
