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N Korea holds fishing boats for ransom

North Korean officials have demanded payment before they will release Chinese fishing boats with a total of 29 men on board, Chinese media reported yesterday, in a rare public spat between the neighbors and longtime allies. The Chinese owners of the boats said they wereFULL STORY

NATO exit risks collapse

NATO’s rush to get out of a “quagmire” in Afghanistan risks the collapse of the state and strategic failure for the Western alliance in its decade-long war, a former EU adviser has warned. “The intervention veered from ‘too little too late’ in its crucial early years,FULL STORY

Mexicans sentenced to hang for trafficking in Malaysia

Three Mexican brothers were sentenced to death by hanging in Malaysia yesterday for their part in a methamphetamine production operation. The Gonzalez Villarreals — Luis Alfonso, 44, Simon, 37, and Jose Regino, 33 — were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to hang by the KualaFULL STORY

Australia seized record amount of drugs at 9.3 tonnes in the past year

Better intelligence helped Australia seize a record amount of illicit drugs in the past year, a study showed yesterday, with big busts from Malaysia and Pakistan boosting the haul. There were almost 70,000 seizures in the 2010-2011 financial year, according to the Australian Crime Commission’s IllicitFULL STORY

Sri Lankan ex-general to be released, his wife says

Sri Lanka’s president has promised to free jailed former army chief Sarath Fonseka unconditionally and at the earliest opportunity, the ex-general’s wife said yesterday. Anoma Fonseka said she met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Wednesday and that he assured her that her husband would beFULL STORY

Activity in nuclear complex in North Korea raises international concern

North Korea has resumed building a nuclear reactor that can be used to expand the country’s nuclear weapons program, a US-based institute said yesterday, citing the latest satellite imagery of the site. The satellite images showed North Korea had resumed building in Yongbyon, its main nuclearFULL STORY

French government takes a pay cut

France’s new government, under Socialist President Francois Hollande, got down to business yesterday with the first order of business on their agenda being a pay cut for themselves. Hollande unveiled a government of mainly moderate Socialists and longtime allies on Wednesday as French Prime Minister Jean-MarcFULL STORY

Caretaker Cabinet appointed in Greece

Greece yesterday unveiled a caretaker Cabinet of technocrats tasked with organizing the cash-strapped nation’s second elections just six weeks after an inconclusive vote sent jitters across the eurozone. The temporary team led by 67-year-old Greek Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos, head of the nation’s top administrative court,FULL STORY

Former UK minister tells hacking inquiry of chats with editor

Former British secretary of state for justice Jack Straw told the Leveson inquiry on Wednesday that he regularly sat with then-Sun editor Rebekah Brooks to “gossip about personalities” and “what was in the papers” as they took the hour-long journey from Charlbury in WestFULL STORY

Tadic seen as safe pair of hands for recovering Serbia

If Serbian President Boris Tadic wins re-election on Sunday, he will be on course to hold power for as long as former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, whose 13-year rule saw Serbia become a pariah state and more than 125,000 people die in Yugoslavia’s bloody collapse. ElectedFULL STORY

Syria accused of new ‘massacre,’ UN team evacuated

Syrian forces were accused on Wednesday of summarily executing 15 civilians, as members of a UN team of observers were evacuated from a shelled town the day after a bomb blast hit their convoy. However, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused the West of ignoring violence byFULL STORY

US minority births now majority

After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the US Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the US. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended in July last year, accordingFULL STORY

Plans to strike Iran ready: US’ Israel envoy

US plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is “fully available,” the US ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers that suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Like Israel, the US has saidFULL STORY

Estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr found dead at home

Mary Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr, was found dead on Wednesday at the family’s home in Bedford, New York. She was 52. Mary Kennedy’s death was confirmed in a statement from her family, who did not comment on the circumstances. Two peopleFULL STORY

Hondurans irate as four people die in US ‘war on drugs’

People in Honduras’ predominantly Indian Mosquito Coast region burned down government offices and demanded that US drug agents leave the area, reacting angrily to an anti-drug operation in which a local mayor said police gunfire killed four innocent people, including two pregnant women. Animosity is beingFULL STORY

Panel sworn in to probe Brazilian dictatorship abuses

An emotional Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, a former leftist guerrilla who was jailed and tortured during Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, on Wednesday swore in a seven-member truth commission tasked with probing human rights abuses from that period. “Brazil deserves the truth, the new generations deserve theFULL STORY

World News Quick Take

JAPAN Melons sell for US$12,500 Two cantaloupe melons have been sold at auction in Japan for ￥1 million (US$12,500). The unknown buyer snapped up the Yubari melons on the first day of the buying season, splashing out the equivalent of a small car. The eye-watering figure reflectsFULL STORY

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