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20 Cards in this Set
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- Back
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"do or die" summit
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European Union officials are preparing for a key summit in Brussels, where they will be trying to clinch a deal on how to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.
The two-day talks have been described by some analysts as do-or-die for the 17 eurozone nations. Germany and France are pushing for new EU treaties, saying stricter fiscal rules should be enshrined there. |
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Italy mafia
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Italian police have arrested the notorious chief of a Naples mafia clan, Michele Zagaria, who has been on the run for 16 years.
Police said they found him after digging into a secret bunker in his hometown of Casapesenna near Naples. The head of the powerful Casalesi clan has been sentenced to multiple life sentences in absentia. The Casalesi clan has been involved in drug trafficking and corruption in the construction industry. |
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"lille loophole"
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British border staff have faced threats of arrest by Belgian police for trying to stop people exploiting a loophole allowing them to enter the UK without passport checks, the BBC has learned.
Passengers can travel from Brussels to Lille without showing passports as Belgium and France are both within the Schengen area. But they can then stay on the train to the UK as there are no further checks. The Home Office confirmed it was working to tackle the "Lille loophole". |
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What country is calling for election re-run?
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Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has said Sunday's Russian parliamentary election was marred by fraud and has called for a re-run.
"The country's leaders must admit there were numerous falsifications and rigging and the results do not reflect the people's will," he said. Protesters were planning new rallies for Saturday as arrests in Tuesday's crackdown in reached 800 across Russia. Key figures in the protest movement are starting 15-day jail sentences. State TV channels have ignored the protests, giving coverage only to rallies in support of the government. |
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Nestle
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Chinese antitrust regulators have approved Nestle's $1.7bn (£1.1bn) offer for sweets and snack maker Hsu Fu Chi International.
Swiss food company Nestle made the offer for a 60% stake in the Singapore-listed Hsu Fu Chi in July. The approval comes a month after the ministry of commerce cleared Yum Brand's takeover of Little Sheep Group. |
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Prostitution ban
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France's parliament has backed a proposal to fight prostitution by making payment for sex a crime punishable by fines and prison.
The National Assembly approved by a show of hands a cross-party, non-binding resolution which is due to be followed by a bill. Six-month prison sentences and fines of 3,000 euros (£2,580; $4,000) are envisaged for clients of prostitutes. Some campaigners reject the bill, advocating prostitutes' rights instead. Around 20,000 people are believed to be working as prostitutes in France |
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Panama ruler
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Panama's jailed former ruler Manuel Noriega will be extradited from France to his homeland on Sunday, Foreign Minister Roberto Henriquez says.
The minister says Noriega - who has already been convicted in absentia of corruption and murder in Panama - will serve his sentences in his native land. Noriega, aged 77, is also wanted in Panama for other crimes allegedly committed during his 1983-89 rule. |
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Deutsche Bank
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German police are investigating a suspicious item addressed to Deutsche Bank chief executive, Josef Ackermann, at the bank's Frankfurt headquarters.
"There was a piece of mail that arrived at Deutsche Bank that was noticed," said a German police spokesperson. |
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posthumerous computer pioneer
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An online petition calling for the government to posthumously pardon Alan Turing and quash his conviction for gross indecency has been launched.
The gay computer pioneer was convicted of the offence in 1952, when homosexual acts were illegal in the UK. Two years later, he died from cyanide poisoning, which an inquest ruled was suicide. The e-petition said his treatment and death "remains a shame on the UK government and UK history". Alan Turing worked as part of the team which cracked the Enigma code at Bletchley Park in World War II and went on to help create the world's first modern computer, the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine. He also invented a test for artificial intelligence, which is still used in computer science. |
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Syria met with whom and said what?
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Barbra Walters
Syria's president has said that he feels no guilt about his crackdown on a 10-month uprising, despite reports of brutality by security forces. In an interview with the US network ABC, Bashar al-Assad said he had given no orders for violence to be used against protesters but admitted "mistakes" were made. He said he did not own the security forces or the country. At least 4,000 people have been killed since the uprising began, the UN says. However, Mr Assad said the UN was not credible. |
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What country has a new "unity government" created
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Yemen's vice-president has issued a decree creating a national unity government to take over from that of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Mr Saleh transferred his powers to his vice-president last month under a deal to end months of deadly unrest. The creation of the national unity government was part of the agreement. The new 35-member cabinet will be headed by independent politician Mohammed Basindwa, Yemen's state news agency Saba said. |
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suspicious package blown up
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Bahrain says staff at its airport have detonated a suspect package sent from Britain via Dubai, the week after a blast near the British embassy.
The parcel was originally thought to contain explosives but on examination, the ministry of interior said it contained only bomb-making materials. Officials in Bahrain have told the BBC they believe the device was a dummy to "test their defences". |
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Israel ex-President
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The disgraced former Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, has arrived at Maasiyahu prison near Tel Aviv to begin a seven-year sentence for rape.
Leaving his home in the town of Kiryat Malachi, he insisted he was innocent and accused the state of "executing" him and "burying a man alive". Katsav's case has entranced and horrified the Israeli nation. He was convicted a year ago, but was allowed to remain free while he appealed against the conviction. |
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Islamic Jihad militant killed where?
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In the Gaza strip via an air strike
One Palestinian militant has been killed and at least two others injured in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics say. Islamic Jihad confirmed the dead man had been a member of its military wing. The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted two groups of militants east of Gaza City, which had been preparing to fire rockets into Israel. Witnesses said they had earlier clashed with Israeli troops who crossed the Gaza border and entered a buffer zone. |
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Who claims win in run-off votes in Egypt?
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The Muslim Brotherhood has said its political party has won a majority of run-off contests in the first round of Egypt's parliamentary election.
Official results are not expected until Thursday, but the Freedom and Justice Party said it had won 36 of the 56 seats awarded to individual candidates. The Islamist group won almost 37% of the vote in earlier polling, which awarded seats according to party lists. |
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hezbollah leader
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makes rare public appearance first time in several years -- addresses a crowd marking the religious festival of Ashura
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US Ambassador Robert Ford to return to...
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Syria
The US ambassador to Syria, who was removed from the country after threats to his safety, is due to return, US state department officials have said. Robert Ford left the Syrian capital, Damascus, in late October. He had angered Syrian authorities by showing solidarity with activists involved in an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule. |
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Virtual embassy
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The US embassy in Tehran has been closed for more than three decades, but now an online equivalent offers services including visa information.
The "virtual embassy" went online on Tuesday in English and Farsi, but the US says it is not intended to replace an official diplomatic mission to Iran. In a statement, the state department said the virtual embassy should "work as a bridge" between America and Iran. The West fears Tehran is developing a nuclear weapon, but Iran denies this. Announcing the opening of the virtual embassy, the US stressed that dialogue between Americans and Iranians remained essential. |
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Israel has expelled a senior MP from the what?
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from the Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas, from Jerusalem on the grounds that he was living in the city illegally.
Ahmed Attoun, whose Israeli-issued permit to reside was revoked in 2006, was forcibly transferred to the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. He was earlier released after spending 70 days inside an Israeli prison for living in Jerusalem without a permit. |
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What country dissolved parliament?
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Kuwait's Emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, has dissolved parliament, citing "deteriorating conditions" amid a crisis over corruption allegations.
Elections must be held within 60 days. Last week, the cabinet resigned shortly before former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah was to be questioned about the alleged payment of bribes to pro-government MPs. |
