Frankfurt University faces student protests over conference on Muslim headscarves
Frankfurt University has been rocked by student protests over an academic conference on the Muslim practice of women wearing headscarves. Students accused the university of promoting Islamophobia with the conference, which is scheduled to take place next month. The protests come despite the fact the conference is set to feature Islamic theologians and women who…
Sri Lanka suicide bomber was wealthy businessman ‘brainwashed’ by his younger brother
One of the ringleaders of the Sri Lankan bomb attacks was the son of a wealthy spice tycoon who became “brainwashed” by his radical younger brother, the Telegraph can disclose. The first images emerged on Wednesday of Inshaf Ahamed Ibrahim, the Sri Lankan suicide bomber and alleged mastermind of the atrocity which killed 359 people.…
French farmers sue the state over mystery cow deaths they blame on electromagnetic fields
A group of French cattle farmers is suing the state over the mysterious death of hundreds of cows, which they believe are the victims of harmful electromagnetic fields. Local vets are at a loss to explain the deaths. Stéphane Le Béchec, 51, a Breton farmer in Allneuc, has lost 200 cows who died of unknown…
Russia eases citizenship rules for residents of eastern Ukraine
Vladimir Putin has offered Russian citizenship to residents of Moscow-backed breakaway republics in war-torn eastern Ukraine, infuriating Kiev. Coming just days after comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy was elected president of Ukraine, the move is widely seen as a test of the new leader, who the Kremlin hopes will take a softer stance on the frozen conflict.…
Sri Lanka attack leader ‘died in hotel bombing’, authorities say
The suspected ringleader of the terrorist group accused of carrying out the Easter Sunday bombings died in the blast at the Shangri La hotel, the Sri Lankan authorities claimed on Friday. Mohamed Zahran, the leader of the local jihadi group National Thawheed Jamath, known for his incendiary speeches on social media, was one of the suicide…
Putin pledges to help ‘normalise’ US-North Korea relations as he hosts Kim Jong-un
Kim Jong-un has asked Vladimir Putin to serve as an intermediary with the United States after his nuclear disarmament talks with Donald Trump collapsed in February, the Russian president has said. Thursday’s first-ever meeting between the Russian and North Korean leaders in Vladivostok has allowed Moscow to reinsert itself into the dialogue around denuclearisation as…
France must work more, Emmanuel Macron tells ‘yellow vests’
Emmanuel Macron promised “significant” tax cuts for France’s middle classes while cutting public spending but told the French they must work like their “neighbours”, in a much-awaited response to five-months of “yellow vest” protests. In what the French media dubbed his “moment of truth”, the 41-year old centrist promised citizens a “new act in our…
Former Santander lawyer loses custody of her children for ‘working too much’
A successful female lawyer has vowed to take the Spanish state to court after losing custody of her children for allegedly working too much. Elena del Pilar Ramallo Miñán, a solicitor formerly of Santander Bank, was ruled to have “spent too much time away from the conjugal home” when she had child-sharing responsibilities for her…
In Siberia, climate change comes to the coldest village on earth
The Siberian village of Oymyakon is regarded as the coldest permanently-inhabited place on earth. Though it is only a few degrees of latitude further north than Aberdeen, the village of 500 residents is in a mountain valley where cool air pools, isolated from warmer currents by the “Siberian high” pressure system and the Chersky range.…
White supremacist executed in Texas, 20 years on from black man’s torture and murder
The first white man in Texas to be convicted of the murder of a black man was executed on Wednesday night, after 20 years on death row. John William King, a 44-year-old white supremacist, was put to death in the Texas death chamber in Huntsville with a dose of pentobarbital. He declined to give any…