South Koreans claim double standards over woman given rare 10-month jail term for spycam crime

A South Korean court on Monday slapped a woman with a rare jail term for secretly photographing a male nude model, in a case that sparked controversy over double standards. High-tech South Korea has been battling a growing epidemic of so-called "molka" or spycam videos, which largely involve men secretly filming women in schools, offices, trains, toilets, changing rooms and…

Ivory Coast’s former first lady ‘to be freed Wednesday’ as president pardons 800 others

Ivory Coast’s former first lady, Simone Gbagbo, who is serving a 20-year jail term, will be freed on Wednesday after President Alassan Ouattara granted her an amnesty, her lawyer said on Tuesday. The wife of former president Laurent Gbagbo has spent seven years behind bars for her role in a wave of political violence that claimed…

US states to sue Trump administration over freezing fuel efficiency requirements

Nineteen US states have announced plans to sue the Trump administration over its "reckless and illegal plan" to rollback Obama-era clean car rules. The US government on Thursday proposed weakening fuel efficiency requirements for cars and trucks, referred to as the clean car rule.  President Donald Trump’s proposal also undercuts California’s authority to set its…

Former archbishop Philip Wilson confronted by angry victims after child sex abuse sentence

A former Australian archbishop convicted of concealing abuse by a notorious paedophile priest in the 1970s was confronted by enraged victims outside a courthouse Tuesday after a judge spared him jail and ordered he serve his sentence at home. Philip Wilson became one of the highest-ranked church officials convicted of covering up child sex abuse when he…

US judge blocks release of 3D gun blueprints amid uproar

A US judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the online publication of blueprints for 3D-printed firearms, in a last-ditch effort to stop a settlement President Donald Trump’s administration had reached with the company releasing the digital documents. Eight states and the District of Columbia, that houses the capital Washington, had filed a lawsuit against the federal…

VS Naipaul’s sisters claim they have not been invited to author’s funeral

The sister of the late author Sir VS Naipaul has claimed that the details of her brother’s funeral are being kept a secret. Trinidad-born British writer Naipaul, who died on August 11 in London, was awarded the Booker prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature during his distinguished career. In an exclusive interview from her…

Erdogan calls US sanctions on Turkey ‘stab in the back’ of Nato ally

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Donald Trump of waging “economic war against the entire world” and called the US decision to impose tariffs on Turkey a “stab in the back”, as the country’s currency crisis deepened. Ankara has been hit by financial turmoil, with the lira plunging to record lows over concerns about the government’s…