Because Economics is Sexy...

Two retired Turkish generals have been charged over an alleged plot in 2003 to overthrow the government, reports say.
Cetin Dogan, former head of Turkey’s First Army, and Engin Alan, a former special forces commander, were both remanded in custody pending trial.
They are the most senior of 33 suspects charged so far over the alleged plot.
The [...]

More than $1bn of the frozen assets of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, will be confiscated after a court ruled that he had abused his power.
The nine judges in Thailand’s supreme court said on Friday that Thaksin, who was forced from power by a coup in 2006, had used his position as [...]

Suspected members of a group linked to al-Qaeda have raided a village in the southern Philippines, killing at least 11 people, military officials say.
About 70 members of Abu Sayyaf, the Philippine Islamic group, attacked Tubigan, on the southern island of Basilan, before dawn, Lieutenant Steffani Cacho, an army spokesman, said.
Army troops have sent reinforcements to [...]

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) – A massive magnitude-8.3 earthquake struck near Concepcion, Chile, early on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported, shaking buildings and causing blackouts in parts of the capital of Santiago.
A tsunami warning was issued for Chile and Peru by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and a tsunami watch was issued for Ecuador.
The earthquake [...]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Golfer Tiger Woods was dumped by sports drink brand Gatorade on Friday, becoming the third major corporate sponsor to abandon him since details of his adulterous affairs surfaced late last year.
“We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts and have ended our relationship,” a spokeswoman for PepsiCo’s [...]

Viktor Yanukovych, the opposition leader who won Ukraine’s recent election, has been inaugurated as the country’s new president.
His electoral opponent, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, says Mr Yanukovych won through fraud and refuses to recognise his victory.
Both Mrs Tymoshenko and the outgoing president, Viktor Yushchenko, refused to attend the ceremony.
However international observers have said the election [...]

Australia has delivered a stark diplomatic warning to Israel, demanding its full cooperation with an investigation into the reported use of three Australian passports by the alleged assassins involved in last month’s killing of a top Hamas commander in Dubai.
Speaking on Thursday after summoning the Israeli ambassador, Australia’s foreign minister said he had warned Israel [...]

India and Pakistan have begun their first official talks since the 2008 attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai, as the nuclear-armed neighbours seek to bring a thaw to chilly relations.
Salman Bashir, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, and Nirupama Rao, his Indian counterpart, met on Thursday in New Delhi for discussions that were expected to include talks [...]

DUBAI (Reuters) – The aquarium at Dubai Mall, one of the world’s largest and a symbol of Dubai’s grandeur, is leaking and part of the mall has been evacuated, a police official said on Thursday.
“There was a small problem, a simple crack, and the water leaked,” the official said, declining to be identified.
One of the [...]

Russian official has indicated that Moscow could support new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, but not ones as severe as Western countries and Israel are seeking.
Oleg Rozhkov, a deputy head of the foreign ministry’s security and disarmament department, said on Wednesday that Russia would not support sanctions that would lead to paralysing [...]