Swiss citizens are going to the polls to vote on a proposal to ban smoking completely in enclosed public places. Hotels, restaurants and bars are currently allowed to have rooms for smokers but critics say this harms the health of those who work in them. Restrictions introduced two years ago were watered down after lobbying [...]
Inaccuracies and misplaced towns and cities in Apple’s new map software have provoked anger from users. In June Apple announced it would stop using Google Maps in favour of its own system, created using data from navigation firm TomTom and others. Apple is yet to comment on the complaints about the software, which comes already [...]
A British servicewoman has given birth to a baby boy in Afghanistan having not realised she was pregnant. “Mother and baby are both in a stable condition,” said the Ministry of Defence, following the birth on Tuesday in Camp Bastion, Helmand province. The woman, a Royal Artillery gunner who has not been named by the [...]
Ulster rugby star Nevin Spence was one of three men killed when four people fell into a farm’s slurry tank, his club has confirmed. Rising star Spence, 22, played at centre for the provincial side and was called up to the Ireland training squad for the Six Nations last year. The other men, aged 52 [...]
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have said they are “hugely saddened” by what they said was a “grotesque” invasion of their privacy after topless photographs of Kate were published by a French celebrity magazine. In a statement issued on Friday morning, St James’s Palace said the move by Closer magazine was “reminiscent of the [...]
David Cameron has said he is profoundly sorry for the “double injustice” of the Hillsborough football disaster. Speaking after an independent report into previously unseen documents about the tragedy, the prime minister said police had failed to do enough and had also tried to blame Liverpool fans. Ninety-six fans died after a crush at Sheffield [...]
The four people shot dead at an Alpine beauty spot were each killed with two bullets to the head, French investigators said. The revelation supports the theory that they were victims of an organised killing, probably by more than one person. Iraqi-born aeronautics engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Iqbal, 47, their two daughters and [...]
Three of the four victims of a shooting in a quiet area near Lake Annecy in the French Alps appear to have been British tourists, a local official has said. Prosecutor Eric Maillaud told AFP the identity of a dead man described as the father of the family had been “almost certainly” established. The bodies [...]
A powerful earthquake rocked Costa Rica on Wednesday, killing at least two people, sparking landslides, knocking down buildings, and briefly triggering a tsunami warning. Striking a tourist region popular with Hollywood stars, Costa Rica’s worst quake in over two decades sowed panic in the capital, disrupting power supplies and communications, and caused an entire hospital [...]
A 15-year-old Dutch boy has been sentenced to a year in juvenile detention after he confessed to killing a schoolgirl over a row that appears to have begun on Facebook, the social-networking site. Jinhua K was 14 when he fatally stabbed Joyce “Winsie” Hau at her home. Jinhua was further convicted by the court, on Monday in the [...]