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A new report released by the UK Government's Select Committee on Foreign Affairs has carried "serious allegations of corruption" in the Turks and Caicos Islands, which are UK territories. The report mentioned possible abuse of prisoners on the islands and recommended a greater role by the UK government in monitoring the conditions of prisoners to prevent abuse in the future. The government was also called to crack down on illegal immigration into the islands, which the report indicated is at a problematic high. In the Key Recommendations sect

Today, the open national championship Olympic distance triathlon has been held in Belgium in the city of Kortrijk, West Flanders. The 1.5 km swim (0.93 mi), 40 km bicycle race (24.8 mi) and 10 km run (6.2 mi) turned out to be a thriller event in both the men's and the ladies' event. The new Belgian champion Simon Decuyper was only 13th out of the water but was the fastest to complete the 4 bicycle laps, with still energy left to catch up with and run away from Stijn Goris halfway the second of three laps. Lander Dircken finished third, beating

__NOTOC__ Ever since the Taste of Taiwan Cuisine, a complex to promote the MICE (meeting, incentive travel, conference, and exhibition) and cultural industries in Taiwan exclusively in June, made its initiation at 2006, the tourism ratio from foreigners were progressively increased in this complex event. To bring up the MICE industry, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event organizer, arranged several key events including Taipei Trade Shows, travel packages, views, and conferences for international businesspeople. This e

A British High Court judge has ruled that Pringles are not a potato snack and therefore not subject to a 17.5% tax. The judge, Justice Nicholas Warren, overruled a Value Added Tax (VAT) Tribunal decision that imposed the 17.5% tax which is also applied on other potato products. Pringles' owner Procter & Gamble had claimed at a ruling in May that Pringles do not feel, look, or taste like a crisp. Justice Warren ruled that since Pringles are only 42% potato, it is exempt from VAT.

Chemicals in the Thompson River were said to be found after four Canadian Pacific Railway (CP Rail) cars containing chemicals derailed near Lytton, British Columbia, Canada on Tuesday night. The derailment occurred just northeast of Lytton when a landslide hit in the middle of a freight train with about 100 cars at around 7:00 pm PDT (02:00 UTC) Tuesday evening. One car remained on the tracks, another was on a river bank, and two were submerged in the Thompson, one of them fully submerged and the other partially submerged. CP states that the c

South African president Thabo Mbeki has been asked for an explanation from Zambia after announcing wrongly that the nation's leader Levy Mwanawasa had died. Mbeki asked for a minute's silence for Mwanawasa during a ceremony in honour of those killed during recent violence against foreigners in South Africa. Mwanawasa was flown into Paris, France on Sunday for emergency treatment after he suffered a stroke in Egypt before an African Union summit. On Wednesday, the night he was supposed to have died, he in fact had a "satisfactory night" accordi

The death toll in a collision between two helicopters in Arizona, United States has been finalised at seven after the only survivor died. James Taylor was an emergency nurse present on one of the helicopters, which were both Bell 407s performing patient transfers to nearby Flagstaff Medical Center. The other six, including two patients, died at the scene. Taylor, 36, worked at Salt Lake's St. Mark's Hospital, and also part-time with Life Flight, who operated the helicopter he was on board at the time. He had only recently started working at St

Iran said today that the policies regarding its nuclear program have not changed, despite a proposal made by world powers last month that the country suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for economic and political incentives. Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham delivered the remarks. "Iran's stand regarding its peaceful nuclear program has not changed. Iran insists on negotiations while respecting its rights and avoiding any loss of international rights," Elham said. He indicated that Iran "will continue with the path determined by the

London's Metropolitan Police Service (the Met) have launched a new 75-man taskforce to combat the rising tide of gang-related knife crime. This comes after the Met's Deputy Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson claimed yesterday that knife crime has replaced terrorism as the force's "number one priority". Over the last six months the city has seen 18 knife attacks - nearly as many as were committed throughout the whole of 2007. On Thursday 16-year-old Shakilus Townsend was the victim of one of such crimes, being stabbed near his home in Thornton He

This past Tuesday, a United States federal judge ordered the popular video sharing website YouTube to hand over a record of every video that users have watched, including registered accounts and IPs. Viacom, which owns several U.S. television networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon, launched a $1 billion lawsuit last year alleging that YouTube wasn't doing enough to stop its copyrighted material from appearing in over 160,000 unauthorized clips that have been viewed over 1.5 billion times. Viacom argued that since they claimed that copyright mate

As part of an update by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) into its investigation of a fire on a Boeing 767 cargo plane at San Francisco International Airport last week, it has been revealed the operator received a threat the week before. ABX Air, a contractor for DHL that is also known as Airborne Express, received a threat against them, although no specific aircraft was mentioned. However, the NTSB also said that initial investigations have revealed no evidence of a bomb or an incendiary device. The fire at 10 p.m

Over 60 members of a Chadian sect have been killed in fighting with police that started after the group's leader announced his wish to start a holy war. The government security minister, Mahamat Bachir, said that the death toll is "a regrettable toll, but we think we now control the situation caused by the actions carried out by these terrorists, these extremists." Ahmat Ismael Bichara, who led the sect and claimed to follow the religion of Islam, ordered his followers to attack villagers as part of the start of a holy war. As a result of this