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American economist Nouriel Roubini has said that Portugal should consider seeking a bailout because of its weak growth and high amount of debt. Roubini made the comments to the Diario Economico newspaper. He said that it is becoming "increasingly likely" that Portugal will need international help. His comments came after Ireland received a €85 billion bailout from the European Union. Portugal has become the second most likely eurozone country to require a bailout after Ireland, but it has paid all its insurance debt for this year. After news a

A Mexican professional wrestler has been shot dead after arriving in his hometown of Coyoacán, Mexico City. Ignacio Jimenez, 33 performed under the name El Hijo de Cien Caras. His death was announced by fellow wrestler El Hijo del Santo over his Twitter page. Jimenez was killed along with Adela Luna, a women reported to be in her 40s. Their bodies were found in a truck and had to be identified by a doctor. No one has been arrested for the murder yet. Santo said in his Twitter announcement: "I very much regret the death of a great teammate, th

Four strong aftershocks have occurred on today's early morning in Chile. The fourth and strongest quake had a 5.6 magnitude in the Richter scale. No damage was reported. The first shaking took place at 00:37 local time (03:37 UTC), which according to the University of Chile Seismological Service had a 4.7 magnitude in the Richter scale. It occurred 64 kilometers west of Navidad, O'Higgins Region at a depth of 31 kilometers, University of Chile reported. It was felt in cities such as Melipilla (Santiago Metropolitan Region), Pichilemu (O'Higgin

The United States government has urged Wikileaks not to publish new files because they will risk "countless" lives. In a letter to Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website, the Obama administration said that releasing the documents, rumoured to be seven times the size of the Iraq War Logs, would be in breach of U.S. law, and would result in "grave consequences." Assange replied by stating that the U.S. did not want to be held to account. It is thought that the files will include correspondence between U.S. diplomats around the w

Over 800 National Health Service staff in Scotland are earning more than £140,000 each year—more than First Minister Alex Salmond. New figures also reveal that 3,000 NHS workers are earning over £100,000. One NHS board alone, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, employs 893 staff earning more than £100,000, and 181 being paid over £140,000. Jackie Baillie, health spokeswoman for the Labour Party, which uncovered the figures, said they were "astonishing", and urged health boards to examine if savings can be made by reducing salaries of top earners.

Reigning Olympic luge champion Felix Loch has won season-opening race of the 2010 World Cup in Innsbruck Igls, Austria. Loch defeated fellow German David Moeller for a 1–2 German finish. This is Loch's second World Cup race win, the first being last season in Altenberg, Germany. Italian Armin Zoeggeler came in third. Loch is still competing with a hip injury. “As a consequence of my injury I’m still wasting some vital fractions of a second at the start," he said. "One cannot force an overall World Cup victory but I’ve enough time to make a go

Wikileaks' website is reportedly under attack as it prepares to release up to 2.7 million documents, described as "diplomatic dynamite", detailing communication between United States embassies. "We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack," the organisation said on its Twitter feed. The website, run by Julian Assange, retaliated by saying that even if their website goes down, several newspapers will publish the leaked files this evening. The Obama administration wrote to Assange yesterday to warn him that "countless" li

Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks is preparing to leak thousands of documents detailing correspondence between U.S. embassies around the world. American diplomats have contacted international allies, briefing them on the planned disclosure. James Jeffrey, U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, told journalists Washington is "worried" about the leak. "Wikileaks are an absolutely awful impediment to my business, which is to be able to have discussions in confidence with people. I do not understand the motivation for releasing these documents. They will not

A 19-year-old Oregon, U.S. resident has been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction after a sting operation; authorities say Mohamed Osman Mohamud, born in Somalia, tried to detonate a van bomb using a mobile phone at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland. The device, police stated, was fake; he reportedly obtained it from undercover agents during a sting operation. Reports say Mohamud, a US citizen, had been in regular contact with somebody in north-west Pakistan. Authorities intercepted e-mails they say were

Australian airline Qantas has returned the first of its fleet of Airbus A380s to service, after all six of the "superjumbo" aircraft were grounded three weeks ago following one aircraft's engine sustaining extensive midair damage; it landed safely in Singapore without injury. The airline stated that all of the aircraft have undergone extensive safety inspections and they are satisfied they are safe. Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas, said: "It's great that we can reintroduce the aircraft. We are 100 percent comfortable with it. If we weren't, we woul

149 people have been arrested by Saudi Arabia over alleged al-Qaeda connections in the past eight months, it was announced yesterday. 2.24 million riyals (£400,000; $600,000) has been confiscated, as have weapons. Mansour al-Turki of the interior ministry identified three wholly independent networks — all unaware of each other — and multiple smaller cells. "We have foiled about 10 attacks... I cannot say if oil installations were also targeted or not," he said, claiming al-Qaeda recruit within the nation, take people abroad to train and then s

A judge in the High Court in Aberdeen, Scotland has criticised the care doctors gave to baby Alexis Matheson. Lord Uist made the comments while sentencing Mark Simpson, who was yesterday convicted of murdering the six-week-old girl. Simpson, 29, will serve at least twenty years of his life sentence after he attacked Alexis — the child of his then-girlfriend Ilona Sheach, who he blamed for Alexis's wounds — over the course of a month. The child suffered broken ribs and brain damage. Lord Uist said staff at Woodside Medical Group might have been