Three American hikers who have been detained in Iran since they crossed into the country from Iraq in July have been accused of espionage, the first signal that Tehran intends to send the matter to trial, Fox News reports.
Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, entered the Islamic Republic while hiking along the unmarked border in the scenic mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan, a peaceful region that is becoming popular among Western tourists. …

An Australian hacker has unleashed the first worm targeting Apple’s iPhone, but the Ikee worm can infect only iPhones that have been modified or “jailbroken” to run unauthorised software and does not do anything malicious, Computer Weekly reports.
Ikee merely changes the infected iPhone’s wallpaper to an image of singer Rick Astley and then seeks out other vulnerable iPhones to infect.
However, Ikee proves that jailbroken iPhones using the Unix SSH utility for connecting to the iPhone remotely …

A new synagogue in Dresden was vandalised on the eve of the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht and as Germany celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the JTA reports.
Aan outer wall of the synagogue’s community centre was marked with large, black swastikas and hate slogans sometime late Saturday night. Police are investigating the crime as likely having right-wing extremist roots.
The synagogue, which was dedicated in November 2001, supposedly is guarded around …

Labour’s deputy leader and “equalities” minister, Harriet Harman is preparing to squeeze the middle class in a bid to “reduce inequality” in plans which include a possible “asset tax”, which could be imposed by toughening up rules on capital gains, and higher council tax for certain home owners, the Daily Mail reports.
A report commissioned by Harman is set to reignite the debate on equality and the possibility of measures that would hit hard-working families.
Early drafts, …

British spies have foiled a terrorist plot by a suspected al-Qaida operative to blow up the New York subway, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The plan, which reportedly would have been the biggest attack on America since 9/11, was uncovered after Scotland Yard intercepted an email. The force alerted the FBI, who launched an operation which led to airport shuttle bus driver Najibullah Zazi, 24, being charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
The Afghan is alleged …

20 years ago today I was 10 years old. And frankly, I don’t remember anything from the day the Berlin Wall started to come down and the Iron Curtain was finally lifted. However, I do remember fragments of my trip to East Germany a few months before 9th November, 1989, the date when Europe changed forever.
I think it was either July or August when my parents took me and my brother, then 5, to our …

The number of UK firms planning to make staff redundant has fallen, however, reduced labour demand and lower hiring levels show there is no sign that the labour market is anywhere close to returning to proper health, the BBC reports.
A report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said that the job outlook in manufacturing was set to deteriorate “markedly”.
CIPD surveyed more than 700 employers, covering all sectors of the economy, for the latest …

The Arab leadership in Judea and Samaria announced yesterday their intention to consider a formal abandonment of the Middle East peace process and dissolving the “Palestinian Authority”.
Officials in Judea and Samaria told The Daily Telegraph that the most important Arab decision making bodies were preparing to meet to discuss a proposal to dissolve the “Palestinian Authority”. Such a move would signal the end of Arab self-government in Judea and Samaria, set out by the now defunct …

Iranian police say they are prepared to use the full force of Sharia law such as amputating hands, after failure to use such punishments led to an increase in crime, the Daily Mail reports.
Under Iran’s Islamic law, repeat offenders face amputation of their fingers for theft, but sentences are seldom carried out, especially in public, and in recent years, such sentences have rarely been reported.
“Not carrying the Islamic punishment law, particularly its most important part …

Family doctors are to be told to stop prescribing antibiotics for coughs and colds because overuse is contributing to the spread of hospital bugs and putting vital treatments under threat, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control are to write to all GPs warning them of the dangers of routinely handing out the drugs. Experts say that the prescription of the pills, which are not necessary in most cases, is fuelling the …

Tel Aviv University students with right-wing views are afraid to speak out in class because of fears that their leftist professors will give them low grades, Arutz 7 reports.
Professor Nira Hativa, the head of the university’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction wrote in a memo that “there is no small number of students of lecturers with left-wing views who complain bitterly that they are extremely offended by the presentation of materials that oppose their views, …

According to a senior NATO source, Western military commanders in Afghanistan are considering a radical shift in policy that would see British and US forces conduct a tactical pull-out from most of northern Helmand, including the town of Musa Qala, The Times reports.
The source said that the plan to withdraw from northern Helmand would be considered if proposed reinforcements, currently being examined by US President Barack Obama, were not approved. General Stanley McChrystal, the US …

The Government today insisted the country needed nuclear power as they prepared to unveil plans to fast-track a new generation of nuclear power stations, the Independent reports.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband acknowledged anxieties about nuclear power but said it had a “relatively good” safety record in this country. ”The basic message here is, we can’t say no to all of the nuclear or all of the low carbon fuels that are out there,” he …

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has admitted that Labour played into the hands of the British National Party (BNP) by refusing to debate the effects of immigration, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Johnson said that “rational” discussion about the issue would haved helped undermine the BNP, which have seen their support grow over Labour’s 13 years in power.
The Government’s reluctance to engage with the legitimate concerns of voters about immigration had strengthened extremist parties, he conceded.
Johnson said however …

US House of Representatives passed President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform bill with 220 representatives voting “yea” and 215 “nay”, but in Senate the bill faces a difficult path amid divisions in the Democratic Party on how to proceed.
In the House, 39 Democrats opposed the bill and one Republican supported the measure that would expand medical coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.
The battle now …

No fewer than 32 children have been killed over the past three years while working in Gaza arms smuggling tunnels, Arutz 7 reports.
A new report, prepared by an organization called the “Palestinian National Society for Democracy and Law”, was released on Saturday and it deals with the child abuse perpetrated on child labourers in the tunnels used to smuggle weapons, arms and other items from Egypt into Gaza.
The report attempts to shift some of the blame …