Indian general election draws to a close

Around 107,000 people will cast their vote in India’s general election. The main fight for votes is between the ruling Congress-led party alliance and parties led by the BJP – there is unlikely to be an outright majority for either group. Results will be announced this Saturday (16 May).
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89 year old Ukrainian to be tried for Nazi war crimes

In what is the last Nazi war trial, John Demjanjuk has been deported to Germany from America to face charges relating to the deaths of 29,000 Jews during the Second World War. The frail Ukrainian arrived in Germany in an ambulance, reportedly suffering from kidney and bone marrow problems. He has always protested his innocence, however his prosecutors claim to have evidence that proves he was responsible for herding Jews into gas chambers at Sosibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
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US accuses China of undervaluing currency

The US Senate and Congress believe that China is deliberately undervaluing its currency – by as much as 40% – in an effort to artificially boost its trade. This is so Chinese goods remain cheap to foreign buyers. The US is planning to revive a bill which could result in the imposition of extra duties on Chinese goods.
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Orangutan performs great escape

Visitors to an Australian zoo had a surprise when they witnessed an attempted escape bid by a resident orangutan. The ape used a branch to short-circuit a security fence and tried to escape from the Adelaide Zoo, only to return less than 30 minutes later. Karta, the 27-year-old primate, cleared one fence and had begun piling up debris to scale the enclosure wall. Visitors who watched the action unfold alerted staff to the episode, who promptly evacuated the zoo and closed it for the day. Zoo curator Peter Whitehead told reporters the ape seemed to realise she was in a place where she should not have been.
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First woman to become a ‘Red Arrow’ pilot

The Royal Air Force (RAF) has announced that the Red Arrows display team is to get its first female pilot. 31 year old Flight Lieutenant Kirsty Moore will join the team from 2010 to 2012. Red Arrow pilots are picked from some of the very finest fast-jet pilots, and although not the first woman to apply for a place, Ms Moore is the first to make the grade.
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Slumdog Millionaire star’s home demolished

The Mumbai slum home of one of the child stars of the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire has been demolished by city authorities. Reports say that police smacked Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, who played a younger version of one of the main stars in the film, with a bamboo stick before ordering him out. The authorities claim he and other families were squatting on the land that was owned by the government. The family claim they had not been informed about the planned demolition.
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Four year old Egyptian boy contracts bird flu

A four year old boy in Egypt has been diagnosed with the potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. The Egyptian authorities say the boy is from the Nile Delta region and had been in contact with sick poultry. His condition is described as stable and he is in receipt of anti-viral medication to control the illness. Egypt is the country that has been the worst affected by bird flu outside of Southeast Asia, and has had a spate of new cases since the spring.
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Peru ban homosexuals from police force

In a shakeup designed to improve the reputation of the police force in Peru, Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas has announced that there will be a ban on homosexuals from the institution. The law is one of several new regulations, and states that any police officer who has sexual relations with someone of the same gender will be indefinitely suspended. Critics argue that some of the new laws, including this one, are unconstitutional.   
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Rare blue diamond sold for 10.5 million Swiss francs

Auctioneers Sotheby’s has sold a rare blue diamond at a Geneva auction for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs (£6.2m). The flawless diamond, which weighs 7.03 carats, was found in Cullinan mine in South Africa last year (2008) and is one of only a handful of blue diamonds in existence. Mounted on a platinum band, it was sold to a private buyer who is yet to name it.
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Denmark-Germany bridge plan hits snag

A plan to build a massive bridge connecting Germany to Denmark, which has been fifteen years in the making, is facing a major problem. Transport experts claim the bridge is entirely unnecessary and could end up costing the German and Danish taxpayer millions of Euros.
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US Medicare falling into financial difficulty

The North American Medicare and social security system, which provide pensions and healthcare for the elderly, is under threat and is already running at a deficit. New estimates show that the Medicare trust fund will run out of money in 2017 and requires urgent reform to safeguard the trust for the future.
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Spain’s Telefonica boosted by Latin America

Europe’s most valuable telecommunications company has posted a net profit of €1.69 billion in the first quarter of 2009. The better-than-expected results are mainly attributed to strong sales in the Latin American market, while revenue in homeland Spain fell.
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