New York

It was a glorious, sunny day as I took my wife and kids to the Kasteel Meulen (Castle Mill) at the very top of the village of Mont Cassel, about 18 miles from Dunkerque. My children were excited to see a working windmill but, regrettably, there was not a breath of wind in the shimmering mid-summer heat and so, Blue Peter-like, we had to buy a bag of flour that the miller had already made.

Transocean ltd, the owners of the deep water horizon drilling rig that was destroyed by the explosion before the initial Gulf of Mexico oil spill has claimed that the full responsibility for the disaster should be placed on BP's shoulders.

As Japan attempts to bury its head in the sand over the full scale of the Fukushima nuclear power meltdown there is growing concerns across the world that the United States is not taking the problem seriously enough.

Embattled Representative Anthony Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat amid the controversy over his online relationships with several women, The Associated Press reports.

Pakistan's top spy agency has arrested five Pakistani informants who assisted the CIA ahead of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

A recent comment from an unnamed security expert to Bloomberg has indicated that like the recent attempt on Google's Gmail service, the recently revealed cyber attack on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could have been state sponsored.

In the wake of Citibank's admission of a security breach on its network, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has since confirmed that it too has been the target of a sophisticated cyber attack perpetrated by an as yet unknown group of hackers or hacker.

With youth unemployment remaining at near record levels many university students graduating in the coming months will face a slew of challenges unique to their generation.

The actor Alec Baldwin is considering a run for mayor of New York City.

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor said there is evidence that that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is using rape as a tool of war in Libya as he allegedly ordered the rape of hundreds of women.

Sony unveiled their long awaited next generation handheld, the PlayStation Vita, at the E3 Expo in L.A. earlier this week and Jack Tretton, the head of Sony's U.S. gaming division, used the opportunity to address the fallout from the recent PSN hack.

LulzSec's recent claim of a new successful hack on Sony's networks has come just after Sony's public apology to fans at this year's E3 expo, leading to fresh speculation about whether the company will be able to recover from its recent PSN hacking nightmare.

With Microsoft's E3 press conference out of the way, the IBTimes wraps up the key products and services it chose to reveal and demo at this year's expo.

After yesterday hacking Nintendo "just for LulzDec", the hacker group has today released a fresh statement claiming to have successfully breached Sony's online security again.

The French government has upped its quest to recover France and French integrity by allowing for a its broadcasting authority to ban any mention of the words Facebook and Twitter on the radios or televisions unless they are specifically part of the story.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has appeared in a New York court where he faces charges of sexual assault, unlawful imprisonment and attempting to rape a hotel maid last month. He was arrested by the New York police while boarding an Air France plane that was about to take off for Paris.

Amnesty International has been fighting torture and illegal imprisonment from its beginning. Since 1962 the group has denounced countries throughout the world where people are being detained and imprisoned arbitrarily without a fair trial, thus facing torture or other forms of ill-treatment while many are held in conditions that are so poor that these amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights no-one may be subjected to arbitrary ...

The Gaddafi saga is today continuing with the Libyan colonel still making headlines throughout the world. More interesting than a Hollywood star, the Kings of Kings is still mesmerizing us and his unknown whereabouts are turning him into a serious urban legend. The latest story sees the King of Kings slowly turning into a schizophrenic/paranoiac erratic mess.

Following the resignation of its Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahnafter his arrest for sexual assault last week in New York, the International Monetary Fund is now without a leader.In the next one to two month the international financial organisation has to appoint Strauss-Kahn replacement. The race is on to find a replacement and while Europe has claimed the need for a European to be appointed, due to the difficult financial crisis affecting many of its member states, China, Russi...

So the end of the world is tomorrow? That's a pity because I was rather hoping to spend the day making cakes and reading a good book. Seems I might not get the chance if Harold Camping, the leader of an obscure religious sect in the U.S., is right in his prediction.

The report, produced in conjunction with the Partnership for New York City, graded 26 metro areas from Stockholm to Santiago on business opportunities, culture, livability, and innovation. And it's no surprise that the authors hometown of new York comes out on top.

Rape, while not a pleasant topic for civilised society to talk about, is all over the news this week.

As talks between Israel and Palestine have been frozen since last year because of a dispute over settlements, Barack Obama said the US and Jordan both wanted Israelis and Palestinians to go back to the negotiating table, adding that it was "more vital than ever" for Israelis and Palestinians to restart negotiations on a peace deal.

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as bailout talks in Brussels continued today.

The sexual assault charges against IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in New York and his arrest have sent shockwaves across Europe, but how will it impact on the French political scene?

Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, on the 25th of April 1949 he spent part of his childhood in Agadir, Morocco. He was raised by socialist parents and accumulated diplomas from France's most prestigious schools including from Paris' top business and political schools, HEC and Sciences-Po but failed the entrance exam to l'ENA, which grooms France's future presidents. He went on to get a degree in public law and a PHD in economics.

After being arrested on Saturday over allegations of serious sexual assault, Dominique Strauss-Khan has made his first public appearance handcuffed and surrounded by policeman. He was taken to an unknown location while waiting for his hearing to start in a Manhattan court later on today.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the shock arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, threatened to disrupt key talks on the eurozone bailouts of Greece and Portugal.

Greg Mortenson, author of the bestseller "Three Cups of Tea," has been sued for fraud in a class-action case accusing him of fabricating much of his story to promote the book and his Montana-based charity.

The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Special Forces came as something of a surprise to the world and many questions have been raised about the circumstances of his death, but there is little doubt that after this life will be different for both the Obama administration and for Pakistan.