Fighting extremism needs answers that go beyond force: US
US Vice-President Joe Biden opened a high-profile meeting on global extremism Tuesday by facing down critics who say the White House should focus on defeating it militarily.
The summit hosted by President Barack Obama has been in the pipeline for months but has been given deeper significance after several similarly inspired attacks, including on a cultural centre and on a synagogue in Copenhagen which left two people dead at the weekend.
"We need answers that go beyond the military, we need answers that go beyond force," Biden told a group of religious, community and law enforcement leaders from around the world. "All of us, including the United States, have to work this from the ground up," Biden said, stressing the need to "engage our communities and engage those who might be susceptible to being radicalised."
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Iraq tells United Nations that ISIS committed genocide
Iraq told the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday that ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) militants had committed genocide.
"These terrorist groups have desecrated all human values. They have committed the most heinous criminal terrorist acts against the Iraqi people whether Shi'ite, Sunni, Christians, Turkmen, Shabak or Yazidis," Iraq's UN Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim said.
Alhakim said Iraq needed more help to liberate all areas under Islamic State control.
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Singapore Twitter hashtag #sg50shadesofgrey makes international headlines
Quirky local Twitter hashtag #sg50shadesofgrey, inspired by erotic box-office hit Fifty Shades Of Grey, has made headlines abroad.
The hashtag, a portmanteau of the film's name and Singapore's SG50 golden jubilee celebrations, was featured on the BBC and Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.
It can be traced back to poet Alvin Pang, who simply posted "#SG50ShadesOfGrey go go" on his Facebook page on Feb 12. It has generated dozens of suggestive posts in the comments thread since, referencing anything from durians to Electronic Road Pricing.
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Football: Berlusconi rejects Singapore offer for AC Milan, but club is on market - report
AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi has rejected an offer of €970 million (S$1.5 billion) for the embattled Serie A club but could sell a minority stake if it came with a pledge to help build a new stadium, according to reports in Italy.
Latest reports claim media tycoon Berlusconi, a two-time Italian prime minister, rejected a Singaporean-led bid to buy the club for €970 million. It said the interested party were "friends of Thohir".
Indonesian Erick Thohir became the first Asian owner of a top Italian football club just over two years ago when he bought a majority stake in Inter Milan.
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German 'Dr Death' opens corpse museum in Berlin
German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, dubbed "Doctor Death" for preserving and displaying dead bodies as artworks, opens a museum on Wednesday in Berlin to showcase the grisly exhibits.
After 20 years of touring the world with his show and often courting controversy, Hagens is giving 20 complete corpses and about 200 body organs a permanent home at the foot of the Television Tower, a landmark at Alexanderplatz square in the German capital.
Possible future stars of the show, which aims to educate visitors about the complexities of the human body, were guests of honour at Tuesday's unveiling of the new museum by Hagens and his wife Angelina Whalley. Donors such as Detlef von Wengler, 61, have volunteered to offer their own bodies for the "plastination" process after their death.
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