PRISTINA (Reuters) - Police in Kosovo have arrested Naser Kelmendi suspected by the United States of trafficking heroin and cocaine to Europe through the Balkans, a senior police source said on Monday.
"He was arrested last night in Pristina," the source, who asked not to be identified, said. A police spokesman was not immediately available to comment because of a public holiday in Kosovo.
(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci, writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
PARIS (Reuters) - The editor of a French celebrity magazine was placed under formal investigation for breach of privacy over the publication of topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge, a judicial source said on Wednesday.
The photographer who snapped the pictures of the Duchess, or Kate Middleton, in the summer last year and a regional daily were also put under investigation, the last step in France before being charged, the source said.
Closer magazine, a weekly round-up of celebrity gossip, published in September a series of photos of the Duchess, the wife of Prince William, topless on holidays in southern France, something that incensed much of the British public.
The photos showed Kate slipping off her bikini top, relaxing on a sun lounger and at one point pulling down the back of her bikini bottoms. Buckingham Palace had called the photo spread a "grotesque" invasion of the royal couple's privacy.
The publisher of the magazine - the French branch of Italy's Mondadori - and the paparazzi who snapped the photos from a distance were put under formal investigation earlier this month, said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The regional daily La Provence, which published pictures of Prince William and his wife in swimming suits during the same holiday, was put under formal investigation this week, the source said.
An investigation does not necessarily lead to formal charges.
The office of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge could not be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Nicolas Bertin in Paris and; Sarah Young in London; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's boxing pin-up boy Vijender Singh, who had been accused of taking heroin, has been cleared in an out-of-competition drug test, the country's sports ministry said on Tuesday. Singh, who won a middleweight bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was ordered by the ministry to take a test after local police accused him of using heroin on several occasions amid allegations from a fellow boxer. "Vijender Singh...along with four others was subjected to an out-of-competition test for banned substances," the sports ministry said in a statement. "The Ministry... ...
DUBLIN (Reuters) - Frozen food maker Birds Eye said horse meat DNA found in two of its products came from an Irish meat processor that is part of one of Ireland's largest agricultural businesses.
Birds Eye was drawn into the scandal last month when a chilli con carne sold in Belgium was pulled off retail shelves after testing positive for horse DNA. That also prompted the withdrawal of its spaghetti bolognese and beef lasagne products.
The company said investigations had found its Belgian supplier Frigilunch NV had unknowingly sourced meat with horse DNA from Irish meat processor QK Meats.
"Our investigation has shown that Frigilunch NV (who supplied these products to us) was itself supplied meat with horse in it by an Irish meat processor QK Meats," Birds Eye said in a statement on Tuesday.
"In total we have tested 250 products across Europe and confirmed three products as containing horsemeat," Birds Eye said.
The horsemeat scandal erupted in Ireland after its food safety authority discovered horse DNA in frozen beef burgers and the Birds Eye investigation brings more unwanted attention on the country's reeling beef industry.
"All other meat suppliers to Frigilunch NV have been given the all clear through both Birds Eye's and Frigilunch NV's separate testing programmes," the statement said.
Private equity group Permira owns the Iglo Group whose frozen food brands include Birds Eye in Britain, Iglo, which trades across much of continental Europe, and Findus in Italy.
Birds Eye said tests showed its beef burgers, beef pies and beef platters sold in Britain and Ireland did not contain horse DNA.
QK Meats parent firm is the Arrow Group, which is privately owned by Irish businessmen the Queally brothers who own shares in one of Europe's largest food processors, Dawn Meats.
In response, QK Meats said it never knowingly incorporated horse meat into any of its beef products and is investigating the contamination.
(Corrects Frigilunch NV to Belgian from Dutch; Queally brothers hold Dawn Meats shares, not own company)
(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Jon Hemming)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has chosen a veteran Secret Service official who oversaw criminal investigations to head the agency, which last year became embroiled in a prostitution scandal in Colombia, a government source said.
In the next few days, Obama will appoint David O'Connor, a former assistant director of investigations who retired last year, as director of the agency that protects the president and other top officials.
The White House had no comment and the Department of Homeland Security would not confirm that he was to be appointed.
O'Connor will replace Mark Sullivan, who retired last month after almost three decades with the agency. The post of Secret Service director does not require Senate confirmation.
Sullivan was in charge of the Secret Service when it became embroiled in a scandal involving agents taking prostitutes back to their hotel rooms in Colombia ahead of a visit by Obama to Cartagena in April 2012. Sullivan was generally credited with acting aggressively in response to one of the biggest scandals to hit the agency.
O'Connor, who was with the Secret Service for more than 25 years, oversaw all criminal investigations and was in charge of agents in the field.
Previously he was in charge of dignitary protection, which included the 2008 Democratic National Convention where Obama was selected as the party's presidential candidate.
According to a blog post on MassLive.com during the Denver convention, O'Connor spoke to a group about his experiences when he was assigned to presidential candidate Al Gore, Pat Buchanan's campaign, first daughter Chelsea Clinton, and a U.S. visit by Pope Benedict, who stepped down last month.
Earlier in his Secret Service career O'Connor was special agent in charge of the Newark, N.J., office.
(Reporting By Tabassum Zakaria and Deborah Charles; Editing by Vicki Allen)
