David Blair's Blog, page 2

Iran feared to have arrested a fifth Briton amid crackdown on 'Western infiltration'

I ran���s regime was feared to have detained a fifth British national on Tuesday after the authorities disclosed the arrest of a person allegedly linked to ���British intelligence���.

North Korean diplomat serving in London defects to 'third country'

N orth Korea suffered a rare and embarrassing security lapse on Tuesday after a diplomat serving in London defected to another country.

Polio will be wiped out for good once we tackle the last remaining sceptics

Z ika, Sars, Ebola. Whenever you read of a virus in the media, your flesh will creep with news of a deadly epidemic in some part of the world. But there is one terrible disease that has a mercifully low profile these days, even though it once crippled or killed...

Losing Turkey would be the West's own fault, says foreign minister

T urkey���s foreign minister declared on Wednesday that it would be the West���s own ���fault��� if it ���lost��� Ankara, bluntly accusing the European Union of ���encouraging��� the failed coup.

Mandelson met loyal Mugabe accomplice as Zimbabwe endured economic meltdown

I n the streets outside Zimbabwe���s finance ministry, Robert Mugabe���s despairing subjects hold regular strikes and protests against the crisis overwhelming their country���s economy.

Mandelson asked to explain Zimbabwe visit to MPs

L ord Mandelson will be asked to explain his visit to Zimbabwe to a cross-party group of MPs and peers, the committee's leader said on Sunday.

Despotism or model democracy - South Africa could now go either way

O ne by one, the skittles have fallen. In the past, South Africa���s dominant party, the African National Congress (ANC), held a vice-like grip on power in all of the country���s big cities, with the sole exception of Cape Town.

How Mandelson met Zimbabwe finance minister just months before $1.1bn bail-out plan

L ord Mandelson met Robert Mugabe���s finance minister in Zimbabwe five months before the investment bank where the Labour peer works sought to help the regime borrow $1.1 billion, The Telegraph can disclose.

Jailed British mother, Nazanin Ratcliffe, makes first court appearance in Iran

A British mother has been taken from her prison cell and brought before an Iranian ���revolutionary court���, four months after she was arrested for allegedly plotting to overthrow the regime.

Analysis: Why France is so vulnerable to Islamist terrorism

T he murder of an 85-year-old priest in Normandy and the daily round of threats and vitriol show, yet again, that Isil terrorists have kept their promise to make France a priority target.