Political leaders in Athens were due to discuss an emergency government Wednesday to deal with a possible run on banks as it emerged Greeks withdrew almost $900 million in a single day, fearing their country could crash out of the euro currency by the end of the week.

An interim government would take the country through to new elections on June 17, triggered by the collapse on Tuesday of talks to form a coalition between winners of the inconclusive May 6 election.

Greeks are withdrawing euros from banks, apparently afraid of the prospect of rapid devaluation if the country leaves the European single currency and returns to the drachma.

President Karolos Papoulias warned of “great fear that could develop into a panic,” the minutes of Papoulias' negotiations with political leaders showed.

The minutes also reveal Papoulias was warned by George Provopoulos, head of the country’s central bank, that savers withdrew at least 700 million euros ($894 million) on Monday.

"Withdrawals and outflows by 4:00 p.m. when I called him exceeded 600 million euros and reached 700 million euros," the president said according to the minutes of the meeting. "He expects total outflows of about 800 million euros."

It is not known how much was withdrawn on Tuesday.

The political vacuum in Greece has hampered the country’s chances of making the budget cuts required by the European bailout deal. Without more austerity measures, the flow of bailout money will dry up, raising the prospect of a euro exit with all its wider ramifications.

The likelihood of a Greek exit from the euro – dubbed the "Grexit" by commentators – is now so high that even political leaders committed to avoid it admit preparations are under way.

Asked in an interview whether Greece could leave the euro zone, IMF director Christine Lagarde replied: "We certainly don't hope so, from the IMF point of view ... but we have to be technically prepared for anything".

Will there be a run on Greek banks?

A Twitter image shared by economics blogger Tyler Durden, posted on UK website Zero Hedge, showed what appeared to lines outside ATMs in Greece, although it was impossible to verify where the picture was taken or if lines were longer than normal.

Reuters reported early Wednesday that there has “so far been no sign” of lines at banks in Athens, despite the likelihood that an exit from the euro would see a dramatic devaluation in of Greek currency.

CNBC’s John Carney raised the prospect of reduced limits on ATM withdrawals, citing a calculation by London analysts Capital Economics that if every working-age Greek withdrew the maximum permitted ATM amount of 300 euros a day, every single deposit of Greek households would be gone within 61 days.

“So the controls put in place in advance of an exit from the euro would have to include not only limits on moving funds abroad, but limiting withdrawals from ATMs and possibly declaring a bank holiday,” Carney wrote.

In practice, however, any Greeks lucky enough to possess any savings have already taken the precaution of withdrawing them from banks.

“Over the last two years Greeks withdrew approximately 70 billion euros from their bank accounts, an amount equivalent to approximately 35 percent of Greek GDP,” Dr Michael Arghyrou, senior economics lecturer at Cardiff Business School in Wales told msnbc.com.

“This is a negative demand shock of enormous proportions and with increased uncertainty this trend will almost certainly accelerate. So yes, we will almost certainly see more deposits withdrawals over the next few days, I just hope is that they will not be so large as to lead to a full-blown bank run.”

How likely is ‘Grexit’? Are drachma notes being printed?

A year ago, it was nearly impossible to get officials and political leaders to talk about the possibility of Greece leaving the eurozone. Now it appears to be an open secret.

Ireland's central bank chief and European Central Bank policymaker, Patrick Honohan, signaled on Sunday that a Greek exit might not be as painful as previously thought.

Yorgos Karahalis / Reuters

A man makes his way past a replica of a one drachma coin outside the Athens Town Hall May 15, 2012.

"Technically, it can be managed," he told reporters. "It would be a knock to the confidence for the euro area as a whole ... It is not necessarily fatal, but it is not attractive."

The tone from the European Commission, the EU's executive, has shifted too.

On Monday, spokeswoman Pia Ahrenhilde-Hansen said: “We wish Greece will remain in the euro and we hope Greece will remain in the euro ... but it must respect its commitments. Greece has its future in its own hands and it is really up to Greece to see what the response should be.”

Asked about contingencies, she did not rule them out.

"There are many, many questions arising and many questions open about Greece and most answers have to come from Greece and we have to respect the ongoing political process. Clearly, the future of Greece is in the eurozone. We are working on that."

However, the official response remains that a Greek exit is not being considered. Richard Corbett, a senior adviser to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, told BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday: "We're not planning for a Greek exit, nobody is planning for a Greek exit."

Some commentators have pointed to a 13 percent rise in the share value of British firm De La Rue, which is the world’s largest currency printer, amid speculation it is best placed to pick up the contract for printing new versions of the drachma, the Greek currency phased out in 2002.

It has remained tight-lipped on whether it is working for the Greek government, but in the meantime an interim solution has been mooted in which existing euro notes would be converted into drachmas by being endorsed by an official stamp.

Reuters contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iranians already feeling pain of sanctions
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Aussie Olympic hopeful loses bet over 'mankini' at opening ceremony
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with Jaguar
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed for clues in disappearance
• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Cameron Burnell / Taranaki Daily News

Farm worker Katrina Hayman, who was photographed drinking a beer during the Taranaki Bride of the Year competition, says no-one would have criticized her for sipping a glass of wine.

A front-page photo showing a contestant in a Bride of the Year competition taking a swig of beer has sparked controversy in New Zealand.

Katrina Hayman, a pig midwife, was snapped by the Taranaki Daily News as 34 women relived their bid day for the event.

"At your wedding you're relaxed because you have your family and friends around for support but in the competition you are sort of all by yourself," Hayman told the newspaper. "It was quite stressful. That's why I was drinking a beer." 

The photograph provoked debate online, with the image being branded "disgusting" by one online critic. The contest's organizers also demanded an apology from the newspaper.

'I just felt more comfortable'
Hayman, who married in March, said she loved the photo and didn't understand the controversy. She added that no-one would have passed judgment if she had been spotted sipping a glass of wine.

"I mean that is just the type of person I am," the farm worker reportedly said. "I don't like to portray myself as someone I am not. A lot of females drink beer and it's just I felt more comfortable having a beer than having a wine."

New Zealand news website stuff.co.nz later posted a poll asking readers whether drinking beer is "becoming for a bride?"

At 6:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, 62.4 percent of respondents had voted for "absolutely," compared to 13.6 percent who said "No, it's tacky" with 24 percent saying "OK, but out of an elegant glass please."

One user on the website added: "Clearly it's a surprise to some people that not all women drink champagne with their pinky finger out."

Hayman didn't win the competition.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Computer nerds and freaks:' Germany's Pirate Party rides wave of popularity
• In China, English teaching is a whites-only club
• Oh la la! A look at France's fascinating first ladies
• 'Puppet' and 'Stooge': al-Qaida chief al-Zawahiri issues message on Yemen
• Bomb kills at least two in apparent assassination attempt in Colombia

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Angelika Warmuth / AFP - Getty Images, file

This combination of photos shows members of Germany's Pirate Party who attended a two-day conference in Neumuenster on April 28.

MAINZ, Germany -- The Pirate Party boarded another ship this week, so to speak, as the upstarts' voyage into German politics startled mainstream rivals.

Their treasure? Nearly 8 percent of the votes in a local election in the country's most populous state and their fourth consecutive entry into a German local state parliament.

"We have written history today, now it is time to party, politics should be fun," said Michele Marsching, head of the local state chapter in Northrhein-Westphalia. 

The Pirate Party has based its political agenda mainly on Internet freedom and political transparency. It promotes what it calls "liquid feedback," which involves members making suggestions online. They are discussed in chat rooms before entering the party's internal policy-making process.

Despite, or perhaps because of this unconventional approach, the Pirate Party surprised the country's long-established parties by gaining a reputable 7.8 percent of the vote on Sunday. Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel's party – the Christian Democrats – had to cope with a huge defeat in Northrhein-Westphalia.

'Learning by doing'
But who are the Pirates? A mostly young motley crew of hip intellectuals and bandana-wearing cyber-politicians, they have openly admitted that they are still "learning by doing" after every new election success.

The Pirates emerged in Sweden six years ago, where they started by campaigning on free downloads for personal use and Internet privacy issues. Germany's Pirate Party now has approximately 30,000 members.

"The party consists of mostly liberal leftists, who have some typical socialist views. But most important is that they promote a new form of politics," Professor Jürgen Falter, a political scientist at the University of Mainz, told NBC News.

Falter says that he has spent hours combing through the Pirates' program, but admits that he had difficulties finding a clear political line in their manifesto.

"Some of the propositions would even require a fundamental change of German laws and a total rethinking of existing party oligarchies," Falter said.

A retired teacher's courageous crusade: Tackling neo-Nazi hate

In fact, some political demands seem rather anarchical: the Pirates are calling for ticket-free public transportation in German cities, funded (as one of many online proposals suggested by members) by tax money. Another demand is the basic income guarantee for all Germans.

However, the party still has difficulties explaining how these projects would be paid for.

'No defined finish line'
What happens, for example, if a foreign tourist needs a bus ticket? No answer yet -- decision-making in progress, the Pirates say.

"Political experts always ask when we are ready to present our program, when we can define all of our goals," says 31-year-old Markus Barenhoff, the deputy chairman of the Pirate Party. "But for us, there is no defined finish line, politics and political decisions are a continuing development process."

Germany's influential Der Spiegel weekly news magazine recently dedicated its cover to Germany's fledgling party and described the young politicians as "amateurs," calling the Pirates' political quest a "grand experiment."

Der Spiegel

Der Spiegel's article portrayed the Pirates as "a party of computer nerds and freaks, a party of political neophytes, electrifying a large share of German citizens."

The Pirates' popularity seems to be the result of a growing political mistrust and disappointment with traditional politicians.

Many analysts in Germany say the Pirates are drawing support from across the political spectrum due to a growing "disenchantment with politics" across Europe.

"Thanks to their fresh anti-establishment attitude they are attracting many new voters, who in the past stayed away from the polls," Falter added. "But they also capture the so-called protest votes, people who are frustrated with conventional politics.

"The Pirates are somewhat naive politicians, but they are democrats, and their success is far better than seeing gains for extremist parties from the Far Left or the Far Right."

3 arrested as Germany cracks down on neo-Nazi extremists

The Pirates' fairytale is reminiscent of the rise of Germany's Green party, which was regarded as little more than a group of radical ecologists when the party appeared on the political landscape 30 years ago. Today, the Greens are a respected "political pillar" and have been part of ruling coalitions.

But while the Greens had a clear political message from the start, the Pirates are still in search of their exact stand on important issues such as the eurozone crisis or defense and security policies.

"We are truly different," says Barenhoff, an IT specialist. "Our focus is set more on political methods than on political content."

Tobias M. Eckrich / Courtesy Pirate Party

Markus Barenhoff is the deputy chairman of Germany's Pirate Party.

If the Pirates do manage to become a permanent player in German parliaments, they could make it tougher for the country's large parties to form majorities. A federal election looms in September 2013. 

The Pirates are cautious about whether their current success is sustainable and if it will allow them to gain seats in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, next year.

"I believe that we have very good chances to enter the German parliament in 2013, but knowing how rapid things can change in politics, I do not want to give a prognosis for the long term," says Barenhoff. "We are working on the here and now."

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• In China, English teaching is a whites-only club
• Beer-swilling bride sparks controversy in New Zealand
• Oh la la! A look at France's fascinating first ladies
• 'Puppet' and 'Stooge': al-Qaida chief al-Zawahiri issues message on Yemen
• Bomb kills at least two in apparent assassination attempt in Colombia

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

New French President Francois Hollande and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy have one thing in common that everybody is talking about: their glamorous significant others.

NBC News' Jim Maceda reports from Paris.

Related content:

• France's 'Monsieur Normal' takes power ... unmarried
• PhotoBlog: In rainy france, Socialist is sworn in as president
• Hollande arrives in Berlin -- after lightning strikes jet
• Meet Monsieur Caramel Pudding, France's next president

Toussaint Kluiters / Pool via Reuters

Former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic sits in a courtroom in The Hague on Wednesday as his trial opens. Mladic, 70, faces 11 overall counts for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Updated at 4:57 a.m.: THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic went on trial for genocide on Wednesday, accused of leading the slaughter of 8,000 unarmed Muslim boys and men in Srebrenica in 1995, Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

The ailing 70-year-old Mladic's appearance at the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia marks the end of a long wait for justice to survivors of the 1992-95 war that left some 100,000 people dead. He is accused of 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Mladic, in a suit and tie and looking healthier than at previous pretrial hearings, gave a thumbs-up and clapped to supporters in the court's public gallery as the trial got under way. He occasionally wrote notes and showed no emotion as prosecutors began outlining his alleged crimes.

One woman in the public gallery called him a "vulture" as prosecutors began two days of laying out their case for judges.

Presiding Judge Alphons Orie of the Netherlands said at the outset that the court was considering postponing the presentation of evidence, due to start May 29, due to "errors" by prosecutors in disclosing evidence to the defense. Prosecutor Dermot Groome said he would not oppose a "reasonable adjournment."

Mladic allegedly orchestrated not only the week-long massacre in Srebrenica, at the time a U.N. "safe haven", but also the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, in which more than 10,000 people were killed by snipers, machineguns and heavy artillery.

Munira Subasic, who lost 22 family members in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, was among a group of relatives of war dead heading into the courtroom to face Mladic.

The 65-year-old said she wanted to look him in the eye "and ask him if he will repent for what he did."

'Murderer!'
Mladic, who was arrested last May after 16 years on the run, has dismissed the charges as "monstrous" and says he is too ill to stand trial. The court entered a "not guilty" plea on his behalf.

The case has inevitably stirred up violent emotions in the Balkans. Survivors watching proceedings from the court gallery have shouted "Murderer!" and "Killer!" at a man nicknamed the "Butcher of Bosnia."

Slideshow: The charges against Ratko Mladic

Serge Ligtenberg / Getty Images

A career soldier, Mladic stands accused of orchestrating the siege of Sarajevo and the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

Launch slideshow

For his part, Mladic has been angry and defiant during pre-trial hearings, heckling the judge, shouting and interrupting the proceedings.

"The whole world knows who I am," he told a hearing last year. "I am General Ratko Mladic. I defended my people, my country ... now I am defending myself."

Mladic was in charge of the Bosnian Serb army when, over several days in July 1995, Serb fighters overran the Srebrenica enclave in eastern Bosnia, theoretically under the protection of Dutch U.N. peacekeepers.

Srebrenica: The story that will never end

Video footage shot at the time showed Mladic mingling with Muslim prisoners.

Shortly afterwards, the men and boys were separated from the women, stripped of identification, and shot.

The dead were bulldozed into mass graves, then later dug up with excavators and hauled away in trucks to be better hidden from the world, in dozens of remote mass graves.

Prosecutors say Mladic was part of a "joint criminal enterprise to eliminate the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica by killing the men and boys ... and forcibly removing the women, young children and some elderly men".

Mladic is also held responsible for the siege and bombardment of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, which prosecutors said was intended to "spread terror among the civilian population."

The horrors of the siege, together with the Srebrenica massacre, eventually galvanized world opinion in support of the campaign of Western airstrikes on Bosnian Serb targets that brought the conflict to an end shortly after.

Mladic was indicted in 1995 along with Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serbs' political leader.

Yet both remained free in Serbia for more than a decade before being tracked down and sent to The Hague. Karadzic's trial is already under way.

Defense lawyers say they have not had enough time to review the huge case file prepared by prosecutors and asked for the trial to be postponed, but the request was denied.

411 witnesses
Serge Brammertz, the court's chief prosecutor, has dismissed Mladic's assertion that he is too frail to sit through a 200-hour prosecution case involving testimony from 411 witnesses.

His appearance in The Hague is testament to the work of the tribunal, which has defied skeptics by managing, in the course of 19 years, to arrest all its 161 indictees.

But some victims still fear that Mladic, who has received physical therapy for a possible stroke, could escape judgment by dying in mid-trial.

Mladic's mentor, former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, the architect of the Balkan wars, died in detention in 2006, a few months before a verdict in his trial for genocide and other war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Computer nerds and freaks:' Germany's Pirate Party rides wave of popularity
• In China, English teaching is a whites-only club
• Beer-swilling bride sparks controversy in New Zealand
• Oh la la! A look at France's fascinating first ladies
• 'Puppet' and 'Stooge': al-Qaida chief al-Zawahiri issues message on Yemen
• Bomb kills at least two in apparent assassination attempt in Colombia

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Stian Lysberg Solum / AP

Anders Behring Breivik stands between two police officers prior to taking his seat after a break in the courtroom in Oslo on May 15, 2012.

A man set himself on fire and tried to force his way into the Norwegian courthouse where far-right mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for massacring 77 people last July, police said on Tuesday.

The man, who appeared to be a white Norwegian in his 50s, doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire before shouting at police officers and rushing toward a gate in the security perimeter, witnesses and police said. There was no indication of a motive.

Breivik has been on trial in Oslo since last month for killing eight people with a car bomb, then shooting dead 69 more, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party island summer camp in protest against immigration and multiculturalism.

Although reaction to the trial has been mostly calm, days of harrowing testimony from survivors of Norway's worst peacetime massacre have raised the tension, and last week the brother of a man gunned down by Breivik hurled a shoe at him in court.

Tears as victim's brother throws shoe at Norway mass killer Anders Breivik

Witnesses quoted by the news agency NRK said the burning man had shouted "Shoot me! Shoot me!" before he was tackled by police, who poured water over him.

However, a journalist at the scene said he may have shouted "Put me out!", which sounds similar in Norwegian.

Police spokesman Kjell Kverme said the man, who appeared to be a Caucasian Norwegian, had been taken to the hospital with serious injuries to his torso.

A video of the incident posted by the daily newspaper VG on its website shows the man, with flames coming from his hat and sweatshirt, walking toward the barrier and shouting at officers.

He then turns and rushes toward the security checkpoint, where heavily armed officers wrestle him to the ground and rip his burning clothes off.

Slideshow: Norway in mourning after massacre

Moshen Nouni, who works at a kebab shop across from the courthouse, said water had been poured on the man before he was rushed to hospital.

Inside the courtroom, witnesses continued to describe how Breivik hunted down his victims on Utoya island, often taking them down with the first shot then finishing them off with a shot to the head.

Breivik admits carrying out the killings but has said they were necessary to protect Norway against "traitors" who deserved death for embracing left-wing values including immigration and multiculturalism.

He has said he should either be executed or acquitted, calling the prospect of a prison sentence "pathetic" and an insanity ruling "worse than death".

One court-appointed team of psychiatrists concluded he was psychotic while a second team came to the opposite conclusion.

If he is deemed sane, Breivik faces a 21-year jail sentence with indefinite extensions for as long as he is considered dangerous.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iranians already feeling pain of sanctions
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Aussie Olympic hopeful loses bet over 'mankini' at opening ceremony
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with Jaguar
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed for clues in disappearance
• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Alfredo Estrella / AFP - Getty Images

Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes takes part in a tribute to Mexican writer and anthropologist Fernando Benitez (1912-2000) at the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City, on Dec. 18, 2011.

Novelist Carlos Fuentes, one of Latin America's most eloquent and widely read authors and a fierce critic of governments, has died after a literary career spanning more than five decades. He was 83.

Fuentes' best-known works include "The Death of Artemio Cruz,'' "The Crystal Frontier'' and "The Old Gringo," which was made into the 1989 movie by the same name starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda.

Local media said Fuentes died in a Mexico City hospital on Tuesday following heart problems.

Dividing his time chiefly between Mexico City and London, Fuentes dovetailed literature — writing more than 30 books that have been translated into two dozen languages — and social observation throughout his career.

Fuentes, an "elegant public intellectual and grand man of letters," as the New York Times obituary describes him — helped spark the explosion of Latin American in the 1960s and 70s known as "el boom" along with Colombia's Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru and Argentine Julio Cortazar.

In the 1980s he was a frequent critic of U.S. intervention in Central America and lambasted the effects of U.S. immigration policy on Mexican migrant workers in his mid-1990s novel, "La Frontera de Cristal'' (The Crystal Frontier).

"They know they need migrant Mexican labor, without which their harvests, services and many aspects of life would go to ruin,'' Fuentes once said, calling U.S. policy a farce.

Fuentes also became one of the most open critics of Mexico's entrenched political system under the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years before it was ousted in 2000 elections.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon and other political and cultural leaders quickly paid tribute to Fuentes on Tuesday.

"I profoundly regret the death of our beloved and admired Carlos Fuentes, writer and universal Mexican,'' Calderon wrote on his Twitter account.

Fuentes' critical eye was at work from the start of his career. His first novel in 1958, "La region mas transparente'' (Where the Air is Clear), was not only a look at life in Mexico City, now ironically one of the most polluted in the world. It also examined how the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917 had created a new and wealthy elite but did nothing for the impoverished and indigenous masses.

Born in Panama in 1928, Fuentes divided his early years among the United States, Chile and Argentina, following his father's diplomatic postings before going on to study law.

In an interview with the Academy of Achievement, Fuentes explained how his life growing up as the child of a diplomat pushed him in the direction of writing.

"As a little boy, I read a lot," he said. "That was solitary in a way, because I knew my friends wouldn't last more than two or three years, then another change, new friends. So I had to build my own inner world through reading, movies, radio at the time."

Reuters contributed to this report

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iranians already feeling pain of sanctions
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Aussie Olympic hopeful loses bet over 'mankini' at opening ceremony
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with Jaguar
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed for clues in disappearance
• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Follow Kari Huus on Facebook 

Courtesy Liz Thomas

Will Evans, a Canadian who teaches English in China, is seen in his classroom.

 
BEIJING – Speak a little English and are willing to relocate? Well, you’re probably qualified to be an English-language instructor in China. 

As long as you are white, that is.

Chinese teaching agencies are constantly seeking candidates to teach English to the growing number of children who are looking to get a leg up in China’s rigorous academic environment. The opportunity is quite lucrative and requires little or no knowledge of Chinese. 

But the ads recruiting these teachers come with a catch.

Take, for example, Mike Lee and Will Evans, students from the U.S. and Canada, respectively, who applied to be English teachers through the New Development School, a teacher-placement agency in Beijing. Being fluent speakers of English, both believed they would make competitive candidates. 

What they didn’t know is that recruiters would not be evaluating them just on their English fluency or academic credentials. Instead, they were judged primarily on physical appearance. 

“We want him [pointing to Evans], but we don’t want you [to Lee],” the recruiter told them, as the two stood side by side at the front counter of the school. “Unfortunately, parents of our students don’t really want someone Asian to be teaching.”

Lee, who is Korean-American, was rejected from the school despite having previous experience teaching English as a second language (ESL). Evans, a white Canadian, was hired on the spot. 

“I was shocked – back home this wouldn’t be acceptable,” Lee told NBC News. “I’ve never been discriminated (against) in that way.” 

White, Caucasians only
Racial discrimination is a harsh reality within China’s ESL industry, where recruiters actively seek the blond-hair, blue-eyed all-American archetype (along with similarly equipped Britons, Australians and other native speakers close behind). While brown hair also is acceptable, having a white face is a near-absolute requirement. 

Courtesy Liz Thomas

Will Evans, a Canadian who teaches English in China, is seen in his classroom.

Byron Vogue, who works for the corporate English training company Stanford English, said that Chinese recruiters will always prefer to hire Caucasian applicants over their non-white counterparts.

“There’s this concept that if you send your children to English class, the parents are expecting their children to be taught by a white English teacher versus an Asian-American or … a black American,” he said. 

A post by Vogue on a popular online forum and classifieds site, The Beijinger, explicitly spells out the phenomenon:

“In Beijing this is the general pecking order in terms of a company's recruitment (by Chinese managers):

1. White Americans/Canadians

2. White British

3. White Australians/New Zealanders and South Africans

4. European Nonnatives/Black Americans/Black British

5. American Asians/Black Aussies (Australians) and Kiwis (New Zealanders)/Filipinos/Africans”

The discrimination comes, Evans said, because Chinese parents simply do not believe a non-white person can possibly be a native speaker. Thus, this logic continues, hiring a white person is the simplest and easiest way to ensure that the teacher is truly fluent.

“I was told that it was nice for parents to see foreign or white-looking teachers around the school,” Evans said, adding that he was encouraged to walk outside and greet parents. 

Advertisements for English teaching positions are up-front in their bias. A search for “English teacher” in The Beijinger’s classifieds section reveals dozens of ads that include language such as “Job requires American or Canadian white teacher” or “white color is preferred.”

The ESL teaching industry isn’t the only job market in China where being Caucasian is an asset. So-called “face jobs,” where companies temporarily hire a white person to be a fake employee during an important event or business meeting, also are common in China. 

Wanna sell something in China? Hire a white guy

‘Makes you feel like crap’

The preference for Caucasian employees angers many Asian-Americans and other English-speaking ethnic Asians.

“It makes you feel like crap,” said Lee. “We all came here on the same boat, at the same time, looking for the same opportunity. I didn’t know the color of my skin was going to be an issue. I find it weird to be discriminated against for being Asian, while I’m in Asia.”

Khaled Abdullah / Reuters

A Yemeni soldier holds up a poster of Yemen's new president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, as he and other soldiers demand reinstatement to the army outside the Cabinet's headquarters in Sanaa on Tuesday.

Intelcenter / AFP - Getty Images file

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri speaks in a video released by al-Qaida's media arm as-Sahab on March 16.

Fugitive al-Qaida leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri has released a new audio message about Yemen at a time of escalating fighting in the north African country that one Yemeni official on Tuesday described as "all-out war."

The release of the audio comes just two days after White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan visited the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to meet with its new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to discuss ramping up the battle against al-Qaida affiliated militants who now control large swaths of the country's southern region.

While there is still no public translation of the new Zawahiri audio message, a U.S. government official familiar with the contents tells NBC News it was clearly recorded before the news broke last week about a foiled plot to blow up a U.S. airliner with more-sophisticated underwear bomb.

The message discusses the transition from exiled former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh to Hadi, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Watch world news videos on msnbc.com

NBC News terror analyst Evan Kohlmann notes that there is typically a two- to three-week lapse between the events described in Zawahiri’s messages and their public release.  (Kohlmann's Flashpoint Intel service is working to translate the message, but he gives the title as, "Yemen: Between a Fugitive Puppet and a Collaborating Stooge," apparent references to Saleh and Hadi.)

Read more reporting by Michael Isikoff in the 'Isikoff Files'

Over the past week and a half, Yemeni forces -- backed by U.S. military trainers and drone strikes -- have dramatically escalated their attacks on al-Qaida militants in the south.

A Yemen government official estimated as many as 20,000 troops were now involved in the battle, supported by approximately 50 to 60 U.S. trainers.

"We have begun to reintroduce small numbers of trainers into Yemen," a Pentagon spokesman, a Navy Capt. John Kirby, told reporters this week. 

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iranians already feeling pain of sanctions
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Aussie Olympic hopeful loses bet over 'mankini' at opening ceremony
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with Jaguar
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed for clues in disappearance
• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Dominique Strauss-Kahn is suing the hotel housekeeper who accused him of sexually assaulting her, saying she seriously damaged his reputation with what he calls a bogus allegation.

The former International Monetary Fund leader struck back at maid Nafissatou Diallo's lawsuit against him with a $1 million defamation claim of his own Monday, exactly a year after she told police he tried to rape her in his Manhattan hotel suite. He says whatever happened was consensual.

Read the original report at NBC New York

He was arrested, resigned from the IMF and spent several days behind bars and three months on house arrest before prosecutors dropped the case, saying they'd lost confidence in Diallo's trustworthiness because she'd lied about her background and changed her account of what she did right after leaving Strauss-Kahn's room. Although prosecutors didn't say they believed she misrepresented the encounter itself, Strauss-Kahn's court papers blast her claims as intentional lies.

"As a direct result of her malicious and wanton false accusation, Mr. Strauss-Kahn suffered ... substantial harm to his professional and personal reputation in the United States and throughout the world," says his Bronx court filing, written by attorneys William W. Taylor III, Hugh Campbell and others. 

Strauss-Kahn's suit was submitted two weeks after the same court rejected his argument that diplomatic immunity should shield him from Diallo's suit, a ruling he may yet appeal.

Diallo's lawyers said Strauss-Kahn's defamation claim an example of the "misogynistic attitude" of a man who now faces preliminary charges of being involved in a hotel prostitution ring in France.

As of last week, French investigators were also examining accusations that Strauss-Kahn may have been involved in a rape during a sex party in a Washington, D.C., hotel in 2010. Separately, a French writer accused him last year of having tried to rape her during a 2003 interview, an accusation prosecutors decided was too old to try. Strauss-Kahn denies all the allegations.

"As with his plea for diplomatic immunity, we are entirely confident this latest desperate ploy will be swiftly rejected," Diallo attorneys Kenneth W. Thompson and Douglas H. Wigdor wrote in an e-mail.

Diallo, now 33, says that when she arrived to clean Strauss-Kahn's suite, he abruptly chased her down, tried to yank down her pantyhose and forced her to perform oral sex. She says a ligament in her shoulder was torn, among other injuries.

The married Strauss-Kahn, 63, has acknowledged there was a sexual encounter and called it a "moral failing," but insisted it wasn't forced. His new filing says he and Diallo "engaged in mutually consensual sexual acts" and says she "suffered no injuries whatsoever."

At the time, Strauss-Kahn was considered a leading Socialist candidate to take on conservative incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Socialist Francois Hollande won the election last week.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Cities struggle to keep Memorial Day, Fourth of July celebrations
• Marines sold stolen combat weapons to gangs, China
• Fire captain demoted for Trayvon Martin Facebook post
• Video: Brutal violence escalates in Mexico drug wars
• Shopper bitten by rattlesnake in Wal-Mart

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

A stone's throw away from the White House, former President George W. Bush said today the world is in an "extraordinary" time for freedom and that the changes of the Arab Spring should be embraced despite the uncertain future that comes with them.

Bush said those who say the dangers of democratic change are too great and that America should be in favor of stability over change are unrealistic.

"In the long run, this foreign-policy approach is not realistic," Bush argued, "It is not realistic to presume that so-called stability enhances our national security. Nor is it within the power of America to indefinitely preserve the old order, which is inherently unstable."

Bush advocated a clear stand. "American's message should ring clear and strong," Bush said. "We stand for freedom -- and for the institutions and habit that make freedom work for everyone."

Bush's stance puts him at odds with some hard-liners in his party, who have considered Israel's interests in the region first. They have been critical of Hosni Mubarak's ouster and the political process that has followed, including the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The U.S., led by Obama, has walked a fine line on intervention during the Arab spring. America was reticent at first to get involved in Egypt, because of the "stability," from an American perspective, that Mubarak represented. But eventually Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embraced the changes.

The U.S. intervened in Libya, but only after building a multilateral approach and letting NATO take the lead. Some Republicans presidential knocked Obama for not intervening, and then others criticized him for getting involved at all. Newt Gingrich did both. The U.S. has not intervened in Syria, something Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been critical of Obama for not doing more on Syria.

Romney on a radio program in October called the Arab Spring "out of control." “We’re facing an Arab Spring which is out of control in some respects," he said, "because the president was not as strong as he needed to be in encouraging our friends to move toward representative forms of government."

He says on his website that what's happening in the Arab Spring is "doubled edged." And: "To protect our enduring national interests and to promote our ideals, a Romney administration will pursue a strategy of supporting groups and governments across the Middle East to advance the values of representative government, economic opportunity, and human rights, and opposing any extension of Iranian or jihadist influence. The Romney administration will strive to ensure that the Arab Spring is not followed by an Arab Winter."

Bush acknowledged that once these movements succeed in overthrowing a regime the hard work is not behind them. "After the euphoria, nations must deal with questions of tremendous complexity," he said, adding, "Problems once kept submerged by force must now be resolved by politics and consensus."

Bush and the former first lady were in town for the Washington launch of The Bush Center's Freedom Collection, which is an initiative to document the stories of dissidents. They were joined by Pastor Bob Fu the founder of ChinaAid and an advocate for Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng and the newly elected member of parliament Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appeared from Myanmar via Skype. Pastor Fu said he hopes to see Mr. Chen and his family in the U.S. soon.

President Bush quipped at the top of his remarks that he found his freedom by leaving Washington.

Fredy Builes / Reuters

Former Colombian Interior Minister Fernando Londono, who is injured, walks as he is guarded by a bodyguard after an explosion in a central avenue in Bogota on Tuesday. A bomb attack in a commercial district of Colombia's capital Bogota killed two people on Tuesday and injured Londono who was the target, President Juan Manuel Santos said.

Ricardo Mazalan / AP

Pedestrians look at the scene after a bomb exploded in Bogota.

John Vizcaino / Reuters

Police officers, who are explosives experts, stand at the cordoned scene of an explosion in a central avenue in Bogota.

Fredy Builes / Reuters

Injured people, with blood on their faces, walk at the scene of an explosion in a central avenue in Bogota. A bomb attack in a commercial district of Colombia's capital Bogota killed two people on Tuesday and injured a former interior minister who was the target, President Juan Manuel Santos said.

Ian Johnston writes on msnbc.com's World News blog that 19 were injured in the blast in Bogota:

President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the attack. "This government will not be put off course by these terrorist attacks," he said, according to Reuters. "This was an attack against former minister Fernando Londoño." 

The TV images showed Londoño being escorted, walking but stunned, from the SUV in a suit and tie with blood stains on part of his chest. One of his bodyguards was holding a gun.

"Fortunately, Dr. Londono is stable. He's in the hospital," Santos said, The Associated Press reported.

Read more...

•Sign up for the msnbc.com Photos Newsletter

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Guillermo Legaria / AFP - Getty Images

Police officers inspect the remains of vehicles on May 15, 2012 after an explosion ripped through a crowded area of Bogota injuring at least 10 people according to the mayor's office. Witnesses said the blast appeared to have been from a bomb placed on a public bus, but officials could not immediately confirm the cause.

A bomb blast on a crowded street in Colombia Tuesday reportedly killed several people and injured 19 others.

NBC News said there were reports that the attack in northern Bogota was aimed at former Colombian Minister of Interior and Justice Fernando Londoño and that two of his bodyguards were among the dead.

Londoño was injured and was being treated at the Clinica del Country. Different reports put the death toll at between two and five.

The blast at 11 a.m. local time (12 p.m. ET) affected a total of seven vehicles, according to reports.

TV images from the scene showed a badly damaged SUV, a bus and other vehicles that were less damaged.  There were initial reports that the bomb was on the bus.

The video also showed several people lying on the street receiving treatment.

Minister walking, but stunned
President Juan Manuel Santos condemned the attack. "This government will not be put off course by these terrorist attacks," he said, according to Reuters. "This was an attack against former minister Fernando Londoño." 

The TV images showed Londoño being escorted, walking but stunned, from the SUV in a suit and tie with blood stains on part of his chest. One of his bodyguards was holding a gun.

"Fortunately, Dr. Londono is stable. He's in the hospital," Santos said, The Associated Press reported.

City health director Guillermo Jaramillo told Caracol radio that at least 19 people were hurt in Tuesday's blast.

He said he could not immediately confirm local media reports of several deaths.

The Colombian government has been battling the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, for five decades. The rebel group, however, has lost strength in recent years and they rarely carry out attacks in the capital. 

Although substantially weakened by a U.S.-funded military crackdown, the FARC remain a force to be reckoned with.

They stage attacks against police and military installations and set off car bombs in areas already ravaged by drug violence.

Edgar Zuniga Jr. of NBC News Atlanta, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with Jaguar
• Exit Sarkozy, enter Hollande: Socialist sworn in as French president
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed for clues in disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Newly inaugurated French President Francois Hollande arrived in Berlin on Tuesday, but behind schedule for his first foreign policy engagement, after his plane was struck by lightning.

Hollande was flying to Germany to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel, but his plane was forced to return to Paris after the jolt, a presidential source said.

However, the Socialist head of state was unharmed and took off again in another plane, the source added.

Hollande was greeted by an honor guard in Berlin prior to his meeting with Merkel, which focused on Europe's debt crisis, The Associated Press reported.

In rainy France, Hollande sworn in as president

Hollande favors pro-growth measures, and hopes to temper Berlin-led austerity measures.

In a press conference after the meeting, Hollande said that both he and his German counterpart wanted Greece to remain in the euro currency zone and hoped voters there would signal that they agree in elections on June 17, Reuters reported.

"I hope that we can say to the Greeks that Europe is ready to add measures to help growth and support economic activity so that there is a return to growth in Greece,'' Hollande said, according to the report. "On growth, the method that we agreed is putting all ideas and all proposals on the table and seeing what legal means exist to put them into effect.''

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with auto firm Jaguar
• Exit Sarkozy, enter Hollande: Socialist sworn in as French president
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

/

Beryl Renwick and Betty Smith with Simon Reeves attend the Sony Radio Academy Awards 2012 recognizing national and regional radio stations at Grosvenor House in London, Monday night.

LONDON - In the entertainment world, youth and celebrity are usually the key to success…but a pair of radio hosts with a combined age of 176 have been awarded top prize at an industry ceremony in Britain.

Beryl Renwick, 86, and Betty Smith, 90, were named Britain’s best radio entertainment hosts at the Sony Radio Academy Awards on Monday night.

Their weekly broadcast on local Yorkshire station BBC Radio Humberside has been going for six years and gathered a cult following.

Full story: ITV News

The elderly pair chat with co-host David Reeves about fashion, the war and their love of Michael Buble.

The judges said they were: “A joyous, entertaining double act. They give a voice to a sector of society unrepresented on radio, and do it with a joy that puts many of their fellow broadcasters to shame.

You can see the pair discuss their nomination in this BBC website video from April.

ITV News is the British broadcast partner of NBC.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with auto firm Jaguar
• Exit Sarkozy, enter Hollande: Socialist sworn in as French president
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Carlos Barria / Reuters

A view of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, right, and downtown Shanghai seen through the haze on May 15, 2012.

Aly Song / Reuters

A young man wearing a mask walks along the Bund in Shanghai on May 15, 2012.

The U.S. Consulate in Shanghai began posting hourly air quality readings for the city this week, with data showing "very unhealthy" conditions at times on Tuesday afternoon.

The consulate's classification reflects U.S. pollution standards but operates on a different scale than the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, which called conditions "slightly polluted". 

Denied access to official data, Chinese citizens take their own pollution readings

A similar monitor on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has long been seen as the most reliable source of information on air quality in the Chinese capital.

Bathed in smog: Beijing's pollution could cut 5 years off lifespan, expert says

Read more about the Shanghai monitor at the US Consulate's website and find the latest readings on their dedicated Twitter feed.

Reuters contributed to this report

Follow @msnbc_pictures

The United States, the European Union and the U.N. have imposed tough economic sanctions against Iran –- blocking access to the international banking system and hurting sales of Iranian crude oil -– as a way to persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. 

In the short term, the harsh sanctions have had an impact on Iran’s economy -– inflation has gone through the roof, and the unemployment rate is staggering, especially among young Iranians. Prices of consumer goods have doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in some cases, according to consumers. 

The business community is in disarray, and as things keep getting worse, it’s all people are talking about.

Reuters

CLICK ON THE GRAPHIC ABOVE TO ENLARGE THE IMAGE. Iran Sanctions: Key areas affected by sanctions imposed by the international community against Iran.

Barely getting by 
At the Tajrish Bazaar in North Tehran on a recent afternoon, Ahmed, a 31-year-old unemployed man, poured his heart out to me. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, as all those interviewed for this story did because of the political sensitivity of speaking out in Iran, he told me his story. 

He said he has been unemployed for the past year, doing odd jobs, and that he barely makes enough to feed himself, let alone his wife and children. The lack of jobs and the extraordinary rise in food prices have hamstrung him. But he was most worried about what the crippled economy is doing to the youth of Iran, who he said are turning to crime and drugs if they can’t find work. 

In Iran, appearance is everything. How you dress and wear your beard says a lot about your politics. 

As I talked to Ahmed, who was dressed in Western-style clothes, another man looked on disapprovingly. He had a full dark black beard and was dressed in conservative black clothes. He was listening to everything Ahmed said and wanted to talk to us, although he declined to give us his name.

He said that people like Ahmed were making excuses and were lazy. He argued that the economy had become tougher, but no more so than the Iranian people were used to over the years. He blamed the U.S. for the bad economy, accusing President Barack Obama of unfairly trying to squeeze Iran. But he said that in the end, the rough economic times had taught Iran to be more self-reliant. 

“We need to tighten our belts for now and weather this storm with the West as we have always done. And we will be victorious again,” he said.

New sanctions' real impact
The most recent international sanctions have targeted Iran’s crude oil and banking sectors. In addition to harsh U.S. measures, 27 countries in the European Union agreed in January to ban Iranian oil imports –- giving countries until July 1 to terminate their deals. They also put a freeze on assets belonging to the Central Bank of Iran and a ban on trade in gold and other precious metals.  

Anthony Cordesman, who holds the Burke chair in strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and is a long-time Iran watcher, said that despite years of sanctions against Iran, the most recent ones have had the greatest impact –- partly because they target banking.

The banking sanctions “have had the most popular, or broad, impact. Right now Iran can’t even operate on the international clearinghouse.”   

“I think that this is the first time that sanctions have really had a major bite. Up to now, they have all been fairly limited,” said Cordesman.  “But beginning in November, and it’s just beginning to bite, you can’t bank internationally effectively, you can’t move money. You don’t have a stable conversion rate –- but the rial [Iran’s currency] is way down, so your savings are of very uncertain value unless you’ve invested in property.  You don’t know what’s going to happen to your business. You have to be very cautious about how much money you can spend on a marriage for your children or their education.” 

He added that we really won’t begin to see the full impact of the sanctions until summer, when they have all gone into effect.  “So everyone knows it’s getting worse, but no one knows yet how serious.” 

Vali Nasr, the incoming dean at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, explained how these sanctions differ from 30 years of sanctions that mostly targeted imports into Iran. 

Slideshow: Everyday life in Iran

At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.

Launch slideshow

“The new set of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry, central bank, ability to conduct international financial transactions, are of a different nature largely because they are going after the government’s source of income –- the ability to sell oil or receive money for oil,” said Nasr. “So these have had an impact because they have caused extensive inflation inside Iran. They’ve caused the government to scrap a variety of projects, which has caused unemployment.  

“There is no doubt that economic hardship has become much more pronounced. And there is on top of that a layer of uncertainty. So there is significant economic hardship that is hitting the lower rung of society and the Iranian middle class,” said Nasr.
 
Back in Tajrish Bazaar, Roya, a well-dressed woman in her 60s wearing a Hermes scarf for a hijab and carrying a Louis Vuitton bag, explained how even she is being hit by the economic uncertainty. While she is a wealthy Iranian living in the leafy suburbs of affluent North Tehran, she said her purchasing power has been halved by the struggling economy. 

“Everything has doubled in price,” Roya said. “My son lives in Los Angeles, and it’s cheaper to go shopping there -- amazing. Things have become difficult for me even though I am among the better off Iranians. I can’t imagine how difficult it is for folks downtown.” 
When I asked her what the solution was, she replied sarcastically, “That’s for the country’s economists to figure out.”

Close to the bone
For international relations analysts, like Cordesman and Nasr, getting reliable information on what’s going on in Iran is very difficult. Both analysts said that basically all of their information on the impact of the current sanctions is anecdotal. 

“You have to rely on anecdotal information especially because the Iranian government does not have an interest in revealing how painful the sanctions are. They may admit that they are hurting, but they don’t want to put numbers out there,” said Nasr. 

But it’s not all doom and gloom for the regime. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad often touts during public events that Iran has a record $90 billion in foreign exchange reserves, as well as untold reserves of gold, silver and precious stones. 

Even though experts estimate that Iran has seen a decline in sales of about 300, 000 barrels of oil per day as a result of the sanctions, this has been offset by a 15 percent rise in crude prices. 

And the effect and pain of sanctions have not been distributed evenly. While blue-collar workers in downtown Tehran can expect to eat meat once a month only as a treat, North Tehran is awash with Mercedes and Porsche SUVs costing as much as $500,000 after the import tax has been paid.    

Will the sanctions achieve goal?
So the question remains as to whether the sanctions will achieve their goal: curtailing Iran’s nuclear program.

“The sanctions have had an impact of getting Iran to the negotiating table. Iran came to Istanbul [the site of the latest diplomatic talks] with much more seriousness than in the past,” said Nasr. 

But he added that the sanctions alone won’t be enough for Iran’s leaders to give up a program they have invested heavily in –- both financially and in terms of building the nuclear program as a point of national pride.  “Just because the Iranian public dislikes this regime –- that does not mean that they dislike the nuclear program. They don’t see this as the regime’s nuclear program, they see it as Iran’s nuclear program,” said Nasr.  

In order for the sanctions to work, Nasr explained, the U.S. and other parties at the table need to give something back -– otherwise it would just seem like Iran is surrendering to the West’s demands, not an easy sell at home. 

“Until now, the whole approach has been stick-heavy and carrot-poor. And the sticks are very explicit and the carrots are vague. And maybe that was necessary to get their attention and to show that we meant business. But now going forward -– [the U.S.] can’t ask [Iran] for concrete concessions –- like stop this, stop that -– but not put concrete things on the table, like this sanction will be lifted.  If all the concessions are on the Iranian side and what they get is just a promissory note, I don’t think it will fly.”   

“End of the day, these two countries have not had a single thing they’ve agreed on or done together in the last 30 years. So you couldn’t expect them to actually be able to conclude a deal without some sort of reciprocal, trust-building, concrete steps going forward.”

Msnbc.com’s Petra Cahill contributed to this report. 

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with auto firm Jaguar
• Exit Sarkozy, enter Hollande: Socialist sworn in as French president
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

George Pimentel / WireImage via Getty Images, file

Sacha Baron Cohen as "Borat" (Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage)

Australian Olympic shooting gold medalist Russell Mark is set to parade in a lime-green "mankini" made famous by the movie character "Borat" at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics as the penalty for losing a bet.

Mark, who won double trap gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games and silver in Sydney, pledged to wear the skimpy swimsuit worn by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the 2006 film if Melbourne-based Carlton lost to St. Kilda in the Australian Football League.

Carlton suffered a shock four-goal defeat in the match on Monday night and Mark owned up to making the bet on local radio.

"Oh, I must've been intoxicated. Carlton promise so much and just deliver so little. It kills me," the burly 48-year-old said on Tuesday.

"Anyway, a lot of people would think a mankini might look better than the uniform they've nominated for us, so I don't know if it's such a bad thing."

Cameron Spencer / Getty Images, file

Double trap shooter Russell Mark of Australia, pictured in Beijing in 2008.

The one-piece swimsuit would certainly stand out among the other Australian athletes, who will be kitted out in stodgy green blazers and white slacks which fashion critics in Australia described as "retro".

An Australian Olympic Committee spokesman recommended Mark keep the mankini in the closet.

"Age is the problem here. Russell is no spring chicken, his days of being a model are long gone, and we don't think it would be a good look for the team to have Russell in a mankini," the spokesman told local media.

"Besides, this will be his sixth Olympics and he is a chance to be named as flag bearer. Imagine the flag bearer out in front of our team in a mankini. And a big, butch shooter at that.

"As we all know the London weather is fickle and we would not want him to catch cold."

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Iran hangs ‘Israel spy’ over nuclear scientist killing
• EU forces attack Somali pirates on land for first time
• Hipsters to the rescue? UK celebrity venue in spat with auto firm Jaguar
• Exit Sarkozy, enter Hollande: Socialist sworn in as French president
• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Raheb Homavandi / Reuters, file

Majid Jamali Fashi, left, appears at his trial at the revolutionary court in Tehran on August 23, 2011.

Iran has hanged a man it said was an agent for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad whom it convicted of killing one of its nuclear scientists in 2010, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday.

Twenty-four year old Majid Jamali Fashi was hanged at Tehran's Evin Prison after being sentenced to death in August last year for the murder of Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, Iran's state news agency IRNA quoted the central prosecutor's office as saying. It said he had confessed to the crime.

The BBC reported that Fashi was accused of being a spy for Mossad and receiving $120,000 for the killing.

Ali-Mohammadi was killed in January 2010 when a remote-controlled bomb attached to a motorcycle outside his home in Tehran went off.

Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News

Tuesday's IRNA report said Fashi had travelled abroad on several occasions to receive training from Mossad before returning to Iran to plot the assassination.

Azerbaijan news site, Trend, said Fashi was 26 years old and had also been accused of drug trafficking.

Yet Western analysts said Ali-Mohammadi, a 50-year-old Tehran University professor, had little, if any, role in Iran's sensitive nuclear program. A spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation said at the time he was not involved in its activities.

'Like Casablanca in World War II': As Iran tensions grow, Azerbaijan becomes den of spies

The most recent attack on an Iranian scientist occurred in January. Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan - a deputy director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility - was killed when a magnetic bomb planted on his vehicle detonated.

The BBC said sources in Iran have accused the government of killing Professor Mohammadi because he was an opposition supporter.

Tehran has accused Israel and the United States of involvement in the killing in order to sabotage its controversial nuclear program. Washington has denied any U.S. role, while Israel has declined to comment. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'
• Troops capture senior Kony commander
• Palestinian prisoners agree to end hunger strike

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Mohamed Dahir / AFP - Getty Images, file

An armed Somali pirate keeps vigil on the coastline near Hobyo, northeastern Somalia, in January, 2010.

Europe's naval force patrolling off the coast East Africa said on Tuesday it had attacked Somali pirate installations on land, the first time it had conducted such an action since extending its remit from strictly to sea-based operations. 

Initial reports indicated that there were no casualties during the operation, which happened earlier on Tuesday, according to the European Union Naval Force (Somalia) Operation Atalanta's website.

"We believe this action by the EU Naval Force (NAVFOR) will further increase the pressure on, and disrupt pirates' efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows," the commander of the EU Naval Force, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts, said in a statement. "The local Somali people ... many of whom have suffered so much because of piracy in the region, can be reassured that our focus was on known pirate supplies and will remain so in the future."

The action was conducted from the air and "at no point did EU Naval Force 'boots' go ashore," the statement said.

Arms race? Somali pirates, tankers up their game

The European force, which is trying to stamp out piracy off the coasts of lawless Somalia, is made up of around 1,400 military personnel, nine warships and five maritime surveillance aircraft, according to NAVFOR's website. 

Despite successful efforts to quell attacks in the Gulf of Aden, international navies have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea owing to the vast distances involved.

Fighting Somali pirates with science

Seaborne gangs have raked in an estimated $150 million in ransoms in what has become a highly organized, international criminal enterprise, security analysts say. Somali pirates in the failed state have carried out more than 800 attacks on ships, from private yachts to oil supertankers since 2008, Bloomberg reported. 

Interactive: Global piracy 

On March 23 the EU Council decided to allow its forces in the region to take "disruption action against known pirate supplies on the (Somali) shore."

"Putting pressure on their business model by destroying their boats and eliminating their fuel dumps will make life more difficult for the sponsors of piracy and the pirates themselves," the Council said in a statement. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'
• Now towering over London: 'The Godzilla of public art'
• France's 'Monsieur' Normal takes office ... unmarried
• Too busy to put the kids to bed? Try 24-hour daycare
• Outrage over anti-Muslim materials in military training
• 88,000-mile voyage? Plastic card found after 33 years
• Bad neighbors for Team USA? Occupy camp axed

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Laurent Cipriani / AP

French President Francois Hollande waves from his car as he drives down the Champs Elysees in Paris after his inauguration on May 15, 2012.

Christophe Ena / AFP - Getty Images

French President-elect Francois Hollande arrives for his inauguration on May, 15, 2012 at the Elysee Palace in Paris.

Reuters reports — Francois Hollande became French president on Tuesday in an official handover ceremony that makes him the country's first Socialist leader since Francois Mitterrand.

Outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy greeted Hollande on the steps of the Elysee presidential palace, and took him inside to transfer nuclear codes and other secret files ahead of a short swearing-in ceremony attended by around 400 guests.

Hollande was due to fly to Berlin later in the day for his first meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

'Monsieur Normal' takes office ... unmarried

French economy stalls, posing challenge for new president

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Fred Dufour / AFP - Getty Images

Hollande is awarded "Grand Maitre" in the Order of the Legion of Honor, from chancellor of France's National Order of the Legion of Honor, General Jean-Louis Georgelin.

Mehdi Fedouach / AFP - Getty Images

Hollande, right, walks on the red carpet towards his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy prior to the start of the investiture ceremony.

Lionel Bonaventure / AFP - Getty Images

Sarkozy, left, welcomes his successor Hollande upon his arrival at the Elysee Palace.

Jacques Brinon / AP

Hollande's partner Valerie Trierweiler, right, shakes hands with Sarkozy's wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy before the presidential handover ceremony.

Jacky Naegelen / Reuters

Journalists work as a man sweeps the red carpet in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace.

Patrick Kovarik / AFP - Getty Images

Sarkozy and his wife leave the Elysee Palace after the formal investiture ceremony.

Reuters

Hollande stands up in his car as he rides in the rain up the Champs Elysees.

Updated at 11:05 a.m. ET: LONDON - Rebekah Brooks, a close confidante of Rupert Murdoch, was charged on Tuesday with interfering with a police investigation into a phone hacking scandal that has rocked the tycoon's empire and sent shockwaves through the British political establishment.

"I have concluded ... there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction," Alison Levitt, the principal legal adviser to Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions, said in a statement.  

Brooks, 43, who quit as News International chief executive in July, faces three separate allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.  If convicted she could face a prison sentence.

Also charged were Brooks' race horse trainer husband, her secretary and other staff from News International, including her driver and security officials from the British newspaper arm of Murdoch's News Corp media empire.

The news is a personal blow for Murdoch and also embarrassing for British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was close friends with Brooks, 43, and her husband, Charlie Brooks. 

The action against the woman who was one of his most trusted lieutenants comes as Murdoch faces increasing pressure in Britain. He has been forced to close one newspaper, withdraw a major takeover bid for a lucrative TV group and been described in a parliamentary committee report as someone who is not fit to run a major international company. 

She and others are accused of conspiring to "permanently ... remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International" and to "conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service," according to the CPS. 

All eyes on court as Murdoch confidante Rebekah Brooks lays bare ties to UK elite

The criminal charges are the first to be filed since police launched a new inquiry into phone hacking in Jan. 2011. Previously, two people were jailed in 2007 for hacking the phones of members of the royal household.

The offenses were all alleged to have taken place in the frantic days last July when Murdoch closed down the 168-year-old News of The World amid widespread public disgust over revelations that it had hacked the cell phone of a missing schoolgirl who was later found dead.

For a detailed look at the charges against Brooks and the hacking scandal, see coverage by NBC News' British partner ITV News

Murdoch announced his decision on July 7, 2011. Levitt said the alleged offenses took place between July 6 and July 19.

Brooks and others will all appear in court in London on June 13.

'Unprecedented posturing'
Minutes before British police announced their decision, Brooks and her husband issued a statement, saying "we deplore this weak and unjust decision."

"After the further unprecedented posturing of the (Crown Prosecution Service) we will respond later today after our return from the police station," the statement added. 

Police re-launched an investigation in January last year into claims journalists at the tabloid routinely hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians and victims of crime to generate front page stories. 

They are also investigating whether staff hacked into computers and made illegal payments to public officials including the police to get ahead in their reporting. 

More than 160 staff are now working on one of the biggest investigations ever carried out by London police and almost 50 people have been arrested. 

Msnbc.com's F. Brinley Bruton, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'
• Troops capture senior Kony commander
• Palestinian prisoners agree to end hunger strike

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

Nick Letchford, co-founder of Jaguar Shoes, outside the bar in Kingsland Road, east London.

SHOREDITCH, London – A British arts "collective" visited by stars like Natalie Portman, Amy Winehouse and Beyonce is locked in a legal battle over its name with automaker Jaguar.

Jaguar Shoes -- a cafe, bar and art gallery -- opened in London’s Shoreditch in 2001 at the start of the transformation of the area from a run-down district to a hub of artistic activity that's become a favorite haunt of the city’s “hipsters.”

Founders Nick and Teresa Letchford, who are brother and sister, created the venue by knocking together a former bag store and a former shoe store. Partly due to a lack of money, they decided to keep the storefront signs, and the quirkily titled “Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes” was born.

Because the Jaguar Shoes sign was over the main door, that became the name they were known by, the name of the collective of artists who show their work there and the name of their website.

Portman partied, Beyonce borrowed office
But when they sought to protect “Jaguar Shoes” with a trademark –- a move Nick Letchford said was a response to their work being copied -- car company Jaguar Land Rover submitted an objection that might ultimately make it impossible or impractical to use the name.

The gallery has promoted more than 600 artists, musicians and fashion designers and has been featured in ads for the likes of sneaker firm Adidas.

It was name-checked in the song “You Want History” by British band Kaiser Chiefs. Actress Natalie Portman once danced to the music of Animal Collective in the basement, and Beyonce borrowed their office to do a webcast.

“In Shoreditch, that sort of thing doesn’t come as a massive surprise,” Letchford told msnbc.com in an interview at Jaguar Shoes, because it is “completely full of creative-industry types.”

A former assistant film director who worked with Madonna's ex-husband and filmmaker Guy Ritchie, among others, Letchford said when they adopted the shoe store’s name, “it never crossed our mind” that there might be a problem.

“This has been going on for about two years. We’ve tried to settle it, we’re looking to settle, but it feels like we’re banging our heads against a brick wall,” he said.

“Conceptually, Jaguar Shoes is a very different thing to a Jaguar [car]. If I think what jaguar shoes are, what they represent … most people are going to see a pair of catskin shoes,” he added. “I think it’s basically a default objection to any other use of jaguar, the word.”

Asked if losing the case would mean they would not be able to use the name, Letchford said, “I don’t really want to contemplate that.”

Navajo file trademark suit against Urban Outfitters

A hearing at the U.K.’s Intellectual Property Office is due to be heard in the coming weeks.

Catherine Wolfe, president of The Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, told msnbc.com that the “basic test” was whether people were “confused” and thought Jaguar Shoes had something to do with the car company.

“Are you more likely to go to that bar because it’s got the name of a cool car?” she wondered.

Gandalf saved 'The Hobbit'
U.K. law also says a trademark will not be registered if it takes “unfair advantage” of or is “detrimental” to an earlier trademark.

In a recent, separate case, a bar in Southampton, England, called The Hobbit was threatened with legal action for copyright infringement by California-based Saul Zaentz Co., which owns worldwide rights to a number of brands associated with author J.R.R. Tolkien.

Attempts made to trademark 'Occupy' slogans

After public outcry, a deal was reached that saw Gandalf actor Sir Ian McKellen help pay a copyright license fee to enable the bar to carry on using the name.

Letchford clearly hopes publicity will persuade Jaguar Land Rover to drop its "irrational and inappropriate pressure," as he said in a press release on Jaguar Shoes' website.

A petition has been set up asking people to sign if they have “never experienced any confusion between the restaurant bar and gallery brand JAGUAR SHOES and JAGUAR who make cars,” and wish to ask the trademark authority to allow Jaguar Shoes to trademark its name.

As of Tuesday morning, the petition had 859 signatures. News of the legal fight has also been spreading on Twitter. Letchford said he thought it likely that most people in London’s creative industries had heard about their case. 

Letchford said Jaguar’s attempt to protect its brand seemed to have achieved “completely the opposite.”

“People have just been like ‘Is this for real?’ It doesn’t feel like it’s for real,” Letchford said.

“I’ve been stressed out about it for two years, and now it’s about to come to a head. It’s a point of principle. really.… The sign is what started the business. That’s the genesis of Jaguar Shoes, that’s the authenticity.” 

Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Indian car giant Tata Motors, did not return a call from msnbc.com asking for comment.

While public records show that Jaguar Land Rover has objected, they do not reveal the grounds for the objection. Letchford said there had been negotiations with Jaguar Land Rover but added that he had been advised not to go into detail.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed for clues in disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'
• Troops capture senior Kony commander
• Palestinian prisoners agree to end hunger strike

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – Ahead of this week's G8 summit at Camp David, Maryland, the musician and global poverty campaigner Bob Geldof has returned to Ethiopia to highlight the issue of famine and climate change – 28 years after his charity appeals first made world headlines.

The singer said G8 leaders have failed to adhere to aid targets set at the Gleneagles summit in 2005.

The G8 "is capable of contributing to end" poverty, he said.

He also acknowledged that people may have grown tired of his campaigning, but said even basic projects such as the irrigation ditch he was inspecting, saved lives. "I know people are like...'Oh, Geldof, give it a break' but the facts is these people [here] are not dead."

Geldof was one of the key figures behind the Band Aid fundraising music project, launched in 1984 after Ethiopia suffered a devastating famine.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'
• Troops capture senior Kony commander
• Palestinian prisoners agree to end hunger strike

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

A group of die-hard campers who passed through barriers and ignored warnings of live-fire military drills as they tried to locate the ideal spot to pitch their tent may have to pay for their folly.

Over the weekend, Sweden’s Marine Regiment of Vaxholm was launching live mortar rounds at its wilderness firing range when a car was reported in the area, according to a translation of an article on the Dalarnas Tidning newspaper website.

As is customary in such military exercises, the military operation was cordoned off with barriers and explicit warning signs on the road. But that didn’t deter the campers, who were reportedly tourists from the Stockholm area. They continued their trek to a wind shelter. That's where service members found the three campers, who said they were planning to go fishing.

According to a security officer for the firing range, the campers said they had read the warning signs but concluded it “probably was not that bad.”

The drill had to be halted because of the intrusion. A helicopter was called in to transport the campers out of the area, who were then taken to local police. The campers were not named.

Swedish military officials were not amused. They vowed to charge the trio for flying them to safety as well as for the disruption of the military drills.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Vatican allows mobster to be exhumed as cops seek clues in teen's disappearance
• Mexico's drug war: No sign of 'light at the end of the tunnel'
• Troops capture senior Kony commander
• Palestinian prisoners agree to end hunger strike

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world