Italy’s competition watchdog has opened a inquiry into Ryanair’s decision to charge people to take hand luggage on to the plane. Antitrust said hand luggage was “an essential element of transport” and should be included in the ticket price.   From November, passengers will still be able to take a small personal bag into the cabin, as long as it ...

The US has imposed sanctions on the Chinese military over its purchasing of Russian military jets and surface-to-air missiles. It says such purchases contravene US sanctions on Moscow introduced in response to Russian actions in Ukraine and alleged inference in US politics.   China recently bought 10 Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 missiles.   Beijing has not joined ...

At least 44 people died when after a passenger ferry capsized on Lake Victoria, a Tanzanian official said late Thursday, and the death toll was expected to rise when rescue efforts resumed at daybreak. Thirty-seven people were rescued after the sinking Thursday afternoon, Mwanza regional commissioner John Mongella told The Associated Press.   “I cannot speculate” how many people had ...

A massive landslide buried dozens of homes near a central Philippine mountain Thursday, killing at least 21 people and sending rescuers scrambling to find survivors after some sent text messages pleading for help. The slide surged down on about 30 houses in two rural villages after daybreak in Naga city in Cebu province, city police chief Roderick Gonzales said by ...

A woman shot dead three people and injured three more before turning a gun on herself in an attack at a warehouse complex in Maryland, US police say.   The shooting happened on Thursday morning at a pharmacy distribution centre in Perryman, near Baltimore.  The attacker, Snochia Moseley, 26, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The motive for her attack ...

At least 34 people have died in northern Ghana during flooding caused by heavy rains and waters spilling from a dam in neighbouring Burkina Faso, relief agency officials said Thursday.   Bagre Dam is located on the White Volta river that begins in Burkina Faso and which converges with the Black Volta downstream and feeds into Lake Volta in southern ...

Hundreds of people are feared missing after a ferry capsized on Lake Victoria in north Tanzania.   A senior local official told Reuters that 42 people had been confirmed dead, adding that rescue efforts had been suspended until dawn on Friday.  Another official said earlier on Thursday that the vessel was overloaded with more than 400 people on board.   ...

More than 30 Indian passengers, some bleeding from their noses and ears, have received treatment after pilots “forgot” to turn on a switch regulating cabin pressure, officials said.   Jet Airways flight 9W 697 from Mumbai to Jaipur turned back shortly after take off.  Videos tweeted by passengers aboard the plane showed oxygen masks deployed inside the aircraft.   The ...

A space official says that Russian cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station to inspect a section where a mysterious leak has been discovered.   The leak was spotted last month in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station. The crew of three Americans, two Russians and a German quickly located and sealed the tiny hole that created ...

Colombian cocaine production hit record levels in 2017, according to newly released UN statistics. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says production rose about 31% year on year to some 1,400 tonnes, cultivated on 171,000 hectares.   The agency warned production could harm recent peace-building efforts.   Colombia is the world’s largest producer of cocaine, much of which ...