Passengers were forced to swim for their lives Friday when an airliner ditched into a lagoon after missing the runway on a remote Pacific island and began sinking.   The Air Niugini Boeing 737-800 was attempting to land at Weno airport in Micronesia but ended up half submerged in Chuuk lagoon after the accident on Friday morning.  Within minutes, locals ...

It’s easier to lose a Nobel Prize than to win one.   Smuggled out to impress girls in a bar, or dissolved to prevent the Nazis from getting their hands on one, the precious gold medals have gone missing in crazy, tragic or spectacular ways over the more than hundred-year history of the Nobel Prize.  Here are some of them: ...

Mali’s defense minister says seven soldiers and a driver were killed after two military vehicles hit explosive devices. The minister said in a statement Thursday that the vehicles hit the explosives on Wednesday between Bambaramaoude and Douentza.   Also Thursday, the minister of security and civilian protection reported that the death toll from attacks on a nomadic community that began ...

Six people were killed in mounting violence ahead of local elections in Kashmir as Indian authorities imposed a curfew and suspended mobile internet services in the disputed territory on Thursday. There were at least four separate shootings in the restive Himalayan region, where an armed insurgency against Indian rule has raged for three decades, costing tens of thousands of lives. ...

Police in the Netherlands have arrested seven men over an alleged plot to carry out what they describe as a major terrorist attack involving guns and explosives.   Police say the men were trying to source AK47s, hand grenades and bomb materials to carry out their attack.  The men, aged between 21 and 34, were arrested on Thursday.   Three ...

Canada lawmakers have unanimously passed a motion to strip Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary Canadian citizenship.   More and more Canadian politicians have been calling on Ottawa to revoke the honour bestowed on the de facto Myanmar leader in 2007 over her complicity in the brutal crackdown of the Rohingya people.  A United Nations fact-finding mission recently found ...

An Indian coffee shop chain rhyming with Starbucks and with a similar logo has agreed to change its name after being sued by the US giant, the Indian firm said Friday.   Starbucks, which entered the vast Indian market in 2012 and now has 125 outlets, began legal proceedings against “SardarBuksh”, which has 25 shops in New Delhi, in July.  ...

Japan’s space agency (Jaxa) has released new images from the robot rovers it has deployed to the surface of an asteroid. The photos reveal new details of the surface of the space rock, which is known as Ryugu.   On 21 September, the rovers were released on to the surface by the “mothership”, Hayabusa 2.   Hayabusa 2 reached Ryugu ...

The UN Human Rights Council voted Thursday to set up a panel to prepare criminal indictments over atrocities committed in Myanmar, amid allegations of genocide against the Rohingya minority.   The top UN rights body voted to “establish an ongoing independent mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law ...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is heading to Germany for a visit aimed at reducing tensions between the two NATO allies at a time when Turkey’s economic troubles are causing growing concerns and Europe needs Ankara’s support in reducing the flow of migrants. The trip, which runs Thursday to Saturday, is Erdogan’s first formal state visit to Germany, where the ...