PARIS – The co-pilot of the Germanwings plane that crashed into the French Alps on Tuesday appeared to want to “destroy the plane”, French officials said. Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin, citing information from the “black box” voice recorder, said the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit. He intentionally started a descent while the pilot was…
PARIS – Audio from the mangled voice recorder of Germanwings Flight 9525 reveals the captain was locked out of the cockpit while the co-pilot appeared to make a deliberate attempt to destroy the plane, Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said Thursday. The co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight “activated the descent” of the plane when he…
PARIS – A search and recovery operation has resumed in the southern French Alps after Tuesday’s crash of a Germanwings plane with 150 people on board. Officials warn the operation could last for days in a remote mountain ravine between Digne and Barcelonnette. The leaders of Germany, France and Spain are due to visit the…
BERLIN – A Germanwings Airbus A320 airliner has crashed in the French Alps between Digne and Barcelonnette, aviation officials and police have said. The plane, flight 4U 9525, had been en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf with 144 passengers and six crew. No one is expected to have survived. The plane crashed after an eight-minute…
JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party has won a surprise victory in Israel’s election. Exit polls had forecast a dead heat but with almost all votes counted, results give Likud a clear lead over its main rival, the centre-left Zionist Union. The outcome gives Mr Netanyahu a strong chance of forming a…
JERUSALEM – Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu has said he hopes to form a new governing coalition within two or three weeks after securing a surprise win in elections. His Likud party comfortably beat the centre-left Zionist Union, despite exit polls forecasting a dead heat. Mr Netanyahu has not yet been asked to form a government, but…
WASHINGTON – Ten US aid workers who were possibly exposed to Ebola are being evacuated back to America from Sierra Leone. On Friday it was announced that a US aid worker back from Sierra Leone had tested positive and was being treated in hospital near Washington DC. The evacuees may have been in contact with…
WASHINGTON – Hillary Clinton has told reporters she used private emails out of “convenience” during her time as secretary of state. But Mrs Clinton said it “would have been better” to have two accounts to separate work and personal emails. The issue of whether Mrs Clinton breached federal records rules has gained attention as she…
SEOUL – South Korean police say they are seeking charges of attempted murder against a man who slashed the US ambassador to Seoul. Ambassador Mark Lippert is recovering in hospital after Kim Ki-jong attacked him with a knife on Thursday. During the attack, Mr Kim called for reunification of the two Koreas. Police said they…
SEOUL – South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Thursday struck down a controversial adultery law which for more than 60 years had criminalised extra-marital sex and jailed violators for up to two years. The nine-member bench ruled by seven to two that the 1953 statute aimed at protecting traditional family values was unconstitutional. “Even if adultery…
