SEOUL – South Korea’s government said 284 people are missing after a ferry carrying hundreds of high school students sank en route to the resort island of Jeju, in what may be the nation’s worst ferry accident in two decades. At least four people, including a student, died in the accident. Of the 462 passengers…
ROME – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is to serve one year of community service at a nursing home for his conviction on tax fraud, a Milan court ruled on Tuesday. The 77-year old billionaire tycoon must visit a center for the elderly near his hometown, Milan, at least once a week for a…
KIEV – Pro-Russian activists have attacked another official building in east Ukraine, ignoring a deadline to leave or face eviction by Ukrainian forces. A crowd stormed a police station in the town of Horlivka, near Donetsk, taking control of the building. Ukraine’s interim president hit out at “aggression” from Russia, but signalled support for a…
PERTH – Signals in remote seas thought to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are “rapidly fading” and finding the jet will be a “massive, massive task”, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbot says. Abbott said he was confident “pings” detected by search teams were from the aircraft’s black boxes. But no new signals…
NEW DELHI – Millions of Indians are voting on the first big day of the general election pitting the ruling Congress party against the main opposition BJP. Polling is being held in 91 seats in 14 states and union territories, including in the capital Delhi and the key state of Uttar Pradesh. The nine-phase vote…
KIEV – Russia’s Foreign Ministry warned Kiev on Tuesday that any use of force in Ukraine’s eastern region could lead to civil war, as Ukraine’s government seeks to regain control after pro-Moscow uprisings in three cities. Pro-Russia protesters seized government buildings, raised Russian flags and declared new governments in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv on Sunday….
BEIJING – Australian co-ordinators in the search for the missing Malaysian plane say a Chinese ship has detected a pulse signal for a second time, within hours of it being heard earlier on Saturday. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston called the discovery in the southern Indian Ocean an “important and encouraging lead”. He warned that…
SANTIAGO – Chile has declared two northern regions hit by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake to be disaster areas. At least six people are known to have died and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated. The quake struck at 20:46 local time (23:46 GMT) about 86km (52 miles) north-west of the mining area of…
PERTH – The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is the “most challenging” ever seen, the man responsible for co-ordinating the search from Australia says. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston also said that the search for the plane could take weeks. The plane disappeared on 8 March as it was travelling from Kuala Lumpur…
BRUSSELS – Nato foreign ministers are due to discuss ways to help Ukraine and reassure allies in Eastern Europe, at a meeting in Brussels. It is the first time ministers from the 28 member states of the alliance have convened since Russia’s takeover of Crimea caused a diplomatic crisis. Nato has also bolstered air drills…
