Air France plane lost: officials say ‘no hope’ of finding airliner
More than 200 people are believed dead after an Air France passenger jet disappeared over the Atlantic on a flight from Brazil. Officials said they had "no hope" for Air France Flight 447 which dropped off the radar three hours and less than 200 miles into a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. As the Brazilian air force mounted a search and rescue operation for the Airbus 330-200k in the waters around the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, families of passengers gathered at a crisis centre in Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport awaiting news.
Sri Lanka on brink of catastrophe as UN aid blocked
The Sri Lankan Government has blocked access to aid workers trying to help the nearly 300,000 civilians displaced by the army’s victory over the Tamil Tigers, raising the prospect of a humanitarian catastrophe. In the capital, Colombo, President Rajapakse announced the “complete defeat” of the rebels yesterday as state television showed pictures of what was said to be the corpse of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tigers’ leader. Mr Rajapakse vowed in an address to the nation to press ahead with a “homegrown political solution” to end ethnic divisions between the majority Sinhalese population and minority Tamils.
‘Wolverine’ Gives X-Men the Weekend’s Box Office Lead
Weak reviews, cranky fans, a pirated version: none of it mattered. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” kicked off the spring-summer blockbuster season with $87 million in ticket sales, continuing the year’s box office boom and keeping a core franchise alive for 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment.
An Antarctic ice shelf vanished
According to scientists. One Antarctic ice shelf has disappeared, this means the glaciers are melting faster than anyone predicted due to climate change. They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986. Climate change is to blame, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey, available at pubs.usgs.gov/imap/2600/B.
Shuttle Discovery Back on Earth
Space shuttle Discovery returned in good shape, after traveling more than 5 million miles and circling Earth 202 times. The 13-day flight -- which ended as a Russian-launched crew was settling into the space station -- was highlighted by the installation and unfurling of the station's last pair of solar wings. The $300-million addition brought the orbiting outpost up to full power, a vital part of NASA's plan to double the space station population and boost scientific research in a few months.
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GM sells Hummer to China and saves 3,000 jobs
A Chengdu-based machinery company is close to clinching a deal to buy General Motors’ (GM) Hummer brand, making it the first Chinese company to own an American carmaker. Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company is expected to spend between $150 million (£90 million) and $250 million on Hummer, the gas-guzzling brand of sports utility vehicles popularised by Arnold Schwarzenegger before... [Read more]
Missing plane sent 24 error messages
Air France Flight 447 sent out 24 automated error messages — including one saying the aircraft’s autopilot had disengaged — before it vanished with 228 people on board, aviation investigators said Saturday. But even as they analyzed the error messages and satellite images of the doomed flight’s path, investigators said they still have a lot of work to determine what caused... [Read more]
29 children die in Mexico day care center fire
Mexico — Twenty-nine children were killed and more than 100 others were injured Friday when their day care center caught fire in the northwestern state of Sonora, a spokesman for the state’s governor said. The victims were from 1 to 5 years old, said Jose Larrinaga, the spokesman. [Read more] Read More →
Carradine’s body to return home, while questions remain
David Carradine’s wife and his manager disputed suggestions that the actor’s death was a suicide, while rescue workers and police in Bangkok, Thailand, said the actor’s neck and genitals were found bound with rope. After Carradine’s body arrives back to the United States this weekend, an autopsy ordered by Carradine’s family will be conducted, according to the actor’s... [Read more]
Nude Carla Bruni photo auctions for $19,600
BERLIN – A revealing photograph of former model and France’s current first lady Carla Bruni was bought for $19,600 by an anonymous bidder Thursday at a Berlin auction house. The image is one of 10 prints of a nude Bruni lounging in an unmade bed captured by American fashion photographer Pamela Hanson in 1994. [Read more] Read More →
Lebanon election has designs on voters
A beautiful woman glances seductively over her shoulder from a billboard on a busy Beirut thoroughfare. But it isn’t perfume or shampoo she’s selling: It’s politics. The ad, which urges women to “be beautiful and vote,” was one of the more controversial campaign advertisements rolled out by parliamentary candidate Gen. Michel Aoun, whose party is allied with the Islamist... [Read more]
Hawaiians rule the waves at Lower Trestles
On a balmy, humid afternoon during which two Hawaiians prevailed in major Southern California surfing contests, one of the sport’s biggest fans emerged minus his cardinal and gold but waving imaginary pompoms. Pete Carroll, USC’s football coach, spent Saturday admiring the methodical manner by which Fred Patacchia and Kai Barger diced through their respective opponents to claim titles... [Read more]
