INTERNATIONAL

An investigation is under way after a Russian airliner crashed in Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. Egypt’s prime minister said a technical fault was the most likely cause, dismissing claims from Islamic State militants that they were responsible. However, three airlines – Emirates, Air France and Lufthansa – have decided not to fly over the Sinai Peninsula until ...

A University of Zimbabwe official has been suspended for allegedly supplying President Robert Mugabe with an ill-fitting graduation cap. Assistant registrar Ngaatendwe Takawira caused embarrassment for university administrators by procuring a cap which was too small for the 92-year-old leader, according to her suspension letter, quoted in local media. Ms Takawira denies the allegations. The president’s office is not thought ...

A Russian airliner has crashed in central Sinai killing all 224 people on board, Egyptian officials have said. The Airbus A-321 had just left the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, bound for the Russian city of St Petersburg. Wreckage was found in the Hasana area and bodies removed, along with the plane’s “black box”. An official described a “tragic ...

Fifteen traders including six children have been killed in a fire at a public market in the Philippines, police say. About 13 others were injured in the blaze at a market in the southern city of Zamboanga. The fire began when sparks from low-hanging electric cables set fire to umbrellas and piles of used clothing, police said. The victims were ...

Hundreds of young people were packed into a music club in central Bucharest, Romania, jamming to the head-pounding heavy metal music filling their ears. It was almost Halloween. The band, Goodbye to Gravity, was celebrating a new album with a free concert. For the young partygoers life was awesome. But suddenly the 300 or 400 people were scrambling toward the ...

Austrian police say around 7,000 people gathered at the border after Slovenia transported many refugees by train. Chaos has erupted in a Slovenian border town, as thousands of people pushed through metal barriers and a police cordon, to force their way into Austria, part of an ongoing wave of refugees heading to Europe. Several people, many holding children in their ...

Twenty-two people died Friday when two boats sank in the eastern Aegean Sea, a spokeswoman for the Hellenic Coastguards told CNN. The spokeswoman said 144 people had been rescued. The Aegean Sea is bounded by Turkey on the east and Greece on the west. Greece — with its extensive coastline, which is difficult to patrol — is a common destination ...

Fifteen people were injured when a plane’s engine caught fire as it taxied for take-off from an airport in Florida. The Dynamic Airways Boeing 767 was on the runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, preparing for departure to Venezuela. The left engine, which had been leaking fuel, caught fire. The passengers and crew were evacuated and the fire extinguished but ...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for “flexibility” at talks in Vienna between the countries backing rival sides in the Syrian civil war. He urged the five main participants – the US, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – to abandon “national perspectives” for “global leadership”. These are the first such talks to include Iran, which – with Russia ...

China has decided to end its decades-long one-child policy, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports. Couples will now be allowed to have two children, it said, citing a statement from the Communist Party. The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to slow the population growth rate. It is estimated to have prevented about 400 million births. However concerns at ...