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A ferry has sunk in Bangladesh earlier today, killing at least five people, according to authorities. About fifty more people were missing after the incident. Police said that the accident occurred as the vessel, called the MV Coco-4, came near a river station at Bhola Island, located 300 kilometres from the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka. The ferry was reportedly overcrowded, and the boat tipped to one side as all its passengers moved to disembark. "It was overcrowded with over 1,000 passengers. It tilted and part of it sank due to crowd pressu

Voters are heading to the polls today in Namibia to elect a president and parliament The ruling South West Africa People's Organization is expected to win presidential and parliamentary elections, but a new opposition party is mounting a challenge. Voters turned out in large numbers before dawn to cast their ballots. Local journalist John Grobler said many waited for hours to vote because of logistical problems. "Voting is slow in just about all the polling stations, but especially so at the polling stations where they don't have any laptop co

A cargo aircraft registered in Zimbabwe crashed today at Shanghai International Airport in China. Three of the crew have been killed. Another four people were taken to the Pudong Xinqu People's Hospital after the plane went down on takeoff and burst into flame. Firefighters responded with retardant foam and thick smoke could be seen rising from the airport. The plane, which had been flying to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, broke apart in the accident. The crash occurred between 7:40 a.m. and 8:12 a.m. The four surviving crew are reported to be consci

An express train travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg in Russia derailed yesterday, leaving at least 25 people dead and 100 more wounded. Authorities suspect a terrorist attack after a possible bomb crater was found beside the line. The trainwreck occurred in the countryside of Tver, near Bologoye. Around 650 passengers were on board the Nevsky Express which was travelling during peak time along one of Russia's most-traversed rail routes. Ninety of the injured are hospitalised, with hundreds of rescue workers attending and three victims bei

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said earlier on Thursday that the organization has reached a "dead end" in a probe into Iran's nuclear program. The IAEA's board is meeting to consider a resolution condemning Iran's nuclear program. In remarks to the IAEA's board, ElBaradei expressed frustration over Iran's failure to cooperate with the Vienna-based agency. ElBaradei leaves office in a few days, at the end of this November, and his remarks have grown sharply more critical of Iran in recent months. Today,

The worst flooding in 27 years in Saudi Arabia has left at least 77 people dead, and dozens more could be missing. The floods came after torrential rains on Wednesday. The rainstorms mainly affected western parts of the country, including the cities of Jeddah, Rabigh and Mecca, and the surrounding area. Inclement weather hampered the start of the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca; however, none of the dead people had been attending the event. The deaths were mainly caused by collapsed homes and high waters, according to officials. Witnesses say

American golfer Tiger Woods has been injured in a car crash near his home in Orlando, Florida. Woods was reported to have been leaving his home around 2:30 a.m. (EST) in his 2009 Cadillac Escalade, when he collided with a fire hydrant and a tree down the street. Woods was taken to Health Central Hospital, and treated for facial lacerations. Early reports described his injuries as "serious", but he was released from a local hospital a short time later, and his publicist, Mark Steinberg, has since described the accident as "minor". There are al

The King of Jordan, King Abdullah, dissolved the country's parliament on Tuesday, half-way through its four year term, and called for early general elections to be held, up to two years ahead of schedule. The monarch did not immediately provide a reason for the move; however, there have recently been reports accusing the parliament of handling legislation ineptly, and even of being corrupt. The king's decree ordered the civil service to host new elections to replace the 110-member parliament, although an exact date for the polls hasn't yet bee

A couple entered a White House state dinner when they were univited, passing through several layers of security, and socialized with high-profile guests Tuesday night. Tareq and Michaele Salahi from northern Virginia arrived at the party at approximately 7:15 pm Tuesday night. They were formally dressed as they passed by a crowd of reporters and cameramen waiting for VIP guests to arrive, even though the couple was neither invited nor on the guest list. A White House official has stated that the couple was never seated at a table. Although

The American Physical Society has awarded its 2010 J. J. Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics to six scientists for their contributions to theories on the origin of mass, including the key concepts of the Higgs boson and Higgs mechanism. The recipients are: C. R. Hagen, University of Rochester Gerald Guralnik, Brown University Tom Kibble, Imperial College London Robert Brout, Université Libre de Bruxelles François Englert, Université Libre de Bruxelles Peter Higgs, University of Edinburgh, Emeritus The full citation stated th

A five-year-old boy has been suspected to have died from the H1N1 swine flu virus in Buckinghamshire, England. The boy came from Emberton School, which now has just 29 pupils attending. Health tests are currently being carried out to determine whether or not the child did indeed die from the virus. He was admitted to a hospital in Milton Keynes, but later died in the early hours of Sunday morning. At present, the individual remains unidentified. Steve Dunning is the principal in the school. Speaking to BBC Three Counties Radio, Dunning said:

Kentucky State Police said yesterday that the September 12 death of census worker Bill Sparkman was suicide. His body was found naked in a Clay County, Kentucky cemetery, with "Fed" written on his chest and his census identification taped to his neck. This prompted widespread speculation that anti-government sentiment was responsible. However, police now believe that Sparkman deliberately killed himself, and tried to make it look like murder so his son could receive an insurance payout. Trooper Don Trosper, a Kentucky State Police spokesman