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Tropical Storm Marinae is heading toward central Vietnam after lashing the central Philippines, where authorities say it killed at least 14 people. The Philippines National Disaster Coordinating Council said on Sunday that most of the deaths were reported in Camarines Norte province. It added that four people remain missing. Marinae made landfall over the Philippines on Friday as a typhoon, triggering floods and displacing thousands of people still recovering from storms that hit the country weeks earlier. Authorities, however, said that the

Eleven people are dead after a military cargo jet crashed in Siberia. The strategic airlifter, which belonged to Russia's Interior Ministry, came down shortly after takeoff in Mirny. There were no survivors. No-one on the ground was injured by the Ilyushin Il-76, which lost control after it failed to gain altitude, banking hard to the right before hitting the ground two kilometers away near a disused mine. The plane did not achieve a height of beyond 20–30 meters. The aircraft had been headed to Irkutsk and was being operated by interior tro

According to Chinese state media Xinhua, a ship carrying a hazardous cargo has sunk into the Yangtze river. The vessel took its cargo of 100 tonnes of highly corrosive hydrochloric acid down with it after colliding with another vessel today. The report cited an official with the Hubei Provincial Environmental Protection Department as saying "We are paying close attention to the water quality in this area," and that acidity is currently normal. The collision, attributed to strong winds, occurred in Jiangxi Province, where the stricken ship was

An expedition guide working for the BBC has died after he was charged by an elephant in Tanzania on Friday. Anton Turner was helping with the filming of Serious Explorers for CBBC, a children’s branch of the BBC, when the incident happened. Three children were with the group when the incident happened but were unharmed. Despite the help of a doctor travelling with the group, Turner died shortly after the attack. A spokeswoman for the BBC released a statement saying that "we would like to extend our deepest sympathy to Anton's family and frien

At least two people have been killed in a landslide at the Playa de los Gigantes beach on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has confirmed the information today. The victims were both women. One of them was identified as a 34-year-old woman from the southern part of the island. The other was identified as Marion Auril O'Hara, a 57-year-old woman from the United Kingdom. The collapsing of the cliff, which was on a small beach and stretched 130 feet (40 metres), occurred at around 1600 GMT on Sunday. Initially,

Partial results from Mozambique's Wednesday elections indicate that the incumbent FRELIMO, or the Mozambican Liberation Front party, will win around three-quarters of the votes, giving it a comfortable victory. Preliminary results released by the National Electoral Commission indicated that Armando Guebuza, the president of Mozambique, has 74% of votes in the presidential elections, or 536,440 votes, according to results based on 18% of polling stations. The opposition candidate Daviz Simango, who is the mayor of the city of Beira, came in a

Twenty six people took an organised outing by rail this weekend to a little used station in North East England, in an effort to highlight its poor rail service. The trip was organised by Alex Nelson, the stationmaster of the nearby independent Chester-le-Street railway station. He wanted to raise the profile of the little used Teesside Airport railway station, which serves Durham Tees Valley Airport (known as Teesside Airport until 2006). The station, which is on the Tees Valley Line and served by Northern Rail, is one of the least used statio

The Iraqi military has said that it arrested more than 60 security force members in connection with the recent series of bombings in Baghdad that killed about 155 people. A military spokesman said on Thursday the arrests included eleven military officers. He did not say whether the army suspected the detained officers of involvement in the blasts or of negligence in protecting the Iraqi capital. Sunday's car bombings targeted Iraq's justice ministry and a provincial government building. An al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for the

A French magistrate has ordered former President Jacques Chirac to stand trial on embezzlement charges dating back to the 1990s, when he was mayor of Paris. The order is unprecedented, and follows several other trials targeting former high-level politicians. Chirac did not respond directly to news he has been ordered to stand trial, but a statement from his office said he was serene and determined to clear himself. The former president is charged with embezzlement and breach of trust relating to allegations that 35 people were given fake jobs

Ukraine reported its first deaths from the H1N1 swine flu virus on Friday, prompting the government to close schools, ban public gatherings throughout the country, and take other actions in an effort to curb the spread of the disease. Four people were confirmed dead from the disease as of Friday, and another seven people have been confirmed as infected with it, the ProUA news agency quoted National Security and Defense Council Secretary Raisa Bohatyryova as saying. This contradicts other reports, which said only one person died. 30 more peo

A man has been given a prison sentence of nine years for the manslaughter of his wife in Hampshire, England. 40-year-old Sally Sinclair was head of business analysis for mobile phone provider Vodafone and had been killed in August 2008 in her home in the village of Amport, after admitting to her husband that she had had an affair. When her body was found in the kitchen of the house, it was discovered that she had suffered a partially severed head and at least 40 stab wounds. Winchester Crown Court had heard during the trial that the attack was

Officials in Pakistan have said that a bomb blast killed seven Pakistani soldiers and wounded eleven others on Saturday in the northwestern part of the country. The incident took place in the Khyber region, which is the main route for moving supplies to international forces fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan. The explosion struck a vehicle that was transporting paramilitary troops on a patrol near the region's main town of Landikotal, according to a spokesman for the Frontier Corps. "The vehicle was completely destroyed and seven of our sold