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At least eight people have been killed in a plane crash near the southern Minnesota town of Owatonna, the Associated Press and local media reported Thursday morning. One person, who had been listed in critical condition as of 11:40 a.m. in the Owatonna hospital has died from injuries sustained in the accident, the Associated Press reported just before 3:00 p.m. that afternoon. At least one person is unaccounted for while investigator determine whether the person boarded the plane in New Jersey, according to the Steele County Sheriff's Office.

Catherine Mullany, a newly married British woman, and her husband, Ben Mullany, have been shot while on honeymoon in Antigua. Catherine died on the scene, while Ben is in a critical condition in Hospital. The families of the Mullanys have described themselves as "deeply shocked and devastated." The incident occurred at 05:00 Antigua time (09:00 GMT) on Tuesday, and it is being treated by police as a robbery. A police spokesperson described the incident. "Shortly after 5am this morning officers from the Bolans Police station responding to a ca

According to a Canadian Press report published Thursday and a CNN report Friday, 40-year-old Vince Weiguang Li of Edmonton, Alberta has been arrested for allegedly stabbing and decapitating a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba, Canada on Wednesday night. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has not confirmed a beheading, which witnesses have described to the press, saying only that the suspect allegedly stabbed the victim around 8:30 p.m. CT on a Greyhound bus traveling east on the Trans-Canada Highway about 20 kilometers west

Iranian officials have arrested 16 Iranians in Malakshahr, on the outskirts of the central Iranian city of Esfahān. The group, consisting of six women, eight men and two adolescents, are charged with conversion from Islam to Christianity. If found guilty of the allegation, they could face the death penalty. Evangelical churches in Isfahan have received orders not to allow any Muslims to attend their ceremonies or to facilitate in any conversions. However, a small private home which has been converted to an evangelical church was taking part in

George Tupou V, the current king of Tonga, has announced that he will give up his position as an absolute monarch by relinquishing most of his powers. A spokesperson for the king explained the decision. He said that the people "favour a more representative, elected parliament, the king agrees with them." The spokesperson said that Tupou would be guided by the Prime Minister, Feleti Sevele, "in all matters of governance." The transition to democracy is due to occur in 2010. In 2006, eight people were killed in Tonga during a pro-democracy ral

Google announced on July 25 that its search engine has indexed over 1 trillion unique web pages from all over the globe. "We knew the web was big," the article on Google's official blog begins. "Even after removing those exact duplicates, we saw a trillion unique URLs." This article also discussed the indexing technology behind the stage. Google, known as a popular international search engine, has servers all around the world to index web pages. With the rapid development of the Internet, the number of web pages with unique URL (Uniform Reso

More than 100 protesters gathered Saturday in San Francisco to object to the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) stance on gender identity. The protesters picketed the HRC's annual fundraising dinner to protest the organization's efforts to remove gender identity protections from legislation that would add sexual orientation to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The group was clad in a variety of outfits, ranging from street clothing to drag to camp gear; some wore make-up or fake moustaches. Cross-dressers, gays, lesbians, transgender a

As gas prices have risen in the United States, the regional transport authority for southeastern Pennsylvania, SEPTA, has seen a sharp increase in ridership, which has caused overcrowding on the trains. "As fuel prices have continued to rise, SEPTA ridership has steadily increased and is the highest in 18 years," said SEPTA General Manager Joseph Casey. Monthly ridership was 22 percent higher last month than a year ago. "They have crushed loads on their rail lines, already where people are standing, and there's not enough seats," said Rich Bi

United Kingdom flag carrier British Airways (BA) has entered into merger talks with Spanish airline Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA. BA is already Europe's third-largest airline. The proposed all-share merger of BA and Iberia, meanwhile, is approved by the boards of both companies. BA already holds a 13.15% stake in Iberia, while Iberia have a 2.99% holding in BA. British Airways has been increasing its holdings in Iberia since 1999, from an initial 9% to the current 13.15%. Under the proposed deal, the airlines would go to a holding compan

Clark Rockefeller, a former director of the Algonquin Club in Boston, Massachusetts, has allegedly abducted his 7-year-old daughter, Reigh Boss, during a supervised weekend visit. The weekend visit was supervised by a social worker, and Rockefeller got away in a black SUV, affixed with Red Sox stickers, driven by another man. Authorities believe that Rockefeller might try to escape to Bermuda from New York City on his recently purchased yacht, "Serenity". The New York City Police Department, Coast Guard, and the FBI searched the area around Ne

In Sudan, Judge Muntasim Mohamed Saleh sentenced eight men from the rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) to death and found another not guilty. A 16-year-old defendant was referred a special juvenile court. The accused were being tried under counter-terrorism legislation over the 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum. "I find you guilty under the Sudanese counter-terrorism law, chapter five and six, and Sudanese criminal law, chapter 130, I sentence you to be hanged to death," Saleh told the eight men who stood in silence in the dock

United States Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has been indicted by federal grand jury on seven criminal counts for making false statements in his Senate financial disclosure forms. The longest-serving Republican in the Senate, Stevens is the highest-profile politician ensnared in the corruption scandal surrounding VECO Corporation and its executives' attempts to influence politics. VECO, a subsidiary of CH2M Hill as of September 2007, is an oil pipeline and services company. It is alleged to have funded renovations to the Stevens home in Girdwoo