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The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to sue a police officer accused of creating a story about being shot by someone at El Camino High School, causing a costly search for the assailant by police. The officer, Jeffrey Stenroos, who had worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District police for eight years, caused thousands of students to remain on lockdown for hours. Traffic officers, county sheriffs, California Highway Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were involved in the search. The council voted to ask Stenroos t

A plane travelling from Heathrow to Cairo was diverted to Athens last night after a note containing the word 'bomb' was found mid-flight. The EgyptAir flight landed at 8:39pm local time at Athens International Airport, with 251 passengers aboard. Flight MS778 was checked for bombs by police last night, as passengers stayed in hotels in Athens. After it was found to be a false alarm, the jet took off again at around 1:30pm local time today, bound for Cairo. The scare happens as Egyptians protesting the thirty-year rule of the their President,

Police in Russia say they have identified the man behind the bombing of Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport on Monday, although they will not yet name him. Police said the man who killed 35 was a twenty-year-old suicide bomber from the North Caucasus region. An Investigative Committee statement delivered by spokesman Vladimir Markin said "We have established the identity of the terrorist suicide bomber who set off the explosive. He turned out to be a 20-year-old native from one of the North Caucasus republics," and "Despite the investiga

Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, is currently recovering from a collapsed lung in Johannesburg, according to the Reuters news agency. The 92-year-old was admitted to hospital on Wednesday for 'routine tests', having been airlifted from Cape Town, where he and his wife were having a holiday, to a hospital near his home in Johannesburg. He is thought to be recovering well. The South African president Jacob Zuma stated that "President Mandela is comfortable and is well looked after by a good team of medical specialists", going

United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Thursday that the country's government would end its color-coded threat assessment system, called the Homeland Security Advisory System. The announcement came one day after rumors about such a move surfaced. Napolitano, who made the announcement at George Washington University, said a new advisory system would be implemented in April. "When we have information about a specific, credible threat, we will issue a formal alert providing as much information as we can," she said. "Th

At least eight people have died after a suicide attack at a supermarket in Kabul, Afghanistan. The 'Finest' store, located in the strongly patrolled Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, was popular with foreigners, being located near embassies, a few hundred yards from the British Embassy. The suicide bomber opened fire in the supermarket, which was protected by armed guards and was situated near a police checkpoint, before detonating a bomb, resulting in at least eight deaths and six wounded, including a child, both from Afghanistan and abroad. Th

Anti-government protestors in Egypt rallying against the rule of president Hosni Mubarak took to the streets for a fourth straight day, demanding the long-time leader step down and complaining of poverty, corruption, and oppression. The demonstrations were supposedly inspired by a popular uprising that saw Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali ousted from office. A national curfew is in effect, but is being ignored by many. Tens of thousands of people spilled out into streets after Friday prayers today, chanting slogans like "Down, down wi

Three Indonesians have been charged with people-smuggling by Australian authorities after a shipwreck off Christmas Island last month. Over 50 people were killed when the vessel, carrying mainly Iraqi, Iranian & Kurdish asylum seekers, smashed against rocks on December 15 after its engine failed. The trio, ages 22, 32 and 60, appeared in a Perth court charged with, "facilitating the bringing to Australia of a group of five or more persons," according to police. The case, which is now adjourned for three weeks, could result in a 20 year prison

The United States has stated Monday that it will support a month-long ban on cocoa exports from the Ivory Coast, which was called for by its internationally recognised president, Alassane Ouattara. The move comes as Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent president of Côte d'Ivoire, refused to concede the presidency after November's election. Ouattara hopes that the embargo will result in Gbagbo being forced to resign, unable to pay civil servants, including the security forces, due to lost revenue. "We do support President Ouattara's call for a month-l

According to the BBC News website, five languages are to be cut from the BBC World Service's coverage. Albanian, Macedonian, and Serbian are no longer going to be used on the global radio station, and Portuguese will no longer be used in African regional programmes, nor English in the Caribbean. Seven undisclosed languages are also going to be scaled back. The cuts mean that approximately 650 jobs will be lost in order to save around £46m. The cuts were officially announced at a staff briefing on Thursday. The BBC's director of global news, Pe

A fifteen-year-old boy has been arrested in Walthamstow, London, England after Ezekiel Amosu, 17, was run over by a bus Monday night. Metropolitan Police detectives said that Amosu may have been "involved in an altercation with a group of teenagers immediately beforehand". Amosu was walking with four friends when they were approached by a group of youths, who asked for Amosu's mobile phone. It is unclear as to whether Amousu was attempting to escape, or was pushed under the bus during the fight. The officer in charge of the investigation, Dete

Thousands of people throughout Egypt continued protests for a second straight day, clashing with security officials. The demonstrators were protesting against the three-decade-rule of president Hosni Mubarak. Demonstrations turned violent in places, with police employing tear gas and rubber bullets while civilians hurled stones, burned tires, and even set fire to a government building. The Haaretz newspaper says there were five deaths. Reports say such massive protests have never been seen in the country before; they come two weeks after Tunis