North Korea faces anger over sinking of South's warship

North Korea is facing international condemnation after investigators blamed it for the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.  Pyongyang rejected the claim as a "fabrication" and threatened war if sanctions were imposed. The international report found a North Korean submarine's torpedo sank the South Korean navy ship, causing...

Black hole hurled out of galaxy

A supermassive black hole may have been observed in the process of being hurled from its parent galaxy at high speed.  The finding comes from analysis of data collected by the US Chandra space X-ray observatory. However, there are alternative explanations for the observation. The work, by an international team of astronomers, has...

Plane crash in Libya kills more than 100 on board

A passenger plane has crashed in Libya, killing more than 100 people on board, officials in the capital Tripoli say. The Airbus 330 crashed on landing at Tripoli airport after a flight from Johannesburg, Afriqiyah Airways said. Sixty-one Dutch nationals were among those killed, Dutch tourism board ANWB said. A Dutch boy was the sole...

Pakistan Taliban behind Times Square bomb plot

The US has evidence the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attempted car bombing in New York's Times Square, Attorney General Eric Holder says. Mr Holder said the militants helped to facilitate the plot, and "probably helped finance it". US officials had previously rejected claims by the group that it was behind the 1 May plot. A Pakistani-born...

Mexican drug violence claims 24 lives in 24 hours

Drug violence in the Mexican state of Chihuahua left 24 people dead in the span of 24 hours this weekend, the state attorney general's office said Sunday. The killings were scattered over four locations throughout the state, with eight dead in Juarez, 10 killed in the capital of Chihuahua, five killed in Cuauhtemuc and one killed in...

United and Continental Airlines to merge

US-based United Airlines and Continental Airlines have agreed a deal to merge, creating the world's biggest carrier.  The loss-making companies said they expected the deal, worth $3.2bn (£2.1bn), to deliver savings of more than $1bn a year. The combined group will be named United Airlines But new branding will combine the current...

NYC cops hunt man caught on film in bombing

US police have made "substantial progress" in investigating an attempted car bomb attack in New York city, US Attorney General Eric Holder said. Mr Holder said police had established "good leads" into who parked the vehicle in Times Square on Saturday. City Mayor Michael Bloomberg earlier cast doubt on a claim by the Pakistani Taliban...

Execution does not stop Chinese knife attacks

Early in the morning on March 23, Zheng Minsheng walked in front of an elementary school in Fujian province. Wielding a knife, he attacked the students who happened to be around, killing eight and wounding several others. Authorities said Zheng, 42, carried out the attack because he was frustrated at "failures in his romantic life,"...

Failed car bomb was not al-Qaeda plot, says NY mayor

There is no evidence the failed attempt to detonate a car bomb in New York was the work of al-Qaeda or any other big terrorist group, the city's mayor says. Michael Bloomberg spoke after police dismissed claims by a Pakistani Taliban group that it was responsible. Investigators are hunting a middle-aged white man seen removing his shirt...

Ahmadinejad blasts U.S. before visit

Just days before his planned trip to New York, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he has proof the United States and Israel are linked to the world's leading terrorist organizations, according to state-run media. "We have documents that prove (Washington) is the root of world terrorism," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Tehran,...

New York police defuse 'car bomb' in Times Square

New York City police have defused an improvised car bomb parked in Times Square, one of the city's busiest tourist areas, officials say. They say propane tanks, fireworks, petrol, and a clock device were removed from a parked sports utility vehicle. Part of the district - where many theatres are sited - was sealed off. Both US President...

Taiwan-China flight forced to land after bomb hoax

An airliner travelling from Taiwan to China made an emergency landing after a passenger jokingly claimed he had a bomb on board, officials say. The Taipei-Shanghai flight of Taiwan's China Airlines landed safely in Hangzhou, eastern China, and the passenger was held for questioning. Police then checked the man's luggage and found...

Greeks protest austerity cuts at May Day rally

Greek protesters clashed with police who fired tear gas during the annual May Day rally on Saturday in Athens, where thousands of people gathering for the event seethed over government belt-tightening plans to deal with the country's debt problems. Waving red flags, the crowd at times surged toward the line of police, who wore helmets...