Uruguay ex-ruler Gregorio Alvarez dies at age 91
Military health authorities on Wednesday announced the death of Gregorio Alvarez, military ruler of Uruguay from 1981–8...
Poland pays €100m for Czartoryski art collection
Poland yesterday announced the purchase of the Czartoryski art collection for about €100million (US$105m; £85m). It is ...

 ()South African killer, rapist, serial escapee Ananias...
Ananias Mathe, an infamous South African criminal, died on Tuesday in hospital. His offences included rape and murder, and he escaped custody several times. Mathe, from Mozambique, had been suffering digestive problems for weeks according to the prison service. He died on Tuesday in the King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban. He was resident in a high-security p...

Microscope image of Ebola particles. (Image: NIAID.)Study confirms efficacy of NewLink Genetics ebola va...
A study published last Thursday in The Lancet found the rVSV-ZEVOB ebola vaccine can provide up to 100% protection against onset of Zaire ebolavirus, one of the two most common strains of ebola, responsible for most of the cases observed in humans. Iowa-based NewLink Genetics, which owns the rights to rVSV-ZEVOB, on Friday announced hope the US Food and Drug A...

The crashed aircraft in May this year. (Image: Alexander Usanov.)Plane carrying 92 crashes into Black Sea near Sochi
A military plane carrying 92 people crashed into the Black Sea two minutes after departing Sochi, Russia yesterday. The crashed aircraft in May this year. Image: Alexander Usanov. The Tupolev Tu-154 was heading to Syria and was carrying 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, Russia's military choir. Nobody is thought to have survived. At least eleven bo...

The shopping area by the station, where the blaze started. (Image: そらみみ
(CC BY-SA 4.0).)Fire engulfs 140 buildings in Itoigawa, Japan
A fire on Thursday engulfed at least 140 buildings in Itoigawa, Japan. The inferno injured, by varying reports, at least eight people. The coastal town in the northern prefecture of Niigata's many traditional wooden buildings burned easily, fanned by winds of 56kph (35mph). Narrow streets hampered firefighters. "Sparks of fire flew around," one local resident...

The crashed aircraft, from file. (Image: Asuspine.)Pakistan International Airlines sacrifices goat, res...
Images of Pakistan International Airlines sacrificing a goat went viral on Monday as the beleaguered state-run airline resumed ATR flights. All ten ATRs in its fleet were grounded last week in the aftermath of a crash near Havelian earlier this month. PIA ground staff ritually slaughtered the black goat beside an ATR-42, the same type of aircraft lost in the ...