Russian Plane Crash Kills at Least 44 People

A passenger plane en route from Moscow crashed on a highway in northern Russia, killing 44 people and injuring eight, Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said today.

The Tupolev 154 broke apart and burst into flames when it hit the road two kilometers (1.2 miles) short of the runway in Petrozavodsk at about midnight, the ministry said in a statement on its website. Petrozavodsk is about 700 kilometers north of Moscow.

The plane was making its final approach in “adverse weather conditions,” the Interfax news agency reported, citing Alexei Kuzmitsky, general director of the Petrozavodsk airport. Fog shrouded the airport at the time, the agency said, quoting another person it did not identify.

The eight survivors were taken to local hospitals, the report said. Both of the plane’s flight-data recorders were recovered. Interfax said the aircraft was flown by the Moscow- based RusAir airline.

The plane was carrying 43 passengers and nine crew, according to the ministry. It was the deadliest commercial airline disaster in Russia since September, 2008, when an Aeroflot-Nord Boeing 737 crashed near Perm, killing 88 people, according to the Aviation Safety Network website.

NATO kills 19 civilians in air strike

NATO acknowledged that a 'weapons failure' may have led to civilian casualties on Sunday in Tripoli [Reuters]

The Libyan government has said that 19 civilians were killed in a NATO air strike on the home of one of Muammar Gaddafi's top officials, a day after the Western military alliance admitted an air strike killed civilians in a separate attack.

Libyan officials took reporters to Surman, 70km west of Tripoli, to the site of what they said was a NATO air
strike on the home of Khouildi Hamidi.

The officials said the attack on the home of Hamidi, a member of Libya's 12-strong Revolutionary Command Council, led by Gaddafi, took place on Monday morning.

Rescue teams were looking for survivors while reporters visited the site.

Reporters were then taken to a hospital in nearby Sabrata where they were shown nine bodies, including those of two children, plus some body parts, which the officials said were all of people killed in the attack.

The state-run Jana news agency later reported on its website that eight children were among 19 people killed in the attack.

The dead included members of Hamidi's family, it said. The government said Hamidi himself was not hurt.

NATO said it had bombed a "legitimate military target, a command and control node" in the area, and it could not confirm whether civilians had been hurt.

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Syria says 23 dead as Israel opens fire on Golan

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AFP) – Israeli troops opened fire as protesters from Syria stormed a ceasefire line in the occupied Golan Heights, with Damascus saying 23 demonstrators were killed.

Hundreds of protesters rushed the ceasefire line, cutting through barbed wire as they tried to enter the Golan Heights in a repeat of demonstrations last month that saw thousands mass along Israel's north.

Similar protests were held in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

In Majdal Shams, on the occupied Golan, Israeli troops opened fire as demonstrators sought to push through the mined ceasefire line, which had been reinforced with several rows of barbed wire blocking access to a fence.

"Despite numerous warnings, both verbal and later warning shots in the air, dozens of Syrians continue to approach the border and IDF (Israel Defence Forces) forces were left with no choice but to open fire towards the feet of protesters in efforts to deter further actions," an army spokesman told AFP

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US drone strikes kill many in Pakistan

The injured from the Nowshera bombing were taken to a hospital in Peshawar on Sunday [AFP] Three US missile strikes have killed at least 19 people in Pakistan's tribal areas along the Afghan border, local security officials have said. The strikes on Monday came a day after at least 24 people were killed in an explosion in the northwestern town of Nowshera and another bombing at a bus stop near Peshawar. The missile strikes took place near Wana, the main town in the South Waziristan tribal region, early on Monday morning. Local intelligence officials confirmed the strikes. Al Jazeera correspondent Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said that one strike targeted a compound, while another hit a madrassah (religious school). Pakistani intelligence officials told the Associated Press that the third strike hit a vehicle that was travelling between the North and South Waziristan agencies. The identities of those killed in the strikes were not immediately known. Continue reading...

Deaths as heavy rain hits Thailand

The flooding has deluged the homes and businesses of around a million people [AFP]

Severe flooding and mudslides in southern Thailand have killed at least 21 people, and stranded thousands of tourists, authorities said on Wednesday.

Deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the government had sent its only aircraft carrier to rescue around 1,000 people stuck on Koh Tao island.

"There are roughly one million people affected in many provinces. At first we thought the flood would last a day or two, but now it has already been one week," he told reporters.

Victims were either swept away by the rising waters, or buried in mudslides as the unseasonably wet weather deluged the homes and businesses of around a million people in what should be one of the hottest months of the year.

Residents were left without electricity in many areas as the waters rose, while road, rail and air links to the southern region remain closed.

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Suicide bomber kills 13 in Pakistan

A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle has attacked a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, killing 13 people and wounding 12.

The bomber attacked a crowd on Wednesday that was gathered along the road to greet Maulana Fazlur Rehman, a prominent hardline Islamist politician, said Saeed Khan, a police official at the main communications center in Peshawar city.

The attack occurred in Swabi town, located 70km outside the capital, Islamabad. "Rehman, the leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party, passed through the checkpoint only minutes before the bomber struck and was unharmed," said Khan.

"The bomber detonated his explosives just outside the checkpoint when a policeman told him to halt," Khan added.

It was unclear if the bomber specifically targeted the supporters of Rehman or if they just happened to be there when the bomber hit the checkpoint.

Rehman has been an outspoken supporter of the Afghan Taliban, but some militants in Pakistan have shown a willingness to attack anyone connected to the government.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

NATO decision body to consider Libya air strikes

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO's top decision-making body is likely to expand its air mission over Libya on Sunday to take over command of U.S.-led air strikes against Moammar Gadhafi's military.

After nearly a week of deliberations, the North Atlantic Council agreed Friday that NATO should enforce a no-fly zone in keeping with a U.N. Security Council mandate. But the decision to also take command of air strikes — which the United States-led international force has been conducting since last week — was postponed until Sunday's meeting to allow the 28 national envoys to consult with their capitals.

Washington has been eager to hand off responsibility for air strikes to the alliance, whose military staff have already drawn up the necessary operational plans. An official who on condition of anonymity because the details were not public said the council may issue an order to execute those plans late Sunday or during a follow-on meeting on Monday.

The air strikes are intended to protect civilians from Gadhafi's forces. However, they have also tipped the balance away from his regular military to the lightly armed rebels, although the two sides remain at stalemate in key cities.

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