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Migrant crisis: Dozens drown off Turkey as boat capsizes
At least 39 migrants, including several children, have drowned trying to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, coastguards say. More than 60 have been rescued from the sea near the Turkish resort of Ayvacik. Local officials say they expect the death toll to rise when the capsized boat is searched. Thousands of refugees...
Violent, head-to-head crash between Earth and another planet created the moon
New clues suggest the moon resulted from a head-on collision between Earth and another forming planet, according to scientists. Researchers from a team lead by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) analyzed lunar and volcanic rocks before concluding the moon was formed during a violent head-on collision between an...
Two-wife minimum? The polygamy hoax that spread from Iraq to Eritrea
A false rumour that men in Eritrea would be legally obliged to marry at least two women went viral this week. But it's a hoax that has hit at least four countries to date, and actually began in Iraq, where it wasn't as implausible as it seems. When a far fetched story about enforced polygamy in Eritrea began...
Madaya: ‘Another 16 starve to death’ in besieged Syrian town
Another 16 people have starved to death in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya since UN aid convoys reached it earlier this month, according to charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. The charity says there are also 33 people in danger of dying. Brice de la Vingne, MSF operations director, said the situation was "totally...
Rock star David Bowie leaves $100m in will
Rock star David Bowie left an estate valued at about $100m (£70m), according to his will which has been filed in New York. Half will go to his widow, Iman, along with the home they shared in New York. The rest is shared between his son and daughter. It was also revealed that Bowie had requested that his ashes be scattered...
Exclusive: EgyptAir mechanic suspected in Russian plane crash
An EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined Islamic State in Syria is suspected of planting a bomb on a Russian passenger plane that was blown out of Egypt's skies in late October, according to sources familiar with the matter. So far Egypt has publicly said it has found no evidence that the MetroJet flight, which crashed in...
Crimea in World War II (Photos)
In 1944, Russian forces led by Marshal Fedor Tolbukhin attack the German army in an attempt to win back Crimea, in the southern Ukraine, occupied by the Axis power. The attack would result in the breaking of German defensive lines in just four days, eventually sending the Germans retreating. Crimea was the territorial plaything...
United Nations confirms 69 cases of alleged abuse in 2015 peacekeeping missions
THE UN human rights office says it has turned up six more cases of alleged sexual abuse against children by European troops in Central African Republic, including a seven-year-old girl who said she had to perform sexual acts on soldiers in exchange for water and cookies. A UN team recently interviewed five girls and a boy who...
Black German woman learns a shocking family secret: Her grandfather was a Nazi
Atlanta, Jennifer Teege thought she knew the hard truths of her life: that her German mother left her in the care of nuns when she was 4 weeks old, and that her biological father was Nigerian, making her the only black child in her Munich neighborhood. But the hardest truth came to her years later on a warm August day in...
Thousands protest against Vienna ball funded by far-right party (PHOTO)
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Austrian capital of Vienna chanting pro-refugee slogans to protest the annual Academics’ ball. The event, attended by German-language student networks, is deemed to be a meeting place for nationalists. Several protests were announced for the night of the ball, which is...
Syrian rebel splits deepen after failed ‘merger’ with al Qaeda arm
The leader of al Qaeda's Syrian wing tried unsuccessfully at a recent meeting to convince rival Islamist factions to merge into one unit, several insurgency sources have told Reuters. Abu Mohamad al-Golani, head of the Nusra Front, even suggested he was willing to change the name of his group if the others, including the...
Malaysia 1MDB scandal: Investigators say about $4bn may be missing from fund
About $4bn (£2.8bn) may have been stolen from a fund owned by the Malaysian state, a prosecutor says. The 1MDB fund was set up in 2009 to pay for major new economic and social developments in Malaysia. Last year, Swiss authorities opened an investigation into 1MDB after it amassed more than $11bn (£7bn) of debt....