A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 on a demonstration flight with 46 people on board went missing south of the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Wednesday, a search and rescue official said.   "The plane disappeared from the radar around the Bogor area. We are still looking for it and we are uncertain whether it crashed," said Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for the national search and rescue agency.   The plane

FRANKFURT (AFP) ― German industrial output rose sharply in March driven by a strong showing in construction, official data showed on Tuesday, after cold winter weather hit production in February.Industrial production increased by 2.8 percent from February, the economy ministry said in a statement, providing a sunnier outlook for output in the coming months, as analysts said it eased recession fears for Europe’s top economy.The result was much bigger than expected by analysts polled by Dow Jones

KHARTOUM (AFP) ― Rebels in Sudan’s Darfur region said on Tuesday they had seized control of a town from government troops, the latest in a reported upsurge of fighting in a region that has seen nearly a decade of unrest.“Today our joint troops took control of Girayda after fighting with SAF,” the Sudanese Armed Forces, said Abdullah Moursal, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army-Minni Minnawi faction.Girayda is about 100 kilometers south of Nyala, the South Darfur state capital.“From our side

YANGON (AP) -- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi received her first passport in 24 years on Tuesday ahead of a planned trip to Norway and Britain.An aide to Suu Kyi, Htin Kyaw, said the passport was received from the Home Ministry. Suu Kyi applied for the passport following recent political reforms that culminated in her election to parliament last month. Last year, a long-ruling military junta handed over power to an elected, nominally civilian government. Suu Kyi‘s National League for

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The man ordered by al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner was a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide attack, with Saudi intelligence likely playing a key role, U.S. media reported Tuesday.American officials leaked out details of the extraordinary intelligence coup two days after the White House announced a plot by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula had been successfully thwarted.The double agent managed to spend weeks with

Nine men of Pakistani and Afghan descent were convicted Tuesday for participating in a child sex ring in a case that touched off deep sensitivities about race in Britain and galvanized the far right.Prosecutors had told a jury that the men plied young, vulnerable girls -- many of whom were white -- with drugs and alcohol and then passed them around for sex. The girls -- some as young as 13 years old -- were assaulted, raped and sometimes forced to have sex with several men a day.“The details of

BEIJING (AFP) -- Chinese vice foreign minister Fu Ying said Beijing was ready for "any escalation" of a tense maritime standoff with the Philippines over a disputed shoal.The month-long flare-up is one of the most high-profile incidents for years between the two countries over their competing territorial claims to parts of the South China Sea, which is believed to sit atop vast oil and gas deposits."The Chinese side has... made all preparations to respond to any escalation of the situation by th

PARIS (AFP) ― Taking over from a supermodel should not be a problem for Valerie Trierweiler, who has plenty of glamour of her own, but making state visits abroad as France’s first unmarried first lady just might.There is some speculation as to whether Trierweiler, whose partner Francois Hollande was elected Socialist president on Sunday, will marry her man before he gets the keys to the Elysee Palace on May 15.If she does not, certain host countries may face some embarrassment as to the proper p