Chinese woman abducted in Malaysia
Malay authorities say they believe the suspects involved in the kidnapping of a Chinese national on Wednesday evening at a resort in eastern Malaysia are now likely in Philippine waters.
The head of the police forces in Sabah says the group of armed men, believed to be Filipino, are no longer in Malaysian territory.
Authorities also say they suspect there may have been someone coordinating with the suspects inside the resort where the women were taken from.
So far no ransom has been demanded.
The pair were taken Wednesday evening while on the jetty of a popular resort in Sabah.
Malaysian PM ends trip to Perth as search for MH379 continues
Today's search effort for missing flight MH370 is already underway. It's been nearly a month since the plane disappeared.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has just finished a trip to Perth, Australia, where he reviewed search operations and met with his counterpart, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
The two leaders have promised to do everything possible to locate the airliner,.
Some eight planes and nine ships, including seven Chinese vessels scoured the search area on Thursday.
The Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had 239 passengers and crew on board. 154 of those people are Chinese.
Envoys from U.S., Japan, ROK to meet on issues related to DPRK
Special envoys from the United States, Japan and the South Korea are scheduled to meet in Washington on Monday to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue.
The talks come amid heightened tensions in the region, following multiple short- and medium-range missile tests by North Korea in recent weeks.
Topics include how to pursude the "verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner."
Earlier this week, North and South exchanged artillery fire in each others' territorial waters.
Pyongyang has also threatened to conduct what it calls a "new form" of nuclear testing, in response to hostile US policies.
Kerry urges Israeli and Palestinians to lead peace talks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Israeli and Palestinians have to make decisions and compromises in order to obtain peace.
Kerry made the comment during a visit to Algeria after Middle East peace talks ran into trouble with the Israelis and Palestinians accusing each other of failing to honor commitments.
Earlier, Israel refused to release a group of Palestinian prisoners as promised unless it received assurance that the Palestinians will continue with negotiations beyond an initial end-of-April deadline.
As a response, Palestinians signed 15 UN conventions as part of renewed campaign to win UN recognition.
Kerry earlier cancelled a visit to Ramallah after the Palestinians signed the conventions.
Syrian troops kill 20 rebels near Damascus
The Syrian government says its troops have killed 20 rebels during a wide-scale offensive in the eastern countryside around the capital, Damascus.
The action on Thursday targeted a rebel-held area in the suburb of Jobar, regarded as a hotbed of the insurgency.
The Syrian troops decided to rid the eastern rim of Damascus of armed rebels following the army's successive victories in the country's central and northern regions.
More than 150,000 people were killed and millions displaced in Syria since opposition started protests in 2011, which later turned into war between the Syrian army and armed rebels.
More people return to displacement sites amid upsurge in violence in CAR
Large numbers of people in Central African Republic's capital have been returning to UN shelter sites because of the recent surge in violence.
The United Nations blames new fighting over the last two weeks around Bangui's airport.
It says 20-thousand internally displaced persons have taken refuge at two shelter sites.
Over the past three months, more than 80-thousand people from CAR have found shelter in Cameroon, the Democratic Repubic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, and Chad.
Nearly a million people have been displaced by the increasingly sectarian fighting in CAR.
Residents in central Italy poisoned by mercury for 30 years: report
People living across a wide area in central Italy have been eating mercury-poisoned food for more than 30 years.
That's according to a latest report submitted to the courts in a trial over contamination by the Italian Higher Institute for Health.
The report says that there is a "concrete danger for human health" and that the heavy metal is getting into the food chain through soil, sedmiment, and surface water.
Investigators began a probe in 2007 looking into contamination in a chemical industrial area near the city of Pescara.
More than 20 people are currently under investigation.
Researchers design trees easier to break down for paper production
Scientists in the Unite States say they have genetically engineered trees making them easier to break down to produce paper and biofuel.
The study, published in the US journal Science, says this development means fewer chemicals and less energy will be required as the trees are processed.
The research focused on a polymer found in wood known as lignin.
Researchers used a gene found in an herb called DangGui, or Chinese angelica, and successfully transferred it into poplar trees.
The resulting trees appear to be no different than their natural cousins when grown in greenhouse conditions, but the lignin in those trees is easier to break down.
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