Lifestyle

According to Russian officials, an Aeroflot-Nord, Flight 821, a Boeing 737-500 crashed near the city of Perm at 3:15 a.m. local time with 88 people aboard, all feared to have been killed. There were six crew and 82 passengers from 21 different nations including seven children and one baby on board the plane. Reuters quotes the Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow) radio station in Russia that all on board were dead. The plane took off at 1:12 a.m. local time and was traveling from Moscow to Perm when officials at the Bolshoye Savino Airport lost contac

XL Leisure Group — the United Kingdom's third largest tour operator — has collapsed and entered administration. About 85,000 passengers have been left stranded outside the UK as a result. The Civil Aviation Authority is working to bring these people home, and Air Travel Organisers' Licensing scheme stated that "repatriation aircraft" had been scrambled. Both flights chartered specially for the purpose and scheduled services with spare seats are being used. XL operated a number of subsidiaries, including XL Airways, Travel City Direct and the

Unnamed officials from the United States have stated that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Il may have suffered a "serious" stroke. Officials state that the rumors of his illness began to spread Tuesday after he failed to make an appearance at the nation's 60th anniversary lent credence, an annual military parade. "There is reason to believe Kim Jong Il has suffered a serious health setback, possibly a stroke," said an unnamed U.S. official who also added that he may have had the stroke about two weeks ago. The official also stated that his

Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the UN-run Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that eating less meat is a good way to reduce damage to the climate. Pachuari said that "the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions," when explaining the reasons behind his comment. "So I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider." "I

Five people have now died from the storms that hit the United Kingdom today and yesterday. One of the dead was a 27-year-old man from Stroud. He died while working in a construction site. A trench he was working in collapsed, with his death being caused by the five tonnes of soil that buried him. He was pronounced dead on the scene. A motorcyclist was killed yesterday when crashing into a tree off the A66 due to the heavy gales. A seventeen year old was killed after the vehicle she was traveling in was overturned. She was traveling with two

A memorial service was held Friday for Javon Thompson, a toddler that died in Baltimore, Maryland, while under the care of a religious group called "1 Mind Ministries". Thompson died in late 2006 or early 2007 in an apartment in West Baltimore. According to police statements, members of 1 Mind Ministries refused the boy food and water because he did not say "amen" after group meals. Police say the boy would have been about 19 months old when members of the group stopped feeding him in December 2006. The Baltimore Sun spoke with Seeta Khadan-Ne

Phil Hill, the American Formula One race-car driver, has died today at age 81 in Salinas, California. Phil died from complications from Parkinson's Disease. He was set to travel to a historic meeting at Monterey but was rushed to hospital. His son Derek, also a racecar driver had to retire to look after his father. Phil was the first American-born driver to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship when he won the 1961 season. Italian-born American Mario Andretti, who won the Drivers' Championship in 1978, is the only other American to

Operation NANOOK 2008 was held from August 11 to August 25 by the Canadian Forces for the purpose of conducting mock emergency rescue operations for potential maritime disasters in the northeastern Canadian Arctic waters. Two Canadian navy ships and two airforce planes, a CC-138 Twin Otter and a CP-140 Aurora, took part in the exercises in the Canada's Arctic. The HMCS Toronto and the Canadian Coast Guard ship Pierre Radisson travelled along the Hudson Strait. The Operation extended to Davis Strait, and Frobisher Bay during the annual NANO

An Itek-Air Boeing 737 flight 6875, operated by Aseman Airlines and traveling to Iran has crashed in Kyrgyzstan only 10 minutes after taking off. It is unclear how many were on board, but reports say there were at least 90 people on the plane with the crash killing 68. At least 22 are reported to have survived, including all crew members. "According to updated information, 68 passengers were killed, including 24 Kyrgyz, five Iranians, one Turkish national, three Canadians, three Kazakhs and one Chinese," said a spokesman for Igor Chudinov, Kyr

At least three people are dead after two small planes collided in a remote area of Wyoming in the United States. The collision occurred between a Cirrus SR22 and a Cessna 172 near Rock Springs just before 12:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The Cirrus was carrying two people, both of whom died, and was traveling from Polson, Montana to Rock Springs. The Cessna had one person on board who also died, but its destination is not yet known. One deployed parachute is reported to have been seen near the wreckage, but reports state it does not appear to h

An express train struck a collapsed motorway bridge in the Czech Republic, leaving 7 people dead and 64 injured. The EuroCity train, which was en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, derailed after it collided while traveling at 134km/h (84mph). According to Czech Railways spokesman Radek Joklik, "it probably hit part of a motorway bridge under construction which fell onto the track." It is believed that the bridge, which is near Studénka, may have fallen onto the train, crushing carriages below it. The train, which was carrying 400 people, s

An American man presumed to be dead after the 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood has been found alive in Oklahoma City. Barb Anderson, a Big Thompson Canyon resident, was researching the flood victims and found Darrell Johnson, alive and well, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Sixty-three-year-old funeral director Darrell Johnson told the Fort Collins Coloradoan on Friday that he didn't know he was on the victim list until Anderson told him last year. He was one of the six reported missing and the 144 killed, which has now been amended to 143. Johnson