Mexico simply doesn’t meet the federal government’s requirements for visa free travel to Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday. Harper addressed the thorny issue that has threatened to overshadow his trip here. But both he and his host, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, appeared to take steps — in public, at least — to play down any tension. The two leaders presided over the signing of an agreement to […]

Sales of guns and ammo are losing steam after a frenzied run-up sparked by fears of greater restrictions in the wake of the Newtown shooting and other massacres. Background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, considered to be the most accurate means of tracking gun sales, plunged by a third in January compared to the year before. There were about 1.66 million background checks last month, and nearly 2.5 […]

The co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Rome has hijacked the aircraft and landed in Geneva, Swiss police say. The hijacker – who has been arrested – waited for the pilot to go to the toilet to lock himself in the cockpit. He was unarmed. He has requested asylum in Switzerland. The airline said in a statement that all 202 passengers and crew were safe. […]

At least 20 homes have been razed in the worst fire conditions Australia has seen since a deadly 2009 inferno which killed 173 people, with flames threatening the country’s second-largest city, officials said on Monday. Hot, dry winds and soaring temperatures fanned scores of major blazes across the southeast on Sunday, with Victoria state sweltering through its worst fire risk weather in five years. “They were ferocious fires, they ran […]

Drones, sniffer dogs, snipers in helicopters and an estimated 100,000 troops on the ground are all part of a colossal security effort underway in Sochi ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. The Russians have created a vast security perimeter encircling the Black Sea resort amid fear of terrorist attack from neighbouring Caucasus region. Yet these strong-arm tactics are little defence against one of the most pervasive risks for foreign […]

The Pacific island chain of Kiribati is one of the most densely settled places on Earth. The BBC’s Julian Siddle investigates how the island is dealing with its overpopulation problem. Kiribati is perhaps best known as one of the countries most likely to disappear due to climate change. Most people who live on Kiribati’s main island – South Tarawa – rely on the surrounding seas for their livelihoods. The ocean […]

  It sounds like a scene from a trashy sex comedy. But stories of getting stuck during sex have been with us for centuries – and some of them might just be true. So if you want to experience wild sexual stories like these, services like Evansville skipthegames are now available. An emergency trip to hospital is never pleasant, but it’s certainly not something you would want to happen after […]

  STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: At least six are wounded, medical center says At least eight gunmen emerge from the ranks of the anti-government protests They open fire for about 30 minutes toward police and pro-government demonstrators Elections kick off Sunday, but anti-government protesters want to stop them Gunfire erupted during anti-government protests in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday, witnesses said. At least six people were wounded, Erawan Medical Centre said. The […]

Mr Morsi was held in a glassed-in cage for his last court appearance Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has arrived in court in the capital, Cairo, for the resumption of one of the four trials against him. Mr Morsi and 14 other figures from the Muslim Brotherhood are charged with inciting the killing of protesters near the presidential palace in 2012. At a hearing in another trial four days ago, […]

A young researcher in Japan has been facing the world’s media after her stem cell studies were heralded as a “major scientific discovery.” Dr Haruko Obokata’s work, published in the journal Nature, showed stem cells can now be made quickly just by dipping blood cells into acid. The breakthrough at the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology was achieved in mouse blood cells, but could have the potential to start a […]