A two-meter wing section of an aircraft has washed up on the French Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, local authorities announced today. Malaysia's Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said the debris is "almost certainly" from a Boeing 777, meaning it could be a piece of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in March 2014, Reuters reports. According to the local news website Linfo, a very badly damaged piece of luggage was also found at the same location, along the town of Saint-André's coastline. But Malaysian authorities said it would be premature to speculate on whether the debris is from MH370, the BBC reports. Aviation experts are examining the piece of wreckage, which Kaprawi said would take two days. Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China, with 239 people on board.
VERBATIM
"By its actions today, Russia has shown complete disregard for the families' right to know who was responsible and to see these criminals face justice," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement today about Russia's veto of a UN Security Council draft resolution to form an international criminal tribunal over the suspected downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 last year in eastern Ukraine, 9news reports. Describing Moscow's move as "outrageous," he added that "Russia had an opportunity to join the international community in this effort." In a speech after the vote, Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin asked, "What are the grounds to be assured of the impartiality of such an investigation?" Of the 298 people who were killed in the MH17 downing, 38 were Australian.
WORLDCRUNCH-TO-GO
Last year, Neelam Ibrar Chattan was awarded the European Union-Paiman Trust Gold Award for her peace efforts. Twice a month she holds a meeting for women whose husbands have gone missing fighting the war between the Taliban and the government," Portal KBR reports. "Khalida, 42, rarely misses one of Neelam's workshops. She comes from a family that has traditionally supported the Taliban militants. Her husband joined the Taliban and never returned home. ‘Neelam encouraged me to live a happy life and to sent my children in school and to keep my children away from the weapons and terrorism,' she says."
Read the full article, Meet Neelam, The ‘Next Malala' Working For Peace.
INDIA EXECUTES 1993 MUMBAI BOMB PLOTTER
After his last-minute appeals for clemency were rejected, Yakub Memon, a former accountant convicted of involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed more than 350 people and injured 1,200, was hanged to death early today, The Times of India reports. It is India's third execution in less than three years, all for terrorism offenses.
MORE MIGRANTS STORM CHUNNEL
Hundreds of migrants broke into the Eurotunnel premises in Calais, France, overnight in likely attempts to board shuttles heading to Great Britain, Le Mondereports. As reinforcements were deployed Wednesday, at least 300 people were arrested and authorities counted between 800 and 1,000 migrants around the site. Authorities said there have been up to 2,000 attempts to storm the Channel Tunnel over the past two months. A young Sudanese man was killed earlier this week while attempting to board a shuttle.
ON THIS DAY
Corn Flakes have been a breakfast favorite for 117 years now, since Will Kellogg invented them in 1898. Time for today's shot of history.
TALIBAN LEADER CONFIRMED DEAD
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement Wednesday that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar died two years ago in Pakistan, confirming media reports of his death, The Guardianreports. Mullah Omar, who has not appeared in public since 2001, had been reported dead several times before, but the White House has called the confirmation credible. This raises questions over peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban with the risk that such news could increase internal disputes within the Islamic movement.
MY GRAND-PÈRE'S WORLD
A LONG PUB CRAWL
Ramiro Gómez, a Berlin-based programmer, has drawn a map of Britain and Ireland based on the two countries' pubs. There are so many of them that it just looks like a regular map.
