Three US Marines are feared dead after their aircraft crashed into the sea off northern Australia while heading towards a US navy transport ship to land.
Small craft launched from nearby US and Australian naval vessels rescued 23 other US military personnel who were aboard the downed Osprey MV-22B. The $100 million military aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a large fixed-wing plane, was on its final approach to the USS Green Bay 19 miles off the Shoalwater Bay military training area in Queensland when the crash happened. Five crew and 21 passengers were aboard.
Chicken feed explosives
A lorry has been seized in the Afghan capital carrying more than 16 tonnes of explosives in boxes designated as poultry feed. Five people were arrested when the vehicle, which had Pakistani licence plates, was stopped in east Kabul. The explosives were to make “bombs, suicide vests and conduct terrorist activities”, security officials said. In May 1.5 tonnes of explosives hidden in a sewage lorry killed 150. (AFP)
Isis pushed from Homs
Islamic State’s last stronghold in Homs province has been taken by Syrian government forces, according to a monitor in Britain. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 30 Isis fighters were killed in the last day of the battle for al-Sukhna. The advance, backed by the Russian air force, puts President Assad’s forces within 70 miles of Deir al-Zour, held under siege by Isis since 2015. (AP)
Eiffel Tower terror alert
The Eiffel Tower was briefly evacuated after a young Frenchman brandished a knife and shouted Allahu akbar as he tried to breach security. He was detained and no shots were fired. The man, who had recently been discharged from a psychiatric hospital, is being investigated for glorifying terrorism after he told police that he had planned to kill a soldier and that Islamic State had encouraged his attack. (AP)
Advertisement
Wheelchair ‘smuggler’
A man accused of posing as a wheelchair user in an attempt to smuggle 25kg of gold has been arrested at Bangladesh’s main airport. Jamil Akhter is said to have strapped the gold, worth £1 million, to his thighs. Officials became suspicious after realising that he had travelled overseas 13 times this year. The country has become a major smuggling route into India, with about 1.5 tonnes of gold seized in three years. (AFP)
Knife fight at airport
At least five people were taken to hospital with minor knife wounds after a fight between the staff of two rival coach operators at Sabiha Gokcen airport. Security staff intervened in the brawl, involving about 40 people, which broke out on Saturday after the companies made mutual claims that each was “stealing one another’s customers”. Police began an investigation and have made several arrests. (AFP)