A Libyan man accused of making the bomb which destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie 34 years ago is in United States custody, Scottish authorities have said. The US announced charges against Abu Agila Masud two years ago, alleging that he played a key role in the bombing on 21 December, 1988. The blast on board the Boeing 747 left 270 people dead. It is the deadliest terrorist incident to have taken place on British soil. All 259 passengers and crew on board the jumbo jet bound to New York from London died while another 11 people were killed in Lockerbie when wreckage destroyed their homes. Last month it was reported that Masud had been kidnapped by a militia group in Libya, leading to speculation that he was going to be handed over to the American authorities to stand trial. A US Justice Department spokesperson told the Reuters news agency that Masud would make an initial appearance in a federal court in Washington. Five years ago he was serving a prison sentence in Libya for bomb-making.(BBC)…[+]

South Korea’s parliament has passed a motion calling for the dismissal of the interior minister over the government’s response to the Itaewon crush. Lee Sang-min has been facing mounting pressure to step down following the incident that killed 156 people and injured 152 others on 29 October. The opposition-controlled assembly passed the motion on Sunday. But President Yoon Suk-yeol is widely expected to reject calls for his minister’s resignation. The Democratic Party has threatened to impeach the minister if the president rejects the motion, Yonhap News Agency reports. The Interior Ministry oversees South Korea’s police, who have been criticised for their response to the incident in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district in Seoul with narrow streets and alleys filled with bars and restaurants. The crush happened as crowds gathered to celebrate Halloween without restrictions for the first time since the start of Covid. Yoon Hee-keun, the country’s police chief, said the emergency response was “inadequate” and vowed a full investigation over what had happened.(BBC)…[+]

The American space agency Nasa has brought home its next-generation astronaut ship after a near-26-day mission to orbit the Moon. The Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and a descent that was further slowed by parachutes. Because this was a test, there were no people aboard this time, but that will change for the next flight. Nasa is planning ever more complex missions with Orion. These will likely start in late 2024 and include, in 2025 or 2026, an attempt to put humans back on the lunar surface. This was last achieved exactly 50 years ago to the day by the crew of Apollo 17. The agency’s new project is called Artemis, who in Greek mythology was the sister of Apollo. Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson said he was overwhelmed to see the splashdown. “It’s historic because we are now going back into space, into deep space, with a new generation,” he added.(BBC)…[+]

Twin babies have been born in the US state of Tennessee from embryos frozen more than 30 years ago. It is believed to be a new record for the longest-frozen embryos ever to result in a successful live birth. They were stored at around -128C (-200F) in liquid nitrogen on 22 April 1992. Rachel Ridgeway, a mother of four from Oregon, gave birth to the twins on 31 October. The father, Philip Ridgeway, said it was “mind-boggling”. Lydia Ann and Timothy Ronald Ridgeway likely set a new record, according to the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC), a private faith-based organisation that says it has helped birth more than 1,200 infants from donated embryos. NEDC’s previous record-holder, Molly Gibson, was born in 2020 from an embryo that had been frozen for nearly 27 years. “The decision… to adopt these embryos should reassure patients who wonder if anyone would be willing to adopt the embryos that they created 5, 10, 20 years ago,” said Dr John David Gordon, who performed the embryo transfer. “That answer is a resounding yes!” The twin embryos had been created for an anonymous married couple using IVF. The man was in his 50s and reportedly relied on a 34-year-old egg donor.(BBC)…[+]

Ukraine’s security service has raided a historic monastery in Kyiv in an operation it says was aimed at stopping Russian agents using the site for sabotage, intelligence or weapons.  The Pechersk Lavra Orthodox Christian monastery dates back to the 11th Century and is now a seat of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church. The Church split from the Moscow patriarchate after Russia’s invasion. The Kremlin said the raid was another attack by Kyiv on Russian Orthodoxy. The SBU security service in Kyiv announced on Tuesday it was conducting “counter-intelligence measures” to target the “subversive activities” of Russian special services. It said there was an increased risk of attack, sabotage and hostage-taking in places that attracted large groups of citizens. The monastery, which is a Unesco World Heritage site, was one of a number of Orthodox churches raided on Tuesday, as authorities responded to complaints that clergy had been glorifying Russia and could be in league with the Kremlin. A criminal inquiry was opened a week ago after a video emerged of pro-Russian propaganda being sung, referring to the awakening of Mother Russia.(BBC)…[+]

Divers were unable to launch a rescue operation after a passenger plane crashed in Tanzania’s Lake Victoria as they lacked oxygen in their cylinders, an official report has found. At least 19 people died after the plane plunged into the lake on 6 November. The report from Tanzania’s ministry of transport painted a damning picture of the emergency services’ preparedness to deal with the disaster. More lives may have been saved if rescue efforts started sooner, it said. Instead, the police marine unit had only one rescue boat. It arrived at the site of the crash four hours later and did not have enough fuel, the report said.

“The two pilots who were in the cockpit appear to have been unable to open the cockpit door and overhead escape hatch because of high water pressure. “If there could have been immediate rescue operations, it is most likely that more people would have survived,” it added. The report echoed earlier public criticism of rescue operations, but failed to disclose the cause of the crash, saying that an investigation was still under way.(BBC)…[+]

Elon Musk says he will not allow the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to return to Twitter. Over the weekend the accounts of former US president Donald Trump, rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) and influencer Andrew Tate were all reactivated. Mr Musk responded to tweets asking if Jones could be next. He wrote that his own child had died, and that he “had no mercy” for anyone who “would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame”. Nevada Alexander Musk died aged 10 days old in 2002. Mr Musk said his baby died in his arms and he “felt his final heartbeat”. Info wars host Jones has been forced to pay $1.44bn (£1.2bn) in damages after falsely and repeatedly claiming that the Sandy Hook school shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were killed, was a hoax. In August 2018 he was banned from Facebook, Spotify, Apple and YouTube. Those asking for his return included the controversial internet tycoon Kim Dotcom. On a video posted on the platform Rumble, Jones said he did not care about being on Twitter, reports news website Axios. Mr Trump has yet to tweet, despite his reactivated account now having more than 90 million followers.(BBC)…[+]

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu has won a defamation suit against a predecessor who claimed he and his family were mentally ill. A judge ordered Ehud Olmert to pay Mr Netanyahu, his wife Sara, and their son Yair $18,000 (£15,260) in damages. Mr Olmert argued that he had been expressing an opinion in good faith in two Israeli TV interviews last year. But the judge rejected that defence and said he had also failed to prove the claim with a proper medical assessment. “It is impossible to ignore the fact that in Israel in 2022, referring to a person as ‘mentally ill’ is likely to demean a person in the eyes of the people or make him an object of hatred, contempt or ridicule,” Amit Yariv was quoted as saying by the Times of Israel. Mr Netanyahu’s lawyer said: “It is good to know that in a crazy and insane world where you can spread any gross and harmful lie against prime minister Netanyahu, his wife and family, clear and unequivocal boundaries were established today that have put an end to Olmert’s vile lie.”(BBC)…[+]

British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has told his family in a letter that he has ended a seven-month hunger strike in prison in Egypt. “I’ve broken my strike. I’ll explain everything on Thursday,” says the letter to his mother, dated Monday. His sister said she felt “cautiously relieved”, but that the family needed to see him with their own eyes. It comes a day after they were handed a letter from Abdel Fattah saying he had resumed drinking water on Saturday. The 40 year old started refusing water on 6 November to coincide with the start of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, hoping to pressure Egypt into at least allowing British consular officials to visit him. Last Thursday, his mother was told by prison officials that he had undergone an unspecified “medical intervention with the knowledge of a judicial authority”. Egypt’s public prosecution meanwhile asserted that he was in “good health”, without providing any proof. The UK, UN, US and several other countries have called for his release.(BBC)…[+]