At least 16 people were killed in fierce fighting that struck Indian Kashmir, police said, adding that authorities are braced even for more violence. Three Indian soldiers and 11 suspected militants were killed in several clashes near the state’s summer capital of Srinagar. Two civilians also died when police opened fire at the demonstrators, who were throwing stones and shouting slogans against Indian authorities. Locals told Reuters that the number of those injured in the clashes reached 50 people. “It …

A classified German Defense Ministry report says the country’s fleet of Tornado fighter jets may be unsuitable for conducting NATO missions, several media outlets said. The report, first cited by the German magazine Spiegel, says the Panavia Tornado, which first entered service in the 1970s, has several equipment flaws that make it vulnerable and no longer suitable for duty. The fleet of fighter jets needs costly modernization if Germany wants to keep them operational until 2035, as it plans. The …

Human rights activists including Noam Chomsky, John Pilger and Pamela Anderson have published an open letter demanding that the Ecuadorian government restore Julian Assange’s freedom of speech. The WikiLeaks editor is living in virtual isolation within London’s Ecuadorian embassy after authorities at the State Office scrambled his internet connection. The decision was taken due to Assange’s critical remarks on social media regarding Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont’s arrest. It’s understood that Assange will not be allowed to see visitors, after the …

The controversial search of a Russian plane by British officials at Heathrow Airport was conducted to protect the UK from organized crime and the smuggling of harmful substances, the UK security minister has said. Moscow had described the search of an Aeroflot plane as “illegal” and called for an explanation from British authorities. “It is routine for [UK] Border Force to search aircraft to protect the UK from organized crime and from those who attempt to bring harmful substances like …

As Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tours the US, an army of PR firms hired by the kingdom are hard at work. From lauding Saudi reform to insisting it’s distanced itself from terrorism, the lobby’s influence is extensive. Bin Salman’s two week tour of the US comes in quick succession to his maiden voyage to the UK. Despite a positive print media and billboard campaign claiming, “He is bringing change to Saudi Arabia,” complete with hashtags such as #ANewSaudiArabia and …

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and US carmaker Ford have opened a ‘car vending machine’ in China’s southern city of Guangzhou. The five-story building houses up to 42 cars of various models, including the Ford Explorer SUV and the Mustang. It allows prospective buyers to see, test drive and purchase the vehicles via Alibaba’s online shopping platform Tmall.  [embedded content] The vending machine will be open to the public from April 23 and potential buyers will be given a three-day …

Climate change is partly to blame for a startling increase in the size of the Sahara Desert over the past one hundred years. According to a new study, the world’s largest desert has expanded by 10 percent since 1920. READ MORE: Countdown to Day Zero: Why is Cape Town running out of water? (VIDEOS) Researchers from the University of Maryland studied rainfall data to measure boundary changes of the desert and found that higher summer temperatures coupled with dry winters …

ON TUESDAY, two distinguished, elderly gentlemen who live in Rome (one aged 81, the other 93) had a warm meeting at the younger one’s residence. It was the latest in a series of pleasant and stimulating conversations they have enjoyed in recent years. A few days later they seemed to be having a public misunderstanding about hell, or rather about what exactly one of them had said on that subject. The interlocutors were Pope Francis and Eugenio Scalfari, the founder …

IF YOU imagine there’s nothing less exciting than watching paint dry, imagine the hordes who poured into middle-brow entertainment centres called dime museums in the 1880s to watch compositors set type by hand. With the printing industry on the verge of a shift to mechanised typesetting, which relied on hot-lead-squirting machines of unparalleled complexity, the public developed an odd interest in seeing one of the few vestiges of craft work valued above the operating of mere machines. These man-versus-machine exhibitions …

A German electronics firm experimenting with aerodynamics has produced an astonishing robotic replica of a flying fox, complete with 3D printed parts and elastane – usually used in hosiery. The BionicFlyingFox from Festo is an attempt to master the sleek movements engineered by mother nature. Out in the wild, the genuine flying fox is the only mammal that can actively fly. The animal uses its fingers tucked under its membrane wings to help direct its flight path. In the artificial …