介绍:
3 dead, 293 missing as passenger ship sinks off S. Korean coast
Three people are dead and about 290 others remain unaccounted for after a South Korean passenger ship sank off the country's southwest coast.
Most of the 459 people on board were high school students, who were traveling from Incheon to the southern island resort of Jeju.
The ship sent out a distress signal at around 9am and sank two and half hours later.
Over 160 people have been rescued.
It is not yet clear what caused the incident, but some rescued passengers described hearing an impact before the ship listed and then sank.
More than 70 ships and 18 helicopters are searching for the missing, some of whom are feared to be trapped inside the sunken vessel.
3 killed, 5 missing in E China chemical plant blast
An explosion has rocked a chemical plant in east China's Jiangsu Province, killing 3 people and leaving 5 others missing.
The blast hit the Shuangma Chemical Plant in Rugao City this morning.
Firefighters have put out the ensuing flames, and the search for the missing is under way.
It's not yet known what caused the blast.
China's first quarter GDP grows 7.4 pct
China's economy grew 7.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2014, an 18-month low.
The figure exceeded market estimate of 7.3 percent, but was down from the 7.7 percent registered in the last quarter.
Spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics Sheng Laiyun says the figure suggests growth in the world's second-largest economy is generally stable.
"In general, the economic growth in the first quarter stayed in a reasonable range, and progress has been made in structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading. But at the same time, we must see that the external environment remains complex and volatile, and domestic economy still faces downward pressure."
The Chinese government has already taken some steps to stabilize the economy, and has said that this year's growth target of 7.5 percent is approximate.
Undersea drone hunting for Malaysian jet forced to resurface to tackle technical issue
The autonomous underwater vehicle looking for the missing Malaysian jet was forced to resurface again this morning to rectify a technical issue before it was redeployed later.
The US Navy's Bluefin-21 was sent down Tuesday night for a 20-hour operation, after its first search on Monday was cut short due to depth limit.
Search teams say the device is currently continuing its underwater search.
U.S. Naval personnel have said the submersible could take up to two months to scour a 600 sq km area where the plane is believed to have sunk.
Lavrov calls for peaceful solution in Ukraine
Russia's Foreign Minister has called for a peaceful solution to the situation in Eastern Ukraine, urging the government in Kiev to end its operations against pro-Russian groups there.
Sergey Lavrov, who's on a visit to Vietnam, says Russia is still planning to meet with Ukrainian officials at an international conference in Geneva on Thursday.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to disrupt the talks if the Ukrainian government uses military force against the insurgents.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian government forces said they clashed with about 30 armed gunmen at a small airport in the east, in their first military action against a pro-Russian uprising.
Gunmen kill nine in western Ethiopia bus attack
Gunmen have ambushed a bus carrying dozens of people in western Ethiopia near the Sudanese border, killing nine and wounding six others.
There was no claim of responsibility but Ethiopia says it has thwarted several plots in recent years by Ethiopian insurgents as well as Somali al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab Islamist militants.
The bus ambush was the second attack on public transportation in the region in five months.
Four people were killed by a bomb on a minibus in November.
Mainland open to cross-Strait leaders summit: spokeswoman
The Chinese mainland says it remains positive and open about a possible meeting between leaders from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
A mainland spokeswoman made the statement when asked whether such a summit will be reevaluated after protests flared up in Taiwan over a service trade pact.
She said the mainland is ready to negotiate with Taiwan on the basis of equality to settle the long-standing political differences within the framework of the one-China policy.
China on red alert for forest fires
Chinese authorities have issued a red alert for forest fire outbreaks in two southwestern provinces.
Sichuan and Yunnan provinces will face high risk of forest fires in the next three days as drought persists.
The two provinces have already seen several forest fires in recent days amid hotter weather.
Precipitation levels in the two regions have dropped by more than 50 percent compared to historical records.
