By Steve Scherer OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's ruling Liberal Party won two of four seats up for grabs in by-elections to

Edgar Lungu is aiming to capitalise on growing discontent with his successor, Hakainde Hichilema.

Manchester United say Mason Greenwood will leave the club after a criminal investigation of possible attempted rape was closed by prosecutors six months ago

Frustrated former residents of New Hampshire's only youth detention center are pushing for a federal investigation into allegations of decades of abuse

Authorities said the driver of a "suspected smuggling vehicle" attempted to evade police before losing control.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda

Scientists in Israel have created a model of a human embryo from stem cells, without using sperm, eggs or a womb. A team at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science made the model, which resembles an embryo at day 14, when it acquires internal structures but before it lays down the foundations for body organs, and the work was published in the journal Nature. But the scientists involved said it would take a long time yet to create an embryo from scratch. Team leader Jacob Hanna said the team took stem cells derived from adult human skin cells, as well as others cultured in the lab, then reverted the cells to an early state.They then manipulated them to make a model of an embryo, rather than an actual or synthetic one. "The question is, when does an embryo model become considered an embryo? When that happens, we know the regulations. At the moment we are really, really far off from that point," Hanna said. However, they said the work could open the door to new ways to test the effect of drugs on pregnancies, better understand miscarriages and genetic diseases, and maybe grow transplant tissues and organs. "They are not identical. There are differences from human embryos, but still, this is the first time, if you open an atlas or a textbook, you can say - yeah I can really see the similarity between them," said Hanna. "In about 1 percent of the aggregates we can see that the cells start differentiating correctly, migrating and sorting themselves into the correct structure, and the farthest we could get is day 14 in human embryo development," he said. Their next goal, Hanna said, is to advance to day 21 and also reach a threshold of a 50 per cent success rate. Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz, a professor of development and stem cells at the University of Cambridge, said the study joins six other similar human embryo-like models published from teams around the world this year, including from her lab. "None of these models fully recapitulate natural human development but each adds to ways in which many aspects of human development can now be studied experimentally," she said. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Typhoon Mawar's outer bands were whipping Guam Wednesday ahead of an expected late-afternoon or evening landfall that could devastate the US territory with deadly winds, treacherous storm surge and heavy rainfall.

German police are investigating an incident which took place Wednesday, 15 June, in which an American man allegedly sexually assaulted then threw two women over the edge of a steep gorge near Germany’s famous Neuschwanstein castle. Here’s what we know. What happened? On Wednesday afternoon, two American women, aged 21 and 22, were forced off a steep ledge at the Marienbrücke, a pedestrain bridge with sweeping views of the castle, which sits above a high river gorge. “The two tourists met the man on a hiking tour east of the Marienbrücke,” Chief Public Prosecutor Thomas Hörmann told German tabloid Bild. “The man then steered the two under a pretext to a trail that was difficult to see, which leads to a viewpoint,” Bavarian police said in a statement. Once out of sight, the 30-year-old assailant reportedly tried to attack the women, going after the younger woman first, prompting the 22-year-old to try and defend her, police said. “The younger of the two women was attacked by the suspect,” police spokesman Holger Stabik told the AP. “The older one tried to rush to her aid, was then choked by the suspect and subsequently pushed down a slope. ” After that, the man made an “attempted sexual offence” on the 21-year-old and pushed her over the ledge as well, DW reports. Who are the victims? Officials haven’t released the names of those involved in the incident. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the US Embassy did not confirm or deny whether those involved in the attack are Americans. “The U.S. Consulate in Munich is monitoring the situation closely and is in contact with authorities. Due to privacy considerations, we are unable to comment further at this time,” officials told The Daily Beast. How were they rescued? Due to the harsh terrain around the gorge, specially trained members of the Alpine Task Force were involved in the attempted rescue of both women. Witness Eric Abneri, a recent business graduate from the University of Pittsburgh who witnessed the incident, said he and friends arrived at the scenic overlook as a helicopter arrived and they saw rescuers lower themselves down to the victims. “I’m honestly absolutely stunned someone is still alive from this. It is like falling from the top of an absolute cliff,” he said. Mr Abneri described it as “a very, very difficult rescue because of those cliffs and because the helicopter came mere feet above the tree line at the top of the hill.” “They did an unbelievable job,” he said. Who is the alleged attacker? Bavarian police said the attacker was a 30-year-old US national, DW reports. Bystander video posted online showed police leading away a handcuffed, bearded man in a T-shirt, jeans and a baseball cap. How was suspect captured? The suspect was caught after a massive police operation involving 25 emergency vehicles on Wednesday afternoon and taken to a police station in nearby Fuessen. Are police pressing charges? The American suspect is in a German correctional facility, as officials investigate the attack as a potential sexual offence, murder, and attempted murder. “The allegation is not yet established,” prosecutor Thomas Hörmann told DW. Kempten criminal police are leading the investigation, and are asking those with knowledge of the incident to get in contact with them. What is Neuschwanstein castle? Neuschwanstein castle, nestled near the Austrian border, was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, with construction beginning in 1869. The towering estate is one of Germany‘s most popular tourist attractions and is said to have been the inspiration for various Disney castles Read More American woman dead after man ‘throws two tourists off bridge’ at German fairytale castle

Wayde van Niekerk is a South African track and field sprinter who holds the World and Olympic records in the 400 meters category

Terrified Pennsylvania residents are stocking up on guns after learning that escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante is now armed with a rifle while on the run. On Tuesday, officials confirmed that Cavalcante broke into a garage at a home in East Nantmeal Township on Monday and stole a .22 caliber rifle. The owner spotted the fugitive and fired seven shots at him as he fled. With the manhunt now entering its 14th day and police coming under fire for failing to capture him, residents appear to be taking matters into their own hands with gun shop owners in Chester County telling ABC6 that there has been an uptick in gun sales in the local area. Cavalcante escaped Chester County Prison on 31 August – days after he was sentenced to life for stabbing his ex-girlfriend Deborah Brandao, 33, to death. He is also wanted for a 2017 murder in Brazil. In an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, Cavalcante’s mother Iracema Cavalcante defended her son’s actions, saying that he killed Brandao after she reportedly threatened to tell American authorities that he was being sought by Brazilian police. Read More Where has Danelo Cavalcante been spotted since his Pennsylvania jailbreak? Fugitive Danelo Cavalcante’s mother defends his murders and says ‘everyone is lying about him’ Dog the Bounty Hunter may join search for Danelo Cavalcante

The move comes as fears grow over problems in the world's second largest economy.