AFP - News

MADRID (AFP) - A Spanish tourist jet carrying 173 people careered off a Madrid airport runway and broke up in flames on Wednesday killing at least 146 people, national radio reported.

MOSCOW (AFP) - Moscow moved closer Wednesday to recognising the independence of Georgian separatist regions, escalating a bruising international row over Russia's assault on the ex-Soviet republic.

WARSAW (AFP) - Warsaw and Washington signed a deal Wednesday to deploy a US missile shield in Poland, in the face of deep anger and threats of retaliation from Moscow.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Wednesday that it had developed a new way of predicting from a person's DNA their response to medication and risk of developing disease.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Scientists from a US firm claim to have created a large number of red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells, opening up the prospect of having a limitless supply of blood for transfusions.

LONDON (AFP) - British regulators called Wednesday for Spanish-owned group BAA to sell two airports in London and one in Scotland in order to end a dominance which they said hurts both passengers and airlines.

DUBAI (AFP) - Dubai's port operator said on Wednesday it has awarded a 745 million dollars contract to British firm Laing O'Rourke and Belgium's Dredging International for the first phase of a project to develop a port and business park in Britain.