India successfully tests small space shuttle

India has successfully tested its first small space shuttle as part of its efforts to make low-cost reusable spacecraft.

The Indian Space Research Organization said the shuttle lifted off on a rocket from a launch pad in southern India on Monday and completed a successful 13-minute test flight.

Space expert Pallava Bagla, who writes for science magazines, said the test paves the way for India to embark on low-cost space missions. He said the United States and some other countries have abandoned the use of winged reusable spacecraft, but India hopes to bring down the cost of access to space by 90 percent by using reusable vehicles.

India records its hottest temperature ever amid heat wave

A city in western India has suffered through the country's highest recorded temperature — a scorching 51 degrees Celsius (123.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

The record was set Thursday in the city of Phalodi, in the western state of Rajasthan. India's meteorological department said the previous high was 50.6 C (123 F), reached in 1956 in the city of Alwar, also in Rajasthan.

UN alarmed by 12th straight global monthly heat record

The United Nations has expressed alarm after scientists recorded the 12th straight global monthly heat record in a row.

The data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released Thursday confirmed earlier readings taken by NASA and the Japan Meteorological Agency. They showed that Earth's average temperature in April was 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 20th-century average.

India records its hottest temperature ever amid heat wave

A city in western India has set a new heat record for the country — a scorching 51 degrees Celsius (123.8 Fahrenheit).

The record set Thursday in the city of Phalodi, in the western state of Rajasthan, comes amid a heat wave in India.

India's meteorological department said the previous high was 50.6 Celsius (123 F), reached in 1956 in the city of Alwar, also in Rajasthan.

Search resumes in rain for missing in Sri Lankan landslide

Hundreds of soldiers resumed the slow and difficult search Friday for hundreds of people missing after landslides swallowed three hillside villages in central Sri Lanka, a dangerous effort as continuing rain kept the ground unstable and the risk of more mudslides a constant threat.

By Friday morning, rescuers had recovered 30 bodies, out of hundreds believed buried on Tuesday when torrents of thick, red mud buried the villages of Siripura, Pallebage and Elangapitya. The Sri Lankan Red Cross has said at least 220 families were unaccounted for.

EgyptAir MS804 crash: A history of crashes involving the Airbus model A320

The missing EgyptAir flight that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea Thursday is an Airbus 320.

The passenger jet  is a  twin-engine plane that operates on short and medium-haul routes. It is considered  to be one of the safest planes  now  flying.

The A320 model has  been involved in 14 fatal accidents since entering service in 1988.

Aviation officials: EgyptAir plane carrying 66 has crashed

An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed in the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday morning off the Greek island of Crete, Egyptian and Greek officials said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail said it was too early to say whether a technical problem or a terror attack caused the plane to crash. "We cannot rule anything out," he told reporters at Cairo airport.