Peace and Security Cooperation
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Indonesian Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, Afghanistan First Lady Rula Ghani and others attended the peace and security cooperation conference in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Russian crew returns from space station
In this photo provided by NASA, the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft is seen as it starts to land with Expedition 54 crew members Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei of NASA and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AP
A capsule carrying two U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut from the International Space Station landed in snowy Kazakhstan on Wednesday after a five-and-a-half month mission, a NASA TV live broadcast showed. The Soyuz spacecraft brought back Joe Acaba and Mark Vande Hei, from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Alexander Misurkin, from Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Takata air bag recall
Australian Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, Michael Sukkar, talks about a compulsory recall order of 2.7 million cars fitted with defective Takata air bags, in Canberra, Australia. | Photo Credit: AP
Australia on Wednesday issued a compulsory recall for all 2.7 million cars fitted with defective Takata air bags in an effort to lift the auto industry’s mixed efforts to fix the fault blamed for at least 23 deaths around the world.
Sridevi's body returns home
Fans of Bollywood actor Sridevi line up outside her residence to pay their last respects, in Mumbai on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AP
Sridevi’s fans were seen queuing up outside Celebrations Sports Club near her residence in Lokhandwala, where her body is kept for ‘darshan’ (public viewing), to pay their last respects to the Bollywood diva. Dubai investigators on Tuesday closed the case into the death last weekend of Indian movie icon Sridevi, calling it an accidental drowning. The 54-year-old Sridevi, who was known by only one name, drowned in a hotel bathtub after losing consciousness, officials said.
Tokyo 2020 mascot
Ryo Taniguchi, right, the designer of the characters which will serve as mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympics Games, receives a 3D models of his designed characters in Tokyo on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: AP
A pair of futuristic digital characters will be the mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Organizers unveiled the winning designs at a school in Tokyo on Wednesday. About 6.5 million schoolchildren took part in voting among three short-listed designs with their classes casting a single vote.