Japan: A search was underway for a Japanese fighter jet after it disappeared from radar during a flight exercise in northern Japan, defence officials said. The F-35A stealth jet went missing while flying off the eastern coast of Aomori, the Air Self-Defence Force said. The plane disappeared from radar about half an hour after taking off from the Misawa air base with three other F-35As for anti-fighter battle training, it said. A male pilot in his 40s was missing with the plane. Twelve other F-35s at the Misawa base would be grounded. Japan has started deploying the expensive US-made F-35s since last year. The Government plans to buy 147 F-35s.
India: Maoist rebels staged a deadly attack on a convoy of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, killing a state party MP and four other people in his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police said. The rebels detonated the device in the Dantewada district — an insurgent stronghold — just two days before a multi-phase general election begins in India, police officer Sunder Raj said. Bhima Mandavi, his driver and three security personnel were killed in the attack, Raj said. Five soldiers were critically wounded when their escort vehicle was hit by the explosion.
Antarctica: A group of 14 European scientific institutions plan to retrieve the world's oldest ice as part of research into past climate change. The consortium led by the Germany-based Alfred Wegener Institute said it has identified an area in Antarctica, nicknamed "Little Dome C," that should harbour ice as old as 1.5 million years. So-called ice core measurements are crucial for scientists' understanding of past climatic changes on Earth and the models they use to predict future global warming or cooling. Current ice core measurements provide reliable data going back about 800,000 years.
Albania: A man has been shot dead after a group of unidentified individuals robbed money at Albania's international airport. Police said the robbery by masked and armed people took place on the tarmac at the Mother Teresa Rinasi International Airport, slightly north of the capital Tirana. One of the robbers was shot dead in an exchange of fire with police about 1km from the airport.