In Brief: Obama urged to slash nukes

An INFLUENTIAL panel is calling for an 80pc reduction of US nuclear weapons and an elimination of all nuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.

In a report for the advocacy group Global Zero, retired General James Cartwright and others argue that the US needs no more than 900 total nuclear weapons for its security in a post-Cold War world.

Author Fuentes dies aged 83

Author Carlos Fuentes, who played a dominant role in Latin America's novel-writing boom by delving into the failed ideals of the Mexican revolution, died in a Mexico City hospital aged 83.

Mr Fuentes died at the Angeles del Pedregal hospital where he was taken after his personal doctor, Arturo Ballesteros, found him in his Mexico City home.

He said that the writer had a sudden internal haemorrhage.

Black-box clue to plane crash

Indonesian special forces have found the voice and data recorders of a Russian passenger jet that slammed into a jagged, mist-shrouded cliff on a dormant volcano.

The 'black box' could help explain the cause of the fatal crash at Mount Salak.

Search and Rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said that it was found near the tail of the shattered wreck at the bottom of a 1,500ft ravine.