A French satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing jetliner found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects, a top Malaysian official said yesterday, calling it “the most credible lead that we have”.

The search for the remains of Flight 370 has resumed off western Australia as the weather improved in the Indian Ocean’s remote waters.

China has demanded that Malaysia turn over satellite data it used to conclude that a passenger jet was lost in the southern Indian Ocean with no survivors during a flight to Beijing.

A Chinese plane crew spotted a white, square-shaped object in an area identified by satellite imagery as containing possible debris from the missing Malaysian airliner.

As planes spent a third day hunting for two large objects spotted by satellite in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian officials today said they were far from giving up on what remains the strongest lead in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Passengers on board a research ship trapped in Antarctic ice for a week are pinning their hopes on a helicopter rescue after three icebreakers failed to reach the paralysed vessel.

A Japanese whaling boat intentionally rammed two protests ships in waters near Antarctica today, according to an anti-whaling activist group.

One body has been recovered after a crowded boat carrying asylum seekers to Australia capsized in the Indian Ocean.

A boat carrying asylum seekers to Australia capsized today and 123 people were rescued from the Indian Ocean, Australia’s prime minister Julia Gillard said, less than a week after more than 90 people drowned on a similar journey.

Scores of people are feared drowned after a boat believed to be carrying about 200 asylum seekers capsized south of Indonesia.

A day after nearly 250 survivors were rescued when a ferry sank off Papua New Guinea, crews searching for more than 110 missing people have found no further survivors.

Rescuers have plucked nearly 240 survivors from the sea off Papua New Guinea’s east coast after a ferry sank with as many as 350 people on board, officials said.

Rescue crews plucked more than 200 survivors from the sea off Papua New Guinea’s north-east coast today, after a ferry sank with as many as 350 people on board.

The 16-year-old sailor who spent three days adrift in the Indian Ocean described her ordeal as “crazy” today as she started the long journey home after being rescued.

The cargo ship that ran aground and leaked tons of oil on the Great Barrier Reef was refloated today after being stuck for more than a week.

A lone British sailor has been rescued by the Australian Navy after his yacht ran aground on a remote reef.

A British sailor whose yacht was beached on a reef off a remote South Pacific island was lifted to safety today by an Australian navy helicopter, maritime officials said.

An Australian navy warship is on its way to a lone British sailor whose yacht has run aground on a reef, officials said today.

A massive air-sea search is under way today after a "Marie Celeste" catamaran was found drifting off Australia's Great Barrier Reef with engines and electronics running, food on the table - but no crew.

Three children survived six days on a tiny island off the northern coast of Australia living on coconuts, oysters and native fruit after swimming two miles to safety when their boat capsized.