An Iranian oil tanker collided with a bulk freighter and caught fire off China’s eastern coast, leaving its entire crew of 32 missing and causing the tanker to spill oil into the sea, authorities said today.

Cork could become a major centre for the development of pilots as a global dearth in filling the roles grows over the next decade.

As China’s flood-ravaged capital today dealt with the aftermath of the heaviest rain in six decades, including the deaths of 37 people, questions were being asked about whether the city’s push for modernisation came at the expense of basic infrastructure such as drainage networks.

Baghdad’s International Airport was closed today after the British company providing security suspended operations because of a payments dispute with Iraq’s Ministry of Transport, officials said.

French dock workers at the port of Marseille are continuing their strike, blocking freight access to the country's largest port.