A Laos air force plane carrying senior government officials has crashed, killing at least five people including the country’s defence minister, Thai officials said.

Investigators in Laos have picked up underwater signals that they believe are coming from the black box of a passenger plane that crashed into the Mekong River last week.

Rescuers in fishing boats pulled bodies from the muddy Mekong River in Laos after a plane crashed in stormy weather, killing 49 people from 11 countries.

Vast areas of forest are being illegally felled to fuel a demand for cheap furniture in the West, environment watchdogs said today.