The tourists rescued from a stricken Antarctic cruise liner were beginning their long journey home today.

British and Irish holidaymakers forced to abandon their cruise liner when it struck ice are expected to be flown to mainland South America today.

A fire swept through a small hotel in Santiago, Chile, early today leaving 10 foreign tourists dead, a Fire Department commander said.

A twin-engined propeller plane has carried a sick American doctor out of Antarctica.

A rescue team left today for the South Pole, flying into the face of high winds and near-total darkness on a risky effort to evacuate an ailing American doctor working at the end of the world.