While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, April 21 edition

Shipwrecked bodies brought ashore in Mediterranean, EU proposes doubling rescue effort

The European Union proposed doubling the size of its Mediterranean search and rescue operations, as the first bodies were brought ashore of some 900 people feared killed in the deadliest shipwreck while trying to reach Europe.

Three other rescue operations were underway on Monday to save hundreds more migrants in peril on overloaded vessels making the journey from the north coast of Africa to Europe.

The mass deaths have caused shock in Europe, where a decision to scale back naval operations last year seems to have increased the risks for migrants without reducing their numbers.

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28 dead as raids on Yemen capital spark blasts, US deploys aircraft carrier to region

Saudi-led air strikes on a missile depot in Yemen's rebel-held capital Monday sparked explosions that killed at least 28 people and wounded nearly 300, flattening houses and shaking faraway neighbourhoods.

Many more people were feared to have been killed after two strikes hit the hilltop depot, leaving a trail of destruction in the Fajj Attan area of Sanaa which was covered in thick clouds of smoke.

Yemen, strategically located near key shipping routes and bordering oil-rich Saudi Arabia, was plunged into chaos last year when the Iran-backed Huthi Shiite rebels seized Sanaa.

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Six Minnesota men charged with conspiring to support ISIS

US authorities have charged six Somali-American young men from Minnesota with planning to join ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) and fight for the militant group in Syria, the US attorney for Minnesota.

The six were part of a larger group of friends and relatives that had been conspiring for the past 10 months, many trying multiple times to leave the country, US prosecutors alleged on Monday.

The men were arrested Sunday as part of a yearlong FBI investigation into young men from the area trying to travel to join ISIS and there is no evidence they had plans to conduct an attack inside the United States, prosecutors said.

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Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa wins second Boston Marathon crown as bomber awaits sentencing

Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa won the Boston Marathon title Monday, winning his second crown in three years on the eve of the sentencing phase for convicted marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Desisa won the 26.2 mile race in an unofficial time of two hours, nine minutes and 17 seconds, finishing more than a half a minute ahead of runner-up and Ethiopian compatriot Yemane Adhane Tsegay who clocked 2hr:09.48.

Caroline Rotich, of Kenya, won the women's title with an unofficial time of 2hr 24.55.

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US and Chinese investors buy Cirque du Soleil

American private equity firm TPG and China's Fosun have bought a majority stake in Canadian entertainment juggernaut Cirque du Soleil for an undisclosed sum, the company announced Monday.

The circus troupe's founder Guy Laliberte retains a small share of the Montreal-based company he started in 1984 and will continue providing "strategic and creative input" as it seeks to expand in China.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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