World datelines

Australia: Boat sinks

SYDNEY — An urgent search and rescue mission was under way today for about two dozen people missing after their boat sank in open seas far off Australia.

Merchant vessels that responded to a distress call managed to pluck 17 survivors from the Indian Ocean late Sunday and were searching for others, Australia's Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor said.

About 40 people were believed to be aboard the boat when it went down near the Cocos Islands.

Russia: Plane crash

MOSCOW — A Russian heavy-lift military cargo plane crashed on takeoff Sunday in Siberia, killing all 11 crew members on board, officials said.

The crash was the second accident in less than a month involving an Il-76 , the mainstay of the Soviet and Russian air force since the 1970s. These and a string of other accidents have raised concerns about the condition of Russia's aging fleet of Soviet-built aircraft.

Mexico: Extraditions

MEXICO CITY — Mexico set a new high in extraditing criminal suspects to the U.S. on Sunday, reaching a total of 100 so far this year in what the U.S. Embassy called a "record for bilateral cooperation between the two countries."

The milestone underscored the long distance the two countries have come since the 1990s, when Mexico was so loath to send fugitives north of the border that U.S.-paid bounty hunters kidnapped a suspect in Mexico and took him back themselves.

Saudi Arabia: Weapons

RIYADH — Saudi authorities have discovered large quantities of weapons in the capital Riyadh belonging to al-Qaida terror network, an Interior Ministry spokesman said Sunday.

The official Saudi Press Agency quoted Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki as saying the discovery included 281 assault rifles and 51 ammunition boxes.

Al-Turki said police learned about the cache after investigating a group of al-Qaida suspects arrested in August. He said the weapons were found buried in a vacant house in the capital.

Sudan: Secession