The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship illegally carrying North Korean weapons bound for Iran, diplomatic sources at the UN have said.

A diplomat told the AFP news agency that the UAE had informed UN officials responsible for implementing sanctions on Pyongyang. Read the full story

Mercury, a vaccine preservative, was withdrawn from childhood jabs five years ago after evidence linked it to brain damage.

However, the Sunday Express has discovered the pandemic ­vaccine, to be rolled out across the country within weeks, contains the heavy metal. Read the full story

Oil, one of the most important, valuable substances on the planet may form in an unexpected place, according to a new study — the crushing hot furnace of Earth’s mantle.

The petroleum we rely on to fuel our cars and heat our homes were formed over millions of years as ancient, dead algae and plankton were compressed in layers of sediment and heated. Because of this, oil companies know to look for new reserves in places that are, or once were shallow marine environments.

For decades, though, scientists have toyed with a tantalizing alternative theory of petroleum formation: What if chemical reactions between water and minerals deep in Earth’s mantle could send black gold bubbling up into the crust?

http://dsc.discovery.com/