UK school asks pupils to draft suicide note

London: An English teacher in the UK asked over 60 teenage students to draft a suicide note for homework as part of a module on Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, sparking outrage and prompting the school to apologise. Pupils at Thomas Tallis School, Kidbrooke, London, were asked to pen a final note to their loved ones after reading one of the play’s most celebrated scenes, when Lady Macbeth takes her own life. PTI

NASA close to announcing ‘discovery of aliens’

New York: Anonymous — the loose collective of hackers and online activists — claims the US space agency NASA is all set to announce the discovery of alien life. “NASA says aliens are coming!” the group wrote on their website. The claim is based recent NASA discoveries coupled with comments made by one of agency’s spokesmen during a Congressional hearing. IANS

Plane ‘shakes like washing machine’, returns

Sydney: An AirAsia flight to Malaysia was forced back to Australia on Sunday due to a technical problem, with one passenger saying the plane was “shaking like a washing machine”. The Airbus A330 from Perth to Kuala Lumpur experienced problems about 90 minutes into the journey. AFP

Now, drones can plant 1bn trees a year

Melbourne: Scientists have developed new drones that can identify ideal places to grow trees and sow one billion plants every year. Researchers from UK-based company BioCarbon Engineering helped build a drone system that can scan land, identify ideal places and then fire seeds into the soil. PTI