Searches were under way in the eastern Mediterranean on Thursday after an EgyptAir flight vanished from radar screens, with a Greek aviation source saying it had crashed south of Karpathos island.

The flight, which had 66 people on board, was headed to Cairo after taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

Several scenarios could explain the mysterious crash of the EgyptAir flight into the Mediterranean en route from Paris to Cairo early Thursday, but aviation experts say a terror attack is the most probable.

Both France and Egypt have been leading targets for Islamist extremists in recent months.

The Islamic State group, on the defensive and under heavy pressure in Iraq, has struck back with bloody attacks in Baghdad, where persistent gaps in security increase the city's exposure.

In doing so, IS can portray itself as still being on the offensive, draw attention away from the setbacks it has suffered, and obtain media attention unrelated to losses.

U.S. authorities and Internet giants are boosting attempts to counter the Islamic State group's online propaganda, though it is unclear how effective these efforts are in hampering the jihadists' public-relations machine.

With calls to jihad and highly produced videos of IS fighters in battle or killing captives, the IS group has long used the Internet and social media to recruit fighters for its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, and to incite individuals around the world to commit terrorist attacks.

America's "veepstakes" are under way. Running mates have not played a decisive role in helping win the White House in a generation, but will they do so this year?

Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential bid is positively lackluster when compared to the Donald Trump spectacle, but the ex-secretary of state could give her campaign a jolt with an inspired choice of running mate.

Hizbullah announced on Friday that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria in a major blow to the coalition supporting the Damascus regime.

The group said it was still investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but it did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commander's predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008.

Brazilian interim President Michel Temer's post-impeachment government is not a day old and already has an image problem. Where are the women?

All 24 ministers presented to the nation in a televised ceremony, just hours after the suspension of leftist president Dilma Rousseff, bore a striking similarity to each other: They were white males.

Wanted: a new prime minister for Turkey who should be ultra-loyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, obedient but still strong enough to steer the government of a country of almost 79 million.

One week after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's shock announcement he was stepping down, there is still uncertainty over who will be the next premier, although several candidates have moved to the top of the list as the Ankara rumor mill goes into frenzy.

Experts say the link between mental illness and so-called "lone wolf" terrorists is driven by the fact that unstable individuals are often influenced by events in the news, a fact that is exploited by global jihadist groups.

Tuesday's knife attack by a 27-year-old German shouting "Allahu Akbar" left one dead and three injured in Munich.

It could be a short honeymoon for Brazil's interim president Michel Temer, who replaces a deeply unpopular leader but inherits many of the same problems.

Brazilians are hoping their country can finally move on from a months-long battle over suspended president Dilma Rousseff's impeachment, which distracted their political leaders from a laundry list of woes, including the worst recession in decades.