World

KOCHI: Pressure intensified Saturday to save thousands still trapped by devastating floods that have killed more than 300 in the Indian state of Kerala, triggering landslides and sending torrents sweeping through villages in the region’s worst inundation crisis in a century. Authorities warned of more torrential rain and strong winds …

The devastating earthquake on the Indonesian island of Lombok was “exceptionally destructive” and wiped out entire villages in the worst-hit regions, relief agencies warned as the death toll jumped to more than 160 on Thursday. Relief efforts have yet to reach parts of the island four days after the quake …

The death toll from weeks of violent unrest in Nicaragua rose to 100 Thursday as embattled President Daniel Ortega rejected calls to step down and the Catholic Church, which has tried to mediate the conflict, refused to resume the dialogue. At least 16 people were killed and 88 injured on …

A top conglomerate Thursday said it was in talks to sell Turkey’s largest media holding to a tycoon close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, raising fears of a new tightening of government control on the press. Dogan Holding said in a statement that talks had begun on the sale of …

An estimated 200,000 protesters took to the streets of France on Thursday in a showdown between trade unions and President Emmanuel Macron that could be decisive for his reform agenda. Seven unions representing staff in the public sector led strikes and protests on Thursday, and a third of railway workers …

Anti-graft prosecutors in Peru on Wednesday asked a judge to bar President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski from leaving the South American country hours after he announced his resignation in the face of near-certain impeachment, a judiciary source told Reuters. Kuczynski, a 79-year-old former Wall Street banker who once held U.S. citizenship, …

Inside a hospital in Syria’s capital, Ilham slaps her head in grief after her daughter stepped out to buy her a Mother’s Day present but never came back. Ilham’s daughter was among 35 people killed in a rebel rocket attack on a shopping area in a Damascus suburb on Tuesday, …

Saudi Arabia is revamping its education curriculum to eradicate any trace of Muslim Brotherhood influence and will dismiss anyone working in the sector who sympathises with the banned group, the education minister said. Promoting a more moderate form of Islam is one of the promises made by Crown Prince Mohammed …

Afghan Taliban on Tuesday expressed willingness to initiate dialogue with the leaders of local groups resisting the United States’ “foreign occupation”. The stance was expressed in a statement that termed the 2001 US-led military invasion of Afghanistan an ‘ongoing tragedy’ and remained mum over Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s recently announced …

Kabul: A suicide bomber on Wednesday killed at least 26 people, many of them teenagers, after detonating a device among a crowd of people in Kabul who were celebrating the Persian New Year holiday, officials said. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the deadly attack — the fifth suicide …