Explosions injure 18 in Damascus during Macron's visit
A number of people have been injured after explosive devices went off in central Damascus, reportedly near the hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron had been staying.
A security source told the BBC the blasts were caused by two devices. Eighteen people, including four police officers, were injured, Syrian media said.
Macron is in the capital for talks with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa at the presidential palace. His officials said he was safe and did not hear the explosions.
After travelling to Syria, Macron is set to
Watch: Moment rare tornado lashes central Chinese cities
At least 11 people have died after severe thunderstorms swept cities in central China’s Hubei province, state media reported.
Tornado videos have been circulating online, taken from the neighbouring cities of Ezhou and Huanggang.
A student in Huanggang city told the BBC that he had thought it was "just an ordinary thunderstorm", until he saw "things started flying through the air outside" the dormitory window.
"A lot of students were cut by flying glass," he said. "It wasn't until everything
India's landmark Ram temple overhauls board after alleged theft of donations
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust - an independent trust which manages the shrine - held its first meeting on Monday after allegations of donation thefts surfaced last month .
The trust had earlier denied any wrongdoing. But the state government set up a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the allegations.
Following an interim report from the SIT, Ayodhya police registered a case of alleged embezzlement, naming eight people. They were arrested and were being questioned, police said.
After Monday's meeting, trust
China sentences official to death for taking $325m in bribes
A court in eastern China has sentenced a former city official to death for taking more than 2.2bn yuan ($325m; £243m) in bribes over 30 years.
Yang Youlin, who served in various positions in Nanjing city from 1993 to 2023, was also convicted of embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering, with his ill-gotten gains amounting to one of the highest in recent years.
The 69-year-old
Zelensky to press Nato for air defence systems after intense Russian strikes
The campaign targets have been high profile.
St Petersburg was hit with drones ahead of Putin's showpiece economic forum in June. Then there were strikes on Moscow itself, creating explosion videos that went viral.
Now there's a confirmed hit on an oil refinery in Omsk, Siberia, 2,500 km from Ukraine's border. The drone must have flown undetected for many hours, which shows how stretched Russia's own air defences actually are.
Ukraine's "influence" efforts also include
Fatal Typhoon Maysak floods burst dam wall in China
A reservoir wall broke in Nanning in China, sending out a torrent of water after rivers swelled from the passage of a typhoon. At least two people have been killed by flooding due to Typhoon Maysak, while another 480,000 have been evacuated across the southern Guangxi province, officials say. The province's emergency flood control response has been raised to its highest level.
Authorities have warned that torrential rains will continue across Guangxi and several neighbouring provinces in the coming days. Maysak is the first typhoon
Why some African nations are turning down Trump aid money
A Kenyan court initially suspended the country's deal after legal challenges demanding protection of patient privacy.
Arnold Kavaarpuo, executive director of Ghana's Data Protection Commission, told the BBC the government in Accra had objected to the deal it was offered for similar reasons.
"We had concerns around the scope and breadth of data that was being required," he said.
"It was us generating data and passing it on to the US authorities, and there were no real reciprocal measures when it comes to the protection of
Resistance and revenge - Iran wanted to send a message with its farewell to Khamenei
"I want to say one sentence to President Trump and the world," declared a grey-haired man named Mojtaba, who came to us saying he had a message.
"Soon, very soon you will see signs of revenge at the top of the White House, and soon the colour of the White House will be the colour of my red flag."
"Some of these calls are just ritualistic," a government official told me. "But the anger is real among hardline critics within the system who
Jailers and officials at Russia's 'torture prisons' in Ukraine exposed by BBC
The prisons these men helped run are part of a detention system in which the UN's human rights office (OHCHR) says the torture and ill-treatment of civilians is "systematic and widespread".
It says former detainees describe beatings, electric shocks, mock executions and sexual violence, with civilians often detained arbitrarily and families given little information.
The Kremlin has accused the OHCHR of bias. In May this year, the UN added Russia to its blacklist of countries suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict zones - allegations
Why a Diljit Dosanjh film vanished from streaming after two days
The film has had an unusually long and difficult journey to release.
It was originally titled Ghallughara, a Punjabi term associated with some of the darkest episodes in Sikh history.
It refers to the mass killings of Sikhs by Mughal forces in 1746 and by the forces of Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1762.
Director Honey Trehan has said India's Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the government body that certifies films for public exhibition in cinemas, asked the filmmakers to change the