WORLD

“A level of human tragedy that we have never seen before.” That’s how Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa described a huge forest fire that has swept through the centre of the country, leaving at least 64 people dead since Saturday. Wildfires are an annual menace in Portugal. More broke out there between 1993 and 2013 than in Spain, France, Italy ...

Of 27 bills, eight relate to Brexit and its implications for key industries. As well as a bill to convert EU rules into UK law, there are measures on trade, customs, immigration, fisheries, agriculture, nuclear and sanctions.But other key manifesto plans have either been axed or delayed after the Conservatives lost their majority. The main non-Brexit proposals include: a Civil ...

An Indian airline just gave a newborn child a birthday gift his parents will find it hard to top. Jet Airways said it will give free flight tickets for life to a boy who was born on one of its flights between Saudi Arabia and India. The child’s mother — whose identity the airline didn’t reveal out of respect for ...

The government-backed Bana Mura militia in Congo has committed horrific crimes in ethnically-motivated attacks in the past few months, including cutting off toddlers’ limbs and slicing open pregnant women, the U.N. human rights chief said on Tuesday. “Refugees from multiple villages in the Kamonya territory indicated that the Bana Mura have in the past two months shot dead, hacked or ...

A suspect was fatally shot at Brussels Central Station Tuesday after a failed bombing that Belgian authorities are calling a terrorist attack. A “small explosion” went off in the transportation hub around 8:30 p.m., Belgium Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said in a news conference Tuesday. “The suspect was neutralized by soldiers,” Van Der Sypt said. He later ...

Uber boss Travis Kalanick has resigned as chief executive after pressure from shareholders, according to media reports. Mr Kalanick will remain on the board of the firm, however, the New York Times said. His resignation comes after a review of practices at the firm and scandals including complaints of sexual harassment. Last week he said he was taking an indefinite ...

Mogadishu – At least 15 people are dead after a suicide car bomber posing as a milk delivery van detonated at a district headquarters in Somalia’s capital, police said on Tuesday. The death toll may rise, as some were badly hurt in the explosion at Wadajir district headquarters in Mogadishu, Captain Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press. Most of the ...

Nairobi – Two Tanzanian energy magnates on Monday became the first big industrialists to be charged over a multi-million-dollar graft scandal that led to the sacking of several top officials three years ago. A 2014 audit created an uproar after showing fraudulent payment of some $120m in state funds to an independent power producing company, prompting several foreign donors to ...

Nairobi – Eight people died and at least two were missing after an overloaded boat capsized off Kenya’s Lamu Island on Tuesday, police said. The small boat, carrying 30 passengers and cargo, was travelling from the island to the mainland when it capsized in rough seas. “Eight bodies have so far been retrieved. The bodies include one male, four females ...

More than 3,300 people have been killed in the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kasai region since last October, the Catholic Church says. The figure, reported by the Reuters news agency, is from Church sources. The deaths are the result of clashes between the army and a rebel group, but civilians have also been caught up in the ...