Yangon / AFP Violent storms which saw hailstones the size of golf balls rain down across Myanmar have killed at least eight people in recent days, toppled pagodas and damaged thousands of buildings, officials said Sunday. The freak storms struck across five states on Friday and Saturday after weeks of heatwave temperatures regularly topping 40C (104F). “From what we know …

  QUITO / AP The death toll from last week’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake that flattened towns along Ecuador’s coast has risen to 654 with another 58 people missing, the government said Saturday. The website of the secretariat for risk management said that 113 people had been rescued alive following the quake and more than 25,000 people remained in shelters. The death …

  Belgrade / AFP Serbians began voting on Sunday in a general election that is likely to return pro-European Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to power, but also give a voice in parliament to the pro-Russian far-right. While Vucic’s nominally conservative Serbian Progressive Party is projected to win about half of the votes, ultra-nationalists who want the Balkan country to deepen its …