Brussels / AFP US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Thursday sought more help from dozens of defence ministers from the US-led coalition against IS extremists, as Russia mounts its own air campaign in Syria. More than 18 months after the United States and the quickly assembled alliance began bombing IS targets, Carter is hoping renewed alarm over terror attacks around ...

Bangalore / AFP A reported leopard sighting close to where a big cat injured five people at the weekend forced the closure of 130 schools in the southern Indian city of Bangalore on Thursday, the education authority said. Panic gripped an eastern suburb of the city after a woman claimed to have spotted a leopard six kilometres (four miles) away ...

Paris / AFP At least six children were killed when a school minibus crashed into a truck in western France on Thursday, police said, a day after another road accident involving a school bus left two youngsters dead. The head-on smash with a lorry carrying rubble happened at around 7:15 am (0615 GMT) in Rochefort in the Charente-Maritime region. The ...

Taipei / AFP As rescuers continue the grim task of digging bodies from the rubble of an apartment complex that collapsed in a Taiwan earthquake, anger is growing over the shoddy construction of the building and the island’s questionable safety record. The Wei-kuan building was the only high-rise to crumble completely in the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that shook the southern ...

KANDAHAR / AP Four Afghan policemen were killed and another seven wounded when one of their colleagues opened fire on them in the volatile southern province of Kandahar, an official said on Thursday. The rogue policeman was shot dead by another officer in the incident late Wednesday night, said Zia Durrani, spokesman for the provincial police. The shootings, which took ...

Cairo / AFP At least 70 people were injured in Egypt on Thursday when a passenger train derailed and two of its cars overturned, the health ministry said. The accident occurred in Bani Sueif province south of Cairo as the train was headed to the Egyptian capital from the temple city of Luxor. “Fifty-eight people were treated for their injuries ...

Paris / AFP Around 4.5 million pupils in OECD countries have failed to attain a sufficient level of proficiency in either reading, maths or science at the age of 15, according to a new study released by the think-tank. That figure equates to more than one in four of 15-year-olds in the 34 OECD nations. Analysis of results from the ...

Brasília / Bloomberg Zika is a rarity in Brazil: a crisis that isn’t widely blamed on Dilma Rousseff’s government. And a mobilization against mosquitoes may even help the president climb out of a political hole. In the northeastern town of Limoeiro, corruption scandals and a deepening recession have eroded support for Rousseff’s Workers’ Party. But the town in Pernambuco state ...

London / Bloomberg Thomas Cook Group Plc, the British originator of the package holiday, said public concern about terrorist attacks is prompting an upturn in demand for organized tours as people fear being stuck abroad on their own. While attacks on tourists in Tunisia, Egypt and Istanbul, as well as the Paris killings, have led some people to hold back ...

Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Abu Dhabi’s Bawabat Al Sharq Mall is hosting the world famous Great Vegas Circus from February 8 to March 11. Audiences will be thrilled by the family-friendly show, which includes cutting-edge visuals, puppetry, stagecraft and performances from some of the best circus acts in the world at the Mall’s impressive 1,500-seat arena. The mind-blowing extravaganza ...