WORLD

Ajmer, India | AFP | A gas cylinder exploded late Friday at the hotel in the city of Beawar, in the western state of Rajasthan, reducing the venue to ruins and sparking a huge fire. By Saturday evening officials said nine bodies had been found. But the figure rose sharply …

Washington, United States | AFP | US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Saturday vowed to investigate an attack involving Russian citizens on American-allied forces in Syria but stopped short of accusing Moscow of orchestrating the assault. Russia has acknowledged that five of its citizens were killed in a US-led coalition …

Fort Lauderdale, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump said Saturday the FBI was so caught up in the Russia probe that it failed to heed signs which could have prevented the Parkland school shooting. His comments came as he faces criticism from survivors of the attack over …

Tehran, Iran | AFP | An Iranian passenger plane on a domestic flight crashed into the country’s Zagros mountains on Sunday killing all 66 people on board, officials said. The Aseman Airlines flight left Tehran’s Mehrabad airport around 0800 (0430 GMT) for the city of Yasuj in Isfahan province, said …

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories | AFP | Israeli jets struck the Gaza Strip on Saturday after four soldiers were wounded when an improvised explosive device blew up along the border with the Palestinian enclave. The explosion earlier Saturday, which left two of the Israeli soldiers severely injured, was one of …

Aye Ywar , Myanmar | AFP | A free app on farmer San San Hla’s smartphone is her new weapon in the war against the dreaded stem borer moth that blighted her rice paddy in southern Myanmar for the last two years. As she watches her workers haul in this …

Santiago Jamiltepec, Mexico | AFP | Thirteen people were killed in southern Mexico when a minister’s helicopter crash-landed on its way to the epicenter of a powerful earthquake that rattled the region, officials said Saturday. The 7.2 magnitude quake caused only material damage when it struck late Friday, but it …

Washington, United States | AFP | Fake social media accounts, rallies for and against Donald Trump, paid protesters: Russia managed a vast propaganda operation to support the Trump campaign in the 2016 presidential election, according to a court indictment. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, investigating possible collusion between the campaign and …

Fort Lauderdale, United States | AFP | A student survivor of the Parkland school shooting called out US President Donald Trump on Saturday over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, in a poignant address to an anti-gun rally in Florida. “To every politician taking donations from the NRA, …

Hamburg, Germany | AFP | Germany’s Social Democrats started campaigning Saturday ahead of a party referendum that spells the last threat to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hopes of forming a new government, five months after an inconclusive election. In a vote expected to be tight, the more than 460,000 members of …