1. Italy earthquake toll reaches 291

    The death toll in Italy’s devastating* earthquake rose to 291 on Saturday as the country began a day of mourning and prepared for a mass state funeral for some of the victims.

    Rescuers continued to search the rubble for survivors but it had been three days since anyone was found alive in the ruins of the worst-hit mountainous towns.

    Hundreds of grieving families have also been left homeless by August 24’s temblor*, including 150 who spent the night at a gym in Amatrice that has been turned into a makeshift* emergency shelter.

    2. Singapore reports 40 more Zika cases

    Singapore on Sunday reported 40 more cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infections, most of them foreign workers at a construction site.

    The government on Saturday announced its first case, that of a 47-year-old Malaysian woman living in the city-state.

    All 41 are residents or workers in a suburban* residential and industrial district, the Ministry of Health and the National Environment Agency said in a joint statement. “They are not known to have traveled to Zika-affected areas recently, and are thus likely to have been infected in Singapore,” the statement said. “This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place.”

    3. Warehouse fire kills 16 in Moscow

    At least 16 migrant workers mostly from Kyrgyzstan died in a fire that broke out at a Moscow warehouse early on Saturday, Russian authorities said.

    “When the fire was being put out, a room that had been cut off by the flames was discovered,” TASS news agency quoted the regional branch of the emergency ministry’s press service as saying. “Firefighters tore down the wall and found 16 dead.” Emergency workers arrived at the scene to put out a blaze that had engulfed* 200 square meters of a warehouse in an industrial zone in the Russian capital’s north.

    4. 12 killed in university attack in Kabul

    Twelve people, including seven students, were killed in an attack on the American University in Kabul that sent hundreds of students fleeing in panic, police said on Thursday, before the assault ended when two gunmen were shot dead.

    The attack began at around 6:30 p.m. on August 24 with a large explosion that officials said was a car bomb followed by gunfire, as suspected militants battled into the complex where foreign staff and pupils were working.

    Elite Afghan forces surrounded the walled compound and eventually worked their way inside, according to a senior interior ministry official.

    5. N. Korea tests ballistic missile

    North Korea test-fired a submarine-based ballistic* missile from its east coast on August 24, South Korean authorities said.

    The launch took place at 5:30 a.m. local time, according to a statement from the South Korean Foreign Ministry. North Korea’s launch took place in the waters, off Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province, in the early morning, the South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. “If the North Korean regime continues to pursue its nuclear and missile capabilities and ignore severe economic difficulties of its people, it will bring about more severe sanctions* and diplomatic isolation.

    6. Bomb blasts kill 1, wound 30 in Thailand

    One Thai person was killed and 30 wounded when two bombs exploded late on August 23 near a hotel in the southern Thai coastal town of Pattani, police said, less than two weeks after a wave of unexplained bombings hit the south.

    The first blast in a parking lot behind the Southern View Hotel caused no casualties, Police Lieutenant Colonel Winyu Tiamraj said on August 24. He said all the casualties were Thais. (SD-Agencies)