26 dead after heavy rains wreaked havoc in India

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim from the debris of a residential house following a landslide caused by heavy rainfall at the Kokkayar village in Idukki district in the southern state of Kerala in India on Sunday. At least 26 people were killed and many others reported missing after heavy rains wreaked havoc in Kerala, officials said on Sunday. The rains triggered waterlogging, flooding and landslides in several areas of the state.Xinhua

French ambassador

ordered out of Belarus

France’s ambassador has been ordered out of Belarus and has already left the country, French media reported on Sunday,

An embassy spokesperson confirmed that ambassador Nicolas de Lacoste left the country. He had been told to leave by Monday. De Lacoste, 57, was posted to Minsk late last year.

Local media have suggested that he had failed to present his credentials to President Alexander Lukashenko.

France, like other EU countries, has not recognized Lukashenko’s claim to a sixth presidential term after last August’s elections amid widespread claims of voting fraud.

Moderate earthquake rocks Bali

A moderately strong earthquake and an aftershock hit Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on early Saturday, killing at least three people and destroying dozens of homes.

The quake hit just before dawn, causing people to run outdoors in a panic. It struck just after the island has begun to reopen to tourism as the pandemic wanes.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 4.8 quake was centered 62 kilometers northeast of Singaraja, a Bali port town. Its shallow depth of 10 kilometers may have amplified the amount of damage.

Gede Darmada, head of the island’s Search and Rescue Agency, said the agency was still collecting updates on damage and casualties.

British MP stabbed to death

The fatal stabbing of British lawmaker David Amess was a terrorist incident, police said on Saturday, as MPs pressed for tougher security in the wake of the second killing of a U.K. politician while meeting constituents in just over five years.

Veteran Conservative MP David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea east of London when he was stabbed to death on Friday.

Police said they arrested a 25-year-old suspect and were investigating “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism.”

Police said the investigation is in the “very early stages,” though multiple U.K. media outlets, citing sources, reported that the suspect was believed to be a British national with Somali heritage. Britain’s politicians were stunned by the highly public attack.

Tropical storm in

Philippines kills 13

The death toll from the severe tropical storm Kompasu has risen to 13 and that nine people were missing, the Philippine Government said on Sunday.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said that most victims died from landslides and flooding in the northern Philippine regions and Palawan, an archipelagic province.

The tropical storm triggered flash floods and landslides. Nearly 2,000 people were evacuated to safety.

US offers to pay family of the Afghans killed

The U.S. offered payments last week to the family of the 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children, who were killed in error by a U.S. drone strike on August 29.

The Pentagon announced the payments in a statement on Friday night but did not say how much was offered, The New York Times reported on Sunday. The statement also said the U.S. would help the surviving family members relocate to the United States if they are interested.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters the offers were made during a meeting with the aid organization that employed Zemari Ahmadi, the driver who the Pentagon mistakenly believed was an ISIS-K member and whose car was struck by the drone.(SD-Agencies)