INTERNATIONAL

At least 12 people were injured when a float collapsed in Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, the venue where the samba schools hold their annual carnival parade. A walkway on top of the float on which dancers were standing toppled early on Tuesday, sending them tumbling. The incident came a day after 20 people were injured at the Sambadrome when a ...

US President Donald Trump has said he believes Barack Obama is behind the protests against Republican lawmakers, and national security leaks. He told Fox News: “I think President Obama’s behind it because his people are certainly behind it”, but added: “I also think it’s just politics”. Mr Trump offered no evidence for his claims; his predecessor in the White House ...

Abu al Khayr al-Masri, the No. 2 man for al Qaeda behind leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been killed by a missile strike in Idlib, Syria, according to multiple sources. Two US officials said al-Masri was killed in an attack directed by the US intelligence community. The UK-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, or SOHR, told CNN al-Masri was ...

US President Donald Trump is seeking to boost defence spending by 10% in his proposed budget plan for 2018. The blueprint will increase defence spending by $54bn (£43bn) but seeks to recoup that sum through deep cuts elsewhere, including to foreign aid. Mr Trump’s plan leaves large welfare programmes untouched, despite Republican calls for reform. The president has consulted government ...

Opposition parties in South Korea say they will seek the impeachment of the acting president over his decisions on the country’s corruption scandal. Hwang Kyo-ahn decided not to extend a special prosecutor’s investigation which involves his predecessor, President Park Geun-hye. Prosecutors want more time to question her over the scandal. Ms Park is awaiting a separate ruling on her December ...

Islamic militants in the Philippines have posted a video showing the beheading of a German hostage. Jurgen Kantner was abducted from his yacht off Malaysia’s Sabah state in November. His companion Sabine Merz’s body was later found on the boat. A deadline for a 30m peso (£483,000; $600,000) ransom expired on Sunday. Mr Kantner, 70, and Ms Merz had been ...

Melbourne taxi drivers have staged a “go slow” protest on one of the city’s busiest roads. Taxis drove at 5km/h (3mph) on the Tullamarine Freeway to Parliament House during the morning rush hour, causing a traffic jam. The state government is planning industry reforms that will regulate ride-sharing app Uber and scrap taxi licenses. Drivers are concerned they will not ...

Rainstorms and landslides in Chile have contaminated a major river forcing the authorities to cut off drinking water to four million people in the capital, Santiago. Officials said the water supply from the Maipo river would be cut to most of the city until the water flowed clear. People stocked up on bottled water and the authorities ordered restaurants and ...

The father of a US Navy Seal killed in a raid on a suspected al-Qaeda compound in Yemen last month has said that he refused to meet US President Donald Trump when his son’s body arrived home. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to see him,” he said he told a chaplain at the time. The raid on 28 January was ...

Thousands of Filipinos took to the streets Saturday to mark the anniversary of the 1986 uprising against Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos amid concerns of an authoritarian relapse under current President Rodrigo Duterte. Crowds gathered on a highway in Manila, the same area that millions flocked to 31 years ago in a peaceful revolt that led to Marcos’ ouster. The so-called ...