INTERNATIONAL

An earthquake has toppled buildings in the south Taiwanese city of Tainan, killing at least seven people. Rescue teams have been trying to reach people trapped in rubble since the magnitude 6.4 quake struck just before 04:00 (20:00 GMT Friday). A baby was among four people killed when a high-rise block collapsed. At least 155 people have been injured. President ...

Active Zika virus has been detected in the saliva and urine of patients, Brazilian scientists say. The finding does not mean the virus can be readily transmitted through the bodily fluids. The main method of infection is via mosquito bites, but scientists are investigating all other possibilities. While Zika infection is normally mild, it has been linked to thousands of ...

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have clashed over Wall Street and foreign policy, in the Democratic presidential candidates’ first one-on-one debate. Mrs Clinton cast him as an idealist who will not get things done and Mr Sanders accused her of being too tied to the establishment to achieve real change. The TV debate in New Hampshire was their first since ...

Syria’s government and the opposition have blamed each other for the suspension of peace talks in Geneva. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura called a temporary pause, saying the talks would resume on 25 February. But the opposition HNC said they would not return until conditions improved on the ground, accusing government forces of bombing and starving civilians. The government said ...

Somalia has launched an investigation after a commercial plane made an emergency landing with a gaping hole in its fuselage in the capital, Mogadishu. There were fears that the hole in the Daalo Airlines flight, bound for Djibouti, was caused by a bomb. Reports said a person fell out of the hole, which appeared shortly after the plane took off ...

David Cameron has mounted a defence of his EU reform deal after it was questioned in the Commons by London Mayor Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson – among the big hitters exit campaigners are hoping will join their side – has said the prime minister is “making the best of a bad job”. He asked the prime minister what the package ...

A rare case of the Zika virus being transmitted through sex, not a mosquito bite, has been reported in the US. A patient infected in Dallas, Texas, is likely to have been infected by sexual contact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told the BBC. The person had not travelled to infected areas but their partner had returned from Venezuela. ...

Heavy snow has disrupted public transport in southern China, stranding tens of thousands of people outside a rail station, police say. The crowd outside Guangzhou station swelled to nearly 100,000 at its peak on Monday night, police said. Central China has experienced some of its coldest weather in years. The rare snow has coincided with the run-up to Chinese New ...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa Republican caucuses, in the first vote of the US presidential campaign. “Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives,” he declared, to great applause, as he railed against Washington, lobbyists and the media. He took 26% of the Republican vote, beating his rival, the frontrunner Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio. Votes in the ...

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa Republican caucuses, the first vote of the US 2016 presidential election. “Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives,” he declared, to great applause, as he railed against Washington, lobbyists and the media. He took 28% of the Republican vote, beating his rival, the once frontrunner Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio. Votes in ...