INTERNATIONAL

Unknown gunmen have killed at least 11 people at a girl’s 15th birthday party in Mexico’s Guerrero state. Guerrero governor Hector Astudillo said the shooting occurred at the traditional coming-of-age party in Cundancito, in the west of the region. After the incident, authorities tried to reach the area but were met by gunfire, he said. Two years ago, 43 students ...

The first freely elected parliament in Myanmar for 50 years has held its opening session. Hundreds of new MPs, mostly from the National League for Democracy (NLD) but also some smaller parties, have been sworn and taken their seats. The NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won 80% of contested seats in November’s historic election. But a quarter of ...

US presidential candidates are making a final pitch to people in the state of Iowa, where the first votes for party nominations will take place on Monday. Polls suggest that Republican Donald Trump has a narrow lead over Ted Cruz but both are well ahead of the others. But the Democratic race is slightly tighter, with former US Secretary of ...

Twelve people, including three children, have died in a huge fire at a textile factory in the east of the Russian capital Moscow, officials say. The blaze engulfed some 3,000 sq metres (33,000 sq ft) of the building and took more than five hours to put out. Russia’s child rights commissioner Pavel Astakhov said the victims were migrant workers who ...

The main Syrian opposition group has arrived in Geneva, a day after backing down from their threat to boycott the UN-sponsored peace talks. But a spokesman said they stood by their demand for an end to air strikes and blockades before they will negotiate with the Syrian government. Their delegation is due to meet UN envoy Staffan de Mistura on ...

Turkey says a Russian jet has violated its airspace and it has summoned the Russian ambassador to Ankara. The foreign ministry said a Russian SU-34 jet violated Turkish airspace on Friday despite warnings in Russian and English. Tensions have been high between Ankara and Moscow since Turkey shot down a Russian plane which violated its airspace near Syria in November. ...

Another 16 people have starved to death in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya since UN aid convoys reached it earlier this month, according to charity Medecins Sans Frontieres. The charity says there are also 33 people in danger of dying. Brice de la Vigne, MSF operations director, said the situation was “totally unacceptable” when people “should have been evacuated ...

About $4bn (£2.8bn) may have been stolen from a fund owned by the Malaysian state, a prosecutor says. The 1MDB fund was set up in 2009 to pay for major new economic and social developments in Malaysia. Last year, Swiss authorities opened an investigation into 1MDB after it amassed more than $11bn (£7bn) of debt. Switzerland’s attorney general said on ...

Four Chinese miners who had been trapped underground for 36 days have been rescued, Chinese state media say. The men were trapped by a cave-in at a gypsum mine in eastern Shandong province in December. China’s CCTV showed dramatic footage of one of the men appearing on the surface and then being taken to hospital. Seventeen people were trapped by ...

Four Chinese miners who had been trapped underground for 36 days have been rescued, Chinese state media say. The men were trapped by a cave-in at a gypsum mine in eastern Shandong province in December. China’s CCTV showed dramatic footage of one of the men appearing on the surface and then being taken to hospital. Seventeen people were trapped by ...