INTERNATIONAL

More than 150,000 people in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil have been driven from their homes by some of the worst flooding in years. Heavy summer rains have caused rivers to swell across a vast area. In Paraguay, the most affected country, President Horacio Cartes declared a state of emergency, freeing up $3.5m (£2.3m) in relief funds. The Paraguay river ...

A Christmas Day bushfire in Australia has destroyed at least 53 homes in Victoria state, officials say. Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria’s south-west on Friday. A change to cooler weather and rain has greatly reduced the threat, but some emergency warnings remain in place. No injuries or deaths have been reported so ...

Scores of people are reported killed in an explosion at an industrial gas plant in south-eastern Nigeria. A truck is said to have exploded as it was off-loading butane cooking gas in the town of Nnewi in Anambra State. Reports of casualties vary from 35 to more than 100 people killed, including factory workers and neighbours. Local police have confirmed ...

Pope Francis has warned the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics not to be “intoxicated” by possessions in his annual Christmas homily. He called for more sobriety in a world obsessed by “consumerism and hedonism, wealth and extravagance”. The Pope was celebrating a Christmas eve Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in front of about 10,000 people. Later on Friday he will ...

An overnight fire at a hospital in southern Saudi Arabia has killed at least 25 people and injured more than 100 others, officials say. The blaze broke out in the intensive care and maternity departments of the Jazan General Hospital, the Civil Defence Agency tweeted. The fire is now over and those injured have been transferred to other hospitals in ...

Protests by the Black Lives Matter group have taken place in the US states of Minnesota and California on one of the busiest retail days of the year. The demonstrators in Minnesota temporarily closed the international airport and interrupted Christmas shopping at the Mall of America. Police said a total of 15 people were arrested at both places, mostly for ...

At least 200 civilians were killed in Russian air strikes in Syria from 30 September to 29 November, an Amnesty International report says. Quoting witnesses, the human rights group accuses Russia of using cluster bombs in civilian areas, and says such attacks could constitute war crimes. Moscow insists it is targeting only the positions of “terrorist” groups. Amnesty said in ...

At least 200 civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes in Syria, an Amnesty International report says, quoting witnesses and activists. It says it “researched remotely” more than 25 Russian attacks in five areas between 30 September and 29 November. The findings indicate “serious failures [by Russia] to respect international humanitarian law”, Amnesty says. Moscow has repeatedly denied causing ...

The number of migrants who have entered Europe by sea and land this year has passed 1 million, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday. It said that as of Monday, taking into account the latest updates, there had been 1,005,504 “irregular arrivals” into Europe in 2015. The figures show that the vast majority — 971,289 — have come by ...

Iraqi government forces are advancing into the centre of the city of Ramadi, which is controlled by jihadist group Islamic State (IS), officials say. Security sources told the BBC that troops and allied tribesmen, backed by air strikes, had already retaken two districts, and entered two others. They were heading towards the main government complex, and had come up against ...