INTERNATIONAL

About 300 people have been arrested in the Indian state of Bihar, authorities say, after reports emerged of blatant cheating in school exams. Parents and friends of students were photographed climbing school walls to pass on answers. Many of those arrested were parents. At least 750 students have been expelled. An estimated 1.4m students are taking their school leaving exams ...

Islamic State (IS) say its militants carried out suicide bombings on two mosques in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which killed at least 137 people. The attacks are the first claimed by IS – a Sunni group – since it set up a branch in Yemen in November. Both mosques were used mainly by supporters of the Zaidi Shia-led Houthi rebel ...

The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea are meeting for their first talks in three years. The meeting in Seoul is likely to focus on ways to ease regional tensions over territorial and diplomatic disputes. The three states have strong economic ties but relations still suffer from unresolved issues dating back to Japan’s actions in World War Two. ...

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said he hopes that all territory seized by Islamist militant group Boko Haram will be retaken within a month. “They are getting weaker and weaker by the day,” he told the BBC. But he admitted the security forces had been slow to respond to the insurgents’ initial advance in north-east Nigeria. Nigeria’s army has recently ...

Warplanes have targeted the palace used by Yemen’s President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi in the southern city of Aden. Officials said anti-aircraft guns prevented any direct hits on the hilltop compound. But witnesses saw smoke rising from the area afterwards. It is not clear if Mr Hadi was inside, but aides said he was now safe. Earlier, there were clashes at ...

Nine people have been arrested in connection with Wednesday’s gun attack in Tunis that left 23 people dead, including 20 foreign tourists, the Tunisian presidency says. It alleged that four were directly linked to the attack and five had “ties to the cell”. The army will also be deployed to major cities, the presidency added. In another development, Islamic State ...

Tunisia’s president has vowed to fight terrorism “without mercy”, following a gun attack on the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis that killed 19 people. Seventeen tourists were killed in the attack, including visitors from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Australia, France, Poland and Spain, officials said. Two Tunisians, one a police officer, were also killed in Wednesday’s attack. Security forces have ...

ISIS has smashed priceless ancient statues in Mosul, bulldozed the ruins of Nineveh and Hatra, and dynamited centuries-old churches, mosques and shrines. In a battle between Iraqi forces and ISIS over control of Tikrit recently, the tomb of Saddam Hussein was squashed to rubble, though it’s not clear which side did it. Luckily, the ancient city of Babylon is outside ...

At least seven foreign tourists and a Tunisian have been killed after gunmen targeted a museum in the Tunisian capital, officials say. Two attackers and a police officer were killed in the subsequent security operation, they said. The operation is now reported to be over. The attack happened at the Bardo Museum, which is next to the parliament building in ...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party has won a surprise victory in Israel’s election. Exit polls had forecast a dead heat but with almost all votes counted, results give Likud a clear lead over its main rival, the centre-left Zionist Union. The outcome gives Mr Netanyahu a strong chance of forming a right-wing coalition government. The result puts the ...