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Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has reportedly asked the National Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA) to reinforce relief and expedite rescue efforts in coordination with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority ( PDMA) and other concerned departments in areas affected by the floods that hit Chitral. Expressing grief over the loss of property due to floods, Prime Minister Sharif also directed ...

Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft has made the first visit to Pluto, speeding past at 14km per second. Earlier, the space agency released the most detailed picture yet as it hurtled towards the dwarf planet on Tuesday. The probe was set to grab more pictures and other data as it passed 12,500km from Pluto at 11:50 GMT (12:50 BST). Controllers got ...

At least 27 pilgrims have died in a stampede on the banks of a holy river in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, local officials say. The Hindu pilgrims had gathered to take a dip in the Godavari river at the start of the Maha Pushkaralu festival. The stampede occurred at 08:00am (02:30 GMT) in the Rajahmundry district. Nearly ...

An Australian firm has come under fire for conducting tours of a New South Wales forest where notorious serial killer Ivan Milat buried his victims. Goulburn Ghost Tours has been taking groups to Belanglo, 120km (74 miles) south-west of Sydney. NSW Premier Mike Baird said the tour was “utterly outrageous” while a victim support group has condemned it. A company ...

Bahraini human rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab has been pardoned by King Hamad after serving three months of a six-month jail sentence, the official BNA news agency has reported. The king made the order because of fears over Mr Rajab’s health, it said. An appeals court in May upheld the six-month prison sentence he had received. He is a member of ...

Two journalists are on trial in the southern Thai island of Phuket for allegedly defaming the Thai navy. Their charges stem from a July 2013 online article which included a paragraph, originally published by Reuters, on human trafficking. Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian of website Phuketwan, who pleaded not guilty, face up to seven years in jail. Reuters quoted an ...

Mexico is offering a reward of 60 million pesos ($3.8m) for the capture of the country’s most-wanted drug lord, who escaped from a top security prison. A huge manhunt is underway for Joaquin Guzman, who got out of his cell on Saturday through a 1.5km-long tunnel. Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said officials at the prison must have helped ...

The US military is considering a plan that would allow transgender people to serve openly in the armed forces. “The Defence Department’s current regulations regarding transgender service members are outdated and are causing uncertainty,” US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Monday. Transgender people now serve in the military, but their experiences vary. Over the next six months, a group ...

Eurozone finance ministers say they expect to hear new proposals from Greece after the country voted to reject the terms of an international bailout. Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem described the referendum result as “very regrettable for the future of Greece”. Ministers are to hold emergency talks on Tuesday. Earlier, Greece’s outspoken finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, resigned. He said that eurozone ...

Three generations of one family from Dungiven, County Londonderry, have graduated at the same time with a diploma in Irish. Odhrán Mullan, his aunt, Maria, and 82-year-old grandfather, John, were in the same class at the Ulster University at Magee. John Mullan was the oldest student in the class. Odhrán said he began studying the Irish language after being inspired ...