The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi says at least120 people have been killed in the earthquake thatstruck towns and villages in a mountainous regionovernight. Rescue teams in central Italy aresearching the rubbles for survivors in the provincesof Umbrio, Lazio and Marche.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels say they've captured the town of Jarablus in a major offensiveagainst Islamic State group. But Turkey says its intervention is not only intended to targetIS, it also wants to counter what Ankara regards as a security threat posed by Kurdishmilitants.
Security forces in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said they are working to clear a private universitycompound of any remaining attackers, hours after militants launched an attack there. Gunmengot inside the heavily-fortified American University and witnesses reported a huge explosionand volumes of gunfire.
Riot police have been reported of repeated clashes with anti-government protestors in theZimbabwean capital, Harare. Police used tear gas and water canon to disperse the supportersof the main opposition movement for democratic change, who demanded that Zimbabwe'spresident, Robert Mugabe, step down.
The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed into a law a bill which caps interest ratescharged by commercial banks. Under the new law, banks will be prevented from charging morethan 4 percentage points above the central bank's base rate.
The Indian government has unveiled a draft law to ban commercial surrogacy in an attempt toregulate the industry. If approved by parliament, the law will block foreigners, people of Indianorigin, single parents and homosexuals from having children through surrogacy.
And space scientists have discovered a planet just outside our solar system that might hostlife. The leader of the team hailed the discovery of the planet, which is named Proxima b as theexperience of a lifetime.