The official death toll from a fire that tore through an old people’s home in Canada has climbed to 17 as emergency workers, some on their hands and knees, continued to comb through the ice-covered rubble.

A large swath of a town in eastern Quebec was destroyed after a train carrying crude oil derailed, sparking several explosions and forcing the evacuation of up to 1,000 people.

AN ape-like creature that lived seven million years ago was confirmed yesterday as the oldest known ancestor of humans.