A speeding school bus plunged into a river in southern India today killing at least nine schoolchildren and two adults.

A Mauritian national has told a jury he applied to a company in Mauritius for a work permit for Ireland after reading an advertisement which said: "Would you like to work in Ireland and earn euro?"

Cyclone Gonu battered Oman’s coast yesterday with fierce winds and torrential rains, forcing thousands from their homes and shutting down oil installations before heading towards the world’s most important crude oil tanker route.

India’s former President KR Narayanan, the first “untouchable” from the caste system to occupy the country’s highest office in a validation of its democratic roots, died today. He was 85.