Hundreds of troops led a desperate operation to rescue families trapped by mounting floods in India's Kerala state Thursday as the death toll reached 106 with nearly 150,000 left homeless.

Aretha Franklin, the music icon, legendary singer and "Queen of Soul" loved by millions whose history-making career spanned six decades, died on Thursday, her longtime publicist announced. She was 76.

Italy's populist government intensified its attacks Thursday on the bridge operator it blames for the viaduct collapse that killed dozens of people in Genoa, as rescuers picked through rubble on the third day of desperate efforts to find survivors.

Raised on gospel, bathed in rhythm and blues and fluent in jazz and pop, Aretha Franklin came to be known as the "Queen of Soul" through seven decades of electrifying performances.

Three-time Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee died Thursday, sparking tributes from across the political spectrum as current leader Narendra Modi mourned the "irreplaceable loss" of the respected statesman.

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer said Thursday that it would begin integrating seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto after a mega-merger, but its stock price was battered by the US firm's legal woes.

Rights groups Thursday condemned a suicide blast inside a school that killed dozens of students in Kabul one day earlier, as outrage over the attack grew while tearful families buried loved ones in the war-weary Afghan capital.

Madonna on Thursday took on the mantle of a "berber queen" to celebrate her 60th birthday, touring Morocco's former imperial city of Marrakech under the radar of the paparazzi.

German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer said Thursday it would finally begin integrating US seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto into its business, after meeting competition authorities' final conditions for the merger.

Raised on gospel, bathed in rhythm and blues and fluent in jazz and pop, Aretha Franklin came to be known as the "Queen of Soul" through seven decades of electrifying performances.

The European Union pushed back Thursday against Italy's populist government over the deadly collapse of a bridge in Genoa, saying that it had given Rome billions of euros to fix infrastructure.

China will send a senior negotiator to the United States in late August to resume trade talks, its commerce ministry said Thursday, the first public meeting on the dispute in weeks as the trade conflict intensifies.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz will drive for McLaren in next season's Formula One championship, filling the vacuum left by the retirement of Fernando Alonso, the team announced on Thursday.

Three-time Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has died, current leader Narendra Modi said Thursday of the ailing 93-year-old who had been hospitalised.

England rugby star Danny Cipriani was fined £2,000 ($2,500) on Thursday after pleading guilty to common assault following an incident at a nightclub on the island of Jersey.

Shares in Italian infrastructure group Atlantia, which operates the motorway on which a bridge in Genoa collapsed, were initially suspended on the Milan stock exchange on Thursday, but plunged more than 24 percent when trading resumed an hour later.

The murder trial of two women accused of assassinating the half-brother of North Korea's leader can proceed, a Malaysian court ruled Thursday, in a blow to their families who insist the pair were tricked into carrying out the dramatic hit.

Rescue workers toiled through a second night Thursday in a desperate bid to find survivors in the rubble of a Genoa bridge which caved in during a heavy rainstorm, killing at least 39 people and injuring 16 more.

A major Davis Cup revamp that would condense the annual global tournament into an 18-team, week-long event will be voted upon Thursday with major tennis leaders divided over the proposal.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday revoked the security clearance of former Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan, and warned several other prominent critics they too risk being blacklisted.

A state of emergency has been declared in Florida as the worst red tide in a decade blackens the ocean water, killing dolphins, sea turtles and fish at a relentless pace.

A Malaysian judge will Thursday deliver a key ruling in the trial of two women accused of the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea's leader, with their families optimistic they will be cleared.

Turkey hiked Wednesday tariffs on imports of several key US products in retaliation for American sanctions against Ankara, as a bitter dispute between the two allies that has battered the Turkish lira showed no sign of ending.

British police on Wednesday obtained more time to question a man arrested outside the Houses of Parliament for attempted murder and suspected terrorism after a car ploughed into cyclists before crashing into protective barriers.

The Aquarius rescue ship arrived in Malta on Wednesday after EU countries thrashed out a deal to take in the 141 migrants onboard, defusing another diplomatic standoff in the Mediterranean.

Israel reopened its only goods crossing with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after closing it to most deliveries on July 9 over months of border tensions, as relative calm returned and truce talks progressed.

An Istanbul court on Wednesday ordered the release of Amnesty International's Turkey chair who has spent more than a year in jail over alleged links to a 2016 failed coup, the rights group said.

US drug overdose deaths surged to nearly 72,000 last year, as addicts increasingly turn to extremely powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl as the supply of prescription painkillers has tightened.

A set of Roman-era tombs dating back some 2,000 years have been discovered near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank during road works, an official said Thursday.

Ajla Nizic did not know what cancer was when she was diagnosed with it at age four.

Visitors to a theme park in western France this week have a new attraction to enjoy: six crows that have been specially trained to pick up cigarette ends and rubbish.

The first reunions in years of families divided by the Korean War evoke bittersweet memories for Kim Jong-gyu, whose few hours with her brother in 2014 -– under the watchful eyes of the North's agents -– were probably their last ever together.

First came the war, which developed into a brutal, bloody tussle between militias who abused civilians or killed them.

With hotels facing mass cancellations, Iraqis in the holy city of Najaf are being hit hard by US sanctions on neighbouring Iran, which have forced cash-strapped pilgrims to stay home.

A cholera epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 127 people since February, while a further 22 have died in Niger, officials said on Wednesday.

The number of days marked by potentially destructive ocean heatwaves has doubled in 35 years, and will multiply another five-fold at current rates of climate change, scientists warned Wednesday.

Spirits company Constellation Brands announced Wednesday it will significantly boost its investment in Canada's Canopy Growth in a big bet on the growth of cannabis-based products.

Austria has rejected the asylum application of an Afghan claiming to be gay because he did not "act" or "dress" like a homosexual, according to a media report.

The Rohingya had no time to consider what to take as Myanmar forces drove the Muslim minority into Bangladesh in a crackdown a year ago likened by the UN to ethnic cleansing.

The prime minister of Tonga has challenged fellow Pacific leaders to a year-long weight-loss competition to combat soaring obesity levels in the region.

Manmade global warming and a natural surge in Earth's surface temperature will join forces to make the next five years exceptionally hot, according to a study published Tuesday.

Raging conflict is hampering efforts to rein in an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the WHO chief warned Tuesday, urging a ceasefire to stop the virus from transmitting freely.

The collapse of the Turkish lira has caused trauma as Turks see their purchasing power slashed, but bargain-hunting foreign tourists visiting the country at the peak of the summer season are cashing in on a currency windfall.

Bin bags at the ready, "long-distance activist" Mohamed Oussama Houij moves methodically along a beach in Tunisia's Mediterranean town of Nabeul, scooping up all kinds of trash as he goes along.

A two-week jungle trek followed by a sheer climb up avalanche-prone slopes to a jagged ridge of icy pinnacles awaits three Myanmar mountaineers planning to take on Hkakabo Razi, a peak so treacherous it has been conquered only once.

In a dusty Baghdad dance studio, conductor Mohammed Amin Ezzat tries to fire up the musicians of Iraq's National Symphony Orchestra, whose enthusiasm has been dampened by eight months without pay.

Austria's capital Vienna has beaten Melbourne to be ranked the "world's most liveable city" in a new annual survey released Monday, ending the southern Australian city's seven-year reign.

Billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday gave a trio of anti-tobacco crusaders $20 million to up their game against an industry aggressively marketing its deadly wares worldwide, especially in developing countries.

It's barely 6:00 am and Alfred is already busy milking cows. But when his chores on the farm are done, he won't be going home -- he'll be returning to his prison cell.

In the tiny maternity ward in Murrupelane, two 16-year-old mothers breast-feed their babies, both born that morning.

Georgia's overly punitive drug laws cause severe and unjustifiable harm, Human Rights Watch said Monday, calling on the government to decriminalise personal use and possession of drugs.

Britain's Ken Loach, Canada's David Cronenberg and dozens of other filmmakers called Monday on Russia to free Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, who has been on hunger strike for nearly three months in a Siberian jail.

From hand-held copters that zoom around the living room to high-speed craft offering the sensation of flying over the countryside, drones have won over legions of fans -- and are proving a growing challenge for security authorities.

They may feel aggrieved at not obtaining an official seal of approval, but traditional Romanian dressmakers are riding a wave of demand for their folk designs after a top fashion house inadvertently showcased their craft.

World tennis chiefs on Thursday approved a radical Davis Cup revamp championed by Barcelona star Gerard Pique that will overhaul the 118-year-old competition, condensing the annual worldwide showpiece into an 18-team, week-long event.

England rugby star Danny Cipriani was fined £2,000 ($2,500) on Thursday after pleading guilty to common assault following an incident at a nightclub on the island of Jersey.

Italian football authorities on Thursday agreed to postpone Serie A games involving Sampdoria and Genoa this weekend following the bridge collapse in the port city which killed dozens.

Spain's La Liga plans to stage a match in the United States, its first venture outside Europe, as part of a north American expansion drive, the league said Thursday.

Arsenal manager Unai Emery will keep faith with goalkeeper Petr Cech for his return to Chelsea on Saturday.

India coach Ravi Shastri has called on the tourists' batsmen to show "resolve" even if it means they look "ugly and dirty" at the crease, as they try to fight back against England.

Mauricio Pochettino believes winning is the only way to keep Spurs fans happy while waiting to move into the club's new stadium.

Australian rugby legend George Smith says the manner of his departure from Japanese side Suntory earlier this year will not be how he is remembered when he finally retires.

Germany midfielder Toni Kroos says Mesut Ozil was "out of order" to make accusations of racism within the German set up as he retired from international football last month.

Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina joined Napoli with Villarreal's Samu Castillejo and Genoa's Diego Laxalt completing medicals at AC Milan among a late flurry of action Thursday on the eve of the transfer deadline in Italy.

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker believes 18-year-old Phil Foden has the talent and attitude to step up in the absence of injured Kevin de Bruyne.

England coach Trevor Bayliss has suggested Ben Stokes make a public apology over the events that led to his eventual acquittal for affray as the all-rounder waits to see if he will be recalled for this week's third Test against India at Trent Bridge.

Germany Under-21 defender Thilo Kehrer completed his move to Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday by signing a five-year contract, the French champions announced.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz will drive for McLaren in next season's Formula One championship, filling the vacuum left by the retirement of Fernando Alonso, the team announced on Thursday.

Argentina have picked prop Juan Figallo for a Rugby Championship opener against South Africa in Durban Saturday as they relax a policy of choosing only home-based players.

Ex-Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is not being moved from his home in Switzerland to the Spanish island of Mallorca, a spokeswoman said Thursday, denying a report by a Swiss magazine.

The new International Testing Agency will regain the "trust" of athletes and fans who lost faith in the fairness of sport after a series of doping scandals, the body's director-general told AFP.

South Africa have recalled forwards Eben Etzebeth and Warren Whiteley after long injury absences for their Rugby Championship opener against Argentina in Durban Saturday.

When India won their first series in England in 1971 they had eight first-class matches in the run-up to the first Test; this year India had one and are 2-0 down with three to play.

Brash, belligerent and often painted as swimming's big, bad wolf, Chinese giant Sun Yang will be looking to savage his rivals at the Asian Games.

Arsenal's highly-regarded midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles could be out for as long as two months after suffering a "small fracture" to his left leg, the club said Thursday.

Young German defender Thilo Kehrer completed his move to Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday, signing a five-year contract, the French champions announced.

Qatari broadcaster BeIN said Thursday it has "irrefutable evidence" that a pirate channel illegally showing hundreds of live European football matches is being carried on the Saudi-based satellite provider Arabsat.

Rags-to-riches teenage sprinter Lalu Zohri has given Indonesia an unexpected confidence boost as the Asian Games hosts look to pull off their first top-10 medals finish in decades.

Former World Cup winner Philipp Lahm will be the head of the organising committee if Germany win the bid to host Euro 2024, it was confirmed on Thursday.

Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas and the man whose crown he took in July, Chris Froome, will compete in next month's Tour of Britain rather than the final Grand Tour of the season, the Vuelta a Espana.

Five athletes who could light up the Asian Games swimming competition, which begins on Sunday in Jakarta:

The death of 76-year-old music icon Aretha Franklin prompted figures across the spectrum, from politics to pop, to pay homage to her tremendous influence on American culture.

Aretha Franklin, the music icon, legendary singer and "Queen of Soul" loved by millions whose history-making career spanned six decades, died on Thursday, her longtime publicist announced. She was 76.

Raised on gospel, bathed in rhythm and blues and fluent in jazz and pop, Aretha Franklin came to be known as the "Queen of Soul" through seven decades of electrifying performances.

The foundation run by US billionaire George Soros said Thursday that the last of its operations in Hungary would cease by August 31, with its activities being transferred to Berlin.

A Ugandan pop star turned opposition MP was charged in a military court Thursday with illegal possession of weapons, following his arrest after the presidential convoy was pelted with stones.

Madonna on Thursday took on the mantle of a "berber queen" to celebrate her 60th birthday, touring Morocco's former imperial city of Marrakech under the radar of the paparazzi.

It may be the most rousing feminist anthem ever, but "Respect" -- the song that made Aretha Franklin the "Queen of Soul" -- was actually written about a man demanding a break from his wife.

Raised on gospel, bathed in rhythm and blues and fluent in jazz and pop, Aretha Franklin came to be known as the "Queen of Soul" through seven decades of electrifying performances.

Ex-Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is not being moved from his home in Switzerland to the Spanish island of Mallorca, a spokeswoman said Thursday, denying a report by a Swiss magazine.

Rich, dashing man sweeps sweet young girl off her feet. It's the fantasy to launch a thousand love stories, but Hollywood's latest rom-com oozes more than sentimental escapism.

Hollywood director Peter Weir made a surprise appearance at a court in the Cambodian capital on Thursday, testifying in the trial of a filmmaker accused of espionage, the latest twist in a case decried by rights groups as "bogus".

The reclusive British street artist Banksy has said in a bemused social media post he was not involved in a major exhibition of his works currently on display in Moscow.

The Detroit church once led by Aretha Franklin's father -- and where she first tested her remarkable voice -- filled with music once again Wednesday as dozens gathered for a prayer vigil for the ailing "Queen of Soul."

A US man accused of taking a pickaxe to President Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame justified his actions on Wednesday as he pleaded not guilty to a felony vandalism charge.

Madonna, the Queen of Pop, appears to have travelled to the former imperial city of Marrakech in western Morocco to celebrate her 60th birthday on Thursday.

Only weeks ago it would have seemed fanciful to draw a link between the fate of an American pastor in Turkey, a crisis between two NATO allies and turmoil on global financial markets.

Legendary Soviet children's writer and creator of the USSR's most popular cartoon characters Eduard Uspensky died in his home in the Moscow suburbs at the age of 80 late on Tuesday.

China appears to have halted approvals of new online game licences, with reports Wednesday that a government shake-up was causing paralysis in the world's biggest gaming market.

Isaac Hou is one of Taipei's best-known street artists, famous for his mesmerising acrobatics using a giant spinning hoop.

Actor Ethan Peck -- whose grandfather was Hollywood legend Gregory Peck -- has been cast as iconic half-Vulcan science officer Spock in CBS's "Star Trek: Discovery."

Ugandan musician and opposition lawmaker Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, was arrested Tuesday after an incident in which security officers shot his driver dead, a police spokesman said.

In a dusty Baghdad dance studio, conductor Mohammed Amin Ezzat tries to fire up the musicians of Iraq's National Symphony Orchestra, whose enthusiasm has been dampened by eight months without pay.

One of China's biggest and wealthiest film stars, actress Fan Bingbing, has disappeared from public view as authorities probe alleged tax evasion by entertainers, sparking growing fan speculation over her fate.

Music legend Aretha Franklin is gravely ill and reportedly receiving hospice care, friends of the singer said Monday, as prayers and well wishes poured in for the Grammy-winning "Queen of Soul."

"Fortnite" star Tyler "Ninja" Blevins on Monday defended not streaming video game play with women, saying it was to guard against marriage-wrecking rumors.

Billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday gave a trio of anti-tobacco crusaders $20 million to up their game against an industry aggressively marketing its deadly wares worldwide, especially in developing countries.

The North American box office was under attack from shark thriller "The Meg" over the weekend, industry data showed Monday, as it more than doubled the earnings of its closest competitor to claim top spot.

Hundreds of troops led a desperate operation to rescue families trapped by mounting floods in India's Kerala state Thursday as the death toll reached 106 with nearly 150,000 left homeless.

Visitors to a theme park in western France this week have a new attraction to enjoy: six crows that have been specially trained to pick up cigarette ends and rubbish.

First came the war, which developed into a brutal, bloody tussle between militias who abused civilians or killed them.

A state of emergency has been declared in Florida as the worst red tide in a decade blackens the ocean water, killing dolphins, sea turtles and fish at a relentless pace.

A new class of pesticides positioned to replace neonicotinoids may be just as harmful to crop-pollinating bees, researchers cautioned Wednesday.

The flood toll in India's southern tourist hotspot of Kerala jumped to 67 after another 25 deaths were reported Wednesday, with more than 50,000 people seeking shelter in relief camps, a state official told AFP.

British Columbia declared a province-wide state of emergency Wednesday as Canada's military joined firefighters in trying to douse 556 wildfires burning across the craggy region.

Canada announced plans Wednesday to phase out two pesticides widely applied to canola, corn and soybean crops in this country and linked to bee and now also aquatic insect deaths.

The number of days marked by potentially destructive ocean heatwaves has doubled in 35 years, and will multiply another five-fold at current rates of climate change, scientists warned Wednesday.

Manmade global warming and a natural surge in Earth's surface temperature will join forces to make the next five years exceptionally hot, according to a study published Tuesday.

Botanists have discovered a new species of orchid in Peru's central Amazonian rainforest, the country's national parks service announced Tuesday.

Bin bags at the ready, "long-distance activist" Mohamed Oussama Houij moves methodically along a beach in Tunisia's Mediterranean town of Nabeul, scooping up all kinds of trash as he goes along.

Burundi's president, Pierre Nkurunziza, has issued a decree banning the use of plastic bags in the small central African country within the next 18 months.

New Caledonia agreed Tuesday to tougher protections around a huge swathe of some of the world's last near-pristine coral reefs, in a move conservationists hailed as a major breakthrough.

Tech magnate Elon Musk's SpaceX vowed Monday to send its first astronauts into orbit on schedule next year -- part of a drive to restore America's dominance of the space race.

Scientists on Monday unveiled a previously unknown species of giant pterosaur, the first creatures with a backbone to fly under their own power.

France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, an environment ministry official said Sunday.

France plans to introduce a penalty system next year that would increase the costs of consumer goods with packaging made of non-recycled plastic, part of a pledge to use only recycled plastic nationwide by 2025, an environment ministry official said Sunday.

NASA on Sunday blasted off its first-ever spaceship to explore the Sun, the $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe, on a strategic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms.

The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal Sunday on the legal status of the inland sea which boasts a wealth of oil and gas reserves and sturgeon.

After his wheat crop failed and wells dried up, Ghulam Abbas sold his animals and joined thousands of other farmers migrating to cities as Afghanistan's worst drought in living memory ravages the war-torn country.

Standing outside their yellow hut on a ridge 3,200 metres (10,500 feet) above sea level, two French gendarmes peer through binoculars at a group of foreign climbers making their way across a scree-littered stretch on what has become one of the deadliest routes to the top of Mont Blanc.

Monsanto's German owners insisted Saturday that the weed killer Roundup was "safe," rejecting a California jury's decision to order the chemical giant to pay nearly $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that the product might cause cancer.

Flash floods in Kerala have killed 37 people and displaced around 36,000, Indian officials said Saturday, after heavy monsoons led to landslides and overflowing reservoirs across the southern state.

Glyphosate, the world's most widely used herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto's weedkiller Roundup, is the subject of fierce controversy all across the globe and is classified by the World Health Organization as "probably" being carcinogenic.

NASA postponed until Sunday the launch of the first ever spacecraft to fly directly toward the Sun on a mission to plunge into our star's sizzling atmosphere and unlock its mysteries.

Authorities battling massive wildfires in large swathes of California issued mandatory evacuation orders and health warnings Friday over the worsening air quality as the flames grew ever closer to populated areas.