'Cringe-worthy' candidates fail to connect and convince

Days after explosive revelations about Donald Trump's derogatory comments about women and Hillary Clinton's closed-door speeches to banking executives, some people who watched the US presidential debate on Sunday night were so disgusted they said they wouldn't vote or were weighing a third-party candidate or write-in option.

Death toll in Haiti rises to almost 900

Hurricane Matthew slammed into South Carolina on Saturday, packing a diminished yet still potent punch after killing almost 900 people in Haiti and causing major flooding and widespread power outages as it skirted Florida and Georgia.

Police hunt for Syrian after explosives found in flat

German police stepped up security at airports and train stations on Sunday as they pressed a nationwide manhunt for a Syrian man suspected of plotting a bomb attack.

Couples overcome tough obstacles in wife-carrying competition

Carrying your wife over the threshold means good luck in your new marriage.

Arab coalition to probe funeral carnage

The Saudi-led coalition fighting rebels in Yemen said on Sunday it will investigate an air raid that killed more than 140 people, after Washington announced it was reviewing support for the alliance.

IN BRIEF (Page 10)

Trump and Republicans in crisis over his lewd talk

Donald Trump's lewd videotaped remarks about women threw his White House campaign and the Republican Party into crisis, just a month from the election and on the eve of his second debate with rival Hillary Clinton.

Rival Syria resolutions by West and Russia defeated

Rival resolutions on Syria backed by the West and Russia were defeated in the UN Security Council on Saturday, offering no relief to the besieged city of Aleppo and leaving the key powers even more divided over a course of action in the war-ravaged country.

15 years on, war still defies US timelines

Fifteen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, President Barack Obama and the American military have dug in for a long campaign that defies rigid timelines and easy barometers of victory.

Hopes for revival pinned on old palace restoration

After years of abandonment, the ruined Darul Aman palace in Kabul, one of the most recognizable symbols of Afghanistan's decades of war, is to be restored in a project authorities hope will come to symbolize revival instead of destruction.

Illegal ivory shipment seized, second in a week

Around 2 metric tons of ivory hidden in a timber shipment has been seized in Vietnam, an official said on Friday, the second large haul of the illegally-trafficked product in a week.

UN body tells Saudis to protect children

A UN human rights watchdog called on Saudi Arabia on Friday to end "severe" discrimination against girls and to repeal laws that allow the stoning, amputation, flogging and execution of children.