Gunmen attack American university in Kabul, students flee
Suspected militants stormed the Kabul campus of the American University of Afghanistan with some students jumping from second floor windows to escape the gunfire and explosions, witnesses and officials said.
Foreign staff and dozens of pupils were trapped in the compound hours after the attack began at about 6.30pm (10pm Singapore time).
News of casualties was sketchy, but the head of hospitals in the Afghan capital said at least one person had been killed and 14 students wounded in the assault.
"Many students jumped from the second floor, some broke their legs and some hurt their head trying to escape," Abdullah Fahimi, a student who escaped, told Reuters.
Habitable planet found in solar system next door
Scientists announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the star nearest our Sun, opening up the glittering prospect of a habitable world that may one day be explored by robots.
Named Proxima b, the planet is in a "temperate" zone compatible with the presence of liquid water - a key ingredient for life.
The findings, based on data collected over 16 years, were reported in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.
Hostage taker at Moscow bank turns himself in
A man who took four people hostage at a bank in central Moscow later surrendered to police, local authorities said.
Russian special forces were deployed to the Citibank branch, located just one kilometre away from the Kremlin, after reports that a man had seized four hostages - three bank employees and one customer.
An unnamed source in law enforcement told Russian news agencies that the hostage taker was apparently drunk and had threatened to blow up the bank.
Being overweight linked to eight more kinds of cancer
Being overweight can raise the likelihood of being diagnosed with cancers of the stomach and digestive tract, as well as certain brain and reproductive tumours, international researchers said.
A report in the New England Journal of Medicine adds eight more kinds of cancer to the list of those already known to be more likely among overweight people.
The previous list included colon, oesophagus, kidney, breast and uterine cancer. Now, stomach, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, ovary and thyroid cancers, as well as a type of brain tumour known as meningioma and the blood cancer multiple myeloma, have been added.
US Olympic swimmer James Feigen apologises for Rio scandal
US swimmer James Feigen apologised for his actions with three other gold medalists in a controversial incident during the Rio Olympics.
Feigen recounted what had happened in events that began on Aug 14, when he and Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Ryan Lochte stopped at a gas station after leaving a party in the wee hours of the morning.
Lochte, who has since taken full responsibility for giving a false account of how they had been robbed at gunpoint, has lost sponsorship deals from companies such as swimwear maker Speedo over the scandal.
