Rare hurricane heads for Britain, Ireland

LISBON • Britain and Ireland yesterday braced themselves for a lashing from Ophelia, the largest hurricane recorded so far east in the Atlantic Ocean, after it dumped heavy rains on Portugal's Azores islands.

As the storm passed near the Azores archipelago last Saturday, it was classed Category 3, packing winds of at least 178kmh.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Death toll rises to 137 in Somalia bombing

MOGADISHU • Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed declared three days of national mourning and ordered flags flown at half-staff after a truck bombing, described as the deadliest in the nation's history, ripped through the capital of Mogadishu. The death toll from the blast last Saturday rose to 137, with more than 300 injured, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

BLOOMBERG

$13.5m offer for dirt on Trump

WASHINGTON • Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered US$10 million (S$13.5 million) in an advertisement in the Washington Post yesterday for dirt to help remove United States President Donald Trump from office. He has used million-dollar cash rewards before to elicit information that helped upend the careers of two Republican politicians.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Pope canonises 35 new saints

VATICAN CITY • Pope Francis canonised 35 new Roman Catholic saints yesterday, including three indigenous children martyred in 16th-century Mexico and considered the first Christians killed for their faith in the New World. He also announced the decision to call a meeting of bishops, or synod, from countries in the Pan-Amazon region for October 2019, to discuss the condition of the Church in the area and the plight of indigenous people.

REUTERS