While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Aug 18 edition

A selection of news stories that happened overnight, Aug 18, 2015.

Destroyed motorbikes are pictured at the scene of devastation after a bomb exploded outside a religious shrine in central Bangkok late on August 17, 2015 killing at least two people and wounding scores more. PHOTO: AFP

Bangkok blast: Shock and deja vu for foreigners, as Singapore issues travel advisory

Foreigners expressed alarm tinged with a sense of deja vu after a bomb tore through central Bangkok on Monday night in a devastating return of violence to the "Land of Smiles", as Singapore issued a travel advisory for the Thai capital.

At least 19 people were killed by the blast - including one Chinese and one Philippine national - while more than 120 were wounded, many of them tourists who were visiting a popular religious shrine that was the target of the attack.

Singapore's Embassy in Thailand and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) advised Singaporeans travelling to or residing in Thailand to avoid the vicinity for the time being.

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UN 'horror' as Syria air strikes kill nearly 100

The death toll in Syrian government air strikes on a rebel-held town outside Damascus neared 100 on Monday, with UN officials expressing horror at the "unacceptable" attack.

Sunday's series of raids on the town of Douma, in the rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta, was one of the bloodiest regime attacks in Syria's four-year war.

They came almost exactly two years after devastating chemical weapons attacks on the same region that much of the international community blamed on the Syrian government.

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Central Asian glaciers shrinking fast: study

Central Asian glaciers have melted at four times the global average since the early 1960s, shedding 27 percent of their mass, according to a study released Monday.

By 2050, warmer temperatures driven by climate change could wipe out half the remaining glacier ice in the Tien Shan mountain range, reported the study, published in Nature Geoscience.

At stake is a critical source of water for people in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as a section of northwest China.

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Quadruplets born to German mum, 65, to leave hospital soon: report

Highly premature quadruplets born to a 65-year-old German woman three months ago are doing well and will leave hospital in a few days, media reported Monday.

German commercial television station RTL presented what it called the first footage of Neeta, Dries, Bence and Fijon since they were born in May in the 26th week of pregnancy.

"We can see that the children are doing well. They feel good with their mother," said Christoph Buehrer, who heads neonatal services at the Charite hospital in Berlin where the infants have been treated since their birth.

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Drinking coffee could prevent colon cancer's return: study

Drinking four or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily may significantly reduce the chance that colon cancer will return in patients who were diagnosed with stage III of the disease, a study said Monday.

The study involved about 1,000 patients, all of whom had undergone surgery and chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer.

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Centre in Boston found that the greatest benefit was seen in those who drank four or more cups of coffee a day, for about 460 milligrams of caffeine.

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