ANI Fifteen people have died after an electricity transformer exploded on the banks of the Alaknanda river in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand. Authorities say a police official and five home guards are among those killed in the accident which took place in Chamoli district. The state’s chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, has ordered…

Warner Bros By Steven McIntosh Entertainment reporter Life in plastic is mostly fantastic according to many critics, who have broadly praised the Barbie movie. The much-publicised film is released this Friday – opposite Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer – and stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Empire said Barbie was “painfully funny”, while the Independent described it…

Reuters By Derek Cai & Thanyarat Doksone in Singapore & Bangkok Thai reformist Pita Limjaroenrat’s bid to be nominated prime minister has ended, prompting outrage from his supporters after he won May’s election. The 42-year-old was first dramatically suspended from parliament by the constitutional court, forcing him to leave the debating chamber. Lawmakers then agreed…

Reuters By Paul Kirby BBC News Russian missile attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast have destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain and damaged storage infrastructure, officials say. Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi said a “considerable amount” of export infrastructure was out of operation. Russia has pulled out of an international grain deal in place since last summer,…

One person was injured when a train crashed into a truck in central Java, Indonesia. The truck had broken down while crossing the tracks and its driver had gone to seek help. Authorities say the train was too close to be stopped and confirmed there were no casualties.

Getty Images By Annabelle Liang Business reporter Moscow has appointed a Chechen minister as the new head of yoghurt maker Danone’s Russian subsidiary. Yakub Zakriev, deputy prime minister and agriculture minister of Chechnya, has been installed after Russia seized control of the French firm’s business. Mr Zakriev is reportedly the nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan…

Australian sailor Tim Shaddock and his dog Bella have stepped back on to dry land after being lost at sea for two months. Sydney resident Mr Shaddock, 51, and his dog left Mexico for French Polynesia in April, but their boat was damaged by a storm several weeks later. The pair survived by eating raw…

Abandoned luggage and unexpected crowds – real-time cameras will use artificial intelligence (AI) to detect suspicious activity on the streets of Paris during next summer’s Olympics. But civil rights groups say the technology is a threat to civil liberties, as the BBC’s Hugh Schofield reports. “We are not China; we do not want to be…

Getty Images By Basillioh Rukanga BBC News, Nairobi Kenya is braced for the latest in a series of opposition protests against the rising cost of living and tax hikes, which have turned violent, with at least 24 people killed in recent months. During last year’s presidential election, James Wainaina, a taxi driver in the capital,…

Getty Images By Sanchia Berg BBC News Some of the greatest English poets of the 20th Century were ruled out by Downing Street as candidates for poet laureate, government files reveal. Names such as WH Auden, Philip Larkin and Robert Graves were passed over as being unsuitable. The job dates back to the 17th Century,…