INDIA: Schools, colleges and government offices were shut today in parts of southern India as heavy monsoon rains triggered severe flooding.

The worst-hit cities included Chennai and Bengaluru, the country’s industrial and information technology hubs. 

The north-east monsoon has brought heavy rains to coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and southern Karnataka state. At least 33 people died last month in rain and floods.

NIGERIA: More than 100 people have been killed and 50 others injured after a petrol tanker overturned in Nigeria and sparked an explosion as dozens of people rushed to the vehicle to scoop up the fuel, police said today.

The explosion occurred past midnight in Jigawa state after the tanker driver lost control of the vehicle while travelling on a highway close to a university, police spokesperson Lawan Adam said.

GREECE: At least one man has died and two were missing after a wooden boat carrying 100 migrants sank south of the small southern Greek island of Gavdos today, Greece’s coast guard said.

Some 97 people were rescued by a passing cargo ship, authorities said.

The boat sank about 25 miles south of Gavdos, the coast guard said. Survivors reported that three men were still missing.

KENYA: Deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, who faces impeachment, pleaded not guilty today to all allegations including corruption, inciting ethnic divisions and support for anti-government protests that saw demonstrators storm the country’s parliament.

Mr Gachagua, who has called the allegations politically motivated, could be the first sitting deputy president impeached in Kenya.

The senate requires a two-thirds majority to approve the impeachment motion.