Fireworks accident at temple in India kills more than 100

The Hindu temple in southern India was packed with thousands for a religious festival early Sunday when the fireworks began — an unauthorized pyrotechnic display that went horribly wrong.

Explosions and a massive fire swept rapidly through the Puttingal temple complex about 3 a.m. in the village of Paravoor, killing 102 people and injuring 380 others, officials said.

India's central bank cuts key lending rate to 6.5 percent

India's central bank on Tuesday cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point and hinted at other measures to boost liquidity and spur economic growth.

The Reserve Bank of India reduced its repo rate to 6.5 percent. This is the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks.

The cut takes interest rates to their lowest level in five years and aims to boost the economy by lowering the cost of borrowing. It also comes as inflation has eased.

Panama lawyers at center of offshore scandal make odd couple

The lawyers at the center of an uproar over the hidden financial dealings of the world's wealthy are an odd pairing of a German-born immigrant and a prize-winning Panamanian novelist whose books sometimes mirror the seedy world of politics he's come across in his work.

In a nation that for decades has been tainted by allegations of money laundering on behalf of drug traffickers and corrupt oligarchs, the polyglot lawyers who founded the Mossack-Fonseca law firm established themselves as the leaders among a plethora of firms in Panama dedicated to creating shell companies to stash wealth overseas.

Philippines launches world's first mass dengue vaccination

The Philippines on Monday launched the first public immunization program for dengue fever, seeking to administer to a million schoolchildren the world's first licensed vaccine against a mosquito-borne disease that the World Health Organization estimates infects 390 million people a year globally.

Hundreds of fourth-graders at a public school in metropolitan Manila's Marikina city were given the first of three shots of Dengvaxia. Some of the pupils received their vaccination shot under the glare of cameras during a festive ceremony at a gymnasium festooned with multicolored bunting and preceded by songs and dances performed by the children.

Vietnam elects police chief to No. 2 post of president

Vietnam's police chief was elected Saturday by the National Assembly to become president — the second-highest post — and promised to "resolutely" protect the country's sovereignty amid an ongoing territorial dispute with longtime rival China.

Public Security Minister and police general Tran Dai Quang, 59, received 436 votes from 465 assembly members who cast their votes, the Communist government said on its website.

Indian police quiz company officials after overpass collapse

Indian police are investigating possible murder charges against 10 construction company employees who have been either arrested or detained in connection with the collapse of an unfinished overpass in Kolkata that killed at least 24 people, officials said Saturday.

Rescuers continued clearing rubble from the scene of Thursday's accident. Some 67 people have been pulled out alive, but rescuers doubted more survivors would be found.

Indian rescuers dig through overpass debris after 23 die

Using saws, small cranes and bare hands, rescuers searched for survivors Friday under the crumbled concrete and twisted steel from an overpass that collapsed onto a crowded Kolkata neighborhood, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 80.

With more than half the debris cleared by Friday morning, 67 people have been pulled out alive, Kolkata police Sgt. P. Chakraborty said. But more people were still feared trapped. It was not clear how many are missing.