Mudslide in Brazil resort kills at least 15 people

At least 15 people have been killed and 10 injured by a mudslide in a Brazilian island resort, say officials.

The mud destroyed three houses and an upmarket lodge on Ilha Grande, Angra dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro.

More than 40 people have now died in a series of landslides in and around Rio in the past two days.

Fire department commander Pedro Machado told local media the mud probably hit as tourists returned to their rooms after New Year's Eve celebrations.

Mr Machado said about 100 people, including police and navy boats, were searching for survivors.

The resort can only be reached by boat.

Witnesses told reporters the houses and the Sankay lodge had been hit by a piece of the hillside measuring some 300m across.

Wooden sections of the lodge could be seen floating close to the shore and on the beach, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The lodge, which has capacity for 50 people, was reported to be full at the time, AP said.

Other landslides in Angra dos Reis killed seven people early on Friday.

On Thursday at least 19 people died as heavy rains triggered mudslides in Rio de Janeiro state.

Officials said most of those deaths occurred as shanties collapsed under mud or rain in the greater Rio city area.

Blast in Pakistan-administered Kashmir kills five

A suspected suicide bomb attack on a Shia Muslim gathering in Pakistan-administered Kashmir has left five people dead, officials say.

The blast in Muzaffarabad came as Shia Muslims commemorated the festival of Ashura that mourns the 7th-Century death of Imam Hussein.

More than 60 people were reported to have been injured in the blast.

Pakistan's security forces were on high alert fearing sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni Muslims.

The attacker detonated his explosives as police tried to search him at a checkpoint set up outside the gathering, a police spokesman told the Associated Press news agency.

Bridge collapse in western India 'kills 40'

The collapse of a bridge being built in western India is feared to have left some 40 people dead, local police say.

Dozens of labourers working on the bridge are thought to have fallen into the river Chambal when it collapsed late on Thursday.

Rescuers have recovered 12 bodies but there is little hope of finding anyone else alive, a senior officer said.

The accident happened near the town of Kota, some 170 miles (270 km) west of Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Police Inspector General Rajeev Dasot said an inquiry had begun into the circumstances leading to the collapse of the bridge, which is being jointly built by South Korea's Hyundai Engineering and Gammon India.

Mr Dasot said it could take another three days to clear all the debris, AP news agency reported.

The government has ordered an investigation and police have arrested two project managers.

Correspondents say construction site accidents are relatively common in India, where health and safety rules are often overlooked.

Pakistani air strike kills 10 in tribal area

Pakistani fighter jets have targeted suspected militant hideouts in the Orakzai tribal agency, south-west of Peshawar, killing at least 10 people.

Officials say the dead were militants, but eyewitnesses told the BBC the bombs destroyed the home of a tribal chief, killing three women and four children.

Pakistani troops have been engaged in an major offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, further south.

The army believes many insurgents fled from there to areas such as Orakzai.

A number of air strikes have targeted militant targets in Orakzai in recent weeks.

The UN says more than 40,000 civilians have left their homes in Orakzai and are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Afghanistan suicide bomber kills eight in Kandahar

A suicide bomber in a horse-drawn cart has killed eight people in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, police say.

Police officers apparently tried to stop the bomber but he was able to detonate his explosives near a hotel and local government office.

Five of the dead were in a nearby car, with three pedestrians also killed. The care was destroyed, leading police to initially think the bomb was inside it.

Previous attacks in Kandahar province have been blamed on Taliban insurgents.

Security guards at the hotel became suspicious of the man and ordered him to stop.

Reports said he was fired on by the guards.

The target of the bombing was not immediately known, said deputy provincial police chief Fazel Ahmad Sharzad.

Europe cold snap kills dozens across continent

Dozens of people have died across Europe as days of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures swept the continent, causing traffic chaos for millions.

At least 29 people froze to death in Poland as temperatures fell far below freezing, while in southern Germany a figure of -33C (-27F) was recorded.

Moscow said it was deploying 9,000 snow ploughs to clear the city's streets.

Air, rail and road transport links were disrupted across northern Europe where more snow was expected in coming days.

Eurostar services between the UK and the continent were suspended on Monday for a third day, as the company launched an immediate review into train breakdowns which have stranded and delayed tens of thousands of passengers since Friday.

'Saturation point'

The crisis prompted French President Nicolas Sarkozy to call the head of national rail carrier SNCF - the majority stakeholder in Eurostar - to order a normal resumption of service by Tuesday.

Meanwhile Eurotunnel - which carries vehicles under the Channel between England and France - said its terminal at Folkestone was at "saturation point" and closed its shuttle car service to new arrivals.

In Poland, police appealed for people to help if they came across homeless or drunk people lying outside, as temperatures dropped towards -20C in some areas.

Most of the 42 people who froze to death in the country over the weekend were homeless, police said.

Meanwhile, one restaurant owner offered tens of thousands of homeless people a hot meal in Krakow's main square.

"The food is not the only important thing," restaurateur Janusz Kosciuszko was quoted as telling Euronews.

"What is also important is that these people know that someone is thinking about them."

Treacherous travel conditions on roads and railway lines caused a spike in accidents across the continent, with several people reportedly killed in accidents in Austria and Germany.

Fifty people were injured when a train hit a buffer in the Croatian city of Zagreb, while 36 were injured when a passenger train derailed in Paris.

Parts of the continent saw 20in (50cm) of snow over the weekend.

In France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, airport operators struggled to clear runways amid thick snowfall, with major disruption to flight patterns.

In France, a second wave of snowstorms hit the country's north on Sunday with Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport warning as many as one in five flights was likely to be cancelled on Monday.

Germany's third largest airport - in Dusseldorf - was also closed because of Sunday's heavy snow.

In Belgium, the three biggest airports - Brussels, Charleroi and Liege - were completely shut. Severe delays and cancellations were reported at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

Temperatures were forecast to rise later in the week.