FRANCE: A Paris appeals court ruled former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was set to be released from prison yesterday afternoon and placed under judicial supervision, less than three weeks after he began serving a five-year sentence over a scheme to finance his 2007 election campaign with funds from Libya.

Mr Sarkozy will be banned from leaving the French territory and from being in touch with co-defendants and witnesses in the case, the court said. 

PHILIPPINES: Typhoon Fung-wong blew out of the north western Philippines yesterday after setting off floods and landslides, knocking out power to entire provinces, killing at least four people and displacing more than 1.4 million others.

Fung-wong slammed ashore in north eastern Aurora province on Sunday night as a super typhoon with sustained winds of up to 115 mph and gusts of up to 143 mph.

INDIA: A car exploded near the historic Red Fort in India’s capital yesterday, killing at least eight people, injuring several others and triggering a fire that damaged several vehicles parked nearby, New Delhi police said.

The blast was reported near one of the gates of the Red Fort metro station. The cause of the explosion remained unclear.

Sanjay Tyagi, a spokesman for the city’s police force, said: “We are investigating the cause of the blast.”

RUSSIA: President Vladimir Putin will visit India before the end of 2025, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday.

He said: “We are currently actively preparing for President Putin’s visit to India, which is planned before the end of the year. We hope it will be a meaningful visit.”