INDIA: A stampede among thousands of people at a religious gathering in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh state killed at least 60 and left scores injured, officials said today, adding that many women and children were among the dead and the toll could rise.

People had rushed to leave a makeshift tent following an event with Hindu figure Bhole Baba, local media reported, citing authorities in Hathras district who said heat and suffocation inside could have been a factor.

CARIBBEAN SEA: Hurricane Beryl roared across open waters today as a category five storm on a path that would take it near Jamaica and the Cayman Islands after making landfall in the south-east Caribbean, killing at least four people.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, Cayman Brac and for Haiti’s entire southern coast.

VENEZUELA: The government plans to resume talks with the US this week, President Nicolas Maduro has announced, less than a month before his country holds a key election.

Mr Maduro, who is seeking a third term in the July 28 vote, wants the US to lift economic sanctions imposed in the last decade in an effort to topple him.

He said on Monday that he had decided to accept a US proposal made two months ago.

ITALY: Archaeologists have found the remains of an ancient wall built to trap the forces of Spartacus, the escaped former Roman gladiator who led history’s most celebrated slave revolt.

The wall was found in a mountainous area of south-central Calabria in southern Italy, where Spartacus and his forces fled in 71 BC in their efforts to escape to Sicily.