KENYA: A lorry full of petroleum gas cylinders exploded on Thursday night, igniting a blaze that burned homes and warehouses and left three people dead, officials said today.

Another 280 people were hurt, 24 of them critically, after a huge fireball erupted from the storage depot in Nairobi. The death toll is expected to rise.

JAPAN: Residents of towns near nuclear power plants handed in a petition today asking the government to suspend preparations to restart shut-down reactors.