The Australian Senate on Wednesday appointed its first female Muslim member, Mehreen Faruqi, even as the country was caught up in a bitter row over racism.

At least 25 people were killed in a suicide bombing inside an education academy here on Wednesday, officials said.

Australian Senator Fraser Anning on Wednesday compared Muslims with "poisonous jelly beans", following his "racist" maiden speech in the Senate seeking immigration restrictions based on race.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif celebrated the nation's Independence Day in the Rawalpindi Central Jail on Tuesday with other inmates, the media reported on Wednesday.

At least 10 elderly women died early on Tuesday in a fire at a nursing home in the Chilean town of Chiguayante, officials said.

At least five people were killed and three others injured on Tuesday in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district in firing at a Jirga - a tribal court - convened over a motorbike accident.

A man was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a car crashed into a number of cyclists and pedestrians before hitting security barriers outside the UK Parliament on Tuesday, the police said.

A section of a highway bridge in the Italian city of Genoa collapsed during heavy rain on Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and injuring five, officials said.