Rescuers waded through piles of debris and wreckage to pull out bodies and free people on Saturday after two passenger trains derailed in India, killing more than 280 people. Hundreds of others were trapped inside more than a dozen mangled rail cars overnight in one of the country's deadliest train crashes in decades.

The accident, which happened about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata on Friday night, led to a chaotic scene as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to free survivors.

Iran has released one Danish and two Austrian citizens, the European countries said, thanking Oman and Belgium for their help in getting the trio freed.

The first 2024 Republican presidential debate will be held Aug. 23, the Republican National Committee announced Friday, with a second debate the following night should it be needed.

The RNC also detailed the criteria that will be used for candidates to qualify for the debate stage, including a pledge to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. That requirement could keep some candidates off the stage, including former President Donald Trump, who hasn't committed to supporting the nominee if he doesn't emerge from the primary. Trump also has questioned why he would participate since he holds a commanding lead in GOP primary polls.

A California bill that would force Big Tech companies to pay media outlets for posting and using their news content cleared another critical hurdle Thursday.

The measure is among hundreds of bills that passed in the state Senate and Assembly this week before Friday — the last day a bill can pass out of its original chamber and get a chance to become law later this year.

Ten-year-old Maholo Terajima Ghnassia loves watching anime and playing baseball. He likes making beats and whisper ASMR. And he's breaking conventions in Japan's 420-year-old Kabuki theater tradition.

In Kabuki, all the roles are played by men, including beautiful princesses — a role Maholo accomplishes stunningly in his official stage debut as Maholo Onoe at the Kabuki Theater in downtown Tokyo. In the performance, which ran May 2 through 27 to full audiences, he starts out disguised as a woman, dancing gracefully, before transforming into sword-wielding warrior Iwami Jutaro. He then makes a quick costume change right there on the stage, all while delivering singsong lines in a clear resonating voice unaided by a microphone.

Debt-stricken Sri Lanka, which declared bankruptcy last year, is showing signs of economic improvement but its recovery still faces challenges, the International Monetary Fund said Friday.

The Indian Ocean island nation declared bankruptcy in April 2022 and said it was suspending repayment of its foreign debt. It reached an agreement with the IMF in March on a nearly $3 billion bailout program over four years.

The United Nations warned Friday that far too little aid is reaching cyclone-hit areas of Myanmar and the country could face a major food crisis soon if farmers are unable to plant crops.

Cyclone Mocha struck the western state of Rakhine and nearby regions last month, killing hundreds of people and damaging thousands of dwellings.

Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors.

The find announced would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.

Despite weeks of negotiations, the White House and House Republicans were unable to reach a comprehensive agreement to overhaul environmental regulations and streamline federal permitting as part of their debt ceiling deal, instead settling for limited changes that could simplify and expedite some project reviews.

The legislation, approved late Wednesday by the House, includes provisions to speed up infrastructure projects under the landmark National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. However, it does not clear the way to build large-scale electricity transmission lines, instead ordering a two-year study of the issue.

Arizona will not approve new housing construction on the fast-growing edges of metro Phoenix that rely on groundwater thanks to years of overuse and a multi-decade drought that is sapping its water supply.

In a news conference Thursday, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the restrictions that could affect some of the fastest-growing suburbs of the nation's fifth-largest city.