High winds have knocked down trees and caused widespread travel chaos

Passengers crowd in the central train station in Hamburg, Germany. Train connections in several German northern states were shut down because of a storm. Photo / AP

A partly damaged scaffold after the storm Herwart in Nuremberg, Germany. Photo / AP

Europe: High winds have knocked down trees and caused widespread travel chaos across much of central Europe, leaving five people dead and several injured. Storm Herwart, whose gusts reached 180 km/h, also caused electricity blackouts in hundreds of thousands of homes in the Czech Republic, Austria and other countries. A Lufthansa flight from Houston to Frankfurt made an emergency landing in Stuttgart because of the strong winds. Two people died in Poland, including a man who drove his car into a tree that had been knocked down by the storm. The second man was killed when a tree fell on his car. Two others were killed in the Czech Republic when they were hit by falling trees. A 63-year-old camper was swept away in a flash flood and drowned at Jadebusen in Germany. Train connections in several northern German states were shut down, including links to and from Berlin. In Hamburg, the Elbe River flooded a parking garage, the city's famous fish market and several streets.

Greece: Greek prosecutors say a 29-year-old man arrested in Athens has been charged with attempted murder against former Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. The suspect was charged with joining a terrorist group, Conspiracy Cells of Fire, assembling and posting a letter bomb to Papademos with the intention of killing him. He was charged with possession of firearms and explosives in order to commit terrorist acts and supply terrorist groups, forgery, theft and drug possession. Papademos, 70, the Prime Minister in 2011-12 and the deputy governor of the European Central Bank from 2002-2010, was seriously injured on May 25 when he opened a letter bomb. He was hospitalised for over a month.

Australia: A young Sydney man accused of planning a terrorist attack has pleaded guilty on the day he was expected to face trial. Tamim Khaja was arrested in May 2016 during a joint NSW and Federal Police operation for sizing up potential target buildings in Sydney. Khaja, who was aged 18 at the time of the offences, was expected to face trial at Parramatta Supreme Court but instead he entered a plea of guilty. The court heard Khaja, who is classified as one of the most high-risk prisoners, is to enter a de-radicalisation programme in jail.

Papua New Guinea: Australia is facing demands that it clarifies what it will do with hundreds of men who will be left in limbo when the Manus Island detention centre closes tomorrow. PNG Immigration Minister Petrus Thomas says Australia is responsible for people found not to be refugees, and refugees who were refusing to settle on Manus Island. "There has to be a clear understanding of what Australia will continue to do and support PNG in the next few months to deal with the remaining caseload," Thomas said.

An old bell that was removed is seen in foreground as people from various faiths including Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs ring the new bell at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Srinagar. Photo / AP

India: For the first time in five decades, a church bell has rung at the largest Catholic church in the main city of India's portion of Muslim-majority Kashmir. Members of Srinagar's tiny Christian community assembled at the 120-year-old Holy Family Catholic Church to celebrate the installation of the new bell weighing 105kg. The British-era church lost its original bell 50 years ago in an arson attack. Sydney Rath, a local Christian member of the church, said the bell was not installed all these years because "the community didn't have enough resources to order a new bell after its damage". Rath said one of the roughly 30 Christian families living in Srinagar donated the bell.

United States: Tropical Storm Philippe is pushing away into the open Atlantic, easing conditions in Florida and the Bahamas. The US National Hurricane Centre says the storm's centre was about 400km northeast of Freeport in the Bahamas.

Australia: Queensland Police used a mobile phone's GPS to track a man who allegedly embarked on a crime rampage in which he shot at a man southeast of Brisbane. The 30-year-old man remains in hospital after police allege he stole cars, broke into homes and fired a shot at a man trying to stop him in Redland Bay. A police helicopter tracked one stolen car using a mobile phone inside, before it crashed and rolled in Caboolture.

Somalia: The Somali Government has sacked two top security officials after yet another Islamist attack on a hotel in Mogadishu, which killed 29 people in a siege that lasted nearly 12 hours. The country's police commander, Abdihakin Dahir Saiid, and the director-general of the National Intelligence Security Agency, Abdullahi Mohamed Ali, were sacked the prime minister's office announced.

- agencies