A veteran Indian environmental activist died on Thursday, after a 15-week hunger strike aimed at protesting the state of the Ganges river, saying his death was part of his “final learning”.

Professor G D Agarwal, 86, a former environmental sciences professor, who adopted the spiritual name Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand in later life, had been fasting for 111 days demanding that the government tackle pollution and limit hydropower plans for the holy river. 

He had been consuming only water and honey from the beginning of his fast in June, then only water, which he stopped drinking this week.

In an impeccable, handwritten press release dated "Oct 11 2018: 06:45 A.M" Agarwal gave a valediction to his supporters and the country, describing how he had been picked up by police and forcibly hospitalised at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in the Himalayan town of Rishikesh, on Wednesday. 

He wrote: "The doctors at AIIMS were very supportive of my cause and my tapasya for conservation and rejuvenation of mother Gangaji.

"I have agreed to accept potassium being administered to me both orally and 500ml/day IV. I heartily thank AIIMS for their support to my cause of tapasya."

Tapasya is a Sanskrit word that has many meanings, and has no real translation into English, but in this context it means something along the lines of final learning or enlightenment.

Agarwal has been a leading figure in Indian ecology for decades, both as a scientist and in later years on the spiritual side – adopting a frugal, Ghandian lifestyle by wearing simple clothes and eating basic foods.

He was previously head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, in Kanpur. 

He served on the board of the National Ganga River Basin Authority and was the first member secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board. 

Agarwal’s demands included maintaining the environmental flow of the river to prevent pollution. In previous fasts and protests he managed to delay a dam building project and converted many politicians to environmentalism.

Agarwal, born in 1932 in Shanli, retired as a professor of environmental engineering from IIT in the 1980s and became a full-time activist.

Florida’s glittering Emerald Coast will be missing much of its lustre for the next few months in the wake of devastating Hurricane Michael, which scored a massive direct hit on the north-west part of the Sunshine State on Wednesday.

The fast-moving Category 4 storm – the third most powerful ever to make landfall on the United States – struck the coast just 30 miles east of the popular tourist destination of Panama City Beach, which had been largely evacuated ahead of the monster hurricane.

All non-essential travel to and from the area, also known as Florida’s Panhandle, has been suspended, but the busy cruise port of Tampa 250 miles to the south was able to breathe a sigh of relief as it largely avoided the worst effects of the storm.

Eight ships from Tampa, Miami and Galveston in Texas had to be re-routed from the path of Michael, but all three ports are operating normally again and each of Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line say passengers for the next cruises will not be affected.

The same will not be the case for the near 250-mile stretch of coastline from Panama City to Cedar Key, which attracts around 12 million visitors a year to its pristine white-sand beaches and clear, shallow emerald-green waters.

With winds of 155mph and a storm surge of almost 14 feet, the hurricane has left a trail of destruction more than 100 miles wide at its immediate point of impact and stretching in excess of 200 miles inland into southern Georgia, where it finally subsided into a rain-heavy tropical storm.

Florida governor Rick Scott had warned of “unimaginable devastation” from the approaching menace, and it looked like he was proved right on Thursday morning as the first rescue and repair crews arrived to assess the damage.

The small town of Mexico Beach – population 1,200 – took the full force of Michael and first reports indicated the community had been all but wiped out, with evacuated residents urged to stay well away from the area.

For the big tourist destination of Panama City Beach, it could be months before it is back on an even keel as the hurricane destroyed homes, businesses and resorts, uprooted thousands of trees, and tore down power lines across the region. On Saturday, some 253,000 homes were reported to be still without power as a result of the damage, but the neighbouring city resorts of Fort Walton and Destin just to the west expect to be open again this weekend. 

Officials in the state capital of Tallahassee, 100 miles to the north-east, insist it is too early to assess the full scale of the destruction, but TV pictures told a story of widespread wreckage along the coast and splintered trees almost everywhere, blocking roads and shutting down the four local airports.

The big tourist attraction of Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach was among the casualties, with extensive wind damage to some of its buildings, but all its animals were reported to be safe thanks to a skeleton staff who stayed behind to look after the six-acre facility.

The ultimate effect of Michael will take weeks to assess, but initial reports likened the ravages to that of Hurricane Andrew, which hit south Florida in 1992 causing $25billion in damages and took almost two years to rebuild from.

Florida is also still shaking off the effects of Hurricane Irma in some places, with several resorts in the Florida Keys only just open again almost a year after the Category 3 storm ripped through the area in September 2017.

The UK government has demanded China respect the autonomy of Hong Kong after Beijing banned a political party in the city that supports independence from China.

“We are concerned by the decision” of the government, the Foreign Office said in a statement. “The UK does not support Hong Kong independence, but Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and its rights and freedoms are central to its way of life, and it is important they are fully respected.”

The ban was instituted on Monday on the grounds that the Hong Kong National Party (HKNP) was found a threat to national security as Beijing continues to stamp out challenges to its sovereignty.

It is the first such ban on a political party since the former British colony was handed back to China by the UK in 1997. Police requested the ban in July under the Societies Ordinance, which allows groups to be prohibited in the interests of national security and public safety. 

Under the move, it is now illegal to be a party member, raise money for the group and to participate or act on behalf of the organization. Anyone in violation could face up to three years in prison and thousands in fines, according to a government notice posted online.

Pro-democracy demonstrations in the special administrative region in 2014 largely failed to usher in political reforms. Since then, activists have continued speaking out. However, pro-independence supporters have been barred from running for office, including Andy Chan, a founding member of HKNP. Others have been disqualified from the legislative council. 

The ban came one day after a controversial high-speed rail link opened connecting Beijing to Hong Kong, a move that also stoked concerns about the growing reach of China into the city diminishing its autonomy.

The death toll from a devastating 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday could rise to thousands, the country’s national disaster agency has warned. 

More than 400 people were confirmed dead in the city of Palu, where preparations for a beach festival had been underway as a towering wave of at least ten feet high barreled into the coastline. 

The terrifying moment was captured on a smartphone video that showed the wave crashing over and submerging one-storey buildings and cars by the beach as bystanders screamed and ran for cover. 

The casualty count “would be hundreds, if not thousands,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the disaster agency told The Telegraph. 

“Almost all the houses by the beach, shops, a hospital, hotels, have all fallen down. During the weekend they are all full of visitors,” he said. 

The Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Willem Rampangilei, told reporters in Sulawesi late on Saturday the death toll from Palu had reached 420 people, according to news website Kompas.

"It’s estimated that 10,000 refugees are scattered in 50 points in Palu city," he was quoted by Kompas as saying. "We are having difficulty deploying heavy equipment to find victims under the rubble of buildings because many of the roads leading to Palu city are damaged."

Amateur video footage showed trees, buildings and a communications tower being swept through a rural landscape. The landslide was caused by liquification of the soil, according BNPB’s Nugroho.

In a terrible twist of fate, an estimated 1,000 people, many of whom remain unaccounted for, had arrived to attend a cultural festival, which was due to be inaugurated on the beachfront by the tourism minister.

“About 250 local security personnel were on standby..and the beach was already full with festival-goers when the earthquake struck. People tried to run away from the beach, but not so many survived. They were caught by the water,” said Mr Sutopo. 

Sulawesi was hit by several earthquakes on Friday, including one of a 6.1 magnitude earlier in the day. 

According to the US Geological Survey, the strongest of 7.5 struck at a depth of 10km, 56km northeast of the coastal town of Donggala. Initial reports suggest it triggered an underwater avalanche that caused the tsunami.   

The Red Cross said staff and volunteers were heading to the affected areas.

"We’re now getting limited communications about the destruction in Palu city, but we have heard nothing from Donggala and this is extremely worrying. There are more than 300,000 people living there," Red Cross said in a statement.

"This is already a tragedy, but it could get much worse."

With desperation rising on Sunday, looters were stealing items from a badly damaged shopping mall. 

People were clambering over wreckage to reach goods while people were reportedly still trapped inside. 

One eyewitness called Adam told the Kompas.com website that people had panicked and tried to flee after the first earthquake hit.

“After that, we saw water suddenly crashing, and finally there was a big panic. Not having time to escape, there was a bigger earthquake, and suddenly the water rose," he said.

Shocking images of destruction in Palu emerged quickly on social media, showing split roads, collapsed homes, mosques and supermarkets which had been crowded with shoppers before disaster struck. 

The most tragic pictures revealed partially covered bodies, and the silhouette of a man carrying a dead child through the wreckage. Hundreds of injured are being treated outside and in makeshift tents in field hospitals.  

But with communications and electricity down in much of Sulawesi, the full extent of the damage and loss of human lives remains unclear. Rescuers are still struggling to get to the stricken area, and have not yet been able to reach the worst-hit towns, including Donggala.

The military is deploying troops to both Palu and Donggala but rescue efforts have been hampered by severe damage to the control tower and runway at Palu airport. 

In an act of selfless heroism, Anthonius Gunawan Agung, 21, an air traffic controller, lost his life after refusing to leave the shaking tower because he was guiding an aircraft during take-off.  

As his colleagues ran out of the building Mr Agung calmly remained at his station to ensure the plane left safely.

According to Mr Sutopo, his last words were “Safe flight Batik Air, take care” as the plane soared into the sky, its passengers and crew unaware that they had narrowly escaped a major earthquake. 

Mr Agung died on Saturday from injuries sustained after jumping from the four-storey tower as it collapsed. 

Speaking afterwards to the local media, Captain Ricosetta Mafella, said he had been initially confused by the bumpy take-off as plane was shaking left and right, but he had assumed it was the result of an uneven runway.  

“I was focussing on getting airborne, so I didn’t pay too much attention to the ground,” he said. As he ascended, Mr Mafella tried to contact air traffic control and was perplexed to receive no answer from Mr Agung. 

From the air, he noticed unusual waves rolling into Palu, but it was only later that he discovered he had made a dramatic take-off at the start of an earthquake. 

Palu’s airport halted operations for 24 hours due to earthquake damage, according to AirNav, which oversees airline traffic in Indonesia.

Mirza Arisam, a resident of Kendari, the capital of neighboring Southeast Sulawesi, said his uncle and his family of five, including three children, were on holiday in Palu and he has been unable to contact them since the tsunami hit.

In Palu’s Roa-Roa Hotel, which was completely flattened by the quake, many people were still missing.

"Communication is cut off. All we knew is that 24 guests were successfully evacuated and one has died," hotel owner Ko Jefry told Metro TV on Saturday night. "It is estimated that 50 to 60 people remain trapped."

Mr Nugroho tweeted a video the rescue and recovery effort being conducted there on Sunday.

After the quake struck, television footage showed people running into the streets. Women and children wailed hysterically in a video distributed by the disaster agency, which also released a photo showing a heavily damaged department store.

"It was so strong. The strongest I ever felt. We all ran out of buildings," said Yanti, a 40-year-old housewife in Donggala who goes by a single name.

"All the things in my house were swaying," another Donggala resident, Mohammad Fikri, said of the earlier 6.1 quake.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said U.N. officials were in contact with Indonesian authorities and "stand ready to provide support as required."

Rolex Mahala, Chief Correspondent of Antara Newswire in Palu, described the aftermath of the earthquake as terrifyingly chaotic.

“I heard people shouting: “Go to higher ground… go to higher ground. Don’t stay, there might be a tsunami!” 

“My family and I fled up a hill in the dark. I stumbled a lot, my grandchildren were crying, but we kept walking. I later tried to get them to sleep, while I kept watch in the middle of the night,” said Mr Rolex.

Major Edy Harahap, the Deputy Commander of Military District Command in Palu was assigned to help the rescue effort at Talise Beach, where the cultural festival was taking place.

But the area was difficult to access because of debris from wrecked buildings and bodies. While he was formulating a plan, he heard a voice calling out to him: “Commander, help me, help me!”

A young boy of about ten years old was crying to him from the roof of a hut. The child told him he had been playing on the beach with his friends when the tsunami approached.

“Suddenly a big wave came in our direction. So I ran away, but I was thrown onto that roof. I tried to shout for help, but there was no one yesterday. I tried to call my friends too, but no one answered me,” the boy said.

The officer fears that many street vendors, attracted by the festival, would have been swept out to sea, as well as children, especially girls, who had come to perform dances.

President Joko Widodo is scheduled to visit evacuation centres in Palu on Sunday.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

The US is halting visas for same-sex partners of diplomats, raising concerns among LGBTQ activists who fear it will cause problems for foreign representatives.

Under the State Department’s new requirements, the US will only recognise marriages, rather than same-sex partnerships, when granting diplomatic visas to partners.

The change, which came into effect on Monday, impacts the partners of United Nations officials, ambassadors, embassy staff and foreign military stationed in the US.

Those affected have until the end of the year to get married or their partners risk having to leave the country within 30 days.

A US official said that some 105 families currently residing in America would be impacted. 

But the official denied the move was “punitive” or an “attack”, saying it was needed to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court decision to legalise same-sex marriage in 2015. 

The state department official said the policy was needed to ensure consistent treatment with opposite-sex partners, who must marry to qualify for the diplomatic visas.

Officials also noted that the requirement would align the policy to that which applies to US diplomats abroad.

However, there are concerns about the implications of the new requirements for diplomats from countries that do not recognise same-sex marriages.

Currently less than 10 per cent of UN nations have legally recognised same-sex marriage.

"What I’m worried about is those staff members who have difficulties going to a country that performs same-sex marriages … in order to fufill this requirement," Alfonso Nam, the president of the UN LGBTQI advocacy organization UN-GLOBE, told CNN.

"The reality is that the difference between being in a heterosexual couple and being in a same-sex relationship is that heterosexual couples have an incredible number of choices of where they can get married. 

"That is a choice that is very limited for people in same-sex relationships."

A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Washington said: “We are currently examining the US policy and its potential impact on all UK diplomats.

"The UK’s commitment to LGBT equality at home and internationally is resolute and we will continue to work with governments and civil society to promote diversity and prevent discrimination on any grounds.”

The US began accepting same-sex domestic partners as family members when granting certain diplomatic visas in 2009. But under the new guidelines, officials will only accept legally married spouses when granting derivative visas. 

Officials said there would be some exemptions for diplomats on A-1 or A-2 visas from countries where same-sex marriage is not legal, but not for those holding UN-related visas.

"If a diplomat is representing a country where same-sex marriage is not legal, but which does recognize and accredit US same-sex diplomatic spouses, that diplomat’s domestic partner may still be eligible for a derivative visa," a US official said.

"Officers and employees of a designated International Organisation (G-4 visa holders), such as the United Nations, are not representing a foreign government when working for the International Organisation. 

"Therefore, the change in policy affects all same-sex domestic partners of international organization personnel, with no exceptions," they said.

A New York judge on Thursday dismissed one of the six criminal charges against movie producer Harvey Weinstein after prosecutors said they could not oppose the dismissal in light of information they had learned while investigating the case.

The dismissed charge concerns an alleged sexual assault of an aspiring actress by Weinstein in 2004. Five other charges, involving alleged assaults of two other women, remain in the case in Manhattan criminal court. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he would seek dismissal of the remaining charges as well. He also said that he would investigate what he described as "perjury" before the grand jury that indicted Weinstein, and the conduct of a New York City police detective involved in the case.

The woman who accused Weinstein of assaulting her in 2004, Lucia Evans, told the New Yorker in October 2017 that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him when she was a 21-year-old college student.

"I want to be very clear that prosecutor’s decision to abandon my client’s claims does not invalidate the truth of her claims," Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer for Evans, told reporters outside the courthouse following Thursday’s hearing.

Following the hearing, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance made public a letter it had sent to Brafman last month disclosing that an unnamed witness had told them that she had heard an account of the alleged assault from Evans that was different from the one Evans originally gave to Vance’s office.

Vance’s office also learned that the witness had given the account to a New York City police detective, who failed to inform the prosecutors, according to the letter.

Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone following accusations by more than 70 women, mostly young actresses and other women employed in the movie business, of sexual misconduct, including rape, dating back decades.

The accusations led to the #MeToo movement in which hundreds of women publicly accuse powerful men in business, politics and entertainment of sexual harassment and abuse.

As the accusations against Weinstein mounted, his company Weinstein Co fired him and filed for bankruptcy, and he was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Through his company and Miramax, Weinstein won plaudits and awards for movies including "Shakespeare in Love," "Pulp Fiction" and "The King’s Speech." (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York Editing by S