BEIJING

More die in flash floods

Flash floods in western China killed seven people and authorities destroyed river dikes in the country’s sodden east to divert rising waters that threatened cities, officials and state media said Thursday.

With more heavy rain forecast, hundreds of thousands of people were guarding dikes on rivers and lakes in eastern and central China, news reports said. More than 600,000 people in the east have been evacuated from flooded villages or areas that local authorities will inundate to divert flood waters.

In South Asia, the annual rainy season also has been deadly.

Monsoons have caused nearly 200 deaths in Nepal, India and Bangladesh over the past month, officials said. Above, Sebat Ali Mondal carries a child through floodwaters at Kalair Char village, about 191 miles southwest of Gauhati, India.

Mexico

Volkswagen unveils last edition of old Beetle

Volkswagen on Thursday rolled out a final “retro” edition of its famed Beetle, above, the cult classic the company plans to stop producing later this summer.

Journalists and company officials gathered under a cavernous white tent to bid farewell to one of the most famous cars in history. Gleaming with chrome trim and sporting a CD player, the new bug was driven in by factory worker Armando Pasillas, who has worked at the plant since 1967 — three years after it opened in Mexico.

The plant in Puebla, 65 miles southeast of Mexico City, was the only place the Beetle was still being produced.

Spain

Nation opens first mosque in 500 years

The cry of a muezzin echoed from a hilltop overlooking the Alhambra as Spain got its its first new mosque since Muslim rule ended more than 500 years ago.

Dignitaries from Arab and Muslim countries worldwide gathered at the former seat of Moorish government for the opening Thursday of the Great Mosque of Granada, crowning a fitful and emotionally charged project that began in 1981.

With repeated shouts of “Allahu Akhbar” (God is great), Sheik Sultan bin Mohammed al-Qassimi of the United Arab Emirates, which paid half the cost of construction, drew back a blood-red curtain to display a stone plaque inaugurating the building.

Burundi

National curfew in place as fighting continues

Burundi’s government imposed a nationwide curfew Thursday as fighting between Hutu rebels and the Tutsi-dominated army continued for a fourth day in the capital of the central African nation.

At least three civilians were killed as rebels from the National Liberation Forces, or FNL, fired rockets and mortars into the capital and battled with army troops in Musaga, two miles south of the city center.

At the United Nations, the Security Council on Thursday called on the rebels to halt their offensive and enter serious negotiations with the government without delay.