Category: News

RIO DE JANEIRO — At least 22 people were killed in a road accident in southeastern Brazil on Saturday, said the fire department.

The accident occurred early morning in the municipality of Teofilo Otoni in Brazil’s state of Minas Gerais.

The driver lost control of a bus after its tire burst, and the bus collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction, according to the authorities.

Moments later, a car traveling behind the bus crashed into it. The collision sparked a fire that engulfed the bus, firefighters said.

The number of the injured remains unknown.

XINHUA

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan militants launched a brazen overnight raid on an army post near the Afghan border, two intelligence officials said Saturday, killing 16 soldiers and critically wounding five more.

“Over 30 militants attacked an army post” in the Makeen area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, one senior intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

“Sixteen soldiers were martyred and five were critically injured in the assault.”

“The militants set fire to the wireless communication equipment, documents and other items present at the checkpoint,” he said, before retreating from the two-hour assault which took place 40 kilometers (24 miles) from the Afghan border.

A second intelligence official also anonymously confirmed the same toll of dead and wounded.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement it was staged “in retaliation for the martyrdom of our senior commanders.”

AN-AFP

ABUJA — At least 10 people, including children, were killed in a stampede during a relief item distribution at a local church in the Maitama district of Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on Saturday, local authorities said.

A church official said that an unspecified number of individuals were also injured when the distribution of relief items, including food and clothing ahead of Christmas celebrations, turned chaotic Saturday morning at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama.

Padre Mike Nsikak Umoh, spokesperson for the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, said the event attracted more than 3,000 people from nearby villages and low-income suburbs. Following the “tragic incident,” the “palliative distribution” was suspended, he said.

According to witnesses, at least seven women and children were among the victims recovered from the scene. Many attendees had reportedly arrived as early as 4:00 a.m. local time, despite the event being scheduled to start between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday.

In the aftermath of the stampede, security operatives, including secret police and military personnel, were deployed to restore order, disperse the crowd, and secure the area.

Neither the government nor security agencies have yet commented on the tragedy.

XINHUA

TEHRAN — At least 10 people were killed and 17 others injured on Saturday as a bus plunged into a ravine in the western Iranian province of Lorestan, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Just after noon, the provincial emergency medical services (EMS) received the report of the incident, which occurred on an intercity road in Poldokhtar County, Fars said, citing Ali Mohammadi, public relations director of the EMS organization.

Nine of the victims died at the scene, while another was pronounced dead at the hospital, Mohammadi said, adding all the injured have been transferred to medical centers.

The EMS official noted that the bus with conscripts onboard was traveling from the southwestern province of Khuzestan to the western province of Kermanshah.

Chief of Lorestan Traffic Police Mohammad Zarei attributed the road accident to speeding and the driver’s failure to control the bus, which carried 27 people.

XINHUA

BERLIN — At least five people were killed and over 200 others injured after a car rammed into a large crowd at a German Christmas market in the central German city of Magdeburg Friday evening, German news agency dpa reported Saturday, citing State Premier Reiner Haseloff.

“We have five deaths and over 200 injuries, many of them serious and severe,” Haseloff said, noting that the toll was far worse than initially thought when the incident occurred.

A car plowed through a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday evening. German authorities are investigating a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia who has been living in Germany since 2006 and worked in a nearby town. Police searched his home overnight.

The identities of the fatalities have not been revealed. A memorial service is to be held in Magdeburg’s cathedral at 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) Saturday night.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other top officials, including Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, have arrived in Magdeburg on Saturday.

Faeser ordered Saturday morning that all flags at all federal buildings be flown at half-mast nationwide.

XINHUA

KUNMING — Three people have been confirmed dead in a coal mine accident in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, local authorities said on Saturday.

The accident occurred at around 10:42 a.m. on Friday at the Hengda coal mine, located in Fuyuan County of Qujing City, according to the Yunnan bureau of the National Mine Safety Administration.

Initial investigation suggests that the incident resulted from the collapse of a coal bunker within the mine’s second mining area. Currently, all underground operations have been halted, and further investigation is under way.

XINHUA

ISTANBUL — Five athletes were injured on Saturday when an avalanche hit a ski resort in Türkiye’s eastern province of Erzurum, the Health Ministry announced.

One of the injured is in critical condition, said the ministry via its social media account.

The incident occurred at Palandoken Ski Resort at 10:22 a.m. local time (0722 GMT) when athletes of the National Judo Team were hiking in an area specialized for extreme sports outside the skiing slopes, according to Erzurum Governor Mustafa Ciftci.

Search and rescue teams, along with medical units, have been dispatched to the area. These teams have taken precautionary measures to ensure safety amid potential risks of further avalanches, local broadcaster NTV reported.

XINHUA

JERUSALEM — A missile launched from Yemen early Saturday morning struck a playground and a building in the central Israeli city of Tel Aviv, causing minor injuries to 16 people, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service.

The strike caused a crater in the playground and damage to the residential building, video footage released by the MDA, the army, and Israeli media showed.

Following the missile launch, sirens were activated across large areas of central Israel.

The IDF said it identified the projectile but failed to intercept it.

Earlier in the day, Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack, which was launched “in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and in response to the latest Israeli aggression on Yemen,” as announced by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea in a statement, aired by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

XINHUA

HAVANA — Around 700,000 people marched outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana on Friday, demanding an end to Washington’s decades-long blockade of Cuba and calling for the removal of the island from the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel led the march, joined by former president Raul Castro. Diaz-Canel condemned the United States for maintaining the terrorist label on Cuba, calling it both “false and immoral.” He also accused the United States of training paramilitary groups to target Cuba’s infrastructure and slashed the Biden administration for continuing harsh economic measures from the Trump era.

Diaz-Canel also denounced the United States for intensifying the blockade, calling it “ruthless.”

Cubans hold no hostility toward the American people, he said, vowing to stand firm against any attempts to undermine its sovereignty or socialist system.

“If the United States persists in its efforts to break our resolve, they will only find rebellion and unwavering determination,” he said.

The crowd, waving Cuban flags and chanting “Down with the blockade,” was a diverse mix of supporters. Among them was Yanquiel Cardoso, wearing a shirt reading “Cuba sponsors peace, love, and unity,” marching with his son, who wore a shirt wishing to “grow up without a blockade.” Cardoso decried the “cruel and inhumane” blockade, which he said hinders Cuba’s development.

Many healthcare workers joined the protest, including Colombian medical student Silvia Juliana Casadiego, who praised Cuba’s global solidarity and condemned U.S. sanctions.

“Despite its limitations, Cuba always extends a helping hand — not just to Colombia, but all of Latin America,” she said.

Cuban medical student Kevin Perez highlighted the toll U.S. policies have taken on Cuba’s healthcare system. “Healthcare has been one of the most affected sectors, but we will always stand to defend our homeland.”

This march was the first major protest in years outside the U.S. diplomatic mission to denounce the blockade.

XINHUA

BERLIN — A car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, leaving at least two people dead and injuring at least 68 others in what authorities suspect was an attack.

The driver of the car was arrested, German news agency dpa reported, citing unidentified government officials in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. The suspect was not known to German authorities as an Islamic extremist, dpa reported, citing unidentified security officials.

Regional government spokesperson Matthias Schuppe and city spokesperson Michael Reif said they suspected it was a deliberate act.

“The pictures are terrible,” Reif said. “My information is that a car drove into the Christmas market visitors, but I can’t yet say from what direction and how far.”

Magdeburg’s University Hospital said it was taking care of 10 to 20 patients but was preparing for more, dpa reported.

The sounds of sirens from first responders clashed with the market’s holiday decorations, including ornaments, stars and leafy garland festooning the vendors’ booths.

Debris could be seen on the ground in footage of a cordoned-off part of the market.

The car drove into the market at around 7 p.m., when it was busy with holiday shoppers looking forward to the weekend.

“This is a terrible event, particularly now in the days before Christmas,” Saxony-Anhalt governor Reiner Haseloff said.

Haseloff told dpa that he was on his way to Magdeburg but couldn’t immediately give any information on victims or what was behind the incident.
Chancellor OIaf Scholz posted on X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”

Magdeburg, which is west of Berlin, is the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 residents.

The suspected attack came eight years after an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin.

On Dec. 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist plowed through a crowded Christmas with a truck, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world. In Berlin alone, more than 100 markets opened late last month and brought the smells of mulled wine, roasted almonds and bratwurst to the capital. Other markets abound across the country.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of a danger to Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.

AN-AP