Category: News

NEW DELHI — At least six people, including a three-year-old child, were killed and four others injured on Wednesday after a residential house caught fire in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The fire broke out in Kathua, about 284 km south of Srinagar, the capital city of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

“Early today at around 2:30 a.m. (local time), locals noticed the house on fire and raised the alarm to rescue its occupants. Due to the fire, the house was filled with thick smoke that had suffocated the occupants in their sleep,” a local police official said.

The injured are undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Kathua, he added.

India’s federal junior minister in Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh condoled the deaths in a statement.

“My sincere condolences to the bereaved family and prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured. I am in constant touch with the district administration,” Singh said.

Officials said it took several hours for the firefighters to douse the flame and bring it under control.

An investigation is underway to examine the cause of the fire.

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MOSCOW — Russian authorities have detained an Uzbek citizen in connection with the deaths of a senior military official and his assistant, the Russian Investigative Committee said on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old suspect, accused of carrying out a terrorist attack that resulted in the deaths of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian armed forces’ radiological, chemical and biological defense troops, and his assistant, has been detained.

According to the committee, the suspect was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services and given a homemade explosive device after he arrived in Moscow. He allegedly placed the device on an electric scooter parked near the entrance of the building where Kirillov resided.

The suspect is said to have rented a car to monitor the general’s residence, installing a camera that transmitted live footage to the attack’s organizers in Dnipro, Ukraine. Once the two officials left the building, the suspect remotely detonated the explosive device.

In exchange for carrying out the attack, the detainee was promised a reward of 100,000 U.S. dollars and relocation to a European country, the committee said.

Kirillov and his assistant were killed on Tuesday when the explosive device, concealed on the scooter, detonated outside the residential building.

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NEW DELHI — Two people were killed and five others went missing after a speedboat crashed into a ferry Wednesday off India’s Mumbai coast, local media reported.

A video aired on television shows the speedboat carrying four men zig-zagging in the water before ramming into the ferry with over 80 passengers onboard.

The boat was sailing from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Island, which houses famous Gharpuri caves, a tourist destination.

Local newspaper Hindustan Times quoted Maharashtra Maritime Board CEO Manik Gursal as saying that 56 people rescued were taken to Navi Mumbai, 10 to Mumbai Dockyard and nine to Gateway of India, with a search for the five missing underway.

Officials said the Coast Guard and Navy have joined the search operations. Four helicopters have also been pressed into the service.

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SYDNEY — At least 14 people have been killed and hundreds more injured after a major earthquake struck Vanuatu on Tuesday.

The Red Cross reported the updated death toll early Wednesday local time, citing government sources. Local media previously reported a death toll of seven.

The 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Vanuatu’s capital city of Port Vila on Tuesday, causing widespread damage.

Several aftershocks hit the region following the initial quake, including one measuring a magnitude of 5.5 in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Fiji-based head of the Red Cross in the Pacific, Katie Greenwood, said on social media that more than 200 people have been injured.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said it is aware of several Australians in the region but Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday that none are believed to have been injured.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said in a statement on Tuesday night that the earthquake caused significant damage and said Australia would send aid on Wednesday.

Australia’s 9News network reported that the United Nations humanitarian office said access to the airport and seaport in Port Vila were severely limited due to road damage, which could affect efforts to deliver aid.

Clement Chipokolo from World Vision Vanuatu told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television that he expects the death toll to rise due to the severity of the damage.

He said that damage to electricity and phone lines was hampering rescue and recovery efforts.

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CAIRO — Thirteen people were killed and two others injured on Tuesday in a devastating collision between a microbus and a trailer truck in Egypt’s central Asyut province, the province’s media office said in a statement.

The collision between a microbus and a cement-laden truck occurred on the Qawsiya agricultural road in Asyut, said the statement.

Ambulances rushed to the scene and evacuated the dead and the injured to nearby hospitals, it added.

Egypt has a high rate of traffic accidents. According to the official statistics agency CAPMAS, 5,861 people were killed due to road accidents in 2023.

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TASHKENT — One person was killed and four others injured on Tuesday in a gas station explosion in the eastern Uzbek city of Ferghana, local media reported, citing authorities.

Fire crews arrived at the scene and quickly extinguished the fire that followed the explosion.

It is reported that the incident was caused by violations of the technological process and failure to comply with safety regulations during the discharge of liquefied gas.

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LILONGWE — The remnants of Tropical Cyclone Chido, which swept through southern Malawi on Monday, have left two people dead and 8,100 homeless, according to Charles Kalemba, commissioner for the Department of Disaster Management Affairs.

Kalemba said in a statement on Monday that preliminary reports from more than 15 councils that were affected by the cyclone indicated that two deaths occurred due to collapsing walls of houses, while nearly 1,800 houses had their roofs blown away.

The cyclone also damaged public infrastructure, including health facilities, schools, and government offices in the regions affected, including the national capital of Lilongwe.

The government, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, the Malawi Red Cross Society, and other agencies, has deployed standby resources for search and rescue operations.

Schools in southern Malawi, which were suspended Monday, reopened Tuesday after the authorities decided that it was safe to do so.

Cyclone Chido has since exited Malawi and is no longer a threat to Malawi, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services said late Monday.

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MOSCOW — A Russian lieutenant general and his assistant were killed by an explosion in a Moscow residential building on Tuesday morning.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ radiological, chemical and biological defense troops, was killed in the explosion, said the Russian Investigative Committee.

Preliminary information showed the explosion occurred after the detonation of an explosive device, which had a power of about 200 grams of TNT.

The explosive device was planted in a scooter, said the committee, adding that a criminal case has been opened in connection with the killing.

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LOS ANGELES — Five people were seriously injured on Monday after a school bus and an SUV collided in Southern California, local authorities said.

The Orange County Fire Authority posted on social media platform X that the accident occurred at approximately 3:07 p.m. local time (2307 GMT) near Santiago Canyon and Red Rock Canyon in Orange County, located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Crews responded and “quickly assessed the scene and identified 5 patients,” including three adults and two children, said the public safety agency, adding that “all five patients were transported in stable but serious condition.”

The SUV crashed head-on into the school bus that was transporting students with special needs, reported local KABC television station.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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MAPUTO — Tropical Cyclone Chido, which hit northern Mozambique on Sunday, has left 15 people dead and about 172,000 homeless, according to the country’s National Institute for Disaster Risk Management and Reduction (INGD).

In addition, 5,832 houses were destroyed, said Luisa Meque, president of the INGD, while speaking to the press in the Memba District in Nampula province on Monday.

“We also received information that 69 boats are missing, and 102 boats were destroyed here in the Memba District,” she said, adding that the cyclone’s impact is still being monitored.

The damage extends to the electricity supply. The Mozambique Electricity said in a statement that about 200,000 customers are without electricity in the provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado due to the cyclone’s effects.

Tropical Cyclone Chido, bringing heavy rains and strong winds, hit the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Niassa before weakening into a moderate tropical storm, according to the National Institute of Meteorology (INAM).

The storm’s epicenter moved to Malawi but is expected to affect the central provinces of Tete, Zambezia, and Manica, with winds of 70 km/h and gusts of up to 100 km/h, said Acacio Tembe, a meteorologist with the INAM.

The national response to the disaster is ongoing, with teams on the ground assessing damages and providing support to affected populations.

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