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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
SAN FRANCISCO — A winter storm sweeping through the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the western United States caused major travel delays on Monday morning, particularly along Interstate 80, as San Francisco Bay Area residents started heading to Lake Tahoe for holidays.
A winter weather advisory is in effect for the Sierra and surrounding areas, forecasting snow accumulations of between 2 to 6 inches above 5,000 feet, with higher totals in mountain peaks.
The advisory, issued by the National Weather Service, will remain in place until 4 a.m. Tuesday.
As of Monday morning, eastbound traffic on I-80 was being turned around at Baxter due to multiple spinouts and treacherous road conditions, according to the California Highway Patrol. There was no estimated time for reopening.
Chain controls were in effect on eastbound I-80 from Baxter to Truckee, requiring all vehicles — except those with four-wheel drive and snow tires on all four wheels — to use chains.
Caltrans warned drivers to expect delays and prepare for slow-moving traffic.
UNITED NATIONS — More than 880,000 people have been displaced since the latest escalation of hostilities in Syria, UN humanitarians said Monday.
UN partners estimated that around 6 percent of the displaced are living with at least one form of disability.
“Return movements remain dynamic, with partners recording more than 220,000 returnees yesterday (Sunday),” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. “Additionally, over 40,000 displaced people are staying in around 250 collective centers across northeast Syria.”
The office said the United Nations and partners continue to support the response by supplying food, water, cash, tents, and blankets. The world body is also deploying medical teams and supplies.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in collaboration with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), conducted a joint mission to the Tishreen Dam’s facility in Syria’s Aleppo governorate on Friday for urgent and critical repairs.
UNICEF also secured fuel to power the backup generator, enabling the safe drainage of the dam and safeguarding water supplies. Hostilities near the dam last week led to an extended electricity outage and disrupted water and other key services, affecting millions of people in the area.
On Monday, Tom Fletcher, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, met Syrian transitional authorities in Damascus to discuss the relief response. “At a time of such rapid changes and long-standing needs in the region, Fletcher’s trip will also include stopovers in Lebanon, Türkiye and Jordan,” OCHA said of his one-week Middle East visit.
Authorities also reported a complicated flow of displaced people across the Lebanon-Syria border.
OCHA said that since Dec. 8, Lebanese authorities recorded less than 10,000 Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon to Syria.
Meanwhile, the UN Refugee Agency reported that Lebanese authorities estimated around 30,000 displaced people returned as of Friday from Syria to Lebanon, including mostly Syrians but also Lebanese nationals, since the Nov. 27 cessation of hostilities announcement for Lebanon.
The International Organization for Migration reported a fluid situation with fluctuating movements continuing daily through both formal and informal border crossings. Humanitarians reported earlier that Syrian border officials abandoned their posts following the Damascus takeover.
Emergency vehicles are parked outside the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., following a shooting, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP)
A teenage student killed a fellow student and a teacher at a Wisconsin school on Monday before police found the suspect dead at the scene of the latest shooting to devastate a US campus, authorities said.
Police did not publicly identify any of the victims at the Abundant Life Christian School, a private institution that teaches some 400 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, At least six other people were wounded, according to police.
Two students had life-threatening injuries; four other people had non-life threatening injuries.
The shooter, who used a handgun in the attack and was a student at the school, was found dead inside the school by officers, who immediately went into the school on arrival.
The shooter was not identified, including by age or by gender.
No officers fired their weapons when they responded, police said.
There was as yet no known motive for the violence, which authorities said took place in one spot inside the school.
The shooter’s family was cooperating with the investigation, police said.
Earlier, police said five people were killed in the shooting, but later said that information was incorrect.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes, a former public school history teacher, said the shooting took place just before 11 a.m. local time.
“Today is a sad, sad day, not only for Madison, but for our entire country, where yet another police chief is doing a press conference to speak about violence in our community,” Barnes told reporters.
Barnes added: “Every child, every person in that building, is a victim, and will be a victim forever. These types of trauma don’t just go away.”
Video posted from the scene on social media showed a massive emergency response, including police, ambulance and fire vehicles.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway told an afternoon news conference that “we need to do better in our country and our community to prevent gun violence.”
Abundant Life Christian School wrote on its social media: “Prayers Requested! Today, we had an active shooter incident at ALCS. We are in the midst of following up. We will share information as we are able.”
Members of a Facebook group for the school’s alumni expressed horror and offered prayers.
Several people began organizing a donation and gift card drive for staff members and others affected by the attack.
“It is horrifying watching this happen in a place that was safe for so many of us,” one woman, Kristen Navis, wrote. “I am praying for all, the tragedy of life lost in this manner is almost incomprehensible.”
Gun control and school safety have become major political and social issues in the US where the number of school shootings has jumped in recent years.
There have been 322 school shootings this year in the US, according to the K-12 School Shooting Database website. That is the second highest total of any year since 1966, according to that database — topped only by last year’s total of 349 such shootings.
The epidemic of shootings has afflicted public and private schools alike in urban, suburban and rural communities.
Some have taken place in Christian schools, though far more have taken place at public schools. In March 2023, a former student at Covenant School, a private academy in Nashville, killed three children and three adults before being shot dead by law enforcement officers.
Earlier this month, two students aged 5 and 6 were shot at Feather River Adventist School near Oroville, California, by a gunman who later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the shooting, and White House officials were in touch with local officials in Madison to provide any support needed.
Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade fire a 2s1 self-propelled 122mm howitzer toward Russian positions near Chasiv Yar town, in Donetsk region on Dec. 12, 2024. (Ukrainian 24th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
MOSCOW — Russian troops have pushed Ukrainian forces out of almost 4,500 square kilometers of territory this year and are advancing an average 30 square kilometers per day, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said on Monday.
Some 427,000 servicemen have signed contracts with the army this year, Belousov told a meeting of defense officials and President Vladimir Putin.
Military spending had reached 6.3 percent of gross domestic product, he said, a figure in line with Russia’s budget proposals.
French Civil Security clean debris on Dec. 15, 2024 after cyclone Chido hit French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte. (Securite Civile/AFP)
SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION — Rescuers raced against time Monday to reach survivors after a devastating cyclone ripped through the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, destroying homes across the islands, with hundreds feared dead.
Images from Mayotte, which like other French overseas territories is an integral part of France and ruled from Paris, showed scenes of devastation, with homes reduced to piles of rubble.
The crisis, which erupted at the weekend the day after President Emmanuel Macron appointed Francois Bayrou as the sixth prime minister of his mandate, poses a major challenge for a government still only operating in a caretaker capacity.
The cyclone has left health services in tatters, with the hospital extremely damaged and health centers knocked out of operation, Health Minister Genevieve Darrieussecq told France 2.
“The hospital has suffered major water damage and destruction, notably in the surgical, intensive care, maternity and emergency units,” she said, adding that “medical centers were also non-operational.”
Macron was due to chair a crisis meeting in Paris at 1700 GMT, the Elysee said.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, whose super ministry is responsible for Mayotte, arrived on the island.
Cyclone Chido caused major damage to Mayotte’s airport and cut off electricity, water and communication links when it barreled down on France’s poorest territory on Saturday.
Asked about the eventual death toll, Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on the territory, told broadcaster Mayotte la Premiere “I think there will definitely be several hundred, perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand.”
With roads closed, officials fear that many could still be trapped under rubble in the inaccessible areas.
The mayor of Mayotte’s capital Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, said the storm “spared nothing.”
“The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are totally devastated,” he said.
Some 160 additional soldiers and firefighters to reinforce the 110 already deployed.
The nearby French island of La Reunion was serving as a hub for the rescue operations.
Chido was packing winds of at least 226 kilometers per hour when it slammed into Mayotte, which lies to the east of Mozambique.
At least a third of the territory’s 320,000 residents live in shantytowns, where homes with sheet-metal roofs were flattened by the storm.
One resident, Ibrahim, said of “apocalyptic scenes” as he made his way through the main island, having to clear blocked roads himself.
As authorities assessed the scale of the disaster, a first aid plane reached Mayotte on Sunday.
It carried three tons of medical supplies, blood for transfusions and 17 medical staff, according to authorities in La Reunion.
Patrice Latron, prefect of Reunion, said residents of Mayotte were facing “an extremely chaotic situation, immense destruction.”
Two military aircraft are expected to follow the initial aid flight, while a navy patrol ship was also due to depart La Reunion.
There have been international pledges to help Mayotte, including from the regional Red Cross organization PIROI.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc is “ready to provide support in the days to come.”
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the WHO “stands ready to support communities in need of essential health care.”
With around 100,000 people estimated to live clandestinely on Mayotte, according to France’s interior ministry, establishing how many people have been affected by the cyclone is proving difficult.
Ousseni Balahachi, a former nurse, said some people did not dare venture out to seek assistance, “fearing it would be a trap” designed to remove them from Mayotte.
Many had stayed put “until the last minute” when it proved too late to escape the cyclone, she added.
Chido is the latest in a string of storms worldwide fueled by climate change, according to experts.
The “exceptional” cyclone was super-charged by particularly warm Indian Ocean waters, meteorologist Francois Gourand of the Meteo France weather service said.
Chido blasted across the Indian Ocean and made landfall in Mozambique on Sunday, where officials said the death toll stood at three.
The UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, warned 1.7 million people were in danger and the remnants of the cyclone could also dump “significant rainfall” in Malawi through Monday.
