ROME — Two people were found dead and eight were injured after a massive explosion at Eni fuel spot near central Italy’s Florence on Monday, according to Italy’s media Corriere della Sera.
Another four remain missing, reported the local media.
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THE HAGUE — A sixth body has been recovered from the rubble of the apartment building in The Hague, the Netherlands, that partially collapsed after a powerful explosion on Saturday, Dutch emergency services said Monday.
The explosion and subsequent fire at the apartment building have claimed the lives of six people so far. Emergency services continue to search for additional victims, with a small section of the disaster site still to be examined.
Police have identified four of the six victims, including a child. Authorities noted that the identification process has been challenging due to the intense fire that burned in the rubble for hours after the explosion.
Five people were rescued from the rubble, with four of them hospitalized.
Efforts to determine the cause of the explosion are ongoing. Local authorities have announced the launch of a criminal investigation.
The blast, which occurred in the northeastern Mariahoeve district, caused a partial collapse of the apartment building on Tarwekamp Street.
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JERUSALEM — A drone, likely launched from Yemen, exploded on the top floor of a residential building in the central Israeli city of Yavne on Monday, causing no injuries, the Israeli army and emergency services said.
“Following the initial report, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that likely originated in Yemen impacted in the area of Yavne,” the army said.
A spokesperson for Israeli emergency service MDA said reports were received of “an explosion on the 15th floor balcony” of the building in Yavne, and that after a search, no injuries were reported.
Houthi rebels in Yemen, supported by Iran, have launched several attacks against Israel, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been at war with militant group Hamas for over a year.
In July, a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
AN-AFP
TBILISI, Georgia — Tens of thousands of people joined an 11th straight day of protests in Georgia on Sunday after the governing party moved to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union, while a separate demonstration decried violence against Georgian journalists covering the rallies.
Police have been using increasing force in their attempts to curb the demonstrations, which have centered on the parliament building in the capital, Tbilisi. Riot police have used water cannons and tear gas every day to disperse the rallies, beating scores of protesters who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard.
At Saturday night’s demonstration, reporter Maka Chikhladze and her colleague from the independent Pirveli TV channel were targeted by a violent mob, Chikhladze told The Associated Press.
Chikladze said her colleague managed to capture footage of men dressed in black who were beating demonstrators before they turned on the pair, violently pushing Chikhladze to the ground. She later told AP that her colleague sustained a head injury and had his camera stolen.
Chikhladze charged that Georgia’s government was using bands of thugs to deter people from attending anti-government rallies, an allegation denied by representatives of the Georgian Dream party.
On Sunday, several hundred media workers marched down Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue before putting up posters of colleagues they say had been assaulted while doing their jobs.
“Our colleagues are beaten, injured, some remain in hospital in serious condition,” TV Pirveli anchor Ekaterine Mishveladze told AP.
In a separate incident Saturday, AP journalists saw several masked men violently tackle a protester attempting to enter the offices of an opposition party, Ahali. The man, Koba Khabazi, lay slumped on the ground while his attackers repeatedly kicked him. He later showed AP his head injuries.
Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in the disputed Oct. 26 election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations. The opposition and the pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and have boycotted parliament sessions.
Opposition protests gained new momentum after the Georgian Dream’s decision last Thursday to put the EU accession talks on hold.
Riot police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the rallies and beat scores of protesters, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on Rustaveli Avenue.
The crackdown has drawn strong condemnation from the United States and EU officials. Speaking Thursday at a ministerial conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced what he described as the brutal “repression of those calling for their country to stay on the path to closer ties with Europe.”
Mamuka Mdinanradze, leader of the Georgian Dream party, condemned mob violence against protesters during a news briefing Sunday, and denied any connection with the government.
The office of Georgia’s rights ombudsman on Sunday issued a statement criticizing Georgian police for “failing to take adequate measures” to ensure safety during the demonstrations.
AN-AP
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s army said one person was killed and four soldiers wounded Monday in an Israeli strike in the country’s south, where a fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel came into force last month.
“The Israeli enemy targeted a car near the Saf Al-Hawa/Bint Jbeil military checkpoint, killing a citizen and lightly wounding four soldiers,” the army said in a statement.
The official National News Agency reported that “enemy aircraft struck a car on the Saf Al-Hawa road in Bint Jbeil near an army checkpoint, killing the driver, a civilian.”
Israel stepped up its campaign in south Lebanon in late September after nearly a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its ally Hamas following the Palestinian group’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
A ceasefire came into effect on November 27 and is generally holding, though both sides have accused the other of repeated violations.
As part of the agreement, the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers will deploy in southern Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws over a period of 60 days.
Hezbollah is also meant to withdraw its forces north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
The Israeli army has repeatedly told Lebanese residents not to enter border areas, issuing another warning on Monday morning.
Last Monday, Israeli strikes on south Lebanon killed 11 people, according to the country’s health ministry, shortly after Hezbollah claimed its first attack on an Israeli position since the truce began.
The same day, the Lebanese army in a statement said a soldier was wounded in an Israeli strike in the country’s eastern Hermel region.
Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said Wednesday the death toll in Lebanon in more than a year of war between Israel and Hezbollah had reached 4,047 people, most of them since a September escalation, including 316 children.
AN-AFP
JAKARTA — Hydrometeorological disasters that have hit Sukabumi in Indonesia’s West Java province since last Tuesday have claimed at least 10 lives, with two others still missing, the local disaster mitigation agency said on Monday.
According to Deden Sumpena, acting chief of the Sukabumi disaster mitigation agency, floods, strong winds, and landslides have occurred across approximately 40 sub-districts, forcing around 900 families to seek temporary shelter.
A joint rescue team, including military and police personnel, continued evacuation efforts and the search for victims amid uncertain weather conditions.
Earlier, Indonesia’s Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency warned of potential hydrometeorological disasters after detecting two developing tropical cyclones near Indonesia’s territorial waters as of Monday.
The National Disaster Management Agency has urged local governments to enhance disaster preparedness by ensuring the readiness of equipment, personnel, and resources, especially in high-risk areas such as hills and cliffs.
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MANILA — The Kanlaon volcano in central Philippines erupted on Monday, spewing a column of ash and gas into the sky, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
An explosive eruption occurred at the summit vent of the Kanlaon Volcano on Monday afternoon, the institute said in an alert-level bulletin.
“The eruption produced a voluminous plume that rapidly rose to 3,000 meters above the vent and drifted west-southwest,” it read.
The bulletin added that the activity means a “magmatic eruption has begun that may progress to further explosive eruptions.”
The institute raised the alert level to three on a scale of five.
It also advised villagers within a 6-km radius of the volcano’s summit to evacuate, saying that the public “must be prepared for additional evacuation if activity warrants.”
The Kanlaon Volcano, which straddles the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental on the island of Negros, is one of the country’s most active volcanoes, which erupted in June.
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TEHRAN — Media sources have reported the entry of Israeli occupation forces into the Quneitra region in southern Syria in violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
With regard to Jabal el-Sheikh, the Israeli Army Radio confirmed the regime’s decision, giving a green light to its forces to occupy the mountainous terrain and establish a buffer zone there. “The Israeli army will have execution power in the buffer zone along the Syrian border.”
The Israeli army took control of Jabal al-Sheikh without any resistance in the past hour (late Sunday), said the Zionist newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
Separately, the Zionist military issued a statement ordering residents of five Syrian towns in the area not to leave their homes until further notice.
The Israeli Army Radio also claimed, citing a source, that the establishment of a buffer zone is a temporary arrangement due to concerns about the threat of militants in the wake of theior takeover of the Arab country.
The Zionist regime, which had occupied Syria’s Golan Heights for decades, has now extended its seize over the territory in Syrian-controlled areas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered his forces to grab a buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, after a lightning advance by Syrian armed opposition groups.
We are closely monitoring developments in Syria and will take any necessary action to protect our (occupied) areas, Netanyahu said in a speech while visiting the area between Syria and occupied Palestine on Sunday.
These statements followed hours after militants took control of Damascus.
IRNA cited several news agencies and published images on Sunday, suggesting that the Israeli infiltration into Syria for the first time since 1974, with military vehicles and personnel entering the southern regions of the country.
The infiltration reported at the same time the regime’s cabinet agreed to the occupation of Syria’s Jabal el-Sheikh region and the establishment of a buffer zone in this area.
Some media reports indicated that the Zionists had penetrated some 14 kilometers deep into the Syrian territory.
Media sources also published images of the infiltration by the Israeli army into Quneitra.
IRNA
BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 26 combattants were killed Sunday as Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched an offensive on the northern Manbij area, days after seizing a Kurdish-held enclave.
The pro-Turkiye fighters had already retaken the Kurdish-held Tal Rifaat enclave last week, days after rebels swooped into government-held areas, snatching key cities before reaching Damascus on Sunday.
“Pro-Turkish factions… seized large districts of Manbij city in the eastern Aleppo countryside, after violent clashes with the Manbij Military Council,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
The Council is affiliated with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that act as a de facto army for the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of Syria’s northeast.
“The clashes killed nine pro-Turkish fighters and at least 17 Manbij Military Council” combattants, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
AN-AFP
CAIRO — Rescue teams in Egypt’s Asyut province recovered the bodies of four people on Sunday after a minibus carrying 14 passengers plunged into a canal in the Dayrout district.
Search efforts are ongoing for the remaining missing passengers, while divers and water police are currently involved in the operation, state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported.
Egypt has a high rate of traffic accidents. According to the official statistics agency CAPMAS, road accidents in the country claimed 5,861 lives in 2023.
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