JERUSALEM — The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Wednesday that it had called up two reserve ground brigades to the Israel-Lebanon border, where it unleashed the heaviest airstrikes since 2006 on Monday.
The IDF stated that the decision followed a “situational assessment” and that the troops would be deployed for “operational activities on the northern front.”
The statement added that the mobilization would “enable the continuation of combat against Hezbollah, the defense of Israel, and create the conditions for northern Israel’s residents to return to their homes.”
On Monday and Tuesday, Israel conducted its most extensive bombardment of Lebanon since 2006, resulting in more than 550 deaths and over 1,800 injuries across the country. The bombardment has also displaced thousands of residents in Lebanon.
The escalation continued on Wednesday, with Israeli forces heavily bombing the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah responded by firing at least 40 rockets into Israel, including a longer-range missile that triggered air raid sirens in central Israel, including Tel Aviv.
GAZA — The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 41,495, according to Gaza-based health authorities in a statement on Wednesday.
In the past 24 hours, the Israeli military killed 28 people and wounded 85 others, bringing the total number of injuries to 96,006 since the conflict erupted in early October 2023.
In a separate statement, the health authorities reported receiving about 88 unidentified bodies from the Israeli side, adding the Israeli side did not provide any information about their identities, the locations where they were recovered, or the time of death.
The authorities have suspended procedures for receiving the bodies until complete data is available to identify the deceased and notify their families, as this is considered a fundamental right, the statement added.
Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas attack through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and around 250 hostages taken.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli Commanding Officer of the Northern Command, Ori Gordin, warned on Wednesday that the military could escalate its assault on Lebanon by launching a ground operation.
“We have entered a new phase of the campaign,” Gordin said during a tour of the Israel-Lebanon border, according to remarks released by the military. “We must be fully prepared for maneuvers and operations in Lebanon.”
Gordin stated that the offensive began with “a significant blow to Hezbollah’s capabilities, focusing on their firepower and delivering a major hit to the organization’s commanders and operatives.” He suggested that the assault could be further escalated, without offering a timeline for when Israel might conclude the attacks.
Cross-border fire continued on Wednesday, with Israeli forces heavily bombing the Nabatieh area in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah responded by firing at least 40 rockets into Israel, including a longer-range missile that triggered air raid sirens in central Israel, including Tel Aviv.
In the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, two people were injured by Hezbollah rockets, one of them seriously, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Israel conducted its most extensive bombardment of Lebanon since 2006, resulting in more than 550 deaths and over 1,835 injuries across the country. The bombardment has also displaced many residents.
This sharp escalation has raised concerns about a potential full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
BERLIN — A cafe in an apartment building was mostly destroyed by an explosion Wednesday morning, which was the third such incident in the city within 10 days. According to DPA and “Tagesschau,” two nearby residents sustained minor injuries, while around 20 others from the building were safely evacuated without harm.
A large number of police and fire departments rushed to the site, but the cafe had been severely damaged, a fire department spokesman said. It took about an hour to extinguish the blaze by 4 a.m.. The extent of damage to other shops and apartments within the building is still unknown. Investigations are ongoing and authorities are actively seeking witnesses.
The Cologne police are probing whether this explosion is connected to a recent spate of blasts. Last week, two explosions rocked the city center — one outside a fashion store on Ehrenstrasse, where witnesses spotted a man fleeing the scene, and another in front of a nightclub on Hohenzollernring. Additional incidents were reported over the weekend in Cologne and its surrounding areas.
Michael Esser, head of Cologne’s criminal police, expressed concern last week, saying “We are facing major challenges due to unprecedented cases of violence and serious crime that have never occurred before in Cologne.”
Members of the Iranian parliament vote on the cabinet appointments proposed by the newly-elected president after an address during a special session in Tehran on August 21, 2024. (AFP)
TEHRAN — The Iranian parliament on Wednesday blocked the appointment of a politician from the Sunni minority as vice president, state media reported.
In August, President Masoud Pezeshkian had announced the appointment of Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh as his vice president for rural development and disadvantaged areas, citing his “valuable experience.”
But on Wednesday lawmakers voted against his resignation from parliament to take up the vice president post, the official IRNA news agency said.
“Parliament members voted 107 in favor, 129 against, and five abstentions out of the 247 representatives present,” it added.
Sunni Muslims account for around 10 percent of Iran’s population, where the vast majority are Shiites and that branch of Islam is the official state religion.
They have very rarely held key positions of power since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Iran has numerous vice presidents, who are tasked with leading organizations related to presidential affairs in the country.
A 44-year-old reformist, Hosseinzadeh has since 2012 represented the northwestern cities of Naghadeh and Oshnavieh in the Iranian parliament.
He has spoken out publicly on several occasions in defense of the rights of Iran’s Sunnis.
During his election campaign Pezeshkian, himself a reformist, criticized the lack of representation for ethnic and religious minorities, in particular Sunni Kurds, in important positions.
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Tyre, Lebanon September 25, 2024. (Reuters)
BAGHDAD — The foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan condemned Israel’s “aggression” against Lebanon Wednesday, warning that it is “pushing the region toward all-out war.”
The ministers said that stopping the “dangerous escalation under way in the region… begins by halting Israel’s aggression in Gaza,” in a joint statement issued after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
MANILA — American and Filipino security officials have agreed to keep a US mid-range missile system in the northern Philippines indefinitely to boost deterrance despite China’s expressions of alarm, two Philippine officials said Wednesday.
The US Army transported the Typhon missile system, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of combat exercises in April with Philippine troops and to test its deployability aboard an Air Force aircraft.
The launcher can fire cruise missiles up to 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles), which places China within its target range, one of the two officials said. Officials are considering keeping the missile system in the northern Philippines up to April next year, when US and Philippine forces are scheduled to hold their annual Balikatan — Tagalog for “shoulder-to-shoulder” — large-scale combat exercises, he said.
The two officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive US missile deployment publicly. There was no immediate immediate comment from US officials.
Chinese diplomats have repeatedly conveyed their alarm to the Philippine government, warning that the deployment of the missile system could destabilize the region.
A Philippine army spokesperson said was earlier the system was scheduled to be removed from the country by the end of this month.
Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. refused to confirm or deny the extension.
But Teodoro rejected China’s demands as interference in the Philippines internal affairs, speaking to reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of an Asian defense industry exhibition in Manila.
“China is saying that they are alarmed but that is interference into our internal affairs. They are using reverse psychology in order to deter us from building up our defensive capabilities,” Teodoro said.
“Before they start talking, why don’t they lead by example? Destroy their nuclear arsenal, remove all their ballistic missile capabilities, get out of the West Philippines Sea and get out of Mischief Reef,” Teodoro said. “I mean, don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house.”
Teodoro used the Philippine name for the disputed South China Sea and for a contested reef off the western Philippines that Chinese forces seized in 1995 and is now one of seven missile-protected island bases China maintains in the disputed waters.
Last month, Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi expressed China’s “very dramatic” concern over the US mid-range missile deployment to the Philippines during their recent talks in Laos on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings with Asian and Western countries.
Manalo said Wang warned the presence of the US missile system could be “destabilizing,” but he said that he disagreed. “They’re not destabilizing” and the missile system was only in the Philippines temporarily, Manalo said he told Wang.
Although the missile system was transported to the Philippines for joint combat exercises in April, it was not fired during the joint drills by the longtime treaty allies, according to Philippine and US military officials.
China has strongly opposed increased US military deployments to the region, including to the Philippines, saying they could endanger regional stability and peace.
The US and the Philippines have repeatedly condemned China’s increasingly assertive actions to fortify its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where hostilities have flared since last year with repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine coast guard forces and accompanying vessels.
Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have overlapping claims in the busy waterway, a key global and security route which is also believed to be sitting atop vast undersea deposits of gas and oil.
BEIJING — China’s top diplomat Wang Yi pledged to support Iran in safeguarding its security against “external forces” in a meeting with the country’s new president in New York, Beijing’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.
Wang met President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly, Beijing said, as Israel launched more strikes against Tehran’s ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The top diplomat promised China would “always be a trustworthy partner.”
“China will continue to support Iran in safeguarding its sovereignty, security, territorial integrity, and national dignity,” Wang said on Tuesday, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Beijing also opposed “external forces interfering in Iran’s internal affairs and imposing sanctions or pressure,” he added.
Conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant movement backed by Iran, has intensified in recent weeks.
Lebanon said Israeli strikes killed at least 558 people on Monday — the deadliest day of violence in the country since its 1975-90 civil war.
Iran, regarded by Israel as its archenemy, is an influential player in the Middle East, supporting armed groups in the region including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
China is a close partner of Iran, its largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.
Both countries have often faced Western pressure in the form of sanctions, most recently because of their stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
ABU DHABI — Four soldiers from the UAE Armed Forces were killed and nine others were injured in “an accident”, the country’s ministry of defense said Wednesday.
The military statement, posted on the state news agency WAM, said the soldiers died in “an accident while carrying out their duty in the country” without mentioning further details.
The injured were receiving the necessary medical care, the statement read.
MANJUNG — Lelaki disyaki terbabit kes bunuh dan bakar di sebuah rumah di Taman Muhibbah 2, Sitiawan, di sini, pernah dilihat beberapa kali berkelakuan pelik.
Antaranya termasuk pernah mengayuh basikal dalam keadaan berbogel di kawasan perumahan terbabit.
Perkara itu dimaklumkan seorang jiran, SP Shivaraj, 48, sambil berkata lelaki berusia 39 itu juga pernah dihantar ke hospital (untuk rawatan mental), tetapi baru-baru ini kembali tinggal bersama keluarganya.
“Ada dalam kalangan penduduk menasihati jiran saya ini supaya menghantarnya semula ke hospital,” katanya ketika ditemui di sini, hari ini.
Terdahulu, media melaporkan seorang lelaki, Muhammad Khairul Ridzuan Muhamad Taib, 46, ditemukan rentung dan tertiarap di ruang tamu, manakala tujuh lagi ahli keluarganya selamat.
Ketua Polis Daerah Manjung, Asisten Komisioner Hasbullah Abd Rahman dilaporkan berkata, suspek yang juga adik kandung kepada mangsa ditahan di tempat kejadian untuk membantu siasatan mengikut Seksyen 302 Kanun Keseksaan.
Sementara itu, jiran sama ketika mengulas kejadian itu berkata dia terjaga daripada tidur kira-kira jam 2.20 pagi apabila dikejutkan anaknya yang mendakwa terhidu bau asap.
“Sebahagian siling rumah saya terbakar, jadi kami cepat-cepat keluar dari rumah.
“Waktu itu saya nampak rumah jiran terbakar. Semua tujuh ahli keluarga mangsa berada di luar rumah.
“Kami terkejut diberitahu jiran kami meninggal dunia dan ditemukan rentung,” katanya.
KOTA TINGGI — Seorang bayi perempuan terperangkap dalam kereta Produa Kelisa yang terkunci secara tidak sengaja di hadapan sebuah restoran makanan segera, di sini pagi tadi.
Kejadian membabitkan bayi berusia 12 bulan itu dilapor kepada bomba pada jam 8.22 pagi. Sepasukan anggota dari Balai Bomba dan Penyelamat (BBP) Kota Tinggi tiba di lokasi lima minit kemudian.
Ketua BBP Kota Tinggi, Mohd Shawaluddin Ami Nordin, berkata pihaknya menerima laporan daripada bapa mangsa memaklumkan anaknya terkunci secara tidak sengaja di dalam kereta.
“Bapa mangsa menghantar seorang lagi anaknya ke tadika dan pintu kereta kemudian terkunci secara tidak sengaja. Mangsa tidak cedera dan tidak menangis sewaktu operasi menyelamat dijalankan,” katanya ketika dihubungi.
Mohd Shawaluddin Ami memaklumkan, pasukan bomba menggunakan peralatan khas untuk membuka pintu kereta terbabit sebelum menyelamatkan bayi berkenaan yang kemudian diserahkan kepada keluarganya.
MANJUNG — Lelaki yang rentung dalam kebakaran rumah teres di Taman Muhibbah 2, Sitiawan, di sini awal pagi tadi, disyaki dibunuh sebelum rumahnya dibakar.
Muhammad Khairul Ridzuan Muhamad Taib, 46, ditemui dalam keadaan tertiarap di ruang tamu sebelum kejadian dilaporkan kepada polis pada jam 2.39 pagi.
Ketua Polis Daerah Manjung, Asisten Komisioner Hasbullah Abdul Rahman, berkata seorang saksi melihat lelaki dikenalinya masuk ke dalam rumah itu sebelum terdengar bunyi hentakan objek di ruang tamu.
“Suspek kemudiannya dilihat keluar dari rumah dan kembali semula dengan membawa dua bekas mengandungi cecair disyaki petrol dan meninggalkan rumah sebelum saksi menyedari kebakaran.
“Pihak polis juga menahan suspek berhampiran dengan tempat kejadian,” katanya dalam kenyataan hari ini dan memaklumkan kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 302 Kanun Keseksaan.
Katanya, suspek direman selama tujuh hari hingga 1 Oktober depan untuk membantu siasatan.
“Bedah siasat ke atas mayat akan dijalankan di Jabatan Forensik Hospital Permaisuri Raja Bainun, Ipoh,” katanya.
Orang awam yang mempunyai sebarang maklumat berkaitan kes itu diminta menghubungi Asisten Superintendan Azalan Ab Karim di talian 019-3927837 atau bilik gerakan IPD Manjung di talian 05-6886222 untuk membantu siasatan.
Terdahulu, media melaporkan seorang lelaki ditemukan rentung di ruang tamu sebuah rumah, manakala tujuh ahli keluarga mangsa selamat.
KUANTAN — Seorang wanita warga emas maut, selepas kereta dinaiki bersama suaminya terbabas ke dalam sungai di Jambatan Balok Makmur, Seberang Balok, di sini pagi ini.
Mangsa, Paridah Dollah, 67, dari Taman Inderapura di Jerantut meninggal dunia di lokasi dalam kejadian kira-kira jam 10.30 pagi itu, manakala suaminya, 66, yang memandu kenderaan terbabit terselamat.
Ketua Polis Daerah Kuantan, Asisten Komisioner Wan Mohd Zahari Wan Busu, berkata siasatan awal mendapati kereta Proton Saga dinaiki pasangan itu dari arah Balok Makmur menuju Seberang Balok, sebelum tiba-tiba terbabas masuk ke dalam sungai.
“Wanita yang juga penumpang kenderaan itu disahkan meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian, manakala suami mangsa dibawa ke Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA), di sini untuk menerima rawatan lanjut kerana sesak nafas,” katanya dalam kenyataan.
Kes disiasat mengikut Seksyen 41(1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan 1987.
KUALA LUMPUR — Seorang lelaki sangat dikehendaki polis ditembak mati di Kampung Baru Kundang di Rawang, Selangor, awal pagi tadi.
Kejadian sekitar jam 1.15 pagi ketika sepasukan anggota Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Petaling Jaya, menjalankan risikan bagi mengesan suspek disyaki terbabit kejadian pecah kedai di kawasan Damansara.
Ketua Polis Selangor, Datuk Hussein Omar Khan, berkata polis berjaya mengesan suspek memandu kenderaan jenis Nissan Grand Livina di Jalan KBK 4, Kampung Baru Kundang.
“Suspek enggan memberhentikan kereta, sebaliknya mengundurkan kenderaan secara laju dan sangat berbahaya lalu merempuh kenderaan dinaiki anggota polis dan kenderaan orang awam di tempat kejadian.
“Pihak polis terpaksa melepaskan beberapa das tembakan untuk mempertahankan diri ke arah kereta dipandu suspek sehingga mengakibatkan kenderaannya terbabas.
“Suspek berusia lewat 30-an telah terkena tembakan dan disahkan meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian,” katanya dalam satu kenyataan, hari ini.
Hussein berkata, hasil siasatan mendapati suspek memiliki 26 rekod termasuk 17 kes jenayah, membabitkan 10 kes pecah rumah dan pecah kedai serta sembilan kesalahan berkait dadah.
“Polis merampas tiga bilah parang, kapak, pemotong besi dan kuku kambing yang disyaki digunakan untuk kegiatan jenayah,” katanya.
Katanya, setakat ini satu kertas siasatan dibuka mengikut Seksyen 307 Kanun Keseksaan atas kesalahan cubaan membunuh.
BEIRUT, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) — Hezbollah launched on Wednesday for the first time a medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile from Lebanon to attack the headquarters of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, said the group in a statement.
“In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, and in defense of Lebanon and its people, the Islamic Resistance launched a “Qader 1″ ballistic missile targeting the Mossad headquarters in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, which is the headquarters responsible for assassinating leaders and blowing up pagers and wireless devices,” said the statement.
Confrontations between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have escalated in recent days, as the group began shelling military sites in northern Israel with dozens of missiles, including “Fadi 1”, “Fadi 2” and “Fadi 3” missiles, which it used for the first time since Oct. 8 last year.
Hezbollah and the Israeli army have been exchanging shelling across the Lebanese-Israeli border after the war broke out between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel in the Gaza Strip last October.
NEW DELHI — At least seven persons died and one was seriously injured when a speeding car rammed into a stationary truck in India’s western state of Gujarat on Wednesday, confirmed a top cop over phone.
The road accident happened on a national highway in Himmatnagar area of the state’s Sabarkantha district.
All the victims were residents of the state’s Ahmedabad city.
According to Himmatnagar Deputy Superintendent of Police A.K. Patel, the accident occurred in the morning hours, apparently due to the high speed of the car, which was badly mangled post-accident.
Correctional Officers with the Missouri Department Corrections patrol the area as protesters opposed to the execution of Marcellus Williams pray outside the state prison, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Bonne Terre, Mo. (AP)
BONNE TERRE, Missouri — A Missouri man convicted of breaking into a woman’s home and repeatedly stabbing her was executed Tuesday over the objections of the victim’s family and the prosecutor, who wanted the death sentence commuted to life in prison.
Marcellus Williams, 55, was convicted in the 1998 killing of Lisha Gayle, who was stabbed during the burglary of her suburban St. Louis home.
Williams was put to death despite questions his attorneys raised over jury selection at his trial and the handling of evidence in the case. His clemency petition focused heavily on how Gayle’s relatives wanted Williams’ sentence commuted to life without the possibility of parole.
“The family defines closure as Marcellus being allowed to live,” the petition stated. “Marcellus’ execution is not necessary.”
As Williams lay awaiting execution, he appeared to converse with a spiritual adviser seated next to him.
Williams wiggled his feet underneath a white sheet that was pulled up to his neck and moved his head slightly while his spiritual adviser continued to talk. Then Williams’ chest heaved about a half dozen times, and he showed no further movement.
Williams’ son and two attorneys watched from another room. No one was present on behalf of the victim’s family.
The Department of Corrections released a brief statement that Williams had written ahead of time, saying: “All Praise Be to Allah In Every Situation!!!”
Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said he hoped the execution brings finality to a case that “languished for decades, revictimizing Ms. Gayle’s family over and over again.”
“No juror nor judge has ever found Williams’ innocence claim to be credible,” Parson said in a statement.
The NAACP had been among those urging Parson to cancel the execution.
“Tonight, Missouri lynched another innocent Black man,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
It was the third time Williams faced execution. He got reprieves in 2015 and 2017, but his last-ditch efforts this time were futile. Parson and the state Supreme Court rejected his appeals in quick succession Monday, and the US Supreme Court declined to intervene hours before he was put to death.
Last month, Gayle’s relatives gave their blessings to an agreement between the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney’s office and Williams’ attorneys to commute the sentence to life in prison. But acting on an appeal from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office, the state Supreme Court nullified the agreement.
Williams was among death row inmates in five states who were scheduled to be put to death in the span of a week — an unusually high number that defies a yearslong decline in the use and support of the death penalty in the US The first was carried out Friday in South Carolina. Texas was also slated to execute a prisoner on Tuesday evening. Gayle, 42, was a social worker and former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter.
Prosecutors at Williams’ trial said he broke into her home on Aug. 11, 1998, heard the shower running and found a large butcher knife. Gayle was stabbed 43 times when she came downstairs. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen.
Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. His girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on a hot day. She said she later saw the purse and laptop in his car and that Williams sold the computer a day or two later.
Prosecutors also cited testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams in 1999 while Williams was jailed on unrelated charges. Cole told prosecutors that Williams confessed to the killing and provided details about it.
Williams’ attorneys responded that the girlfriend and Cole were both convicted of felonies and wanted a $10,000 reward. They said that fingerprints, a bloody shoeprint, hair and other evidence at the crime scene didn’t match Williams’.
A crime scene investigator had testified the killer wore gloves.
Questions about DNA evidence also led St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell to request a hearing challenging Williams’ guilt.
But days before the Aug. 21 hearing, new testing showed that DNA on the knife belonged to members of the prosecutor’s office who handled it without gloves after the original crime lab tests.
Without DNA evidence pointing to any alternative suspect, Midwest Innocence Project attorneys reached a compromise with the prosecutor’s office: Williams would enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole. A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purpose of sentencing.
Judge Bruce Hilton signed off, as did Gayle’s family. But Bailey appealed, and the state Supreme Court blocked the agreement and ordered Hilton to proceed with an evidentiary hearing, which took place last month.
Hilton ruled on Sept. 12 that the first-degree murder conviction and death sentence would stand, noting that Williams’ arguments all had been previously rejected.
That decision was upheld Monday by the state Supreme Court.
Attorneys for Williams, who was Black, also challenged the fairness of his trial, particularly the fact that only one of the 12 jurors was Black. Tricia Bushnell of the Midwest Innocence Project said the prosecutor in the case, Keith Larner, removed six of seven Black prospective jurors.
Larner testified at the August hearing that he struck one potential Black juror partly because he looked too much like Williams — a statement that Williams’ attorneys asserted showed improper racial bias.
Larner contended that the jury selection process was fair.
Williams was the third Missouri inmate put to death this year and the 100th since the state resumed use of the death penalty in 1989.
ROME — Emergency search operations for a five-month-old boy and his grandmother were ongoing late Tuesday after they were swept off the roof of a vacation home during a flash flood near the coastal Tuscan city of Pisa.
The flood began Monday when the Sferza stream swelled and broke its banks after days of severe thunderstorms. Both victims are German nationals on vacation in Italy.
The boy’s parents and grandfather were rescued from the roof of the Tuscan rental home. Search efforts, aided by drones, helicopters, divers, and rescue dogs, were utilizing brief breaks in the weather.
Much of Italy has been battered by Storm Boris since Thursday last week, which on Tuesday prompted regional states of emergency in Tuscany, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna.
Thousands have been evacuated, and weather alerts remain in place across six of the country’s 21 regions.
According to the meteorological monitoring site Il Meteo, the severe weather is expected to ease by the weekend.
SEOUL — Twenty-eight people were injured in South Korea’s car crash, Yonhap news agency said Wednesday citing the fire authorities.
A van collided with a city bus at an intersection in the central city of Daejeon at around 9:53 p.m. local time Tuesday (1253 GMT), causing the bus to swerve off the lane and crash into a railway bridge.
Twenty-eight people, including the van driver and bus passengers, suffered injuries. Two of them, including the bus driver, were seriously wounded.
At the time of the accident, the van driver in his 50s was drunk at a blood alcohol level warranting the suspension of a driver’s license.
The police booked the van driver for drunk driving to investigate details of the accident.
