ISTANBUL – Five Turkish soldiers have died after exposure to methane gas on Sunday while searching a cave in northern Iraq for the remains of a fellow soldier killed by Kurdish militants in 2022, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
Soldiers were searching a mountain cave when 19 of them were exposed to the gas, which is colorless, odorless, flammable and can cause asphyxiation in sufficient concentration.
“They were immediately transported to the hospital (but) despite all interventions, five heroic personnel were martyred,” the ministry said in a statement. “Rescue operations in the area continue.”
The ministry did not give a specific location for the incident other than the “Claw-Lock Operation region,” a reference to an operation launched against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in north Iraq in April 2022.
The Turkish unit affected by methane gas was searching for the remains of an infantry officer killed by “terrorist gunfire” during a search-and-clear operation in May 2022, the ministry said. For the last three years, teams have been hunting for his remains.
The cave was at an altitude of 852 meters (2,795 foot) and was known to have been used as a hospital by the PKK in the past, although it had since been cleared by Turkish soldiers.
KARACHI, Pakistan – The death toll from a collapsed multistory residential building in Pakistan’s Karachi city rose to 27 on Sunday as a three-day rescue operation ended, officials said.
Rescuers pulled 11 more bodies from the rubble of the building that collapsed on Friday, according to Dr. Summayya Tariq, the Karachi police surgeon. Ten people were injured and one of them died at a hospital, she said.
Authorities said they were investigating the cause of the collapse.
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Many structures are built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are often overlooked to reduce costs.
In June 2020, an apartment building collapsed in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province, killing 22 people.
GENEVA, July 6 – The Swiss embassy in Tehran reopened on Sunday after being temporarily closed on June 20 due to instability in Iran.
Ambassador Nadine Olivieri Lozano and a small team returned to Tehran on Saturday, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) said in a statement.
According to the FDFA, the decision to resume operations followed a comprehensive risk assessment.
The current conditions allow for a gradual resumption of embassy activities on site, the FDFA noted. However, consular services, including the issuing of visas, remain suspended for the time being.
Switzerland continues to closely monitor developments in the region and remains in regular contact with its international partners, the FDFA added.
A photo released by the Yemeni Armed Forces’ Military Media Unit shows the Galaxy Leader cargo ship in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, on November 19, 2023. AL MAYADEEN – Yemeni Armed Forces/Military Media
At least 20 Israeli airstrikes targeted the city of Hodeidah in Yemen early on Monday, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported, while the Yemeni air defenses worked on repelling a major part of the aggression.
The Israeli aggression targeted the ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Issa, as well as the Ras Qatif power station. Israeli media outlets reported that the infrastructure had been attacked by Israeli occupation forces on three previous occasions.
Moreover, our correspondent reported that one of the strikes targeted the Israeli-linked Galaxy Leader vessel, which the Yemeni Armed Forces had captured on November 19, 2023.
In the same context, the Israeli Security Minister, Israel Katz, announced that Israeli forces are “vigorously attacking” targets in Yemeni ports, the Ras Qatib power plant, and the ship Galaxy Leader.
A man searches the area, following flash flooding, in Hunt, Texas, U.S. July 6, 2025. REUTERS
HUNT, Texas, July 6 – The death toll from catastrophic floods in Texas reached at least 78 on Sunday, including at least 28 children, as the search for girls missing from a summer camp entered a third day and fears of more flash flooding as rain fell on saturated ground prompted fresh evacuations.
Larry Leitha, the Kerr County Sheriff in Texas Hill Country, said 68 people had died in flooding in his county, the epicenter of the flooding, among them 28 children. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, speaking at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, said another 10 had died elsewhere in Texas and 41 confirmed missing. The governor did not say how many of the dead outside Kerr were children.
Among the most devastating impacts of the flooding occurred at Camp Mystic summer camp, a nearly century-old Christian girls camp. Sheriff Leitha said on Sunday that 10 Camp Mystic campers and one counselor were still missing.
“It was nothing short of horrific to see what those young children went through,” said Abbott, who said he toured the area on Saturday and pledged to continue efforts to locate the missing.
The flooding occurred after the nearby Guadalupe River broke its banks after torrential rain fell in the central Texas area on Friday, the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd said at the press conference on Sunday afternoon the destruction killed three people in Burnet County, one in Tom Green County, five in Travis County and one in Williamson County.
“You will see the death toll rise today and tomorrow,” said Freeman Martin, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, also speaking on Sunday.
Officials said on Saturday that more than 850 people had been rescued, including some clinging to trees, after a sudden storm dumped up to 15 inches (38 cm) of rain across the region, about 85 miles (140 km) northwest of San Antonio.
“Everyone in the community is hurting,” Leitha told reporters.
July 6 – Yemen’s Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported early on Monday that Israel launched a series of strikes on Hodeidah, shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for people at three Yemeni ports.
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson said late on Sunday that Israel will strike those areas due to military activities being conducted there.
In a statement, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee identified those places as the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Hodeidah power station.
Palestinians inspect the site of Thursday’s Israeli strike that damaged and destroyed residential buildings, at Shati (Beach) refugee camp, in Gaza City, July 4, 2025. REUTERS
GAZA CITY, Palestine / ANKARA – At least 81 Palestinians, including children, were killed on Sunday in a series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, according to medical sources and local reports.
In Gaza City, 25 people were killed when Israeli warplanes bombed two homes sheltering displaced families in the Sheikh Radwan and Al-Nasr neighborhoods, a medical source said.
Eyewitnesses said the houses were filled with sleeping families, mostly women and children, when the strikes occurred. Several people remain trapped under the rubble.
The Israeli army killed four Palestinians and injured 25 others after targeting civilians near an aid distribution point south of Wadi Gaza in the central Gaza Strip, according to a statement from Al-Awda Hospital.
Six people also lost their lives and several others were injured when Israeli fighter jets shelled two civilian gatherings in Gaza City and the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, medics said.
An Israeli drone also hit a civilian car in the Al-Saftawi neighborhood in northern Gaza City, leaving three brothers dead.
Another Israeli drone strike targeted a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in Sheikh Radwan, killing three and injuring others, according to health officials.
In western Gaza City, seven people, including children, were killed when Israeli warplanes bombed a school-turned shelter in the Shati refugee camp, medics said.
Medical sources at Al-Shifa Hospital said the victims arrived in pieces, while dozens of others were brought in with various injuries due to overcrowding at the shelter.
Elsewhere in Gaza City, at least two people were killed and others injured in an Israeli strike on a residential home in Al-Tuffah neighborhood.
Several people remain trapped under the rubble, with medical teams unable to reach them due to the dangerous security situation, witnesses said.
An Israeli drone struck a car in northern Gaza City, leaving three Palestinians dead, a medical source said.
Overnight, three people from the same family were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City, a source at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital confirmed.
In southern Gaza, at least 10 people, including children and a pregnant woman, were killed in two Israeli air raids on makeshift tents for displaced civilians in the Al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, medical teams at Nasser and Kuwait field hospitals reported.
Medics said four more bodies, including three children, were recovered from the rubble following another drone strike on tents near the Al-Albani Mosque in Khan Younis.
Israeli forces also bombed residential and civilian structures in eastern Gaza City and northern parts of the enclave overnight, with residents reporting continuous explosions throughout the night.
In central Gaza, an Israeli shell injured a Palestinian fisherman off the coast of Deir al-Balah while he was working.
Eight people from the same family were also killed by an Israeli drone strike on their tent in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
In another attack, three people lost their lives after an Israeli strike hit their home in the same refugee camp. Operations to rescue those trapped under the rubble are still ongoing.
HOUSTON, July 6 – Eleven children remained missing on Sunday, three days after a major flash flood killed at least 59 people in central Texas, the second largest U.S. state, authorities said.
Rescue teams are still searching for the children and one counselor missing from Camp Mystic in Kerr County, the county’s Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news briefing.
“We will continue to search, our search efforts (will last) until everybody is found,” he said.
The confirmed death toll included 21 children, he added.
About 20 counties in Texas were affected by the flood.
MOSCOW, July 6 – Ten people were injured after an An-2 light civilian aircraft made a crash-landing in Russia’s Trans-Baikal Region on Sunday, with three in critical condition, said local authorities.
The authorities said that among the hospitalized, three are in intensive care.
Russia’s East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office reported that the accident was caused by an engine malfunction.
The plane crash-landed around 16 minutes after taking off from the Chita district of the region, said local emergency services.
HOUSTON, July 5 – Severe flooding across central Texas has killed at least 49 people and left dozens missing, local authorities said over the weekend, as rescue operations continued across several counties.
In Kerr County, at least 43 people, including 28 adults and 15 kids, were confirmed dead after torrential rains triggered flash floods early Friday morning, the county’s Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a news conference.
Another 27 children were still unaccounted for, most of them from Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls along the Guadalupe River, said Dalton Rice, the city manager of Kerrville. The camp typically hosts around 750 children each year.
“We’ve been rescuing people out of these camps by the hundreds all day,” Rice said.
In Travis County, four people were confirmed dead and 13 others were reported missing, local broadcaster KXAN-TV reported, citing the county judge, Andy Brown.
In Burnet County, rescue efforts were ongoing as of Saturday afternoon. The sheriff’s office confirmed two fatalities and said two others remained missing.
