The death toll at last week’s nightclub roof collapse in the capital of the Dominican Republic rose to 231, the Minister of Interior and Police said on Monday, as families of victims began filing lawsuits against the nightclub’s owners.
Holy Week will be different this year in the Caribbean tourist destination, with multiple events and activities canceled and beach parties banned, according to the Dominican Navy.
Municipal authorities have also suspended the traditional Easter activities that take place in public squares and parks.
Relatives of Virgilio Rafael Cruz, one of the victims who died on April 8, have begun a legal action against the establishment’s owners, the family’s lawyer told local media on Monday.
Other families have also indicated they will file lawsuits.
Jet Set nightclub is owned by Antonio Espaillat, the second-largest broadcaster in the Dominican Republic and owner of 50 radio stations.
“From the very beginning we have been collaborating fully and transparently with authorities,” Espaillat said in a video posted on Instagram shortly after the incident.
Local media and ticketing sites indicate the club could accommodate between 700 and 1,000 people, though there is no official confirmation on how many were present at the time of the disaster.
Authorities have begun investigations to determine the causes of the collapse. The forensic investigation will take about three months to reach an official conclusion, according to Leonardo Reyes, who heads a government department that oversees building structure vulnerabilities.
MOSCOW – Russia said two of its missiles had hit a meeting of Ukrainian military officers on Sunday in the city of Sumy, where Ukraine said Russian strikes had killed 34 people and wounded 117.
Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of using civilians as human shields by placing military facilities and holding events involving soldiers in the centre of a densely populated city. There was no immediate response from Kyiv to the “human shield” accusation.
The defence ministry said its forces had fired “two Iskander-M tactical missiles at the meeting venue” of what it called an operational tactical group of Ukraine’s armed forces.
It said that more than 60 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the strike.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday demanded a tough international response against Moscow over the attack, which came as U.S. President Donald Trump struggles to make progress towards his pledge to rapidly end the war.
“Only scoundrels can act like this, taking the lives of ordinary people,” Zelenskiy said, noting that the attack had come on Palm Sunday when some people were going to church.
KUALA LUMPUR – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi died on Monday, aged 85, his family and medical authorities reported. Abdullah became Malaysia’s fifth prime minister in 2003, following the resignation of veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad after 22 years at the helm.
The former premier died at 7:10 pm (1110 GMT) at the National Heart Institute in the capital Kuala Lumpur, his son-in-law and former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in an Instagram post, without specifying a cause of death.
Abdullah was admitted to the National Heart Institute on Sunday after experiencing breathing difficulties and was immediately placed under intensive care, the institute said in a statement.
“Despite all medical efforts, he passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones,” the institute said. As premier of the Muslim-majority country, Abdullah embarked on an anti-corruption drive and espoused a moderate version of Islam that aimed for economic and technological progress over religious fundamentalism. But he came under public criticism for his review of fuel subsidies that saw a sharp spike in prices.
Abdullah stepped down in 2009, a year after an election that saw the then-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition lose its parliamentary supermajority for the first time in the country’s history. He was succeeded by Najib Razak.
GAZA – Several Palestinian citizens were killed and others injured on Monday after the occupation forces bombed various areas in the Gaza Strip.
Medical sources reported that three citizens were killed and several others were injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Al-Sha’af area in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.
At least one citizen was also killed and others were injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
LAHORE – Eight Pakistanis were killed in southeastern Iran, according to a statement from the Pakistani government on Sunday.
The people, who have yet to be identified, were killed in the Mehrestan County of Sistan-Baluchistan province, which borders Pakistan.
The Pakistani Embassy in Tehran and Consulate in Zahidan are working with Iranian authorities to investigate the killings and repatriate the victims’ remains, the statement said.
It added that further details on the identification of the deceased and the circumstances surrounding their deaths will be shared once available.
KABUL – Pakistan expelled a total of 852 Afghan families with 4,567 members on Sunday, Afghanistan’s High Commission for Addressing Returnees Problems said in a statement on Monday.
According to the statement, the families have returned to their homeland in Afghanistan via the Torkham border crossing in eastern Nangarhar and the Spin Boldak border crossing in southern Kandahar province.
At the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the commission provides temporary shelters, nourishment, water, medical care, and transportation services to their respective provinces for the returnees.
The Pakistani government is set to deport 3 million Afghans to their home country in 2025.
Reportedly, about 7 million Afghan refugees, most of whom are undocumented migrants, are currently living abroad, with most living in Afghanistan’s neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
The Afghan interim government has been repeatedly calling upon Afghan refugees to end living abroad as refugees and return home to contribute to the rebuilding of their war-torn homeland.
KUNMING – Eight people have been confirmed dead after a fire broke out at a shop in southwest China’s Yunnan Province early Saturday, local authorities said Monday.
The fire started in a shop in Chenggong District in the provincial capital Kunming at around 2 a.m. Saturday. Firefighters managed to bring the blaze under control at 2:50 a.m.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.
HOUSTON – Six people were injured and at least 24 homes damaged after a two-story house exploded on Sunday in Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, authorities said.
When firefighters arrived at the neighborhood in northwest Austin, they found the house was leveled to the ground and a neighboring house suffered “severe collapse damage,” said Wayne Parrish, division chief of Austin Fire Department.
Among the injured, two are in critical condition, while two firefighters were treated for minor injuries, said Captain Shannon Koesterer of Austin-Travis County EMS.
The cause of the blast remains unknown. Although the neighborhood lacks underground gas lines, the newly constructed home that exploded did have propane tanks, local media reported.
TAIYUAN – Firefighters are struggling to contain a raging mountain fire that broke out Sunday afternoon in Zezhou County in north China’s Shanxi Province, local authorities said.
Strong winds are fueling the rapidly expanding fire near a village in Chuandi Township, complicating the firefighting efforts, the county publicity department said.
Local authorities received the report of the fire at 3:23 p.m. Sunday.
QUITO – Daniel Noboa, the incumbent president of Ecuador, was re-elected in the second round of the presidential election held Sunday for a four-year term, according to the initial results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
Noboa, 37, gained 55.92 percent of the vote with 92.64 percent of ballots counted, while his opponent, the leftist Luisa Gonzalez earned 44.08 percent.
While congratulating Noboa on his victory, Diana Atamaint, president of the CNE, said “an irreversible trend” is marked in the results of the second presidential round, which “are the faithful reflection of the popular will expressed at the polls.”
The elections took place in an environment of peace, security and trust with a participation of 83.76 percent of the more than 13.7 million eligible voters, she added.
After learning the results, Noboa thanked supporters in a statement from his residence in the western province of Santa Elena. “This victory has been historic, a victory of more than 10 points, where there is no doubt about who the winner is,” he said.
“Ecuador is changing, Ecuador has already chosen a different path and that path is going to be for future generations to have a fairer life (…) and with progress,” Noboa added.
In a speech delivered in the north of the capital Quito, Gonzalez said she does not recognize Noboa’s electoral victory.
“We do not recognize the results presented by the CNE. We are going to ask for a recount and for the polls to be opened,” she said.
A view shows the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Sumy, Ukraine April 13, 2025. Prosecutor General’s Office via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS
SUMY, Ukraine/KYIV – Two Russian ballistic missiles slammed into the heart of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday, killing 34 people and wounding 117 in the deadliest strike on Ukraine this year, officials said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded a tough international response against Moscow over the attack, which came with U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to rapidly end the war struggling to make a breakthrough.
The leaders of Britain, Germany and Italy condemned the attack. Trump, when asked about the Russian strike, said that it was terrible.
“And I was told they made a mistake,” he said without elaborating further. “But I think it’s a horrible thing.”
Dead bodies were strewn on the ground in the middle of a city street near a destroyed bus and burnt-out cars in a video Zelenskiy posted on social media.
“Only scoundrels can act like this, taking the lives of ordinary people,” Zelenskiy said, noting that the attack had come on Palm Sunday when some people were going to church.
Yevhen, a 27-year old PhD student and a resident who declined to give his surname, said he had no words for what happened.
“You know, the people who are fighting against us always say that they are Orthodox (Christian) believers, that they believe in God, but we have experienced first-hand terrorism today,” he said.
German leaders said the attacks showed how Russian President Vladimir Putin responds to ceasefire proposals.
“These attacks show just what Russia’s supposed readiness for peace is worth,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on social media.
Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz told broadcaster ARD the attack on Sumy was “clearly a war crime … There is no greater example of perfidy: a targeted and planned war crime”.
Zelenskiy, in an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” aired on Sunday, urged Trump to visit Ukraine.
“Please come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children, destroyed or dead,” Zelenskiy said in a video clip the program posted on social media.
During the interview, which took place on Friday, Zelenskiy was asked if the United States had Ukraine’s back.
After a brief pause, Zelenskiy replied: “Even in this pause of mine, there’s a problem, because I want to answer truthfully and quickly that the United States is our strategic, strong partner,” he said.
“But the pause is doubt. I don’t doubt that the people of America are with us, but in a long war, many details are forgotten.”
He called on the United States to provide forces as part of an international peacekeeping effort, specifically asking for Washington to help protect Ukrainian airspace with aircraft.
Under Trump’s administration, U.S. officials have held separate rounds of talks with Kremlin and Kyiv officials to try to move towards a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.
Russian authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Russia denies targeting civilians but thousands have been killed and injured since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A separate Russian drone attack injured five people in the Black Sea port city of Odesa late on Sunday and damaged a medical facility, regional officials said.
The Sunday attacks followed a missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskiy’s hometown and far from the ground war’s front lines in the east and south, this month that killed 20 people, including nine children.
Sumy, with a population of around a quarter of a million and located just over 25 km (15 miles) from the Russian border, became a garrison city when Kyiv’s forces launched an incursion into Russia in August.
Sumy’s acting mayor, Artem Kobzar, announced three days of mourning for the victims starting from Monday.
The people who were caught in Sunday’s strike were out on the street or inside cars, public transport and buildings when the missiles hit, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
“Deliberate destruction of civilians on an important church feast day,” he wrote.
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said the missiles contained cluster munitions. “The Russians are doing this to kill as many civilians as possible,” he said.
INFORMATION LEAK?
Maryana Bezuhla, an outspoken Ukrainian lawmaker known for her sharp public criticism of military commanders, suggested on the Telegram app that the attack had taken place due to information about a gathering of soldiers leaking out.
Reuters was not able to verify that information, and Bezuhla did not post evidence.
Local resident Pavriz Manakhov told Reuters that he had not seen soldiers in the area.
“We live in the city centre, there is no military base, there are no soldiers here,” Manakhov said.
Russia currently holds nearly 20% of Ukraine’s territory in the east and south, and its forces have been slowly advancing in the east.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv was “sharing detailed information about this war crime with all of our partners and international institutions.”
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, which Ukraine officially joined this year, is conducting investigations into high-profile cases of alleged war crimes in the conflict.
The U.S. in late March said it reached agreement with Russia and Ukraine on two ceasefire accords, including one that would ban strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of breaking the moratoriums.
On Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of having carried out two attacks on Russian energy infrastructure over the previous day.
JERUSALEM – More than 250 former officials of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency have signed a letter urging the government to immediately end the war in the Gaza Strip and bring about the release of the Israeli hostages still held there, Israel’s state-owned Kan TV News reported on Sunday.
According to the report, the signatories include three former Mossad chiefs: Danny Yatom, Efraim Halevy, and Tamir Pardo, as well as dozens of other veteran officials in the service.
The ex-Mossad members said, “Continued fighting endangers the lives of the hostages and our soldiers, and every possibility must be exhausted to reach an agreement that will end the suffering. We call on the government to make courageous decisions and act responsibly for the country’s security.”
They expressed support for hundreds of military aircrew members, in reserve or retired, who signed a similar letter, calling for a cessation of hostilities and the return of the hostages.
Following the publication of the aircrew members’ letter on Thursday, Israeli Air Force Commander Tomer Bar decided to terminate the service of active reservists among the signatories.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the dismissal decision and lashed out at such letters, calling the signatories “an extremist fringe group” attempting to “break Israeli society from within.”
Also on Sunday, about 200 Israeli military doctors signed a petition with the same demand for stopping the fighting and bringing home the hostages, according to several media outlets that published a copy of the letter.
“The continued fighting in Gaza is primarily intended to serve political and personal interests, without any security purpose, and endangers the lives of soldiers and hostages,” it said.
SANAA – The death toll from fresh U.S. airstrikes on the western outskirts of Yemen’s capital Sanaa has risen to six, with 13 others injured, Houthi-run health authorities said in an updated statement on Sunday.
The strikes targeted a ceramic factory in the Bani Matar district, said residents and the health authorities. The roar of fighter jets was reportedly heard across Sanaa before and after the airstrikes.
Separately, U.S. warplanes carried out two additional strikes in the northern provinces of Marib and Al-Jawf, according to Houthi-run al-Masirah TV. It noted that the latest air raids have brought the total number of U.S. airstrikes across northern Yemen throughout the day to 25.
Hours earlier, the Houthi group claimed responsibility for three airstrikes on Israeli targets, including the Sdot Micha military base and the Ben Gurion airport in central Israel, as well as an unspecified “vital target” in the Ashkelon area, southern Israel.
Earlier in the day, Israel’s military said that a missile launched from Yemen was “likely intercepted” by its air defense systems before entering Israeli airspace.
Tensions have escalated between the Houthi group and the United States, as well as its ally Israel, in recent weeks, particularly since the U.S. military resumed airstrikes on March 15 against Houthi targets to deter the group from attacking Israeli and U.S. interests in the region.
However, the U.S. strikes have failed to deter the militia. In a recent development, the Houthi group issued on Saturday a warning against any potential U.S.-led ground operations in Yemen, vowing to respond with “hell.”
The threats come amid circulating reports in local Yemeni media suggesting that the United States may be preparing to support the Yemeni government forces in a ground campaign to retake Sanaa and other northern areas currently under Houthi control.
The Houthis, who control vast areas of northern Yemen, have been attacking Israeli targets since November 2023 to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Yemen-based militia claims that it will stop operations if Israel ends the ongoing war in Gaza and allows essential food and medicine into the strip.
GAZA – Three Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Sunday as Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes targeting areas in central and northern Gaza, according to medical and local sources.
In Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, an Israeli airstrike hit a building in the heart of the city, resulting in the killing of three Palestinians and injuring several others. Ambulances and civil defense teams rushed to the scene to evacuate the casualties.
In a separate strike, Israeli fighters jets targeted a residential home in the Al-Jurn neighborhood of Jabalia, in northern Gaza, causing injuries among civilians, according to local reports.
NEW YORK – A small twin-engine private plane crashed in a field near Copake in America’s New York state around noon on Saturday, but fatalities remain unkown, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
The plane had six people on board and was expected to land at Columbia County Airport in Hudson, New York.
The crash site is located in the middle of an open field and it was difficult to access it due to muddy conditions, said Undersheriff Jacqueline Salvatore of Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Salvatore didn’t disclose the number of fatalities or passengers’ information in the accident.
The FAA said it would investigate the accident together with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The safety of civil aviation in the United States has been a pressing issue recently as a series of accidents have made many people reluctant to fly due to safety concerns.
A fatal small plane crash was reported Friday near Boca Raton Regional Airport in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida and a helicopter from New York City crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday, leaving six people dead.
Palestinian children injured in an Israeli airstrike are brought to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (AP)
CAIRO – Two Israeli missiles hit a building inside a main Gaza hospital on Sunday, destroying the emergency and reception department and damaging other structures, medics said.
Health officials at the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital evacuated the patients from the building after one person said he received a call from someone who identified himself with the Israeli security shortly before the attack took place.
No casualties were reported, according to the civil emergency service.
Israel made no comment on the strike.
Images circulating on social media, which Reuters could not immediately authenticate, showed dozens of displaced families leaving the place. Some of them dragging sick relatives on hospital beds.
In its statement, the Hamas-run government media office condemned the attack as a “heinous and filthy crime,” saying that Israel “deliberately destroyed and rendered out of service 34 hospitals as part of a systematic plan to dismantle what remains of the health care sector in the Gaza Strip.”
In October 2023, an attack on the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital killed hundreds of people. Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli air strike for the blast. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.
A supporter of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) lights a flare during a pro-government rally backing Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s policies and opposing months of student-led protests, in Belgrade, Serbia, April 12, 2025. REUTERS
BELGRADE – Thousands from towns in Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia arrived by buses on Saturday to attend a rally in Belgrade organised in support of President Aleksandar Vucic, whose grip on power has been threatened by months of anti-corruption protests.
Main streets were blocked for traffic, and stands with fast food and drinks were put up in front of the parliament.
The rally is seen as Vucic’s response to the big anti-government rally on March 15, when more than 100,000 people attended the biggest protest in decades.
Serbia has seen months of anti-government rallies after 16 deaths from a railway station roof collapse triggered accusations of widespread corruption and negligence.
The protests have swelled to include students, teachers and farmers in a major challenge to Vucic, a populist in power for 12 years as prime minister or president.
“The coloured revolution is over,” Vucic told throngs of his supporters in front of the parliament.
“They can walk as much as they wish, but nothing will come out of that.”
The rally was meant also to promote a new movement led by Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) which is expected to include other parties from the ruling coalition that is yet to be officially inaugurated.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban addressed the rally via video link. “Serbian patriots can count on Hungarian patriots,” Orban said.
Tensions between Vucic’s supporters and anti-government protesters ran high on Saturday. In Novi Pazar, which is the administrative centre of Serbia’s Muslim majority region, anti-government activists tried to prevent buses with Vucic’s supporters from leaving the town.
In Belgrade, protesters tried to prevent buses from reaching the city centre and threw eggs at them, triggering police intervention.
SANAA – The U.S. military carried out 10 airstrikes across northern Yemen late Saturday night, targeting multiple locations, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.
The strikes reportedly hit Al-Salem district in northern Saada province, Al-Munira district in western Hodeidah province, and the Vocational Institute in Al-Sawma’ah district of central Al-Bayda province.
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Four people hospitalized after being rescued from the rubble of a roof collapse at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic died overnight, raising the death toll to 225, health officials said Saturday.
Officials said 189 people were rescued alive from the rubble of the popular venue in the capital Santo Domingo. More than 200 were injured, with 15 of them still hospitalized, including five in critical condition.
Early on Tuesday, the roof at the nightclub Jet Set collapsed during a merengue concert. Politicians, athletes and a fashion designer were among those enjoying live music when disaster struck.
As of Saturday morning, people remained at a forensics institute waiting for the return of their loved ones’ bodies. Later in the day, health authorities said all 225 bodies had been returned to the victims’ families.
Health minister Victor Attalah told journalists Saturday there was a delay in identifying victims because the majority of them had to be matched using biometric data.
