Ukraine launched an attack on Russia’s Belgorod region with six US-made ATACMS missiles on Thursday, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday. (AFP/File)
MOSCOW — Ukraine launched an attack on Russia’s Belgorod region with six US-made ATACMS missiles on Thursday, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday.
It said that Russia would retaliate, but that all the missiles had been intercepted, resulting in no casualties or damage.
Moscow has said it will respond every time Ukraine fires ATACMS or British-supplies Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia.
Ukraine first used those weapons to strike at Russian territory in November after obtaining permission from Washington and London. Russia replied by firing a new intermediate-range hypersonic missile, the Oreshnik, and has said it may do so again.
The defence ministry said that over the past week, Russia shot down 12 ATACMS, eight Storm Shadows, 48 US HIMARS rockets, seven French-made Hammer guided bombs and 747 drones. Reuters could not verify those figures.
It reported for the first time that Russian forces had captured the village of Slovianka in eastern Ukraine, one of eight Ukrainian settlements it said had been taken in the past week.
The statement said Russia had carried out eight major strikes in the past week on parts of Ukraine’s gas and energy infrastructure that it said were supporting military facilities and the Ukrainian defence industry.
Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile attack killed at least four people and partially destroyed an educational facility in the city of Kryvyi Rih in southern-central Ukraine on Friday.
At least seven others were hurt, some of them seriously, Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said on Telegram.
A Ukrainian serviceman reacts after firing a 120mm mortar toward Russian troops at a frontline in the Kharkiv region on Jan. 16, 2025. (Reuters)
KYIV — Ukraine said Friday it had launched a missile strike one day earlier on the western Belgorod region targeting air defense systems and damaging military radars.
Kyiv has stepped up its cross border drone and missile attacks on Russian territory and said this week it had launched its largest barrage of the war on military sites and energy installations over the border.
The Ukrainian General Staff wrote on social media that missile units had carried out “precision strikes” on Russian military targets in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine.
It said it had attacked air defense systems under the 568th anti-aircraft missile regiment and claimed that an S-400 radar had been damaged alongside equipment linked to another brigade.
There was no immediate response from Moscow to the claims, which could not be verified by AFP.
Moscow in turn has been targeting Ukrainian energy facilities and this week launched dozens of missiles and drones at sites mainly in western Ukraine near the border with Poland.
Kyiv said Friday that its air defense systems had shot down 33 Russian drones over 11 Ukrainian region at night.
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala reacts as she arrives at her home, after she was freed from detention in Iran, in Rome, Italy, January 8, 2025. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/File Photo
ROME — Elon Musk played no role in negotiations between Italy and Iran for the release of a journalist who was held in a Tehran prison, Italy’s foreign minister said on Friday, dismissing a media report that the U.S. billionaire had been involved.
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala returned home last week after being detained in Iran last month during a reporting trip.
Shortly afterwards, Italy released an Iranian businessman who had been arrested in Milan on a U.S. warrant a few days before Sala was taken to prison.
“Musk … has nothing to do with Cecilia Sala’s case. He played no role. The case was settled by the Italian government,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told broadcaster SkyTG24.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Musk had helped secure Sala’s release, at the request of her boyfriend, by reaching out to Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is a friend of Musk’s, told reporters on Jan. 9 that she had no information on whether he had been involved in the case.
Musk, who was a leading supporter of President-elect Donald Trump’s White House campaign and is poised to take up a role advising him on cutting government spending, said on Thursday he had “played a small role.”
“I did not have any interaction with Iran. Just recommended support from the U.S. side,” he wrote on his social network X.
Sala was released three days after Meloni made a surprise visit to Florida to see Trump. The trip played a role in the reporter’s release, an Italian political source said.
ISTANBUL — Three illegal migrants died and three others went missing after falling from a rubber boat into the Aegean Sea off the coast of Türkiye’s Aydin province, local media reported on Friday.
According to NTV, the accident occurred near the coastal town of Kusadasi when the boat carrying migrants failed to heed a “stop” warning from security forces.
As the boat attempted to flee, several migrants fell into the sea. The Coast Guard rescued 32 individuals and recovered the bodies of three others.
The report added that three people are still missing as search and rescue operations are ongoing.
Preliminary reports suggest that the migrants were attempting to illegally cross to a Greek island.
The Aegean Sea has long been a key route for migrants attempting to reach Europe via Türkiye.
As one of the world’s leading destinations for refugees, Türkiye currently hosts over 4 million migrants, the majority of whom are Syrians, according to the Presidential Directorate of Communications.
JUBA — South Sudan on Friday imposed a curfew across the country in the wake of targeted revenge attacks on Sudanese nationals triggered by graphic footage on social media of South Sudanese nationals being killed in Sudan.
The curfew, which will come into force from 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), is aimed at preventing any violations of public and private property, the Inspector General of the South Sudan National Police Service, Abraham Manyuat Peter, announced on state television.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and call on citizens to report any criminal violations,” he said. “The police will not tolerate any violations that harm public security and will deal with them according to the law.”
Peter said four people were injured Thursday night in clashes between security forces and rioters, who attacked, looted, and vandalized businesses owned by Sudanese nationals in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
The riots came after video clips circulating on social media platforms of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) soldiers executing unarmed civilians, including South Sudanese nationals, in Wad Medani, Al Gezira State, Sudan.
There have since been attacks on Sudanese nationals in Juba, Aweil, and Warrap State, according to reports.
South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on Wednesday summoned the Sudanese Ambassador to South Sudan, Isam Mohamed Hassan Karar, to protest the killing of its nationals.
John Samuel Bwogo, undersecretary in South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has requested that the Sudan Sovereign Council allow a high-level committee from Juba to visit Wad Madani, where the alleged attacks took place.
He urged both the Sudan Sovereign Council and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces to protect South Sudanese nationals caught up in the violence.
The Sudanese ambassador to South Sudan said an investigation committee has been formed to investigate the killings in Wad Madani, which happened after the SAF retook the area from the rebels.
“There are many nationalities engaging in war within Sudan. The investigation committee will work closely with the undersecretary and ambassador of South Sudan based in Port Sudan, and we will update South Sudanese and the public on the situation of citizens in Al Gezira,” he said.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Friday that the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza is expected to begin on Sunday.
The statement noted that the release could take place according to the planned outline, subject to approval by the security cabinet and the government and the agreement with Hamas coming into effect.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a separate statement that Netanyahu has been updated by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal for the release of the hostages. The prime minister has directed that the cabinet be convened on Friday.
Ahead of the cabinet discussion, a security-operational situation assessment was held for the implementation of the agreement, headed by Netanyahu, along with the Israeli negotiating team.
Netanyahu has also directed the Coordinator for the Hostages and the Missing Gal Hirsch to coordinate the preparations to receive the hostages upon their return to Israel.
WASHINGTON, Jan 16 – Several journalists who are outspoken critics of U.S. support for Israel loudly lambasted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the war in Gaza on Thursday, repeatedly interrupting his final press conference as he sought to defend his handling of the 15-month-old conflict.
Israel’s assault on Gaza is likely to define the foreign policy legacy of the outgoing Biden administration, despite a deal reached with Palestinian militant group Hamas on Wednesday on a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages.
“Criminal! Why aren’t you in The Hague,” shouted Sam Husseini, an independent journalist and longtime critic of Washington’s approach to the world. The Hague is where the International Criminal Court is located.
The unusually confrontational scene in the State Department briefing room only ended when security personnel forcibly picked up Husseini and carried him out of the room as he continued to heckle Blinken.
Blinken has faced criticism for providing Israel with weapons and diplomatic support since the latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, according to the local health ministry, while also drawing accusations of genocide in a World Court case brought by South Africa and of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the allegations. The assault has displaced nearly Gaza’s entire 2.3 million population and drawn the concern of the world’s main hunger monitor.
“Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?” Max Blumenthal, editor of the Grayzone, an outlet that strongly criticizes many aspects of U.S. foreign policy, called out to Blinken, before he was escorted out.
Blinken, who leaves office on Monday when the administration of President-elect Donald Trump takes over, calmly asked for quiet while he delivered his remarks, and later took questions from reporters.
He has been frequently heckled at appearances in Washington since the Gaza conflict began. Demonstrators camped outside his Virginia home for months and repeatedly threw red paint – resembling blood – on cars carrying Blinken and his family.
Asked during the press conference if he would change anything about his dealings with Israel, Blinken said the Israeli government had carried out policies that “were basically supported by an overwhelming majority of Israelis after the trauma of October 7” and said that had to be factored in to the U.S. response.
The Biden administration had been unable to reach final determinations on individual incidents that could constitute violations of international law because Hamas embedded itself within the civilian population, he said.
“I’d also point out that in Israel itself, there are hundreds of cases that are being investigated,” Blinken said. “They have a process, they have procedures, they have rule of law… That’s the hallmark of any democracy.”
DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM — The Israeli cabinet will meet to give final approval to a deal with Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday.
In Gaza itself, Israeli warplanes kept up intense strikes, and Palestinian authorities said late on Thursday that at least 86 people were killed in the day after the truce was unveiled.
With longstanding divisions apparent among ministers, Israel delayed meetings expected on Thursday when the cabinet was expected to vote on the pact, blaming Hamas for the hold-up.
But in the early hours of Friday, Netanyahu’s office said approval was imminent.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was informed by the negotiating team that agreements have been reached on a deal to release the hostages,” his office said in a statement.
The security cabinet would meet on Friday before a full meeting of the cabinet later to approve the deal, it said.
It was not immediately clear whether the full cabinet would meet on Friday or Saturday or whether there would be any delay to the start of the ceasefire on Sunday.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said Washington believed the agreement was on track and a ceasefire in the 15-month-old conflict was expected to proceed “as soon as late this weekend.”
“We are seeing nothing that would tell us that this is going to get derailed at this point,” he said on CNN on Thursday.
A group representing families of Israeli hostages in Gaza, 33 of whom are due to be freed in the first six-week phase of the accord, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward quickly.
“For the 98 hostages, each night is another night of terrible nightmare. Do not delay their return even for one more night,” the group said in a statement late on Thursday carried by Israeli media.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier on Thursday a “loose end” in the negotiations needed to be resolved.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said this was a dispute over the identities of some prisoners Hamas wanted released. Envoys of President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump were in Doha with Egyptian and Qatari mediators working to resolve it, the official said.
Hamas senior official Izzat el-Reshiq said the group remained committed to the ceasefire deal.
Biden said on Thursday that Netanyahu had to “find a way to accommodate the legitimate concerns” of Palestinians for the long term sustainability of Israel.
“And the idea that Israel is going to be able to sustain itself for the long term without accommodating the Palestinian question … It’s not going to happen,” Biden, a Democrat who hands over to Republican President-elect Trump on Monday, said in an interview on MSNBC.
Inside Gaza, joy over the truce gave way to sorrow and anger at the intensified bombardment that followed the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.
Tamer Abu Shaaban’s voice cracked as he stood over the tiny body of his young niece wrapped in a white shroud at a Gaza City morgue. She had been hit in the back with missile shrapnel as she played in the yard of a school where the family was sheltering, he said.
“Is this the truce they are talking about? What did this young girl, this child, do to deserve this?” he asked.
VOTE EXPECTED
Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the security cabinet and government. The prime minister’s office has not commented on the timing.
Some political analysts speculated that the start of the ceasefire, scheduled for Sunday, could be delayed if Israel does not finalise approval until Saturday.
Hardliners in Netanyahu’s government, who say the war has not achieved its objective of wiping out Hamas and should not end until it does so, had hoped to stop the deal.
Nevertheless, a majority of ministers were expected to back the agreement.
In Jerusalem, some Israelis marched through the streets carrying mock coffins in protest at the ceasefire, blocking roads and scuffling with police. Other protesters blocked traffic until security forces dispersed them.
The ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. The deal outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Dozens of hostages taken by Hamas including women, children, elderly and sick people would be freed in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
It paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the majority of the population has been displaced, facing hunger, sickness and cold.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
If successful, the ceasefire would halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed over 46,000 people, and displaced most of the tiny enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
STILFONTEIN, South Africa — The death toll in a monthslong standoff between police and miners trapped while working illegally in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87, police said Thursday.
Authorities faced growing anger and a possible investigation over their initial refusal to help the miners and instead “smoke them out” by cutting off their food supplies.
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said that 78 bodies were retrieved in a court-ordered rescue operation, with 246 survivors also pulled out from deep underground since the operation began on Monday. Mathe said nine other bodies had been recovered before the rescue operation, without giving details.
Community groups launched their own rescue attempts when authorities said last year they would not help the hundreds of miners because they were “criminals.”
The miners are suspected to have died of starvation and dehydration, although no causes of death have been released.
South African authorities have been fiercely criticized for cutting off food and supplies to the miners in the Buffelsfontein Gold Mine last year. That tactic to “smoke them out,” as described by a prominent Cabinet minister, was condemned by one of South Africa’s biggest trade unions.
Police and the mine owners were also accused of taking away ropes and dismantling a pulley system the miners used to enter the mine and send supplies down from the surface.
A court ordered authorities last year to allow food and water to be sent down to the miners, while another court ruling last week forced them to launch a rescue operation.
Many say the unfolding disaster underground was clear weeks ago, when community members sporadically pulled decomposing bodies out of the mine, some with notes attached pleading for food to be sent down.
“If the police had acted earlier, we would not be in this situation, with bodies piling up,” said Johannes Qankase, a local community leader. “It is a disgrace for a constitutional democracy like ours. Somebody needs to account for what has happened here.”
South Africa’s second biggest political party, which is part of a government coalition, called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish an independent inquiry to find out “why the situation was allowed to get so badly out of hand.”
“The scale of the disaster underground at Buffelsfontein is rapidly proving to be as bad as feared,” the Democratic Alliance party said.
Authorities now believe that nearly 2,000 miners were working illegally in the mine near the town of Stilfontein, southwest of Johannesburg, since August last year. Most of them resurfaced on their own over the last few months, police said, and all the survivors have been arrested, even as some emerged this week badly emaciated and barely able to walk to waiting ambulances.
A convoy of mortuary vans arrived at the mine to carry away the bodies.
Mathe said at least 13 children had also come out of the mine before the official rescue operation.
Police announced Wednesday that they were ending the operation after three days and believed no one else was underground. To be sure, a camera was sent down Thursday in a cage that was used to pull out survivors and bodies.
Two volunteer rescuers from the community had gone down in the small cage during the rescue operation to help miners as authorities refused to allow any official rescue personnel to go into the shaft because it was too dangerous.
“It has been a tough few days, there were many people who (we) saved but I still feel bad for those whose family members came out in body bags,” said Mandla Charles, one of the volunteer rescuers. “We did all we could.” The two volunteers were being offered trauma counselling, police said.
The mine is one of the deepest in South Africa and is a maze of tunnels and levels and has several shafts leading into it.
The miners were working up to 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) underground in different groups.
Police have maintained that the miners were able to come out through several shafts but refused out of fear of being arrested. That’s been disputed by groups representing the miners, who say hundreds were trapped and left starving in dark and damp conditions with decomposing bodies around them.
Police Minister Senzo Mchunu denied in an interview with a national TV station that the police were responsible for any starvation and said they had allowed food to go down.
The initial police operation last year to force the miners to come out and give themselves up for arrest was part of a larger nationwide clampdown on illegal mining called Vala Umgodi, or Close the Hole. Illegal mining is often in the news in South Africa and a major problem for authorities as large groups go into mines that have been shut down to extract leftover deposits.
Gold-rich South Africa has an estimated 6,000 abandoned or closed mines.
The illicit miners, known as “zama zamas” — “hustlers” or “chancers” in the Zulu language — are usually armed and part of criminal syndicates, the government says, and they rob South Africa of more than $1 billion a year in gold deposits.
They are often undocumented foreign nationals and authorities said that the vast majority who came out of the Buffelsfontein mine were from Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho, and were in South Africa illegally.
Police said they seized gold, explosives, firearms and more than $2 million in cash from the miners and have defended their hard-line approach.
“By providing food, water and necessities to these illegal miners, it would be the police entertaining and allowing criminality to thrive,” Mathe said Wednesday.
But the South African Federation of Trade Unions questioned the government’s humanity and how it could “allow anyone — be they citizens or undocumented immigrants — to starve to death in the depths of the earth.”
While the police operation has been condemned by civic groups, the disaster hasn’t provoked a strong outpouring of anger across South Africa, where the mostly foreign zama zamas have long been considered unwelcome in a country that already struggles with high rates of violent crime.
LOS ANGELES — The fierce wildfires across the Los Angeles area in Southern California of the United States have killed at least 27 people and destroyed more than 12,300 structures in more than a week, local authorities confirmed Thursday.
Firefighters continued to make progress on Thursday against two major wildfires in Los Angeles as winds died down in the area.
The Palisades Fire, one of the largest active wildfires in the Los Angeles region, has scorched 23,713 acres (95.96 sq km) so far. The fire, which broke out on Jan. 7, is 22 percent contained, up from 17 percent a day earlier.
“Weather conditions return to seasonally normal, and fire is expected to remain within the current perimeter with no additional growth anticipated,” said the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) in an update Thursday.
“Crews continue to establish and improve the fire line, seek out and extinguish hot spots and construct containment lines to limit further structural damage within the areas still at risk,” said Cal Fire.
Another major active fire, the Eaton Fire, has scorched 14,117 acres (57.1 sq km) near Altadena and Pasadena. The fire’s containment jumped to 55 percent, up from 45 percent a day earlier.
Calmer overnight and early morning winds reduced the fire’s activity, allowing firefighters to make good progress in securing containment lines, according to Cal Fire.
But the agency pointed out that with the returning Santa Ana winds Monday, widespread critical fire weather conditions remain present in parts of Southern California.
BRATISLAVA — Two individuals were killed, and one remains in critical condition following a high school attack by an 18-year-old student in eastern Slovakia, local media reported on Thursday.
The student carried out the knife attack at a high school in the town of Spisska Stara Ves on Thursday afternoon. The suspect was detained shortly after the incident, according to Presov law enforcement officers.
ISTANBUL — The death toll from bootleg alcohol in Istanbul has reached 30, local media reported on Thursday, sparking a crackdown on illicit production and sales.
The NTV reported that 30 people, including foreign nationals, died in the past 72 hours after consuming counterfeit alcohol, while 49 others remain hospitalized, 31 in critical condition.
The Istanbul Governor’s Office announced raids at multiple sites, detaining six suspects linked to large-scale counterfeit alcohol distribution. Two were charged with intentional homicide and imprisoned, while legal proceedings continue for the others.
Authorities compared those involved in the counterfeit trade to “terrorists who kill people” and confirmed the seizure of 29 tonnes of illicit alcohol and the closure of 64 illegal businesses this year.
In a related move, the Turkish government tightened regulations on alcohol storage on Thursday, requiring official approval for storage facilities and banning shared or improperly located warehouses.
The governorate reported 110 hospitalizations and 48 deaths in 2024 from tainted alcohol.
Palestinians walk past the rubble of buildings destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, ahead of a ceasefire set to take effect on Sunday, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip January 16, 2025. REUTERS
DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM — Israel airstrikes killed at least 70 people in Gaza overnight on Thursday, residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The complex ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S. to stop the war that has devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East.
The deal, scheduled to be implemented from Sunday, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed.
Hostages taken by militant group Hamas, which controls the enclave, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.
Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government, and a vote was slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements.
“The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
It was unclear what impact the latest delay will have on the deal.
Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday, senior group official Izzat el-Reshiq said on Thursday.
Hardliners in Netanyahu’s government were still hoping to stop the deal, though a majority of ministers were still expected to back it.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said his party would only stay in the government if Israel resumes the war full force until Hamas is defeated. Far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has also threatened to quit the government if the ceasefire is approved.
CALLS FOR FASTER IMPLEMENTATION
Some Palestinians called for the deal to be implemented more quickly.
“We lose homes every hour. We demand for this joy not to go away, the joy that was drawn on our faces – don’t waste it by delaying the implementation of the truce until Sunday,” Gazan man Mahmoud Abu Wardeh said.
While people celebrated the pact in Gaza and Israel, Israel’s military conducted more attacks, the civil emergency service and residents said.
Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service, said in a statement that 71 Palestinians had been killed and at least 200 others wounded.
The Israeli military is looking into the reports, a military spokesperson said.
At a news conference in Doha, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said negotiators are working with Israel and Hamas on steps to implement the agreement.
“This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in Washington.
His successor, Donald Trump, takes office on Monday and claimed credit for the breakthrough in Gaza.
Israelis will find it hard to see Palestinian militants who were serving life sentences for their involvement in deadly attacks in their country, set free.
But successive surveys have shown broad support among the public for a deal that would see the hostages released, even at what is seen as a heavy price.
“This has to be the only choice that we take in order to continue surviving as a state and as a nation, knowing that we will do anything to save each other,” said Jerusalem resident Chava Treitel.
Israel secured major gains over Iran and its proxies, mainly Hezbollah, as the Gaza conflict spread. In Gaza, Hamas may have been crippled, but without an alternative administration in place, it has been left standing.
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanised Gaza, killed over 46,000 people, and displaced most of the tiny enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has stoked conflict in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between arch regional foes Israel and Iran.
With 98 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50.
FOOD LINED UP AT GAZA’S BORDERS
The agreement calls for a surge in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross said they were preparing to scale up their aid operations.
Global reaction to the ceasefire was enthusiastic.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal will begin by the 16th day of phase one, and this stage was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third stage is to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza’s reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.
NEW DELHI — India’s popular film actor Saif Ali Khan was stabbed at least six times with a knife by an intruder who had barged into his house with the motive of committing a burglary during the wee hours of Thursday, local police confirmed.
The incident happened inside Khan’s house at around 02:45 a.m. in the country’s financial capital Mumbai. The local police were yet to apprehend the attacker who fled from the spot after the assault.
One female staff of the film actor’s team was also injured during the scuffle, said the police.
Later, Khan was admitted to a local hospital where he received surgeries. His condition was said to be stable and out of danger. According to a statement issued by the hospital, Khan received two deep wounds with one near the spine.
Son of famous film actress Sharmila Tagore and India’s former cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Saif Ali Khan made his career debut in the early 1990s and is married to film actress Kareena Kapoor.
Jan 15 — The threat of powerful wind gusts, combined with bone-dry humidity, in Los Angeles on Wednesday could test firefighters who have been battling to keep monstrous fires in Los Angeles in check since last week.
Some 6.5 million people in the Los Angeles area were under a critical fire threat as winds were forecast to be 20 to 40 miles (32-64 km) an hour with gusts up to 70 mph and humidity dropping into the single digits, the National Weather Service said.
The death toll from the fires rose by one on Tuesday to 25, according to the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office. The estimate of structures damaged or destroyed held steady at over 12,000, portending a Herculean rebuilding effort ahead.
Entire neighborhoods have been leveled, leaving smoldering ash and rubble. In many homes, only a chimney is left standing.
Winds were tamer than expected on Tuesday, letting firefighters extinguish or get control of some small brush fires that ignited while no major wildfires erupted in the area as feared.
During the day, the milder-than-expected conditions also allowed some 8,500 firefighters from at least seven states and two foreign countries to hold the line on the Palisades and Eaton fires for the second day running.
The Palisades Fire on the west edge of town held steady at 23,713 acres (96 square km) burned, and containment nudged up to 18% – a measurement of how much of the perimeter was under control.
The Eaton Fire in the foothills east of the city stood at 14,117 acres (57 sq km) with containment at 35%. The fires have consumed an area the size of Washington, D.C.
A fleet of aircraft dropped water and retardant into the rugged hills while ground crews with hand tools and hoses have worked around the clock since the fires broke out on Jan. 7, with the aircraft occasionally grounded by high winds.
Southern California has lacked any appreciable rain since April, turning brush into tinder as Santa Ana winds originating from the deserts whipped over hilltops and rushed through canyons, sending embers flying up to 2 miles (3 km) ahead of the fires.
Despite losing his Altadena home, Aaron Lubeley, a 53-year-old lawyer, handed out food and water to his neighbors.
“When you stare at your front door that’s gone and you have the few moments to contemplate, what does this really mean to my life? I mean, I still don’t fully understand everything I have is gone,” he said as he stood in his front yard, distributing items.
“You have to decide, I have to make … I have to find some meaning in why this happened.”
PRICELESS ART DEEMED SAFE
Urban search and rescue teams worked from an Altadena grocery store parking lot, tracking progress on whiteboards and handing out assignments from inside a trailer.
A team of 50 firefighters and sheriff’s deputies conducted house-by-house searches, looking for any lingering fires and hazards such as lithium-ion batteries connected to solar panels.
The Palisades Fire also approached the priceless art collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum, which houses paintings by Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Monet and Degas.
But the collection remained safely inside the Getty Center’s fortress of travertine stone, fire-protected steel and reinforced concrete.
“It would be extremely foolish to try to remove artwork” from its safe harbor, Getty Trust President Katherine E. Fleming said.In Washington, a battle over emergency aid broke out between Republicans and Democrats over what is already the costliest wildfire in terms of insured losses.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimates total damage and economic loss between $250 billion and $275 billion, which would make it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, surpassing Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
DOHA/JERUSALEM, Jan 15 — Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East.
The agreement follows months of on-off negotiations brokered by Egyptian and Qatari mediators, with the backing of the United States, and came just ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Israeli troops invaded Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen broke through security barriers and burst into Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting more than 250 foreign and Israeli hostages.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and left the narrow coastal enclave a wasteland of rubble, with hundreds of thousands surviving the winter cold in tents and makeshift shelters.
As his inauguration approached, Trump repeated his demand that a deal be done swiftly, warning repeatedly that there would be “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released. His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff worked with President Joe Biden’s team to push the deal over the line.
In Israel, the return of the hostages may ease some of the public anger against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government over the Oct. 7 security failure that led to the deadliest single day in the country’s history.
The conflict spread across the Middle East, with Iran-backed proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The deal comes after Israel killed the top leaders of Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah in assassinations which gave it the upper hand.
TEHRAN — A light trainer aircraft belonging to Iran’s Law Enforcement Command crashed on Wednesday in the northern province of Gilan, killing the pilot, copilot and flight engineer on board, the country’s IRIB news agency reported.
The incident, which was reported at 10:18 a.m. local time (0648 GMT), occurred near Kuchesfahan District in the provincial capital of Rasht, IRIB quoted Jamshid Mohammadi, head of Gilan’s emergency medical services organization, as saying.
Emergency medical teams were immediately sent to the scene following the incident, said Mohammadi, stressing that all three people on board the aircraft had died from their severe injuries when the teams arrived.
According to Gilan’s Police Chief Azizollah Maleki, the crash was caused by a technical defect.
Maleki noted that the plane was en route from Sardar Jangal Rasht International Airport to Mehrabad International Airport in the Iranian capital Tehran when it crashed.
ISTANBUL — The death toll from bootleg alcohol in Istanbul has risen to 19 in the past two days, up from 11 reported on Tuesday, with 43 people still hospitalized as of Wednesday, according to Turkish broadcaster NTV.
A total of 65 people have sought medical treatment for suspected alcohol poisoning, NTV added.
Istanbul Governor Davut Gul announced on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that authorities had shut down 63 businesses suspected of selling illicit alcohol, revoking their licenses. Gul added that officials are working to identify and prosecute those responsible for the fatalities.
The Istanbul governor’s office reported on Tuesday that 48 people died from alcohol poisoning in 2024. In response, the city has pledged to implement stricter measures to combat the sale and consumption of illegal or counterfeit alcohol.
SEOUL — South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was arrested in presidential residence Wednesday, becoming the country’s first sitting president to be kept in custody over his short-lived martial law imposition.
A joint investigation unit, composed of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), the National Office of Investigation (NOI), and the defense ministry’s investigative headquarters, said in a short notice that Yoon was arrested at 10:33 a.m. local time (0133 GMT).
TV footage showed vehicles carrying arrested Yoon moved out of the residence in central Seoul for questioning at the CIO office in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, before being detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just 5 km away from the office.
The CIO will be required to decide within 48 hours whether to seek a separate warrant to detain Yoon for up to 20 days for further questioning or release him.
Yoon became the first incumbent president to be arrested in the country’s modern history.
BEIJING — One Chinese tourist was killed and another injured after their jet skis collided off Thailand’s Phuket island on Tuesday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported, citing China’s embassy in Thailand.
The cause of the incident was being investigated, CCTV said. This marks the second incident involving Chinese tourists near Phuket in just two days.
Thailand is a popular destination for Chinese tourists who are set to travel during the upcoming Lunar New Year break.
On Monday, a catamaran carrying 33 Chinese and 5 crew members capsized off the coast of Koh Racha island north of Phuket, CCTV reported.
All those on board were rescued with no casualties, the report said.
Last year, Chinese tourists accounted for the largest group of visitors to Thailand, with 6.7 million visits to the Southeast Asian country.
MOSCOW — Moscow said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fired six U.S.-made ATACMS ballistic missiles, six UK-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles and at least 146 drones into Russia in an attack that it said would not go unanswered.
After Ukraine first launched ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles into Russia last year, Moscow responded on Nov. 21 by launching a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik”, or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down all of the Western missiles fired by Ukraine at the Bryansk region, as well as 146 drones outside the war zone. It said two more Storm Shadows had been shot down over the Black Sea.
“The actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by its Western curators, will not go unanswered,” the defence ministry said.
President Vladimir Putin said in November that the Ukraine war was escalating towards a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine for the first time to launch their missiles deep inside Russia.
President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine in question.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
DRONE ATTACK
The drone attack on Russia was one of the biggest to date.
Roman Busargin, governor of the Saratov region about 720 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, said the cities of Saratov and Engels, on opposite banks of the Volga River, had been subjected to a mass drone attack and there was damage to two industrial sites. Schools had shifted to remote learning, he said.
Ukraine attacked the same region last week and claimed to have struck an oil depot serving an airbase for Russian nuclear bomber planes, causing a huge fire that took five days to put out.
The drone attack struck a munitions storage facility holding guided bombs and missiles at the Engels airbase in Russia’s Saratov region as well as other targets, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine said on Tuesday.
The attack caused a large fire at the Aleksinsky chemical plant in the Tula region and a fire at the Saratovsky oil refinery, while the Bryansk chemical plant was also hit, the source said. Reuters could not independently verify the claims of damage.
The source said there had been subsequent detonations at the Bryansk chemical plant as well as a large fire. The operation was conducted by the SBU and Ukraine’s defence forces, the Ukrainian source told Reuters from Kyiv.
Flight restrictions were imposed at airports in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.
LOS ANGELES — As multiple wildfires continue to rage in Los Angeles, a growing controversy has emerged surrounding the hiring of private firefighters by affluent residents.
“Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home? Need to act fast here. All neighbors’ houses burning. Will pay any amount,” Keith Wasserman, a co-founder of a real estate investment firm, wrote on X.
About 45 percent of all firefighters working in the United States today are employed privately, according to Deborah Miley, executive director of the National Wildfire Suppression Association, which represents more than 300 private firefighting groups.
“A two-person private firefighting crew with a small vehicle can cost 3,000 U.S. dollars a day, while a larger crew of 20 firefighters in four fire trucks can run to 10,000 dollars a day,” Bryan Wheelock, vice president of Grayback Forestry, a private firefighting company in Oregon, told The New York Times.
But as these companies rack up cash, the ones who hire them are taking heat from ordinary folk — more than 100,000 of whom have been forced to flee, leaving their houses under the protection of the overwhelmed public fire department.
Private firefighting units have been a controversial topic in recent years, becoming a symbol of access for the wealthy and drawing criticism for heightening class divides during disasters, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Access to water — in particular, whether private firefighters should be able to tap public hydrants during a wildfire — is another consideration, and has been a recurrent concern among critics of private firefighting, reported The New York Times.
“When we see groups like this come in, we don’t consider them an asset — we consider them a liability,” said Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, which represents 35,000 firefighters.
SEOUL — North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, marking Pyongyang’s latest show of force just days ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office.
The missiles travelled about 250 km (155 miles) after lifting off at around 09:30 am (0030 GMT) from Kanggye, Jagang Province, near the country’s border with China, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
“We strongly condemn the launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula,” the JCS said, warning the North against “misjudging” the situation and vowing to “overwhelmingly respond” to any additional provocations.
South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok also condemned the launch as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and said Seoul would sternly respond to North Korea’s provocations.
Seoul’s presidential office said its national security council held a meeting to review the situation and pledged an airtight posture.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said he was aware of the missile test, and Tokyo was taking all possible measures to respond through close cooperation with Washington and Seoul, including real-time sharing of missile warning data.
The launch came about a week after the North fired what it claimed was a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile, which was its first missile test since Nov. 5.
The latest missile firing also occurred during a visit to Seoul by Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Iwaya condemned the North’s nuclear and missile development on Monday and pledged to boost security ties following talks in Seoul.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while visiting Seoul last week, also called for further strengthening of bilateral and trilateral cooperation involving Tokyo to better counter Pyongyang’s growing military threats.
Tuesday’s launch occurred days before the inauguration of Trump, who held unprecedented summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first term and has touted their personal rapport.
South Korean lawmakers, after being briefed by the National Intelligence Service, said on Monday that Pyongyang’s recent weapons tests were partly aimed at “showing off its U.S. deterrent assets and drawing Trump’s attention” after vowing “the toughest anti-U.S. counteraction” at a key year-end policy meeting last month.
Israeli soldiers are seen at a staging ground near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP)
JERUSALEM — Yotam Vilk says the image of Israeli soldiers killing an unarmed Palestinian teenager in the Gaza Strip is seared in his mind.
An officer in the armored corps, Vilk said the instructions were to shoot any unauthorized person who entered an Israeli-controlled buffer zone in Gaza. He saw at least 12 people killed, he said, but it is the shooting of the teen that he can’t shake.
“He died as part of a bigger story. As part of the policy of staying there and not seeing Palestinians as people,” Vilk, 28, told The Associated Press.
Vilk is among a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against the 15-month conflict and refusing to serve anymore, saying they saw or did things that crossed ethical lines. While the movement is small — some 200 soldiers signed a letter saying they’d stop fighting if the government didn’t secure a ceasefire — soldiers say it’s the tip of the iceberg and they want others to come forward.
Their refusal comes at a time of mounting pressure on Israel and Hamas to wind down the fighting. Ceasefire talks are underway, and both President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump have called for a deal by the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Seven soldiers who’ve refused to continue fighting in Gaza spoke with AP, describing how Palestinians were indiscriminately killed and houses destroyed. Several said they were ordered to burn or demolish homes that posed no threat, and they saw soldiers loot and vandalize residences.
Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak out against the army.
After Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel quickly united behind the war launched against the militant group.
Divisions here have grown as the war progresses, but most criticism has focused on the mounting number of soldiers killed and the failure to bring home hostages, not actions in Gaza.
International rights groups have accused Israel of war crimes and genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice is investigating genocide allegations filed by South Africa.
The International Criminal Court is seeking the arrests of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Israel adamantly rejects genocide allegations and says it takes extraordinary measures to minimize civilian harm in Gaza.
The army says it never intentionally targets civilians, and investigates and punishes cases of suspected wrongdoing. But rights groups have long said the army does a poor job of investigating itself.
The army told AP it condemns the refusal to serve and takes any call for refusal seriously, with each case examined individually. Soldiers can go to jail for refusing to serve, but none who signed the letter has been detained, according to those who organized the signatures.
Soldiers’ reactions in Gaza
When Vilk entered Gaza in November 2023, he said, he thought the initial use of force might bring both sides to the table. But as the war dragged on, he said he saw the value of human life disintegrate.
On the day the Palestinian teenager was killed last August, he said, Israeli troops shouted at him to stop and fired warning shots at his feet, but he kept moving. He said others were also killed walking into the buffer zone — the Netzarim Corridor, a road dividing northern and southern Gaza.
Vilk acknowledged it was hard to determine whether people were armed, but said he believes soldiers acted too quickly.
In the end, he said, Hamas is to blame for some deaths in the buffer zone — he described one Palestinian detained by his unit who said Hamas paid people $25 to walk into the corridor to gauge the army’s reaction.
Some soldiers told AP it took time to digest what they saw in Gaza. Others said they became so enraged they decided they’d stop serving almost immediately.
Yuval Green, a 27-year-old medic, described abandoning his post last January after spending nearly two months in Gaza, unable to live with what he’d seen.
He said soldiers desecrated homes, using black markers meant for medical emergencies to scribble graffiti, and looted homes, looking for prayer beads to collect as souvenirs.
The final straw, he said, was his commander ordering troops to burn down a house, saying he didn’t want Hamas to be able to use it. Green said he sat in a military vehicle, choking on fumes amid the smell of burning plastic. He found the fire vindictive — he said he saw no reason to take more from Palestinians than they’d already lost. He left his unit before their mission was complete.
Green said that as much as he loathed what he witnessed, “the cruelty was at least in part provoked by the havoc wreaked by Hamas on Oct. 7, which people can forget.”
He said he wants his actions in refusing to serve to help break the vicious cycle of violence on all sides.
The soldiers’ refusal as an act of protest
Soldiers for the Hostages — the group behind the letter troops signed — is trying to garner momentum, holding an event this month in Tel Aviv and gathering more signatures. A panel of soldiers spoke about what they’d seen in Gaza. Organizers distributed poster-size stickers with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
Max Kresch, an organizer, said soldiers can use their positions to create change. “We need to use our voice to speak up in the face of injustice, even if that is unpopular,” he said.
But some who fought and lost colleagues call the movement a slap in the face. More than 830 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the war, according to the army.
“They are harming our ability to defend ourselves,” said Gilad Segal, a 42-year-old paratrooper who spent two months in Gaza at the end of 2023. He said everything the army did was necessary, including the flattening of houses used as Hamas hideouts. It’s not a soldier’s place to agree or disagree with the government, he argued.
Ishai Menuchin, spokesperson for Yesh Gvul, a movement for soldiers refusing to serve, said he works with more than 80 soldiers who have refused to fight and that there are hundreds more who feel similarly but remain silent.
Effects on soldiers
Some of the soldiers who spoke to AP said they feel conflicted and regretful, and they’re talking to friends and relatives about what they saw to process it.
Many soldiers suffer from “moral injury,” said Tuly Flint, a trauma therapy specialist who’s counseled hundreds of them during the war. It’s a response when people see or do something that goes against their beliefs, he said, and it can result in a lack of sleep, flashbacks and feelings of unworthiness. Talking about it and trying to spark change can help, Flint said.
One former infantry soldier told AP about his feelings of guilt — he said he saw about 15 buildings burned down unnecessarily during a two-week stint in late 2023. He said that if he could do it all over again, he wouldn’t have fought.
“I didn’t light the match, but I stood guard outside the house. I participated in war crimes,” said the soldier, speaking on condition of anonymity over fears of retaliation. “I’m so sorry for what we’ve done.”
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles is bracing for worsening scenario of wildfires as high winds forecast to create “extremely dangerous” weather conditions across coastal Southern California.
Thousands of firefighters battled wildfires in Los Angeles County on Monday, since the flames started ravaging the city last Tuesday.
The fierce wildfires, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong winds, scorched over 40,500 acres and destroyed more than 12,300 structures as of Monday.
The Palisades Fire, the largest one, was 14 percent contained, and the Eaton Fire, the second largest, was 33 percent contained as of Monday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
At least 25 people have died and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as multiple wildfires rage across the Los Angeles area.
About 92,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders, and another 89,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told reporters on Monday.
More than 80,000 customers in California are without power as Southern California Edison starts shutting off power in parts of Southern California ahead of the next wind event, which begins Tuesday.
High winds are forecast to pick up again Monday through Wednesday, with gusts up to 70 miles an hour creating “extremely dangerous fire weather conditions” across coastal Southern California, said the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS).
“Conditions are favorable for very rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior, including long range spotting, which would threaten life and property,” NWS said on X.
NWS issued a “particularly dangerous situation red flag warning” for parts of Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties through Wednesday.
The red flag warning signals fire danger.
The fires were predicted to become the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, and the death toll would likely rise, California Governor Gavin Newsom said Sunday.
“I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope,” Newsom told reporters. “I’ve got search-and-rescue teams out. We’ve got cadaver dogs out. And there’s likely to be a lot more.”
Los Angeles police authorities have made 34 arrests in wildfire-ravaged areas, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday.
Those arrests were related to burglary, looting, illegal drone operations, people entering restricted areas with guns and narcotics, and curfew violations, Luna said.
The announcement of Oscar nominees for the 2025 Academy Awards was delayed again due to Los Angeles wildfires, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.
As fires continue to burn, the academy has extended the voting period and postponed again the nominations announcements to Jan. 23.
“Due to the still-active fires in the Los Angeles area, we feel it is necessary to extend our voting period and move the date of our nominations announcement to allow additional time for our members,” academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang said in a joint statement.
Southern Japan was hit by a strong earthquake on Monday in a region that had been the subject of the nation’s first ever megaquake advisory last year.
A quake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 struck the Kyushu region on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The JMA was investigating whether the quake was related to the Nankai Trough, NHK said.
The Nankai Trough, where the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting under the Eurasia Plate at the bottom of the sea off the southwest coast of Japan, produces massive earthquakes around every 100-150 years. Strong quakes nearby are seen as a potential indication that a megaquake could be more likely.
The JMA in August issued a week-long advisory for a “relatively higher chance” of a megaquake as powerful as magnitude 9 after a magnitude-7.1 quake hit the country’s southwest.
After Monday’s quake, tsunami advisories for waves of a maximum height of 1 metre were issued for the southern prefectures of Miyazaki and Kochi. A 20-centimetre tsunami was later recorded reaching Miyazaki city, public broadcaster NHK reported.
There were no abnormalities reported at the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant in western Japan or the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Kagoshima prefecture, NHK said, referring to the two plants nearest to where the quake occurred.
JAKARTA — A gas explosion killed two people and severely destroyed five neighboring houses in the Indonesian province of East Java on Monday.
According to a preliminary report, the incident took place in a house belonging to a local police officer situated in Sumolawang village in Mojokerto region at around 8: 30 a.m. The deceased victims are a mother and an infant, killed after being hit by house debris, the report said.
The house’s owner and his family were not at the location when the incident occurred.
An investigation team from Mojokerto Police and the provincial police is currently investigating the main cause of the explosion.
“We are still investigating the exact cause of the explosion. We have secured some items found at the scene for further examination,” Mojokerto Police Chief Ihram Kustaro told local media.
SEOUL — Around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 injured while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, a South Korean lawmaker said Monday, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.
“The deployment of North Korean troops to Russia has reportedly expanded to include the Kursk region, with estimates suggesting that casualties… include approximately 300 deaths and 2700 injuries,” lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters after a briefing from the spy agency.
