Category: NEWS

BERLIN – A small plane crashed into the terrace of a residential building in western Germany on Saturday and two people were killed, police said.

The crash happened in Korschenbroich, near the city of Mönchengladbach and not far from the Dutch border.

The plane hit the terrace of the building and a fire broke out. Police said two people died and one of them was probably the plane’s pilot, German news agency dpa reported. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the other person had been on the plane or on the ground.

Officials had no immediate information on the cause of the crash.

AP

NEW DELHI, May 31 – Heavy rainfall over the past two days triggered landslides and widespread flooding in India’s northeast and south, killing at least 18 people and affecting thousands of others, officials said Saturday.

Torrential rains hit the northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), five people were killed due to a landslide in Kamrup Metropolitan district. The ongoing flooding affected more than 10,000 people in six districts.

Authorities have set up two relief camps and one distribution center for the affected population.

“Due to heavy to very heavy rainfall in several districts of Assam, the rivers are flowing above danger level with a rising trend, prompting flood alerts in vulnerable areas,” ASDMA in a statement, said. “Very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over the next two to three days.”

Reports said that amid heavy rain and gusty winds, a red alert remains in effect for 18 districts of the state.

In the adjacent state of Mizoram, several people are feared dead after five houses and a hotel were hit by a devastating landslide at Lawngtlai town.

According to India’s state-run broadcaster, All India Radio, authorities have launched rescue efforts to trace the missing trapped beneath the rubble.

Mizoram has been experiencing heavy rain since Friday, leading to landslides and rockfalls in several areas.

In Meghalaya, three people died in East Khasi Hills district due to rain-related incidents.

Over 1,000 residents across 25 villages have been affected by landslides, flash floods, and power outages. Flooding also damaged roads and inundated schools in the affected districts.

Reports said Nagaland and Tripura each reported one death due to rain-related incidents on Friday.

In the northern state of Uttarakhand, a 38-year-old man died and five others were injured after a landslide struck a vehicle on the Kedarnath national highway near Kund in Rudraprayag district.

In the southwestern state of Karnataka, at least seven people were killed in rain-related incidents. Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds lashed the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, bordering Kerala.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy rainfall with sustained winds is expected to continue in Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts until Monday.

XINHUA

CIREBON, Indonesia – The death toll from the collapse of a stone quarry in Indonesia’s West Java province has risen to at least 17, with eight people still missing, officials said Saturday.

The victims were trapped in the rubble when the Gunung Kuda quarry in Cirebon district collapsed on Friday. A dozen survivors were found by rescuers.

By Saturday afternoon, rescuers had retrieved 16 bodies, while one of the survivors died in the hospital, said local police chief Sumarni. She said rescuers are searching for eight people still believed to be trapped

“The search operation has been hampered by bad weather, unstable soil and rugged terrain,” said Sumarni who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.

She said the cause of the collapse is still under investigation, and police have been questioning six people, including the owner of the quarry.

Local television reports showed emergency personnel, along with police, soldiers and volunteers, digging desperately in the quarry in a steep limestone cliff, supported by five excavators, early Saturday.

West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi said in a video statement on Instagram that he visited the quarry before he was elected in February and considered it dangerous.

“It did not meet the safety standard elements for its workers,” Mulyadi said, adding that at that time, “I didn’t have any capacity to stop it.”

On Friday, Mulyadi said that he had ordered the quarry shut, as well as four other similar sites in West Java.

Illegal or informal resource extraction operations are common in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to those who labor in conditions with a high risk of injury or death.

Landslides, flooding and tunnel collapses are just some of the hazards associated with them. Much of the processing of sand, rocks or gold ore also involves the use of highly toxic mercury and cyanide by workers using little or no protection.

Last year, a landslide triggered by torrential rains struck an unauthorized gold mining operation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 15 people.

AN-AP

MADRID, May 31 – Seven migrant women and children who died when their boat capsized just metres from shore in Spain’s Canary Islands were buried on Friday at the La Restringa harbour where they had hoped to find safety.

Two five-year-old girls and a 16-year-old were among the dead, emergency services said. The migrant boat capsized as rescuers were escorting it to port at La Restringa on the El Hierro island on Wednesday, the services said.

“I heard the screams and didn’t hesitate. Like any citizen faced with an emergency or an accident, I got in my car, rushed to where the boat was, and helped however I could,” Javier Iglesias, a La Restringa resident, said at the funeral of the seven, which was also attended by surviving migrants.

“What really moves you and leaves an impression is when you see the faces, the expressions of those people who didn’t reach their dream, just five metres from the shore.”

The number of migrants reaching the Canary Islands from West Africa hit an all-time high in 2024, but the number of arrivals has fallen this year, Interior Ministry data shows.

In the first five months of 2024, 4,808 people died on the perilous Atlantic voyage to the Canaries after leaving Africa, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders.

REUTERS

SHIJIAZHUANG, May 31 – An explosion at a chemical plant in Wuyi County, north China’s Hebei Province, claimed five lives and left two injured on Friday, local authorities confirmed Saturday.

The blast occurred around 6:30 p.m. Friday in a workshop where a cleaning vessel exploded, according to the Wuyi county emergency management bureau.

Emergency teams, including fire, medical, police, and emergency management personnel from the city and county levels, rushed to the scene for rescue operations.

Rescue efforts have concluded, and the two injured are reported to be in stable condition. Authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion.

XINHUA

KYIV – Authorities in Ukraine’s Sumy region bordering Russia on Saturday ordered the mandatory evacuation of 11 villages because of bombardments, as Kyiv feared a Russian offensive there.

“This decision takes into account the constant threat to civilian lives because of the bombardments of border communities,” Sumy’s administration said.

Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said its forces had taken another Sumy village, Vodolagy, known as Vodolahy in Ukrainian.

Russia in recent weeks has claimed to have taken several villages in the northeastern region, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that Moscow was massing more than 50,000 soldiers nearby in a sign of a possible offensive.

AN-AFP

May 31 – Flooding in Nigeria’s Niger State this week has killed 151 people and forced several thousand from their homes, an emergency official told Reuters on Saturday.

Ibrahim Audu Hussaini, director of information at the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, provided the new death toll, which was previously reported at 117 on Friday.

He added that over 500 households had been impacted and more than 3,000 people displaced.

The flooding incident in the central town of Mokwa in Niger State occurred on Wednesday night and continued into Thursday morning. Days later, rescuers were still picking through mud and debris in search of bodies.

Nigeria is prone to flooding during the rainy season, which began in April.

In 2022, the country’s worst wave of floods in more than a decade killed more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million and destroyed 440,000 hectares (1.09 million acres) of farmland.

REUTERS

TOKYO, May 31 – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 struck off the coast of Kushiro in Japan’s Hokkaido on Saturday, local weather agency said.

The temblor occurred at 5:37 p.m. local time (0837 GMT), originating at a depth of approximately 20 km, said the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

While slight changes in sea level may be observed along Japan’s coastline, there is no concern for significant damage or a tsunami, the JMA said.

Emergency services are monitoring the situation closely, and no immediate reports of injury or structural damage have been issued.

XINHUA

JAKARTA, May 31 – The number of casualties of landslides at a quarry in Indonesia’s West Java province increased to 14, and 11 others are still missing, an official said on Saturday.

Search for the missing victims after the landslides on Friday in the Gunung Kuda mine located in Bobos village of Cirebon Regency is ongoing, said Hadi Rahmat Hardjasasmita, spokesperson for the Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency of West Java province.

“The number of casualties reached 14, and the number of persons being buried is predicted to be eleven,” he told Xinhua.

The search operation also involved soldiers, policemen, the personnel of the local Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency, and those from other government institutions.

“However, large amounts of landslide materials and worries about further landslides during the evacuation are challenging the operation,” he said.

The authorities in the province had warned the firm operating in the mine of violating technical procedures in mining methods, said Vivi Silvia C., a press officer at the Administration Office of West Java province.

A state of emergency status has been applied after the disaster, she told Xinhua.

XINHUA

SYDNEY, May 31 – Police are searching for two attackers after three men were stabbed northwest of Sydney in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Emergency services were called to a street in the city of Dubbo, over 300 km northwest of Sydney, shortly after 3 a.m. local time on Saturday and found three men with stab wounds after they were reportedly attacked by two other men.

A police statement said that a 21-year-old man was treated for stab wounds to his head, back and lower body. Two other men, both aged 29, suffered stab wounds to their upper bodies.

All three were taken to a local hospital in a stable condition.

Police established a crime scene and have commenced inquiries into the cause of the incident and launched a search for the attackers.

XINHUA

SEOUL, May 31 – A fire broke out on a train of Subway Line 5 in South Korea’s capital Seoul at about 8:47 a.m. local time on Saturday, according to multiple media outlets.

According to police and witnesses, a man presumed to be in his 60s or 70s carried a torch and a jerrycan on the subway, and allegedly set fire between Yeouinaru and Mapo stations. The suspect of arson has been arrested by police, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Passengers in the train have been evacuated, with no casualties reported so far. The on-site fire-fighting operation has been completed.

Subway services between Yeouido and Aeogae stations have been suspended due to the incident, according to Seoul Metro.

XINHUA

JAKARTA, May 30 – At least 10 people in Indonesia’s West Java were killed and six injured on Friday following a rock collapse at a quarry, the disaster agency said, with search efforts ongoing to find people buried beneath the rubble.

The collapse took place in Cirebon in West Java, where television footage showed excavators working to move huge rocks and personnel moving bags containing bodies to an ambulance. Kompas TV earlier said about 10 people were missing.

The national disaster management agency said heavy machinery, including three excavators, were also buried under rocks and operations would continue on Saturday. It gave no estimate on the number of people missing.

West Java’s governor, Dedi Mulyadi, on his Instagram account said the site was dangerous and “does not meet safety standards for workers”.

REUTERS

UNITED NATIONS, May 30 – The situation in Gaza is the worst since the war between Israel and Hamas militants began 19-months ago, the United Nations said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave where famine looms.

Under growing global pressure, Israel ended an 11-week long blockade on Gaza 12 days ago, allowing limited U.N.-led operations to resume. Then on Monday, a controversial new avenue for aid distribution was also launched – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the United States and Israel.

“Any aid that gets into the hands of people who need it is good,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. But, he added, the aid deliveries so far overall have had “very, very little impact.”

“The catastrophic situation in Gaza is the worst since the war began,” he said.

The U.N. and international aid groups have refused to work with the GHF because they say it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.

Israel ultimately wants the U.N. to work through the GHF, which is using private U.S. security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution by civilian teams at so-called secure distribution sites.

However, Israel will allow aid deliveries “for the immediate future” via both the U.N. and the GHF operations, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said this week. GHF said on Friday that it has so far managed to distribute more than 2.1 million meals.

Israel has long accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group denies.

The war in Gaza has raged since 2023, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies, and Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.

LOOTING, ACCESS

The U.N. says that in the past 12 days it has only managed to transport some 200 truckloads of aid into Gaza, hindered by insecurity and Israeli access restrictions. It was not immediately clear how much of that aid reached those in need. It said some trucks and a World Food Programme warehouse have also been looted by desperate, hungry people.

U.N. officials have also criticized Israeli limitations on what kind of aid they can provide.

“Israeli authorities have not allowed us to bring in a single ready-to-eat meal. The only food permitted has been flour for bakeries. Even if allowed in unlimited quantities, which it hasn’t been, it wouldn’t amount to a complete diet for anyone,” said Eri Kaneko, U.N. humanitarian affairs spokesperson.

Some of recipients of GHF aid said the packages include some rice, flour, canned beans, pasta, olive oil, biscuits and sugar.

Under a complex process, Israel inspects and clears aid shipments, which are then transported to the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing. There the aid is offloaded and then reloaded on to other trucks for transport to warehouses in Gaza.

Several hundred more truckloads of aid currently await U.N. collection from the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom.

“More aid would actually get to the people if you would collect the aid waiting for you by the crossings,” COGAT, the Israeli military aid coordination agency, said to the U.N. in a posting on X on Friday.

However, the U.N. said that on Tuesday the Israeli military denied all its requests to access Kerem Shalom to pick up the aid. And on Thursday, when 65 trucks of aid managed to leave the crossing, all but five turned back due to intense fighting.

Five trucks of medical aid managed to reach the warehouses of a field hospital, but “a group  ‎of armed individuals stormed the warehouses…  looting large quantities of ‎ medical equipment, supplies, medicines and nutritional supplements that was intended for  ‎malnourished children,” Dujarric said.

CEASEFIRE PROPOSAL

Israel says it has been facilitating all aid deliveries. COGAT said this week that since the war 1.8 million tonnes of aid, including 1.3 million tonnes of food, had reached Gaza.

A U.S. proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in the conflict – accepted by Israel and currently being considered by Hamas – would see humanitarian aid delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels.

During a two-month ceasefire, which ended when Israel resumed its military operation in March, the U.N. said it got 600-700 trucks of aid a day into Gaza. It has stressed then when people know there is a steady flow of aid, the looting subsides.

“To prevent chaos, aid must flow in steadily,” Corinne Fleischer, the U.N. World Food Programme’s Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe director, posted on X on Thursday.

“When people know food is coming, desperation turns to calm.”

REUTERS

DAMASCUS/JERUSALEM, May 30 – Israel carried out airstrikes late Friday on multiple military targets in Syria’s coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, including a former special forces headquarters and military positions near civilian areas, according to Syrian state media and a war monitor.

In Tartus, the airstrikes targeted a military facility formerly used by special forces, as well as sites in the al-Wuhaib industrial area and the al-Blata barracks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.

State-run al-Ikhbariya TV reported that Israeli warplanes hit the village of Zama in the Jableh countryside, as well as military sites in the Mina al-Bayda port area and the 107th Brigade base in neighboring Latakia province.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it attacked weapon storage facilities in Latakia on Friday night.

It added that the facilities contained missiles that posed a threat to international and Israeli maritime freedom of navigation.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, and Syrian defense authorities had not issued an official statement.

The strikes come amid heightened regional tensions and follow a series of Israeli raids across Syria in recent months, some of which have resulted in casualties and the destruction of air defense systems or weapons depots.

XINHUA

KHARTOUM, May 30 – At least 26 civilians were killed in attacks by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on three towns in Sudan’s western Kordofan region, the Sudanese government announced on Friday.

“In recent hours, the RSF militia has committed a series of horrific crimes, deliberately targeting civilian areas and claiming the lives of innocent people,” Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Today (Friday), the militia targeted Al-Daman Hospital in El-Obeid city, killing 16 patients who were receiving treatment and injuring several others,” the ministry said, adding, “On Wednesday, the militia also attacked a public market in the town of Al-Khiwai with drones, killing eight civilians.”

The RSF also targeted a residential area in the town of Al-Dibaibat, South Kordofan, killing two civilians, the statement said.

The ministry described the RSF attacks as part of a deliberate and systematic campaign targeting civilians, humanitarian organizations, critical infrastructure, and essential services, with the intent of inflicting maximum civilian harm.

It accused the RSF of bombing World Food Programme warehouses in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, on Thursday and setting them ablaze, destroying large quantities of food supplies.

Armed clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF have intensified across the Kordofan region, which includes North, West, and South Kordofan states.

On Thursday, the RSF claimed control of the towns of Al-Dibaibat in South Kordofan and Al-Khiwai in West Kordofan. The Sudanese army has not yet responded to the claim.

Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal conflict between the SAF and the RSF since April 2023. The war has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes, both within Sudan and across its borders.

XINHUA

ABUJA, Nigeria – At least 111 people were confirmed dead in central Nigeria on Friday after floods submerged the market town of Mokwa in the country’s Niger State following torrential rains, officials said.

The heavy rains lasted for several hours Thursday, and media reports quoting local government officials said a dam collapse in a nearby town had worsened the situation. The flooding displaced large amounts of people, the reports said.

Rescuers continued to find more bodies into the afternoon Friday. Earlier reports said 88 people had died, but then at least 23 more bodies were found, Niger State emergency agency spokesman IIbrahim Audu Husseinit told The Associated Press in the afternoon.

That brought the toll to 111, but that could go higher as the search continued.

“More bodies have just been brought and are yet to be counted, but we have at least 111 confirmed already,” Husseini told AP by telephone.

Mokwa, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) west of Abuja, is a major meeting point where traders from the south buy food from growers in the north.

AP

GAZA, May 30, 2025 – The death toll arising from the ongoing Israeli genocidal aggression on the Gaza Strip surged to 54,321 people, medical sources said on Friday.

WAFA

MADRID, May 30, 2025 – The Spanish government on Friday condemned Israel’s recent approval of plans to build 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, calling the move a blatant violation of international law and a serious threat to regional peace.

In a statement issued by the Spanish Foreign Ministry, the government expressed its “deep concern” over the Israeli decision, warning that such actions severely undermine the prospects of a two-state solution and escalate tensions in the region.

Spain also voiced alarm over the intensifying Israeli military aggression in the West Bank, particularly in the Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nour Shams refugee camps. The statement denounced the ongoing demolitions, increasing settler violence, and the forced displacement of thousands of Palestinians, describing these acts as violations of international humanitarian law.

The Spanish government reaffirmed its position that lasting peace in the Middle East requires the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state encompassing the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

WAFA

GAZA, May 30, 2025 – Three Palestinian civilians were killed and several others injured on Friday in Israeli airstrikes targeting central areas of the Gaza Strip.

According to WAFA correspondent, one of the attacks struck a residential area in the city of Deir al-Balah, killing a man and his wife, who was nine months pregnant.

In a separate airstrike on Al-Bureij refugee camp, at least one more Palestinian was killed and several others were wounded, most of them critically. The target of the strike was reportedly a local barbershop.

WAFA