It’s Halloween in Walford next week, and it’s a spooky time for the Slaters as Kat shocks the Square as she blurts out Zoe’s huge secret – but what is it?
It’s set to be a spooky Halloween over in Walford(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)
Next week in EastEnders, the Square continues to reel from Zoe’s shock revelation, Julie and Nigel face more struggles, and it’s a spooky Halloween over in Walford.
The soap are still keeping quiet about what Zoe’s bombshell revelation is until later this week – but what we do know, is that whatever it is isn’t going to go down very well.
A few weeks back, we heard Zoe made the shock admission that Dennis Rickman was the father of her son, with Sharon left devastated. Nevertheless, she offered to help Zoe find her son.
But things have taken a back burner since Joel’s horrific attack on Vicki. Next week, Ian about Zoe’s son and seeing how much it means to Sharon, Ian transfers her some money to help…
We start off the week in the Vic Quiz night, but Kat is distracted as Zoe’s revelation continues to play on her mind, although Alfie warns her to stay out of it. However, of course, Kat doesn’t listen and blurts out Zoe’s secret – causing commotion and Quiz Night comes to an abrupt end.
Kat later gives Zoe and ultimatum and things get worse at a spooky Halloween, when Alfie discovers a VHS tape from 1980s. Despite Kat attempting to keep the footage from Zoe, she later discovers it and throws everyone out of the Vic as a result. But what is on the video?
Elsewhere, Zoe accuses Kat for smashing a photo of the pair, but when she denies it, she later accuses Vicki of being responsible but Anthony steps in to calm her down.
Halloween week continues to get worse, as Zoe grows increasingly paranoid that someone is out to get her and accuses Anthony after arguing with him earlier in the week. He shares his concerns for Zoe with Kat, but it’s unclear whether she believes him. But what are the concerns?
It’s not all that’s kicking off in The Vic, as Kat overhears Vicki speaking to Ross – and makes a decision.
Suki and Eve are still looking to adopt, and despite Suki holding back at first, they go ahead and arrange a meeting with an adoptive family. However, the timing couldn’t be worse as Avani, Ravi, Priya and Nugget return from their holiday, as chaos ensues.
However, it seems like they later come round to the idea as they try to support the couple, who hit another hurdle as Eve panics when she learns she will need a reference from her mum to proceed.
Ravi has other problems on his hands, as he’s left feeling guilty about lying to Priya following their family holiday. He later meets with Okie and hands the business over to him after he assures him that Harry and Kojo have been released. But have they?
KIM Kardashian has sensationally admitted that she doesn’t know the price of a carton of milk.
Fans have now blasted the 44-year-old fashion mogul and billionaire as ‘out of touch’ for not knowing how much simple groceries cost.
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Kim Kardashian has made a candid confession – but fans think she’s ‘out of touch’Credit: You Tube/Call Her DaddyShe confessed how she does not know how much a carton of milk isCredit: YouTube/FergieShe previously starred in Fergie’s music video while getting showered in milkCredit: YouTube/Fergie
Appearing on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, Kim opened up about how much money she spends on beauty products before dropping her bombshell confession.
Alex asked Kim how much she spends on her glam routine.
She responded, “If I’m filming my show, then they pay for it.
“So, I try to get it all paid for so that I don’t personally have to pay for it.”
The billionaire, who is said to be worth over $1.7billion, then confessed she doesn’t have a concept on what things tend to cost.
Making the candid confession on the podcast, she said, “I mean, I don’t have a concept of what like certain simple things cost.”
She added, “I’d like I’d like to know a little bit more about what a milk carton cost.”
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‘SO OUT OF TOUCH’
On Reddit, one person reacted, “I cant believe she doesnt know the price of a carton of milk! so out of touch.”
Meanwhile, on X, someone else said, “Awww poor rich girl.”
“A million on beauty but clueless about basic groceries? Sounds like priorities are wildly skewed,” penned another.
Kim later confessed to Alex that she wasn’t sure how much her glam costs each year, but said it could be one million dollars before saying how “this hair isn’t cheap”.
Kim’s “out of touch” comment about the price of a carton of milk comes after the reality star has posed while drinking milk on several occasions.
She famously appeared in Fergie’s music video for the hit M.I.L.F. $.
In the video, Kim could be seen drinking milk while donning a sexy ensemble.
She has also posed while drinking milk for various photoshoots in the past, too.
Operations go from rescue to recovery as no survivors expected to be found, officials say.
Published On 11 Oct 202511 Oct 2025
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Investigators do not expect to find any survivors at the scene of a blast at a Tennessee explosives company, officials say.
The explosion, which was felt for miles, destroyed a building at the headquarters of Accurate Energetic Systems early on Friday in Bucksnort, about an hour’s drive west of Nashville.
“More than 300 people have been through almost every square inch of this facility, and at this time, we’ve recovered no survivors,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters on Saturday. “It’s a great loss to our communities.”
Officials did not offer a precise death toll but have previously said 18 people were unaccounted for. Davis confirmed the operation had shifted from rescue to recovery and that investigators would use DNA testing to confirm the identities of those who died.
The factory made explosives for both military and demolition purposes.
Investigators, including agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were still working to determine the cause of the explosion, officials said. The presence of explosives and other ordnance at the property has made searching the scene complicated.
In a statement, the company called the blast “a tragic accident”.
Davis said it could be days, weeks or even months before foul play is ruled out.
Video from Pakistan shows an explosion outside a paramilitary headquarters in Quetta, where authorities say at least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in a suicide car bombing.
Islamabad, Pakistan – A powerful car bomb blast outside the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps in the southwestern city of Quetta has killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 30 others, authorities said.
The explosion, swiftly followed by heavy gunfire, tore through the vicinity of Zarghoon Road in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, on Tuesday.
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“Two law enforcement personnel were killed while the rest of the dead were civilians,” Bakht Muhammad Kakar, the provincial health minister, told Al Jazeera.
Rescue workers carry a victim’s body to hospital after the car bombing in Quetta [Arshad Butt/AP Photo]
A security camera video posted on social media showed a vehicle turning towards the regional headquarters of the Frontier Corps and exploding within seconds.
Naresh Kumar, a witness, said he was standing outside his office close to the targeted building when the explosion took place. “My mind just went blank. I got hit by shards of glasses in my arm and back. The explosion was just massive,” Kumar told Al Jazeera.
Inam, another injured person who only gave his first name, was brought to the hospital where he was treated for wounds after glass shards injured his back due to the explosion.
“Our office is right around the paramilitary building. We were working in our office when the explosion totally rocked us and then everything went dark. I could hear firing which lasted for a while before the law enforcement arrived to take control,” he told Al Jazeera via telephone from the hospital.
Balochistan’s Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti condemned the incident, labelling it a “terrorist attack”. Speaking after the blast, Bugti confirmed that at least four attackers were killed by the security personnel.
Security officials examine damaged vehicles at the site of the bombing in Quetta [Arshad Butt/AP]
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari issued a strong condemnation over the attack, saying, “The misguided extremists were acting on India’s agenda.” He did not give details.
India has not yet responded to the allegation. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Balochistan’s economic significance
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest yet most sparsely populated province. Home to about 15 million people in a country of roughly 240 million, it remains the country’s poorest province despite possessing vast reserves of oil, coal, gold, copper, and gas. While these resources contribute substantially to the revenues of the federal government, the province itself faces economic hardships.
Balochistan is also home to Gwadar, a strategic deep-sea port which is the centrepiece of $60bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project designed to establish a trade link between southwestern China and the Arabian Sea.
However, Chinese investments, particularly in Balochistan, have fuelled local resentments. Residents accuse Chinese firms of “stealing local resources” and this sentiment has repeatedly driven local armed groups to attack Chinese personnel and installations.
The province also has the Reko Diq reserves, which are said to contain the world’s fifth-largest copper deposits.
Canadian firm Barrick Mining has been operating at the site since 2022. Earlier this month, Pakistan also signed a $500m deal with a United States-based firm to export critical minerals and rare earth elements.
Injured victims of the blast receive treatment at a hospital in Quetta [Arshad Butt/AP]
The local resentments have fuelled a rebellion movement for decades, which aims to establish an independent Balochistan state.
As violence escalates in the province, analysts have questioned the government’s ability in eliminating the armed and rebel groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) or the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF).
Muhammad Arif, an expert on international relations, said the demography of Balochistan is complex for both the violent groups as well as the government as he pointed out a logistical challenge inherent in the province’s topography.
“It is not possible for non-state actors to take control of the region of Balochistan with its vast, difficult terrain, but at the same time, the security of each and every corner of the state is difficult for the same reasons,” he said.
Arif suggested that a recent surge in violence could be linked to the government’s counter-insurgency operations.
“It is believed that the Baloch Liberation Army and other groups have suffered heavy casualties in the last couple of weeks, with the Pakistani forces helped by Chinese communication equipment along with drones and Pakistani jet fighters. [Tuesday’s] attack could be a retaliation move,” the Quetta-based analyst told Al Jazeera.
Additional reporting by Saadullah Akhter in Quetta.
The third episode of Coldwater had viewers reaching for their remote controls as they blasted the ‘disturbing’ scenes aired in the ITV prime-time drama
Viewers of Coldwater were left scrambling for their remote controls as they slammed the ‘disturbing’ scenes broadcast during the third episode of the ITV prime-time drama.
Andrew Lincoln plays John in the crime thriller, which airs on ITV1 on Sundays and Mondays and is available to stream in full on ITVX.
The six-part series charts the journey of John and his family as they relocate to the rural Scottish haven of Coldwater following John’s witnessing and response to a violent incident in a London park.
However, John grows increasingly exasperated with his restrictive and tedious life as a middle-aged house husband, his concealed rage threatening everything he cherishes.
Andrew Lincoln plays John in Coldwater(Image: ITV)
Despite longing for a more peaceful future for his family, he faces new challenges when he develops a friendship with neighbouring resident Tommy (Ewen Bremner), a seemingly charming man and devoted husband to local minister Rebecca (Eve Myles), with John becoming caught up in a series of disturbing events whilst falling into Tommy’s snare, reports the Daily Record.
During the third episode which broadcast on Sunday, September 21, audiences watched sinister Tommy (Ewen Bremner) kill pet cat Harlequin.
However, the unsettling scene sparked a wave of criticism on social media.
One viewer commented: “now the cat was a step too far! Absolutely no need to show that.”
A second posted: “I thought we moved past killing animals in shows, viewers hate it and it’s unnecessary. Yes it’s not real but it’s too disturbing, I immediately give up on shows for that so ITV you lost a viewer, only weak writers use animal deaths for a desperate attempt at tension. “
John has got himself caught up in Tommy’s web(Image: ITV)
A third added: “It’s gone too far #Coldwater There’s no humour, or ‘art’ in plain cruelty. I’ve kept with it, but no more.”
And: “Wish they wouldn’t have cruelty to defenceless animals in these dramas.”
Andrew Lincoln has revealed that he turned down the role in Coldwater twice before finally agreeing to take it on.
The Walking Dead actor explained: “I got sent the script and loved it, it made me laugh in all the wrong places, made me squirm with recognition, and constantly surprised me with the unpredictability of the characters, but it made me scared as well.
“I was quite scared about playing a character that was so unpleasant and weak and emasculated, and I wasn’t quite sure tonally where it sat.
“So I said no twice to it and then I had a lovely chat [with writer David Ireland] and couldn’t walk away from it.”
Coldwater continues on ITV1 tomorrow and it’s available to stream on ITVX
More than 100 members of the Writers Guild of America East and their supporters jammed the sidewalk in front of Walt Disney Co.’s Lower Manhattan headquarters Friday to protest ABC’s decision to pull “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The late-night program has been dark since Wednesday, when the Disney-owned network announced in a terse statement that it will be “preempted indefinitely.” The move followed decisions by two major owners of ABC affiliates to drop the show because of Kimmel’s remarks about the suspect in the shooting death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Members of the union, which represents TV and film writers, marched with signs calling the move an attack on free speech and accusing Walt Disney Co. executives of lacking backbone.
Among the messages: “Disney and ABC Capitulation and Censorship,” “Always Be Cowards,” “Absolute Bull— Cowards” and “Disney/ABC Bows to Trump Extortion.” There were chants of “Bring Jimmy back.”
The demonstration reflected anger building in the creative community over Kimmel’s removal, which Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr called for during a podcast interview that aired on Wednesday.
On Monday’s show, Kimmel seemed to suggest during his monologue that Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused in the shooting death of Kirk, might have been a pro-Trump Republican. He said MAGA supporters “are desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
The remarks prompted a widespread conservative backlash on social media, including demands for Kimmel’s firing. Kimmel, who has expressed sympathy for Kirk’s family online, has not yet commented on his removal.
President Trump has also said that late-night hosts who are critical of his administration should be banished from the airwaves. Trump cheered ABC’s decision, as he did the recent cancellation of CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
Kimmel remains off the air and has had discussions with Disney executives about how to bring the show back on the air. But his future with the network remains uncertain.
Greg Iwinski, a late-night TV writer and council member of the WGA East, said the threat of pulling a broadcast license is a dangerous weapon that can be used on any program and ultimately chill free expression.
“You can use that for any broadcast network anywhere,” Iwinski said. “Any late-night show, daytime show, game show or sitcom — any show you don’t like. Everything is under threat that is on network TV.”
Iwinski warned that ABC’s actions will only invite the Trump administration to exert more control over the broadcast airwaves.
“What if a relationship on a drama doesn’t fit the values of Donald Trump?” he said. “What if it’s not racially representative of what he thinks — ‘Well, we’re going to pull your licenses’ — all of that is on the table.”
The WGA East members were joined by local government officials supporting their cause, including New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.
Statements of protest over ABC’s moves are coming from all corners of the entertainment industry, including from Michael Eisner, the former Disney chief who preceded Bob Iger’s first run in the job.
“Where has all the leadership gone?” Eisner wrote Friday on X. “If not for university presidents, law firm managing partners, and corporate chief executives standing up against bullies, who then will step up for the first amendment?”
Eisner said ABC’s action is “yet another example of out of control intimidation” by the FCC.
“Maybe the Constitution should have said, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, except in one’s political or financial self-interest.’” Eisner added. “By-the-way, for the record, this ex-CEO finds Jimmy Kimmel very talented and funny.”
Disney did not immediately comment on Eisner’s post.
Damon Lindelof, the Emmy-winning co-creator of the hit ABC series “Lost,” said in an Instagram post Wednesday that he would no longer work for Disney or ABC unless Kimmel is reinstated.
A major Republican voice weighed in on Friday as well, with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) saying the FCC chair’s threats are “dangerous as hell” and compared them to organized crime tactics.
Carr, who has been in lockstep with Trump on matters concerning the media, has said that stations have the right to pull the show if owners believe the content conflicts with community standards.
“Broadcast TV stations have always been required by their licenses to operate in the public interest — that includes serving the needs of their local communities,” he wrote Thursday on X. “And broadcasters have long retained the right to not air national programs that they believe are inconsistent with the public interest, including their local communities’ values. I am glad to see that many broadcasters are responding to their viewers as intended.”
Spectacular fifties from Jordan Cox and Sam Curran fired Oval Invincibles to a thrilling six-wicket victory over Trent Rockets in a table-topping clash in The Hundred.
Cox hammered an unbeaten 58 from 32 balls and Curran struck 54 from 24, as the Invincibles hit a remarkable 103 runs from 28 deliveries to drive to victory with 11 balls to spare.
Opener Joe Root struck a season-best 76 as Rockets reached 171-7 and the visitors looked well-placed in their reply when they had their opponents 70-2 after 60 balls.
However, Cox and Curran launched a superb turnaround from that point, adding 51 from the next 10 legitimate deliveries.
The pair smashed six sixes and a four between them as they took 19 off David Willey and 32 from Sam Cook, who bowled the most expensive five-ball set in men’s Hundred history.
Curran reached his fifty from 22 balls, but fell before the close, caught on the ropes off Rehan Ahmed.
Cox pushed on, reaching his own half-century from 30 deliveries, guiding his side home alongside Donovan Ferreira and Sam Billings.
The win near guarantees Invincibles a play-off spot and offers further evidence as to why the two-time defending champions remain the team to beat in the men’s competition.
Mass outcry from aid groups as Israel continues to block millions of dollars in aid supplies to starving Palestinians.
More than 100 aid groups have accused Israel of obstructing life-saving aid from entering Gaza, resulting in vast quantities of relief supplies remaining stranded in warehouses across Jordan and Egypt as more Palestinians starve.
Aid trucks have massed on Gaza’s borders amid Israel’s blockade of the famine-stricken territory, and new rules are being used by Israel to deny the entry of food, medicine, water and temporary shelters, the groups said in a joint statement released on Thursday.
“Despite claims by Israeli authorities that there is no limit on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, most major international NGOs [nongovernmental organisations] have been unable to deliver a single truck of life-saving supplies since 2 March,” the groups said.
“Instead of clearing the growing backlog of goods, Israeli authorities have rejected requests from dozens of NGOs to bring in life-saving goods, citing that these organisations are ‘not authorised to deliver aid’,” the groups, which include Doctors Without Borders (known by their French acronym, MSF) and Oxfam, said.
Relief organisations that have worked in Gaza for decades are now told by Israel that they are not “authorised” to deliver aid due to new “registration rules”, which include so-called “security” vetting.
Hospitals in Gaza are now without basic supplies as a result, and children, the elderly and those with disabilities are “dying from hunger and preventable illnesses”, the statement continued.
Bushra Khalidi, Oxfam policy lead, said her organisation has more than $2.5m worth of humanitarian aid supplies that “have been rejected from entering Gaza by Israel”.
MSF’s emergency coordinator in Gaza, Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, said the restrictions on aid are part of Israel’s militarised distribution of relief supplies, spearheaded by the notorious GHF.
“The militarised food distribution scheme has weaponised starvation and curated suffering. Distributions at GHF sites have resulted in extreme levels of violence and killings, primarily of young Palestinian men, but also of women and children, who have gone to the sites in the hope of receiving food,” Zabalgogeazkoa said.
At least 859 Palestinians have been killed attempting to access aid supplies around GHF distribution sites since May.
The more than 100 relief organisations that signed the statement have called for pressure to be exerted on Israel to end its “weaponisation of aid”, for Israel to end its “bureaucratic obstruction” and for unconditional delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Israel’s Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, who had a role in the new rules imposed on aid groups, told the AFP news agency that registration of humanitarian groups could be rejected if Israeli authorities deem that its activities deny the democratic character of Israel or ” promote delegitimisation campaigns”, such as the movement to boycott Israel over its war on Gaza.
The joint outcry by aid groups comes as Israeli forces launch a new operation to take over Gaza City, which will displace more than a million people and force them to move south to concentration zones.
Israel’s operation to occupy Gaza City has triggered international outrage, with the United Nations and world leaders warning of devastating humanitarian consequences for the war-shattered territory.
Aug. 11 (UPI) — At least one person is dead and several are injured, including those trapped in rubble, after an explosion at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works about 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, officials said.
Allegheny County Emergency Services spokesperson Kasey Reigner told WPXI-TV that “dozens were injured” in the blast. Also, two people are missing as crews searched for victims trapped in rubble.
At 10:50 a.m. EDT, emergency medical services received a call for an “ongoing situation” at the plant for a potential mass casualty event, Reigner told the Post-Gazette.
A Level 3 Mass Casualty incident was declared and more resources across the region were deployed.
Allegheny County Health Department advised people who live within a mile to stay inside.
The extent of injuries wasn’t clear, though several people were taken to hospitals. Allegheny Health Network told WPXI that it was receiving patients at several of its hospitals, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said two patients were taken to Mercy Hospital.
WTAE-TV’s helicopter captured fire crews battling flames while ambulances rushed to the area.
Breath Project captured when the explosion occurred.
“Felt like thunder,” Zachary Buday, who was working close to the scene, told WTAE. “Shook the scaffold, shook my chest, then shook the building. Then we saw the smoke coming up from the steel mill.”
He said there wasn’t fire but black smoke.
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who grew up near the area in McKeesport, posted on X: “The Commonwealth is providing whatever resources and manpower are needed to help with emergency response. Please stay away from the area at this time to allow emergency crews to do their job and follow all future guidance from officials for those that live nearby.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro posted on X that his administration “is in touch with local officials.”
He said: “The scene is still active, and folks nearby should follow the direction of local authorities.”
Sen. John Fetterman, who serves Pennsylvanians, wrote on X: “My team and I are tracking this explosion and waiting for more information.”
Calirton Coke Works, which is situated along the Monongahela River, is considered the largest coke manufacturing plant in North America with several million tons produced annually.
In the process, raw coal is turned into coke, which is used in steelmaking.
The company’s headquarters are in Pittsburgh.
U.S. Steel, which was founded in 1901, has about 22,000 employees with revenue of $15.6 billion in 2024.
In May, President Donald Trump announced a partnership with Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation. He also said there would be a 50% tariff on imported steel. He appeared at the Edgar Thomas Plant near Braddock.
Hundreds gathered in Beirut to mark five years since the deadly port explosion that killed over 218 people, renewing calls for justice and accountability. Protesters urged Lebanon’s leaders to act, hoping the stalled judicial investigation will soon be completed.
When 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020, it ripped through the city, killing more than 218 people. Among them was three-year-old Alexandra Naggear.
Five years later, the investigation into who is at fault for the blast has been delayed, and at times derailed, by political interference.
“The most important thing for us is not for the decision, but for full justice to happen,” Tracy Naggear, Alexandra’s mother and a key activist advocating for the blast’s victims, told Al Jazeera by phone. “And we won’t accept a half-truth or half-justice.”
As the fifth anniversary of the tragedy approaches, there is some optimism that the judicial investigation is finally moving in the right direction after facing obstacles, mostly from well-connected politicians refusing to answer questions and the former public prosecutor blocking the investigation.
A decision from the lead prosecutor is expected soon, activists and legal sources familiar with the matter told Al Jazeera. And while the road to justice is still long, for the first time, there is a feeling that momentum is building.
Justice derailed
“You can feel a positive atmosphere [this time],” lawyer Tania Daou-Alam told Al Jazeera.
Daou-Alam now lives in the United States, but is in Lebanon for the annual commemoration of the blast, which includes protests and a memorial.
A protester holds up a picture of three-year-old Alexandra Naggear, who was killed in the Beirut port explosion [Kareem Chehayeb/Al Jazeera]
Her husband of 20 years, Jean-Frederic Alam, was killed by the blast, which was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in modern history.
Daou-Alam is also one of nine victims suing the US-based company TGS in a Texas court for $250m, claiming it was involved in chartering the Rhosus, a Moldovan-flagged ship that carried the ammonium nitrate into Beirut’s port in 2013.
She told Al Jazeera that the case is more about “demanding accountability and access to documents that would shed more light on the broader chain of responsibility” than it is about compensation.
The population of Beirut is used to facing crises without government help. Numerous bombings and assassinations have occurred, with the state rarely, if ever, holding anyone accountable.
Frustration and a sense of abandonment by the state, the political system, and the individuals who benefit from it already boiled over into an uprising in October 2019, less than a year before the blast.
In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, residents cleaned up the city themselves. Politicians who came for photo opportunities were chased out by angry citizens, and mutual aid filled the gap left by the state.
The end of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war in 1990 set the tone for the impunity that has plagued the country ever since. Experts and historians say militia leaders traded their fatigues for suits, pardoned each other, awarded themselves ministries and began rerouting the country’s resources to their personal coffers.
Preliminary investigations found that the explosion was caused by ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut port in improper conditions for six years.
They also found that many top officials, including then-President Michel Aoun, had been informed of the ammonium nitrate’s presence, but chose not to act.
Judge Fadi Sawan was chosen to lead the full investigation in August 2020, but found himself sidelined after calling some notable politicians for questioning. Two ministers he charged with negligence asked that the case be transferred to another judge.
Replacing him in February 2021 was Judge Tarek Bitar. Like Sawan, Judge Bitar called major political figures in for questioning and later issued arrest warrants for them. Among them are Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeiter, close allies of Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who still refuse to respond to Judge Bitar’s requests and claim they have parliamentary immunity.
Despite much popular support, many of Judge Bitar’s efforts were impeded, with Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces at times refusing to execute warrants and the former Court of Cassation public prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, ordering his investigation halted.
A man stands near graffiti at the damaged port after the explosion. In Beirut on August 11, 2020 [Hannah McKay/Reuters]
A new era
In early 2025, Lebanon elected a new president, Joseph Aoun, and a new prime minister, Nawaf Salam.
In their inaugural addresses, both spoke about the importance of finding justice for the victims of the port explosion.
“The current justice minister seems determined to go all the way, and he has promised that the judge will no longer face any hurdles and that the ministry will provide all help required,” Karim Emile Bitar, a Lebanese political analyst with no relation to the judge investigating the port explosion, told Al Jazeera.
Human Rights Watch reported in January 2025 that Judge Bitar had resumed his investigation, “after two years of being stymied by Lebanese authorities”.
On July 29, Salam issued a memorandum declaring August 4 a day of national mourning. On July 17, Aoun met with the families of victims killed in the explosion.
“My commitment is clear: We must uncover the whole truth and hold accountable those who caused this catastrophe,” Aoun said.
Oueidat, the former public prosecutor, was replaced by Judge Jamal Hajjar in an acting capacity in 2024, before being confirmed as his successor in April 2025.
In March 2025, Hajjar reversed Oueidat’s decisions and allowed Judge Bitar to continue his investigation.
Legal experts and activists have been pleased by the progress.
“Actual individuals implicated in the case are showing up to interrogations,” Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera. Among them are Tony Saliba, the former director-general of State Security, Abbas Ibrahim, former director-general of the General Directorate of General Security, and Hassan Diab, prime minister at the time of the explosion.
But this is still not enough for those wanting justice to be served after five years of battles, activists and experts note.
“We are asking for laws that are able to protect and support the judiciary and the appointments of vacant judge [posts], so these things will show the government is on our side this time,” Daou-Alam said.
Even with the new government pushing for accountability, some are still trying to disrupt the process.
Hassan Khalil and Zeiter still refuse to appear before Judge Bitar, and a fight has emerged over the country’s judicial independence.
“We can only get justice if the judiciary acts independently so that they can go after individuals and so the security services can act independently without political interference,” Kaiss said.
Protesters lift placards depicting the victims of the 2020 Beirut port blast during a march near the Lebanese capital’s harbour on August 4, 2023, marking the third anniversary of the deadly explosion [Joseph Eid/AFP]
Time for accountability
The last few years have been a turbulent period of myriad crises for Lebanon.
A banking collapse robbed many people of their savings and left the country in a historic economic crisis. Amid that and the COVID-19 pandemic came the blast, and international organisations and experts hold the Lebanese political establishment responsible.
“The time has come to send a signal to Lebanese public opinion that some of those responsible, even if they are in high positions, will be held accountable,” political analyst Bitar said.
“Accountability would be the first step for the Lebanese in Lebanon and the diaspora to regain trust,” he said, “and without trust, Lebanon will not be able to recover.”
Still, Bitar maintained, progress on the port blast dossier doesn’t mean every answer will come to the forefront.
“This crime was so huge that, like many similar crimes in other countries, sometimes it takes years and decades, and we never find out what really happened,” he said.
Blast victim Tracy Naggear noted that “[our] fight… is mainly for our daughter, for Alexandra, of course”.
“But we are [also] doing it for all the victims and for our country,” she said. ‘[It’s] for every single person that has been touched by the 4th of August, from a simple scratch to a broken window.”
Health Ministry says four killed, 116 others wounded after explosion in Maarat Misrin in the northern Idlib countryside.
At least four people have been killed and more than 100 others were wounded in an explosion in Idlib province, northwestern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.
In a statement on Thursday, carried by SANA, Syria’s Ministry of Health said that the explosion occurred in the town of Maarat Misrin in the northern Idlib countryside.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
The ministry said that “four people were killed and 116 others were wounded,” according to a preliminary death toll.
The Syria Civil Defence, also known as the White Helmets, said at least six people were killed in the blast.
“This is the death toll only of those recovered by Syria Civil Defence teams, who continue to search for those trapped under the rubble,” the White Helmets said in a statement.
Raed Al-Saleh, Syria’s minister of emergency and disaster management, said in a post on X that the country’s Civil Defence teams rushed to the scene of the blast and were working in dangerous and complex conditions.
He said the teams were carrying out evacuation and rescue operations amid ongoing secondary blasts.
Saleh urged residents to avoid the site for their own safety.
The blast was the third in the region this month. Earlier in July, two explosions rocked the Kafriya and al-Fu’ah regions.
Initial investigation indicates blast caused by a gas leak, but similar recent incidents have led to suspicions of drone attacks.
At least seven people have been injured in an explosion at a residential building on the outskirts of the Iranian city of Qom, according to several Iranian news outlets.
At least five emergency vehicles were dispatched after Monday’s blast to the Nasim Pardisan residential complex to attend to the injured, Iran’s Student News Network (SNN) reported, quoting Dr Mohammad Javad Bagheri, head of Qom’s Emergency Services.
The state-affiliated Fars News Agency said the explosion happened at one of the buildings in the complex and damaged four residential units.
The explosion shattered windows of neighbouring buildings, and firefighting and police forces were deployed to the site, according to Fars.
Images and videos posted on social media showed several damaged vehicles next to the building.
انفجار در یکی از مجتمعهای مسکونی پردیسان قم ۷ مصدوم برجا گذاشت. به گفته اورژانس و آتشنشانی، حادثه صبح دوشنبه رخ داده و علت احتمالی آن نشت گاز بوده است. 🔗https://t.co/pg6uSrkMbWpic.twitter.com/Z8XP3ZbosU
Translation: An explosion in one of the residential complexes in Qom’s Pardisan left seven people injured.
According to the emergency services and fire department, the incident occurred on Monday morning and the probable cause was a gas leak.
Preliminary investigations indicated a gas leak may have caused the incident, but a detailed probe is being carried out to ascertain the source of the blast, Fars reported.
In recent days, some accounts on social media have linked such incidents across the country to last month’s Israeli war against Iran.
Fars quoted an unnamed official as saying people “should not worry about this narrative-building”, adding that if any hostile acts were to occur, “news of it would immediately be announced to the public.”
Similar explosions have been recorded across Iran since the June 24 ceasefire, which led to speculation that Israeli drone strikes launched from inside Iran might be responsible for the incidents. But authorities have rejected such speculation.
The latest incident came four days after an explosion occurred at a residential building in western Tehran’s Chitgar suburb, which was extensively bombed during the 12-day war. Many high-rise buildings in that district were built by Iran’s armed forces.
Authorities said the Chitgar explosion, which injured at least seven people, was also caused by a gas leak.
The next day, Iranian media reported the death of Ali Taeb, a senior Muslim scholar and veteran of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. No cause of death was provided, and officials have not commented.
Taeb was a former representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the Sarallah Headquarters, the heart of the domestic security structure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a frequent target of Israeli attacks during the 12-day war.
He was also brother to Hossein Taeb and Mehdi Taeb, two senior figures within Iran’s theocratic establishment and the IRGC.
Several other explosions were also reported, including in the Janat Abad district of Tehran and another in western Iran’s Kermanshah.
The blast occurred on Friday night in Taiz city which has been a battleground in Yemen’s civil war.
At least five children in southwestern Yemen have died after an explosive device detonated in a residential area where they were playing football, rights groups and witnesses said.
The circumstances surrounding the incident late on Friday in the al-Hashmah subdistrict of Taiz province remain unclear.
However, on Saturday, the Yemen Center for Human Rights and another rights group called Eye of Humanity, along with Houthi-controlled Al Masirah TV, said an artillery shell was fired by militias backed by the Islah party, which is allied to the internationally recognised government in south Yemen.
Two local residents who were witnesses, Ahmed al-Sharee and Khaled al-Areki, told The Associated Press news agency that the children were playing football when the explosion happened.
At least three people with minor to moderate injuries were also taken to the hospital, according to the witnesses. Meanwhile, Mahmoud al-Mansi, another witness, said the explosive was directed from an area where forces allied with the Islah party were present.
A spokesperson for the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, told The Associated Press that they are aware of reports about the incident but can’t verify the facts at the moment.
The Yemen Center for Human Rights condemned the incident in a report that included graphic photos of the children’s torn bodies. Citing healthcare sources at al-Rafai Hospital, where the victims arrived unresponsive, the group said they died from shrapnel injuries.
Two of the children were 12 years old, while two others were 14 years old, according to the group. The age of the fifth child is unknown.
Taiz city, the capital of the province of Taiz, has been a battleground, pitting the Houthis against other armed groups backed by the Islah party against each other and other factions in Yemen’s civil war.
The city was under Houthi blockade since 2016, restricting the freedom of movement and flow of essential goods to residents, but Houthis recently opened key roads.
Yemen’s ruinous civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen, forcing the internationally recognised government into exile.
A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and including the United Arab Emirates intervened in 2015 to try to restore the government to power.
Years of UN-brokered peace talks have also failed to break the deadlock. But the conflict has been largely frozen since the sides reached a ceasefire in 2022.
The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council controls much of the south, which has been fractured by the civil war. The council advocates for the south’s secession and has its own forces, allied to the internationally recognised government, fighting the Houthis.
Another 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries after the blast and fire at the Sigachi factory.
At least 36 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful explosion triggered a fire at a pharmaceutical factory in the southern Indian state of Telangana.
“The condition of the bodies is such that we’ve had to deploy a specialised medical team to carry out DNA tests,” said Health and Medical Cabinet Minister of Telangana Damodar Raja Narasimha on Tuesday.
A government panel has been formed to investigate the cause of the disaster.
The blast, which erupted on Monday afternoon at a facility run by Sigachi Industries, took place in the plant’s spray dryer unit – a section used to convert raw materials into powder for drug manufacturing. The factory is located roughly 50km (31 miles) from Hyderabad, the state capital.
Authorities recovered 34 bodies from the debris, while two more workers succumbed to injuries in hospital, according to Telangana’s fire services director, GV Narayana Rao.
“The entire structure has collapsed. The fire is under control and we’re continuing to clear the rubble in case more people are trapped,” he told the Associated Press news agency.
Twenty-five of the deceased are yet to be identified, a district administrative official, P Pravinya, said.
About 36 workers remain in hospital with burns and other injuries. Police officials said that more than 140 people were working in the plant when the incident occurred.
Local residents reported hearing the blast from several kilometres away.
The incident has raised new concerns about industrial safety in India’s booming pharmaceutical sector. Despite the country’s reputation as a global supplier of low-cost medicines and vaccines, fatal accidents at drug manufacturing units are not rare, particularly in facilities handling chemicals or solvents.
Sigachi Industries, which has its headquarters in India, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and nutrient blends, and operates manufacturing plants across the country. It also runs subsidiaries in the United Arab Emirates and the United States, according to its website.
Officials say rescue and recovery efforts will continue until the entire site has been cleared. The factory’s operations have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is racing ahead with construction of a makeshift immigration detention facility at an airstrip in the Everglades over the opposition of Native American leaders who consider the area their sacred ancestral homelands.
A string of portable generators and dump trucks loaded with fill dirt streamed into the site Thursday, according to activist Jessica Namath, who witnessed the activity. The state is plowing ahead with building a compound of heavy-duty tents, trailers and other temporary buildings at the county-owned airfield in the Big Cypress National Preserve, about 45 miles west of downtown Miami.
A spokesperson for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is helping lead the project, did not respond to requests for comment.
State officials have characterized the site as an ideal place to hold migrants, saying there’s “not much” there other than pythons and alligators.
Indigenous leaders who can trace their roots to the area back thousands of years dispute that — and they’re condemning the state’s plans to build what’s been dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” on their homelands.
For generations, the sweeping wetlands of what is now South Florida have been home to Native peoples who today make up the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
“Rather than Miccosukee homelands being an uninhabited wasteland for alligators and pythons, as some have suggested, the Big Cypress is the Tribe’s traditional homelands. The landscape has protected the Miccosukee and Seminole people for generations,” Miccosukee Chairman Talbert Cypress wrote in a statement on social media.
There are 15 remaining traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages in Big Cypress, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites, Cypress testified before Congress in 2024.
“We live here. Our ancestors fought and died here. They are buried here,” he said. “The Big Cypress is part of us, and we are a part of it.”
Critics have condemned the facility and what they call the state’s apparent reliance on alligators as a security measure as a cruel spectacle, while DeSantis and other state officials have defended it as part of Florida’s muscular efforts to carry out President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Tribal leaders and environmentalists are urging the state to change course, noting that billions of dollars in state and federal funds have been poured into Everglades restoration in recent years, an investment they say is jeopardized by plans to house some 1,000 migrants at the site for an undetermined amount of time.
Indigenous leaders and activists are planning to gather at the site again Saturday to stage a demonstration highlighting why the area is “sacred” and should be “protected, not destroyed.”
“This place became our refuge in time of war. It provides us a place to continue our culture and traditions,” Miccosukee leader Betty Osceola wrote in a social media post announcing the demonstration.
“And we need to protect it for our future generations,” she added.
