deadly

From deadly floods in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, to antigovernment protests in the Philippines and demonstrations in Italy to show solidarity with Gaza, here is a look at the week in photos.

Hong Kong began a five-day mourning period on Saturday, after at least 128 people were killed in fires at a high-rise apartment complex. Officials held a three-minute silence as residents laid flowers near the towers. Authorities say around 200 people are still missing.

Israel has carried out its deadliest incursion into southern Syria since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. At least 13 people were killed in Beit Jinn. Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid reports Syrian officials reject Israel’s narrative and accuse it of violating international law.

Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency says strict air quality standards were introduced without sufficient review.

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to roll back tougher limits on deadly soot pollution, prompting condemnation from environmental groups.

The Trump administration’s latest bid to weaken environmental standards comes after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a court motion arguing that former President Joe Biden’s administration exceeded its authority when it tightened air quality standards in 2024.

In a motion filed on Monday, lawyers for Trump’s EPA asked a Washington, DC, appeals court to throw out the tougher standard, arguing it was introduced without the “rigorous, stepwise process” required under the 1963 Clean Air Act.

The EPA initially defended the tougher standard amid a flurry of legal challenges from Republican-led states and business groups, which argued the rule would raise costs, before reversing course under Trump appointee Lee Zeldin.

“EPA has concluded that the position it advanced earlier is erroneous,” lawyers for the EPA said in the filing, arguing that the agency should complete a “thorough review of the underlying criteria and corresponding standards” before revising the limit.

Under Biden appointee Michael S Regan, the EPA last year substantially lowered acceptable soot levels, from 12 micrograms per cubic metre of air to 9 micrograms per cubic metre of air.

The agency said at the time that the tougher standard would prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays by 2032.

Upon taking office earlier this year, Zeldin, a former Republican lawmaker, pledged to roll back dozens of environmental regulations as part of what he dubbed the “largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States”.

Patrice Simms, an environmental lawyer at the nonprofit organisation Earthjustice, said lowering air quality standards would harm public health.

“Trump has made it clear that his agenda is all about saving corporations money, and this administration’s EPA has nothing to do with protecting people’s health, saving lives, or serving children, families or communities,” Simms said in a statement.

“We will continue to defend this life-saving standard.”

Patrick Drupp, the director of climate policy at the Sierra Club, also condemned the EPA’s move, calling it “reckless” and “a complete betrayal” of the agency’s mission.

“While this administration continues to strip away access to affordable healthcare, they are simultaneously allowing fossil fuel companies to cut corners and make Americans sicker,” Drupp said.

An Israeli ‘kamikaze’ drone blew up a vehicle on a busy street in Gaza City on Saturday, the latest test of the fragile ceasefire. It was just one of several Israeli attacks that killed at least 22 people across the enclave.

Israeli air raids have taken place in southern Gaza as well as Gaza City; one young Palestinian killed in occupied West Bank raid.

Protesters demand justice over the nightclub fire that killed 63 people in the town of Kocani in March.

Thousands of protesters have marched in North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, demanding justice for the 63 people who were killed in a fire at a nightclub in March.

The rally on Saturday comes ahead of the trial of the 34 people and three companies charged over the incident, which marked the deadliest blaze in North Macedonia’s history.

The fire broke out at the crowded Pulse club in the eastern town of Kocani during a hip-hop concert on March 16, triggering a stampede and killing 63 people. Some 200 others were injured.

Most of the victims were aged between 16 and 26.

Families of the victims and their supporters marched to the North Macedonian parliament on Saturday, dressed in black and carrying a huge banner with pictures of the victims, saying, “63 shadows will be following you”.

The protesters also chanted “justice for Kocani”.

The families blame corruption and greed for the deaths of their children at the unlicensed venue in Kocani. Authorities said the fire was sparked by a pyrotechnic flame that engulfed the roof of the club and that the venue had numerous and serious safety violations.

Natalija Gjorgjieska was among the families demanding justice on Saturday.

Her husband, musician Andrej Gjorgjieski, was killed in the fire. “We demand the truth. Where did the mistakes occur, who didn’t respond, which institutions were late, who had the responsibility to prevent [them] and did not?” she said.

The prosecution filed indictments for 34 people, among them the club owner, security guards and former mayors of Kocani, as well as representatives of three legal entities, including the security firm and the club owner’s companies.

They are accused of “serious crimes against public security”.

Other defendants include inspectors, civil servants and former economy ministers. If found guilty, they face up to 10 years in prison.

Corruption has long plagued North Macedonia. The Berlin-based monitor Transparency International ranked North Macedonia in 88th place globally on its Corruption Perception Index last year, one of the worst rankings in Europe.

Bribes to authorities to skip licensing requirements and skirt safety regulations are commonplace.

The European Union has repeatedly expressed concerns over pervasive corruption in the country, identifying it as a major obstacle to the nation’s accession to the bloc. North Macedonia is a veteran candidate country, waiting for entry into the EU since 2005.

At least 13 people were killed and 20 injured when a car exploded near the Red Fort metro station in India’s capital New Delhi on Monday evening. Police say the blast, believed to have originated from a Hyundai i20 car, is being investigated under anti-terrorism laws.

An explosion near New Delhi’s Red Fort reportedly has killed at least eight people. Footage from the scene showed a smouldering vehicle frames and scattered wreckage.

At least five people have been killed after Typhoon Kalmaegi hit central and highland provinces in Vietnam, destroying thousands of homes and cutting power to more than a million households.

Afghan official says four Afghan civilians were killed and five others wounded in border clashes.

Talks in Istanbul between Pakistan and Afghanistan are at a deadlock, Islamabad said, a day after both sides accused each other of mounting border clashes that risked breaching a ceasefire brokered by Qatar.

The update on the talks by Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Friday came after an Afghan official said four Afghan civilians were killed and five others wounded in clashes between Pakistani and Afghan forces along their shared border despite the joint negotiations.

There was no immediate comment from Kabul about the Pakistani claim.

In a statement thanking Turkiye and Qatar for mediating the talks, Tarar maintained that the Afghan Taliban has failed to meet pledges it made with the international community about curbing “terrorism” under a 2021 Doha peace accord.

Tarar said that Pakistan “will not support any steps by the Taliban government that are not in the interest of the Afghan people or neighboring countries.” He did not elaborate further, but added that Islamabad continues to seek peace and goodwill for Afghans but will take “all necessary measures” to protect its own people and sovereignty.

Ali Mohammad Haqmal, head of the Information and Culture Department in Spin Boldak, blamed Pakistan for initiating the shooting. However, he said Afghan forces did not respond amid ongoing peace talks between the two sides in Istanbul.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Afghanistan initiated the shooting.

“Pakistan remains committed to ongoing dialogue and expects reciprocity from Afghan authorities”, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said.

The ministry said the ceasefire remained intact.

Andrabi said Pakistan’s national security adviser, Asim Malik, is leading the Pakistani delegation in the talks with Afghanistan. The Afghan side is being led by Abdul Haq Wasiq, director of general intelligence, according to Mujahid.

He said that Pakistan had handed over its demands to mediators “with a singular aim to put an end to cross-border terrorism,” and that “mediators are discussing Pakistan’s demands with the Afghan Taliban delegation, point by point.”

Strained ties

Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring armed groups, particularly the Pakistan Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP), which regularly claims deadly attacks in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban deny sheltering the group.

Many Pakistan Taliban leaders and fighters are believed to have taken refuge in Afghanistan since the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in 2021, further straining ties between the two countries.

Turkiye said at the conclusion of last week’s talks that the parties had agreed to establish a monitoring and verification mechanism to maintain peace and penalise violators.

Fifty civilians were killed and 447 others wounded on the Afghan side of the border during clashes that began on October 9, according to the United Nations. At least five people died in explosions in Kabul that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan.

The Pakistani army reported 23 of its soldiers were killed and 29 others wounded, without mentioning civilian casualties.

Heavy flooding in Talisay City, Cebu has destroyed homes after Typhoon Kalmaegi dumped a month’s worth of rain. One person died in a low-income area that evacuated early, while dozens may be trapped in a nearby subdivision where residents did not leave. Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo is there.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake has shaken northern Afghanistan, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 500, a health official says, adding that the numbers could increase.

The quake’s epicentre on Monday was located 22km (14 miles) west-southwest of the town of Khulm, and it struck at 12:59am (20:29 GMT on Sunday) at a depth of 28km (17 miles), the United States Geological Survey said.

Sharafat Zaman, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, said 534 injured people and 20 bodies had been brought to hospitals in Balkh and Samangan provinces. Rescuers were on the scene and the figures were changing, he added.

In the nearby province of Badakhshan, the quake damaged or destroyed 800 houses in one village in the Shahr-e-Bozorg district, said Ihsanullah Kamgar, spokesperson for the provincial police headquarters.

However, due to a lack of internet service in the remote area, there were still no accurate casualty figures, he added.

Yousaf Hammad, a spokesperson for the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said most of the injured suffered minor wounds and were discharged after treatment.

In the Afghan capital, Kabul, the Ministry of Defence announced that rescue and emergency teams had reached the quake-affected areas in Balkh and Samangan, which suffered the most damage, and were transporting the injured and assisting others.

The Defence Ministry said a rockslide briefly blocked a main mountain highway linking Kabul with Mazar-i-Sharif but the road was later reopened. It said some people who had been injured and trapped along the highway were transported to hospital.

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of the country’s presidential elections amid deadly unrest which the opposition say has left hundreds of protesters dead.

Tens of thousands of people marked the first anniversary of a train station roof collapse in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, observing 16 minutes of silence for the 16 victims of the tragedy. Many blame the tragedy on government negligence and corruption.