deadly

Cali, Colombia – A day after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake shook western Colombia, rescue teams are frantically fighting through the rubble of collapsed buildings to find survivors and recover bodies.

The powerful quake has caused at least 254 deaths nationwide, most of them concentrated in the cities of Pereira and Cali, according to government figures.

“For me, the earthquake felt eternal,” recalled Luis Saenz, a 22-year-old journalism student from Cali.

Saenz was at home enjoying his morning coffee when the quake struck at 7:34am (12:34 GMT) on Monday. He remembers his cat darting under the bed, then chaos as his family fled into the street.

Some 5,000 homes suffered damage, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, while dozens of buildings – many of them residential – collapsed entirely.

In Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, at least 95 people died, and 45 structures have fully or partially collapsed, according to local government statistics.

“I never thought I would see my city like this,” resident Maria Isabel Cumbal said between sobs, as she watched rescue efforts unfold at the Vanessa Building in the south of the city.

The seven-storey residential apartment block was reduced to wreckage in Monday’s earthquake.

Rescuers now wield hammers, shovels and heavy machinery in an attempt to pierce through thick slabs of concrete and rescue the estimated 20 people trapped underneath.

On and around the collapsed residence, hundreds of volunteers help to clear the rubble by forming a human chain to pass buckets from atop the mound of debris down to dump trucks.

Every so often, a rescuer will hold up a fist to call for silence, so that emergency responders can listen for signs of life.

Aug. 11 (UPI) — At least nine people were killed and 25 injured in Russian strikes targeting Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that Zaporizhzhia, where six people were killed and 19 injured, was hit with North Korean-made missiles.

In a post on X on Tuesday morning, Zelensky said emergency response efforts were still in progress dealing with the aftermath of a “vicious” attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia that involved North Korean ballistic missiles, Zircon hypersonic missiles and guided aerial bombs.

“It was a vicious attack, calculated to inflict maximum damage specifically on civilian infrastructure. Unfortunately, as of now, six people have been reported killed and nineteen wounded in the city. First responders are continuing to extinguish a fire at one of the impact sites,” wrote Zelensky.

He said a missile strike also damaged an infectious diseases hospital building and businesses in Kyiv and the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Donetsk regions also came under attack.

The other fatalities were all in Dnipropetrovsk, where five districts were attacked with artillery and drones, with Gov. Oleksandr Ghanza reporting in an online update that a middle-aged man was killed in the Synelnyky area, east of Dnipro, a teenage boy was killed In Kryvyi Rih and one person was killed in Pavlohrad.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it launched strikes against hubs for transport and logistics in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, as well as “defense industry” targets. Officials in Russia’s southwest said a man was killed and two were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Voronezh Region with two warehouses belonging to e-commerce giant Wildberries set ablaze.

Zelensky said more than 120 drones were sent into Ukraine as frontline regions continued to experience what he described as “drone terror” on an almost daily basis, with power outages in Kherson and Kharkiv after strikes overnight.

“Every step Russia takes — increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilization — all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation. And the world needs to respond now, not wait. More sanctions pressure specifically on enterprises that fuel Russia’s war, more air defense assistance for Ukraine — all of this is needed to give peace a chance,” said Zelensky.

Tuesday’s strikes came hours after Zelensky warned in a televised address Monday that North Korea was gaining battlefield experience and boosting its military capabilities through its support for Russia, posing a growing threat to U.S. allies and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Zelensky said North Korea had supplied the Russian military with additional ballistic missiles and was preparing to deploy tens of thousands of troops to Russia.

On Sunday, Zelensky called for increased co-operation between Seoul and Kyiv, particularly on air defense systems, warning that North Korea was preparing to send an additional 30,000 to 50,000 personnel to Russia on top of the 15,000 it already provided.

Doctors initially said Lottie Perks was just dehydrated and should rest at home

A mum says she was ‘dismissed’ as being ‘overly anxious’ by doctors until her daughter’s holiday stomach bug turned out to be her appendix bursting – and potentially fatal sepsis. Lottie Perks, now 20, began experiencing ‘crippling’ stomach pain, coupled with vomiting just days into a holiday.

24 hours later she was back to normal and the family got back to enjoying their holiday in Brazil, but on arriving home in London it was clear Lottie was unwell.

“She began shaking uncontrollably and I noticed her lips, hands and feet were freezing cold,” said mum Laura. “Her feet were white and her lips were blue. And her temperature was weirdly very low. Her face and limbs were swollen and flushed.

“I had been trying to trust the doctors before this and convince myself they were right. But, at this point, it was clear something was very wrong. I was terrified.

“And then, she collapsed in my arms as her eyes rolled back in her head. Her blood pressure plummeted and her heart rate raced dangerously high. I thought this was the end.”

Laura had also experienced a bout of sickness after returning from the trip in April 2025, so the family assumed Lottie had contracted the same bug. But just hours after coming home, the stomach pain and vomiting started again, coupled with bleeding and diarrhoea.

They went to A&E but nothing was found to be wrong. Laura said: “She was very pale, weak and physically could not stop vomiting even though there was nothing left in her. Lottie was placed on an IV drip for three hours while being observed, but was ultimately discharged with a gastro bug, as her blood tests showed normal levels of inflammation.

“That night, and the next day, she didn’t improve and became much weaker. I called the hospital and asked if it could be appendicitis, but they said everything was fine.”

Laura rushed her daughter back to hospital and begged for her to be seen again. Doctors allegedly claimed she was simply dehydrated and that they needed to leave the hospital – until an unusual rash was spotted.

After further checks, Lottie’s legs had started to turn a mottled purple and her body was severely swollen. A CT scan was ordered and it was found that her appendix had burst, causing sepsis.

Laura said: “I knew something was clearly wrong and before they took me seriously, I felt powerless. She had emergency surgery, but it was too late, the sepsis had spread. When she collapsed in my arms, that was her going into septic shock.

“And the start of her organs ceasing to work. I thought she’d be OK after the operation But the look on the surgeon’s face afterwards told me otherwise.

“When they explained about the sepsis and septic shock, and said they’d done all they could do, I felt powerless.”

Doctors rushed to give Lottie antibiotics, as there was a one hour window before her organs would start to fail completely. As nothing else could be done, it was a waiting game for a week.

Luckily, the teen recovered and was slowly taken off medication, as well as machines, keeping her alive. And, despite her life being on the line, she managed to return to university and pass her first year with flying colours.

Now, she still suffers with bouts of sickness, stomach pain, dizziness, fatigue and difficulty keeping warm. The emotional toll is felt by not just Lottie, but her mum, too.

To help raise awareness, the pair are working with Sepsis Trust to warn others of the signs to look out for. And, to never dismiss whether worrying symptoms could be sepsis.

Laura added: “Sepsis doesn’t need a cut, injury or an appendix bursting. It can be from something as simple as a virus. The symptoms are so subtle and confusing; but can become fatal so quickly.

“Having that one question in your mind when advocating for a loved one could save their life. We both suffer from nightmares following the experience. It’s difficult to look at photos from that time.

“And it’s hard not to associate the trip with what happened. We’ve always enjoyed relatively adventurous holidays and discovering further away places.

“But this has definitely put on the radar the possibility of a medical emergency while we’re away. And so, as a family, we haven’t been away too far since. We’re trying not to let the worry and her vulnerability take over too much from enjoying life.

“It’s forever changed us, but we’re so incredibly lucky to have caught it just about in time. I was treated like an overly anxious mother – but that’s what saved my daughter’s life.”

Lottie added: “Initially, I was very scared. I tried to stay calm and thought it was probably a gastro bug or food poisoning. It quickly turned into frustration because I was in so much pain and it was clearly where my appendix was.

“There was a lot of fear; I was terrified. Genuinely feeling like you’re dying and can’t explain or get anyone to understand was [infuriating].

“I still don’t think I really understood what was happening while I was in the ICU. I remember being frustrated that I couldn’t go up to the normal ward. But this was obviously because my organs weren’t fully functioning on their own still.

“Another part of the recovery that was quite frustrating was the loss of all my muscle. I remember just doing one lap of the ICU when I was well enough and being completely exhausted and my legs feeling so tired.

”Going from being someone quite active, and having to come to terms with this new situation, was quite a shock. Looking back on it now, I just feel incredibly lucky and almost proud of my body for managing to push me through it.

“But that gratitude and appreciation also comes with a huge frustration that it could’ve been avoided or acted upon sooner. And I wouldn’t have had to have been in that position in the first place.

“But it taught me a lot and I’m obviously very grateful for all the doctors and nurses that helped me. I have learned to advocate for myself better and to speak out when something isn’t right.

“I also felt frustrated as just being young and female meant that so many things masked it – from doctors thinking I could be pregnant, toxic shock syndrome, period cramps. I wanted to explain that as women, we know what’s normal for us, and this clearly wasn’t normal.

“I understand that various possibilities needed to be ruled out; but I wish someone had considered rapidly progressing sepsis as one of those a little sooner. That said, I am well aware that I am one of the very lucky ones. I’ve been shocked to read all of the ways it could have ended differently.”

The KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jet involved in a deadly midair collision with another tanker over Iraq in March is now undergoing full repairs at Tinker Air Force Base. The Oklahoma installation hosts the only unit specifically designed to repair battle damage to the Air Force’s fleet of aerial refuelers and strategic bombers.

The collision on March 12 killed the entire crew of the tanker, which had the call sign Zeus 95. Maj. John A. Klinner, Capt. Ariana G. Savino and Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. Capt. Seth R. Koval, Capt. Curtis J. Angst and Master Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons (who was posthumously promoted) were assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Columbus, Ohio.

After the incident, the surviving jet, serial 63-8017, landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport. Images emerged showing that half its tail was sheared off.

Little more was known publicly about the jet – assigned to the 314th Air Refueling Squadron at Beale Air Force Base, California – until it arrived at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom on Aug. 2 with a replacement tail. Local aviation photographer Andrew McKelvey was kind enough to share images he took of the aircraft, one of which you can see below.

Serial 63-8017 left Mildenhall and finally arrived at Tinker on Aug. 3.

After McKelvey sent us the pictures, we reached out to the Air Force to find out how the aircraft was repaired and what would happen to it next. In addition, Mildenhall, as we have previously reported, was also a pit stop for at least two KC-135 tankers that returned from the Middle East full of patch mark repairs from shrapnel damage incurred during Iranian attacks.

“The aircraft are being inducted for programmed depot maintenance, where any damage patched by an Expeditionary Depot Maintenance (EDMX) unit will be fully repaired in conjunction with regularly scheduled 5-year maintenance,” an Air Force spokesperson told us Thursday afternoon. Located at Tinker, the EDMX is “responsible for maintaining the Air Force’s sole source for Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) rapid repair capabilities for the entire tanker and bomber fleets,” according to the Air Force.

“Timelines for when the aircraft will fully return to the fleet ultimately depends on the extent of any additional defects or engineering issues identified during the inspection portion of the programmed depot maintenance,” the Air Force spokesperson added. “The current average for this regularly scheduled maintenance is 155 days, but it is reasonable to assume the timeline may be extended based on findings.”

The repair process to keep these aircraft able to maintain full mission capability can be much quicker, the Air Force spokesperson explained.

“Several damaged KC-135 Stratotankers were repaired by members of the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group’s Expeditionary Depot Maintenance Flight [EDMX], allowing the aircraft to maintain full mission capability to complete deployed missions,” the Air Force added. The EDMX “completed more than 200 repairs over the course of three weeks; effective patches that also allowed the aircraft to return to Tinker Air Force Base for comprehensive repairs.”

The Air Force declined to provide details about the number of aircraft that arrived at Tinker to be repaired after being damaged in the war on Iran and did not immediately provide additional information about the work done on 63-8017 in Israel to enable it to fly again in the first place.

Whether coincidental or not, a few weeks after the mishap in March over Iraq, the Air Force pulled a Stratotanker out of storage and brought it to Tinker.

“At the request of the KC-135 System Program Office, the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group regenerated KC-135R, tail number 58-011, to support operational requirements,” the Air Force told us back in April. “The aircraft departed on April 2, 2026, en route to the Oklahoma Air Logistics Complex at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.”

The Air Force at the time declined to say if 58-011 was being used specifically to repair jets damaged during Epic Fury.

In addition to the tanker involved in the midair collision, an Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) in Saudi Arabia is said to have damaged five tankers. However, the full destruction inflicted by it and subsequent strikes on PSAB remains murky, as do potential impacts to facilities and aircraft located across the region. The lack of regular satellite imagery from U.S. providers of the Middle East has made it harder to understand what has occurred, but as we state repeatedly, satellite images would not show more minor damage to aircraft, such as the shrapnel holes in images of two KC-135s that made a temporary stop at Mildenhall before heading to Tinker.

As we noted earlier in this story, on April 12, a KC-135, serial 59-1444, belonging to the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing, arrived at the air base in England covered in patches installed over shrapnel damage. You can see that jet’s arrival in the following photograph.

A little more than a month later, another Stratotanker, serial 63-8028, assigned to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Wing, arrived at Mildenhall also peppered with temporary shrapnel damage repairs. The following photograph shows the aircraft at the base.

The damaged tankers are among at least 40 aircraft damaged or destroyed during the U.S. conflict with Iran. Our last tabulation is from April 10. There have been several other Iranian attacks on air bases in the region housing U.S. aircraft since then, but U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has declined to discuss battle damage. So it is possible, if not likely, that there have been additional assets destroyed or damaged.

The Air Force is seeking money to replace some of these aircraft.

“We hope to be able to address this in a supplemental for the aircraft that we’ve lost,” Air Force Chief of Staff Kenneth S. Wilsbach told Congress in April. “And the procurement going forward is meant to increase the number of tails we have, especially in the fighter force, but it will also include bombers and tankers as well. So both the supplemental and the ’27 budget is supposed to address those losses.”

You can get an idea of the extent of U.S. aircraft losses from our graphic linked here.

The fact that these tankers, which have all been in service for more than 60 years, were able to return to flight is a testament to the crews that fixed them. How much repair work they still have to undergo remains unclear.

Tankers are critical assets in high demand, and in this case of these jets, there may be at least one positive side effect from the damage. Executing a battle damage repair plan in the field to get a KC-135 back in the air is a good real-life exercise, one that could prove vital if a future conflict in the Pacific were to erupt. Lessons will certainly be learned on many levels from the war on Iran. And some of these lessons unfortunately, and perhaps needlessly, came the hard way.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Law enforcement in the US state of North Carolina has reported a fatal mass shooting in the city of Prospect Hill.

“Deputies arriving on scene found multiple people who had been shot. One person was transported to Duke University Hospital with a gunshot wound, and there are multiple other fatalities,” the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement on Wednesday.

“SBI Crime scene investigators are on scene processing evidence and conducting interviews. There is NO THREAT to the general public.”

More to come…

Residents searching through the rubble of an Israeli strike in western Gaza City recovered the body of an unborn baby after the attack killed a pregnant woman, her husband and their five-year-old son.

For the past couple of days, I have commuted to work between Europe and Africa. When an estimated 60,000 migrants arrived in Ceuta, Spain’s autonomous outpost on the northern tip of Africa, from Morocco this week, businesses shut their doors and all available beds quickly disappeared.

So, we have been staying in the mainland Spanish port city of Algeciras, taking the one-hour ferry to and from Ceuta.

A fellow commuter is Isabel Hossein, a port police officer in Algeciras whose home is Ceuta. “I have documents, so it’s easy for me,” she says. “Sometimes I cross the border to Morocco just for lunch. Why not? The food is good.”

Isabel says the mass influx of migrants on Wednesday and Thursday was overwhelming for the residents of Ceuta. “People were afraid; there were so many young men everywhere,” she said.

“I am half Christian, half Muslim, as many in Ceuta are. We live peacefully together. But the numbers this time were scary.”

It has got me thinking about the journeys we take. At Algeciras, hundreds of cars line up daily for the ferry to Tangier. Moroccans from all over Spain, and elsewhere in Europe, depart here to go home for the summer holidays.

I am told that on motorways in Spain up to 1,000km away, the word “Algeciras” appears in Arabic to ensure people find their way here. They, of course, have documents.

In Ceuta, on Saturday, I saw hundreds of young men making their way back to Morocco on foot, under the watchful, occasionally threatening, eye of the Spanish military.

The undocumented ones

Exhausted by the heat, 48 hours earlier, the men swam to the shores of Ceuta.

“For the good life, humanity, safety, and all the things you need,” Abdelmajid said.

There was none of that available when they arrived in Ceuta, just extreme heat, thirst and a very hostile reception.

Of the estimated 60,000 Moroccans who arrived in little more than 24 hours, 90 percent had returned to Morocco by Saturday night.

Several indicated by rotating their wrists they would simply try again. “They were told to come. I saw it on Instagram, ‘Go to Spain and get money, jobs,’” she said. “It’s all a game.”

Dozens died in the attempt to reach Ceuta, and on Saturday evening, police divers were still recovering bodies from the surrounding waters.

The Spanish government blames criminal gangs and traffickers. Opposition politicians blame the left-wing Spanish government’s immigration policies for the weekend’s events, some describing it as “an invasion”.

Zia Yusuf, a senior figure in the anti-immigration Reform UK party, turned up in Ceuta to join those from the right and far right trying to set their narrative for the events.

A long way to come for a bit of social media, but this was powerful stuff: in a crisp white shirt and surrounded by muscled minders, I watched Yusuf extract a few words from young men who spoke little English.

On his X account, he told his nearly 150,000 followers: “I am in Ceuta, the scene of the 60,000 strong invasion. Spain has effectively militarised its border. Already spoken to Moroccan men here who say they are trying to get to Britain. More to come.”

No one I spoke to said they were heading for Britain. Though I’ve no doubt if you posed the question to someone with a passing idea of what you were asking – “Would you like to go to Britain?” – the answer would likely be, “yes”.

For some, it no doubt is a game. But here in Ceuta, amid the detritus of flippers and rubber floating devices that litter the beaches this weekend, a game with tragic consequences.

Shon Barnes steps down amid questions over authorities’ handling of the shooting at a popular food festival.

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes has resigned less than a week after a deadly shooting at one of the US city’s largest summer festivals as questions have mounted over the authorities’ handling of its aftermath.

Mayor Katie Wilson announced Barnes’s resignation on Thursday and named Deputy Chief Andre Sayles, a police officer with more than two decades of law enforcement experience, as interim chief.

The move came after three people were killed and four injured, including a two-year-old boy, in a shootout on Sunday at the annual Bite of Seattle food festival.

Dozens of police officers were already providing security at the event, and court documents said at least one officer saw a 15-year-old suspect firing into the crowd and quickly persuaded him to surrender. Police are still searching for at least one other suspect.

The shooting unfolded while Barnes was attending a law enforcement conference outside the city in the northwestern state of Washington.

While Wilson praised officers’ response at the scene, saying it likely saved lives, she said the city’s communication with the public in the hours that followed fell short.

Police posted about the shooting on social media shortly after it began but then went nearly five hours without providing another public update, leaving residents uncertain about whether there was an ongoing threat. The city also failed to send alerts through its emergency notification system while Wilson herself mistakenly announced that two suspects had been taken into custody before later retracting the statement.

“What I did not fully understand in that moment was how little information had reached the public or the press since the incident began,” Wilson said in a video statement on Thursday. “Had I known that, I would have pushed for an immediate briefing rather than waiting for a press conference to be organised.”

Barnes, in a statement released by the mayor’s office, described serving as Seattle’s police chief as “an honor” and said he hoped the transition would allow the department to refocus on “addressing youth gun violence and preventing more tragedies”.

The resignation followed hours of speculation over Barnes’s future with supporters saying he had resisted calls from Wilson to step down. Earlier in the day, Barnes told The Seattle Times that whether he remained chief was “up to the mayor”.

Several Black community organisations, including the Seattle NAACP and the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, urged Wilson not to make Barnes, the city’s second Black police chief, “a scapegoat for the complex challenges of public safety”.

They credited him with improving relations between police and the community, reducing gun violence and strengthening the department’s operations. Several City Council members also backed Barnes, pointing out that Seattle has now had four police chiefs in less than three years.

Barnes was appointed in late 2024 by former Mayor Bruce Harrell after leading the Madison Police Department in the northern state of Wisconsin. When Wilson, a democratic socialist who had previously supported defunding the police, took office this year, she kept Barnes in the role, signalling she did not plan to dramatically change the city’s public safety strategy.

Barnes’s resignation was announced as Seattle prepares for another major weekend event with the annual Seafair festival set to begin on Friday.

Spain has deployed its military to Ceuta after thousands of migrants overwhelmed police barricades. At least nine people are reported dead, and Italy says it supports temporarily tightening immigration controls for all travellers from Spain.

Jibia, Katsina State, Nigeria – Safiya Musa’s sewing machine has given her something violence had taken away: a way to provide for her children.

But the livelihood she built after losing her husband and two of her children has left her facing a painful choice: whether to return home or risk losing the fragile independence she has created after being forced to flee.

Safiya cannot remember which month it was, only that it was 2023, when armed bandits raided the town of Kankara in Katsina State, where she and her husband had built their life after moving from their hometown of Batsari. Kankara is a small rural community where farms sit close to homes, and her husband worked as a farmer and foodstuffs trader. They lived there with their two youngest children, Umar (4) and Maryam (6), while their three older children, Sani (12), Hajara (10) and Zubaida (8), were staying with relatives in Batsari.

The attackers had come to kidnap the town head, but the attempt failed. As gunfire spread through the community, Safiya locked herself inside her room while Umar and Maryam were outside playing with other children. Her husband had left for the farm when the attack happened. The bandits killed about 20 people as they left the town.

Three days later, after she had learned that her husband had also been killed during the attack, she fled to Batsari, where she was reunited with Sani, Hajara and Zubaida. When another bandit attack reached Batsari, she fled again with her three surviving children – now aged (15), (13) and (11) – to Jibia, where they eventually settled in a camp for displaced people.

She still remembers the night she lost much of her family.

“Minutes later, silence overwhelmed the atmosphere,” she recalled. “Then I started thinking about my husband, who had left for the farm, and my children, who were outside playing with other kids.”

The thought of them pushed her out of hiding.

But she was too late.

“They were all killed,” she told Al Jazeera.

Safiya’s experience reflects a wider crisis affecting communities across northwest Nigeria. For more than a decade, the region has faced attacks, kidnappings and village raids by armed groups commonly called bandits.

The violence has forced thousands of families from their homes, disrupted farming and trade, and left many people struggling to rebuild their lives.

Katsina State, which borders Niger, has been among the areas hardest hit.

After arriving in Jibia, Safiya survived by taking whatever work she could find. She ground grain for local residents and relied on temporary jobs to support her children.

She was then selected for a handbag-making training programme organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through its Climate Security Project.

The initiative provides women affected by conflict with vocational training and equipment to help them start small businesses.

Months later, the programme gave her a source of income. The work brought stability, but it also created a new uncertainty: whether she could continue the business if she returned home.

“The essence is to give them an opportunity to become self-reliant,” said Muhammad Hamisu, the project coordinator in Jibia.

A skill that changed her circumstances

After completing the training, Safiya turned handbag-making into a source of income for her family.

With sewing materials and new skills, she began cutting fabric, stitching designs and producing handbags she could sell to support her children.

The work did not erase the pain of what she had lost, but it gave her something she had struggled to regain since fleeing: the ability to provide for herself.

“I used to wake up with nothing to offer my children,” she said. “There were days I sent my boys out with bowls to beg for food because I had nothing to give them. Now I can feed them myself.”

In March 2024, the Climate Security Project trained 20 women in Jibia in handbag production and provided sewing machines and materials to help them begin working.

Jibia’s location near the border with Niger also gives traders access to cross-border markets, including those in the Maradi region, one of Niger’s major commercial areas.

For some women, the business has become an important source of income.

“I make approximately $50 a month,” said 30-year-old Karima Sule, who has lived in Jibia since fleeing violence four years ago. “When demand is high, I earn even more. I help my husband and pay the school fees for my two older children from this business.”

A business shaped by insecurity

But building a business in a conflict-affected area remains difficult.

Safiya said her biggest challenge is finding enough money to buy materials.

“Sometimes I run out of stock and don’t have the funds to buy more,” she said. “When that happens, I lose customers.”

Karima said violence continues to affect sales.

“Whenever violence happens, market activities slow down for days,” she said. “People stop buying, and we lose income.”

Their growing economic activity may also expose them to new risks, according to Abdussamad Ahmad Yusuf, a human security researcher at HumAngle, a Nigerian newsroom that reports on conflict.

“Kidnapping for ransom in that region is becoming more targeted,” he said. “Authorities should conduct regular conflict and security risk assessments to identify high-risk trading routes, markets and emerging threats before expanding commercial activities.”

The Katsina government established the Community Watch Corps in 2023, a local security initiative that uses community members to gather intelligence and support responses to attacks.

Officials said security has improved in some communities, but many families who fled violence remain uncertain about returning home.

An uncertain future

Safiya hopes to return home one day and reunite her children with their relatives.

But the livelihood she has built in Jibia has become a reason to hesitate.

The handbag business has allowed her to buy food, support her children and depend less on unstable work. Leaving it behind could mean losing the independence she has worked hard to build.

She has been told that conditions in her hometown are improving, but she remains unsure whether she could rebuild the same source of income there.

For Safiya, returning home is not only about finding safety again. It is also about whether she can continue providing for her family.

“I want to go back home because my children need their relatives,” she said. “But I am afraid of losing this business. If I cannot continue it there, how will we survive?”

Tehran summons Ukrainian envoy over the attack, which it says killed one sailor and wounded another.

Tehran has accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, causing an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack on Saturday, state news agency IRNA reported.

The ministry claimed the attack had been acknowledged by the Ukrainian leadership and said it reflected Kyiv’s continued “irrational and hostile approach” towards Iran. It warned Iran would defend its national interests.

It also described the incident as a violation of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter and said it could further inflame and expand the Russia-Ukraine war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also discussed the matter in a phone call with the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, his office said in a statement.

Araghchi strongly condemned Ukraine’s military attack on the vessel in the Caspian Sea, and reportedly “called for a firm response from the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, and the international community, and for the perpetrators and supporters of this criminal act to be held accountable”, according to the statement shared on Telegram.

‘Pressure’

“The Iranians are not really happy with [the attack], while they’re also dealing with a US blockade on the southern coast,” said Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran.

He explained that the attacks on Iran’s northern coast are “putting extra pressure” on Iran’s maritime trade.

In its condemnation, Iran’s Foreign Ministry reiterated that Tehran has never intervened in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The incident came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a post on X that Kyiv had achieved “very strong results” with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea, hitting “vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.” He did not identify the commercial vessel named by Tehran as a target.

Zelenskyy separately alleged that Russia had been passing satellite imagery of Gulf states and US military sites to Iran. He said surveillance on July 19 and 20 covered airbases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait.

Iran and Ukraine have been at odds since 2022, when Iran sold Russia the Shahed drones that Moscow has since adapted and launched in their thousands at Ukrainian cities.

Kyiv says it has shot down more than 44,000 of the Iranian-designed drones since Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine has also offered its drone interceptors and expertise to governments in the Gulf that have come under Iranian attack during the US-Iran war, deploying anti-drone specialists to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Overnight funerals were held for four Palestinians killed near Nablus. Palestinian officials blame Israeli settlers and soldiers for attacking areas in the occupied West Bank, while Israel said the violence began after an attack on Israeli civilians.

July 19 (UPI) — Extensive search and rescue missions were underway in Peru’s mountainous central Andean highlands Sunday following a deadly 5.1 magnitude earthquake.

The Peruvian National Police said they were actively conducting search, rescue, emergency response and security operations in the Junin region after Saturday’s temblor, which had its epicenter in the Chongos Bajo district of Chupaca province, about 200 miles east of Lima.

More than 250 personnel from the Peru’s emergency services, K-9 and medical units, as well as other specialized teams, were also in the rugged highlands as the government issued a preliminary report of five dead, 21 injured and more than 300 affected by the quake.

It struck at 9:21 p.m. Saturday local time.

“I deeply regret the consequences of the earthquake that occurred in Junín,” Peruvian President-elect Keiko Fujimori said in a statement. “I express my most heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have passed away and my solidarity with those who have been affected.”

The national volunteer firefighting corps were similarly dispatched to the region to aid the National Police in search and rescue operations, debris removal, evacuations and pre-hospital care for those in the hardest-hit areas, the interior ministry said.

The health ministry, meanwhile, sent a brigade of specialists brigade to begin providing medical care to those affected, joining local teams already present in Junin.

“The Ministry of Health maintains continuous monitoring of the emergency and will continue to mobilize the human, logistical, and medical resources necessary to safeguard the lives and health of the affected population,” officials said.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has temporarily ordered officers to avoid, in most cases, making vehicle stops in the wake of two deadly shootings.

The tactical shift comes a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, and a week after an ICE officer fatally shot another man in Houston. Both men were driving at the time of the shootings, and the incidents have renewed criticism over the agency’s immigration enforcement tactics.

Multiple news outlets and a former federal immigration official said early Tuesday that the order allows for exceptions if officers are executing a criminal warrant and working with partner law enforcement agencies. The directive, later confirmed by a top official, is a temporary pause while ICE officers receive more training on vehicle stops.

An ICE spokesperson said that the agency wouldn’t discuss law enforcement tactics but that “we are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets.”

But on Fox News on Tuesday afternoon, Tom Homan, a top White House immigration official, said the decision to halt most vehicle stops was made by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and top ICE leadership. But he emphasized that “it’s not a policy change, it’s a temporary pause” while officials review the incidents and decide whether training could be improved.

Homan said the pause won’t affect ICE arrests. He said officers could, in some instances, make an arrest before someone gets into their vehicle or after they arrive at their destination.

“I think it’s going to be a short pause,” he said. “I’m confident that ICE is well trained in vehicle stops and you’re going to see us keep moving forward.”

Reacting to ICE’s policy change, Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) said in a statement that training won’t solve the agency’s deeply ingrained issues.

“Immigration enforcement shouldn’t be heavily militarized and chasing people through our streets,” he said. “The American people deserve competent leadership and law enforcement that is transparent, accountable, and worthy of the public’s trust.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she had urged Mullin to “cease all non-urgent vehicle stops” in the wake of the Biddeford shooting.

“I am encouraged that the Department has agreed to do so,” she wrote on X.

Hundreds of people protested in Biddeford on Tuesday over the killing Monday of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian. Protests similarly broke out in Houston last week after the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old from Mexico.

The Department of Homeland Security alleged that the men killed in both incidents resisted arrest and that the officers fired their weapons defensively as the men attempted to flee. Neither man was the intended target of the ICE officers.

Local officials in Houston and Biddeford are calling for independent investigations into the shootings. In both instances, the officers involved were not wearing body cameras.

Homeland Security said the officer who shot Durán Guerrero was “fearing for public safety.” The agency said Salgado Araujo had “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer.”

Durán Guerrero’s shooting marked at least the ninth such death since President Trump began his immigration crackdown. In a scathing post on X, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the shooting an assassination “at the hands of the U.S. government.”

Durán Guerrero is survived by his wife and young daughter. Advocacy groups said he was authorized to work in the U.S.

Daniel Boucher, who lives near where Durán Guerrero was shot, said he “clearly heard the victim say, ‘I tried to stop.’”

The two shootings come as immigration arrests have surged again amid a Trump administration push to carry out its mass deportation agenda. Over five days at the end of June, ICE arrested more than 10,000 people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

BIDDEFORD, Maine — Trump administration officials have told Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to suspend most vehicle stops after two deadly shootings in little over a week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The order came a day after an ICE officer shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine, renewing criticism of the agency’s tactics during enforcement operations.

The suspension is not absolute and there’s room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies, according to a person who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

The Department of Homeland Security said an ICE officer, “fearing for public safety,” shot and killed the man Monday in the city of Biddeford while officers were watching the home of someone they believed was in the U.S. illegally and had a final order of removal from the country.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Whittle, Brook and Sisak write for Associated Press.

‘No one has been able to accept it yet.’ Grieving families collected the bodies of loved ones killed in Bangkok’s deadly pub fire as police investigated the cause of the blaze and possible safety breaches that have claimed 30 lives.

Israel’s military has attacked several places across Gaza, with Palestinians filming flames and smoke rising over Gaza City as a nine-year-old girl was killed by Israeli gunfire in central Gaza.

The US military says it has struck 90 targets across Iran, hitting ports and infrastructure along the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says at least 14 people have been killed in two nights of attacks, and that it has responded with drone strikes on US-linked sites in the Gulf region.

At least five people were killed after a massive landslide buried a tunnel construction site in Kerala during heavy monsoon rain. CCTV footage captured the dramatic collapse as rescuers search for several people feared trapped beneath the debris.

Inmates and guards have been killed in fighting at a prison near Sri Lanka’s capital. Reports suggest at least 25 people have died and more than 100 others have been injured.

Rescuers in Kyiv are racing to find people trapped under the rubble of partly demolished apartment blocks, after at least nine were killed in Russia’s second round of strikes on the Ukrainian capital in a week.

Kyiv’s top military administrator Timur Tkachenko said 46 people were injured, with at least five children injured.

The strikes come on the eve of the Nato summit in Turkey, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to hold talks with US President Donald Trump.

Hours before the latest strikes, Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a second “massive strike” on Kyiv following its attacks on Thursday that killed 30 people.

Russian ballistic missiles hit several buildings across the city, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said, adding that fires had broken out in some apartment complexes.

Warehouses and a garage workshop were also damaged, according to the mayor.

Photos emerging from Kyiv show smouldering wreckage and charred cars littered throughout the city. Footage also shows crews continuing to comb through wreckage on Monday morning to find survivors.

Zelensky said on Sunday, hours ahead of the strikes, that intelligence indicated that Kyiv would come under a second wave of Russian attacks in a week.

After a barrage of drone and missile strikes through Thursday night, tens of thousands of residents evacuated to metro stations around the city as alarms blared in the early hours of Friday morning.

Ukraine accused Moscow of deliberately attacking civilian areas in the attack, which left at least 30 people dead. Russia said it had targeted military and energy bases in retaliation for recent Ukrainian strikes on power stations and energy facilities in Russian territory.

Such attacks continued overnight with power being cut off temporarily in the city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Ahead of the Nato meeting, Zelensky urged allies to not delay on supplies of long-range missiles to be used against Russia.

He wrote on X: “Any delay with missiles for our air defense… means the loss of lives, and it encourages Russia to continue the war.”

Zelensky has also appealed to the US to grant Ukraine licences to manufacture Patriot defence missiles.

At least 6 people were killed and 22 injured after an explosive device detonated in a café in Damascus’ Al-Hijaz area. Emergency crews, civil defence teams and security forces rushed to the site, imposed a security cordon and began investigating the deadly blast.