dozens

Authorities say seven people are still missing after deadly explosions at a facility storing pyrotechnic material.

Two explosions at a military facility in the Bolivian city of Viacha have killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, authorities said.

The blasts occurred on Friday in an area used to store pyrotechnic material, about 30km (18 miles) from the administrative capital, La Paz, Bolivia’s Ministry of Defence said.

Viacha health director Rita Nebraska told a local television station that between 10 and 15 people were believed to have been killed and 62 others were injured.

She said 14 of the wounded were transferred to hospitals in La Paz, including a girl with third-degree burns.

Fireworks were stored at the military facility, but the cause of the explosions remains under investigation, police spokesman Roger Roca said. He added that seven people were still missing.

Firefighters warned that a heat source remained at the site, Nebraska said, urging residents to stay at least 150 metres away because of the risk of another explosion.

Police said dozens of nearby homes were damaged and that many civilians were injured by shattered glass.

About 50 civilians and six military personnel injured in the explosions “have been treated … by the different medical centres of Viacha”, Deputy Minister of Defence Ernesto Justiniano Urenda said in a statement.

An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the explosions, how the pyrotechnic material was stored and whether anyone was responsible, he added.

Footage posted on social media showed one of the explosions shattering windows in nearby buildings and sending debris into the air as thick black smoke rose from the facility.

As the war drags on in Ukraine, its civilians are again suffering.

Thirty-eight people were killed in the village of Myla on August 29, when a Russian drone attack struck an ammunition depot. Another 12 were killed in attacks across the country on September 1.

Civilian deaths have sharply increased this summer as Russia is using jet-powered drones, which fly at about half the speed of a passenger jet and are more difficult to intercept than propeller-powered drones.

Jet-powered drones numbered about 2,800 in August, said Ukraine Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat, compared with about 1,500 in July, several times the number launched in June. Ukraine has an interception rate of more than 90 percent against propeller-powered drones, but only 60 percent against the jet-powered variant, Ihnat said.

Ukraine said Russian forces suffered 42,020 casualties last month, as Moscow’s territorial gains dropped to a fraction of last year’s rate of advance.

Ukrainian armed forces figures showed Russia’s monthly casualties were only slightly below July’s 42,860 and well above the 39,290 in June.

Al Jazeera cannot independently verify casualty estimates by either side, but if accurate, those summer figures – 25.8 percent higher than the casualties Ukraine inflicted in the spring – suggest the high Russian casualty rate is not a passing event.

Russian recruitment rates are thought to be well below those totals, estimated by Ukraine at about 32,500 a month this year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has publicly shared intelligence suggesting that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will conscript 300,000 or more troops next month.

Zelenskyy has said that up to 80 percent of Russian casualties were inflicted in Kostiantynivka, the southernmost of Ukraine’s “fortress belt” of cities in the eastern Donetsk region, whose capture Putin has repeatedly prioritised.

Russian forces are thought to control only a portion of the city, but have infiltrated more than 70 percent of it with scattered individual troops sent to drop supplies and await reinforcements. Ukrainian drone operators have been targeting the troops as Russia replenishes them.

This week it was revealed that Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Mykhailo Drapatyi, reinforced the Donetsk front around Sloviansk and Dobropillia, north and south of Kostiantynivka, respectively, but kept the Kostiantynivka front largely unchanged. That suggests Ukraine may be adopting the tactic of fighting a prolonged rearguard in the urban landscape to inflict attritional losses, as it did in the battles of Bakhmut, Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar.

The fight for Kostiantynivka has sapped troop strength elsewhere on the front line, where Ukraine liberated 130sq km (50 square miles) of its land in August, limiting Russia’s overall advance.

Russia seized just over 90sq km (35 square miles) in August, estimated the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank that assesses territorial gains using open-source geolocated sources.

While still a net gain, that is less than a fifth of the land Russia seized in August last year.

During June, July and August this year, the ISW assessed that Russia gained firm control of 160sq km (60 square miles), compared with 1,440sq km in the summer months of 2025 (560 square miles) – a 90 percent decrease.

Ukraine’s response

Ukraine has turned its focus from Russian refineries to strikes against Russian air defences, radar systems and drone launch sites.

Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) destroyed 33 air defence elements in August, increasing the annual total to 263.

Ukraine also kept up some strikes on refineries, hitting 12 in August, along with two gas-processing plants and three oil transshipment terminals, according to its defence ministry.

During the past week, Ukraine struck the Yanos refinery in Yaroslavl and the Kirishi and Ust-Luga refineries near Leningrad, all 800km (500 miles) from its border.

Those strikes have caused petrol shortages, further hurting Russia’s economy.

Ukraine’s military intelligence reported that certain Russian exports had fallen by 80 percent compared with pre-war levels. Oil has been among the hardest hit, as Ukraine has struck terminals and hundreds of tankers carrying Russian oil in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

Russian oil exports from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk fell from 800,000 barrels a day in July to 350,000 barrels per day in August, said Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.

“The Russian side acknowledges that its Black Sea Fleet ships are effectively blockaded in Novorossiysk due to our drone strikes and are unable to operate at sea,” said Zelenskyy.

“Since the Russian fleet is unable to provide escorts for the commercial and shadow fleet …  one of the solutions being considered is to equip civilian ships with small arms, electronic warfare (EW) equipment and military personnel,” he said. “We will prepare appropriate countermeasures.”

The strikes on the oil industry have not only reduced exports. They have reverberated across the Russian economy, creating queues at petrol stations and raising prices for motorists.

This week, Russia extended its ban on diesel exports to the end of September to keep its army and transport industry supplied and sought to import petrol.

Occupied Crimea, where petrol distribution has been restricted to government-owned vehicles, has been hard hit.

The Russian-appointed governor of the region, Sergei Aksyonov, said on September 2: “Fuel supplies to the region are currently not fully meeting the needs of the residents. Unfortunately, some residents of Crimea will, at this stage, face limited access to gasoline”.

Aug. 23 (UPI) — Thailand’s southern region has been hit by dozens of coordinated arson attacks and bombs “aimed at creating unrest,” officials said Sunday.

The Thai Military said there were more than 50 incendiary attacks overnight on Saturday, injuring at least two people, the BBC reported.

At least six of the attacks involved bombs.

A government office building, convenience store and vehicle were set on fire.

Car tires were burned and power poles were blown up, Xinhua reported.

The attacks happened in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani provinces, the news agency reported.

The investigation into the incident continues, and no group has claimed responsibility yet, the BBC reported.

Police say three villages and a mosque were attacked, and worshippers kidnapped in central Niger State.

Armed men have kidnapped dozens of people during an attack on a mosque and surrounding villages in Nigeria’s central Niger State, survivors and police officials say.

The raiders stormed Kpenya Mosque in the Dekara district of Borgu Local Government Area at around 2pm (13:00 GMT) on Friday, after first attacking the villages of Gidan-Zana and Kpenya, police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said on Saturday.

Abiodun told the Reuters news agency that police were aware of the kidnappings but had not received reports of anyone being killed, and that a “joint security detachment has been deployed to the area for assessment and rescue operations”.

He said police could not yet confirm the number of people who were taken.

Local residents told Reuters that more than 60 worshippers were kidnapped, but the figure could not be independently verified.

Separately, residents told the AFP news agency that people were also killed, another claim that could not immediately be confirmed.

Jibril Ahmad, a survivor of the assault on Dekara, blamed members of the Lakurawa armed group.

“Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group of Lakurawa, in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us,” Ahmad told AFP, claiming that people were “slaughtered”.

During the attack, a third group, Mahmuda, intervened and clashed with the kidnappers, allowing some abductees to escape, he said.

Federal lawmaker Jafaru Mohammed told AFP that several nearby villages were also struck.

“Some members of the Mahmuda group were against the doctrine of the Lakurawa, and when they heard of what the Lakurawa were doing, they fought them,” Mohammed said.

The attack unfolded in a region near Nigeria’s western border with Benin that has seen growing activity from local armed groups and fighters from the neighbouring region, even as the country’s 17-year armed rebellion remains concentrated in the northeast.

The violence in Niger State continued into Saturday. Resident Abdullahi Ahmad said the group returned to the area to seize more people as a “bargaining chip” in advance of an expected troop deployment, and planted landmines on the road out of Dekara.

“A man and his family who were fleeing the town yesterday were killed when their car hit a landmine planted by the terrorists. Everyone is living in fear,” he said.

Mass abductions have been a hallmark tactic of the country’s armed groups and have evolved into a lucrative, multimillion-dollar industry involving networks of both ideological and nonideological gangs across Nigeria’s northwest and central regions.

Aug. 21 (UPI) — Dozens of people across 15 states have been sickened by alfalfa sprouts tainted with E. coli bacteria and salmonella, federal health officials said Friday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a safety alert that 55 people have suffered symptoms such as severe stomach cramps, diarrhea, fever, nausea and/or vomiting after consuming alfalfa sprout sold in grocery stores under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands.

Four hospitalizations have resulted from the outbreak.

Some 38 of the 55 of the cases have been recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin combined, with fewer cases reported in North and South Dakota, New York, Washington state, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, New Hampshire and Florida.

CDC officials warned that the number of illnesses is likely to increase as investigators continue their probe.

The tainted food was determined to originated from Everything Sprouts, a Minneapolis-based hydroponic grower.

“Traceback information from Minnesota and Wisconsin restaurants identified alfalfa sprouts distributed by Everything Sprouts as a source of illness in this outbreak,” the CDC said in a statement.”[The Food and Frug Administration] is working to determine if there are additional sources of contaminated sprouts and if there is a common seed supplier.”

The same company last year was issued a warning letter by the FDA following an inspection that produced what it called “serious violations” of the Produce Safety Rule, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

Inspectors documented roof leaks that allowed water to drip near or onto exposed mung bean sprouts while condensation from refrigeration equipment was also found dripping in areas where sprouts were grown or stored.

Moroccan authorities intercepted dozens of migrants seeking to cross into the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta on Saturday, reports say.

More than 100 people were blocked trying to make their way to the border on the outskirts of the town of Fnideq, according to Moroccan security sources cited by Spanish media and the Reuters news agency.

It comes a fortnight after roughly 78,000 migrants arrived in the exclave by sea in a matter of hours – 100 of whom died, according to the city’s mayor, who also said the vast majority of arrivals had returned to Morocco.

Security had been stepped up in the area after the influx and amid suggestions on social media of a second mass crossing attempt this weekend.

The security sources said 111 people had been detained in or around Fnideq – known in Spanish as Castillejos – about 3km (1.8 miles) from the border, the majority of whom were from sub-Saharan Africa.

Moroccan police – including some in riot gear – reportedly used tear gas to disperse groups of migrants gathered on nearby hills.

Earlier this week, Rabat said it was monitoring “the circulation of social media posts and messages of unknown origin” calling for a mass crossing Saturday, warning it would prosecute organisers and participants.

The White House said in a report on Thursday that more than 40 countries have helped China sidestep US tariffs by routing exports through nations that face lower American import duties.

The countries named include Canada, India, Mexico, Japan and South Korea, which the White House said had helped China evade tens of billions of dollars in tariffs.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said it had cost “American jobs and billions in revenue”.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said in response to BBC queries that “trade wars have no winners” and that it opposes the US’ tariff measures and the use of state power to target China’s companies.

The spokesperson added that “any unilateral actions or agreements concerning transshipped goods must not target or harm the interests of third parties.”

The BBC has contacted the US embassies of Canada, India, Mexico, Japan, South Korea and other trading partners listed in the report for comment.

The report follows a wave of sanctions between the US and China and comes weeks before President Donald Trump will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington.

According to government and private sector estimates quoted by the White House, between $30bn (£22.2bn) and roughly $300bn in goods have been moved from countries with higher tariff through those with lower rates.

The process is known as transshipping, which refers to the practice of transferring cargo through another country while en route to a final destination.

The US accused China of “taking advantage” of the practice by moving goods through nations that have lower duties.

China has used third countries as a stopover and has repackaged goods to hide their real origin to obtain lower tariffs, said the White House in its report, describing the process as “fraud cloaked in paperwork”.

“What has changed in today’s Great Transshipment Scam is not merely the speed and scale of this modern form of smuggling, but the breadth, depth, and sophistication of the global Shadow Transshipment Network through which China’s tariff evasion now moves,” the White House wrote.

The US has deployed artificial intelligence (AI) tools to catch transshipment efforts, it added.

The report is expected to add to key sticking points between the sides as Trump and Xi prepare to meet in the US in September.

Despite a pause in most tariffs following talks in May 2025, Washington and Beijing have continued to exchange sanctions, including restrictions on humanoid robots shipped to the US and tighter Chinese curbs on drone exports.

In April 2025, Trump unveiled sweeping levies on dozens of US trading partners based on a long-held belief that tariffs will help boost American jobs and the economy.

Those sanctions have since been struck down by the US Supreme Court, but Trump has repeatedly introduced new tariffs using alternative legal levers to continue his signature policy.