dozens

THIS is the shocking moment a train slams into a double decker bus in Mexico – leaving ten dead and dozens injured.

A speeding freight train T-boned a coach full of people at a grade crossing in Atlacomulco, 80 miles northwest of Mexico City.

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Footage shows the bus in a line of traffic on the Maravatío-Atlacomulco highway.

Cars in either direction have stopped at the train tracks – though a motorbike scoots across at the last moment.

The bus, from company Herradura de Plata, is at first stationary at the front of the queue.

But then it suddenly decides to move forward, as if trying to reach the other side before the train passes.

Just as it reaches the middle of the tracks, the train ploughs into the centre of the coach.

The entire bus folds and is carried along by the train, which continued for hundreds of metres.

Emergency teams rushed to the scene and were met by chaos and devastation.

A photo taken soon after the catastrophe shows the rear end of the bus with the roof totally blown off.

Passengers can be seen cowering in the open air.

Ambulance crews from multiple regions as well as the Red Cross worked on the injured and helped extract survivors from the wreckage.

Despite their best efforts, ten people died and another 45 were injured.

The authorities have launched an investigation into what happened.

The bus, marked number 6002, was travelling from San Felipe del Progreso to Mexico City.

Its driver’s decision to move onto the tracks seem inexplicable from the footage.

Canadian Pacific Kansas City of Mexico, the train line, confirmed the accident and sent its condolences to the families of the victims.

City officials in Atlacomulco asked residents to refrain from going to the site of the collision and offered their condolences to the families of the victims who died.

A statement posted to social media read: “We express our sincere solidarity to the families affected at this time.”

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Last week, at least 15 people were killed after a packed tourist bus plunged off a mountain road in Sri Lanka.

The bus crashed into another vehicle before smashing through guardrails.

The fatal accident took place near the town of Wellawaya in the mountainous Ella region which sits just 174 miles east of the capital Colombo.

Sixteen others, including five children, on board were injured but managed to escape the wreckage.

Police confirmed the group was made up of local tourists who had been visiting lush tea plantation hill towns in the area.

Pictures show the smashed up bus on the ground after the horror fall.

CATO, N.Y. — Federal agents forced open the doors of a snack bar manufacturer and took away dozens of workers in a surprise enforcement action that the plant’s co-owner called “terrifying.”

Video and photos taken at the Nutrition Bar Confectioners plant Thursday showed numerous law enforcement vehicles outside the plant and workers being escorted from the building to a Border Patrol van. Immigration agents ordered everyone to a lunchroom, where they asked for proof the workers were in the country legally, according to one 24-year-old worker who was briefly detained.

The reason for the enforcement action was unclear. Local law enforcement officials said the operation was led by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, which did not respond to requests for information. Nutrition Bar Confectioners co-owner Lenny Schmidt said he was also in the dark about the purpose of the raid.

“There’s got to be a better way to do it,” Schmidt told the Associated Press on Friday at the family-owned business in Cato, N.Y., about 30 miles west of Syracuse.

The facility’s employees had all been vetted and had legal documentation, Schmidt said, adding that he would have cooperated with law enforcement if he’d been told there were concerns.

“Coming in like they did, it’s frightening for everybody — the Latinos … that work here, and everybody else that works here as well, even myself and my family. It’s terrifying,” he said.

Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck said his deputies were among those on scene Thursday morning after being asked a month ago to assist federal agencies in executing a search warrant “relative to an ongoing criminal investigation.”

He did not detail the nature of the investigation.

The lack of explanation raised questions for state Sen. Rachel May, a Democrat who represents the district.

“It’s not clear to me, if it’s a long-standing criminal investigation, why the workers would have been rounded up,” May said by phone Friday. “I feel like there are things that don’t quite add up.”

Worker describes raid

The 24-year-old worker, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution, said that after he showed the agents he is a legal U.S. resident, they wrote down his information and photographed him.

“Some of the women started to cry because their kids were at school or at day care. It was very sad to see,” said the worker, who arrived from Guatemala six years ago and became a legal resident two years ago.

He said his partner lacked legal status and was among those taken away.

The two of them started working at the factory about two years ago. He was assigned to the snack bar wrapping department and she to the packing area. He said he couldn’t talk to her before she was led away by agents and didn’t know Friday where she had been detained.

“What they are doing to us is not right. We’re here to work. We are not criminals,” he said.

Schmidt said he believed immigration enforcement agents are singling out any company with “some sort of Hispanic workforce, whether small or large.”

The raid came the same day that immigration authorities detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, at a manufacturing site in Georgia where Korean automaker Hyundai makes electric vehicles.

Without his missing employees, Schmidt estimated production at the food manufacturer would drop by about half, making it a challenge to meet customer demand. The plant employs close to 230 people.

“We’ll just do what we need to do to move forward to give our customers the product that they need,” he said, “and then slowly recoup, rehire where we need.”

Dozens held

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said the workers detained included parents of “at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house.”

“I’ve made it clear: New York will work with the federal government to secure our borders and deport violent criminals, but we will never stand for masked ICE agents separating families and abandoning children,” she said in a statement.

The advocacy group Rural and Migrant Ministry said 50 to 60 people, most of them from Guatemala, were still being held Friday. Among those released late Thursday, after about 11 hours, was a mother of a newborn who needed to nurse her baby, said the group’s chief program officer, Wilmer Jimenez.

The worker who was briefly detained said he has been helping to support his parents and siblings, who grow corn and beans in Guatemala.

He said he took Friday off but plans to get back to work Monday.

“I have to go back because I can’t be without work,” he said.

Hill writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco and Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.

Ukrainian authorities describe Russia’s missile and drone attack as ‘massive’, with multiple areas of Kyiv hit.

An overnight Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has killed at least four people and wounded more than 20 others, officials said.

Powerful explosions rocked the city into the early hours of Thursday morning, illuminating the sky and leaving behind columns of smoke as Russian projectiles damaged and destroyed buildings in several districts of the city.

The attack was the first major combined Russian drone and missile attack to strike Kyiv since United States President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska earlier this month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city military administration, said a 14-year-old girl was among those reported killed, citing preliminary information.

A five-storey residential building in the city’s Darnytskyi district was hit directly. “Everything is destroyed,” Tkachenko said.

“Tonight, Kyiv is under massive attack by the Russian terrorist state,” he said.

Local media outlet The Kyiv Independent said at least four people were confirmed killed, and officials expect the number of casualties to rise.

Another strike in central Kyiv left a major road strewn with shattered glass, and rescue teams were working to pull people trapped beneath rubble from some 20 affected locations across the city.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko also called it a “massive attack” by Russia, adding that two children were also among the injured.

Officials provided news organisations with a long list of buildings that had suffered damage, including several high-rise apartment blocks, and photos and video posted online showed apartments ablaze and smoke billowing from buildings.

The attack comes amid so-far failed efforts by President Trump to convince Putin to cease his war on Ukraine, and as both Moscow and Kyiv trade blame over a diplomatic impasse in efforts to end the fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that members of his administration would meet with US officials in New York on Friday.

The Ukrainian leader said he saw “very arrogant and negative signals from Moscow” regarding negotiations to end the war, urging extra “pressure” to “force Russia to take real steps” to cease fighting.

Israel has struck Nasser Hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 21 people, including five journalists, as well as medics and rescue workers, in the latest deliberate attack on civilians and the besieged enclave’s decimated health system.

Monday’s attack, which killed journalists who worked for Al Jazeera, the Reuters and Associated Press (AP) news agencies, and others, was among the deadliest of a multitude of Israeli strikes that have targeted both hospitals and media workers over the course of the nearly two-year genocidal assault.

It comes as Israel widens its offensive to heavily populated areas and urban centres, including Gaza City, increasing the already heightened peril for the population.

The first strike of the “double-tap” attack, where one strike is followed by a second soon after, hit the top floor of a building at Nasser Hospital. Minutes later, as journalists and rescuers in orange vests rushed up an external staircase, a second projectile hit, said Dr Ahmed al-Farra, the head of the paediatrics department.

Among the journalists killed were Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, Mariam Abu Daqqa, a freelance journalist working for AP at the time, as well as Ahmed Abu Aziz and Moaz Abu Taha.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said the attack has “sent the entire area into an absolute sense of chaos and panic”.

“Not only for passers-by or people living in the vicinity of the hospital, but for the patients themselves, who are receiving treatment in one of the areas that must be protected under … international humanitarian law,” Abu Azzoum said.

The attack was met with widespread global condemnation, including from press freedom groups and rights advocates, who expressed outrage over Israel’s repeated targeted killings of Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

Al Jazeera condemned the attack as “a clear intent to bury the truth”.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, also decried the attack.

“Rescuers killed in line of duty. Scenes like this unfold every moment in Gaza, often unseen, largely undocumented,” Albanese said.

“I beg states: how much more must be witnessed before you act to stop this carnage? Break the blockade. Impose an Arms Embargo. Impose Sanctions.”

Israel’s allies, such as France Germany and the United Kingdom, have called for an investigation.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also condemned Israel for the strikes, saying it represented “an open war against free media, with the aim of terrorising journalists and preventing them from fulfilling their professional duty of exposing its crimes to the world”.

The attack raises the death toll of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 to at least 273, according to an Al Jazeera tally.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called for “the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continued unlawful attacks on the press”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strike was a “tragic mishap”, and that the military was investigating it. Israel has often issued similar statements after incidents that drew international outrage and calls for UN investigations, but actual accountability for the perpetrators is unheard of.

Israeli forces also killed Palestinian correspondent Hassan Douhan, who worked for the Al-Hayat al-Jadida publication, in a separate incident in Khan Younis later on Monday, bringing the death toll of journalists killed that day to six.

Two weeks ago, Israel killed prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and four other journalists in a strike. In that attack, Israel acknowledged targeting Sharif and falsely alleged he worked for Hamas, without providing any evidence, after having openly maligned and condemned him for months before murdering him.

Nasser Hospital has withstood raids and bombardment during the war, with officials repeatedly noting critical shortages of supplies and staff amid a crippling aid blockade. Other hospitals have also come under attack, including al-Shifa Medical Complex, the enclave’s main hospital, where Israel has killed hundreds.

Death, desperation and famine stalk enclave

Israeli attacks across the famine-struck territory have killed at least 61 people since dawn on Monday, including seven people desperately seeking aid.

Tanks have been advancing in Gaza City, where Israeli forces have been intensifying attacks in a bid to force nearly 1 million Palestinians there southwards into concentration zones.

Gaza’s Civil Defence said that Israel had destroyed 1,000 buildings in Gaza City since August 6, trapping hundreds under the rubble, while ongoing shelling and blocked access routes prevented many rescue and aid operations.

The al-Awda Hospital said Israeli gunfire also killed six aid seekers trying to reach a distribution point in central Gaza and wounded another 15.

Israeli forces have been routinely opening fire on hungry Palestinians as they attempt to secure meagre aid parcels at the controversial Israeli and United States-backed GHF sites.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 2,000 Palestinians have been killed and some 13,500 wounded while seeking aid at distribution points or along convoy routes used by the UN and other aid groups.

Al-Awda said that two Israeli strikes in central Gaza killed six Palestinians, including a child, while al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said three Palestinians, including a child, were killed in a strike there.

The relentless attacks continue as the UN warns that malnutrition among children in Gaza is deepening.

The UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA) renewed calls for the unrestricted flow of aid into and within Gaza.

“With famine conditions now confirmed in Gaza governorate, hunger and malnutrition among children are deepening,” OCHA said.

“Partners working on nutrition note that in any food crisis, children with underlying health conditions are affected first – and without proper nutrition, water and care, their condition worsens more quickly.”

Chris McIntosh, Oxfam’s humanitarian response adviser in Gaza, has described the situation as unprecedented in scale and severity.

“It’s difficult not to overuse superlatives in this context, but truly, this is a singular humanitarian disaster and the worst crisis that I’ve ever been part of… by far,” he said.

In the meantime, US President Donald Trump has predicted that the war on Gaza could see a “conclusive end” within two to three weeks. Similar claims have quickly fallen by the wayside as Washington’s full military and diplomatic backing of Israel’s genocidal war shows no signs of abating.

“It’s got to get over with because between the hunger and all of the other problems – worse than hunger, death, pure death – people [are] being killed,” Trump said.

Argentine and Chilean fans hurled sticks, stones, and stun grenades during violent clashes at a Copa Sudamericana match in Buenos Aires that left 19 injured. Officials said at least 90 men and 5 women remain in custody. FIFA has condemned the “shocking” violence.

POUNDLAND has shut another location in a “surprise move” after leaving it off the recently published list of store closures.

One of the popular budget retailer’s Birmingham branches has ceased trading for good.

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This comes after Poundland confirmed the locations of 48 store closures earlier this week.

The discount giant is currently undergoing major restructuring plans which include the shuttering of a whopping 68 shops by mid-October.

Among those to be closed in Birmingham were the Kings Heath and Sheldon branches on August 24, as well as the Erdington store on August 31.

However, the prominent Selly Oak Battery Retail Park was not featured on the list, but has since permanently closed down.

Shoppers were alerted to the news with signs on the shopfront reading “sorry, this store is now closed.”

Birmingham isn’t the only area facing Poundland closures, as 12 more stores across the UK are set to cease trading this week.

Ahead of the closures, a huge 75% off sale is well underway.

The Sun reported that the bargain retailer is preparing to close locations in Newcastle, Salford, Canterbury and Coventry, among many others by the end of this week.

As it stands, Poundland operates 800 stores nationwide, but the company hopes to significantly reduce this number to between 650 and 700.

The closures come as Polish owner Pepco Group sold Poundland to a US investment firm Gordon Brothers for £1 after a downturn in trading.

Pepco Group has owned the retail chain since 2016.

The retailer was put up for auction in March, with Homebase owner Hilco then reported among the bidders.

Major restructuring plans have since followed which include the string of store closures, and an £80million cash injection.

This restructuring will also facilitate the closure of its frozen and digital distribution centre in Darton, South Yorkshire, later this year.

The firm plans to shut its national distribution centre in Bilston, West Midlands by early 2026 as well.

Poundland will also stop selling products online and focus on expanding its womenswear and seasonal ranges.

On the closures, Darren MacDonald, retail director at Poundland, said: “While our anticipated network of around 650-700 stores remains sizeable, it is of course, sincerely regrettable that we’re closing a number of stores to allow us to get us back on track.

“We entirely understand how disappointing it will be for customers when a store nearby closes, but we look forward to continuing to welcome them to one of our other locations.

“Work is underway to with colleagues through a formal consultation process in stores scheduled to close, exploring any suitable alternative roles.”

Full list of Poundland August closures:

The following Poundland stores closed permanently on August 17:

• Bedford
• Bidston Moss
• Broxburn
• Craigavon
• Dartmouth
• East Dulwich
• Falmouth
• Hull St Andrews
• Newtonabbey
• Perth
• Poole
• Sunderland
• Stafford
• Thornaby
• Worcester

An additional 12 locations will shut on August 24:

• Brigg
• Canterbury
• Coventry
• Newcastle
• Kings Heath
• Peterborough
• Peterlee
• Rainham
• Salford
• Sheldon
• Wells
• Whitechapel

Finally, on August 31, the following branches will also close:

• Blackburn
• Cookstown
• Erdington
• Kimberley Kimberley Shopping Centre, Nottingham
• Horsham
• Hull Holderness
• Kettering
• Omagh
• Shepherds Bush
• Southport
• Taunton

Some had been critical of Trump, while others were involved in investigating Russian meddling in the 2020 US elections.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearances of 37 people it accused of politicising or weaponising intelligence for partisan aims.

In a statement posted to X on Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the group had “abused the public trust”, accusing them of “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards”.

The statement did not explain in what ways the 37 had violated the terms of the national security clearance or provide evidence of them having done so.

Security clearances are rarely revoked, and the names of those revoked are not typically publicised.

The list includes former senior officials as well as little-known staffers. Among the more high-profile is Shelby Pierson, an election security official who, in February 2020, briefed lawmakers on Russian interference in US elections, and drew Trump’s ire for claiming that Moscow favoured him in the 2020 elections. At least one of the people included was listed on the database of Canary Mission, a shadowy pro-Israel website that the government has admitted to using to target pro-Palestinian supporters.

Mark Zaid, a lawyer who represents intelligence officers, told Al Jazeera that the revocations could be considered “unlawful and unconstitutional decisions that deviate from well-settled, decades-old laws and policies that sought to protect against just this type of action”.

“It is completely unprofessional, yet so common, that the administration took actions targeting individuals in a retaliatory way that impacts their careers and lives, yet did not notify them first before leaking the memo to friendly media.”

Since taking office, Trump has lived up to campaign promises to go after those he perceives as his enemies – particularly members of previous administrations that he has deemed to be corrupt.

Earlier this year, he fired thousands of federal employees, including career prosecutors who participated in the two federal probes into Trump’s behaviour: one for alleged mishandling of classified documents, and the other for attempting to subvert the 2020 election.

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Democrats ended a two-week walkout Monday that stalled Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts as part of a national partisan brawl over President Trump’s desire to reshape U.S. House maps to his advantage.

Their return to the Texas Capitol will allow the Republican-run Legislature to proceed as California Democrats separately advance a countereffort to redraw their congressional boundaries in retaliation. The tit-for-tat puts the nation’s two most populous states at the center of an expanding fight over control of Congress ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The battle also has rallied Democrats nationally after infighting and frustrations among the party’s voters since Republicans took control of the White House and Capitol Hill in January.

Dozens of state House Democrats left the state Aug. 3 to deny their Republican-majority colleagues the attendance necessary to vote on redrawn maps intended to send five more Texas Republicans to Washington.

After spending nearly two weeks in Illinois and elsewhere, they declared victory when Republicans adjourned their first special session Friday and Democrats around the country rallied in opposition to the Trump-led gerrymandering effort. They pointed specifically to California’s release of proposed maps intended to increase Democrats’ U.S. House advantage by five seats, in effect neutralizing any Republican gains in Texas.

Many of the absent Democrats left Chicago early Monday and landed hours later at a private airfield in Austin, where several boarded a large charter bus to the Capitol. Once inside, they were greeted by cheering supporters. And for the first time since Trump’s redistricting push accelerated into a national issue, the Texas House floor was near full capacity when lawmakers convened briefly Monday afternoon.

Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows did not mention redistricting on the floor Monday but promised swift action on the Legislature’s agenda.

“The majority has the right to prevail. The minority has the right to be heard,” the speaker said. “We are done waiting.”

Democrats cheered at the Austin statehouse

Cheering supporters greeted returning lawmakers inside the Capitol before the House convened for a brief session.

“We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation, and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation — reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,” Texas House Minority Leader Gene Wu said in a written statement.

Wu has promised Democrats would challenge the new designs in court.

The House did not take up any bills Monday and was not scheduled to return until Wednesday.

Trump has pressured other Republican-run states to consider redistricting as well, while Democratic governors in multiple statehouses have indicated they would follow California’s lead in response. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has said that his state will hold a Nov. 4 special referendum on the redrawn districts.

The president wants to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority and avoid a repeat of the 2018 midterms during his first presidency. Democrats regained House control then and used their majority to stymie his agenda and twice impeach him.

On a national level, the partisan makeup of existing district lines puts Democrats within three seats of a majority. Of the 435 total House seats, only several dozen districts are competitive. So even slight changes in a few states could affect which party wins control.

Texas’ governor jumped to the president’s aid

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott added redistricting to an initial special session agenda that included a number of issues, but most notably a package of bills responding to devastating floods that killed more than 130 people last month.

Abbott has blamed Democrats’ absence for delaying action on those measures. Democrats have countered that Abbott’s capitulation to Trump is responsible for the delay because he insisted on in effect linking the hyper-partisan matter to the nonpartisan flood relief.

Redistricting typically occurs once at the beginning of each decade to coincide with the census. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. California is among those that empower independent commissions with the task, giving Newsom an additional hurdle in his bid to match or exceed whatever partisan moves Texas makes.

Abbott, Burrows and other Republicans tried various threats and legal maneuvers to pressure Democrats’ return, including issuing civil warrants for absent lawmakers’ arrest. As long as they were out of state, those lawmakers remained beyond the reach of Texas authorities.

The Democrats who came back to the chamber Monday did so without being detained by law enforcement. However, plainclothes officers escorted them from the chamber after Monday’s session. And Burrows’ office said Texas Department of Public Safety officers will follow the Democratic returnees around the clock to ensure that they return again.

Additionally, the lawmakers who left face fines of up to $500 for each legislative day they missed. Burrows has insisted Democratic lawmakers also will pick up the tab for state troopers and others who attempted to corral them during the walkout.

California lawmakers were scheduled to convene later Monday.

Barrow and Figueroa write for the Associated Press. Barrow reported from Atlanta.

Images from the scene show government supporters throwing flares at the protesters who hurl back various objects.

Clashes have erupted as opponents and supporters of the Serbian government faced off, each side staging its own demonstrations, as sustained protests against populist President Aleksandar Vucic have now gone on for more than nine months.

The clashes first began on Tuesday night in Vrbas, northwest of the capital Belgrade, where riot police separated the two groups outside the governing Serbian Progressive Party offices in the town.

The student-led protests in Serbia first started in November after a train station canopy collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people, triggering furious accusations of corruption in state infrastructure projects.

Serbia’s president, other government officials and pro-government media have repeatedly described the protesters as “terrorists”, although protests since November have been largely peaceful.

Led by university students, the protesters are demanding that Vucic call an early parliamentary election, which he has refused to do.

Images from the scene showed government supporters throwing flares, rocks and bottles at the protesters, who hurled back various objects. Police said that dozens of people were injured, including 16 police officers.

Similar incidents were reported at protests in other parts of the country.

Police said that several people were detained in Vrbas. Police Commissioner Dragan Vasiljevic told state-run RTS television that the protesters “came to attack” the governing party’s supporters outside the party’s offices.

Protesters have said that government supporters attacked them first in Vrbas and also further south in Backa Palanka and later in Novi Sad and the southern city of Nis. In Belgrade, riot police pushed away protesters who gathered in a downtown area.

Vucic said at a news conference on Wednesday with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker that pro-democracy protests in Serbia have been “very violent and were violent last night”.

Protests have, since November, drawn hundreds of thousands of people, rattling Vucic’s long-running presidency. The Serbian leader’s supporters have recently started organising counterdemonstrations, fuelling fears of further violence.

Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China, and has been accused of stifling democratic freedoms since coming to power 13 years ago.

An explosion at a US Steel plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States has left one dead and dozens injured or trapped, with emergency workers on site trying to rescue victims, officials said.

An Allegheny County Emergency Services spokesperson, Kasey Reigner, on Monday said one person died and two were currently believed to be unaccounted for. Multiple other people were treated for injuries, Reigner said.

A fire at the plant started around 10:51am (14:50 GMT), according to Allegheny County Emergency Services.

“It felt like thunder,” Zachary Buday, a construction worker near the scene, told WTAE-TV. “Shook the scaffold, shook my chest, and shook the building, and then when we saw the dark smoke coming up from the steel mill and put two and two together, and it’s like something bad happened.”

Dozens were injured and the county was sending 15 ambulances, in addition to the ambulances supplied by local emergency response agencies, Reigner said.

Air quality concerns and health warnings

The plant, a massive industrial facility along the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, is considered the largest coking operation in North America and is one of four major US Steel plants in Pennsylvania that employ several thousand workers.

The Allegheny County Health Department said it is monitoring the explosion and advised residents within one mile (1.6 kilometres) of the plant to remain indoors, close all windows and doors, set air conditioning systems to recirculate, and avoid drawing in outside air, such as using exhaust fans. It said its monitors have not detected levels of soot or sulfur dioxide above federal standards.

The plant converts coal to coke, a key component in the steel-making process. According to the company, it produces 4.3 million tons (3.9 million metric tonnes) of coke annually and has approximately 1,400 workers.

In recent years, the Clairton plant has been dogged by concerns about pollution. In 2019, it agreed to settle a 2017 lawsuit for $8.5m. Under the settlement, the company agreed to spend $6.5m to reduce soot emissions and noxious odours from the Clairton coke-making facility.

In another lawsuit, residents said that following a massive 2018 fire, the air felt acidic, smelled like rotten eggs, and was hard to breathe due to the release of sulfur dioxide.

Last year, the company agreed to spend $19.5m in equipment upgrades and $5m on local clean air efforts and programmes as part of settling a federal lawsuit filed by the Clean Air Council and PennEnvironment and the Allegheny County Health Department.

The lawsuits accused the steel producer of more than 12,000 violations of its air pollution permits.

David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, an environmental group that has previously sued US Steel over pollution, said there needed to be “a full, independent investigation into the causes of this latest catastrophe and a re-evaluation as to whether the Clairton plant is fit to keep operating.”

In June, US Steel and Nippon Steel announced they had finalised a “historic partnership”, a deal that gives the US government a say in some matters and comes a year and a half after the Japanese company first proposed its nearly $15bn buyout of the iconic American steelmaker.

The pursuit by Nippon Steel for the Pittsburgh-based company was buffeted by national security concerns and presidential politics in a premier battleground state, dragging out the transaction for more than a year after US Steel shareholders approved it.

DOZENS of supercars worth around £7 million were seized by police in a major sting operation this weekend.

More than 70 luxury motors were nabbed in the crackdown – including one from an owner who had been in the UK for just two hours.

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The collaborative operation saw forces from the Metropolitan Police join with those from the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) to respond to the rise in anti-social and dangerous driving in London.

A flurry of expensive cars were seized across Hyde Park, Kensington, and Chelsea in the capital, including from luxury brands Ferrari, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz.

Two identical purple Lamborghinis – which were uninsured and had been flown into Britain for their owner’s summer trip – were also impounded.

One of the two drivers had been in the UK for just two hours, and behind the wheel for just 15 minutes, before being caught.

The MIB explained that several of the seized vehicles had been brought into Britain from abroad.

Many of these vehicles’ drivers were relying on motor insurance from their home countries, failing to verify if those police provided valid coverage in the UK.

In total, the operation led to the impounding of 72 motors, many of which were uninsured or inadequately covered.

Officers also detected a range of other criminal activity in their investigation.

This included individuals wanted for actual bodily harm and criminal damage, for drug offences, for stolen vehicles, for immigration offences and for fraudulent insurance policies, known as “ghost broking“.

Cops also issued countless tickets for a range of other offences, including driving without a valid licence, using a mobile phone while driving, and failing to have a valid MOT.

Tickets were also doled out to those who had illegally tinted windows, who were not wearing a seatbelt, and those who were operating vehicles in a dangerous condition.

Officers also identified individuals who had made often-innocent mistakes, such as updating DVLA about the use of a personalised number plate but failing to notify their insurance provider.

The operation provided an opportunity for the motorists to rectify their errors whilst demonstrating just how vigilant the police are to these issues.

Seventy-five officers from the Met’s Special Constabulary and Vehicle Enforcement Team took part, using several methods to identify uninsured drivers.

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Special Chief Officer James Deller from the Metropolitan Police, who attended the operation, said: “The Met is committed to tackling anti-social behaviour.

“This operation was set up to respond to resident, business and visitors’ concerns about high-value vehicles causing a nuisance in known hotspot areas in central and west London.

“Already the Met has reduced neighbourhood crime by 19 per cent compared to the same time last year and we’re addressing anti-social behaviour caused by uninsured drivers.

“This has been a great opportunity to work with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau and for officers to speak with members of the public about the work we do, educate drivers and enforce the law.

“We’ve had some real success – thank you to Special Constable colleagues who volunteer their time to help drive down crime across London.”

Martin Saunders, Head of Uninsured Driving Prevention at MIB, reinforced the dual goals of enforcement and awareness: “We urge all motorists to check their insurance policy is in place, is appropriate for their needs and to reach out to their insurer if they are unsure on any part of their policy.

“While many offenders knowingly violated the law, others fell victim to simple mistakes such as bounced payments, failed renewals or incorrect details.

“With growing concern over seasonal hotspots and tourist-linked offences, the Met and MIB plan to continue enforcement and education efforts throughout the year.

“We don’t want any driver to become uninsured in the first place.

“These rules apply to all motorists, regardless of the value of vehicle they choose to drive.”

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.

Trump’s order is seeking to address trade practices Washington deems unfair, but small businesses may be harmed, and economists caution it could fuel inflation.

United States President Donald Trump’s sweeping higher tariffs on more than 60 countries have taken effect.

The higher so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, announced last week in an executive order, were being collected by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency from 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT) on Thursday, following months of negotiations with major trading partners.

The US duties range from 50 percent on goods from Brazil to 10 percent on imports from the United Kingdom.

Ahead of the deadline, Trump lauded the “billions of dollars” that will flow into the US as a result of the increased duties. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has said that tariff revenues could top $300bn a year.

“THE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP AMERICA’S GREATNESS WOULD BE A RADICAL LEFT COURT THAT WANTS TO SEE OUR COUNTRY FAIL!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Imports from many countries had previously been subject to a baseline 10 percent import duty after Trump paused higher rates announced in early April.

But since then, Trump has frequently modified his tariff plan, slapping some countries with much higher rates, including 50 percent on goods from Brazil, 39 percent on Switzerland, 35 percent on Canada and 25 percent on India.

Trump announced on Wednesday that he would increase tariffs on India to 50 percent later this month unless it stops buying Russian oil.

The US president says the tariffs are a response to trade practices Washington deems unfair. However, some companies and industry groups have warned that the new levies will hurt smaller US businesses, while some economists have cautioned that they could fuel inflation and affect long-term growth.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said the hike in tariffs on Brazil will likely affect the US coffee industry, which was already grappling with rising prices due to weather-related shortages.

“Many [US] companies source their coffee in Brazil, not just the big chains, but smaller places [too],” said Fisher.

The US has a trade surplus with Brazil, leading many to believe that the tariffs are Trump’s attempt to punish Brazil for prosecuting his ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of trying to stage a coup, said Fisher.

‘Winners and losers’

Eight major trading partners accounting for about 40 percent of US trade flows have reached deals with Trump, including the European Union, Japan and South Korea, setting their base tariff rates at 15 percent.

The UK agreed to a 10 percent rate, while Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Philippines secured rates of 19 or 20 percent.

Trump’s order has specified that any goods determined to have been transshipped from a third country to evade higher US tariffs will be subject to an additional 40 percent import duty, but details on enforcement are unclear.

According to John Diamond, an analyst at the Center for Tax and Budget Policy at the Baker Institute, the tariffs will likely leave US consumers with fewer choices in the number of goods, as well as higher prices for those goods.

“I think you’re going to see that there’s winners and losers, and you’re going to see that there’s a lot of inefficiency with political kickbacks and political punishments for adversaries,” Diamond told Al Jazeera.

The US president also announced late on Wednesday that he will impose a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made semiconductors, although exemptions will be made for companies that have invested in the US.

July 31 (UPI) — President Donald Trump formalized his reciprocal tariffs policy on Thursday, imposing stiff levies on dozens of nations while making good on his promise to use the economic measure to try and balance what he sees as negative trade deficits with U.S. trading partners.

The American president signed an executive order putting a 10% tariff on most trading partners, aside from a handful with whom recent deals have either been made with or are pending.

Trump has long turned to economic tariffs as a bargaining tool, both as a negotiation tactic and as an attempt to spur the domestic manufacturing industry. Since returning to the White House in January, the New York real estate mogul has railed against trade deficits, often framing them as examples of trading partners taking advantage of the United States.

The executive order was signed hours before a White House-imposed deadline for other countries to finalize deals with the United States, while delaying the imposition of the tariffs until Aug. 7. It also permits goods loaded onto shipping vessels prior to Aug. 7 that arrive in the United States before Oct. 5 to be exempt from the levies.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a press conference held Thursday, before the executive order was announced, that the sweeping tariffs apply to all trading partners who have not fashioned “bespoke” deals with the president.

“We promised that the president would negotiate with countries all around the world to cut tailor-made trade deals depending on those countries’ challenges, how badly they’ve ripped off the United States of America and our manufacturing industry and our workforce in the past,” she said.

Countries facing the highest levies under the executive order are Syria at 41%, Myanmar and Laos at 40% and Switzerland at 39%.

Earlier Thursday, Trump announced he was pausing plans to place tariffs on Mexico for 90 days to allow negotiations to progress.

On Wednesday night, he threatened ongoing trade negotiations with Canada over Ottawa’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state. Canada is set to see its tariff go from 25% to 35%.

Recent deals have also been reached with South Korea, the European Union, Britain, Japan and others.

It also comes on the heels of Trump slapping a 40% tariff on Brazilian goods over its prosecution of his ally, former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, for a total of 50%.

“We have never had a president who wields the full power of the United States to negotiate good deals for our country and its people like President Trump,” Leavitt said.

“This is what maximum leverage looks like.”

Official says ‘contingency plan had flaws’ as torrential rains, floods kill 31 people at senior centre near Beijing.

Torrential rains and flooding across northern China have killed dozens of people, authorities say, including more than 30 elderly residents who were trapped at a care facility in a suburb of the capital Beijing.

Officials said on Thursday that 31 people died at the Taishitun Town Elderly Care Center in the Miyun district, about a 90-minute drive from central Beijing, which was one of the areas hit hardest by this week’s storms.

“For a long time, this senior centre was in the town’s centre and was safe, and such was not included in the preparedness plans,” said Yu Weiguo, the Communist Party secretary for Miyun, expressing his condolences and adding it was a “bitter lesson”.

“This showed that our contingency plan had flaws, and our understanding of extreme weather was inadequate,” Yu said.

The care centre housed 69 residents, including 55 who were disabled in some capacity. The facility sat on low-lying ground near a river that had flooded after the unusually intense rains, local media outlet Caixin reported.

Torrential rains began a week ago and peaked around Beijing and its surrounding provinces on Monday.

In the space of a few days, the hilly Miyun district in the northeast of the capital saw rainfall of up to 573.5mm (22.6 inches). By comparison, the average annual precipitation in Beijing is around 600mm (23.6 inches).

The Miyun Reservoir, the largest in northern China, saw record-breaking water levels during the rains.

The Qingshui River, which runs through Taishitun feeding into the reservoir and is normally a small stream, was flowing at 1,500 times its normal volume on Monday morning when the disaster struck, Yu said.

One Beijing resident’s 87-year-old mother managed to get out of the elder care centre in Miyun, Caixin reported.

“She doesn’t know where she got the strength, but she managed to climb onto the windowsill,” the woman’s daughter said, noting her mother’s roommate was unable to escape and drowned.

Hundreds of thousands affected

At a news conference on Thursday, Beijing’s Deputy Mayor Xia Linmao said at least 44 people died over the past week in the city.

In total, more than 300,000 people have been affected by the rain and flooding in the capital, with more than 24,000 homes, 242 bridges and 756km (470 miles) of roads damaged, said Xia, citing preliminary figures.

In neighbouring Hebei province, authorities announced an additional eight deaths on Thursday and 16 deaths total this week.

At least 31 people were missing in Beijing and Hebei province, authorities said.

Meanwhile, in northern Shanxi province, authorities said on Wednesday evening that 10 people were dead after a minibus carrying farm workers washed away in heavy rain.

Four people were still missing as the rescue continued, according to a city government statement three days after the bus disappeared.

Trump imposed tariffs on dozens of countries in advance of his August 1 deadline to strike trade deals.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order reimposing “reciprocal tariffs” ranging from 10 percent to 41 percent on US imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations.

Separately, Trump also signed an executive order late on Thursday that increased tariffs on certain Canadian goods, with the White House accusing Ottawa of failing to “cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs” entering the US.

In a statement on Thursday titled “Further Modifying the Reciprocal Tariff Rates”, the US listed some 69 trading partners and their respective “adjusted” tariff rates.

US-bound exports from some of Washington’s major trading partners – including Australia and the UK – will be subject to the baseline rate of 10 percent.

Other major trading partners – including India at 25 percent and Taiwan at 20 percent – have had higher rates imposed as slow-moving trade deal negotiations continue.

Trump cited the “continued lack of reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships” in a statement on the White House website announcing the reimposition of the tariffs.

“I have determined that it is necessary and appropriate to deal with the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14257 by imposing additional ad valorem duties on goods of certain trading partners,” he said.

The White House also published a fact sheet on the increase in Canada’s tariff rate. In the release, Trump lamented “Canada’s continued inaction and retaliation” on addressing the “flow of illicit drugs” into the US across its northern border.

“President Trump has found it necessary to increase the tariff on Canada from 25% to 35% to effectively address the existing emergency,” the White House said, adding that the new rates go into effect on August 1.

The fact-sheet said goods that qualify for preferential treatment under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would not be subject to tariffs.

Soon after returning to office in January, Trump declared a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), citing a “public health crisis caused by fentanyl and illicit drugs” flowing into the US from Canada.

The US is also set to implement new rules of origin to determine tariff rates on trans-shipped goods in the coming weeks, the Reuters news agency reports, citing an unnamed senior Trump administration official.

Transhipped goods are those moved between vessels at an intermediate destination during transit to their final destination. The technicalities of the rules are being worked out, the official added.