Lightning strike killed nine agricultural workers and injured four others in Sirajganj's Ullapara upazila Thursday, according to police. Eight of the deceased were identified as Md Mobarak, 40, Monnaf Hossain, 19, Shamsher Ali, 62, Md Afsar, 63, Md Shahin, 21, Abdul Kuddus, 60, Shah Alam, 42 and Ritu Khatun, 15, Mohammad Mahfuz, assistant superintendent of police (ASP) of Ullapara Circle, said. The identities of the other deceased could not immediately be confirmed, he added. The workers were planting paddy seedlings when it started to rain heavily, Nazrul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ullapara Police Station, said. Read: Lightning strikes kill three in Kushtia, Natore "Then all of them sheltered in a house near the field. Suddenly a streak of lightning struck the men, killing five of them on the spot and leaving others critically injured," Nazrul said.   "The locals rushed the injured to different hospitals and clinics where they died while undergoing treatment."

Gunmen believed to be separatist rebels killed 10 traders and wounded two others in an attack Saturday in Indonesia’s restive Papua province, police said. Clashes have escalated in country's the easternmost province since last year, when rebels set fire to several schools and killed two teachers. Attackers were believed to be members of the West Papua Liberation Army, the military wing of the Free Papua Organization, police said. Read: Indonesian troops kill Papuan rebel commander About 20 gunmen stormed the village of Nogolait in Nduga district while a grocer was preparing to open his wares. They shot him and seven other traders who were on an open freight truck, along with four passersby, said Papua police spokesman Ahmad Musthofa Kamal. He said that most of the victims, all men, were immigrants from other Indonesian islands. Security forces found the bodies scattered in four separate areas. Seven men were killed instantly while three others died at a nearby clinic, Kamal said. He said police and the military were searching for the attackers. A spokesperson for the Free Papua Organization couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. On many occasions, rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom has said the group’s fighters had warned civilians to leave areas the rebels consider a “war zone.” He also urged workers to leave all Indonesian government projects, or they would be considered part of security forces. Papua is a former Dutch colony in the western part of New Guinea that is ethnically and culturally distinct from much of Indonesia. Conflicts between indigenous Papuans and Indonesian security forces have raged for years. Indonesia’s government, which for decades had a policy of sending Javanese and other Indonesians to settle in Papua, is now trying to spur economic development to dampen the separatist movement. In March, rebel gunmen killed eight technicians repairing a remote telecommunications tower. In December 2018, at least 31 construction workers and a soldier were killed in one of the worst attacks in the province.

Russian missiles struck a city in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others far from the front lines, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine's president accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians in locations without military value. Officials said Kalibr cruise missiles fired from a Russian ship in the Black Sea damaged a medical clinic, offices, stores and residential buildings in Vinnytsia, a city 268 kilometers (167 miles) southwest of the capital, Kyiv. Vinnytsia region Gov. Serhiy Borzov said Ukrainian air defenses downed two of the four incoming Russian missiles. National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko said only six bodies had been identified so far, while 39 people were still missing. Three children younger than 10 where among the dead. Of the 66 people hospitalized, five remained in critical condition while 34 sustained severe injuries, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. “It was a building of a medical organization. When the first rocket hit it, glass fell from my windows," said Vinnytsia resident Svitlana Kubas, 74. “And when the second wave came, it was so deafening that my head is still buzzing. It tore out the very outermost door, tore it right through the holes.” Borzov said 36 apartment buildings were damaged and residents have been evacuated. Along with hitting buildings, the missiles ignited a fire that spread to 50 cars in a parking lot, officials said. “These are quite high-precision missiles. ... They knew where they were hitting,” Borzov told the AP. Russia denied targeting civilians. Also read: Minister: Ukraine needs assurances to resume grain exports “Russia only strikes at military targets in Ukraine. The strike on Vinnytsia targeted an officers’ residence, where preparations by Ukrainian armed forces were underway,” Evgeny Varganov, a member of Russia’s permanent U.N. mission, said in an address to the chamber. Among the buildings damaged in the strike was the House of Officers, a Soviet-era concert hall. Margarita Simonyan, head of the state-controlled Russian television network RT, said on her messaging app channel that military officials told her a building in Vinnytsia was targeted because it housed Ukrainian “Nazis.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his call for Russia to be declared a state sponsor of terrorism. The strike happened as government officials from about 40 countries met in The Hague, Netherlands, to discuss coordinating investigations and prosecutions of potential war crimes committed in Ukraine. “No other country in the world represents such a terrorist threat as Russia,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “No other country in the world allows itself every day to use cruise missiles and rocket artillery to destroy cities and ordinary human life." Zelenskyy said that among those killed was a 4-year-old girl named Liza, whose mother was badly wounded. A video of the little girl, twirling in a lavender dress in a field of lavender, was widely shared on social media. “Today, our hearts are bleeding, and our eyes are full of tears because our family of many thousands has lost one of our own,” the charity Down Syndrome wrote. It said: “They were just on their way from a speech therapy class, and they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Zelenskyy's wife later posted that she had met this “wonderful girl” while filming a Christmas video with a group of children, who were given oversized ornaments to paint. Also read: Ukraine reports striking Russian ammunition depot in south “The little mischievous girl then managed in a half an hour to paint not only herself, her holiday dress, but also all the other children, me, the cameramen and the director ... Look at her alive, please,” Olena Zelenska wrote in a note accompanying the video. Zelenskyy called for creating a mechanism for confiscating Russian assets around the world and using them to compensate the victims of “Russian terror.” Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky echoed Zelenskyy, calling the missile attack a “war crime" intended to intimidate Ukrainians while the country's forces hold out in the east. He said several dozen people were detained for questioning on suspicion that the Russian forces had received targeting assistance from someone on the ground. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv issued a security alert late Thursday urging all U.S. citizens remaining in Ukraine to leave immediately. The alert, which appeared to be in response to the Vinnytsia attack, asserted that large gatherings and organized events “may serve as Russian military targets anywhere in Ukraine, including its western regions.” Vinnytsia is one of Ukraine's largest cities, with a prewar population of 370,000. Thousands of people from eastern Ukraine, where Russia has concentrated its offensive, have fled there since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Kateryna Popova said she saw many injured people lying on the street after the missiles struck. Popova had fled from Kharkiv in March in search of safety in “quiet” Vinnytsia. But the missile attack changed all that. “We did not expect this. Now we feel like we don’t have a home again,” she said. Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said the attack mirrors previous ones on residential areas that Moscow has launched “to try to pressure Kyiv to make some concessions.” "Russia has used the same tactics when it hit the Odesa region, Kremenchuk, Chasiv Yar and other areas," Zhdanov said. “The Kremlin wants to show that it will keep using unconventional methods of war and kill civilians in defiance of Kyiv and the entire international community.” Before the missiles hit Vinnytsia, the president’s office reported the deaths of five civilians and the wounding of eight more in Russian attacks over the past day. One person was wounded when a missile damaged several buildings in the southern city of Mykolaiv early Thursday. A missile attack on Wednesday killed at least five people in the city. Russian forces also continued artillery and missile attacks in eastern Ukraine, primarily in the Donetsk region after overtaking the adjacent Luhansk region. The two regions make up the Donbas, a mostly Russian-speaking area of steel factories, mines and other industries that powered Ukraine's economy. Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko, meanwhile, urged residents to evacuate as “quickly as possible.” “We are urging civilians to leave the region, where electricity, water and gas are in short supply after the Russian shelling,” Kyrylenko said in televised remarks. “The fighting is intensifying, and people should stop risking their lives and leave the region.” On the battlefront, Russian and Ukrainian militaries are seeking to replenish their depleted stocks of unmanned aerial vehicles to pinpoint enemy positions and guide artillery strikes. Both sides are looking to procure jamming-resistant, advanced drones that could offer a decisive edge in battle. Ukrainian officials say the demand for such technology is “immense” with crowdfunding efforts underway to raise the necessary cash.

At least four people including two students were killed and seven others were injured in separate road accidents in Thakurgaon, Narail, Magura, Chattogram and Khulna districts on Saturday. In Thakurgaon, a 13-year old schoolgirl was killed and two others were hurt in a motorcycle accident at Goalkari on Baliadangi-Lahiri road in Baliadangi upazila. The deceased was identified as Munni Akter, a sixth grader of Baliadangi Government Girl’s High School and dauther of Sadekul Islam, said Khayrul Anam, Officer-in-Charge of Baliadangi police station. The accident occurred in the morning when the Baliadangi-bound motorcycle hit Munni from behind when she was passing the area, leaving her dead and the two riders injured. The injured were admitted to Thakurgaon Modern Sadar Hospital. Also read: Van driver killed in Kushtia road accident In, Narail , a sand-laden trolley truck ran over a 17-year old student on his way to madrasah on Khararia-Nawapara road in Kalia upazila, said Sheikh Tasmim Alam, OC of Kalia police station. The deceased was identified as Asif Mina, a student of class eight  of Khararia Rahima Habib Dakhil Madrasah and son of Hiru Mina. OC Tasmim Alam said the vehicle has been seized and legal action will be taken in this regard. Meanwhile, in Magura an unidentified youth was killed being hit by a trolley truck in front of Jashpur schoolin Mohammadpur upazila, said Ikram Hossain, OC of Mohammadpur police station. A case was filed in this regard and the body was sent for an autopsy, he said. Also read: Road accidents claim 7 lives in 3 districts In Chattogram, a motorcyclist died being hit by a truck on Mariner’s Road in Fishery Ghat area in the city at noon. The deceased was identified as Tripti Dhar,34, son Chandra Sutradhar from Cumilla. Truck driver named Alamgir was arrested and the vehicle has been seized, said Zahidul Kabir, OC of Kotwali police station. Besides, five people were injured at East Jhiler Danga in Dumuria upazila of Khulna as two trucks collided head on at 11:30 am, said Md Shihab Molla, Sub-Inspector of Dumuria police station. All the injured were truck drivers and their assistants, he said. They were taken to Khulna Medical College and Hospital by locals. Of them driver Babu’s condition is critical, said the SI.

Four people died and another person sustained injuries after being struck by lightning in Magura, Joypurhat and Nagaon districts, police said on Friday. In Magura, 35-year-old Md Jannu Mollah, a farmer from Satyabanpur village in Sadar upazila, was killed on Thursday afternoon. A thunderbolt struck him while he was cutting paddy on a field near his house. Officer-in-charge Nasir Uddin of Magura Sadar Police Station said that an unnatural death case was registered over the incident. In Joypurhat’s Kalai upazila, 13-year-old Hridoy, son of Rabiul Islam of Shreepur village was killed by lightning.   According to sources in Kalai Upazila Health Complex, to escape rain he was standing under a eucalyptus tree near his house when lightning suddenly struck him. READ: Two killed in Thakurgaon lighting strike In Naogaon's Porsha upazila, two farmers -- Sayem Ali, 40,  and Nur Mohammad Nooh, 55 --  were killed by a bolt of lightning while they were harvesting paddy in the field on Friday morning. Meanwhile, 50-year-old Jahanara Begum of Nitpur Bangalpara village was severely injured after being struck by lightning when she was on her way to a field. She was later admitted to Porsha Upazila Health Complex, said locals. Porsha police station officer-in- charge Zahurul Haque said the bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families. Porsha upazila nirbahi officer Nazmul Hamid Reza said the families of those killed and injured in a natural calamity "are given financial assistance by the government". Each of the affected families has been given Tk 20,000 by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, he said.

One Bangladeshi national was injured in a gunshot fired by an Indian national along the Kalairag border in Companiganj upazila in Sylhet on Friday. READ: Border killings remain an irritant, FM Momen tells Shringla Kalairag BGB camp commander Subedar Harunur Rashid said Sailen Kanda, 26, son of Dev Kanda of Kalairag village in the upazila was injured as an Indian national fired shots across the border at about 11 am on Friday from the Indian part of Kalairag 1253/3S pillar. Rashid said Sailen was rescued and sent to Sylhet Osmani Hospital.READ: Deal with border killing as per international law: BNP

Five people were killed and six others were wounded by gunfire while celebrating Christmas on a soccer field in the northeastern city of Fortaleza early Saturday, according to the Ceara state Public Security Secretariat. According to the agency's press office, three people have been arrested. Local news media say the crime may have been motivated by a feud between criminal factions. READ: Deadly gunfire at airport; Taliban insist on US pullout date Authorities said only two of the victims had been identified: One is 21 and the other 26 years old and both had a police record for crimes including criminal association, illegal firearms, receiving stolen goods, and disturbing the peace. READ: Gunfire at Kabul airport kills 1; Taliban mass near Panjshir

One student was killed and another was taken into custody Friday after a shooting at a middle school near downtown Albuquerque during the lunch hour, police said. The gunfire at Washington Middle School marked the second shooting in New Mexico’s largest city in less than 24 hours. Albuquerque is on pace to shatter its homicide record this year, having already matched within the first eight months of the year the previous annual high of 80 homicides set in 2019. Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Scott Elder said during a news conference with police that it was a terrible day for the district and the whole community. READ: Student, officer hurt in 2nd Wisconsin high school shooting  “I want to send out my thoughts and prayers to all of our students, all of our families that are impacted by this horrible event,” he said. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she was heartbroken and noted more work needs to be done to address gun violence in the state. Albuquerque police Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock described the shooting as an isolated incident between the two students, who were believed to be about 13 years old. He said a school resource officer ran toward the two boys after gunfire erupted, and prevented any other violence. Hartsock said investigators were trying to determine how the student obtained the gun and what may have prompted the shooting. He said other students will be interviewed as detectives try to piece together what happened. The school was locked down, and parents were asked to pick up their children. Friday marked just the third day of classes for Albuquerque’s public school district. While students won’t return until Tuesday, Elder said the school staff will be making preparations to ensure students have access to counseling and any other support services they need. “Of course it’s extremely difficult,” he said of something like this happening so early in the school year. “There’s a lot of pressure in the community. People are nervous. It was a terrible incident that happened between two people. It should have never happened. ... This shouldn’t happen in the community. It certainly shouldn’t happen at a school.” Police said more officers will be present when students return, hoping to provide a sense of security and in case students have any more information about the shooting. Gunfire also rang out Thursday night at a sports bar and restaurant near a busy Albuquerque shopping district. Police said one person was killed and three were injured after someone pulled out a gun during a fight. No arrests have been made in that case. Investigators were reviewing surveillance video and interviewing witnesses. Authorities identified the man who was killed as Lawrence Anzures, a 30-year old boxer from Albuquerque. “Any small piece of information can help in turning this into a prosecutable case so that the family and friends of Lawrence can get the justice they deserve,” Hartsock said. READ: Teen used 'ghost gun' in California high school shooting While standing at an intersection near the school, top police officials were asked by reporters about the ongoing violence in Albuquerque. The city for years has had problems with high crime rates, but the officials pointed to other cities across the U.S. that are now also seeing increases. “I think it takes not only police, but the community as well to do something about this problem and address it head on,” said Deputy Chief Eric Garcia. “Right now, this is a community issue. It’s not just a police issue. We all have to work together.”

Myanmar security forces shot and killed at least six people Wednesday, according to accounts on social media and local news reports, as authorities extend their lethal crackdown on protests against last month’s coup.

The landmark 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons has been teetering on the edge of collapse since the United States pulled out unilaterally in 2018. The European Union says it will "spare no effort" to keep the deal alive, but with tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalating into open hostilities it seems increasingly unlikely that will be possible.