Emergency workers uncovered more than 1,500 bodies in the wreckage of Libya's eastern city of Derna on Tuesday, and it was feared the toll could surpass 5,000 after floodwaters smashed through dams and washed away entire neighborhoods of the city. The startling death and devastation wreaked by Mediterranean storm Daniel pointed to the storm's intensity, but also the vulnerability of a nation torn apart by chaos for more than a decade. The country is divided by rival governments, one in the east, the other in the west, and the result has been neglect of infrastructure in many areas. In Iran, snap checkpoints and university purges mark the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini protests Outside help was only just starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck. The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to the coastal city of some 89,000. Footage showed dozens of bodies covered by blankets in the yard of one hospital. Another image showed a mass grave piled with bodies. More than 1,500 corpses were collected, and half of them had been buried as of Tuesday evening, the health minister for eastern Libya said. At least one official put the death toll at more than 5,000. The state-run news agency quoted Mohammed Abu-Lamousha, a spokesman for the east Libya interior ministry, as saying that more than 5,300 people had died in Derna alone. Derna's ambulance authority said earlier Tuesday that 2,300 had died. But the toll is likely to be higher, said Tamer Ramadan, Libya envoy for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He told a U.N. briefing in Geneva via videoconference from Tunisia that at least 10,000 people were still missing. He said later Tuesday that more than 40,000 people have been displaced. The situation in Libya is "as devastating as the situation in Morocco," Ramadan said, referring to the deadly earthquake that hit near the city of Marrakesh on Friday night. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres conveyed his solidarity with the Libyan people and said the United Nations "is working with local, national and international partners to get urgently needed humanitarian assistance to those in affected areas," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The destruction came to Derna and other parts of eastern Libya on Sunday night. As the storm pounded the coast, Derna residents said they heard loud explosions and realized that dams outside the city had collapsed. Flash floods were unleashed down Wadi Derna, a river running from the mountains through the city and into the sea. Israel's PM pitches fiber optic cable idea to link Asia and the Middle East to Europe The wall of water "erased everything in its way," said one resident, Ahmed Abdalla. Videos posted online by residents showed large swaths of mud and wreckage where the raging waters had swept away neighborhoods on both banks of the river. Multi-story apartment buildings that once were well back from the river had facades ripped away and concrete floors collapsed. Cars lifted by the flood were left dumped on top of each other. Libya's National Meteorological Center said Tuesday it issued early warnings for Storm Daniel, an "extreme weather event," 72 hours before its occurrence, and notified all governmental authorities by e-mails and through media ... "urging them to take preventive measures." It said that Bayda recorded a record 414.1 millimeters (16.3 inches) of rain from Sunday to Monday. On Tuesday, local emergency responders, including troops, government workers, volunteers and residents dug through rubble looking for the dead. They also used inflatable boats to retrieve bodies from the water. Many bodies were believed trapped under rubble or had been washed out into the Mediterranean Sea, said eastern Libya's health minister, Othman Abduljaleel. "We were stunned by the amount of destruction ... the tragedy is very significant, and beyond the capacity of Derna and the government," Abduljaleel told The Associated Press on the phone from Derna. Red Crescent teams from other parts of Libya also arrived in Derna on Tuesday morning but extra excavators and other equipment had yet to get there. Flooding often happens in Libya during rainy season, but rarely with this much destruction. A key question was how the rains were able to burst through two dams outside Derna – whether because of poor maintenance or sheer volume of rain. Karsten Haustein, a climate scientist and meteorologist at Leipzig University, said in a statement that Daniel dumped 440 millimeters (15.7 inches) of rain on eastern Libya in a short time. "The infrastructure could probably not cope, leading to the collapse of the dam," he said, adding that human-induced rises in water surface temperatures likely added to the storm's intensity. Local authorities have neglected Derna for years. "Even the maintenance aspect was simply absent. Everything kept being delayed," said Jalel Harchaoui, an associate fellow specializing in Libya at the London-based Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. Russia attacks a Ukrainian port before key grain deal talks between Putin and Turkey's president Factionalism also comes into play. Derna was for several years controlled by Islamic militant groups. Military commander Khalifa Hifter, the strongman of the east Libya government, captured the city in 2019 only after months of tough urban fighting. The eastern government has been suspicious of the city ever since and has sought to sideline its residents from any decision-making, said Harchaoui. "This mistrust might prove calamitous during the upcoming post-disaster period," he said. Hifter's eastern government based in the city of Benghazi is locked in a bitter rivalry with the western government in the capital of Tripoli. Each is backed by powerful militias and by foreign powers. Hifter is also backed by Egypt, Russia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, while the west Libya administration is backed by Turkey, Qatar and Italy. Still, the initial reaction to the disaster brought some crossing of the divide. The Tripoli-based government of western Libya sent a plane with 14 tons of medical supplies and health workers to Benghazi. It also said it had allocated the equivalent of $412 million for reconstruction in Derna and other eastern towns. Airplanes arrived Tuesday in Benghazi carrying humanitarian aid and rescue teams from Egypt, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Egypt's military chief of staff met with Hifter to coordinate aid. Germany, France and Italy said they also were sending rescue personnel and aid. It was not clear how quickly the aid could be moved to Derna, 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of Benghazi, given conditions on the ground. Ahmed Amdourd, a Derna municipal official, called for a sea corridor to deliver aid and equipment. President Joe Biden said in a statement Tuesday that the United States is sending emergency funds to relief organizations and coordinating with the Libyan authorities and the U.N. to provide additional support. "Jill and I send our deepest condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones in the devastating floods in Libya," he said. The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the town of Bayda, where about 50 people were reported dead. The Medical Center of Bayda, the main hospital, was flooded and patients had to be evacuated, according to footage shared by the center on Facebook. Other towns that suffered included Susa, Marj and Shahatt, according to the government. Hundreds of families were displaced and took shelter in schools and other government buildings in Benghazi and elsewhere in eastern Libya. Northeast Libya is one of the country's most fertile and green regions. The Jabal al-Akhdar area — where Bayda, Marj and Shahatt are located — has one of the country's highest average annual rainfalls, according to the World Bank.

The men found dead in two wildfires that ignited in eastern Washington earlier this month have been identified, and the number of homes destroyed has been confirmed at more than 350. Carl Grub, 86, died on Aug. 18 near an intersection in Medical Lake west of Spokane in the area of the Gray fire, which started that day, according to a Friday news release from the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office. Grub's cause and manner of death is still pending. 18 bodies found in Greece as firefighters battle wind-driven wildfires across the country Grub, with his brother, founded The Jensen Memorial Youth Ranch, where he taught kids interested in agriculture how to care for and raise livestock, KREM-TV reported. Earlier this year, the Junior Livestock Show of Spokane had been dedicated to Grub. Firefighters in Greece have discovered the bodies of 18 people in an area with a major wildfire “The world needs more people like Carl,” the Junior Livestock Show of Spokane wrote on its Facebook page. “He will be greatly missed.” On Aug. 20, Alex Brown died in Elk, Washington, north of Spokane in an area burned by the Oregon fire. Brown, 49 died from thermal and inhalation injuries, and his manner of death listed as accidental. Survivors of Maui's wildfires return home to blackened ruins as death toll rises to 67 The fires sparked on Aug. 18 during critical fire weather conditions. The Gray fire started west of Medical Lake, prompting mandatory evacuations and burning around Interstate 90, closing it in that area for more than two days. About 240 homes and 86 other kinds of structures were destroyed in the Gray fire, Lily Mayea, public information officer with Northwest Team 7 on the Gray fire, said Tuesday. The human-caused blaze has scorched 15.75 square miles (40.79 square kilometers) and was 85% contained as of Tuesday. Evacuations remain in place for some people, although none as of Tuesday were mandatory. The Oregon fire began east of Elk and has burned 16.9 square miles (43.77 square kilometers) with 79% containment as of Tuesday. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, all evacuation notices connected to the Oregon fire have been lifted, said Bill Queen, public information officer with Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 3 on the Oregon fire. He said 126 primary residences and 258 outbuildings were destroyed in the blaze. Gov. Jay Inslee on Aug. 19 declared a statewide emergency because of the two fires and others burning around the state.

Three people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a Southern California biker bar and the shooter also died, Orange County Sheriff's officials said. The shooting was reported at around 7 p.m. at Cook's Corner in rural Trabuco Canyon in Orange County. Also read : Woman killed, toddler son among 3 others shot standing on sidewalk on Chicago's South Side Another six people were transported to hospitals, five of them with gunshot wounds, the sheriff's department posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Incident scene at Cooks Corner is static," the department posted just after 9 p.m. Also read : Shooting near Chicago school leaves 2 pupils dead and 2 injured Cooks Corner is a popular, longtime watering hole for the biker community in Southern California. Many motorcycle riders and enthusiasts gather there weeknights and during the weekend for live music, open-mic nights or just a cold beer after a long ride. Hours before the shooting, several patrons were stopping by for an afternoon drink and meal. Rows of motorcycles and bikes framed the gravel entrance where plaques describe the storied history of the bar built in 1884. Also read : Chicago shooting leaves 2 people dead, 8 wounded Dozens of patrol cars and ambulances converged on the scene Wednesday evening. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was monitoring the shooting "and coordinating with local officials as more details become available," his office tweeted.

Deadly clashes between rival militias in Libya’s capital killed at least 27 people and left residents trapped in their homes on Tuesday,unable to escape the violence,medical authorities said. The fighting appears to be the most intense to shake Tripoli this year. There were at least four people dead but it was not immediately clear if they were militiamen or civilians, an official said.The clashes erupted late on Monday between militiamen from the 444 brigade and the Special Deterrence Force, according to local media reports. Tensions flared after Mahmoud Hamza, a senior commander of the 444 brigade, was allegedly detained by the rival group at an airport in Tripoli earlier in the day, the reports said. Read also:Bangladesh climbs 5 spots in latest passport ranking, still behind Sri Lanka and Libya Over 100 people were injured in the fighting, Libya's Emergency Medicine and Support Center, a medical body that is deployed during humanitarian disasters and wars, said early Wednesday.It is unclear how many of the dead were militiamen or civilians. The Red Crescent did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Throughout the fighting Tuesday, the Health Ministry urged the warring sides to allow ambulance and emergency teams to enter the affected areas, primarily in the south of the city, and for blood to be sent to nearby hospitals. Read also:Italy agrees to lift ban on flights from conflict-stricken Libya after 10 years OPSGroup, an organization for the aviation industry, said late Monday that a large number of aircraft departed from Tripoli due to the clashes. Inbound flights were being diverted to the nearby city of Misrata, it said. The escalation follows months of relative peace after nearly a decade of civil war in Libya, where two rival sets of authorities are locked in a political stalemate. Longstanding divisions have sparked several incidents of violence in Tripoli in recent years, although most have been over in a matter of hours. Read also:Don’t want US foreign policy failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya repeated in Bangladesh: Elected Bangladeshi-American officials, activists write to Biden In a statement Tuesday, the U.N. mission in Libya said it was following with concern "the security incidents and developments" and called for an immediate end to the ongoing clashes.Both of Libya's rival administrations also condemned the fighting in separate statements Tuesday. The House of Representatives, which is based in the eastern city of Benghazi, blamed its rival, the Tripoli-based government, for the violence. The U.S. and British embassies in Libya issued statements expressing concerns over the violence. The United States called for an "immediate de-escalation in order to sustain recent Libyan gains toward stability and elections," the American Embassy said. The oil-rich country has been divided since 2014 between rival administrations in the east and the west, each supported by an array of well-armed militias and different foreign governments. The North African nation has been in a state of upheaval since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

A 40-year-old killed one man in a house before fatally shooting four others on the streets of a Philadelphia neighborhood, then surrendering to police officers after being cornered in an alley with an assault rifle, a pistol, extra magazines, a police scanner and a bulletproof vest, police said. A 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old were also wounded in the Monday night violence that made the working-class area of Kingsessing the site of the nation's worst violence around the July Fourth holiday. Police called to the scene found gunshot victims and started to help them before hearing more shots. Some officers rushed victims to hospitals while others ran toward the gunfire and chased the firing suspect. Officers ultimately arrested the assailant in an alley, Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said at a news conference. The shooter had no connection to the victims before the shooting, she said. Bangladeshi businessman shot dead in South Africa  “On what was supposed to be a beautiful summer evening, this armed and armored individual wreaked havoc, firing with a rifle at their victims seemingly at random,” she said Tuesday afternoon. Staff Inspector Ernest Ransom, the homicide unit commander, said witness interviews and video indicated that the suspect went to several locations in a ski mask and body armor, carrying an AR-15-style rifle. “The suspect then began shooting aimlessly at occupied vehicles and individuals on the street as they walked,” he said. The vehicles included a mother driving her 2-year-old twins home, and one was wounded in the legs and the other hit in the eyes by shattered glass. Pregnant woman fatally shot in car at Seattle intersection Philadelphia police on Tuesday afternoon identified the victims as 20-year-old Lashyd Merritt, 29—year-old Dymir Stanton, 59-year-old Ralph Moralis and 15-year-old Daujan Brown, all pronounced dead shortly after the Monday night gunfire; and 31-year-old Joseph Wamah Jr., who was found in a home early Tuesday, also with multiple bullet wounds. Investigators believe Wamah was the first victim killed, but he wasn't found by family members until hours later, Ransom said. A 2-year-old boy shot four times in the legs and a 13-year-old shot twice in the legs were in stable condition, as were a 2-year-old boy and a 33-year-old woman injured by shattered glass. Russia fires 30 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets; Ukraine says 29 were shot down Police said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and there was no reason to believe anyone else was involved. Police and prosecutors said no charges were planned at this point against a second person taken into custody who is believed to have obtained a gun somewhere and fired back at the shooter. “When you are under fire in a mass shooting, there are rights to protect others and rights to protect yourself,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said. Authorities asked for patience as they investigate every aspect of the shooting. That investigation, Outlaw said, "includes the ‘why.’” Krasner said the suspect would face multiple counts of murder, as well as aggravated assault and weapons charges, and was expected to be denied bail. Outlaw praised the bravery of officers who tended to victims and rushed them to hospitals as others “fearlessly ran toward the sounds of gunfire,” and captured the suspect. "Their swift actions undoubtedly saved additional lives,” she said. At a holiday weekend block party in Baltimore, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) to the southwest of Philadelphia, two people were killed and 28 others were wounded in a shooting. More than half of the victims were 18 or younger, officials said. About four hours after the Philadelphia shooting, gunfire at a neighborhood festival in Fort Worth, Texas, killed three people and wounded eight. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney renewed his oft-repeated call to “do something about America’s gun problem.” “A person walking down the city street with an AR-style rifle and shooting randomly at people while wearing a bulletproof vest with multiple magazines is a disgraceful but all-too-common situation in America,” Kenney said. “I was today at Independence Hall where they wrote that Constitution, and the 2nd Amendment was never intended to protect this.” Krasner said that the morning after the shooting, he saw “completely empty streets” in the traumatized neighborhood on an otherwise beautiful morning. “I saw every porch empty. I saw every door closed. I saw every curtain where there was a curtain pulled. I saw no kids playing,” he said, describing a bicycle left on a corner, apparently untouched for 12 or more hours, “as if everybody understood what happened here was so horrible that for right now this is a desert, and for right now everything that we associate with celebrating Fourth of July is off.” Tim Eads said that on Monday night he heard fireworks, then gunshots, and saw police cars “flying by.” His wife was on the second floor “looking out the bay window and saw the shooter actually coming down this street here behind me.” Eads saw the other man with a pistol who, he said, may have been firing at the shooter. “He was using my car as a shield shooting out into the street,” Eads said. A resident named Roger who declined to give his last name said he and his family were eating in the living room at about 8:30 p.m. when they heard eight to 10 gunshots. “Everybody thought it was fireworks but ... been around here about three years so I heard it enough,” he said. “I looked out the window and seen a bunch of people running.” He said he heard about four more shots and “thought it was the end of it.” Ten minutes later, he said, police came “flying down here,” and about five minutes later he heard rapid gunfire open up right outside the house. The Philadelphia violence was the country’s 29th mass killing in 2023, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University, the highest on record by this time in the year. The number of people killed in such events is also the highest by this time in the year. There have been more than 550 mass killings since 2006, according to the database, in which at least 2,900 people have died and at least 2,000 people have been hurt.

The bodies of two teenagers were recovered from a pond at Navaran Dakshinpara field in Jhikargachha upazila of Jashore district on Sunday afternoon.  The deceased was identified as Parash Hossain, 13, son of Mahasin Hossain of Navaran Belermath village in Jhikargachha upazila. He was a class 5 student of Yaqub Bhuiyan Shishu Academy and Saikat Hossain, 13, son of Sagar Hossain of the same area. He was studying in a madrasa in Jessore. The two of them are cousins. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Jhikargachha Police Station Sumon Bhakta said the body was handed over without an autopsy on the request of the family. A case of unnatural death has been registered in this regard.  

Miscreants hacked a farmer to death at Nawada Khadimpur village in Kushtia's Mirpur upazila early Monday. The deceased was identified as Rabiul Islam Rabi,48, son of late Muktar Biswas of Gangpara area of the village. Ismail Hossain, elder brother of the deceased, said that his brother was sleeping in his house at night. Also Read: Fruit seller hacked to death by miscreants in Chuadanga The miscreants entered the house around 12:30 am and stabbed him multiple times, leaving him seriously injured, he said. Relatives rescued him and admitted to Kushtia General Hospital. He died around 6:30 am on the way to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for better treatment. Also Read: Man hacked to death by son in Sylhet  Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Mirpur Police Station Rafiqul Islam said that some people are being interrogated in connection with the murder. The body was sent to Kushtia General Hospital morgue for post-mortem, he added. Also Read: Village police hacked dead in Narail  

At least 32 people have died off the coast of southern Greece after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank, authorities said Wednesday. A large search and rescue operation was launched in the area. Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far following the nighttime incident some 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Greece's southern Peloponnese region. Also Read: At least 39 migrants dead in bus crash in Panama Four of the survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. It was unclear how many passengers might remain missing at sea after the 32 bodies were recovered, the Greek coast guard said. Six coast guard vessels, a navy frigate, a military transport plane, an air force helicopter, several private vessels and a drone from the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, were taking part in the ongoing search. Also Read: Migrant boat breaks up off Italian coast, killing nearly 60 The Italy-bound boat is believed to have sailed from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya. The Italian coast guard first alerted Greek authorities and Frontex about the approaching vessel on Tuesday. Smugglers are increasingly taking larger boats into international waters off the Greek mainland to try to avoid local coast guard patrols. Also Read: Death toll from Greece train crash rises to 57 On Sunday, 90 migrants on a U.S.-flagged yacht were rescued in the area after they made a distress call. Separately Wednesday, a yacht with 81 migrants on board was towed to a port on the south coast of Greece's island of Crete after authorities received a distress call. Also Read: Greece: 3 dead after boat with migrants hits rocks  

In May, there were 491 road accidents in the country, leaving 408 people dead and 631 injured. Of the deceased, 67 were women and 78 children. As many as 141 people were dead in 156 motorcycle accidents, accounting for 34.55 percent of the total deaths. The motorcycle accident rate is 31.77 percent. As many as 104 pedestrians were killed in accidents, which is 25.49 percent of the total fatalities, according to a press release of the Road Safety Foundation. Also Read: Probe committee formed over Sylhet road accident that killed 15 The Road Safety Foundation has prepared the report based on information from nine national dailies, seven online news portals and electronic media. Seventy-two drivers and their assistants were dead in road accidents last month, which is 17.64 percent of the total. During this period, four people were killed and two were missing in six boat accidents. Twenty-three people were killed and six injured in 25 railway accidents, said the release. Also Read: Bangladesh receives $858 mln World Bank fund for agriculture growth, road safety According to statistics on vehicle-based deaths in accidents, 141 motorcyclists and pillion riders were killed (34.55%); bus passengers killed were six (1.47%); truck, covered-van, pickup, tractor, trolley, lorry, tanker riders killed were 36 (8.82%); private car, microbus, ambulance riders dead were 18 (4.41%); 68 three-wheeler passengers (easy bike, auto-rickshaw, mishuk) riders dead (16.66%); 15 (3.67%) killed in locally modified vehicle (Nosimon-Karimon-Mahindra-Brickbhanga machine cars) accidents; and 20 (4.90%) were killed in bicycle-rickshaw-rickshaw van accidents. Also Read: 487 deaths in 439 road accidents in Feb: Road Safety Foundation According to the Road Safety Foundation's monitoring and analysis, 165 (33.60%) of the accidents occurred on national highways, 201 (40.93%) on regional roads, 73 (14.86%) on rural roads, 48 (9.77%) on urban roads and 4 (0.81%) in other places, it said.  

A 19-year-old Rohingya boy was shot dead allegedly by miscreants at Kutupalong Rohingya camp in Ukhiya upazila on Monday. The deceased was identified as Mohammad Bashir, son of Rahmat Ullah and resident of No 6 camp. Also Read: UN urgently appeals for international support for Rohingyas Sheikh Mohammad Ali, officer-in-charge of Ukhiya Police Station, said a group of masked miscreants, numbering 25-30 , opened fire on the boy, leaving him injured. Later, he was taken to a hospital where the doctors declared him dead. Also Read: UN agencies face funding challenges in feeding Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, official says The reason behind the killing could not be known immediately. Police are trying to arrest the attackers, said OC.