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At least 43 dead as Helene pummels southeast US

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At least 43 people have died and millions left without power on Friday as Hurricane Helene roared through the south-eastern US.

It was the most powerful storm on record to hit Florida’s Big Bend and moved north into Georgia and the Carolinas after making landfall overnight on Thursday.

Although Helene has weakened significantly, forecasters warn that high winds, flooding and the threat of tornadoes would continue.

Roads and houses were submerged on Friday, with one family describing to the BBC News how they had to swim out of their home to safety. Insurers and financial institutions say damage caused by the storm could run into the billions of dollars.

The eye of Helene, which had been a Category Four storm, came ashore on Thursday night.  Helene remained a hurricane for six hours after it made landfall, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said a storm surge – heightened water levels mostly caused by high winds blowing water towards shore – reached more than 15ft (4.5m) above ground level across parts of the Florida coast.

The NHC said the surge should subside on Friday but that the threat from high winds and flooding would persist, including possible landslides.

Up to 20in (50cm) of rain is still possible in places.

The hurricane is the 14th most powerful to hit the US since records began. At approximately 420 miles (675 km) wide, it is behind only two other hurricanes – Ida in 2017 and Opal in 1996, both of which were 460 miles wide.

Because of its sheer size, the impact of strong winds and heavy rain have been widespread across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

At least eight people have died in Florida since Friday, including at least five people in Pinellas County, the county’s sheriff, Bob Gualtieri said.

Pinellas County includes the city of St Petersburg on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said one person died after a road sign fell on their car and another when a tree fell on a home.

Two people in Wheeler County in Georgia also died, authorities said, when a suspected tornado picked up and overturned a mobile home.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said at least 15 people died in his state, including one first responder. Kemp ordered 1,000 National Guard troops to help rescue efforts.

The Georgia governor said more than 150 roads have been closed, 1,300 traffic signals are out across the state and people are still trapped in buildings.

In South Carolina, at least 17 people were killed, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. Neighbouring North Carolina saw at least two fatalities in the storm, one due to a vehicle collision and another when a tree fell on a home in Charlotte, Governor Roy Cooper said.

And one person was killed in Virginia, the state’s governor, Glenn Youngkin, said at a news conference Friday.

Across the southeast, first responders have been tackling daring rescues, using helicopters, boats and large vehicles to help people stranded in flooded homes. In North Carolina along, more than 100 rescues have taken place, Cooper said.

Two tornadoes were confirmed in North Carolina by the National Weather Service. One damaged approximately 11 buildings, and left 15 injured. Four people were taken to hospital in “serious” condition, the weather service said.

In Tennessee, 58 patients and staff were left stranded on the roof of a hospital in the city of Erwin on Friday. Swift-moving water from the Nolichucky River prevented boats from being able to conduct rescue operations, and high winds prevented helicopter rescue.

The group was later taken to safety after helicopters from the Tennessee National Guard and the Virginia State Police intervened.

Across the region some four million homes and businesses were without power late Friday, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.

In Pasco County, north of Tampa on Florida’s Gulf coast, 65 people have been rescued, and in Lee County, to the south, many roads are impassable.

Also along the Florida coast, hotel guests were evacuated from a Ramada Inn in Manatee County as the hotel was flooded with water.

And in Suwannee County to the north, authorities reported “extreme destruction”, with trees falling onto homes.

Michael Brennan, the director of the NHC, said damaging winds are forecast to continue hitting Georgia and the Carolinas throughout Friday, especially over the higher terrain of the Southern Appalachians.

Speaking from the White House on Thursday evening, President Joe Biden urged residents to “listen to local officials and follow evacuation warnings”.

In Taylor County, the Sheriff’s department said that people who refused to evacuate should write their names and dates of birth on their arms in permanent ink “so that you can be identified and family notified”.

Path of the storm through the southern US, from Thursday, through Georgia in the early hours of Friday, and north to Tennessee by Friday afternoon
Getty Images Floating debris seen in Cedar Key, Florida
Floating debris seen in Cedar Key, Florida [BBC]

Briana Gagnier told the BBC how she and her family saw water creeping into their home on Holmes Beach, Florida, and started moving their belongings onto tables and beds before hearing a loud bang. “My family and I all looked at one another,” she said. “Then water just started pouring in.”

Ms Gagnier said she grabbed her pets, her wallet and some portable chargers and swam out of their home with her family. The water was up to their shoulders.

“We also encourage all communities to please continue to listen to your local officials,” FEMA Deputy Administrator Erik Hooks said Friday. “Just because the storm has passed where you are doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re safe to leave your home.”

Officials also reminded residents the effects of the storm are “not over yet” and urged residents to remain vigilant.

Hurricanes need sea surface temperatures of more than 27C (80F) to fuel them.

With exceptionally warm waters of the Gulf at 30-32C, the sea surface is about two degrees Celsius above normal for the time of year.

Florida’s 220-mile Big Bend coast is where Hurricane Idalia made landfall in 2023. The area was also battered by Hurricane Debby last month.

There could be as many as 25 named storms in 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned earlier this year.

Between eight and 13 of those storms could develop into hurricanes and a handful already have including Helene.

More storms could be on the horizon as the official end of hurricane season will not arrive until 30 November, officials warned.

[BBC]



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Rare pink diamond goes on display in France 100 years after amateur heist

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The nine-carat, pear-shaped gemstone was one of few royal jewels to survive the French Revolution (BBC)

A rare pink diamond is going on display in France for the first time since it was stolen almost 100 years ago to the day – the last time it was shown to the public.

The nine-carat, pear-shaped gemstone known as the “Grand Condé” was pilfered in an overnight raid on the Château de Chantilly in October 1926 and concealed in a hollowed-out apple.

The diamond – one of few royal jewels to survive the French Revolution – was recovered a few weeks later when a hungry maid at the hotel in which the thieves were staying took a bite of the apple.

It will once again be on display in the Condé Museum at the Château de Chantilly until 3 January.

The museum’s director Mathieu Deldicque said that while the apple story may sounds far-fetched, it was widely covered by newspapers at the time.

Deldicque has faced questions about whether the exhibition may be tempting fate, especially given the string of heists on European cultural institutions in the past 12 months, including the daring daylight robbery of jewellery from the Louvre museum in Paris.

While he declined to reveal to CNN how much the diamond was insured for, he noted that extensive academic study into the properties of the diamond had taken place to make it uniquely identifiable.

The results of this analysis, as well as previously unseen archive material about the gem’s history and theft, form part of the exhibition, according to the museum.

Naturally occurring pink diamonds are exceptionally rare and often sell for tens of millions of dollars. The highest price ever fetched for one at auction was $71.2m (£53.6m) in 2017, according to Sotheby’s.

The exact origins of the Grand Condé remain a mystery.

It was first mentioned in 1740 in an inventory of Louis Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, drawn up following his death, the Château de Chantilly said.

It then became part of the collection of Queen Marie-Amélie of Bourbon-Sicily, the wife of French King Louis Philippe I, and then her son, Prince Henri of Orléans, the Duke of Aumale.

He bequeathed it to the Institut de France, which now owns the Château de Chantilly, 50km (31 miles) north of Paris, along with thousands of artworks and manuscripts which became the Musée Condé collection.

(BBC)

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Nursery owner in China jailed for life after hundreds of children poisoned

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Kitchen staff was instructed to use inedible paint to enhance the look of meals to attract more students, the court found (BBC)

A nursery owner and five members of her staff have been jailed after they were found to have poisoned more than 200 children with lead-tainted food.

Li Huifang, who operated the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui, in the Gansu province, was sentenced to life in prison for producing and selling toxic and harmful food, according to Chinese state media.

In July 2025, 247 pupils and staff at the nursery were found to have abnormally high blood lead levels after children began falling ill.

A report into the incident found that chefs at Heshi Peixin had used inedible paint to “enhance the look” of its meals to attract more students – despite the paint being being clearly marked as such.

In addition to the sentence, the Lanzhou Intermediate People’s Court also ordered the confiscation of 500,000 yuan (£56,200; $74,700) of Li’s personal assets, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Nursery executive principal Zhi Jinglin was sentenced to 15 years in prison and fined 300,000 yuan.

Four other members of staff who worked in the nursery’s kitchen received sentences of between six to eight years, according to state media.

The court found the four had been instructed by Li and Zhi to add toxic and harmful ingredients to food served to children and staff.

Food samples were later found to contain lead 2,000 times in excess of China’s national safety limit.

The investigation into the poisoning began after 235 children from Heshi Peixin nursery had to be treated for lead poisoning after eating steamed red date cakes and sausage corn buns.

Investigators found that the red date cake and the corn sausage rolls had lead levels of 1052mg/kg and 1340mg/kg respectively, both of which far exceed the national food safety standard limit of 0.5mg/kg.

Lead poisoning is “particularly harmful to young children” and can “severely damage the brain and central nervous system”, according to the World Health Organization.

Officials later found that dozens of provincial officials and hospital staff attempted to cover up the incident by tampering with blood tests and accepting bribes from a nursery investor.

China has since published a set of national guidelines for the provision of meals on campuses. Among the measures is the requirement for every new batch of food to be tested, and for flour, rice and cooking oil to be purchased from centralised procurement points only.

(BBC)

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Houthi missile attack on Yemeni presidential palace kills five, minister says

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Verified video footage showed smoke above the presidential palace in Aden (BBC)

Five people have been killed and 16 injured in a Houthi missile attack targeting the presidential palace in the port city of Aden in southern Yemen, which is the seat of the internationally-recognised government, officials say.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told the BBC that the prime minister and other ministers were unhurt when five ballistic missiles hit al-Maashiq Palace.

The Houthis’ military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said they struck “the Saudi enemy’s military operations headquarters in Aden”.

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia backs the government and is providing air support for an offensive by pro-government forces against the Iran-backed Houthis.

Yemeni health minister Qasim Buhaibeh said the casualties included “those working to guard the site and civilian employees”.

The country’s Prime Minister Shaya Zindani condemned the Houthis’ attack on Aden, calling it “cowardly” and a “continuation of their criminal behaviour”.

He said the government continued to carry out its duties and vowed that it would not weaken the resolve of its forces to continue operations against the Houthis on Yemen’s south-western Red Sea coast and other front lines.

Earlier, the Houthis denied that they had attacked Saudi Arabia on Thursday, after the coalition said its forces had intercepted a cruise missile in the Medina region, home to one of Islam’s holiest shrines.

Maps of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, showing Houthi control of territory and recent advances by pro-government forces (11 October 2026)

The Houthis have been launching missiles and drones at airports, oil and gas facilities, and military bases in Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the strikes on the territory that they control in western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

On Saturday, a Houthi missile strike killed 13 people at Riyadh’s international airport, which was the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.

Saudi Arabia’s deputy foreign minister accused Iran of encouraging the Houthis to escalate their conflict with the kingdom.

“Iran continues to arm, train and support the Houthi militia in violation of UN Security Council resolutions,” Rayed Krimly told reporters, according to AFP news agency.

“We think that the escalation by the Houthis at this latest stage of the conflict is encouraged by Iran,” he added.

There was no immediate response from Iran’s government. However, it has previously denied supplying weapons to the Houthis and said it only supports them politically.

Iran’s foreign minister has also said it is ready to provide “any assistance necessary to facilitate the start of talks” between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.

Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally-recognised government from Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015, after the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened in an attempt to restore the government’s rule.

A four-year-old informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said they were retaliating for what they call a Saudi blockade of their territory, as well as an air strike on Sanaa airport that they blamed on the kingdom.

The conflict escalated in September after the Houthis seized part of Yemen’s south-western Red Sea coast near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint for global shipping. Their advance contributed to a rise in oil prices following six months of war between the US, Israel and Iran.

Last week, pro-government forces said they had regained control of territory overlooking Bab al-Mandab after launching a major counter-offensive with the support of Saudi air strikes.

At least 1,282 people have been killed and 5,890 injured in the fighting in Yemen since 6 August, according to the government’s health ministry.

The UN says another 201,000 people have been displaced and that there has been an alarming surge in suspected cholera cases.

(BBC)

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