Foreign News
At least 20 dead as tornadoes tear through southern US
At least 20 people have died in the US – including 12 in Missouri alone – after deadly tornadoes tore through several south-eastern states, flipping cars and flattening homes.
Three people were killed in a car crash during a fierce dust storm in Texas, while deaths have also occurred in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
More than 240,000 properties were without power across six states – including Texas, Missouri and Illinois – on Saturday afternoon, according to tracker PowerOutage.
Further severe weather is expected for the region, with tornado watches issued in central Mississippi, eastern Louisiana and western Tennessee.
Flash flooding and flood warnings have also been issued in the same three states, as well as parts of Alabama and Arkansas, as severe weather continues to track across the south-east.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has said these flash floods could prove deadly.
A tornado warning – the highest level of alert – was also issued in central Mississippi on Saturday morning.
The NWS warned of “multiple intense to violent long-track tornadoes” in those areas, describing the situation as “particularly dangerous”.
The meteorological agency said: “If you live in these areas, get to the sturdiest structure you have access to and remain in place until the storms pass.”
Mike Kehoe, governor of Missouri, said the state had been “devastated by severe storms and tornadoes, leaving homes destroyed and lives lost”.
Missouri’s emergency management agency said initial reports indicated 19 tornadoes had struck 25 counties so far.
Arkansas has seen three deaths and 29 injuries – prompting Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to declare a state of emergency.
Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, also declared a state of emergency ahead of a predicted severe weather pattern hitting his state.
The NWS expects the threat of tornadoes to spread into Alabama, Florida and Georgia into Sunday.
Meanwhile, one person died on the road in Oklahoma, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reported, citing officials.
The same dust storm that caused three deaths in Texas on Friday night caused a pile-up of an estimated 38 cars.
“It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” Sgt Cindy Barkley, of the state’s department of public safety, told reporters.
“We couldn’t tell that they were all together until the dust kind of settled.”
A further death has since been reported in Texas.
In Texas and Oklahoma, the destructive storms fuelled more than 100 wildfires and overturned several semi-trailer trucks, CBS reports.
One of those fires, known as the 840 Road Fire, has already burned 27,500 acres and remains 0% contained, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Service. The agency has issued a “red flag” warning for the state’s panhandle area, signalling a severe fire danger.
Tornadoes form when moist, warm air rises, mixing with cold air above to form thunderclouds. Winds blowing from different directions cause the air to rotate, creating a vortex of air moving upwards.
The four states where tornado-related deaths have been confirmed in the past day lie within a path frequently hit by the weather phenomenon.
It has earned this stretch of the US the unofficial name Tornado Alley, because its geography is ideal for tornado formation.
In 2024, 54 people were killed in tornado-related incidents, according to Noaa, Nine people died in Texas. There were eight in Oklahoma, five in Arkansas and one in Missouri.
Peak tornado season in Tornado Alley is from May to June – but meteorologists caution that tornadoes can occur at any time of year.
[BBC]
A strong magnitude 7.5 earthquake has struck off northern Japan, prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning for waves of up to 3 metres (10 feet).
The quake hit on Monday at 4:53pm local time (07:53 GMT) in waters off Iwate prefecture on Japan’s Pacific coast, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). It was felt across a wide area, shaking buildings in Tokyo, hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the south.
The JMA warned that the first tsunami waves could reach parts of the northern coastline immediately. “Evacuate immediately from coastal regions and riverside areas to a safer place such as high ground or an evacuation building,” the agency said.
“Tsunami waves are expected to hit repeatedly. Do not leave safe ground until the warning is lifted.”
Live footage from public broadcaster NHK showed no immediate signs of damage at several ports in Iwate.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government had set up a crisis management team and was working to assess the impact of the earthquake.
“For those of you who live in areas for which the warnings have been issued, please evacuate to higher, safer places such as higher ground,” Takaichi told reporters.
[Aljazeera]
Thousands of prisoners in Myanmar have been granted amnesty or had their sentences reduced. The pardon order by Min Aung Hlaing is one of his first official acts since the coup leader became president this month.
The move comes as the lawyer for jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi told the Reuters news agency that her sentence has been reduced. Former president Win Myint, detained since the 2021 coup, was also pardoned of his convictions, a statement from the presidency said.
Min Aung Hlaing approved an amnesty for 4,335 prisoners, Myanmar’s state television MRTV reported.
A communique on behalf of Min Aung Hlaing said “those serving death sentences shall have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment”, without naming specific prisoners.
“The President has pardoned Win Myint,” said another statement from Min Aung Hlaing’s office. Win Myint was “granted a pardon and the reduction of his remaining sentences under specified conditions”, MRTV said.
Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year sentence on charges her allies describe as politically motivated. Her sentence was cut by one-sixth, her lawyer told Reuters, but it remains unclear whether the Nobel Peace Prize winner will be allowed to serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest. Min Aung Hlaing placed Suu Kyi under arrest after the coup.
Amnesties typically happen as Myanmar marks Independence Day in January and its New Year in April.
Among those to be released are 179 foreign nationals, who will be deported. The amnesty also includes the commutation of all death sentences to life imprisonment, life sentences reduced to 40 years, and a one-sixth reduction in term lengths for all other prisoners.
[Aljazeera]
Several armed men robbed a bank in broad daylight in Naples, holding 25 people hostage before making their escape via a tunnel.
Police surrounded a branch of Crédit Agricole in the southern Italian city shortly after the robbery began around midday local time (10:00 GMT).
Local outlets reported that they negotiated with the robbers before the hostages could be released, about two hours into the robbery.
Firemen could be seen smashing in a window with battering rams and helping people climb out from inside in videos shared on social media.
Some hostages simply shook off the shards of glass and walked on.
But others looked visibly shaken, crying and hugging their relatives. Six people, who were in a state of shock, were offered medical assistance.
One man later told local news site Fanpage.it that the robbers had locked them into a room and that, while they were armed, “they did not use violence”.
Nobody was seriously injured. “Thanks to the swift response… all the hostages were freed shortly after 13:30 without serious injuries,” regional official Michele di Bari said in a statement.
A large crowd of bystanders, local residents and firefighters gathered in the square waiting for developments, while ten of thousands of people tuned into a livestream from the scene of the crime.
Members of the special forces of the carabinieri armed police were urgently flown in from Tuscany.
It was not until several hours later that they stormed the bank by breaking a window.
Several shots and the loud noises of stun grenades could be heard on the live feed shortly after.
But by then, the robbers had reportedly escaped through a tunnel, local media reported. It was thought they could have vanished into the sewer system.
The video feed later showed a number of carabinieri and firefighters peering into a manhole nearby as a crowd continued to mill about the square.
Fanpage.it reported that it was not yet possibly to quantify the value of the loot taken because the robbers had seized personal safety deposit boxes rather than cash.
(BBC)
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