(LONDON) — A driver was taken into custody after allegedly striking and injuring several pedestrians and cyclists in southwestern France, the interior minister said.
“An investigation has been opened,” Laurent Nunez, the minister, said in French on social media. “At the request of the prime minister, I am heading to the scene.”
The strikes appeared to have been along a “route” through Saint Pierre and Dolus, two villages about 4 miles apart on the island of Oleron, Nunez said.
Two of those who were struck were in serious condition and three others were injured, he added.
Details about the driver and the vehicle were not immediately released.
(ROME) — A worker who had been trapped for 11 hours in the partial collapse of a medieval tower in the heart of Rome was rescued late Monday, officials said.
The 66-year-old man was the last of several workers saved in the rescue operation that was briefly interrupted by a second collapse of the 95-foot-tall Torre de’ Conti tower, Luca Cari, a spokesperson for the Rome Fire Service, told ABC News.
Cari said the worker was extracted from the rubble and was being taken to a hospital ambulance with a police escort. His condition was not immediately released.
“We have achieved an exceptional feat: the injured man has been extracted, brought to ground level, and is already in the ambulance. We can give the exceptional news that he is alive,” Cari said.
Before being saved, the trapped worker was conscious and communicating with search-and-rescue crews, Cari said. About 140 firefighters responded to the scene, some digging with their bare hands to free the worker.
Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri told reporters on Monday evening, just before the last rescue was made, that doctors had reached the worker and supplied him with oxygen.
No firefighters were injured in the incident, officials said.
The tower is in the historic part of central Rome near the Roman Forum and the Colosseum.
Cari said the emergency unfolded around 11 a.m. local time. At the time of the first collapse, 11 workers from two companies were working on the tower.
“It all happened suddenly,” one of the workers told Italy’s ANSA news agency. “Then I only saw the cloud of dust and the rescuers.”
Cari said the second partial collapse occurred about an hour after the first, while firefighters were attempting to rescue the workers.
At least three other workers were pulled from the rubble, two of them unharmed, officials said. One rescued worker, a 64-year-old man, was taken to a hospital with a head injury, officials said.
At least 31 workers rescued after tunnel collapse in Los Angeles: LAFD The cause of the collapse remains under investigation.
The tower has been closed to the public since 2007, but recently received a large grant from Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan for the renovation, officials said.
The Torre dei Conti tower, which dates back to the 13th century, was built by Pope Innocent III as a residence for his family.
(LONDON) — A 32-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly attacking multiple people with a knife aboard a train headed to London on Saturday evening, according to police, a crime the prime minister called an “appalling incident.”
In a statement shortly after the attack, British Transport Police (BTP) said two people had been arrested. On Sunday afternoon, however, police said a 35-year-old London man initially taken into custody had been released after investigators determined he was not involved.
The victim who was most seriously injured in the attack is a member of the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) staff, who was stabbed when he intervened in an attempt to stop the attack.
Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy of the BTP praised the railway staff member on Sunday afternoon for protecting other passengers, saying security video aboard the train captured the employee’s courageous actions.
“Having viewed the CCTV from the train, the actions of the member of rail staff were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved people’s lives,” Cundy said.
The LNER staffer remained hospitalized on Sunday evening in “life-threatening condition,” according to the BTP. Five other people who were hospitalized with stabbing injuries have been treated and released, according to police.
BTP Superintendent John Loveless said a total of 10 people were taken to hospitals by ambulance, and that an eleventh alleged victim went to a hospital on their own later Sunday night. Initially, Loveless said nine people appeared to have life-threatening injuries when they were taken from the scene.
The BTP said in a statement that it began receiving reports at 7:42 p.m. on Sunday about the stabbings aboard the LNER train that was headed from the city of Doncaster to London’s King’s Cross station.
“Our investigation is moving at pace and we are confident we are not looking for anyone else in connection to the incident,” Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy of the BTP said on Sunday afternoon.
Armed officers boarded the train when it made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon, roughly 70 miles north of London, and arrested the suspect, whose name was not immediately released, according to Cundy.
“A knife was recovered by officers at the scene,” the BTP statement said Sunday afternoon.
The suspect is from Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire, about 74 miles from London, according to Cundy, who also said investigators believe the suspect boarded the train at the Peterborough station.
“As would be expected, specialist detectives are looking into the background of the suspect we have in custody and the events that led up to the attack,” Cundy said.
“This was a horrific attack that has had a wide impact,” Cundy added. “My thoughts and those of everyone in the British Transport Police are with those injured and their families — especially the brave member of the rail staff whose family are being supported by specialist officers.”
The UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing is supporting the investigation to establish “the full circumstances and motivation for this incident,” the BTP said in a statement.
“At this stage, there is nothing to suggest this is a terrorist incident,” Loveless said. “At this early stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.”
Speaking at the scene of the attack on Sunday morning, Loveless said the suspect was arrested within eight minutes of the first emergency call being received.
“The appalling incident on a train near Huntingdon is deeply concerning,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement on social media. “My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a post on X that she was receiving “regular updates” on the investigation.
“Two suspects have been immediately arrested and taken into custody,” she wrote, adding, “I urge people to avoid comment and speculation at this early stage.”
King Charles III, meanwhile, said in a statement posted to the Royal Family’s official X account, “My wife and I were truly appalled and shocked to hear of the dreadful knife attack that took place on board a train in Cambridgeshire last night.”
“Our deepest sympathy and thoughts are with all those affected, and their loved ones,” the king said. “We are particularly grateful to the emergency services for their response to this awful incident.”
(LONDON) — A 32-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder for allegedly attacking multiple people with a knife aboard a train headed to London on Saturday evening, according to police, a crime the prime minister called an “appalling incident.”
In a statement shortly after the attack, British Transport Police (BTP) said two people had been arrested. On Sunday afternoon, however, police said a 35-year-old London man initially taken into custody had been released after investigators determined he was not involved.
The victim who was most seriously injured in the attack is a member of the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) staff, who was stabbed when he intervened in an attempt to stop the attack.
Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy of the BTP praised the railway staff member on Sunday afternoon for protecting other passengers, saying security video aboard the train captured the employee’s courageous actions.
“Having viewed the CCTV from the train, the actions of the member of rail staff were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved people’s lives,” Cundy said.
The LNER staffer remained hospitalized on Sunday evening in “life-threatening condition,” according to the BTP. Five other people who were hospitalized with stabbing injuries have been treated and released, according to police.
BTP Superintendent John Loveless said a total of 10 people were taken to hospitals by ambulance, and that an eleventh alleged victim went to a hospital on their own later Sunday night. Initially, Loveless said nine people appeared to have life-threatening injuries when they were taken from the scene.
The BTP said in a statement that it began receiving reports at 7:42 p.m. on Sunday about the stabbings aboard the LNER train that was headed from the city of Doncaster to London’s King’s Cross station.
“Our investigation is moving at pace and we are confident we are not looking for anyone else in connection to the incident,” Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy of the BTP said on Sunday afternoon.
Armed officers boarded the train when it made an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon, roughly 70 miles north of London, and arrested the suspect, whose name was not immediately released, according to Cundy.
“A knife was recovered by officers at the scene,” the BTP statement said Sunday afternoon.
The suspect is from Peterborough in the county of Cambridgeshire, about 74 miles from London, according to Cundy, who also said investigators believe the suspect boarded the train at the Peterborough station.
“As would be expected, specialist detectives are looking into the background of the suspect we have in custody and the events that led up to the attack,” Cundy said.
“This was a horrific attack that has had a wide impact,” Cundy added. “My thoughts and those of everyone in the British Transport Police are with those injured and their families — especially the brave member of the rail staff whose family are being supported by specialist officers.”
The UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing is supporting the investigation to establish “the full circumstances and motivation for this incident,” the BTP said in a statement.
“At this stage, there is nothing to suggest this is a terrorist incident,” Loveless said. “At this early stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.”
Speaking at the scene of the attack on Sunday morning, Loveless said the suspect was arrested within eight minutes of the first emergency call being received.
“The appalling incident on a train near Huntingdon is deeply concerning,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement on social media. “My thoughts are with all those affected, and my thanks go to the emergency services for their response.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a post on X that she was receiving “regular updates” on the investigation.
“Two suspects have been immediately arrested and taken into custody,” she wrote, adding, “I urge people to avoid comment and speculation at this early stage.”
King Charles III, meanwhile, said in a statement posted to the Royal Family’s official X account, “My wife and I were truly appalled and shocked to hear of the dreadful knife attack that took place on board a train in Cambridgeshire last night.”
“Our deepest sympathy and thoughts are with all those affected, and their loved ones,” the king said. “We are particularly grateful to the emergency services for their response to this awful incident.”
ABC News’ Rashid Haddou and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Two people arrested in the investigation into the Louvre Museum robbery last month have been formally charged in connection with the case, according to the Paris Public Prosecutor’s office. Both denied their involvement in the robbery.
Two others were charged in connection with the heist this week.
French authorities identified the new suspects as a 37-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman. They were charged with organized robbery and conspiracy to commit organized robbery and remanded into custody.
Additionally, three of the five people arrested on Oct. 29 have been released from custody, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 19, four masked thieves stole eight pieces of jewelry from the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum, that were valued at $102 million. The robbery, which authorities say took just seven minutes, sparked a national outcry and nationwide manhunt.
The stolen jewels remain missing, authorities say.
Last week, one suspect was arrested at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria, police said, while the second suspect was detained as he was about to travel to Mali.
The logo of the United Nations at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly in New York. Over 140 heads of state and government are expected to attend the world’s largest diplomatic event over several days. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa (Photo by Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The United Nations said Friday that U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean violate international human rights law and must stop.
In a statement to ABC News, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that the attacks breach international law and called for an investigation into the strikes.
“These attacks – and their mounting human cost – are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them,” Türk said.
“Under international human rights law, the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life,” he added. “Based on the very sparse information provided publicly by the U.S. authorities, none of the individuals on the targeted boats appeared to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them under international law.”
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told ABC News that President Donald Trump is working to eliminate threats to U.S. security.
“The UN has failed at everything from operating an escalator to ending wars — it’s ridiculous that they are now lecturing President Trump and running cover for evil narcoterrorists trying to murder Americans. The President acted in line with the laws of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from destroying lives,” Kelly said.
Since September, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have executed over a dozen military strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, arguing they are anti-drug and counter-terrorism measures.
Over 60 people have allegedly been killed in the strikes, according to U.S. officials.
In announcing the latest and most deadly strike Wednesday, Hegseth said the U.S. “carried out a lethal kinetic strike on yet another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization in the Eastern Pacific.”
“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” he added.
This is the first time the U.N. has condemned the strikes.
“The United States should investigate and, if necessary, prosecute and punish individuals accused of serious crimes in accordance with the fundamental rule of law principles of due process and fair trial, for which the U.S. has long stood,” a statement from his office reads.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk, mirrored this sentiment at a Friday U.N. briefing.
“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats,” she said.
[Editor’s Note: This story includes graphic descriptions of alleged torture.]
(NEW YORK) — The bodies of some unidentified Palestinians handed over by Israel as part of the ceasefire agreement showed severe signs of torture, according to an aid worker who inspected at least 10 bodies.
“People’s bodies were covered in scars and what looked like open wounds. … It was just horrific,” Moureen Kaki, a Palestinian American activist and aid worker with medical charity Glia, told ABC News.
The bodies had signs of binding the hands and feet, contortion of limbs, cut off fingertips and disfigured heads, according to Kaki. Their hands had “gone stiff” and were “fixed” in a contorted position “as if they’d been that way for a long time,” she noted.
Kaki told ABC News she has not yet formally reported the alleged torture to a government or humanitarian agency.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal that involved a hostage exchange earlier this month. All remaining living hostages held by Hamas have been turned over to Israel and Hamas said it is continuing to search for the bodies of some deceased hostages.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Israel also turned over living and dead Palestinians in its custody.
The Israel Defense Forces rejected the allegations of torture and told ABC News that it operates “strictly in accordance with international law,” in a statement last week.
The type of scarring on the unidentified Palestinian bodies was “pretty consistent across most of them” and several bodies had “what looked like gunshot wounds in their legs,” according to Kaki.
“Probably about six” of the corpses she looked at had fingers missing, she noted.
“Every single person that I looked at had their hands and feet bound, or like traces of their hands or feet were bound in some way,” Kaki said.
In its statement rejecting allegations of torture, the IDF said it “did not tie any bodies prior to their release to the [Gaza] Strip.”
The bodies were returned by Israel without names and some had numbers “spray-painted” onto them, according to Kaki, who spoke from inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. She has been based in Gaza non-stop since June 2024.
The corpses examined had possibly been held by Israel for as long as two years, Kaki noted.
The bodies had decomposed to some extent by the time she examined them, but medical professionals from Nasser Hospital believe that some sort of preservation process had been applied to the corpses while they were held by Israel, Kaki said.
Asked how confident she could be that the bodies had evidence of torture, Kaki said, “I would say 99% [sure] and the only 1% is that I didn’t see it [the alleged torture] with my own eyes.”
The Nasser Hospital medical professionals who inspected the bodies told her “that this was clearly torture and that most of it, if not all of it, was done while these people were still alive,” Kaki said.
ABC News has reviewed graphic images of corpses obtained by Kaki. The photos were taken from a Palestinian journalist whom Kaki said was present when she examined the bodies. The images appeared to back up her account.
More than 1,900 living Palestinian prisoners and detainees who were released by Israel under the ceasefire agreement. Kaki said she spoke to 35 former detainees who said they had experienced torture.
She also examined wounds on their bodies and, according to Kaki, their accounts “lined up very clearly with what their bodies showed.”
The IDF described the allegations as “false propaganda” and said “all of the [Palestinian] bodies returned [to Gaza] so far are from combatants within the Gaza Strip.”
A mass burial was held for 54 unidentified Palestinians in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza last week.
Kaki said she believed authorities in Gaza were ultimately unable to identify the bodies returned due to their deformities and injuries.
The Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health observed numerous clusters with discoloration around them, consistent with the appearance of human bodies in the Darfur region of Sudan. (Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health)
(NEW YORK) — Satellite images and verified videos paint a harrowing picture of door-to-door mass killings in the Darfur region of war-torn Sudan as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary rebels captured a key city in the region.
The Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at the Yale School of Public Health says they observed numerous clusters with discoloration around them, consistent with the appearance of human bodies across the city as RSF advanced.
The apparent masses were seen in a hospital, all over residential neighborhoods, on the outskirts of the city and by military bases of the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The alleged killings took place “in under 72 hours since RSF took control of the city,” Nathaniel Raymond, an American human rights and war crimes investigator at HRL who has been documenting the massacres in Sudan with satellite imagery, told ABC News.
With his team at the research lab, Raymond said he observed “an explosion of objects that measure between 1.3 to 2 meters proliferate all over the ground,” which HRL Yale concluded is human bodies due to the length, shape and videos from the ground showing alleged systematic civilian killings.
“In Daraja Oula — a neighborhood where civilians have been hiding — we’re seeing a tactical posture on the vehicles that is highly consistent with house-to-house killing,” Raymond told ABC News. “This is also consistent with video and testimony from those who reached Tawila. Particularly women, who said that the men are being separated by RSF and then they hear gunshots.”
The research lab also observed discoloration around these objects, which they concluded is blood, further confirmed by the presence of Rapid Support Forces (RSF) military vehicles always spotted in close proximity, Raymond said. An update on the report shows that the piles have grown and none of the original objects have moved, Raymond told ABC News.
Researchers said they also corroborated reports of alleged executions at Saudi Hospital, where at least four clusters of bodies appeared. “We see a line of people standing on day one at an RSF detention facility that was formerly a children’s hospital. On day two, we see a pile now in the corner consistent with the color and length of those individuals who are standing there in a line on the previous day,” Raymond said.
On the outskirts of El Fasher, HRL Yale also said they observed multiple clusters appearing between Oct. 26 and Oct. 27, consistent with reports of civilians being killed as they tried to flee. West of the city, along its encircling berm, at least six clusters were observed as well as adjacent technical vehicles, which were not seen in images from Oct. 28, suggesting RSF had moved, leaving the large clusters of bodies behind, according to the research lab.
RSF has also taken control of the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) military bases in the city, the HRL analysis appears to show.
Satellite images from Oct. 26 show at least 15 new munition scars and thermal burns on the ground of the 6th Division HQ of the opposing Sudanese Armed Forces in a comparison with images from Oct. 15.
“We’ve seen that all of the Sudan Armed Forces vehicles left en masse at about the same time. Which is consistent with reports that they escaped in the night in what now appears to be a negotiated deal with the Rapid Support Forces, leaving the civilians in Al-Fasher to die,” Raymond said.
During the offensive, El Fasher has been cut off from the outside world. Besieged for 18 months — the UN called it the “epicentre of suffering” — and now with RSF forces inside the city, there is no observable mass movement of people fleeing, likely prevented from escaping the alleged killings in what experts fear is just the beginning of devastating violence.
In January, the U.S. State Department announced it had concluded members of the RSF had committed genocide in Sudan, specifically pointing to human rights violations in Darfur. Raymond says what we are seeing “is the final battle of the Darfur genocide that began 20 years ago.”
Compared to previous RSF offensives — such as one in April on the largest displacement camp in Darfur, ZamZam — humanitarian observers are suggesting the new satellite imagery shows a more systematic way of killing that is making them warn of a possible genocide unfolding.
“Here, in the case of El Fasher, what’s different? They’re not burning the city to the ground. They have the city encircled. They are controlling the entrance and exit. And they are moving pretty systematically, unlike ZamZam. Pretty systematically, block by block. And as they move, we see objects consistent with bodies, often with discoloration, appear,” Raymond told ABC News.
From testimony on the ground, those who have fled said that men have been separated from women and children, who are now likely in hiding, but are next in the firing line, Raymond said.
“It’s now going to accelerate,” he said. “We haven’t even hit top velocity. The people that they will kill now are those who are hiding. And they’re mostly women and children… Now it’ll be those who were too weak to run or those men who were hiding and trying to protect them from the RSF.”
Margaryta Galych/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities with 705 missiles and drones overnight into Thursday, according to Ukraine’s air force, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reporting strikes on civilian targets and energy infrastructure all across the country.
Russia launched 653 drones and 52 missiles of various types in its attack, Ukraine’s air force said. Of those, 592 drones and 31 missiles were shot down or otherwise suppressed, the air force said. Sixteen missiles and 63 drones impacted across 20 locations, the air force said.
Wednesday night’s attack was the second-largest Russian drone and missile barrage of the full-scale invasion to date, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.
Only the bombardment of the night of Sept. 6 to 7 — in which Russia launched a combined total of 823 drones and missiles into Ukraine — was larger.
Zelenskyy said attacks were reported in the capital Kyiv and at least nine other Ukrainian regions, stretching from frontline areas in the southeast of the country to the border with Poland in the west.
“It was a complex, combined strike,” Zelenskyy said in a post to social media. At least two people were killed in a strike on a residential building in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, with “tens of people” injured, the president said.
“There have also been many vile strikes on energy facilities and civilian life across the regions,” Zelenskyy wrote. “All the necessary services are deployed on the sites. All efforts should be made to restore power and water supply as swiftly as possible wherever it’s been disrupted.”
“Russia continues its terrorist war against life itself, and it’s crucial that every such vile attack on civilians boomerangs back on Russia with concrete consequences — sanctions and real pressure,” Zelenskyy continued.
“We count on America, Europe, and the G7 countries not to ignore this,” he wrote. “New steps are needed to increase pressure — on Russia’s oil and gas industry, its financial system and through secondary sanctions on those who bankroll this war.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 173 Ukrainian drones overnight into Thursday. Nine were downed over the Moscow region, including six that were “heading to Moscow,” the ministry said.
