Millions without power as outages hit Spain, Portugal and parts of France, Spanish officials say
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(LONDON) — Millions of people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France lost power on Monday due to an unknown grid issue, the Spanish government confirmed to ABC News.
The Spanish government said it called an emergency crisis meeting to fix the situation as soon as possible.
Authorities, meanwhile, asked people to stay at home and to avoid circulating, while emergency generators were also being put in place.
Red Eléctrica, the corporation that operates the national electricity grid in Spain, confirmed power outages across the country.
“Plans to restore the electricity supply have been activated in collaboration with companies in the sector following the zero that occurred in the peninsular system,” it wrote in a post to X. “The causes are being analyzed and all resources are being dedicated to solving it.”
A later post said power was recovered in some areas.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
LONDON and BELGRADE — Dozens of people were killed in a fire at a nightclub in North Macedonia’s southern city of Kocani, local authorities said Sunday.
At least 59 people — all aged 18 to 23 — were killed, Pance Toshkovski, North Macedonian minister of interior, said during a news conference on Sunday. Among the victims was a police officer, who was in the nightclub on duty, Toshkovski said.
Dr. Kristina Serafimova, the head of the Kocani General Hospital, told ABC News that those who perished were killed by smoke inhalation, burns and a stampede triggered by the fire. Serafimova said there was only one exit from the nightclub.
Another 155 people were injured in the incident, all of whom are aged between 14 and 24, Serafimova and Toshkovski said. Around 10 of those injured are in critical condition and on respirators fighting for their lives, Serafimova said.
The most serious cases have all been transferred to hospitals in other parts of the country or abroad, Serafimova said.
Arrest warrants have been issued for four people, said Toshkovski, who declined to provide further information. Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire and possible safety violations.
Toshkovski said the Ministry of Economy and Public Prosecutor’s Office are collecting documents related to the nightclub and those alleged to have been responsible for the tragedy.
A switchboard operator at one of the hospitals treating victims told ABC News, “It’s a catastrophic tragedy.”
The manager of the band DNK, which was performing at the nightclub when the fire broke out, told ABC News that the venue had a maximum capacity of 500 to 700 people.
The band, which consists of eight members, was performing at the time of the fire and some of them were among the injured, the manager said.
As more details of the incident emerged, the families of the young people who attended the concert — some of them underage — appealed for information on social media, sharing phone numbers and personal details in the hope that those still missing can be found.
Serafimova told ABC News that only around half of the victims were carrying identification. Family members of the missing have been asked to come to Kocani hospital to help identify their loved ones, she added.
The blaze began around 2:35 a.m. local time, according to Interior Minister Toshkovski, who said the venue’s roof was set on fire by pyrotechnics used by clubbers.
Toshkovski said police arrested one man, but did not give any further details.
North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote on X, “The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable.”
“The government is fully mobilized and will do everything necessary to deal with the consequences and determine the causes of this tragedy,” Mickoski added. “In these times of deep sadness, when our hearts are broken with pain due to this terrible tragedy, I call for unity, solidarity, humanity and responsibility.”
Among those offering condolences from abroad was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery,” he wrote in a post to X. “Ukraine mourns alongside our [North] Macedonian friends on this sad day.”
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said his nation was ready “to provide any assistance that may be needed.”
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said on X that she was “deeply saddened” by the “terrible tragedy.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(ROME) — Pope Francis “slept all night” following Monday’s medical intervention amid two episodes of “acute respiratory failure,” the Vatican said Tuesday.
“The pope slept all night, now he continues his rest,” the Holy See, the Vatican’s press office, said in a brief update.
The episodes on Monday were caused by a “significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and consequent bronchospasm,” the Vatican said.
According to doctors, acute respiratory failure indicates the pope was not responding to oxygen therapy. Endobronchial mucus means there is mucus and fluid in the deep parts of the lung or lungs, causing a bronchospasm, also known as a coughing attack, doctors said.
The pope’s prognosis “remains reserved,” the Vatican said in its Monday evening update.
Francis, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia. The 88-year-old pontiff had a bronchospasm attack on Friday, church officials said.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — Dozens were injured, including children, in a Russian strike on Ukraine, officials said Monday, as American and Russian negotiators meet again in Saudi Arabia in the White House’s continued push for a ceasefire and eventual peace deal to end Moscow’s three-year-old war on Ukraine.
A proposed pause on strikes targeting energy infrastructure is expected to be among the topics of discussion, with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy having already indicated their support — at least in principle — for the plan.
Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported that the American and Russian teams began the behind-closed-doors talks in Riyadh on Monday morning. After more than eight hours, they were still ongoing, Russian state media reported.
President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — who has been central to talks with both Moscow and Kyiv — expressed hope for progress on Sunday, telling Fox News that the president’s “philosophy of peace through strength brings people to the table to clear up misconceptions and to get peace deals done.”
“I’m not sure how anyone would expect an end to a conflict when you’re not communicating,” Witkoff said.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, said this weekend that “there are difficult negotiations ahead.” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television, “We are only at the beginning of this path.”
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said proposals to ensure the safety of Black Sea shipping would be among the topics discussed in Saudi Arabia, suggesting the idea came from Trump and was agreed to by Putin.
The U.S.-Russia meeting on Monday comes on the heels of a meeting between the American and Ukrainian teams in Riyadh on Sunday. Zelenskyy said Sunday evening he had been briefed on the “quite useful” discussion by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, who took part.
“But no matter what we’re discussing with our partners right now, Putin must be pushed to issue a real order to stop the strikes — because the one who brought this war must be the one to take it back,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Moscow’s continued missile and drone attacks across the country. Ukraine has also continued its own long-range drone strikes into Russia.
Witkoff remarks spark concern
Other remarks made by Witkoff over the weekend again piqued concerns in Ukraine and elsewhere that the Trump administration is aligning itself with false or misleading Russian narratives about its decades-long campaigns of meddling and aggression in Ukraine.
Discussing the Ukrainian regions partially occupied and claimed annexed by Russia since 2022 — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — plus Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, Witkoff told conservative media personality Tucker Carlson, “They are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule.”
Witkoff did not acknowledge that the supposed referenda held in those territories — whether in 2014 in the case of Crimea or 2022 in the other regions — were widely dismissed by Western powers, human rights organizations and international bodies as fraudulent and illegitimate.
In September 2022, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. “does not, and will never, recognize any of the Kremlin’s claims to sovereignty over parts of Ukraine that it’s seized by force and now purports to incorporate into Russia.”
Witkoff also touted the apparent warm relationship between Trump and Putin, telling Carlson that the Russian leader claimed to have prayed for “his friend” Trump after the assassination attempt against the president in July 2024. Putin also gave Witkoff a portrait of Trump as a gift, he said.
“This is the kind of connection that we’ve been able to reestablish through a simple word called communication, which many people would say I shouldn’t have had because Putin is a bad guy,” Witkoff said. “I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy.”
Witkoff’s latest remarks have deepened concerns in Ukraine as to the Trump administration’s approach to the nascent peace process.
“What he has said is absolutely unacceptable,” Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee, told ABC News. “Listening to his interview I thought to myself: ‘Who is he? The American president’s envoy or Putin’s envoy?'”
Witkoff, Merezhko added, may have fallen for “Russian propaganda” or may be trying to win Putin’s support for Trump’s ceasefire proposal.
Regardless, Merezhko urged Trump to disavow what he called Witkoff’s “dangerous statements.”
Strikes continue
Meanwhile, deadly cross-border drone attacks continued through the weekend. On Sunday night into Monday morning, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 99 drones into the country, of which 93 were either shot down or lost in flight without causing damage. Russian air defense shot down 28 drones fired into Russian territory by Ukraine, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Dozens of people, including 13 children, were injured in a Russian missile strike on Sumy, the city’s health department said Monday. A school building was partially destroyed in the strike, according to the Emergency Service of Ukraine.
“Moscow speaks of peace while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
“A few hours ago, another horrific Russian bombing of Sumy’s city center injured dozens [of] civilians, including many children,” Sybiha said. “Instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians.”
ABC News’ Yuriy Zaliznyak, Victoria Beaule, Anna Sergeeva and Guy Davies contributed to this report.
