Small plane crashes into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper
A small aircraft flew into the tallest building in Beijing on June 26, 2026, sending huge hunks of debris and plane parts plummeting onto the streets below and prompting crowds to flee.
(BEIJING) — A small aircraft crashed into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper Friday before falling down in front of the building, according to eyewitnesses who spoke with Reuters and the Associated Press and videos posted online and verified by ABC News.
Videos taken by people near the Citic Tower appeared to show the plane striking a high floor before it spun downward and crashed to the ground in front of the tower’s entrance.
Photos showed what appeared to be a hole or broken glass on one side of the building.
Videos, images and search results about the crash are actively being scrubbed from the Chinese internet.
Chinese authorities confirmed the plane crash on Saturday. A short WeChat statement was issued by the local Chaoyang District government, saying that only the pilot was on board the aircraft and was the killed in the collision.
Authorities in their post did not identify the pilot nor a potential motive. In addition, 13 individuals were injured in the building and on the ground, officials said.
The 109-story tower, which opened in 2019, is the tallest building in Beijing and the 10th tallest building in the world, standing 1,732 feet tall. It is a mixed-use building with offices, luxury apartments and hotel rooms.
A protestor throws a rock at Police vehicles on Sandy Row on June 9, 2026 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
(BELFAST, Northern Ireland) — Extra officers from the U.K. are being deployed to Northern Ireland on Thursday following another night of violent unrest over an alleged knife attack by an immigrant suspect.
Scotland will send 90 officers to Northern Ireland to support an additional 200 officers from across the U.K. that were deployed to the region after protesters allegedly set fire to cars, properties and other outdoor objects, pelted cops with projectiles and harassed immigrant healthcare workers on Wednesday, according to investigators and local leaders.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said Thursday that 16 people have been arrested this week in connection with the back-to-back nightly protests in Belfast and other towns. They are looking for more suspects connected to the violent demonstrations.
Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson told reporters that 12 officers were injured during Wednesday night’s incidents, including some who were allegedly struck by Molotov cocktails and other projectiles.
Officers had to use a water cannon to disperse some of the crowds.
“Our communities in Northern Ireland deserve to get their lives back to normal. Yesterday, businesses shut their doors, trains were not running and we saw schools closing early due to fear. This is the impact these thugs are having,” he said.
As the destruction and chaos continued on the streets, the family of the victim of Monday’s stabbing attack at the center of the riots pleaded for calmness and tolerance.
The family of Stephen Ogilvie, who is in stable condition following the attack, released a statement Wednesday saying they were “feeling disgusted” by the images of the violent protests.
“We want to make it absolutely clear that to do this in response is not supported by our family, and peaceful protest is only ever the way forward,” the family said.
A Sudanese immigrant allegedly attacked Ogilvie with a knife around 10:30 p.m. Monday near Kinnaird Avenue before he was subdued by nearby pedestrians and arrested by the police.
The victim “suffered serious injuries to his eyes and slash-wound injuries to his back and face,” police said.
The 30-year-old suspect was charged with attempted murder, possession of an article with blade or point in a public place and threats to kill. The investigation is ongoing.
The protests that have broken out since the attack have been pushing anti-immigrant rhetoric and have caused disturbances across Northern Ireland, according to the police.
In one incident on Wednesday, 20 masked protesters allegedly blocked the road and threw projectiles at officers and in another incident in Portadown, demonstrators attacked a property for hours, according to PSNI.
During the demonstrations, some protesters allegedly harassed immigrant healthcare workers who were on their way to and from their work, according to police.
UNISON Northern Ireland, the union representing healthcare workers, said in a statement it had received reports this week of workers being followed, stopped by people to check their identities and intimidated in their homes.
“They are care workers, nurses, classroom assistants and a host of other occupations delivering key public services. They are here because our government and public services invited them to fill the critical shortages in these vital services. The hypocrisy of those behind the hate campaign is stunning,” UNISON said in a statement Wednesday.
Henderson said he was meeting with UNISON members on Thursday and also shared his support for the healthcare workers.
“They are the backbone of our public service. They are caring for our family, friends and loved ones in our communities. We are here to support them. In the same way they support us,” he said.
Ogilvie’s family also expressed support for Northern Ireland’s immigrants and healthcare workers.
“We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including from within our healthcare system and hospitality sector, and we depend on them to make our country work. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility — do not do this in the name of our loved one as we do not share the same values,” they said.
Outside of the unrest on the streets, police have also been working to combat a flood of misinformation about the knife attack and protests circulating on social media sites that are being promoted by anti-immigrant groups and figures.
Ogilvie’s family also condemned those who spread misinformation about the attack and protests.
“If you know anything at all about the attack, or saw anything strange near Kinnaird Avenue, please go to the police and stop sharing false information on social media, as it is deeply distressing,” they said.
Henderson urged the public to heed the family’s request.
“They could not be more clear that violence is not in Stephen’s name,” he said.
Water bungalows on Kanuhura island resort at Indian Ocean in Maldives – stock photo (westend61/Getty)
(MALDIVES) – -Two investigations, including a culpable homicide probe, have been launched into the deep-water expedition in the Maldives that claimed the lives of five Italian scuba divers, and authorities said they didn’t know the group would be exploring a cave.
Both the Maldives government and prosecutors in Rome announced the investigations as the remains of two more divers were recovered from an underwater cave in the Indian Ocean.
In addition to the probe by the Maldives government, prosecutors in Rome have opened a culpable homicide investigation into the tragedy, sources told the Italian news agency ANSA.
It’s not immediately clear if any specific person or persons are the target of that probe.
Mohamed Hussain Shareef, a spokesperson for the Maldives president’s office, said the investigation by the Maldives government will focus on whether those in charge of the fatal expedition “took the correct precautions” and underwent the necessary planning.
“We believe that the retrieval of the bodies will itself reveal a lot, as far as that part of the investigation is concerned,” said Shareef, according to The Associated Press. “But that doesn’t take from the fact that cave diving in itself is very, very dangerous.”
Shareef said the scuba-diving group — which was led by Monica Montefalcone, a marine researcher and an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa — had been issued a permit for the diving expedition.
“While they had a permit, there are certain gaps in the research proposal,” Shareef said.
He said the Maldives government was not informed that the group would be exploring an underwater cave.
“We didn’t know the exact location they were diving,” Shareef said.
He said two of the divers who died were not on the list of researchers that organizers had submitted.
“So we didn’t know they were part of the expedition as well. So, all these factors are being reviewed,” Shareef said.
Shareef said the scuba diving group was on an excursion he described as “very, very challenging” due to the depth, terrain, powerful current and strong draft in the area of the dive.
“The visibility, for example, once you enter the cave, would be almost zero; that’s what we are being told,” Shareef said.
The divers went missing on Thursday while exploring a cave in Vaavu Atoll, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
A Maldives military diver died on Saturday while working to recover the bodies of victims, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
Officials called the recovery effort a “very dangerous, high-risk operation.” The search was suspended at one point on Friday due to bad weather, the AP reported.
The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Genoa identified the deceased divers as Montefalcone; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a University of Genoa biomedical engineering student; Muriel Oddenino, a University of Genoa research fellow; and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, a recent University of Genoa graduate in marine biology and ecology.
The institute also identified one of the victims as diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.
The Maldives government said three of the bodies have been recovered. On Tuesday, a Finnish diving team retrieved two bodies from the third chamber of a deep-water cave, Shareef said.
Shareef said the identities of the two recovered divers are pending autopsies. But Antonello Riccio, an attorney for Gualtieri’s family, confirmed that the remains of Montefalcone and Gualtieri were recovered on Tuesday.
Ahmed Shaam, another spokesperson for the Maldives government, said the bodies were found lying at a depth of around 200 feet. The legal depth for recreational diving in the Maldives is nearly 100 feet, officials said.
The Maldives government said on Monday that four bodies were spotted in the innermost part of the cave by the Finnish diving team. Divers are expected to return to the cave on Wednesday to recover the two remaining bodies.
“As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave, but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part,” Shaam said.
He said that the four bodies were found “pretty much together.”
Earlier in the recovery operation, the body of the diving instructor who was part of the lost group was recovered outside the cave, Maldives government officials said.
ABC News’ Othon Leyva, Phoebe Natanson and Clark Bentson contributed to this report.
Illustration of the Ebola virus, a deadly pathogen that causes severe hemorrhagic fever. )RUSLANAS BARANAUSKAS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Americans will no longer be able to fly directly home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) under a new process outlined by U.S. officials amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security are working together on a “Do Not Board” process for Americans in the DRC, the CDC said in a social media post Wednesday.
“The Do Not Board list prevents a person from obtaining a boarding pass for any flight into, out of, or within the United States,” the CDC website reads.
Previously, only non-citizens had been barred from traveling back to the U.S. from the Ebola outbreak regions, and American travelers were being screened at select airports for any signs of the virus.
Now, under the new measure, Americans departing from the DRC will only be able to return to the U.S. 21 days after leaving that country.
The moves comes as the DRC has seen over 2,000 cases and 750 deaths from Ebola, making it the third largest outbreak on record.
Earlier this week, the CDC announced a second American infected with Ebola in the DR had been transferred to Germany for care. The CDC said the unnamed patient works for a humanitarian aid organization.
The first American infected with Ebola was a doctor who contracted the disease while treating patients in the DRC. Dr. Peter Stafford was evacuated to Germany at the time to receive specialty care.
Stafford was discharged from the hospital in June, and the family has since returned to the United States.
