Headline

5 Missing As Six-storey Building Collapses In US

Published

3 years ago

June 1, 2023

At least two people were missing and the whereabouts of three more were unknown after rescue efforts were made to pull out survivors at an apartment building that partially collapsed in eastern Iowa over the weekend, officials said on Wednesday

More than a dozen people were initially escorted out of the six-storey building when part of it collapsed in Davenport on Sunday afternoon, and seven others were rescued in the first hour of a search, Chief Michael Carlsten of the Davenport Fire Department, said at a news conference on Tuesday. An eighth person was found in a secondary search, he said, and a ninth on Monday night.

Mayor Mike Matson said that five people were still missing on Tuesday morning, including two who were thought to still be in the building. Officials did not specify where the three other people could be. There have been no reported fatalities. The cause of the collapse was still under investigation.

Dozens of people protested outside the building on Tuesday morning amid concerns that the structure would be demolished before the missing people were found.

Officials said that they were trying to find them while also trying to keep emergency medical workers safe because the building could collapse at any time.

Davenport’s fire marshal, James Morris, became emotional as he talked about how two people could still be inside the unstable building.

“It’s extremely difficult when you can’t run up to a pile of bricks and rocks, and just start throwing things off,” he said. “As much as we want to. We want to get everyone out and we want to do it right now.”

Officials said they were constantly evaluating whether the building would need to come down in a controlled demolition and how to make the area safe for another search by emergency medical workers.

On Monday, after city officials said at a news conference that they did not know of any remaining people in the building, a woman was found alive later that day. She had been hiding under a couch in a portion of the building that appeared to still be intact, according to NBC News.

The mayor said on Monday that firefighters and emergency medical workers saved lives by rushing into the building, which has 84 residential and commercial units.

Firefighters discovered a large natural gas leak and a water leak at the building, but the cause of the collapse was not immediately known, Chief Carlsten said on Monday.

Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services, said at the news conference on Tuesday that a structural engineer had provided a report to the city in January and last week to show that the building was “structurally sound.”

Headline

12 Die, 30 Missing In Peru Landslide

Published

9 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

At least 12 people, including three children, died in a landslide at a river port in central Peru on Monday, and 30 were reported missing, officials said.

The landslide submerged a boat with about 50 passengers on board, and another with none, as they were docked at the port of Iparia in the Amazon jungle region of Ucayali, according to a police report cited by the Andina news agency.

Six people were injured, it added, and a search and rescue operation was underway at the start of the Peruvian rainy season.

Without giving a toll, Peru’s COEN national emergency operations centre said on X that tragedy struck at dawn due to “erosion” of the bank of the Ucayali river.

It said the navy has been called in to help.

AFP

Headline

Nigeria Grants Asylum To Guinea-Bissau Opposition Candidate

Published

9 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian embassy in Guinea-Bissau has granted asylum to Fernando Dias da Costa, the country’s opposition presidential candidate, following alleged threats to his life after last week’s military coup, The Cable Reports.

The coup was announced by military officers on Wednesday, just days after Guinea-Bissau’s presidential election in which both incumbent President Umaro Embaló and his main challenger, da Costa, claimed victory before official results were released.

Nigeria condemned the takeover and urged an immediate return to constitutional order.

In a letter to the President of the Economic Community of West African States Commission, Omar Touray, dated November 30, the Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said President Bola Tinubu had approved asylum and protection for da Costa inside the Nigerian embassy in Bissau.

Tuggar wrote that the decision was made “in response to threats made against da Costa’s life.”

“In this regard, it would be appreciated if you would kindly mandate the ECOWAS Stabilisation Support Mission in Guinea-Bissau to provide him protection and security while in the premises of the Nigerian embassy,” the letter stated.

The foreign affairs minister’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications Strategy, Alkasim Abdulkadir, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to The Cable on Monday.

He said, “The decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria to grant asylum and provide protection to Fernando Dia Da Costa falls squarely within Nigeria’s sovereign responsibility and longstanding commitment to regional peace, stability, and democratic governance.”

He added that Nigeria acted “in the broader interest of de-escalation,” saying the government had exercised its discretion “to prevent further deterioration of tensions and to promote social cohesion in Guinea-Bissau and the wider West African sub-region.”

According to Abdulkadir, the intervention aligns with ECOWAS principles and reflects Nigeria’s role as a stabilising force in West Africa.

Following the coup, ECOWAS held an emergency virtual summit of heads of state and subsequently suspended Guinea-Bissau from the regional bloc until constitutional order is restored.

Headline

Trump To Attend FIFA World Cup Finals Draw On Friday

Published

10 hours ago

December 1, 2025

Editor

The White House on Monday confirmed US President Donald Trump would attend the draw for the FIFA World Cup finals in Washington later this week.

The United States will co-host the 2026 tournament alongside Canada and Mexico.

“On Friday, President Trump will attend the FIFA World Cup final draw at the Kennedy Centre,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Trump has made the World Cup a centrepiece event of both his second presidency and the 250th anniversary of US independence next year.

But the giant sporting extravaganza has not escaped the political turmoil caused by Trump’s hardline stance on a host of issues.

Trump, a Republican, has raised the possibility of moving games from some US host cities amid a crackdown on what he says is crime and illegal migration in some Democratic-run areas.

AFP