America
Texas Flash Floods Death Toll Reaches 120
…161 Still Missing
The death toll in Friday’s flash floods in Texas, America, has reached the 120 mark, Emergency Services said today.
The death toll includes at least 30 children who had been attending a Christian training programme at Camp Mystic site near the Guadalupe River.
At least 161 others are still listed as missing or unaccounted for after the floods swept through the Flash Floods Alley in Texas on Friday morning.
In the most impacted Kerr County, nobody has been rescued alive since Friday, according to the Emergency Services,which also said that the hopes of finding any more survivors were dimming fast.
Search and Rescue efforts, however, continued and volunteers have continued to swarm in after the worst single flood disaster in America in decades.
American President, Donald Trump, is due to visit the area on Friday, but has since signed an emergency aid support for the Texas State Government.
The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, said on Wednesday that the scale of the disaster was unprecedented.
Qatar
Hamas Agrees To Release 10 Living Israeli Hostages, Amid Stalled Talks
Talks between representatives of Hamas and Israel appear still stalled, even as the Palestinian group has reportedly agreed to release 10 living Israeli hostages during the expected ceasefire.
Sources close to the ongoing talks in Doha said that the concession by Hamas is an indication of its flexibility at the talks.
But the sources said that Hamas appears to be frustrated by the fact that the Israeli delegation had a low ceiling as to what it could do at the talks on behalf of the Israeli government.
According to the sources, the Israeli delegation appears hamstrung by the fact that it has to refer almost everything at the talks to the Office of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for consideration.
The talks, engineered by Qatari and Egyptian diplomats, had been touted as a veritable engagement that could lead to a ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state
Both had been at war since nearly two years after Hamas breached Israeli security on October 7 2023, and killed and or abducted around 1,500 Israeli soldiers, policemen and civilians.
Israel responded by launching a high heel military campaign on Gaza which has led to an estimated 155,000 casualties, including 55,000 fatalities, mainly children and women.
Yemen
15 crew members Missing After Attacked Vessel Sinks In Red Sea
Fifteen crew members remained missing today after a vessel which had vern struck by Houthi gunfire sank on Wednesday.
The crew were 25 in all, according to the manifest on board
Four of them were killed in the attack, while 6 others were taken , reportedly for medical attention, by the Houthis.
The vessel was struck in the Red Sea and the Yemeni rebel group, the Houthis, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The identity of the vessel remained unknown at press time but the Houthis had been targeting vessels linked to Israel and its allies, especially America, since last year.
The Wednesday attack was the second in three days by the rebel group linked to both Iran and Hamas .
Israel has fought Iran recently in a 12- day war, and has been fighting Hamas in the tiny enclave of Gaza since late 2023.
The Houthis had vowed never to stop attacking maritime vessels going through the Strait of Homuz until Israel stopped attacking Hamas in Gaza.
Since Israel began its offensive on Gaza , the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks on vessels passing through the Strait which is the gateway for roughly a quarter of global maritime traffic and trade.
South Korea
Former South Korean Leader Rearrested
Former President of South Korea, Yoon Duke Yeol, has been Rearrested.
The development followed enhanced efforts to prosecute him for last year’s ill- fated declaration of a state of emergency.
By the declaration, Yeol sent troops to the Parliament, but the move was stoutly resisted by Koreans who, thereafter , successfully clamoured for his step down from the presidency.
The arrest and prosecution of the former leader has split the Korean society, with his supporters insisting he should not.
