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Police: Explosions, Fire at Bulgarian Munitions Site

Fire and smoke rise near an ammunition warehouse, near the village of Tsareva Livada, Bulgaria, September 12, 2026. Stringer/via REUTERS
Fire and smoke rise near an ammunition warehouse, near the village of Tsareva Livada, Bulgaria, September 12, 2026. Stringer/via REUTERS
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Police: Explosions, Fire at Bulgarian Munitions Site

Fire and smoke rise near an ammunition warehouse, near the village of Tsareva Livada, Bulgaria, September 12, 2026. Stringer/via REUTERS
Fire and smoke rise near an ammunition warehouse, near the village of Tsareva Livada, Bulgaria, September 12, 2026. Stringer/via REUTERS

An explosion and fires have hit an ammunition storage site in central Bulgaria, police said Saturday, weeks after a blaze at another munitions facility in the country.

The latest incident happened late Friday at the warehouse operated by Bulgarian arms maker EMCO, whose munitions are used in Ukraine, near the central village of Gorni Varpishta.

No casualties were reported, and the extent of damage was not immediately clear.

"At present there is no danger to the population," local police said in a statement, adding that employees had been evacuated and the area cordoned off.

The nearest village is more than one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the site, AFP reported.

The incident came about a month after a fire at an ammunition depot at another nearby EMCO plant in Bulgaria, a NATO member and supporter of Ukraine.

EMCO ruled out human error in that case, and prosecutors are investigating.

EMCO is owned by Bulgarian defense executive Emilian Gebrev, who survived a poisoning attempt in 2015 together with his son and another company executive.

Bulgarian prosecutors have charged three Russian nationals over the poisoning.

Separately, six Russians have also been charged with terrorism over four explosions at arms facilities in the country between 2011 and 2020.

Prosecutors said the four blasts were remotely triggered and suspected the incidents were linked to efforts to disrupt arms supplies to Georgia and Ukraine.

Bulgaria has supported Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

There have been a string of incidents at defense companies in European countries that support Ukraine in recent weeks.

Firebombs were thrown near defense company offices in the German city of Munich earlier this month and an ammunition factory near Rome operated by arms maker KNDS was hit by a blast in August.

No injuries were reported in either case.

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World

Paraguay President Resigns Following Bank Collapse

FILE PHOTO: Paraguay's President Santiago Peña speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Asuncion, Paraguay August 21, 2024. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Paraguay's President Santiago Peña speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Asuncion, Paraguay August 21, 2024. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo/File Photo
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Paraguay President Resigns Following Bank Collapse

FILE PHOTO: Paraguay's President Santiago Peña speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Asuncion, Paraguay August 21, 2024. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Paraguay's President Santiago Peña speaks during an interview with Reuters, in Asuncion, Paraguay August 21, 2024. REUTERS/Cesar Olmedo/File Photo

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña resigned on Thursday as calls for his removal swelled following the collapse of digital lender ueno that left millions of customers unable to access their accounts.

"I do so with the stability of our country, social peace, and the need to preserve our democratic institutions in mind," he said in a video recorded address on Thursday.

Peña, an ally of US President Donald Trump, is stepping ⁠down after the opposition ⁠called an extraordinary session to begin the process of filing an impeachment motion in Congress, and as protesters demanded his resignation.

Earlier on Thursday Peña lost backing from members of his own conservative party. Vice President Pedro Alliana is ⁠set to take office as his replacement.

Lawmakers had accused Peña of conflicts of interest, misuse of pension funds and institutional cover-ups linked to the collapse of ueno, which had grown quickly from a niche fintech player into a mid-tier bank administering close to $850 million in public funds.

"My greatest wish is that the return of those funds be guaranteed, that the deposit guarantee fund fulfill its ⁠purpose, and ⁠that public funds - as well as the resources that belong to all Paraguayans - be protected," Peña added in his address.

Paraguay's central bank intervened in ueno after determining that it had breached minimum solvency requirements, setting off a crisis that has left the company's roughly 3 million customers, in a country of 6.5 million people, unable to access accounts.

Ueno has made no public statement on the issue.

Hundreds of employees of Ueno Bank and other companies belonging to Grupo Vázquez, the bank’s parent conglomerate, protested outside the Labor Ministry on Thursday, demanding severance and unpaid wages with their jobs in limbo and their salaries trapped at the failed bank.

A day earlier, hundreds of retirees, depositors, university students and workers flooded the streets of Asunción, the capital.

“We want your head, Peña!” they shouted. Their signs demanded Peña’s impeachment, called him “the enemy of savers” and pleaded “Give us back our money.” Riot police fired pepper spray and rubber pellets to push back the crowds.

World

Democratic 'Blue Wave' Swept Through State Capitals across US

Birds fly in front of the US Capitol at sunrise a day after the US midterm elections. ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP
Birds fly in front of the US Capitol at sunrise a day after the US midterm elections. ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP
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Democratic 'Blue Wave' Swept Through State Capitals across US

Birds fly in front of the US Capitol at sunrise a day after the US midterm elections. ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP
Birds fly in front of the US Capitol at sunrise a day after the US midterm elections. ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP

The blue wave Democrats rode to retake control of the US Congress this week extended into state-level races, as the party won majorities in a number of legislatures previously held by Republicans.

Democrats secured new trifectas -- control of both chambers of the legislature and the governor's seat -- in at least five states in Tuesday's midterms, flipping at least 11 state legislative chambers from Republican control, according to data from NGO State Navigate late Wednesday.

The victories mean the party will have the power to lead policy decisions on everything from health care to taxation in states such as Texas and Georgia, where they had long taken a backseat.

"Democrats are on track to have their largest net gain in state legislative seats in the 21st century," Chaz Nuttycombe, State Navigate's executive director, told AFP.

"It's not a blue wave; it's a blue cataclysm."

Among the most striking results are in Texas, where Democrats wrested the majority in the state's lower chamber from Republicans for the first time since 2002 while also winning the governorship.

In Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms turned the governor's seat blue for the first time in more than two decades, and Democrats similarly flipped control of the legislature's lower chamber.

- Far from Washington gridlock -

President Donald Trump has vowed to use his veto powers to reject legislation from the incoming Democratic Congress, a move that could lead to gridlock at the national level.

Experts have suggested the state-level gains could circumvent that issue.

Democrats this week won complete control of government in five states -- Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Nevada -- and were on the verge of doing the same in Arizona as of early Thursday.

"They won't have to be frustrated by vetoes and Senate filibusters, which are no doubt going to frustrate Democrats at the national level," said Thad Kousser, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, referring to the state Democratic trifectas.

The victories will allow Democrats the freedom to legislate on prominent policy points.

Kousser noted that many of the most pressing issues in voters' lives are now decided at the state level, referencing the 2022 Supreme Court decision ending federal abortion protections and giving states the power to dictate their own abortion laws.

Data centers and artificial intelligence have also emerged as top issues as the Trump administration has shied away from regulatory action.

In Texas, Democratic Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on tighter regulations for AI data centers.

"The key issues that matter most for Americans' daily lives are things like education, criminal justice and medical care, and those policies are primarily made by states," Kousser said.

Nuttycombe of State Navigate put it this way: "State governments are much more efficient than Congress and can actually get things done."

"Some of these states haven't had Democratic trifectas in decades; the legislators will feel they have a lot of catching up to do."

World

Iran Says Two Tankers and Tugboat Caught Fire in Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 3, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 3, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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Iran Says Two Tankers and Tugboat Caught Fire in Hormuz

FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 3, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Vessels at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, November 3, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

Two oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said, according to local media on Thursday.

Since the outbreak of the Iran war on February 28, Tehran has severely restricted traffic through the strategic waterway, which normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption.

The United States has in response imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and helped tankers travel the strait.

"Last night, in two separate incidents, a large oil tanker attempting to pass through the illegal passageway south of the Strait of Hormuz suffered a fire after striking a mine and was brought to a halt," the Guards told the Fars news agency.

"Another supertanker was halted by a massive fire while exiting the eastern Strait of Hormuz. A tugboat that had approached the supertanker to extinguish the fire also caught fire."

Fars also reported the IRGC navy's electronic warfare unit had taken control of two LUCAS drones, a US-developed model short for Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System.