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One Dead Near Barcelona as Torrential Rain Sparks Floods in Spain

Parked cars are half-submerged in a flooded park area after heavy rainfall that hit the area early in the morning, in the town of Algeciras, southern Spain, 18 October 2026. (EPA)
Parked cars are half-submerged in a flooded park area after heavy rainfall that hit the area early in the morning, in the town of Algeciras, southern Spain, 18 October 2026. (EPA)
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One Dead Near Barcelona as Torrential Rain Sparks Floods in Spain

Parked cars are half-submerged in a flooded park area after heavy rainfall that hit the area early in the morning, in the town of Algeciras, southern Spain, 18 October 2026. (EPA)
Parked cars are half-submerged in a flooded park area after heavy rainfall that hit the area early in the morning, in the town of Algeciras, southern Spain, 18 October 2026. (EPA)

A powerful Mediterranean storm submerged streets and disrupted travel in Spain on Sunday after claiming the life of a woman outside Barcelona and trapping residents.

Weather agency AEMET had issued warnings for torrential rain as the storm approached on Saturday, issuing the highest red alert in the eastern region of Valencia, scarred by Spain's deadliest floods in a generation in 2024.

Emergency services in the regions of Valencia, Catalonia, Andalusia and the Balearic Islands, which include the holiday hotspots of Mallorca and Ibiza, reported hundreds of incidents linked to flooded homes, roads, fallen trees and material damage.

The Catalan fire service announced that a woman who had fallen into a stream on Saturday in Cabrera de Mar, around 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Barcelona, was found dead in the sea.

Mass telephone alerts were sent in Valencia as well as Ibiza and neighboring Formentera, urging the population to avoid unnecessary travel and exercise caution.

In Ibiza, roads were transformed into lakes of murky water on which giant refuse bins floated, partially submerging cars, and beach resorts that concentrate the island's famous nightclub scene were deserted.

The main motorway to Ibiza airport was closed, with at least five flights cancelled, 16 diverted and others delayed, according to operator Aena.

The army deployed its emergencies unit from the mainland to help deal with the emergency in Ibiza and Mallorca.

In the Andalusian province of Almeria, the emergency services said the deluge left "people isolated by the water" and reported "37 rescues" since Saturday.

Outside the popular tourist destination of Malaga on Saturday night, 10 people were trapped in the tunnel of a beach promenade as the water surged above their ankles, forcing firefighters to save them, they said.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the Mediterranean storms that typically hit eastern Spain in autumn as the sea absorbs heat during the summer, leading to increased evaporation and heavier rainfall.

This week, AEMET announced that last month was mainland Spain's hottest September on record, after the country registered its warmest summer between June and August.

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World

Death Toll Rises to 8 in New York Building Collapse

Members of the New York City Fire Department and first responders work at the scene a day after a building collapsed in Brooklyn in New York on November 12, 2026. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
Members of the New York City Fire Department and first responders work at the scene a day after a building collapsed in Brooklyn in New York on November 12, 2026. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
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Death Toll Rises to 8 in New York Building Collapse

Members of the New York City Fire Department and first responders work at the scene a day after a building collapsed in Brooklyn in New York on November 12, 2026. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)
Members of the New York City Fire Department and first responders work at the scene a day after a building collapsed in Brooklyn in New York on November 12, 2026. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

At least eight people died after a three-story building in Brooklyn collapsed at the edge of a construction site, New York City’s mayor said Thursday, as emergency workers searched for others still trapped.

Search crews peered into crevices in the rubble, pulling out victims and at least one survivor through the overnight hours. At least 17 people were injured, including three firefighters, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. It's not clear how many more people might remain trapped.

The building gave way Wednesday afternoon while construction workers were digging at a neighboring lot, a city official said. The cause was still under investigation.

“We heard the boom and we all rushed outside and saw smoke and dust everywhere,” said Brigitte Anama, a hairstylist at a salon across the street.

Customers and stylists jumped up and ran onto the sidewalk that was engulfed in dust. Anama saw emergency workers pulling people from the site, including what appeared to be a child. “People were saying ‘Pray for the baby, pray for the baby,’” she said.

Two deaths were announced Wednesday and the others were confirmed Thursday. Authorities said late Wednesday that at least seven children were among the injured or dead.

“There are no words for a loss of this magnitude,” Mamdani posted on X. “My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost, those who are injured and everyone grieving today.”

This was the second high-profile structural problem with a building in New York in the past five months. In July, several buildings in Manhattan were evacuated after support columns buckled inside a skyscraper that was formerly the headquarters of Pfizer.

Rescuers with dogs searched through the night Flatbush Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in Brooklyn, remained at a standstill Thursday morning as firefighters picked through the rubble.

Hundreds of firefighters and police officers wielding pickaxes and power saws worked through the night, clambering over the rubble, punching holes in the ruins to pull out dust-covered survivors.

Rescue dogs sniffed piles of twisted wood and brick that were dotted with brightly colored clothing and vinyl record albums. Two excavators removed large chunks of debris. Firefighters filled buckets with debris, passing them down a line.

Heavy rain was forecast for Thursday afternoon, and Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore cautioned that could hinder search-and-rescue operations.

“It'll turn to mud,” she told WNYW-TV, vowing firefighters would work through the rain if necessary.

Much of the collapsed building, comprising apartments sitting atop ground-floor commercial space, wound up in a huge pile inside the adjacent construction pit. Another building that shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, but its wall was shorn off, exposing the rooms inside, including a bedroom and closets filled with shoes and clothing.

On Wednesday night, firefighters pulled a pregnant woman from the rubble, hoisted her up on a stretcher and rushed her to a waiting ambulance. Other survivors were rescued as the night wore on, The Associated Press reported.

Bonsignore said the rescue teams were performing “dangerous and perilous” work. “Every move is choreographed,” she said.

World

Iran Pair Guilty of Spying on London-based Journalists 'for Tehran'

A seagull fly by the River Thames, near Westminster Bridge and the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament in central London on November 12, 2026. (Photo by Brook Mitchell / AFP)
A seagull fly by the River Thames, near Westminster Bridge and the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament in central London on November 12, 2026. (Photo by Brook Mitchell / AFP)
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Iran Pair Guilty of Spying on London-based Journalists 'for Tehran'

A seagull fly by the River Thames, near Westminster Bridge and the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament in central London on November 12, 2026. (Photo by Brook Mitchell / AFP)
A seagull fly by the River Thames, near Westminster Bridge and the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament in central London on November 12, 2026. (Photo by Brook Mitchell / AFP)

A UK jury on Thursday found two Iranian men guilty of spying for Iran's intelligence service, as a chief prosecutor said it showed Tehran's willingness to use "proxies" to target the regime's critics abroad.

Mostafa Sepahvand, 41, and Farhad Manesh, 46, carried out surveillance and reconnaissance on targets that included two journalists, a lawyer and a media production professional between August 2024 and March last year, with Sepahvand also prepared to commit physical attacks.

The men, who lived in London, had denied engaging in conduct likely to assist Iran's intelligence service but were found guilty by a jury at the capital's Woolwich Crown Court.

A third defendant, Shapoor Noori, 57, was cleared of the same charge.

The defendants were accused of visiting addresses linked to their targets, taking photos and videos, and using platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online.

"This was a calculated operation to spy on those critical of the Iranian regime," said Frank Ferguson of the Crown Prosecution Service's Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division.

"Sepahvand and Manesh were promised rewards to send intelligence back to contacts in Iran, and Sepahvand himself was willing to go beyond surveillance to commit serious violence against their targets.

"Cases like this show Iranian intelligence's willingness to use proxies to target the regime's critics abroad," the chief prosecutor added, according to AFP.

The prosecution said Sepahvand had intended to physically carry out a "violent attack" against at least one of the targets.

Those targeted for surveillance included journalists Kambiz Hosseini and Mojtaba Pourmohsen, who work for the London-based Farsi-language Iran International television news network, which Tehran has labelled a terror organization.

The third target was Jonathan Turner, a founder member of the group UK Lawyers for Israel. The fourth person has not been named.

Sepahvand claimed he had been coerced but prosecutors labelled his claims "bogus", describing him as a willing participant who was looking to be paid £150,000 ($200,000) and have a conviction for theft in Iran "fixed" in return for his actions.

In a transcript of a voice note read to the jury, Sepahvand said if the target was at the address given to him he would "finish him or her off".

Manesh and Noori were acquitted of engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance with the intention that serious violence against a person in the UK would be committed by others.

The case comes after the UK's interior minister Shabana Mahmood said that both Iran and Russia were "using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores".

The UK government in July banned the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a threat to national security, alongside an Iran-linked group accused of a series of attacks against the Jewish community.

In June, 22 countries, including the UK, United States and European nations, blamed the IRGC and its foreign operations branch, the Quds Force, for plotting against Iranian dissidents, journalists and Jewish communities.

The IMCR have claimed multiple attacks, including an arson attack in London against four ambulances of the Hatzola Jewish charity.

Last month, the British government again took aim at the IRGC, accusing it of being behind a major scare at a UK airbase used by the United States. Iran denied the claim.

The security incident at the Royal Air Force base of Fairford in southwest England in September involved a group of men in several white vans engaged in "suspicious" activity in the middle of the night.

The US Justice Department on Tuesday charged three men described as "Iranian operatives" with directing others to carry out numerous attacks and the Fairford "terrorist plot".

The United States, which had been using the base for its war in Iran, withdrew all its B-1 bombers from the site following the incident.

World

Zelensky: Ukraine New 'Systematic' Restrictions to Starshield

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
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Zelensky: Ukraine New 'Systematic' Restrictions to Starshield

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press briefing in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (Emil Nicolai Helms/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine's military faced new "systematic" restrictions to Starshield satellite internet, operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX service which plays a key role for front line communications.

Ukraine first reported problems using Starshield last month following a row between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump over a US-Russia diesel deal. Zelensky said the latest issues were not "random errors".

Trump and Musk denied responsibility for the last outages, although Musk later accused Ukraine of misusing SpaceX's Starlink internet service for military purposes before all sides said full access had been restored, AFP reported.

Starshield is the military-grade version of SpaceX's Starlink.

"Our units have been recording significant disruptions to Starshield's operations over the territory of Ukraine for several days now," Zelensky said on social media.

"Systematic speed restrictions are being imposed," Zelensky said, adding they were "not random errors".

"This is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes," he added.

Starshield systems were not working above 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour), Zelensky said.

The speed limits were proving a "significant complication in intercepting Russian jet-powered drones", which move much faster than that.

The apparent restrictions come as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow following two days of talks in Abu Dhabi searching for a deal to end the almost five-year war.

"We are trying to establish all the circumstances with the American side," Zelensky said.