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US Storms Kill at Least 21 across 4 States on Memorial Day Weekend

Larry Landeros, 9, who rode out a deadly tornado with his parents when it rolled through the previous night, surveys his destroyed home, Sunday, May 26, 2024, in Valley View, Texas. (AP)
Larry Landeros, 9, who rode out a deadly tornado with his parents when it rolled through the previous night, surveys his destroyed home, Sunday, May 26, 2024, in Valley View, Texas. (AP)
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US Storms Kill at Least 21 across 4 States on Memorial Day Weekend

Larry Landeros, 9, who rode out a deadly tornado with his parents when it rolled through the previous night, surveys his destroyed home, Sunday, May 26, 2024, in Valley View, Texas. (AP)
Larry Landeros, 9, who rode out a deadly tornado with his parents when it rolled through the previous night, surveys his destroyed home, Sunday, May 26, 2024, in Valley View, Texas. (AP)

Tornado-spawning thunderstorms that swept the US Southern Plains and Ozarks have killed at least 21 people as of Monday morning across four states and wrecked hundreds of buildings, with forecasters warning of more severe weather.

The death toll over the Memorial Day weekend includes at least eight fatalities in Arkansas, seven in Texas, four in Kentucky and two in Oklahoma, according to tallies by state emergency authorities.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency early on Monday while the National Weather Service said a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for parts of Georgia and South Carolina until at least Monday afternoon.

"It was a tough night for our people," the Kentucky governor said on social media platform X on Monday. He later said in a press briefing that "devastating storms" had hit almost the entire state. Officials said 100 state highways and roads were damaged by the storms.

At least seven people perished - including two children aged 2 and 5 from a single family - and nearly 100 were injured on Saturday night when a powerful tornado struck communities in north Texas near the Oklahoma border, Governor Greg Abbott said at a Sunday news conference.

Late on Sunday, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the state had at least eight deaths after the storms. A resident in Arkansas suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease died due to lack of oxygen when the power went out.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans faced power outages on Monday due to the weather, according to the PowerOutage.US tracking website, with Kentucky alone having over 180,000 outages.

In some areas, restoring power could take days, Beshear, the Kentucky governor said in a news briefing on Monday.

The National Weather Service warned of additional storms moving through the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, bringing damaging winds, large hail and more tornadoes, as well as heavy downpours capable of triggering flash floods.

The latest extreme weather came just days after a powerful tornado ripped through an Iowa town, killing four people, and more twisters touched down in Texas last week.

Meanwhile, the US was preparing for what government forecasters have called a potentially "extraordinary" 2024 Atlantic hurricane season beginning June 1.

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World

Italy Arrests Nine Over Alleged Hamas Funding through Charities

President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
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Italy Arrests Nine Over Alleged Hamas Funding through Charities

President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
President of the Palestinian Association in Italy, Mohammad Hannoun, carries a Palestinian flag during a nationwide strike, called by the USB union, in solidarity with Gaza and against the government and its plan to increase military spending, in Rome, Italy, November 29, 2025. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Mohammad Hannoun is among nine people arrested on December 27 on suspicion of financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units. in Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Italian prosecutors said on Saturday they had arrested nine people on suspicion of ​financing Hamas through charities based in Italy, in an operation coordinated by anti-mafia and anti-terrorism units.

The suspects are accused of "belonging to and having financed" the Palestinian group, which the European Union designates as a terrorist organization, prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Genoa said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Those arrested allegedly diverted to Hamas-linked ‌entities around 7 million ‌euros ($8.2 million) raised over the ‌last ⁠two years ​for ‌ostensibly humanitarian purposes, prosecutors said. Police seized assets worth more than 8 million euros.

In another statement on Sunday, police said officers had seized 1.08 million euros in cash found in the offices of a pro-Palestinian charity and in the private homes of suspects, as well as pro-Hamas material.

The ⁠Italian investigation began after suspicious financial transactions were flagged and expanded ‌through cooperation with Dutch authorities and other ‍EU countries, coordinated through the ‍EU judicial agency Eurojust.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni thanked ‍the authorities for "a particularly complex and important operation" which had uncovered financing for Hamas through "so-called charity organizations."

World

470-kilo WWII Bomb Removed in Belgrade

This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)
This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)
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470-kilo WWII Bomb Removed in Belgrade

This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)
This handout photograph taken on December 28, 2025 and released by Serbia's Ministry of Interior shows a 470-kg World War II aerial bomb, dropped on Nazi-occupied Belgrade in 1944, found in a construction site in the Serbian capital before being removed by Serbian bomb disposal experts. (Photo by Handout / SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR AFFAIRS / AFP)

A 470-kilogram (1,000-pound) World War II aerial bomb was safely removed on Sunday from a construction site in a central district of Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, police said.

The US-made AN-M44 bomb was used during Allied air raids on German positions during the liberation of Belgrade from Nazi occupation in 1944.

Ahead of the bomb’s removal, the site, which is near a residential area and a shopping mall, underwent detailed reconnaissance "to ensure safe conditions," AFP quoted police as saying.

Residents were also told to remove vehicles and leave their homes if possible.
The bomb was transported to an army arms training ground 180 km (110 miles) from Belgrade, where it will be destroyed in the coming days.

Several unexploded bombs dating back to past wars have been discovered in Serbia in recent years, all of which were safely removed without detonating.

In September 2024, a century-old artillery shell weighing nearly 300 kilograms (660 pounds) was cleared from a construction site near the Serbian parliament in Belgrade.

Earlier that year, in April, a large bomb from the 1999 NATO bombing campaign was found in Nis, southern Serbia.

In 2021, a 242-kilogram (530-pound) World War II bomb was also removed from a construction site in a Belgrade suburb.

World

Has Iran Built an Espionage Network in Israel?

People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
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Has Iran Built an Espionage Network in Israel?

People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN
People walk in the rain during stormy weather in the port of Tel Aviv, Israel, 27 December 2025. EPA/ABIR SULTAN

For the past year, Israel has arrested dozens of Israeli citizens on suspicion of spying for Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth has reported on.

The Hebrew newspaper revealed on Saturday that some of the recruits were asked to photograph sensitive facilities and to collect information including documentation of Israeli army bases, strategic sites and homes linked to senior Israeli officials.

The newspaper said that since September 2024, Israeli authorities have uncovered 35 serious Iranian espionage cases. In some, individuals acted alone; in others, they were part of organized cells, with a mission to sow chaos, burn vehicles and carry out failed assassination plots.

It said the youngest of their recruits is a 13-year-old boy from Tel Aviv. Others had served in the reserves and regular forces.

They leaked sensitive information, including documentation of sensitive military bases, strategic sites and homes linked to senior Israeli officials.

The recruits included Mordechai “Moti” Maman, 72, of Ashkelon. He entered Iran twice and discussed with the agents the possibility of carrying out terror attacks in Israel.

The Iranian handlers discussed with him the option of assassinating senior figures such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

After Maman told them the level of security surrounding senior officials made such attacks impractical, the sides discussed alternative terror and espionage activities, including possible attacks on former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett or mayors. Maman was arrested in September 2024.

In October 2024, four cells were arrested, including a couple who had been in contact with Iranian agents since 2021 and groups of five to eight people on suspicion of conducting espionage for Iran.

One of the cases involved seven Israelis who immigrated from Azerbaijan, including a father and son, suspected of maintaining ties for two years with operatives from Iran.

As part of that relationship, the suspects photographed military bases that later became targets in Iran’s ballistic missile attack last year. Some of the group were caught surveilling a senior Israeli official and his son, allegedly as part of an assassination plan.

Authorities also uncovered another case in which seven people aged 19 to 23 from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa were arrested on suspicion of conducting espionage for Iran for several months. Their main assignment was to assassinate an Israeli nuclear scientist and a mayor.

In early 2025, another espionage case was uncovered, and an indictment was filed against an Israeli from Petah Tikva, on charges including contact with a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy.

According to the indictment, the recruit photographed the neighborhood of National Unity party leader Benny Gantz and a power station in Tel Aviv.

His handler contacted him via Telegram and offered payment through a digital wallet in exchange for carrying out security-related tasks. These included documenting security facilities, spraying political graffiti, arson attacks on vehicles and other acts.

During 2025, more than nine indictments have been filed against cells and individuals accused of spying for Iran, most of them Jews the newspaper said.
Investigations revealed that most of the spies had carried out various missions in exchange for payment.

The majority of the recruits had not travelled to Iran to complete their recruitment, but communicated with Iranians through social networks or during their presence in other countries.