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At Least 10 Killed in Nursing Home Fire in Northern Spain

Members of the emergency services and relatives gather outside of a retirement home which caught fire, in Villafranca de Ebro, Zaragoza province, Spain, 15 November 2024. EPA/JAVIER CEBOLLADA
Members of the emergency services and relatives gather outside of a retirement home which caught fire, in Villafranca de Ebro, Zaragoza province, Spain, 15 November 2024. EPA/JAVIER CEBOLLADA
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At Least 10 Killed in Nursing Home Fire in Northern Spain

Members of the emergency services and relatives gather outside of a retirement home which caught fire, in Villafranca de Ebro, Zaragoza province, Spain, 15 November 2024. EPA/JAVIER CEBOLLADA
Members of the emergency services and relatives gather outside of a retirement home which caught fire, in Villafranca de Ebro, Zaragoza province, Spain, 15 November 2024. EPA/JAVIER CEBOLLADA

A fire ripped through a retirement home in the town of Villafranca del Ebro in northern Spain early on Friday, killing at least 10 people, the regional government of Aragon said.
The blaze started in a residence for elderly called "Jardines de Villafranca" around 5 a.m. and it took a couple of hours for firefighters to put it out, a spokesperson for the regional government said.
The spokesperson could not specify whether all the victims were residents of the retirement home, where 82 elderly people lived.
One person was in a critical condition, while several people are under care mainly for suffering from smoke inhalation.
Firefighters, who came from the area of Zaragoza, a city 35 km away, ambulances and police are on site, he said. The cause of the fire was still being investigated.
Jorge Azcon, head of the regional government of Aragon, whose capital city is Zaragoza, confirmed the deaths and said on X, formerly Twitter, that all government events in the region were cancelled for the day.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also expressed shock over the fire and deaths.
The fire took place just weeks after devastating flash floods in Valencia killed more than 200 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The floods were the worst natural disaster in Spain's recent history.

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World

Kremlin Says It Will Review Trump's Invitation to G20 Summit, No Decision Yet

The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)
The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)
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Kremlin Says It Will Review Trump's Invitation to G20 Summit, No Decision Yet

The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)
The Kremlin in Moscow (EPA)

Russia will review a US invitation for President Vladimir Putin to attend a ‌G20 ‌meeting in Miami ‌in ⁠December but no ⁠decision has been made yet, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry ⁠Peskov said ‌on ‌Thursday.

US Secretary ‌of State ‌Marco Rubio said in September that Putin ‌had been invited to Miami, ⁠where ⁠he could hold a summit with President Donald Trump.

World

4 People Die as Storms, Flooding Hit Southern France

This photograph shows a car parked on a flooded street in a residential area following severe rainfall in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts, near Marseille, south-eastern France on October 20, 2026. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)
This photograph shows a car parked on a flooded street in a residential area following severe rainfall in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts, near Marseille, south-eastern France on October 20, 2026. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)
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4 People Die as Storms, Flooding Hit Southern France

This photograph shows a car parked on a flooded street in a residential area following severe rainfall in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts, near Marseille, south-eastern France on October 20, 2026. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)
This photograph shows a car parked on a flooded street in a residential area following severe rainfall in Saint-Mitre-les-Remparts, near Marseille, south-eastern France on October 20, 2026. (Photo by Thibaud MORITZ / AFP)

At least four people have died in storms and flooding in southern France, authorities said late on Wednesday, as western regions braced for another storm approaching from Ireland.

Dozens of people ⁠moved to emergency shelters in Mouries and Saint-Martin-de-Crau — two small towns between Montpellier and Marseille — and ⁠at least one person was injured, officials said

Roads and train lines in the area were disrupted, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot wrote in a post on X.

Forecasters said the weather ⁠would ⁠settle down in the south. But Storm Austen was expected to bring heavy winds across the northwest later on Thursday into Friday, weather agency Meteo France said.

World

Taiwan Issues Warnings as Typhoon Champi Nears

Typhoon Champi is expected to sweep past Taiwan's northeast coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rains. I-Hwa Cheng / AFP
Typhoon Champi is expected to sweep past Taiwan's northeast coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rains. I-Hwa Cheng / AFP
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Taiwan Issues Warnings as Typhoon Champi Nears

Typhoon Champi is expected to sweep past Taiwan's northeast coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rains. I-Hwa Cheng / AFP
Typhoon Champi is expected to sweep past Taiwan's northeast coast, bringing strong winds and heavy rains. I-Hwa Cheng / AFP

A powerful typhoon headed towards Taiwan on Thursday, triggering the cancellation of dozens of flights and prompting warnings for locals to prepare for heavy rain, strong winds and giant waves.

Typhoon Champi is expected to sweep past Taiwan's northeast coast on Friday and Saturday as it moves towards China and Japan, Taiwan's Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

Champi is packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 213 kilometers (132 miles) per hour, according to the latest update from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, said AFP.

It was previously classed as a super typhoon, with reported maximum sustained wind speeds of nearly 300 kph, but it has since weakened.

"Everyone is urged to remain vigilant and be prepared for the strong winds and heavy rains brought by the typhoon," Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said in a Facebook post.

Champi is the latest in a busy Pacific storm season turbo-charged by the El Nino weather phenomenon that has caused unprecedented warming in the equatorial Pacific.

The storm is expected to dump up to 900 millimeters (35 inches) of rain in the mountainous regions of northern and northeastern Taiwan from Thursday to Saturday, and whip up waves more than six meters (20 foot) tall.

More than 23,000 military personnel are on standby to help with rescue efforts. Over 150 domestic and international flights were cancelled for Thursday ahead of the storm.

"Typhoon Champi is expected to have its most significant impact starting all day tomorrow through the first half of Saturday," CWA forecaster Jason Cheng told AFP.

"Currently, the typhoon has a storm radius of 320 kilometers... Compared to the previous Typhoon Bavi, Champi's storm area is not as vast," Cheng said.

Millions of people in eastern China also braced for torrential downpours and flash flooding in the coming days.

China's Ministry of Water Resources initiated a level four emergency response on Thursday for flooding in Shanghai and the coastal provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian.

Level four is the lowest in China's emergency response hierarchy.

The ministry warned that Champi could bring "a period of significant rainfall" from Friday to Sunday, with "heavy to torrential downpours" expected in some areas, including "most of Shanghai and eastern Zhejiang".

Japan's two major airlines cancelled more than 110 flights from Thursday to Saturday.

The United Nations said Wednesday that the El Nino gripping the planet is heading off the charts, and that countries should take urgent action to prepare for the worst.

El Nino is expected to peak in December, but the human impact is set to last into 2027 and beyond.

The warming phase of a natural climate cycle, El Nino temporarily raises sea temperatures in the tropical Pacific, triggering changes in weather that can increase the risk of drought and flooding, and exacerbate man-made global warming.