Hamas says it handed over list of Israelis and Palestinians for swap deal
Hamas said on Wednesday (on 8 October) it had exchanged a list of the names of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners to be released under a swap ...
Four people have been confirmed dead after a six-storey building collapsed in central Madrid while being converted into a hotel, authorities said, following a 15-hour rescue effort involving drones and sniffer dogs.
Emergency crews in Madrid recovered the bodies of four victims from the rubble early on Wednesday after the interior of the building gave way during renovation works, leaving its facade intact.
The victims were identified as three male construction workers from Ecuador, Mali and Guinea-Conakry, and a 30-year-old female architect leading the project.
Mayor Jose Luis Almeida said on X that it was “with deep sadness” that firefighters had recovered the missing workers. Three others were injured, one seriously.
The collapse occurred on Tuesday afternoon at No. 4 Hileras Street, near Madrid’s opera house and royal palace, in an area popular with tourists. According to eyewitnesses cited by El País, up to 40 people were inside at the time.
Authorities evacuated people from nearby buildings amid fears of further collapse.
Rescue teams used drones, sniffer dogs and thermal cameras to locate those trapped beneath the debris.
“The structure gave way from the inside, but the exterior walls held up,” said a fire department spokesperson.
Records show the property was built in 1965 and received “unfavourable” technical inspection ratings in 2012 and 2022 for its general structural condition.
The former office block was being redeveloped into a four-star hotel by developer Rehbilita, and owned by Saudi-based investment fund RSR, which specialises in high-end hotels and tourist apartments in Spain and Portugal.
RSR acquired the building for €24.5 million ($28.5 million) in 2022, with municipal authorities approving the renovation in December 2024. The works were expected to last two years.
Police have opened an investigation into the cause of the collapse, focusing on possible structural weaknesses or procedural lapses during concrete pouring operations.
Firefighters are now stabilising what remains of the facade to allow forensic teams to continue their work safely.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
Türkiye on Wednesday (8 October) slammed an intervention by Israeli forces against a flotilla attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza as an act of piracy and a violation of international law.
Caretaker French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu struck a cautiously optimistic tone on Wednesday (8 October), saying a deal could potentially be reached on the country's budget by year-end, making the risk of a snap election more remote.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 8th of October, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Hundreds of Texas National Guard soldiers gathered on Tuesday at an Army facility outside Chicago, as Donald Trump's threat to invoke an anti-insurrection law and deploy troops to more U.S. cities intensified the battle over the limits to his authority.
Hamas said on Tuesday it was ready to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza based on President Donald Trump's plan but still has demands, as Qatar's prime minister and senior U.S. mediators headed to Egypt to join indirect negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment