UR MAG

BEIRUT (AP) — The human rights group Human Rights Watch said in a report Monday that the Israeli military "unlawfully" hit a village in southern Lebanon with shells containing white phosphorus, a controversial incendiary munition.

Through geolocating and verifying seven images, Human Rights Watch said Israel fired white phosphorus using artillery at residential areas in the southern Lebanese village of Yohmor. It happened hours after the Israeli military warned the residents of the village and dozens of others in southern Lebanon to evacuate.

Human Rights Watch said it couldn't independently identify if any residents were still in the area or if anyone was harmed.

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The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, it has maintained that it uses white phosphorus as a smoke screen and not to target civilians.

Human rights advocates say the use of white phosphorus is illegal under international law when the white-hot chemical substance is fired into populated areas. It can set buildings on fire and burn human flesh down to the bone. Survivors are at risk of infections and organ or respiratory failure, even if their burns are small.

"The Israeli military's unlawful use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have dire consequences for civilians," said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said the munition was used in Israel's last war with Hezbollah, over a year ago, on numerous occasions in southern Lebanon while civilians were still present.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A massive avalanche of garbage at Indonesia's largest landfill killed at least five people and left several others missing after heavy overnight rain triggered a rubbish dump collapse, officials said Monday.

Indonesia Landfill Collapse

More than 300 search-and-rescue personnel, using heavy machinery and sniffer dogs, were deployed to the sprawling dump site late Sunday at the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Facility in Bekasi, a city just outside the capital of Jakarta. Rescuers worked cautiously amid unstable heaps of waste, said Desiana Kartika Bahari, who heads Jakarta's Search and Rescue Office.

She said the victims included two garbage truck drivers and two food stall sellers who had been working or resting near the landfill, while four people managed to escape the disaster. Rescuers, including police, soldiers and volunteers, were still searching for at least three people reported missing, Bahari said.

"We had not ruled out the possibility of more victims," she said, "We are still gathering data to confirm how many vehicles and workers were caught beneath the debris."

Photos and videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed excavators digging through the collapsed mound, where several garbage trucks and small food stalls were buried.

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The National Disaster Management Agency's spokesperson, Abdul Muhari, urged strict safety protocols during the ongoing search, noting that weather forecasts for the next two days indicate potential rain across Jakarta and its nearby satellite cities.

He warned that the unstable collapsed material could trigger additional ground movement, putting rescue teams at further risk.

Sunday's deadly collapse renewed scrutiny of Bantargebang, a critical but overwhelmed landfill that receives most of Greater Jakarta's daily household waste. The site has faced repeated warnings about capacity, prompting national efforts to overhaul Indonesia's waste management system.

In January, asimilar collapse of garbageand debris buried or trapped workers in low-slung buildings at a landfill in the Philippines, killing at least four people, injuring a dozen and leaving more than 30 others missing.

In 2005, 31 people were killed and dozens went missing after a 7 meters (23 feet) rubbish dump collapsed following heavy rain, triggering a landslide that buried or damaged 60 houses in two West Java villages near the Indonesian city of Bandung.

Late last year, the government announced a two-year deadline to clear Bantargebang through an accelerated waste-to-energy project aimed at reducing chronic over reliance on open dumping. The initiative, backed by a new presidential regulation intended to streamline licensing and encourage investment, calls for converting refuse into electrical or thermal energy.

NAIROBI, March 9 (Reuters) - The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Kenya's capital Nairobi and ‌elsewhere has nearly doubled to 42, the government ‌said in a statement issued late on Sunday.

Intense rains on Friday unleashed ​heavy and widespread flooding, causing some people to drown, washing away vehicles and disrupting traffic at the country's largest airport.

The previous death toll was 23.

Emergency workers from various agencies ‌including the military were ⁠still conducting search and rescue operations across the country, Geoffrey Kiringa Ruku, minister for public ⁠service and human capital development said in the statement.

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"Search mission is still in progress by the multi agency emergency ​response teams ​with the aim of ensuring ​that bodies of all ‌the flood victims are found and retrieved," he said.

The floods had also done extensive damage to infrastructure and livelihoods. But 172 vehicles that had been swept away by flood waters have been recovered.

On Saturday, President William Ruto said ‌he had ordered relief food from the ​country's national strategic reserves be ​immediately released for distribution ​to families affected by the floods.

Scientists say ‌global warming is worsening floods ​and droughts across ​East Africa by concentrating rainfall into shorter, more intense bursts. A 2024 World Weather Attribution study found climate ​change had ‌made devastating rains in the region twice as likely ​as before.

(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Elias ​Biryabarema; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Joel Hofer made 22 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, Jonathan Drouin scored in his Blues debut and St. Louis beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-0 on Sunday night to sweep a four-game trip.

Blues Ducks Hockey

Jordan Kyrou, Jimmy Snuggerud and Pius Suter also scored to help St. Louis win for the fifth time in six games since the Olympic break.

Drouin was acquired from the Islanders on Friday at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Blues captain Brayden Schenn to New York. The left wing scored the second of three second-period goals, firing a slap shot past Ville Husso on a power play with 9:53 left.

Kyrou opened the scoring at 4:22, snapping a shot from the right side to the far post on a 3-on-1 break. After helping set up Drouin's goal, Snuggerud added one of his own on a one-timer with 7:49 to go.

St. Louis failed to add to the lead on an extended power play that spilled into the third when Ross Johnston received a major penalty for boarding Justin Holl, the defenseman who also made his Blues debut after coming over from Detroit.

After Anaheim successfully challenged Snuggerud's apparent goal midway through the third for offsides, Suter scored into an empty net with 4:02 to go

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Husso stopped 31 shots. The Ducks completed a nine-game homestand, splitting the last four after winning the first five. They were 0 for 6 on the power play against the Blues.

John Carlson, the defenseman acquired from Washington on Thursday, missed his fifth straight game because of lower-body injury. Ducks center Mikael Granlund returned after missing six games because of an upper-body injury sustained playing for Finland in the Olympic bronze-medal game.

Up next

Blues: Host the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

Ducks: At Winnipeg on Tuesday night.

AP NHL:https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vasily Podkolzin, Leon Draisaitl and Kasperi Kapanen scored in the third period and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Sunday night to tighten the Pacific Division race.

Oilers Golden Knights Hockey

The Golden Knights, with 72 points, missed a chance to go back in front of Anaheim, which remained at 73 after theDucks lost 4-0 at home to St. Louis. Third-place Edmonton has 70.

Vegas has lost five of six games, and the Oilers had dropped six of eight going into this meeting.

Trent Frederic also scored for the Oilers, and Connor Ingram made 24 saves. Connor McDavid had two assists and Evan Bouchard had one to extended their points streak to seven games.

Noah Hanifin and Jack Eichel scored for Golden Knights. Mitch Marner had two assists and Adin Hill stopped 15 shots.

Vegas winger Brett Howden played for the first time in two months. He had been out with a lower-body injury.

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The teams traded goals in the second period, but a goal from Golden Knights winger Keegan Kolesar was successfully challenged by the Oilers.

Then in the third, Podkolzin scored an unassisted goal on a breakaway off a faceoff to put the Oilers ahead 2-1 just 2:34 into period. Draisaitl's goal with 8:07 remaining came after Eichel failed to clear the puck out of his zone because teammate Rasmus Andersson's broken stick was in the way.

Eichel scored a short-handed goal from the right circle with 3:16 left to cut the deficit to one. Then, Kapanen ended just about any doubts with an empty-netter with 1:57 remaining.

Up next

Oilers: At Colorado on Tuesday night.

Golden Knights: At Dallas on Tuesday night.

AP NHL:https://apnews.com/NHL