Israel orders Palestinians to leave Gaza City

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s defense minister has ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, saying it is their “last opportunity.” Israel’s defense ministry said Wednesday that anyone who stays will be considered a militant supporter and face the “full force” of Israel’s latest offensive. At least 16 Palestinians were killed across the territory, according to local hospitals, as Hamas weighed a new proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at ending the war and returning the remaining captives taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it. A senior Hamas official says there are some points in the proposal that are unacceptable and must be amended, without elaborating.

Indonesian rescuers race to find dozens of students in rubble of collapsed school

SIDOARJO, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian rescue workers are racing against the clock in the search for survivors from a school collapse in the province of East Java. Dozens of students are still unaccounted for, with six confirmed dead and about 100 injured. Authorities said the Islamic boarding school was undergoing an unauthorized expansion to add two new levels. It collapsed during afternoon prayers on Monday, sending slabs of concrete and other heavy debris crashing onto the students below. Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters on Wednesday that rescue crews were now “racing against time.”

Protests in Pakistan-administered Kashmir leave 4 people dead and over 100 injured

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators demanding subsidies on food, electricity and other services have clashed with police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Four people died and more than 100 were injured. The violence erupted when armed protesters, carrying guns and sticks, attacked officers who were deployed across Kashmir to prevent them from blocking roads and damaging property, said a local police officer. Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, the prime minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said the demonstrators belonged to the Awami Joint Action Committee, an alliance of groups that has blocked roads and enforced a shutdown since Monday in the region.

A collapse at a church under construction in Ethiopia kills at least 25 worshippers

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Authorities in Ethiopia say that scaffolding supporting a church under construction in the Amhara region has collapsed, killing at least 25 people and injuring scores of others. The incident happened in the morning at Menjar Shenkora Arerti Mariam Church in Amhara, northern Ethiopia, as worshippers gathered for an annual event celebrating St. Mary. Witnesses say many worshippers had climbed up the wooden scaffolding in efforts to see a ceiling mural when the support structure collapsed. Seyoum Altaye, a clinician with a local hospital, says the 25 dead include children and the elderly. He says more than 100 people were injured.