CESENA, Italy: Eight people died and thousands were evacuated from their homes after heavy rains caused devastation across Italy’s northern Emilia Romagna region, while this weekend’s Imola Grand Prix was canceled, officials said Wednesday.
“The city is on its knees, devastated and in pain,” said Gian Luca Zattini, the mayor of Forli, a city near Bologna where three people were confirmed dead earlier Wednesday. “It’s the end of the world.”
Emilia Romagna’s vice president, Irene Priolo, later told reporters that a total of eight people had died, with several others missing.
Two of the bodies in Forli were recovered by divers on Wednesday morning, as part of a huge rescue effort involving emergency services and the armed forces.
Emilia Romagna, one of Italy’s richest regions, had already been hit by heavy rain just a fortnight ago, causing floods that left two dead.
This time, around 50 centimeters (20 inches) of rain fell within 36 hours in Forli, Cesena and Ravenna — around half the normal annual rainfall, a situation “with few precedents,” Italy’s Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said.
“It is still a very critical situation,” he told reporters, adding that while the rain was still falling, it was expected to lighten during the day.
The flooding caused the cancelation of the Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which had been set for on Sunday in Imola.
Organizers said they could not guarantee the safety of fans, teams and staff.
“It would not be right to put further pressure on the local authorities and emergency services at this difficult time,” they said.
Regional President Stefano Bonaccini said Emilia Romagna had been hit “like an earthquake.”
Rescue workers had worked through the night to save children, the elderly and the disabled from the rising waters.
“We’re scared, this time we’re scared,” said Simona Matassoni, the owner of the Hotel Savio in Cesena, which has so far escaped flooding.
“I was born here, I’ve seen lots of full rivers, but never anything like this,” she told AFP by telephone on Wednesday morning, adding that it was still raining.
“At the moment we’re crossing our fingers... but another flood is expected, so who knows (what will happen).”
Some 3,000 people had been evacuated from their homes in Bologna, while the mayor of Ravenna said some 5,000 people were being evacuated as a precaution. Around 50,000 people were without electricity.
Twenty-one rivers in the region had broken their banks between Tuesday and Wednesday, while 36 local authorities reported flooding and 48 reporting landslides.
The civil protection agency urged “maximum caution,” as mayors warned people to stay on high ground.
In Forli, an AFP photographer saw people in a state of shock as they fled on Tuesday night through floodwaters in the dark in their bare feet.
Images showed streets transformed into rivers, and firemen moving people to safety in rubber dinghies.
Elsewhere, muddy waters rushed at great speed under the arches of the covered walkways in Bologna, while locals in Cesena swam down a road to rescue a three-year-old child.
“We absolutely must not lower our guard,” Cesena mayor Enzo Lattuca said on Facebook.
Residents “must not under any account go into basements or cellars,” and should “stay out of ground floors if possible,” he said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, on her way to the G7 summit in Japan, tweeted her support for those affected and said the government was “ready to intervene with the necessary aid.”
Much of northern Italy suffered a drought last winter, on top of a record lack of rain last summer that ruined harvests.
However, spring has been wetter and colder than normal across the country.
Eight dead, Grand Prix postponed after flooding in northern Italy
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Eight dead, Grand Prix postponed after flooding in northern Italy
- Emilia Romagna's vice president, Irene Priolo, later told reporters that a total of eight people had died, with several others missing
- The flooding caused the cancellation of the Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which had been set for on Sunday in Imola
UN approves new AU force to take on Al-Shabab in Somalia
The resolution was adopted by 14 of the Council’s 15 member states, while the United States abstained due to reservations about funding.
It provides for the replacement of the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), whose mandate ends on December 31, by the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM).
Somalia is one of the world’s poorest countries, enduring decades of civil war, a bloody insurgency by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, and frequent climate disasters.
Representatives from Somalia and its western neighbor Ethiopia were invited to participate in the council’s meeting, although they were not allowed to vote.
“We emphasize that the current AUSSOM troops allocations are completed through bilateral agreements,” said the Somali representative, adding 11,000 troops were currently pledged.
On Monday, Egypt’s foreign minister announced his country would take part in the new force.
Tensions flared in the Horn of Africa after Ethiopia signed a maritime deal in January with the breakaway region of Somaliland, pushing Mogadishu closer to Addis Ababa’s regional rival Cairo.
This month, Turkiye brokered a deal to end the nearly year-long bitter dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia, although Ethiopian troops would not be involved in the new AU force.
Burundi will not be taking part in the new force either, a Burundian military source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The text adopted by the UN Security Council provides for the possibility of using a mechanism that it created last year, under which an African force deployed with the green light of the UN can be up to 75 percent financed by the UN.
“In our view, the conditions have not been met for immediate transition to application of” that measure, US representative Dorothy Shea said, justifying her country’s abstention.
Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban so he can weigh in after he takes office
- The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction
The request came as TikTok and the Biden administration filed opposing briefs to the court, in which the company argued the court should strike down a law that could ban the platform by Jan. 19 while the government emphasized its position that the statute is needed to eliminate a national security risk.
“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case,” said Trump’s amicus brief, which supported neither party in the case.
The filings come ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10 on whether the law, which requires TikTok to divest from its China-based parent company or face a ban, unlawfully restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment.
Earlier this month, a panel of three federal judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the statute, leading TikTok to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
The brief from Trump said he opposes banning TikTok at this junction and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”
Senegal PM seeks to repeal contested amnesty law
- Sonko’s government pledged earlier this month to investigate dozens of deaths resulting from the political violence between 2021 and 2024
DAKAR: Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said Friday that his government would submit legislation to repeal a law by former president Macky Sall granting amnesty for deadly political violence.
The controversial amnesty was granted just before March 2024 elections as Sall sought to calm protests sparked by his last-minute postponement of the vote in the traditionally stable West African country.
Critics say the move was to shield perpetrators of serious crimes, including homicides, committed during three years of political tensions between February 2021 and February 2024.
But it also allowed Sonko, a popular opposition figure, to stand in the elections after court convictions had made him ineligible, as well as Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who eventually won the presidency.
Sonko’s government pledged earlier this month to investigate dozens of deaths resulting from the political violence between 2021 and 2024.
“In addition to putting compensation for victims into the budget, a draft law will be submitted to your august Assembly to repeal the March 6, 2024 amnesty so that light may be shed and responsibilities determined on whatever side they may lie,” Sonko said in a highly awaited policy speech to lawmakers.
“It’s not a witch hunt and even less vengeance ... It’s justice, the foundation without which social peace cannot be built,” Sonko said.
Sonko’s speech also laid out plans for the next five years to pull Senegal out of three years of economic and political turmoil that have sent unemployment soaring.
He and Faye, who won the presidency and in November secured a landslide victory in parliament, now have a clear path for implementing an ambitious, leftist reform agenda.
“We must carry out a deep and unprecedented break never seen in the history of our country since independence” from France, Sonko told lawmakers.
He said Senegal remained “locked into the colonial economic model” and vowed an overhaul of public action and tax reforms to foster “home-grown growth.”
ECOWAS defends Nigeria against Niger’s claims of ‘destabilization’ plot
- Niger’s military leaders broke away from the ECOWAS amid rising anti-France sentiments
LAGOS: West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS has come to Nigeria’s defense after claims by Niger that it was plotting to destabilize its neighbor.
Niger’s military leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani accused Nigeria of providing homes for two French nationals it expelled, allegedly for anti-government activities, during a televised Christmas Day broadcast on Wednesday.
Tchiani also lashed out against ECOWAS and claimed that France had established a base in Nigeria where it was arming terror groups in the Lake Chad region to foment unrest in his country.
“Nigerian authorities are not unaware of this underhanded move,” Tchiani said. “It is near a forest close to Sokoto where they wanted to establish a terrorist stronghold known as Lakurawa.”
“The French and ISWAP made this deal on March 4, 2024,” he added, referring to the Daesh West Africa Province militant group.
Earlier in December, Niger’s foreign minister summoned the charge d’affaires at the Nigerian Embassy, accusing its neighbors of “serving as a rear base” to “destabilize” the country.
ECOWAS and Nigeria rejected the accusations. “For years, Nigeria has supported peace and security of several countries not only in the West African subregion but also on the African continent,” the regional bloc said in a statement released.
“ECOWAS therefore refutes any suggestion that such a generous and magnanimous country would become a state-sponsor of terrorism.”
Nigeria’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris said in a separate statement Thursday that his country had no alliance with “France or any other country” to destabilize Niger, with whom it has had a choppy relationship since Tchiani seized power in a July 2023 coup.
Niger’s military leaders broke away from the ECOWAS amid rising anti-France sentiments.
Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is currently head of the ECOWAS bloc, had briefly considered a regional military intervention to reinstate Niger’s ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.
But Idris said that Nigeria was open to dialogue with Niger despite its political situation.
“Nigeria remains committed to fostering regional stability and will continue to lead efforts to address terrorism and other transnational challenges,” he said.
Anger mounts in Kenya over abductions
- Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who was ousted after clashing with Ruto over the protests, also alleged on Friday that a secret unit was behind the disappearances
NAIROBI: Kenyan rights groups, lawyers and politicians voiced grave concern over a fresh spate of abductions targeting government critics on Friday.
A small protest was organized in northeastern Embu town, where a 24-year-old man, Billy Mwangi, disappeared last weekend.
Security forces in the East African nation have been accused of carrying out dozens of illegal detentions since youth-led anti-government demonstrations in June and July. The latest disappearances have been primarily young men who have criticized President William Ruto online.
Police have denied involvement but activists have questioned why they appear not to be investigating the disappearances.
The Law Society of Kenya said recent denials by the inspector-general of police were “insufficient,” calling for him to take clear action against the kidnappers or resign. “If indeed the police are not complicit,” LSK said, they must immediately “investigate and prosecute those responsible.”
Human Rights Watch said earlier this year that its research pointed toward a unit drawn from multiple security agencies.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, who was ousted after clashing with Ruto over the protests, also alleged on Friday that a secret unit was behind the disappearances.
“Abducting these children and killing them is not a solution ... This is the first administration in the history of this country to target children for repression,” Gachagua claimed at a press conference.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said Thursday there had been 82 abduction cases carried out “clandestinely, with unidentified armed persons” since June, with 29 still missing. It listed seven people who had been abducted since Dec. 17.
Two of them — Mwangi and Peter Muteti — were taken shortly after sharing AI-generated images of Ruto dead.
The Kenyan Judiciary said this week that “abductions have no place in law and indeed are a direct threat to the rights of citizens.”
In a post on X on Thursday, it urged “security agencies and all connected entities to adhere to the law to safeguard fundamental rights and freedoms.”
The anti-government demonstrations earlier this year were sparked by proposed tax hikes, triggering the worst crisis since Ruto took power in 2022.
While large-scale rallies have mostly stopped, anger against the government has simmered, fueled by a cost of living crisis and continued allegations of brutality by the security forces.
