BANGKOK (AP) — Incessant rain hammered several areas of Thailand’s capital on Saturday, disrupting traffic and forcing thousands to evacuate, as authorities declared the city a disaster area. Thailand’s Meteorological Department warned that the deluge, which has been pouring since Thursday afternoon, would continue in most parts of the country through Sunday. Accumulated rainfall in many areas of Bangkok since Thursday exceeded 30 centimeters (11.8 inches), officials said. Floodwaters spread across the city, particularly in the central and eastern parts, blocking roads and stopping traffic.

 

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ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has postponed a planned long march from Peshawar to Islamabad until October 4, the chief minister of the PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Sohail Afridi, told reporters on Friday. PTI had planned to begin the march on September 27 to press for the release of Khan, who has been in jail since 2023. The PTI’s last large-scale protest two years ago ended in deadly clashes with security forces. Earlier this week, Pakistan curbed access to its capital, Islamabad, by blocking major highways with shipping containers and deploying tens of thousands of security forces, ahead of the march planned by Khan’s supporters. Party spokesperson Zulfi Bukhari, however, told Reuters that although they had moved the planned date to October 4, they could launch the march earlier. “We can now do it whenever we deem fit. The question is to the government, as to how long they’re willing to keep the country closed off?”, Bukhari said.

 

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ROME (Anadolu) - Italian truck drivers could go on strike over soaring diesel prices if the government fails to convene road haulage associations for talks, an industry representative said Friday, according to Italian news agency ANSA. “If the government doesn’t convene the road haulage associations to address the rising cost of diesel, we can’t rule out a strike,” Claudio Donati, general secretary of the Assotir road haulage association, said at a press conference in Rome. Donati said a strike would be “the ultimate weapon,” warning that stopping for even one day would mean “stopping the country.” He said any decision to strike should be made jointly by the sector as a whole, adding that the association wanted to avoid such action.

 

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KINSHASA (AFP) - Thirteen people including three army officers were killed on Friday when a military plane crashed in Democratic Republic of Congo, an official said. • The plane was travelling to the capital, Kinshasa, from the southwestern city of Kikwit when it experienced a technical problem and attempted to land in Kenge, in Kwango province, said Remy Saki Bokinda, the Kwango vice governor. “With no landing strip available in Kenge, the plane crashed into a residential plot,” he said. • The passengers included General Likulia Bakumi, the army’s auditor general, as well as a major, a captain and other military personnel and civilians, Bokinda said.

 

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ATHENS (Reuters) - Six people have died, the Greek fire brigade said on Saturday, after a two-storey residential building in a tourist area of central Athens collapsed following an explosion which the capital’s mayor said was likely linked to gas infrastructure. Emergency crews in heavy gear and red helmets assisted by rescue dogs, cameras and sensors found the bodies of six people, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said in a televised briefing. They were looking for an elderly couple who lived in one apartment and four tourists who were staying in another as they removed debris from the building. 

 

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Friday that the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has spread to two additional health zones, bringing the total number affected to 63 across seven provinces. The newly affected zones are Bulu in Sud Ubangi province and Dungu in Haut-Uele province, which borders South Sudan. As of September 23, Congo had reported 7,890 confirmed cases and 3,799 deaths, according to the WHO. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said conflict and population displacement were making it more difficult for health workers to reach affected communities and trace people who may have been exposed to the virus. “It’s very difficult to see Ebola in isolati