KIEV, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Explosions were heard in several cities across Ukraine on Saturday morning as Russia launched missile attacks against the country, the Ukrainian air force and media outlets said.

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department on Friday asked the Supreme Court to order Texas to stop blocking Border Patrol agents from a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border where large numbers of migrants have crossed in recent months, setting up another showdown between Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over immigration enforcement.

JERUSALEM, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Israel accused Hamas on Saturday of planning to attack its embassy in Sweden as part of an expansion by the Palestinian Islamist militant group into Europe, where authorities announced the arrests of several suspects last month.

In a statement following up on the arrests announced by Danish, German and Swedish authorities, Israel's Mossad intelligence agency named an alleged Hamas network member in Sweden, without specifying whether he was also in custody.

MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A huge fire tore through a warehouse belonging to one of Russia's biggest online retailers in St. Petersburg on Saturday, the Ministry of Emergency Situations said, saying firefighters had succeeded in halting it spreading further.

The warehouse's owner, Wildberries, said in a statement that all its staff had been evacuated. Nobody was reported to have been hurt.

There was no immediate word on how the fire, which covered 70,000 square metres and was rated as a category five, the most serious, had started in the suburb of Russia's second city.

NEW YORK (AP) — When New York City officials erected a sprawling tent complex on a remote former airport in Brooklyn to house asylum-seeking migrants this fall, many of the recent arrivals and their advocates questioned the wisdom of placing thousands of people in a flood zone, miles from schools and other services, just as winter set in.

Those worries became reality this week when forecasts of a storm packing drenching rains and punishing winds forced a hasty evacuation Tuesday of the complex built on Floyd Bennett Field’s Runway 19.

HARARE, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The High Court of Zimbabwe is set to declare 279 people who went missing after Cyclone Idai hit the country in 2019, state media reported on Saturday.

This follows a class action instituted by Attorney General Virginia Mabhiza, which has not been opposed by anyone.

Cyclone Idai hit Zimbabwe in mid-March 2019 and caused massive damage to infrastructure and crops as floods swept away scores of people.

Areas that were mainly affected were the southeastern districts of Chipinge and Chimanimani in Manicaland Province.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy officer who had been jailed in Japan over a car crash that killed two Japanese citizens was released from U.S. custody on Friday, one month after he was returned to the United States and placed in a federal prison, his family said.

Lt. Ridge Alkonis was ordered released by the U.S. Parole Commission, according to the Justice Department and a family statement that described the extra detention in a Los Angeles detention facility as “unnecessary.” In total, he spent 537 days locked up either in Japan or the U.S.

TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A domestic flight of Japan's All Nippon Airways (9202.T) returned to its departure airport on Saturday after a crack was found on the cockpit window of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft midair, a spokesperson for the airline said.

Flight 1182 was en route to Toyama airport but headed back to the Sapporo-New Chitose airport after the crack was found on the outermost of four layers of windows surrounding the cockpit, the spokesperson said, adding there were no injuries reported among the 59 passengers and six crew.

DAMASCUS, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed on Saturday as their car slid off a bridge into a heavy rainfall-induced water stream in the northwestern Syrian province of Tartus, the local Sham FM radio reported.

Numerous villages in the province experienced heavy downpours and suffered the subsequent widespread flooding, said the report, citing Provincial Governor Hassan Hassan.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed in two Israeli airstrikes overnight into Saturday in the Gaza Strip, officials said, as concerns continued to grow over a lack of fuel and supplies for overburdened hospitals.

Video provided by Gaza’s Civil Defense department showed rescue workers searching through the twisted rubble of a home in Gaza City by flashlight early Saturday morning after it was hit by an Israeli attack.

DUBAI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Yemenis gathered in several cities on Friday to hear their leaders condemn U.S. and British strikes on their country in response to attacks by Houthi militants on Red Sea shipping.

The U.S. and Britain carried out dozens of air strikes on Houthi military targets overnight, widening a wave of regional conflict unleashed by Israel's war in Gaza.

"Your strikes on Yemen are terrorism," said Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, referring to the United States. "The United States is the Devil."

NEW YORK (AP) — Barred from giving a formal closing argument, Donald Trump wrested an opportunity to speak in court at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial Thursday, unleashing a barrage of attacks in a six-minute diatribe before being cut off by the judge.

In an extraordinary move for any defendant, Trump not only sought to make his own summation but then brushed past a question from the judge about whether he would follow rules requiring him to keep his remarks focused on matters related to the trial.