Athens Explosion: Building Ablaze, 3 Injured

^{PHOTO: DAMAGES TO BUILDING, DEBRIS ON STREET, WINDOWS BLOWN OUT,}

INTERNATIONAL: Firefighters have fought a fire in a building in central Athens, Greece on Wednesday, 26 January,sparked by a large explosion that left one person hospitalized with burns and two others treated for smoke inhalation.

The blast has smashed windows and wrecked the facades of buildings along the major traffic artery of Syngrou Avenue, which links the city centre to the southern suburbs, while damaging buildings up to 656 feet away. Debris littered the street a day after a severe snowstorm swept the capital disrupting traffic and stranding thousands of people.

At least 18 firefighters have used seven engines to battle a blaze at one buildings and have nearly brought it under control, the fire brigade said. It was not immediately clear what triggered the blast or the fire, officials said. “We have a fire, there was a blast before that,” said a fire brigade commander at the scene.

Deathtoll from Airstrike on Yemen Rebel-Run Prison Rises to 91

^{PHOTO: BODIES OF VICTIMS OF AIR STRIKE HOUTHI HEALTH MINISTER, TAHA AL-MUTAWAKAL, SAYING DEATH TOLL HAS RISEN TO 91}

Yemen's Houthis have handed over bodies of the victims of last week's air strikes on a detention centre to their families for burial on Tuesday ,January 25. The air strikes have killed 91 people and wounded 236, the Houthi administration's health minister has confirmed, providing an updated toll after rescue efforts ended.

The United Nations has announced on Saturday,January 22, that at least 60 people were killed in the attacks. Witnesses has recalled, the blasts hits the centre, which was reduced to rubble. The Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis has said the facility in Saada province was not included on a no-target list agreed with U.N. agencies. The coalition has accused the Houthi forces of spreading unspecified misinformation about the attack.

Fighting has escalated in recent weeks, with more air strikes on what the Saudi-led coalition says are Houthi military targets. The Iran-aligned Houthi movement has stepped up missile and drone attacks on the United Arab Emirates and cross-border launches on neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The United Nations has urged de-escalation in the nearly seven-year-old war in which more than 100,000 people have been killed and 4 million displaced. The coalition has intervened in Yemen in March, 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from power in the capital, Sanaa. The group says it is fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

Overloaded Boat Accident in DR Congo Kills 60, Hundreds Missing

Rescuers on Monday have continued searching for survivors of a boat accident in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in which about 60 people were killed. The 60 victims are confirmed dead after their boat capsized on the Congo River near Mbandaka, capital of Equateur Province, a week earlier. More than 200 people have been rescued.

The boat, which was in poor condition, was overloaded with about 600 passengers, citing some survivors' testimonies. The government of Equateur Province has not set up a specific committee to investigate the causes of the accident.

Ship accidents are recurrent across the DRC, particularly on the Congo River, where night-time travel, overloads as well as poor conditions of ships are usually the causes. The DRC is the second largest African country with a land area of 2.3 million square kilometers, but it has poor road infrastructure, leaving residents lack of convenient means of transport.