Torrential downpours kill nine in Ukraine’s Odesa

Firefighters tackle the blaze after a Russian air attack that hit at Barabashovo market in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (AP)
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Updated 01 October 2025
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Torrential downpours kill nine in Ukraine’s Odesa

  • Hundreds of rescuers worked overnight to evacuate people from flooded areas, remove cars and pump water out of buildings
  • A total of 362 people have been rescued so far, the service said

KYIV: A severe rainstorm killed at least nine people in Ukraine’s Odesa, emergency services said early on Wednesday.
“In seven hours, Odesa received almost a two-month norm of rainfall. No storm sewer system can withstand such a load,” the mayor of Odesa Gennadiy Trukhanov said on Telegram.
“Currently, nine people are known to have died, including one child,” the State Emergency Service said in a separate post.
Hundreds of rescuers worked overnight to evacuate people from flooded areas, remove cars and pump water out of buildings.
A total of 362 people have been rescued so far, the service said.
Mayor Trukhanov acknowledged the situation was challenging but said it was “under control.”
More bad weather is forecast for tomorrow.
“Work continues without a break — both day and night,” Trukhanov said.
The deadly weather adds to the challenges facing emergency services as Ukraine endures daily attacks by Russia, which controls about 20 percent of its territory three-and-a-half years after Moscow launched its large-scale invasion.
A man died Wednesday morning in a Russian attack on the southern city of Kherson, according to the local military administration.
Six people, including a policeman, were wounded in overnight strikes in the northeast region of Kharkiv, according to the national police.


Philippine VP Sara Duterte impeachment case moves forward

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Philippine VP Sara Duterte impeachment case moves forward

  • A Philippine congressional committee agreed overwhelmingly on Wednesday to advance the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte
MANILA: A Philippine congressional committee agreed overwhelmingly on Wednesday to advance the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, setting the stage for a potential vote that could decide her political future.
The daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who in February announced a 2028 presidential bid, was impeached last year, only for the Supreme Court to toss the case out over procedural issues.
Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment by the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would ban Duterte from elected office for life.
The new complaints, ruled “sufficient in substance” by a vote of 54-1 on Wednesday, accuse her of graft and corruption while in office and of making a death threat against former ally President Ferdinand Marcos.
She will now have 10 days to respond before the start of a hearing of probable cause necessary to move the complaints to a House vote.
“Our vote today is not a verdict of guilt nor an act of condemnation. It’s simply a decision on whether the constitutional process should move forward,” Representative Ferdinand Hernandez said minutes before the vote.
The vice president’s legal team said Wednesday they would not comment on specific allegations.
“For now, we will refrain from discussing the substance of the case in the media and will instead address these matters through the proper constitutional processes,” lawyer Michael Poa said in a statement.
The alleged death threat against Marcos stems from a late-night press briefing in which she claimed to have hired an assassin to kill the president and members of his family should he have her cut down first.
Analysts have warned that Duterte’s presidential announcement will weigh heavily on lawmakers forced to gauge the repercussions of a vote against someone who may yet hold the country’s highest office.
While she later said the comments were misinterpreted, lawmaker Gerville Luistro said Wednesday that the alleged threats could destabilize institutions.
“They carry weight. They create fear,” she said.
Duterte and Marcos have been engaged in a high-stakes political brawl that erupted within weeks of their 2022 win in the presidential election, when the vice president was denied her favored cabinet portfolios and instead named education secretary.
The justice committee last month tossed out a pair of impeachment complaints against Marcos, ruling that allegations of corruption over a scandal involving bogus flood control projects lacked substance.