Kenya floods death toll nears 170 as president vows help for his country's "victims of climate change"
CBSN
Nairobi — Kenyan President William Ruto convened a special cabinet meeting Tuesday to discuss measures to tackle deadly floods that have killed nearly 170 people and displaced 185,000 others since March, his office said. Heavier than usual monsoon rains, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern, have devastated the East African country, along with neighboring Tanzania, engulfing villages and threatening to unleash even more damage in the weeks to come.
In the worst single incident, which killed nearly 50 villagers, a makeshift dam burst in the Rift Valley region before dawn on Monday, sending torrents of mud and water gushing down a hill and swallowing everything in its path. It was the deadliest incident episode in the country since the start of the rainy season.
So far, 169 people have died in flood-related disasters, according to government data.
Kyiv, Ukraine — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that American military aid on its way to Ukraine will make a "real difference" on the battlefield, as the top diplomat made an unannounced visit to reassure an ally facing a fierce new Russian offensive. In increasingly intense attacks along Ukraine's northeast border in recent days, Moscow's troops have captured around 40 to 50 square miles of territory, including at least seven villages, according to open source monitoring analysts.
A trove of gold and silver coins that experts believe were swindled out of an ailing population by an 18th-century conman has been discovered in central Poland, officials said. Volunteer metal detectorists found the treasure hidden underground in multiple locations while exploring the Jeleniowskie mountain range with permission from the local government, and the fact that it exists seems to validate a centuries-old legend.
Tel Aviv — Nearly 360,000 people had fled the Gaza Strip's southernmost city of Rafah by Monday, according to the United Nations, in an exodus that tripled in size over just a few days. The Israel Defense Forces sparked the upheaval late last week, issuing evacuation orders by text messages and fliers dropped from the sky to people in the city's eastern half.