A very strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit 8.3 km (5.2 mi) away from Puquio, Ayacucho, Peru, in the early morning of Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 5.22 am local time (America/Lima GMT -5).
The quake had a moderate depth of 92 km (57 mi) and was felt widely in the area.
As many as 10 persons, including three minors, reportedly died due to lightning strikes as the nor'wester hit several districts of Odisha, officials said.
As per reports, three persons, including an elderly woman and her granddaughter, died while five others sustained severe injuries after lightning struck a hut where they were taking shelter during the nor'wester at Paridiguda village of Koraput district on Friday afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Brudi Madinga and her granddaughter Kasa Madinga of Paridiguda and Ambika Kasi of Kumbhariguda area of the Koraput district.
The health condition of deceased Brudi Madinga's husband, Hingu, who also sustained injuries in the thunderstorm, is said to be critical.
Similarly, a 32-year-old Dasa Jani of Semiliguda block of Koraput district died after lightning struck when he was fishing in a river near his village on Friday afternoon.
A landslide occurred at the Ta Pao Ho 1A hydropower plant construction site in Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam at around 10:30 am on May 16, 2025, leaving five workers missing and four others injured.
A landslide at the Ta Pao Ho 1A hydropower plant construction site in Phong Tho District, Lai Chau Province, northern Vietnam left five workers missing and four others injured on Friday.
Rescue operations are ongoing as authorities investigate the cause of the fatal landslide, believed to be triggered by days of heavy downpours.
According to initial reports from the Department of Dyke Management and Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the incident occurred at 10:30 am on Friday while nine workers from Dung Phuc Loc Construction Investment JSC, based in north-central Nghe An Province, were redirecting a stream at the construction site.
A sudden landslide from the upper slope buried several workers, leaving five missing and injuring four.
Another dead whale has washed ashore on a British Columbia beach, the third over two weeks, but a marine wildlife expert at the scene said Friday that there's likely no connections between the latest case to the other deaths.
The Namgis First Nation said in a statement that a resident reported finding the whale Wednesday on a beach near Port McNeill, B.C., on the northwest side of Vancouver Island.
Experts who have examined the animal have confirmed it's a Bryde's whale — a species rarely seen in waters north of the same latitude as Los Angeles, the statement said.
Jackie Hildering with the Marine Education and Research Society is among the researchers on-site, and said this is the only known sighting of a Bryde's whale in B.C.
"Complete mystery," Hildering said when asked about the whale's possible cause of death, noting the animal did not show signs of malnutrition or being struck by a vessel. "There's absolutely nothing grossly on the exterior of the whale to know how it ended up here (and) why it would have died."
At least five people have been killed after a severe cyclonic storm landed in St Louis, Missouri, United States on Friday afternoon, May 16. Authorities are searching for others trapped inside the debris of the building. The tornado uprooted roofs off buildings, blew out windows, ripped bricks off siding, and also uprooted trees, and a power outage was also reported in the area.
As per St Louis Mayor Cara Spencer, over 5,000 homes were affected, and several people were displaced. About 100,000 residents were left in the dark in the city as a power outage was reported on Friday night. An overnight curfew was imposed in the city, and an emergency was declared after damages were reported in several places. "This is truly, truly devastating," Spencer said.
The central province of Manitoba has declared a state of emergency in its eastern regions to intensify firefighting, evacuation and relief efforts to all affected people and areas.
Canadian federal police say two people were killed near the small community of Lac de Bonnet in the central Canadian province of Manitoba on Thursday.
The bodies of an adult man and woman were found as the province battles a massive wildfire which broke out on Tuesday.
Assistant Deputy Minister of Manitoba, Kristin Hayward, says the fires remained out of control all of Wednesday and most of Thursday. Officials say there are currently 21 fires still burning in the province.
According to local media, there were 80 active fires across Canada as of Thursday. The fires have spread quickly due to unusually hot, dry and windy conditions.
Five people have died and more than a hundred were injured as heavy rain caused flooding in several regions of Algeria, the country's civil defence service said on Thursday.
In Djelfa, some 300 kilometres (185 miles) south of the capital Algiers, three people died when a bus was stuck and submerged in flood waters.
The civil defence, who reported the deaths taking place over a 24-hour period, said a 13-year-old died from injuries he sustained after being struck by large hailstones.
A fifth person was swept away by floodwaters, and authorities say search efforts are ongoing for another individual still missing.
Heavy downpours continued on Thursday in parts of both northern and southern Algeria, Africa's largest country.
The Algerian national meteorological office had warned of up to 90 millimetres of rainfall prior to the floodings.
A waterspout is spotted over a river in Tra Cu District, Tra Vinh Province, southern Vietnam, May 15, 2025.
A waterspout formed over a river in Tra Cu District, Tra Vinh Province, southern Vietnam on Thursday afternoon, the provincial meteorological agency said on Friday.
Video footage recorded by local residents and shared widely on social media showed a rotating funnel cloud in contact with the river surface in the Ben Ba area.
No casualties or property damage were reported.
According to the Tra Vinh Hydrometeorological Station, waterspouts and similar phenomena may occur more frequently during seasonal transitions and the onset of the rainy season, when thunderstorms, lightning, and strong winds become more common.
Another dead whale has been found stranded on a German island in the North Sea.
The minke whale washed up on the east side of the uninhabited island of Minsener Oog, a spokesman for the Wadden Sea National Park said on Thursday.
It is still unclear why the 6.5-metre-long marine mammal died.
The dead animal was discovered on Tuesday evening and reported on Wednesday, said the national park spokesman. Experts will attempt to take samples from the whale and examine them over the next few days to determine the cause of death.
Pradip Kumar Maitra Hindustan Times Thu, 15 May 2025 20:17 UTC
Human-wildlife conflict continues to escalate in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district after a woman, Kachrabai Bharde, 54, was mauled to death by a tiger on Wednesday. This is the sixth death due to tiger attacks in the district within just five days.
According to reports, the woman went into the forest near Karbada village to collect tendu leaves. She was with her husband, Arun, and other women from the village when the incident occurred. While she was plucking tendu leaves, a tiger hiding in the bushes suddenly pounced on her. Her husband heard the screams and saw the tiger dragging her away. Arun rushed back to the village to alert the locals. Villagers later found Bharde's body lying in a pool of blood in the forest.
Angered by the recurring attacks, locals staged a protest against the forest department and the district administration, demanding proper compensation and a government job for the victim's son. The forest and police officials pacified the crowd and sent the body for post-mortem to the local civil hospital.
Comment: See also: Tiger kills woman in Chandrapur, India - 27th such incident for the district in 2024