
1 Dead, 2 Injured in Philadelphia Explosion That Damaged Several Homes
Firefighters responded to a report of an explosion just before 5:00 a.m., according to the Philadelphia Fire Department. Daniel McCarty, the department's executive officer, said there was extensive damage to about five homes, including collapsed structures. One person died, and two others who were rescued were hospitalized. McCarty said one was reported stable, while the other was in critical condition. Crews were expected to continue search and rescue operations.
'The biggest thing is the stability of the surrounding houses – making sure that this hazard doesn't spread,' McCarty said. 'This will be an extensive all-day operation for the Philadelphia Fire Department.' Authorities had not determined the cause of the explosion.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Columbia to pay $9 million to settle lawsuit over college ranking data
Columbia University agreed to pay $9 million to settle a proposed class action by students who claimed it submitted false data to boost its position in US News & World Report's influential college rankings. A preliminary settlement, which requires a judge's approval, was filed on Monday in Manhattan federal court. Students said Columbia artificially inflated its US News ranking for undergraduate schools, reaching No. 2 in 2022, by consistently reporting false data, including that 83 percent of its classes had fewer than 20 students. They said the misrepresentations enticed them to enroll and allowed Columbia to overcharge them on tuition. The settlement covers about 22,000 undergraduate students at Columbia College, Columbia Engineering and Columbia's School of General Studies from the fall of 2016 to the spring of 2022. Lawyers for the students called the accord fair, reasonable and adequate. Columbia denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The university said in a statement that it 'deeply regrets deficiencies in prior reporting,' and now provides prospective students with data reviewed by an independent advisory firm to ensure they receive accurate information about their education. The litigation began in July 2022, after Columbia math professor Michael Thaddeus published a report alleging that data underlying the school's No. 2 ranking were inaccurate or misleading. Columbia's ranking dropped to No. 18 that September. In June 2023, Columbia said its undergraduate schools would stop participating in US News' rankings. It said the rankings appeared to have 'outsized influence' with prospective students, and 'much is lost' in distilling education quality from a series of data points. Some other universities, including Harvard and Yale, also stopped submitting data to US News for various schools. US News also ranks graduate schools. Lawyers for the Columbia students plan to seek up to one-third of the settlement for legal fees, leaving about $6 million for the students. The case is In re Columbia College Rankings Action, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05945.


Al Arabiya
11 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Death toll rises to 36 following an explosion and fire at a southern India pharmaceutical factory
The death toll from Monday's massive explosion and fire at a pharmaceutical factory in India's southern state of Telangana has risen to at least 36, while about three dozen are injured, authorities said Tuesday. The fire department recovered the charred bodies of 34 workers from the accident site in an industrial area about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the state capital, Hyderabad, the state's fire services director G.V. Narayana Rao told The Associated Press. Two other workers succumbed to burns and were pronounced dead in the hospital, Rao said, adding that debris of the gutted pharmaceutical unit of Sigachi Industries was still being removed to find out if any more workers were trapped. Nearly three dozen injured workers were admitted to hospitals, he said. 'The whole structure of the factory has collapsed. Fire has been doused and we hope to finish removing the debris in the next few hours,' Rao said.


Al Arabiya
11 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Bryan Kohberger to plead guilty to murder in Idaho student stabbings to avoid death penalty
Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to murdering four University of Idaho students as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, an attorney for one victim's family said. Shanon Gray, an attorney representing the family of Kaylee Goncalves, confirmed Monday that prosecutors informed the families of the deal by email and letter earlier in the day and that his clients were upset about it. 'We are beyond furious at the State of Idaho,' Goncalves' family wrote in a Facebook post. 'They have failed us. Please give us some time. This was very unexpected.' A change of plea hearing was set for Wednesday, but the family has asked prosecutors to delay it to give them more time to travel to Boise, Gray said. Kohberger's trial was set for August in Boise, where it was moved following pretrial publicity in rural northern Idaho. Kohberger, 30, is accused in the stabbing deaths of Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen at a rental home near campus in Moscow, Idaho, early on Nov. 13, 2022. Autopsies showed the four were all likely asleep when they were attacked, some had defensive wounds, and each was stabbed multiple times. At the time, Kohberger was a criminal justice graduate student at Washington State University about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) west of the University of Idaho. He was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his parents lived, weeks later. Investigators said they matched his DNA to genetic material recovered from a knife sheath found at the crime scene. No motive has emerged for the killings, nor is it clear why the attacker spared two roommates who were in the home. Authorities have said cellphone data and surveillance video shows that Kohberger visited the victims' neighborhood at least a dozen times before the killings. The murders shocked the small farming community of about 25,000 people, which hadn't had a homicide in about five years, and prompted a massive hunt for the perpetrator. That included an elaborate effort to track down a white sedan that was seen on surveillance cameras repeatedly driving by the rental home, to identify Kohberger as a possible suspect through the use of genetic genealogy, and to pinpoint his movements the night of the killings through cellphone data. In a court filing, Kohberger's lawyers said he was on a long drive by himself around the time the four were killed. In the letter to families obtained by ABC News, prosecutors said Kohberger's lawyers approached them seeking to reach a plea deal. The defense team had previously made unsuccessful efforts to have the death penalty stricken as a possible punishment, including arguing that Kohberger's autism diagnosis made him less culpable. The prosecutors said they met with available family members last week before deciding to make Kohberger an offer. 'This resolution is our sincere attempt to seek justice for your family,' the letter said. 'This agreement ensures that the defendant will be convicted, will spend the rest of his life in prison, and will not be able to put you and the other families through the uncertainty of decades of post-conviction appeals. Your viewpoints weighed heavily in our decision-making process, and we hope that you may come to appreciate why we believe this resolution is in the best interest of justice.' In a Facebook post, the Goncalves family wrote that Kaylee's 18-year-old sister, Aubrie, had been unable to attend the meeting with prosecutors. But she shared her concerns in a written statement. 'Bryan Kohberger facing a life in prison means he would still get to speak, form relationships, and engage with the world,' Aubrie Goncalves wrote. 'Meanwhile our loved ones have been silenced forever. That reality stings more deeply when it feels like the system is protecting his future more than honoring the victims' pasts.' In Idaho, judges may reject plea agreements, though such moves are rare. If a judge rejects a plea agreement, the defendant is allowed to withdraw the guilty plea. Earlier Monday, a Pennsylvania judge had ordered that three people whose testimony was requested by defense attorneys would have to travel to Idaho to appear at Kohberger's trial. The defense subpoenas were granted regarding a boxing trainer who knew Kohberger as a teenager, a childhood acquaintance of Kohberger's, and a third man whose significance was not explained. A gag order has largely kept attorneys, investigators, and others from speaking publicly about the investigation or trial.