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Devastated Italians reckon with ‘third apocalypse’ of World Cup failure

​ Devastated Italians reckon with ‘third apocalypse’ of World Cup failure. 22 hours ago. Davide Ghiglionein Rome. Getty Images. Leaning against a wall near a news-stand in central Rome, Tommaso Silvestri, 65, scans the morning’s front pages, their headlines swinging between “apocalypse,” “scandal” and “disaster” after Italy’s latest footballing collapse.. “We’ve made a real mess of it,” he says, shaking his head. “We had players who couldn’t even find the target.”. “The golden days of Italian football are well and truly gone.”. On Tuesday night in Zenica, four-time World Cup winners Italy failed to qualify for the tournament for a third consecutive time, losing 4-1 on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina after being reduced to 10 men before halftime.. Since winning the World Cup in 2006, the Azzurri have largely disappointed in international tournaments – with the exception of their surprise victory at the Euros in 2021 against England at Wembley.. “We are what our results say we are,” Silvestri said. “When you shoot and can’t even hit the goal, you’re not going to go far. When it comes to taking the game home, Italy just doesn’t get there anymore.”. Last night’s defeat drew swift and emotional reactions across Italian politics and society.. “Everything has a limit,” lamented Ignazio La Russa, president of the Senate and a senior figure in Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy party.. In a post on X, he wrote: “We’re not going to the World Cup. We supported them, we hoped, we even railed against a couple of questionable refereeing decisions… but deep down we feared it. In fact, we knew it.”. Gomorrah author and anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano also weighed in, pointing to deeper structural failures in Italian football, from governance to youth development.. “Clubs are corrupt and at the mercy of criminal organisations. True laundering vaults. No investment in young players, no care for second-generation talent. It’s easier to buy foreign players than to develop new athletes,” he said in a post on Instagram.. Getty Images. Across Italy, a legendary football nation with a rich history of producing world-class talent, many are wondering what went wrong. Giovanni Colli, 71, rolling his eyes while sipping an espresso at a café near the Pantheon, says he feels “betrayed.”. “Not going to the World Cup three times in a row, how on earth did it happen? What a huge disappointment. Everyone should resign. Give the young players a chance,” he says.. Italy’s World Cup heartbreak was crystallised in the tear-streaked face of coach Rino Gattuso, who struggled to hold back his emotions after the national team’s defeat.. “We don’t deserve this, it’s not fair. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it happen,” Gattuso said, eyes glistening, before retreating to the dressing room.. The legendary 2006 World Cup-winning midfielder was only given the job of coach last June.. Despite the disappointment, Gattuso expressed pride in his players: “I’m proud of my  

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BBC News World

Explosions at Burundi ammunition depot kill 13 civilians – army

​ Explosions at Burundi ammunition depot kill 13 civilians – army. 1 hour ago. BBC Great Lakes. AFP via Getty Images. At least 13 people were killed and dozens others wounded by a series of powerful explosions at an ammunitions depot in Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura, the army has said.. It said in its latest update that 57 people, including three soldiers, were wounded. Houses and private vehicles were damaged, while military equipment and facilities were destroyed by the blasts, it added.. The explosions erupted late on Tuesday at the facility, located in the suburb of Musaga, and were caused by an electrical fault, an army spokesperson had said earlier.. Shrapnel and debris were propelled more than 5km (three miles).. Earlier, family members and eyewitnesses had told the BBC of four separate deaths in the city. Security sources had told the AFP news agency that dozens had died.. One woman told BBC Great Lakes that a relative, who had been detained at Mpimba Central Prison, had died after a bomb hit the facility.. Numerous inmates at the prison, which is located near the ammunitions store, are reported to have been injured.. In the north-eastern neighbourhood of Gisandema, witnesses told BBC Great Lakes that a bomb had destroyed a house and killed a domestic worker.. The army offered condolences to bereaved families and sympathy to the wounded, and urged Burundians to be calm and report any unexploded bombs.. The military facility in Musaga is located in a densely populated area. It houses army logistics depots and sits next to another military base and a prison.. The explosions sent plumes of smoke rising above the city, sparking panic in the city of more than a million people.. President Evariste Ndayishimiye, in a message on X, expressed his condolences to all Burundians, adding that the authorities are “here to help”.. One man told the BBC the blasts lasted from around 18:15 local time (16:15 GMT) until midnight and that he and his family had left their home to seek refuge.. “Glass fell on us and I even got wounded under my foot,” he said.. Another man said: “We would like officials to reassure us that it is over so we can reorganise and get back to normal life.”. Residents in Musaga told the Reuters news agency the explosions had killed two people, one of them a young woman.. “She was in front of me. I saw her falling as she was running in a group of people. After a short while I came to know she was violently hit by a bomb,” one witness said.. More BBC stories about Burundi:. Ndayishimiye knew football was route from ‘unimaginable poverty’. ‘I risked drowning to flee conscription by Congolese rebels’. ‘I can’t wait to see my children’ – freed talk-show host. Getty Images/BBC. Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica. BBC Africa podcasts. Focus on Africa. This Is Africa. Burundi. Africa. Bujumbura  

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BBC News World

Magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits off Indonesia, killing one

​ Magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits off Indonesia, killing one. 3 hours ago. Astudestra Ajengrastri,Jakarta,. Abd Rahman Muchtar,Manadoand. Kelly Ng. A 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck in the Molucca Sea off Indonesia’s Ternate island early Thursday, killing at least one person.. The quake, which struck at 06:48 local time (22:48 GMT) at a depth of 35km, sparked tsunami warnings which have since been withdrawn.. A 70-year-old woman in North Sulawesi died after being crushed by building debris, and another person broke their leg after jumping off a building, Indonesia’s national news agency Antara reported.. While the region experiences high levels of seismic activity, some residents told the BBC this was one of the strongest earthquakes they have felt in at least the past six years.. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned that tsunami waves less than 0.3m (1 ft) “were possible” along the coasts of Guam, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Taiwan. The tsunami alert was lifted after two hours.. Journalist Isvara Safitri, who lives in central Manado, recalled how furniture in her room shook for several seconds.. “It was really strong… My head even felt dizzy,” Safitri told BBC Indonesian.. Even the roads outside the house were shaking, she said, adding that the earthquake “feels like the strongest” she’s experienced over the past six years.. Yayuk Oktiani, who lives in Bitung, a city on the north-eastern coast of Sulawesi, said she often experiences tremors, “but they’re never as strong as this one”.. Oktiani was at the market when “everything started shaking”. Several stores experienced power outages and as the tremors got stronger, people fled, she told the BBC.. She headed straight for her child’s school, which is located “very close” to the sea.. “The situation there was chaotic… The teachers immediately told parents to bring their children home, even though they had only just arrived,” she told the BBC.. In Ternate, resident Budi Nurgianto said the walls in his house vibrated for what felt like more than a minute. He rushed outside, into a scene of panic.. “There were many people outside… I even saw some people leaving their house without having finished their shower,” he told AFP news agency.. Manado and Bitung are located on the island of Sulawesi, while Ternate is a volcanic island in the North Maluku province.. Reuters. The epicentre of the quake was roughly midway between Manado and Ternate.. At least two aftershocks, with magnitudes 5.5 and 5.2, followed the major quake, with authorities warning of more to come.. The national geological agency reported “damage to buildings and injuries” about an hour after the initial tremor, but did not provide further detail.. Footage from a search and rescue team in Manado shows residents and officials walking through the rubble at a sports complex, with some shouting “oh my God”.. Large pieces of furniture were flung onto the ground, with some metallic struc  

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BBC News World

Trump leaves key questions unanswered as he seeks to calm nerves over Iran war

​ Trump leaves key questions unanswered as he seeks to calm nerves over Iran war. 6 hours ago. Gary O’DonoghueChief North America Correspondent. President Donald Trump’s address from the White House on Wednesday evening was – despite some speculation beforehand – largely a rehash of what he has been saying for days about the Iran war.. In a 20-minute primetime speech, he said the “core strategic objectives” of the US-Israeli military operation were “nearing completion” after a month of war and projected it would last another two to three weeks.. There were the usual threats against Iran, too, including a repeated pledge to bomb the country “back to the stone age”.. If you were to copy and paste his posts on Truth Social over the last week or so, you would not be far off this address to the nation.. The president did attempt to persuade Americans of the merits of this war. There is good reason for that, as polls suggest a consistent majority of voters disapprove of the military operation he launched on 28 February.. Trump urged Americans to see this war as an “investment” in their future, and suggested it was nothing compared to other conflicts over the past century or more in which the US has ended up being involved for far longer.. But there was little here for those hoping for clear answers on where this war is heading or potential exit ramps for the US. There were glaring omissions which leave a plethora of questions unanswered.. Trump’s vow to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ sends markets down and oil price up. Trump says Iran war objectives ‘nearing completion’ in address to nation. What do Trump’s latest comments on leaving Nato mean for the alliance?. Israel’s perpetual war with Iran may be hard to win with military might alone. Firstly, Israel is still attacking Iran and taking incoming drone and missile attacks – including earlier on Wednesday in Tel Aviv just hours before the beginning of Passover.. A key question is whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government agrees with the timetable of a few more weeks that was provided by Trump. We simply do not know at this point in time.. Secondly, what happened to the 15-point peace plan the White House was urging Iran to accept just days ago? There was no mention of it by Trump on Wednesday night. Is Washington now ditching many of those demands, including the retrieval of its stockpile of enriched uranium?. That, too, is unclear.. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest oil shipping channels which has been effectively closed off by Iran, is a central issue in this conflict.. The president, however, does not appear to have a settled view on it.. One moment he is demanding Iran allow tankers through, and the next he is telling allies to go and sort it out for themselves. “Go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves,” he said on Wednesday. “The hard part is done, so it should be easy.”. He then simply said, without expanding further, that the  

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BBC News World

Watch the moment Artemis II blasts into space

​ Watch the moment Artemis II blasts into space on historic mission. The Artemis crew are officially on their way in a historic 10-day mission around the Moon, which could take them further from Earth than anyone has ever been before.. The crew on the 10-day mission won’t land on the Moon, but plan to circle it, while travelling further from Earth than anyone has ever been before. Following on from the unmanned Artemis I mission in 2022, Nasa’s Artemis programme is preparing for deep-space missions – with an ultimate goal of reaching Mars in the 2030s.. Follow along with the BBC’s live coverage of the launch here.. 9 hours ago. Moon. Space. Artemis. Nasa. Space exploration. United States. Florida. Plane and firetruck removed from runway after LaGuardia crash. The wreckage blocked access to one of two runways at the busy New York City airport.. US & Canada. First Lady Melania Trump arrives with humanoid robot at tech summit. The robot made an appearance with First Lady Melania Trump at the White House. Trump is hosting a summit on AI, education, and protecting kids in digital spaces.. US & Canada. Dog rescued after falling into a 12-foot (3.6m) sinkhole. The yellow Labrador Retriever named Tessie was not injured in the fall or rescue, and is back in her yard after crews filled in the sinkhole.. US & Canada. What happened in the seconds before Air Canada plane crashed at LaGuardia. BBC Verify breaks down the moments before the deadly collision with a fire truck at the New York airport.. US & Canada. ‘Helpful’ and ‘scary’: Travellers react to ICE agents at airports. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been deployed to US airports to assist TSA during the partial government shutdown.. US & Canada. Explosion at Texas oil refinery creates huge smoke plume. There were no injuries reported, the refinery operator Valero told the BBC’s US news partner CBS.. US & Canada. How the deadly LaGuardia Airport crash unfolded. Video shows the aftermath of the collision between a passenger plane and a firefighting vehicle on the runway of the New York airport.. US & Canada. Isolation or neutrality: The impact of Quebec’s secular law. As the province’s secularism law, Bill 21, faces a challenge at the Supreme Court of Canada, some Muslim women say they’ve paid the highest price.. US & Canada. ‘Stop, stop, stop’: Listen to LaGuardia control tower audio during collision. An Air Canada plane carrying 72 passengers and four crew initially landed safely from Montreal on Sunday evening before colliding with a firefighting vehicle.. US & Canada. BBC asks Chuck Norris about being a ‘successful, really terrible’ actor. The Hollywood action star, who got his big screen break alongside Bruce Lee in 1972’s Way Of The Dragon, has died aged 86.. US & Canada. Record-breaking heatwave hits the US West. According to the US National Weather Service, the heatwave will continue in the West and expand eastward in the coming days.. US & Canada. Afroman testifies in defamation  

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BBC News World

Utah teen identified as victim of serial killer Ted Bundy

​ Utah teen identified as victim of serial killer Ted Bundy. 10 hours ago. Police handout. Officials in Utah have formally closed a 51-year-old cold case after using new DNA technology to identify a murdered teenager as a victim of serial killer Ted Bundy.. Laura Ann Aime, 17, disappeared after leaving a party on Halloween in 1974. Her body was discovered about one month later by hikers in the American Fork Canyon.. On Wednesday, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office announced that new testing “confirmed irrefutably that DNA evidence recovered from Laura’s body verified the existence of DNA belonging to Bundy”.. Between February 1974 and February 1978 Bundy murdered at least 30 women. He has also been linked to many more killings throughout the country.. Before he was executed in Florida in 1989, Bundy confessed to Laura’s killing, but since he would not elaborate or give any detail to his actual involvement in her death, “the Sheriff’s Department elected to keep this case open until investigators could prove, without a shadow of doubt”, that he was her killer, the sheriff said in a statement.. “This case is now officially closed,” Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith declared during a news conference, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.. The sheriff added that if Bundy were still alive, prosecutors would pursue the death penalty against him.. Bundy is among America’s most infamous serial killers, and began his spree by attacking victims throughout the Pacific Northwest of the US. He later killed victims in Colorado, Utah and Florida.. At the time of Laura’s death, he was living in Salt Lake City and studying law at the University of Utah.. The sheriff’s statement said Laura is remembered as an “outgoing free spirit who enjoyed outdoor activities and shared a passion for riding horses, hunting, and caring for her several siblings”.. Getty Images. Bundy was known to often approach women in public places, gain their trust with his charm or a fake injury, and then lure them to secluded areas and kill them.. He was first arrested in 1975 for kidnapping a woman and sentenced to 15 years in jail.. But in 1977 he escaped by jumping out of a prison library window.. He was recaptured for eight days and then escaped again, continuing to kill until he was finally caught in 1978.. Why was there a spike in serial killers?. United States  

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