This is VOA News. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton. The death toll from the Florida condominium collapse rose to nine on Sunday even as rescue workers continued to search for more than a 150 other people who remain unaccounted for. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said one person died in a hospital while workers found more bodies in the massive rubble after they dug a trench through the wreckage left after a large portion of the oceanside 12-story tower collapsed without warning early on Thursday. Authorities brought in heavy equipment to help them search through the debris which is being taken to a warehouse for forensic analysis. Officials remain hopeful yet of finding people alive though it has been more than three days since the building collapsed.
Al-Shabab jihadists killed at least 12 people Sunday in a raid on a town and military base in central Somalia, according to the army and local officials. One source told the French news agency the attackers were pushed back and many of them had been killed although the exact number of dead was not clear. The source said the attack started with the detonation of a vehicle loaded with explosives. Al-Shabab confirmed the attack and claimed 34 soldiers at the military base had been killed. Authorities also announced Sunday they had executed 21 al-Shabab members that would be the largest ever execution carried out in Somalia.
The U.N. envoy to the Middle East says shipments of Qatari-funded fuel into the Gaza Strip will resume for the first time since last month's the 11-day war between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers. The move would mean a return to the informal arrangement between Israel and Hamas in recent years in which the Islamic militant group gets aid in exchange for peace in the blockaded territory. The Israeli military body that oversees civilian affairs in Gaza confirmed the deliveries without saying who was paying for the fuel. The military said permission for the deliveries was, quote, "conditional on the continued maintenance of security stability." Last month's war was halted by an informal truce brokered by Egypt. Hamas has demanded a significant easing of the blockade, while Israel has vowed to respond militarily to even minor attacks from the territory. Via remote, I'm Marissa Melton, VOA News.