Bus crash across lagoon from Venice's historic centre kills 21 people, including Ukrainian tourists
Rome (AP): At least 21 people were killed and 18 injured in a fiery bus crash in a borough of Venice, Italy, across the lagoon from its historic centre, where firefighters and other emergency responders worked into the night trying to extract bodies and squelch the flames.
The bus was carrying foreign tourists, including Ukrainians, according to a Venice official, when it fell from an elevated street Tuesday in Mestre en route to a camping site near the community of Marghera.
"The people in the bus found themselves surrounded by flames," said Mauro Luongo, commander of the Venice firefighters team. "The scene we found was terrible. It took about one hour to extract some of the bodies."
Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that the crash scene was "apocalyptic" and declared the city in a state of mourning.
Four of the injured were in serious condition following the accident, which happened on the mainland just 9 km northwest of the old city of Venice, said Renato Boraso, a Venice city official. Two of the dead were children, Venice prefect Michele Di Bari said.
The injured were transferred to five different hospitals in the region.
According to local media, the bus fell a few metres before crashing close to Mestre's railway tracks, where it caught fire.
The Veneto region governor, Luca Zaia, told RAI state television that the cause of the accident was still unclear.
"This is an important tragedy, but it's difficult to understand how it happened," he said. "The bus was new and electric, and that street wasn't particularly problematic."
In 2017, 16 people on a bus carrying Hungarian students died in an accident near the northern city of Verona. And in 2013, 40 people were killed in one of Italy's worst vehicle accidents when a bus plunged off a viaduct close to the southern city of Avellino.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
SC to hear pleas challenging Waqf law provisions on May 20 for passing interim orders
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will take up on May 20 the issue of considering interim relief on pleas challenging validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.
A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for those challenging the validity of the law, and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, to file their written notes by Monday.
“We will be considering the issue of interim relief only on Tuesday,” the CJI said while adjourning the hearing on the pleas.
The bench was told by the lawyers from both sides that the judges may need some more time to go through the pleadings.
In the meanwhile, the law officer said that in any case, there is a subsisting assurance of the Centre that no waqf properties, including those established by waqf by user, would be denotified.
Earlier, the law officer had also assured that no appointments to the Central Waqf Council or State Waqf Boards would be made under the new law.
The bench said it will not consider any plea seeking a stay of provisions of earlier 1995 Waqf law when the matters are taken up on May 20.
Former CJI Sanjiv Khanna, whose bench was hearing the matter, demitted office on May 13, and the matters were transferred to the bench headed by Justice Gavai.
On April 25, the central ministry of minority affairs filed a preliminary 1,332-page affidavit defending the amended Waqf Act of 2025 and opposed any "blanket stay" by the court on a "law having presumption of constitutionality passed by Parliament".
The Centre urged the top court to dismiss the pleas challenging the validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, pointing out a "mischievous false narrative" surrounding certain provisions.
The Centre notified the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 after it got President Droupadi Murmu's assent on April 5.
