The center of the east Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk has been hit by a Russian strike, according to local officials, raising fears of potential casualties among civilians.

The road race incident involving Roberto Navarro took place at the intersection of Palm Coast Parkway and Old Kings Road in Palm Coast

UK household spending is holding up better than expected partly because returns on savings are rising faster than

Preventing dengue fever has long meant teaching people to fear mosquitoes and avoid their bites

Being one of the most popular users on TikTok, Dixie D'Amelio's 56.9 million followers take great interest in her relationship status

Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to skip next week’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, according

Whoopi Goldberg has made it clear that she is a big fan of Nathan Shelley from 'Ted Lasso'

Missouri plans to spend $50 million on railroad crossing improvements in response to a 2022 fatal Amtrak derailment

Demonstrators breached the perimeter of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad Thursday, a day after a protestor burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden.

Appellate court judges in New Orleans closely questioned a government attorney over a Biden administration rule aimed at curbing the use of stabilizing braces

As an imminent eruption looms thousands of Iceland residents await their fate as their town could be wiped out within days. Thousands of earthquakes rocked the southwestern peninsula of Reykjanes on Saturday 11 November leading semi-molten rock to ravage below the surface as the tremors caused a 15km long dyke to form, cracking the community in two as the ground was pushed upwards. Some 3,400 residents from the town of Grindavik which lies on the path of the expected fissure vent eruption were forced to evacuate, they described the ‘apocalyptic’ scenes of their much-loved home town as they briefly returned to collect their belongings. The whole population waits in limbo as they fear the fate of their close-knit community, many have already lost their homes whilst others do not know if their residencies still stand as earthquakes have continued to strike. The displaced population have moved across the country as fellow Icelanders have offered their spare rooms and summer homes. Since, volcanologists have noted a change in the stage of the eruption, making it more likely to come over the next few days. Tamsin Mather, a professor of Earth Sciences from the University of Oxford told The Independent the most troubling challenge to overcome is the uncertainty of when the eruption will come. She said: “It’s being very well managed in my opinion but it could accelerate very quickly as the heightened state of activity continues.” When is it expected to erupt? The Iceland Civil Defence noted “very clear signs of magma along the dyke” less than 1km below the surface, report RUV. Víðir Reynisson, director of Civil Defence told the state broadcaster: “The likely time of something happening along the dyke, especially in the centre, if it happens, is within days not weeks. “If this continues without an eruption the chance of one decreases with time pretty rapidly. But then we see the changes at Svartsengi which introduce possibly the next stage of this.” The area near the Svartsengi power plant, about four km north of Grindavík, has entered a “new eruption phase”, an Icelandic volcanologist has suggested. The land near the power plant is swelling as a chamber some 4.5 kilometres below the surface fills with magma at a rate of around 50 cubic metres per second, according to Professor Thorvaldur Thordarson. “The land is rising much faster now. This happens simultaneously because the magma is creating space and thus raising the surface of the earth,” Professor Thordarson told Iceland Monitor. It is still unclear when the eruption will take place as Grindavik evacuees remain on tenterhooks. Professor Mather added the eruption could happen suddenly but the Icelandic Met Office are knowledegable, well-resourced and working through the night to alleviate any danger. How dangerous would an eruption be? In the worst-case scenario, an eruption could obliterate the entire town, wiping out schools, workplaces and cherished family homes. However, two walls are being built around the Svartsengi geothermal plant to divert the potential lava flow away from the plant which provides hot water used for heating for 30,000 people, says RUV. Professor Mathers said: “The lava could have an impact on the power station, the town and infrastructure. I really hope there are no fatalities or injuries as they have done everything to avoid that.” Problems could arise if the lava flows towards the power station and the town’s infrastructure, she added. The civil defence said in a conference earlier today that the risk of an eruption remains high but they cannot quantify the exact risks, say RUV. Iceland is highly susceptible to natural disasters because it lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge – a divergent plate boundary where the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate are moving away from each other. The country has an eruption every four to five years. The most disruptive in recent times was the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, which spewed huge clouds of ash into the atmosphere and grounded flights across Europe for days because of fears ash could damage aeroplane engines. Professor Mathers, an expert in Iceland volcanology explained there are multiple factors that could affect the impact of an eruption. She said: “Speculation isn’t terribly helpful but once the eruption starts, they will be able to think about the contours and the direction of the lava flow.” It is hard to predict the flow path until the eruption starts, she added. The best case scenario would be for the eruption to take place in the base of a valley, so the lava flows and does not travel far, said Professor Mather. The worst case would be for the eruption to occur on high ground so the lava can flow down over a vast area. Multiple factors could impact how destructive the explosion is, including the wind direction which influences where pyroclastic material and ash will blow. Sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide will also come up in an eruption which can affect air quality across a widespread area, added Professor Mather. Scientists say an eruption would likely produce lava but not an ash cloud. What would happen to residents? Civil protection authorities told Associated Press that even if there is not an eruption soon, it’s likely to be months before it is safe for residents evacuated from the danger zone to go home. In a worst-case scenario, if the eruption does happen close to the town of Grindavík it could devastate the entire town, as earthquakes have already destroyed homes. The Icelandic Civil Defence told their state broadcaster the possibility of residents returning home to clear their homes, many have already been able to collect necessities and pets. Jóhanna Lilja Birgisdóttir, a senior psychologist at Grindavík’s social services department revealed the town’s plan for displaced schoolchildren to RUV. She said in a conference this morning there are two possible solutions: for the children to attend school where their family is staying or for school children to group together and attend schools in different parts of Reykjavík from next Wednesday. Currently, Grindavik residents can apply for short-term accommodation through a government portal, where they can stay until mid-January. What would an emergency response be? An emergency response is already underway as magma intrusion measurements predict an eruption could arrive in days. Once an episode starts, the area will be monitored for decades to come and emergency teams and experts will respond to risks as and when they come as once an eruption begins, they are better placed to track the likely disruption, explained Professor Mathers. As it stands, Grindavik residents will not be able to return home as the magma intrusion is carefully monitored along the 15km dyke Read More Iceland volcano update: Eruption could happen with just 30 minutes warning Iceland residents describe ‘apocalyptic’ scenes as they flee volcano threat Iceland volcano could erupt like a ‘can of fizzy drink’ Iceland officials reveal where volcano will likely erupt Biggest volcanic eruptions in the last 10 years as Iceland town faces devastation Is it safe to travel to Iceland? Your rights if you have a holiday booked

The home of a Paris mayor has been raided and set alight while his wife and children were inside sleeping as the city continues to be rocked by riots. Vincent Jeanbrun, who is in charge of the area of L’Hay-les-Roses in the southern suburbs, said rockets were also thrown as they fled from the burning house in what he’s calling an “assassination attempt”. Mr Jeanbrun said his wife and one of his two children, who are both aged under eight, were injured as they fled the building in the early hours of Sunday. “Last night, a milestone was reached in horror and ignominy,” he wrote on Twitter. “My home was attacked and my family was the victim of an assassination attempt.” The mayor was not at home at the time but was instead working at his office. Mr Jeanbrun also said the attack was “a murder attempt of unspeakable cowardice”. “A line has been crossed,” he said. “If my priority today is to take care of my family, my determination to protect and serve the Republic is greater than before.” A car was used to ram through the gates of the family’s home before the vehicle was set on fire in an effort for flames to spread to the house, Mr Jeanbrun said in a statement. His wife, Melanie Nowak, suffered a broken leg when she attempted to flee through rocket fire. An attempted murder investigation has already been opened, according to France’s minister of the interior Gerald Darmanin. “The perpetrators will answer for their heinous acts,” he said. The street outside of the Jeanbrun’s family home in L’Hay-les-Roses was closed off by police officers who declined to speak to the media on Sunday evening about what had occurred. However, residents of the affluent and quiet suburb said they were “deeply frightened” by the incident and said it was “unimaginable” in their neighbourhood. “By chance we spoke to the mayor just yesterday and he said there was a problem but we never imagined this. It’s very scary and unexpected,” said Dominique, 61, who lives 100m away and is a neighbour of the Jeanburns. He said the mayor’s wife was still being treated for her injuries in hospital. “They came at 1am and set fire to a car, rammed the house with it while the children were inside,” his wife Veronique added, visibly shaken. “In all the 20 years we have lived here we have never experienced anything like it. It’s terrifying,” she added. Both said the area had been quiet despite the unrest rocking the rest of country but the mayor had been concerned in recent days as he had come out publicly supporting the need to police the streets. “There is no justification for this act – people have looted shops, burned cars and now done this, attacking a family while children are inside,” Veronique added. Another resident of the area – Michel, 30, a lawyer – said the attack only shored up the belief in these neighbourhoods that a greater police presence was needed. “Nobody is safe at the moment and so we live day by day. This area is usually calm –but people are jumping on this moment, opportunists to destabilise everything,” he added. The attack took place about 30km (19 miles) away from where a 17-year-old boy was killed, allegedly by a police officer, during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the suburb of Nanterre. Nahel Merzouk’s death has triggered widespread riots in France, which resulted in tens of thousands of police officers being deployed to the streets. His grandmother, Nadia, urged people not to join in the chaos in a desperate plea on Saturday. “I want it to stop everywhere,” she told TV channel BFM TV. “I tell the people who are rioting this: do not smash windows, attack schools or buses. Stop! It’s the mums who are taking the bus, it’s the mums who walk outside.” Nadia went on to detail just how the tragedy has undone her family. “It’s over, my daughter no longer has a life,” she said. Anger and unrest quickly spread from the capital’s suburbs to other parts of France including Marseille after almost a week since the shooting. Curfews have been enforced in some places and thousands of police deployed to the streets in a bid to stop the chaos, which has included looting and bins being set on fire. Riots continued for a fifth night on Saturday, with 45,000 police deployed and 719 people arrested across the country by early on Sunday. Mourners paid tribute at the teenager’s funeral in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre on Saturday, near where he died. Nahel’s mother, who was identified as Mounia, told French television station France 5 this week about the tragedy’s impact on her. “(The police officer) saw a little Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life,” she said. “A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children’s lives.” The teenager was of Algerian and Moroccan descent and lived in a suburb in the Vieux-Pont neighbourhood of Nanterre, about 15km from the centre of Paris. Nadia did not attend the “marche blanche”, which was organised by her daughter on Thursday night as she didn’t want to leave the spot where her grandson died. French president Emmanuel Macron met with ministers on Sunday evening in a desperate effort to review the situation. Read More Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening? France riots - live: Mayor claims protesters ‘try to assassinate his family’ in fifth night of violence Paris protests: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?