An explosion tore through a building in downtown Tokyo on Monday, scattering debris across a busy intersection and sending smoke into the air, but the fire was soon contained and only four people suffered minor injuries, Japanese media reported.
Video footage aired by public broadcaster NHK showed flames through the windows of the shattered second floor of the building, located in the Shinbashi area of the Japanese capital.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear but witnesses said they had smelled gas prior to hearing the explosion.
"I'd just got to work and was starting preparations when there was a really loud explosion," said Shinobu Nakagawa, a 26-year-old restaurant worker, who works on the first floor of the building. He said he grabbed his phone and rushed outside.
"Furniture and shards of glass were scattered everywhere, and when I looked up, smoke was surging upwards."
The area where the explosion occurred is near a railway station and packed with bars and restaurants popular with office workers.
Israel's military kept up its assault on Gaza City and the wider Gaza Strip on Saturday, dismantling underground shafts and booby-trapped structures in attacks that left 34 Palestinians dead, according to Gazan health authorities.
World leaders gather in New York this coming week for a UN General Assembly dominated by US President Donald Trump's return to the rostrum, war in Gaza and Ukraine, rising Western recognition of Palestinian statehood and nuclear tensions with Iran.
Russia launched a major drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight, killing three people and injuring dozens, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
The UN Security Council voted on Friday to restore sweeping economic sanctions on Iran in response to renewed concerns over its nuclear activities, a move that drew sharp condemnation from Tehran.
The bodies of 19 people were recovered after the rubber migrant boat they were in sank off the eastern Libyan coast, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
Over the past two weeks, eight convoys carrying diverse Emirati humanitarian aid crossed into the Gaza Strip through the Egyptian Rafah Rafah Border Crossing, as part of the UAE’s efforts to support and assist the Palestinian people during the current circumstances, and within the framework of ‘’Operation Chivalrous Knight 3”.
Operating on a 24/7 basis, the Operation Control Centre (OCC) is the central hub monitoring passengers and trains to ensure a safe journey from start to finish.