4 people die in Spanish gas explosion
MADRID -- A powerful gas explosion tore through a residential building in central Madrid on Wednesday, killing four people and ripping the facade off the structure.
A tower of smoke rose from the building, where repairs were being done to a gas boiler, and billowed through Toledo Street, near the city's center. Aerial footage shared by Spain's National Police showed rubble covering a nearby schoolyard -- though Madrid's mayor said no one was seriously injured at the school.
All students and staff were inside the school buildings at the time of the blast.
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At least 11 people were injured in the explosion, one seriously, the Madrid emergency service said in a tweet.
The Spanish government's representative for the Madrid region, Jose Manuel Franco, confirmed three casualties and the Catholic parish that owned the damaged building said the fourth victim was an electrician, a father of four, who was working on the boiler and had initially been considered missing.
The building belongs to the nearby La Paloma Catholic Parish and hosted the offices and apartments for some of its priests, Madrid Archbishop Carlos Osoro told Spanish public broadcaster TVE.
Chechnya's last rebels slain, leader says
MOSCOW -- Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader said Wednesday that his forces have killed six suspected militants, including a warlord accused of organizing a 2011 suicide attack at a Moscow airport.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the regional leader of Chechnya, said troops under his command had tracked down the suspects in the village of Katar-Yurt and killed all of them on the spot. Kadyrov claimed the raid marked the elimination of the last group of militants that remained in the region.
"All underground bands in Chechnya have now been eliminated," Kadyrov said on his blog. He added that the security sweep had been planned long ago and followed two previous unsuccessful attempts to hunt down the militants.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin called to congratulate Kadyrov, who personally took part in the security sweep.
Kadyrov said that those killed included warlord Aslan Byutukayev, whom Russian authorities accused of involvement in the January 2011 suicide bombing at the arrivals area of Moscow's Domodedovo airport that killed 37. Byutukayev appeared in a video alongside top Chechen warlord Doku Umarov and the suicide bomber.
Umarov, who also claimed responsibility for several other attacks in Russia, was killed in a security raid in 2013.
Albanian soldier dies in Afghanistan
TIRANA, Albania -- Albania's Defense Ministry on Wednesday reported the death of a soldier in Afghanistan, the second from the tiny Western Balkan country to die during the international peacekeeping mission.
The soldier, identified as Xhevahir Jazaj, died Tuesday night, the ministry said in a statement. It didn't specify the location or give any details about the circumstances.
The ministry said the Albanian military was assisting an investigation by the command of the Resolute Support Mission operation in Afghanistan, made up of around 16,000 troops from 38 countries.
Albania, a NATO member since 2009, has been part of the international mission since 2010. The country currently has 99 troops in Afghanistan, located at two bases in Herat and Kabul.
The ministry expressed condolences to the family and will "assure the personnel in the mission and their families of continuous support in the successful accomplishment of their mission."
Defense Minister Niko Peleshi communicated with both army contingents in Herat and Kabul, saying that they "are our pride in relations with ... NATO and our strategic partners, the U.S. and EU."
Greeks OK extending territorial waters
ATHENS, Greece -- Lawmakers in Greece overwhelmingly approved legislation Wednesday to extend the country's territorial waters along its western coastline from six to 12 nautical miles.
In the 284-0 vote, representatives of four opposition parties backed the center-right government, while members of the Greek Communist Party abstained.
Although the move does not directly affect an ongoing maritime boundary dispute with Turkey to the east, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament that Greece was adopting a more assertive foreign policy.
Greece's western coastline faces Italy and borders Albania at its northern tip. But the expansion is aimed at underscoring the country's right to implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which set the 12-mile limit in 1982.
Greece and Turkey, neighbors and NATO allies, are at odds over sea boundaries and mineral rights in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean in a dispute that caused a tense military standoff last year.
