- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
Two dead as strongest summer storm blasts Netherlands, Germany
A record-breaking summer storm hammered the Netherlands and Germany on Wednesday, killing two people and throwing international air and rail travel into chaos.
Storm Poly packed howling winds of up to 146 km/h (90 mph), toppling trees and forcing the cancellation of 400 flights from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest hubs.
Meteorologists said the storm was the strongest on record to hit the Netherlands in the summer months and issued a rare "code red" warning for millions of people in the low-lying nation to stay indoors.
A 51-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her car in the Dutch city of Haarlem, while a 64-year-old woman died after being struck by a falling tree in the German town of Rhede near the Dutch border, police said.
Two men were seriously injured in Amsterdam, one when a tree fell on his car, while a second was believed to have been hit by falling power lines, local media said.
A tree also fell on a houseboat in one of Amsterdam's historic canals, while another toppled onto a tram in The Hague, though no one was hurt.
- Howling winds -
Schiphol Airport said the number of flights would "gradually improve" as winds started to drop but would remain disrupted for the rest of the day.
"At the moment, 400 flights have been cancelled," a Schiphol spokesperson told AFP. The airport is a major hub for connecting flights from Asia, the Middle East and the United States to the rest of Europe.
Eurostar trains from Amsterdam to London and high-speed rail services to the German cities of Cologne and Hamburg were also called off, while many domestic trains were cancelled, Dutch train operator NS said.
Most Dutch domestic trains were cancelled, including those to Schiphol airport, causing further misery for travellers.
Several hundred people were stranded at Amsterdam's central station, including students touring Europe for their summer holidays, an AFP journalist said.
"They told me all the trains were cancelled. We're going on a bus now to Brussels that's going to get there at 2 am," said British student Abby Scott, 18.
"I'm supposed to go to a party tonight -- I think I might just walk to The Hague," joked Ariane Gentile, 64, a school teacher.
Raging winds caused destruction across the country, with an entire row of trees falling on houses in a street in Haarlem, and beach houses and even a school damaged in northern provinces.
- 'Code red' -
The government sent out a mobile phone alert urging people to stay indoors in North Holland province, which includes Amsterdam, and to call overstretched emergency services only in "life-threatening" situations.
The Dutch meteorological service KNMI said winds of force 11, the second highest on the scale, were measured along with a gust of 146 km/h measured in the northern port of IJmuiden.
It was the "first very severe summer storm ever measured" in the country, Dutch weather service Weerplaza said, adding that the gusts were also the strongest ever recorded in the summer in the Netherlands.
The last storm of similar strength to hit the Netherlands at any time was in January 2018, it said.
Storm Poly came a day after a small tornado hit the central city of Apeldoorn, causing damage but no injuries, local media said.
With around a third of the country lying below sea level, the Netherlands is vulnerable to extreme weather and the effects of climate change, and has a huge system of water defences.
A violent North Sea storm on the night of January 31 to February 1, 1953, killed more than 1,836 Dutch people.
M.Gameiro--PC