A passenger bus slammed into a parked vehicle on a foggy Saturday morning on a highway linking the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least 32 people, authorities said.

The multi-car pileup, which set some vehicles ablaze, left at least 63 others injured, said the Health Ministry. Ambulances rushed to the scene of the crash on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road to transport the injured to nearby hospitals, it said.

Local media reported that the bus was on its way to Cairo when it hit the parked vehicle. Other cars slammed into the bus with some catching fire.

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Footage circulating online showed many burned vehicles on the side of the road with firefighters extinguishing the fire. In one footage many vehicles were seen on fire with thick plumes of smoke billowing from them.

The state-run daily al-Ahram reported that 29 vehicles were part of the crash which took place at the town of Nubariya, about 160 kilometres north of Cairo.

The Egyptian Meteorological Authority warned of heavy fog on highways a day earlier, according to local reports.

Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record.

The crashes and collisions are mostly caused by speeding, bad roads, or poor enforcement of traffic laws.

Hye Minyi can still vividly recall what happened in Itaewon, South Korea, on the night of October 29, 2022.

That was when the trendy nightlife district in the heart of Seoul became the site of one of the country's deadliest disasters, when a massive crowd surge during Halloween celebrations killed more than 150 people and left the nation reeling.

The 22-year-old was with her older cousin Amy at a street bar in Itaewon at the time. They were among hundreds who had gathered at the many bars and restaurants that line the district's streets and alleyways.

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Hye can well remember how panic began to spread through the increasingly crowded streets; how people began jostling for air and space; and how quickly the situation began to spiral out of control.

"It became a completely different scene," Hye told CNN. People were "kicking and screaming" as she tried to break away and escape and she fell to the floor.

"I actually thought there had been a killer in the crowd," she said.

From where she lay on the ground, she could see other revelers, many in Halloween costumes and many already dead. "Time might have passed but I can't forget what happened on Halloween," she said.

"I still have nightmares (of it) almost every day."

By the end of the night, 159 people would be dead, many of them young Koreans in their 20s and 30s.

Hye suffered a broken ankle and severe bruising from being badly trampled on and was in hospital for weeks. She also suffered painful migraines for days.

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Halloween is widely celebrated in the US every year on October 31, its origins dating back centuries.

In Asia however, it is largely considered a Western holiday – one celebrated by expats, and has only recently increased in popularity among more locals

Halloween festivities have become more common in most major cities like Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. But rather than young children going trick or treating, the occasion is more often a chance for young adults to dress up in costume and go partying.

Whether the disaster in Itaewon last year will put a dent in this growing popularity is yet to be seen. However, various nightlife districts throughout Asia are stepping up precautions aimed at preventing a similar tragedy from occurring.

South Korean officials say they have increased crowd control measures, security protocols and site inspections in at least 14 public areas across Seoul where they anticipate large crowds will gather for Halloween.

In Japan, authorities are encouraging young people to avoid popular areas in the nightlife district of Shibuya, which has become a popular gathering spot on Halloween night.

"We are extremely concerned that there could be a repeat of the Itaewon tragedy," said Shibuya mayor Ken Hasebe.

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"Until last year, we have asked people to behave themselves at Halloween but this year we are being bolder (by) saying to people: please don't come."

Drinking in the streets will be banned between 6pm and 5am on Halloween as well as the days leading up to it, Hasebe said, adding that liquor stores in the vicinity have been asked not to sell alcohol.

Street security would also be stepped up, with more police and security guards being deployed to control crowds.

"Every year during Halloween, the area around Shibuya Station becomes so crowded that it is nearly impossible to move," Hasebe said. "The streets of Shibuya are not party venues. The damage caused by overtourism has become serious."

In the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China, operators of an underground metro service have banned "scary makeup and dressing" on trains to "prevent any potential panic."

"During Halloween activities, if a passenger is wearing scary makeup, we may ask them to remove it before entering the station," the operators said in a statement.

Areas in some stations will be cordoned off to allow passengers to remove make up before boarding trains.

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Lack of accountability?

The Itaewon crowd crush was South Korea's worst peacetime disaster since the sinking of a ferry in 2014 killed 304 people – among them 250 students and teachers from the Danwon State High School.

Like the ferry sinking, the Itaewon crush shone a spotlight on the South Korean government for its response to the tragedy. Critics accused it of being too slow to respond and of failing to take accountability for what happened that night.

But authorities have continued to face criticism, and this year, they appear to not be taking any chances.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a slew of new measures "to ensure a safe Halloween" – including a new CCTV system to monitor crowd numbers.

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"We anticipate that 14 areas in Seoul, including Itaewon in Yongsan-gu, will experience a high level of crowding during the Halloween season," the metropolitan government said in a statement on October 13.

"In every area expecting mass gatherings, one-way traffic rules will be applied and on-site safety officers wearing reflective vests and carrying light batons will be deployed.

"If the area becomes overly crowded, subway trains may skip that location, and road access can be restricted to secure sufficient space for pedestrians. In addition, emergency medical support systems will be put in place to proactively prevent safety incidents – this includes the operation of on-site situation rooms and the deployment of ambulances for urgent situations."

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For survivors, reminders everywhere

Today, Itaewon shows few overt signs of the horrors that took place – save for a few makeshift memorials such as walls of post-it notes paying tribute to those who died there.

Locals and tourists alike have since returned to its bars and restaurants, driven in part by government incentives aimed at reviving the area.

But to survivors and bereaved families, there are painful memories everywhere.

One survivor, who wanted to be known only by her last name Lee, told CNN that she had not been back to Itaewon since the tragedy and has been trying to block out all reminders of Halloween.

"This Halloween is going to be a hard time not just for me but for a lot of people," she said.

She and many other survivors and families remain critical about what they see as a continuing lack of accountability over the disaster.

Kim Ho-kyung, whose daughter died in the crush, read a message for President Yoon Suk Yeol during a press conference on October 18 saying that the bereaved were still waiting for "a sincere apology."

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She invited the president to a memorial service organised by civil groups and the families of the victims scheduled to take place on Sunday.

On his Facebook a week later, the Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min expressed his "deepest condolences to those who were sacrificed in the October 29 disaster a year ago, and pray that they may rest in peace."

Extending his "deepest sympathy" to the families, he said that "as the minister in charge of disaster and safety, I feel sorry for failing to protect the precious lives of the people and feel an infinite sense of responsibility."

He added: "The way to ensure that the unfortunate sacrifices of the deceased are not in vain is to make sure that such an incident does not happen again."

Even so, Lee and many others say they doubt whether the lessons of that awful night have truly been learnt.

Lee is certain of one thing, however – that she is "never going back to the area again."

"For me, Halloween and the Itaewon tragedy are (inextricably) linked," she said. "It's impossible to see reminders everywhere and not think about the death of friends that night."

A candlelight vigil has been held in Sydney's south to remember Lilie James as her former community grapples with grief.

The young water polo and swimming coach had just turned 21 when her body was found in the gymnasium bathroom of St Andrew's Cathedral School before midnight on Wednesday in an "apparent homicide".

Residents and community leaders from James' local area of Kogarah Bay shared their memories of the coach at nearby Sans Souci today.

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As they gathered in grief and disbelief, they all lit candles for James – the third woman in the area lost to domestic violence this year, the 55th victim in Australia – on the eve of a rally against domestic violence being held in Sydney on Sunday.

"I have grandchildren who are getting up to that age, you want the world to be happier and safer for them," one resident told 9News.

The tears and flowers continued to flow at St Andrew's Cathedral School, where James worked, on Saturday.

A card from the Danebrook Aquatic Centre, where the coach was a champion swimmer, read "fly high beautiful girl".

"We will always remember your sweet smile and gorgeous nature," the card said.

"You will never be forgotten."

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Meanwhile, her best friend Kristina described James her as "sister" and her "everything".

"I love you more than anything in this entire world," she said.

"We had so much planned together, so much to do and so much to experience. You will forever be my angel above."

On Friday, a body believed to be suspected killer Paul Thijssen – a former student at the school who had been working there as a sports assistant and who briefly dated James – was found in the water off Vaucluse.

The same day detectives visited his share house in Kensington and took items from his room.

Neighbours said he had lived there for a few months with several flatmates.

A special assembly will be held for students when they return to school on Monday morning.

There will also be additional counsellors on site while several exams have been cancelled and the sports centre where James was found will remain off limits.

If you or someone you know is impacted by domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.

If you are in immediate danger call triple zero (000).

The prize is made up of $6 million from Powerball and $333,333 from Lotto.

An investigation is underway after a man's body was found in Sydney after he was believed to have been dragged by a car.

Police allege the man, 44, was dragged through a housing complex in Homebush West before he was found dead by first responders on Courallie Avenue at 8pm on Friday.

Police are urging anyone who may have been in the area at the time to contact them with dashcam or CCTV footage.

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There have been reports that a car was seen fleeing the scene after the incident. 

Investigations are continuing and a crime scene has been established. 

The owner of an upmarket restaurant in Melbourne has broken down after a fire destroyed his venue just three weeks after it opened. 

Matti Fallon watched as his restaurant Colt Dining in Mornington went up in flames, with a leak thought to have sparked an electrical fire.

The ferocious blaze quickly spread to other businesses along Main Street, with diners inside and at neighbouring restaurants running to safety as the flames took hold and spread.

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"I've only recovered from brain surgery a couple of years ago," Fallon said.

"To get back on top, now we're back on top, to get it all smashed away, it's just heartbreaking really."

The restaurant was so popular that Fallon and business partner Paul Goddard were already taking bookings for next year. 

Several other businesses were damaged including a bakery and an Afghan restaurant.

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"No one was hurt, no one was killed, it's just material stuff but yeah it's tough," Goddard said.

Crews monitored the scene for most of the day but it was difficult to get inside as the heritage building is in danger of collapse. 

Colt Dining may have been new but the eatery was making a splash with an upmarket menu and diners treated to the sounds of an expansive record collection.

However, the highly flammable vinyl helped fuel the inferno. 

While it will be incredibly difficult, Fallon and Goddard have vowed to rebuild and reopen to continue the journey together they had only just started.

Bob Carr, the former Premier of New South Wales, announced his wife Helena died two days ago, while they were on a trip together in Vienna.

In a statement released on Saturday evening, he revealed his wife of 50-years lost consciousness in his arms as a result of a brain aneurism on Thursday.

"The light has gone out of my life," Bob Carr said in the statement, also sharing their last photo together, taken during their holiday.

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"She was the light of my life, the little friend always there. No one ever smiled more, or with more spirit," he added.

"It is inconceivable I could have won office for my party and held the Premiership for over 10 years without the steadiness of her companionship, her sense of fun and her lambent eyes."

Mr Carr, who served as NSW Premier for 10 years from 1995 to 2005 and later was Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Rudd/Gillard federal Labor governments, said the couple had been enjoying a nice trip before the shock turn of events.

The couple had a nice stroll in the Austrian city, had lunch with two Australian friends and even went to the opera.

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"She was full of zest and jokes as we walked back to our hotel," he recalled.

"Within 20 minutes she referred to strange back pain, then a headache and nausea."

"Our 50-year partnership ended in the hotel bathroom when she sunk into my arms and I broke her fall to the floor. Her eyes closed for the last time while I begged her not to leave me."

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Helena lost consciousness in his arms as a result of a brain aneurism, with Bob told on Thursday night that she was officially dead.

"Her little heart continues to beat but her brain has haemorrhaged with a massive amount of blood," he said.

Helena Carr was born in Malaysia in 1946 and came to Sydney in 1965 to study at Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta.

Mr Carr said that as a girl in Taiping, Malaysia, she had written letters to Australian schools and was accepted by the school. She later studied economics at Sydney University.

"I met Helena on a trip back from the United States during a stopover in Tahiti in early 1971," Mr Carr said.

"She was an accomplished businesswoman. Her first job in business was with CSR. She later became an expert in security printing and was appointed to the board of the biggest company in the field before becoming the half-owner and manager of a sizeable print company that specialised in high quality commercial work."

Mr Carr called the loss of his life partner "the journey no one wishes".

Current NSW Premier Chris Minns said "the entire Labor family" was devastated by the news and would be waiting for Mr Carr's return to Australia to offer friendship and support.

"Bob and Helena were a wonderful partnership with Helena offering unconditional support to Bob and Labor during his years in the Premiership," Minns said.

"Helena was also a very successful businesswoman in her own right."

Protests have been held across the country today calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Two or three homeless people slept in the derelict house periodically.

Israel knocked out internet and communications in the Gaza Strip in stepped-up bombardment on Friday night, largely cutting off its 2.3 million people from contact with each other and the outside world and creating a near-blackout of information, as the military said it was "expanding" ground operations in the territory.

The military's announcement signaled it was moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, where it has vowed to crush the ruling Hamas militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.

Explosions from continuous airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City for hours after nightfall.

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The Palestinian telecommunications provider, Paltel, said the bombardment caused "complete disruption" of internet, cellular and landline services.

The cutoff meant that casualties from strikes and details of ground incursions could not immediately be known. Some satellite phones continued to function.

Already plunged into darkness after most electricity was cut off weeks ago, Palestinians were thrown into isolation, huddling in homes and shelters with food and water supplies running out.

Relatives outside Gaza panicked after their messaging chats with families inside suddenly went dead and calls stopped going through.

"I was so scared this was going to happen," said Wafaa Abdul Rahman, director of a feminist organisation based in the West Bank city of Ramallah. She said she hadn't heard for hours from family in central Gaza.

"We've been seeing these horrible things and massacres when it's live on TV, so now what will happen when there's a total blackout?" she said, referring to scenes of families that have been crushed in homes by airstrikes over the past weeks.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said ground forces were "expanding their activity" Friday evening in Gaza and "acting with great force… to achieve the objectives of the war."

Israel says its strikes target Hamas fighters and infrastructure and that the militants operate from among civilians, putting them in danger.

The Hamas media center reported heavy nighttime clashes with Israeli forces at several places, including what it said was an Israeli incursion east of Bureij.

Asked about the report, the Israeli military reiterated early Saturday that it had been carrying out targeted raids and expanding strikes with the aim of "preparing the ground for future stages of the operation."

Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border ahead of an expected ground offensive.

Earlier Friday the military said ground forces conducted their second hours-long incursion inside Gaza in as many days, striking dozens of militant targets over the past 24 hours.

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The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has soared past 7300, more than 60 per cent of them minors and women, according to the territory's Health Ministry.

A blockade on Gaza has meant dwindling supplies, and the UN warned that its aid operation helping hundreds of thousands of people was "crumbling" amid near-depleted fuel.

More than 1400 people were slain in Israel during Hamas' October 7 attack, according to the Israeli government, and at least 229 hostages were taken into Gaza.

Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel, including one that hit a residential building in Tel Aviv on Friday, wounding four people.

The overall number of deaths far exceeds the combined toll of all four previous Israel-Hamas wars, estimated at around 4000.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel expects a long and difficult ground offensive into Gaza soon.

It "will take a long time" to dismantle Hamas' vast network of tunnels, he said, adding that he expects a lengthy phase of lower-intensity fighting as Israel destroys "pockets of resistance."

His comments pointed to a potentially grueling and open-ended new phase of the war after three weeks of relentless bombardment.

Israel has said it aims to crush Hamas' rule in Gaza and its ability to threaten Israel.

But how Hamas' defeat will be measured and an invasion's endgame remain unclear. Israel says it does not intend to rule the tiny territory but not who it expects to govern — even as Gallant suggested a long-term insurgency could ensue.

In Washington, the Pentagon said US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Gallant on Friday and "underscored the importance of protecting civilians during the Israel Defence Forces' operations and focusing on the urgency of humanitarian aid delivery for civilians in Gaza."

The Pentagon said Austin also brought up "the need for Hamas to release all of the hostages."

The conflict has threatened to ignite a wider war across the region.

Arab nations — including US allies and ones that have reached peace deals or normalised ties with Israel — have raised increasing alarm over a potential ground invasion, likely to bring even higher casualties amid urban fighting.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned on X that the "outcome will be a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions for years to come."

With no electricity, no communications and no water, many of those trapped in Gaza had little choice but to wait in their homes or seek the relative safety of schools and hospitals as Israel expanded its bombing early on Saturday.

Throughout the night, orange fireballs exploded on the horizon above the apartment buildings and refugee camps of Gaza City, briefly illuminating clouds of white smoke hanging in the air from previous strikes.

Some bombs hit in tight groups, apparently slamming into the same location.

Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied territories, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that without phone lines and internet, hospitals and aid operations would be unable to operate.

The Red Crescent said it could not contact medical teams and residents could no longer call ambulances, meaning rescuers would have to chase the sound of explosions to find the wounded.

International aid groups said they were only able to reach a few staffers using satellite phones.

The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm, saying the world "is losing a window into the reality" of the conflict.

It warned that the information vacuum "can be filled with deadly propaganda, dis- and misinformation."

The loss of internet and phones deals a further blow to a medical and aid system that relief workers say was already on the verge of collapse.

More than 1.4 million people have fled their homes, nearly half crowding into UN schools and shelters.

Aid workers say a trickle of aid Israel has allowed to enter from Egypt the past week is a tiny fraction of what is needed.

Gaza hospitals have been scrounging for fuel to run emergency generators that power incubators and other life-saving equipment.

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Gallant said Israel believes that Hamas would confiscate any fuel that enters. He said Hamas uses generators to pump air into its hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, which originate in civilian areas.

He showed reporters aerial footage of what he said was a tunnel shaft built right next to a hospital.

"For air, they need oil. For oil, they need us," he said.

Late Friday the army released photos showing what it said were Hamas installations in and around Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest.

Israel has made such claims before, but declined to say how the photos were obtained.

Little is known about Hamas' tunnels and other infrastructure. Claims by the military and Gallant couldn't be verified.

Speaking at Shifa Hospital, Hamas media chief Salama Maroof called Israel's claims "lies" and said they were "a precursor for striking this facility."

"I ring the alarm bell. There is imminent danger hovering above the medical facility," Maroof said.

The hospital has been overwhelmed and around 40,000 displaced residents have crowded its grounds for shelter, the UN says.

Asked if Israel plans to target Shifa, Hagari said, "We will not be able to allow terror activity against Israel from hospitals."

Hundreds of thousands of people remain in northern Gaza.