A driver plows into people in a shopping area in Germany, killing 2

BERLIN (AP) — A driver plowed into people in a busy shopping area in the center of the German city of Leipzig on Monday afternoon, leaving two people dead, authorities said.

An additional three people were seriously injured in what officials believe was a deliberate rampage, Mayor Burkhard Jung said.

He described it as “a terrible tragedy." An unspecified number of people sustained less serious injuries.

The driver, a 33-year-old German citizen, was detained in the car. Police said he was a German-born resident of the Leipzig area.

Prosecutors said he is under investigation on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. There was no immediate word on a possible motive.

The interior minister of Saxony state, Armin Schuster, said investigators believe the man acted alone. He said that rage and “psychological instability” are often factors in such cases, but added that he wouldn't speculate on whether that was the case here.

Police chief René Demmler said the man drove from the Augustusplatz, a major square, along the Grimmaische Strasse into the city's central pedestrianized shopping area. He stressed that there was no longer any danger.

The driver was arrested in the vehicle and didn't resist arrest, Demmler said.

Saxony state Gov. Michael Kretschmer expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

“An act like this leaves us speechless — and it makes us determined," he added, according to German news agency dpa. “We will do everything in our power to solve this case quickly and completely.”

Photos from the scene showed a car with a battered front and a shattered windshield after the incident, which happened at about 5 p.m.

Leipzig is located southwest of Berlin and has more than 630,000 inhabitants, making it one of the biggest cities in eastern Germany.

A policeman stands next to a body bag after a car crashed into several people in Leipzig, Germany, Monday, May 4, 2026. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)

Rescue workers stand next to a damaged car that has crashed into several people in Leipzig, Germany, Monday, May 4, 2026. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP)

A damaged car that has crashed into several people is pictured in Leipzig, Germany, Monday, May 4, 2026. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP)

Rescue workers stand next to a damaged car that has crashed into several people in Leipzig, Germany, Monday, May 4, 2026. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP)

NEW DELHI (AP) — A fire broke out at a hotel in Kolkata in the early hours Wednesday, killing at least nine people and injuring six in the capital of India’s West Bengal state, police said.

The blaze erupted around 1:45 a.m. at a hotel in central Kolkata close to the West Bengal Fire Department headquarters, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Five fire engines were deployed to bring the blaze under control, while police and disaster management teams carried out rescue operations, the report said. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Firefighters struggled to reach people trapped on the upper floors as thick smoke engulfed the building, a police officer told the news agency. The fire was brought under control, the officer said.

Authorities said their immediate focus was on rescuing anyone still trapped inside and investigating the cause of the fire, which was not immediately known.

Nine people have been confirmed dead but the toll could rise, police told PTI.

Deadly fires, often linked to electrical faults or gas cylinder explosions, are common in India where investigators have frequently pointed to safety lapses and inadequate enforcement of fire regulations as contributing to recurring loss of life.

On Monday, a blaze at a hotel in West Bengal’s temple town of Tarapith left at least seven people dead and several others critically injured.

In December, at least 25 people were killed after a fire ripped through a popular nightclub in western Goa state.

Policemen and other officials stand near a hotel which caught fire early Wednesday in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)