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 said it carried out a warning strike against an extremist group that was preparing to attack Druze in Syria, following through on its pledge to protect the minority group as violence spread in Druze areas near Damascus on Wednesday.
Swarms of Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Dnipro late on Tuesday, killing at least one person and injuring at least 46, officials said.
At least 14 people died in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata late on Tuesday when a fire blazed through a six-storey hotel in a congested neighbourhood, authorities said.
Spain and Portugal switched their power back on after the worst blackout in their history, though authorities offered little explanation for what had caused it or how they would prevent it from happening again.
The head of Israel's domestic intelligence agency, Ronen Bar, announced he will resign on June 15 amid pressure from Prime Minister Netanyahu and ongoing legal proceedings.
President Donald Trump touted what he called a series of major economic wins and forcefully attacked Democrats during a rally in Michigan on Tuesday to commemorate his first 100 days in office.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals retained power in the country's election on Monday, but fell short of the majority government he had wanted to help him negotiate tariffs with US President Donald Trump.