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(PARIS) — Dozens of people were injured and hundreds were sent running for safety in central Paris after an explosion caused by a suspected gas leak rocked the city Wednesday afternoon, according to police and firefighters.

The incident took place around 4:55 p.m. local time at the Paris American Academy on Rue Saint-Jacques, officials said. As of Wednesday night, four people were listed in critical condition, 33 victims were in serious condition and two were unaccounted for, according to French Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin.

“It is possible that we will find bodies or people who are still alive tonight,” he said at a news conference.

The explosion shattered nearby windows and sent thick smoke into the air throughout the afternoon.

Hundreds of firefighters and police raced to the scene as civilians ran for safety. The facade of the building completely collapsed.

Fire department crews were able to contain the fire and search and rescue teams were going through the rubble.

The Paris prosecutor told to ABC News that nearby buildings in the area have been evacuated due to concerns about their structural integrity following the explosion. Police officials told reporters that a preliminary investigation appears to show a suspected gas leak may have been the cause, but the probe is ongoing.

The U.S. Embassy said it was not aware of any Americans involved in the incident.

The school was founded in 1965 and offers teaching in fashion design, interior design, fine arts and creative writing, the Associated Press reported.

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(KYIV, Ukraine) — Doctors at Ukraine’s leading trauma hospital are working around the clock to save the most badly wounded soldiers as the country continues its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

In the last year, a team of 100 surgeons has performed 2,000 trauma operations at the hospital, the hospital’s director told ABC News’ Ian Pannell. The facility’s name and location are being withheld.

Nearly all the injuries treated there are shrapnel wounds from Russian shelling, missiles and exploded mines, the director said. Only 2% of the injuries are bullet wounds. Of the 2,000 trauma operations over the last year, around half were amputations performed on soldiers who lost limbs in battle.

The heavy toll has only increased in recent weeks, with the hospital seeing a 20% surge in patient admissions since the counteroffensive began two weeks ago, the director said.

Ukraine said Monday it had driven Russian forces from an eighth village.

“We are moving forward gradually, with small steps, but very confidently,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday, adding that Ukrainian forces are “gnawing every meter of land from the enemy.”

In some areas, Russia is advancing and Ukrainian forces are on the defensive, Maliar said. In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces fired more than 277,000 shells at Ukrainian forces in the last week, Maliar said.

As an ABC News crew visited the trauma hospital, surgeons were amputating the leg of a 30-year-old soldier who had stepped on a Russian mine. Another patient was an American veteran from Alaska who was hit by shrapnel from a tank round two days ago while volunteering to fight for Ukraine.

“It’s a lot of artillery. It’s a lot of tanks sitting at standoff distances,” the American veteran told ABC News.

After being stabilized, soldiers are taken for further medical care away from the hospital by a fleet of around 40 ambulances, with help from of a crew of international medics.

ABC News’ Darren Price contributed to this report.

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(BUCHAREST, Romania) — Andrew Tate, the notorious influencer detained in December by Romanian officials, made his first court appearance as a defendant on Wednesday after being charged with rape, human trafficking and creating an organized crime group.

Tate faces the charges along with his brother, Tristan, another internet personality, and two women, both Romanian nationals, prosecutors said. The court hearing on Wednesday was intended to establish whether they would remain under house arrest, or face a lighter form of judicial surveillance that would allow them to leave their Bucharest compound.

A decision on their detention is expected to be handed down Friday.

Neither of the Tate brothers responded to ABC News’ questions outside the court, though Andrew Tate did issue a short statement to the assembled media following the hearing.

Tate, who has amassed a huge online following and continues to be active on social media, thanked his supporters and said, “we are not the first affluent and wealthy men who have been unfairly attacked.”

“I also want to give a very special thanks to Romania and Romanian people,” Tate said. “The number of Romanian people who send me messages is absolutely fantastic. This is my home, I love this country, I’m gonna stay here regardless no matter what, and I look forward to being found innocent.”

Andrew and Tristan Tate, along with two women, both Romanian nationals, were charged on Tuesday with rape, human trafficking and creating an organized crime group, local prosecutors said in a statement.

No trial date has been set, and such trials can take years in the Romanian judicial system.

They have all been in police custody — first in jail, then under house arrest — for about six months as they awaited the full charges.

“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations,” a spokesperson for the siblings told ABC News on Tuesday.

ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this story.

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(LONDON) — A Delta Airlines pilot has been arrested in Scotland for allegedly being over the alcohol limit, known as the “Drink-Fly” limit, police said.

Lawrence Russell Jr., 62, was charged under the Section 93 of the Railways and Transportation Safety Act and appeared on Monday afternoon at Edinburgh Sheriff’s Court, according to the court. He had been arrested at about 10 a.m. Friday at Edinburgh Airport, a Police Scotland spokesperson told ABC News.

Russell made no plea to the charge and has been remanded in custody, “committed for further examination,” a Police Scotland spokesperson told ABC News.

Russell is expected to appear in court again “within the next eight days,” the court’s press office told ABC News.

Russell was scheduled to be the pilot of Delta flight DL209, which was bound for New York’s JFK airport, from Edinburgh, Scotland, Delta said. The EDI-JFK flight was subsequently cancelled, with alternative flights provided to customers, the airline said.

In a statement, Delta said: “Delta confirms that one of its crew was taken into custody this morning at EDI Airport. Delta is assisting the authorities with their ongoing enquiries … we apologise to customers impacted by the cancellation.”

According to the U.K. Railways and Transport Safety Act, a person commits an offense if “he performs an aviation function at a time when the proportion of alcohol in his breath, blood or urine exceeds the prescribed limit.”

In the case of breath, the prescribed limit is 9 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters, and 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters in the case of blood, according to the Act.

Delta pilot Gabriel Lyle Schroeder was arrested in Sept. 2019 at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport for allegedly attempting to fly while intoxicated, police said at the time.

In a statement sent to ABC News, Delta said its alcohol policy is “among the strictest in the industry” and that the company is “cooperating with local authorities” as they investigate in Scotland.

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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. ranking for gender equality worldwide fell significantly over the past year due to a widening gap in political empowerment and health outcomes between men and women, according to a study released on Tuesday by the World Economic Forum.

The report, which assesses equity between men and women on indexes ranging from economic participation to physical well-being, ranked the U.S. 43rd out of 146 countries studied, ranking directly beneath Colombia and above Luxembourg. Last year, the U.S. ranked 27th.

The World Economic Forum convenes an annual meeting of the global elite in Davos, Switzerland, every January.

The falloff in the U.S. ranking from last year is largely due to a widening gap between men and women in the realm of political empowerment, which measures factors such as the share of women who hold positions in the federal legislature and as heads of state, the study found.

The U.S. also faces a growing gender divide over life expectancy, the study showed. Over the last decade, women’s healthy life expectancy has declined by five years and men’s by close to three years, according to the study.

To be sure, the report found that the U.S. gender gap has narrowed in some areas, especially those focused on economic outcomes.

The U.S. has closed almost 80% of the gap between men and women on an index that measures economic opportunity and participation, recovering to a level last seen in 2018, the report said.

On income parity, the U.S. has closed about 67% of the gap between men and women, which continues a trend of gradual improvement over the past several years, the study showed.

Not a single country has completely reached parity between men and women on the study’s overall gender gap index.

Iceland, the report’s top-ranked country for 14 consecutive years, has closed roughly 91% of the divide between men and women on the overall gender gap index.

The group of top-performing countries also featured Norway, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand.

The lowest-ranked countries were Afghanistan, Chad, Algeria, Pakistan and Iran.

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(NEW YORK) — Andrew Tate, the influencer detained in December by Romanian officials, has been charged with rape, human trafficking and creating an organized crime group, local prosecutors said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tate faces the charges along with his brother, Tristan, another internet personality, and two other women, both Romanian nationals, prosecutors said.

The Tate brothers will “embrace the opportunity it presents to demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation,” a spokesperson said.

“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations,” the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.

They have all been in police custody — first in jail, then under house arrest — for about six months as they awaited the full charges.

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(PARIS) — Police were searching offices associated with organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday as part of two financial investigations, French officials said.

“A police search is currently underway at the headquarters of the Organising Committee,” the Paris 2024 committee, COJOP, said in a statement. “Paris 2024 is cooperating fully with the investigators to facilitate their investigations.”

A search was also underway Tuesday at the offices the Société de Livraison des Ouvrages Olympiques, also known a SOLIDEO, a spokesperson for France’s National Financial Prosecutor’s Office told ABC News.

The searches were part of two open investigations, the spokesperson said.

The first investigation, opened in 2017, was into possible “counts of illegal taking of interests, embezzlement of public funds, favoritism and concealment of favoritism targeting several contracts awarded in particular by” the organizing committee, the spokesperson said.

The second investigation, opened in 2022, was into possible “illegal taking of interests, favoritism and concealment of favoritism relating to several contracts awarded by the COJOP and SOLIDEO, following an inspection by the French Anti-Corruption Agency,” the spokesperson said.

The first investigation was being pursued by France’s Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses. The second was under the Brigade for the repression of economic crime, the official said.

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(NEW YORK) — Hamish Harding, one of the five people aboard a submersible missing near the Titanic wreck, is no stranger to exploration.

Harding circumnavigated the Earth in 2019, he said on Facebook. He made a dive in 2021 to the deepest point on earth, Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench. And he traveled into space last year aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard.

Now he’s one of five passengers aboard the missing OceanGate Inc. tourist submersible, for which the U.S. Coast Guard and others have launched a round-the-clock search.

“Our entire focus is on the wellbeing of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely,” OceanGate said as part of an emailed statement.

The submersible, which last pinged in a location close to the Titanic wreck, was designed with life support to sustain five crew members for 96 hours.

Here’s what we know about the people onboard:

Hamish Harding

Harding, a British businessman and chairman of Action Aviation, previewed his dive to see the Titanic shipwreck in a Facebook post.

“Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023,” he posted on Sunday. “A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.”

Shahzada and Suleman Dawood

Shahzada Dawood is vice chairman of Engro Corporation Limited, a sprawling business headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. Suleman Dawood is his son, the family said in a statement.

“Our son Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, had embarked on a journey to visit the remnants of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available,” the Dawood family said.

The statement continued: “A rescue effort that is being jointly led by multiple government agencies and deep-sea companies is underway to reestablish contact with the submersible and bring them back safely. We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety while granting the family privacy at this time. The family is well looked after and are praying to Allah for the safe return of their family members.”

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(PARIS) — Police in Paris were searching the Paris 2024 Olympics headquarters on Tuesday, the event’s organizing committee said.

“A police search is currently underway at the headquarters of the Organising Committee,” the committee said. “Paris 2024 is cooperating fully with the investigators to facilitate their investigations.”

Story developing…

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(NEW YORK) — The United States Coast Guard and Royal Bahamas Defense Force called off its search on Sunday for an American free diver who went missing off the coast of Bimini, Bahamas.

Ryan Proulx, 31, was last seen near the Bimini Barge Wreck on Friday, a diving location roughly 1.5 miles west of Bimini Inlet, according to the Coast Guard.

After aircraft crews searched over 673 square miles for Proulx, the Coast Guard suspended the search on Sunday afternoon.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the Proulx family,” Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matt Spado said in a statement on Twitter. “The decision to suspend the active search efforts pending further development is one we never take lightly.”

Proulx traveled from Palm Beach, Florida, to the Bahamas last Thursday with a group including his wife, according to his friend Steve Diffenbacher, who spoke with ABC affiliate WBPF-TV. An experienced diver and licensed captain, Proulx would frequently make the trip down the East Coast for clients who wanted to transport their boats, according to Diffenbacher.

According to the Coast Guard, Proulx was last seen wearing a green top and red fins while free diving at the Bimini barge wreck. Located nearly 75 feet under the surface with strong currents, the wrecked barge-turned-artificial reef attracts large game fish, which cluster near the shipwreck and a nearby drop-off, according to Scuba Schools International.

Proulx previously served as a police officer with the East Hartford Police and Monroe Police Departments, according to a release from the East Hartford Police Department. A representative for the East Hartford Police Department could not be reached for comment about Proulx’s disappearance.

Proulx’s family declined to make a public statement about the search.

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