Nightclub fire in India's Goa kills 25 people including staff and tourists
Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic in one of Goa's bustling nightlife areas.
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IndiGo chaos: Why is India’s largest airline canceling hundreds of flights?
More than 2,000 flights cancelled, stranding thousands of passengers, as government intervenes to address the crisis.
Benin coup attempt foiled by loyalist troops, interior minister says
A presidential adviser has told the BBC that President Talon is safe and is at the French embassy.
UN official says war-torn Darfur, Sudan, is the 'epicenter of suffering'
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher about his recent visit to Sudan.
Two marathon organisers arrested in Iran over women running without hijabs
Judiciary says a criminal case has been opened after online images showed a number of unveiled female competitors Judicial authorities in Iran have arrested two organisers of a marathon held on an island off the country’s southern coast after images emerged showing women taking part in the race without hijabs.The arrests on Saturday come as the authorities face increasing criticism from ultraconservatives who accuse them of inadequate efforts to enforce a mandatory headscarf law for women amid fears of growing western influence on the Islamic republic. Continue reading...
No, New York City’s wealthiest are not fleeing the city after Mamdani’s win
Conservatives warned of a mass exodus if the democratic socialist won, but experts, and property data, paint a very different pictureThe warnings were stark. If Zohran Mamdani were to win the New York City mayoral election, his plans to raise taxes – slightly – on the city’s wealthiest residents would cause millionaires to bolt en masse, decamping to lower-tax states such as Florida and Texas.The New York Post, a conservative tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, told readers on an almost daily basis through October that New York would effectively become a ghost town under Mamdani’s mayoralty, a propaganda campaign that concluded the day before the election with the bombastic claim that “nearly a million” people were planning to “flee”. Continue reading...
African swine fever outbreak in Spain may have leaked from research lab, officials say
Authorities say strain of virus that has killed wild boars in Catalonia is one often used for experiments in secure facilities Spanish authorities investigating the African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are looking into the possibility that the disease may have leaked from a research facility and are focusing on five nearby laboratories as potential sources.Thirteen cases of the fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the countryside outside Barcelona since 28 November, prompting Spain to scramble to contain the outbreak before it becomes a serious threat to its pork export industry, which is worth €8.8bn (£7.7bn) a year. Continue reading...
UK politics: Your Party’s Sultana suggests ‘electoral alliances’ could help stop Farage – as it happened
Sultana says Labour party has ‘left the scene’ as she says she ‘gets on really well’ with Greens’ PolanskiRounding up his interview, Trevor Phillips asked Helen Whately about the Guardian’s investigation into Nigel Farage’s alleged racist and antisemitic behaviour as a teenager towards fellow Dulwich college pupils. She suggested that the Reform leader appears not to be giving “straight answers” when asked about his past behaviour, and ruled out any pact with Farage’s party at the next general election.“He needs to give people a straight answer,” Whately said.The number one reason why people, young people, are becoming Neet – not in employment, education or training – is because they’re moving on to sickness benefits. Yet we just saw a few months ago where Labour was attempting to make some reforms to this problem (people going on to sickness benefits). They u-turned, they abandoned their reforms. Continue reading...
Sudan must expel foreign-backed fighters, justice minister tells Al Jazeera
External support for armed groups and mercenaries is the main obstacle to peace, says Sudan's justice minister.
Heathrow Airport Is Briefly Locked Down After Spray Is Used in Altercation
One man was arrested after a substance that appeared to be pepper spray was used during a fight in one of the airport’s parking garages, the police said.