Category World News

In the Netherlands, fireworks accidents have claimed two lives, and there have been reports of violent incidents as the country celebrated its first year. A 19th-century church in Amsterdam was largely destroyed by a fire in a separate incident.

The Neo-Gothic Vondelkerk, a tourist attraction that has dominated the capital city’s central Vondelpark since 1872, was the site of the fire that started early on Thursday.

The 164-foot tower’s 50-meter height collapsed, and the roof suffered severe damage, but the structure was supposed to remain intact, according to Amsterdam authorities.

Not immediately known what caused the fire. By morning, emergency services had managed the situation.

The church’s fire did not cause any harm.

About 90 homes were temporarily without power, and a large number of apartments in the area were evacuated.

Sparks grew in the flames as a result of strong winds.

According to Dutch media reports, “This monumental church is a very intense and terrible fire,” according to Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema. The immediate residents’ well-being and homes are now our top priorities.

Up until 1977, The Vondel Church served as a Roman Catholic church. It was most recently used for other purposes and special occasions like concerts. The original tower of the church was destroyed in a fire in 1904.

Separately, Nine Kooiman, the head of the Dutch Police Union, reported an “unprecedented amount of violence against police and emergency services” across the nation on New Year’s Eve, when 250 people were detained and in several towns riot police were deployed.

Kooiman claimed that during her shift in Amsterdam, fireworks and other explosives had pelted her three times.

People reportedly threw gasoline bombs at police in Breda, a city in southern Spain.

A 38-year-old man was killed in a separate fireworks accident in Aalsmeer, close to Amsterdam, and a 17-year-old boy from Nijmegen, a town in the east of the nation, according to police. Three people suffered serious injuries.

The Rotterdam eye hospital reported treating 14 patients for eye injuries, including 10 minors. Both had surgery.

The final year since New Year’s Eve 2025 saw the introduction of a consumer-friendly nationwide ban on fireworks sales.

The Dutch Pyrotechnics Association estimates that revelers spent a record 129 million euros ($151 million) on fireworks.

Although some locations had been made firework-free zones, the results appeared to be insignificant.

Up until about 3 a.m., a journalist for the AFP news agency in this area of The Hague reported loud bangs.

Other European nations have reported instances of violence.

Police in Belgium, for instance, made numerous arrests because Belgian officers were targeted with fireworks in Brussels and Antwerp, with a New Year’s ban on their use failing to stop chaotic scenes in both cities.

In the port city of Antwerp, where children as young as 10 and 11 were detained by police using tear gas and setting fire to cars, cars, and trash cans, more than 100 people were detained, according to a spokesperson for the police.

According to the spokesperson, authorities seize a number of “very dangerous” professional fireworks.

At least three people were killed and 17 others were hurt in protests in the Lorestan province city of Azna, which is located 300 kilometers (185 miles) southwest of Tehran, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency on Thursday.

Online videos that were shared appeared to show gunfire emitted from the streets as people yelled, “Shameless! “Shameless” !

In the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces of Lordegan, about 470 kilometers (290 miles) south of Tehran, two people were reported to have been killed during protests.

According to Fars, “some protesters began throwing stones at the city’s administrative buildings, including the mosque, the Martyrs’ Foundation, the town hall, and banks,” with tear gas in response.

Online videos showed gunfire robbing as demonstrators gathered on a street.

A security force member was killed overnight during protests in the western city of Kouhdasht, according to an earlier report from Iranian state television earlier on Thursday.

According to Said Pourali, the deputy governor of Lorestan province, a 21-year-old Basij member was killed last night by rioters while defending public order.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a volunteer organization that includes the Basij.

The reports come days after shopkeepers began protesting the government’s handling of a falling currency and rapidly rising prices on Sunday.

Iran’s economy is being hit by 40% inflation, and the country’s nuclear infrastructure and military leadership are the targets of the unrest.

Tohid Asadi, a reporter from Tehran, stated that the government has viewed the protests this week with more caution than it has previously done so.

According to Asadi, “the government says it’s working hard to find a solution to the economic strains that people are experiencing.”

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was taken into police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code, died in those same years as mass demonstrations in Iran.

The most recent protests started in Tehran peacefully and spread to Tehran on Tuesday as students from at least 10 universities joined in.

Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, has urged the government to take action to improve the economic situation and acknowledges protesters’ “legitimate demands.”

At a ceremony held on state television, Pezeshkian said, “From an Islamic perspective, we will end up in hell” if the issue of people’s livelihoods is not resolved.

Without providing any further details, government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani announced on Thursday that the authorities would engage in direct dialogue with representatives of trade unions and retailers.

The authorities have nevertheless pledged to take a “firm” stand and warned against stoking chaos by exploiting the circumstance.

The prosecutor general of Iran stated on Wednesday that “any attempt to use economic protests as a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate, and decisive response.”

Meanwhile, seven people were detained on Wednesday evening according to the Tasnim news agency, who it described as belonging to “groups hostile to the Islamic Republic based in the United States and Europe.”

Trump canceled a planned 50% tariff on cabinets and vanities and a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture by signing an order on Wednesday night during the New Year’s Eve holiday.

However, the order kept up the 25% tariff he had in place for those goods in September.

The furniture tariffs were intended to “bolster American industry and safeguard national security,” according to the US president.

As the US prepares for its 2026 midterm elections, which are scheduled for November, rising prices and the cost of living are major concerns for Americans, according to polls.

Voters blame President Trump’s policies, and particularly his tariffs, at least in part for their economic woes. According to a Politico poll conducted in December, 32 percent of respondents said that Trump bears “full responsibility” for the state of the economy, while 30 percent cited tariffs as the main cause of high prices.

The cost of living was cited as the main concern for the nation by the majority of respondents, and 32 percent cited the state of the economy. Democrats have fought back against Trump and his Republican Party over concerns about affordability, which he has rejected as a “hoax” perpetuated by his political rivals.

The US agreed to slash proposed import duties on pasta products from 13 companies, according to the Italian foreign ministry’s statement on Thursday.

Prior to this, the Trump administration had threatened to impose 92 percent import taxes on European Union products on top of the tariffs already in place.

The US Commerce Department, according to the Italian government’s foreign ministry, agreed to lower the rates for La Molisana and Garofalo, both of which had been accused of undercutting other pasta producers by charging unfairly low prices.

The other businesses will experience a rate of 9.09 %.

A group of 17 human rights and advocacy organizations in Israel on Thursday criticized the prohibition, saying it “undermines principled humanitarian action, endangers staff and communities, and compromises effective aid delivery.”

As the occupying power, Israel is required to provide Palestinian civilians with adequate supplies. The groups claimed that it prevents others from filling the gap by failing to do so in addition to failing to do so.

For breaking new government rules, Israel has suspended the operating licenses of 37 aid organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, which is known by its French names as MSF and the Norwegian Refugee Council.

International NGOs operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are required to provide detailed information about their funding and operations in accordance with the new regulations.

Israel has defended the action by denying any evidence that Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad are related to international organizations that operate in Gaza.

However, experts claim that the requirements violate humanitarian guidelines and are in violation of a long-standing Israeli government campaign to demonize and ultimately thwart the efforts of Palestinian aid organizations.

In a statement released on Thursday, Israel-based rights organizations including B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that “the new registration framework violates fundamental humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”

“Actions that favor political alignment, penalize support for legal accountability, and require the disclosure of sensitive personal information about Palestinian staff and their families all constitute a breach of duty of care,” warns the organization.

Pattern of unlawful restrictions

Israel has placed restrictions on food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid deliveries to the coastal territory as a result of its ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In what Human Rights Watch has called “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” Israeli violence has increased in the occupied West Bank as well. The military has forced tens of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

In light of this, Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights representative, claimed earlier this week that Israel’s NGO’s ban was “the most recent in a pattern of unlawful restraints on humanitarian access” in the occupied Palestinian territory.

In a social media post, Doctors Without Borders claimed that it was still waiting for the renewal of its registration to operate in Gaza and the West Bank in accordance with the new Israeli regulations as of Wednesday.

People struggle to meet basic needs in Palestine because the health system has been destroyed, and essential infrastructure has been destroyed. More services are needed, not less, according to MSF.

“Sortens of thousands of Palestinians would be denied access to essential care if MSF and other INGOs lose access.”

Martin Griffiths, a former UN humanitarian chief and member of the Norwegian Refugee Council, stated to Al Jazeera that he had no faith in what would happen next.