Category World News

At least 23 people have been killed in the Indian state of Goa when a gas cylinder exploded at a popular nightclub, according to officials and media reports.

The fire broke out at about midnight on Sunday in the village of Arpora in the district of North Goa, the Press Trust of India reported, citing police and officials.

Several tourists and many kitchen workers were killed in the blaze, according to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

“Today is a very painful day for all of us in Goa. A major fire incident at Arpora has taken the lives of 23 people,” Sawant wrote on X.

“I visited the incident site and have ordered an inquiry into this incident,” he said. “Those found responsible will face most stringent action under the law – any negligence will be dealt with firmly.”

Images circulating on social media showed rescue personnel rushing several people into emergency vehicles. Video clips posted online also showed balls of fire and thick smoke rising from a low-rise building.

Sawant told journalists at the scene that “three to four” tourists had died.

Three people died from burn injuries, while the others died from suffocation, he said. At least three of the victims were women, he added.

The PTI, citing the police, reported that the fire was caused when a gas cylinder exploded. The ANI news agency reported that the fire was now under control.

Alok Kumar, the director general of police in Goa, told ANI that the bodies of all of the victims have been recovered.

Goa, a former Portuguese colony on the shores of the Arabian Sea, lures millions of tourists every year with its nightlife, sandy beaches and laid-back coastal atmosphere.

Fires are common in India due to poor building practices, overcrowding and a lack of adherence to safety regulations.

In May, at least 17 people died after a fire ripped through a three-storey building in the Indian city of Hyderabad.

A month before that, a fierce blaze broke out in a hotel in Kolkata, killing at least 15 people. Some people clambered out of windows and onto the rooftop to escape.

And last year, at least 24 people died after a fire broke out at a packed amusement park arcade in the western state of Gujarat.

Three days of negotiations between Ukrainian and United States officials have ended without a breakthrough, as Russia launched one of its largest aerial assaults of the war on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The talks in Florida concluded on Saturday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describing a phone call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner as “substantive”, though both sides acknowledged that meaningful progress hinged entirely on Moscow’s willingness to pursue genuine peace.

The impasse underscores the gulf between diplomatic efforts and the grinding reality on the ground, where Russian forces continue advancing in eastern Ukraine.

Russia deployed 653 drones and 51 missiles in the overnight barrage that began on Friday, striking energy facilities and critical infrastructure across the country, Ukrainian officials said.

At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, which Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko confirmed hit 29 separate locations.

The assault temporarily severed power to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, raising new concerns about reactor safety.

The facility, which has been under Russian occupation since early in Moscow’s invasion, requires continuous electricity to cool its six shutdown reactors and prevent catastrophic failure, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Energy facilities were the main targets,” Zelenskyy said of the latest assault, noting that one drone strike destroyed a railway station in Fastiv, near Kyiv. Ukrainian air defences intercepted 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force reported.

Moscow claimed its strikes targeted “military-industrial complex enterprises and the energy facilities that support them”, asserting that all designated targets were hit.

The diplomatic push comes as battlefield dynamics increasingly favour Russia.

Moscow’s forces are closing in on Pokrovsk, a former logistics hub in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, and have nearly surrounded the neighbouring city of Myrnohrad.

Russian troops captured roughly 505 sq km (195 sq miles) in November alone, nearly double October’s territorial gains.

Russia now controls almost the entirety of the neighbouring Luhansk region and holds the majority of coastal territories stretching to Kherson. The front lines have largely stabilised along these positions, though Moscow continues to make incremental advances.

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Zelenskyy alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday to assess the US-mediated negotiations.

Macron condemned Russia’s “escalatory path” and insisted that “we must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it to make peace”.

The talks in Miami followed a Tuesday meeting between Witkoff, Kushner and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, which failed to produce an agreement.

A joint statement released on Friday acknowledged that “real progress towards any agreement” depends on Russia demonstrating “serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps towards de-escalation”.

Adding another layer of complexity, the International Criminal Court’s deputy prosecutor said on Friday that the arrest warrant for Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine cannot be halted by peace negotiations.

The warrant could only be temporarily deferred by United Nations Security Council action, prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told reporters, emphasising that “there must be the possibility of accountability in order for peace to be enduring”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has arrived in Israel for his first visit since taking office in May, aiming to reaffirm the traditionally strong ties between the two countries, which have been shaken over the course of Israel’s more than two-year genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza.

After a brief stop in Jordan, Merz landed just before 8pm local time (18:00 GMT) on Saturday at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, where he was met by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who called him “a friend of Israel” and said Germany was “an important partner”.

Merz also met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem later on Saturday.

The German chancellor earlier held talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and told reporters they had mostly discussed Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Merz urged more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza and for Hamas fighters to lay down their weapons. He said Jordan and Germany both remain committed to a negotiated two-state solution.

In Jerusalem on Sunday, Merz is scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial before meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Given the dark legacy of Nazi Germany’s industrial-scale murder of Jews, German leaders have long seen unflinching support for Israel as a bedrock of the country’s foreign policy.

But Israeli-German ties have become increasingly shaky since October 2023.

Merz has repeatedly criticised Israel’s relentless military campaign, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians.

In August, he also moved to restrict sales of weapons for use in Gaza.

Since the United States-backed ceasefire came into effect in October – which Israel has violated on a near-daily basis – Germany has lifted those export restrictions.

Despite the ceasefire, more than 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health authorities, as well as three Israeli soldiers.

The United Nations also warns that Israel is still not allowing enough aid into Gaza.

Before leaving Berlin on Saturday, Merz spoke with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

A spokesperson said Merz underscored German support for a two-state solution, but urged Abbas to push through “urgently necessary reforms” of the PA in order to play a “constructive role” in the post-war order.

Gil Shohat, head of the Tel Aviv office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which is affiliated with Germany’s far-left Die Linke party, sharply criticised Merz for the trip.

“Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal and is under suspicion of corruption,” Shohat was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. “Going there now and legitimising him is a fatal sign of normalisation in a situation that must not be normalised.”

Despite the close ties between the countries, German officials have said there are currently no plans to invite Netanyahu, who faces an international arrest warrant for war crimes in Gaza from the International Criminal Court (ICC), to Berlin.

Merz this year pledged to invite the Israeli leader and told him he would not be arrested.

Any tensions have also not disrupted key military ties. Germany last week put into operation the first phase of the Israeli-made Arrow missile defence shield.

Between Israel’s genocidal war on people in Gaza and near-daily Israeli assaults on Bethlehem and other cities across the occupied West Bank, Palestinians have endured great suffering over the past two years. They have had little to celebrate, and for the past years, all public Christmas celebrations were cancelled.

But Saturday brought a glimmer of hope to the crowds who gathered in Bethlehem’s Manger Square, outside of the Church of the Nativity, to watch the Christmas tree there be lit for the first time since 2022.

The lighting of the Christmas tree “was really some cheer that everybody needed”, said Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Bethlehem.

“I haven’t seen the square filled in quite a long time, and it was filled to the brim. Families were here, dignitaries, people who came from across the occupied West Bank and even Palestinian citizens of Israel.”

Bethlehem’s Christmas tree lighting ceremonies are “usually a lot rowdier and a lot more cheerful with dances and songs”, said Odeh.

However, this year’s two-hour celebrations were “subdued”, with “only hymns and prayers for peace”, she added.

Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born, is also suffering from a severe economic crisis, with many businesses that have been around for generations forced to shut their doors due to severe Israeli restrictions that cut it off from the rest of the world.

“Members of the family have moved to other countries just to keep living and support the others here. Of course, you can’t cover high expenses, high rent,” business owner Jack Gaccaman told Al Jazeera.

Hotels like Bethlehem’s Manger Hotel, just a few steps from the Nativity Church, have had very few guests for two years.

Some of them are just scraping by thanks to the occasional customer.

“Otherwise, here, it will be a disaster. When you abandon a car for two years, it will not work again. And this is what we did,” hotel owner Fares Banak told Al Jazeera.

Unemployment and poverty have risen across the occupied West Bank during the last two years.

“Unemployment is at 34 percent and the number of people living under the poverty line has increased. More than 40 percent are struggling to survive,” Samir Hazboun, a representative of the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce, told Al Jazeera.

Bethlehem has also suffered from a historic drop in tourism.

According to the city’s Chamber of Commerce, Bethlehem experienced a 90 percent drop in its number of visitors compared with two years ago. It adds that, during this period, the city lost $1.5m a day.

At least Palestine boasts a long Christmas season – marking the significant date of December 25 for Western Christians and January 6 and 7 for Armenian and Eastern Orthodox Christians, respectively – finally culminating in the tree coming down on January 20.