At least 16 people were killed in a department store fire in Zigong City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, according to the local fire and rescue headquarters.

China’s Ministry of Emergency Management and National Fire and Rescue Administration said that a working team has been dispatched to southwest China’s Sichuan Province following a fire at a department store, Xinhua news agency reported.

The fire broke out around 6 p.m. on Wednesday at a 14-story building in Zigong City.

Immediately after receiving the information about the incident, the two government departments provided local authorities with guidance on the investigation and rescue work.

The two departments have urged all-out efforts in search and rescue, treatment of the wounded and an investigation into the cause of the fire as soon as possible.

The rescue operation was completed as of 3 a.m. on Thursday, according to the local fire and rescue headquarters. A preliminary investigation has indicated that the fire was caused by construction work.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, fire experts from across the country will also be sent to participate in the accident investigation. AGENCIES

 Belarus will introduce a visa-free policy for 35 European countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said in a statement on its official website.

The policy will take effect on Friday, July 19, and will last until December 31, 2024, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statement.

Citizens of the 35 countries, including members of the European Union and the UK, can stay in Belarus for 30 days at a time without a visa.

The statement said that in order to further demonstrate Belarus’s commitment to openness, peace and good neighbourliness, and to simplify personnel exchanges, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko supports citizens of 35 European countries to temporarily enter and stay in Belarus through road and rail checkpoints without a visa.

According to the State Border Committee of Belarus, the visa-free policy for citizens of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia entering Belarus which has taken effect since 2022, will be now extended to citizens of 35 other European countries. The visa-free policy can be used multiple times, and shall not exceed 90 days within a year.

This policy does not apply to holders of special passports such as diplomatic and official passports. AGENCIES

 US President Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 following his first event in Las Vegas, the White House said on Wednesday.

Biden is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms.

“He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time. The White House will provide regular updates on the President’s status as he continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to Biden’s doctor, the President presented on Wednesday afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorrhea (runny nose) and a non-productive cough.

“He (President Biden) felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for Covid-19 was conducted, and the results were positive… Given this, the President will be self-isolating in accordance with CDC guidance for symptomatic individuals,” the doctor was quoted in the statement.

“PCR confirmation testing will be pending. His symptoms remain mild, his respiratory rate is normal at 16, his temperature is normal at 97.8 and his pulse oximetry is normal at 97 per cent. The President has received his first dose of Paxlovid. He will be self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth,” said the doctor. AGENCIES

 US President Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 as his bid for re-election faced fresh opposition from within his own Democratic party.

“Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for Covid-19,” Karine Jean Pierre, the White House Press Secretary said in a statement on Wednesday.

“He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms,” she added.

The campaign event in the crucial swing state of Nevada was cancelled and the President headed for his home state Delaware where he will self-isolate and recover.

Biden’s re-election bid faced its severest challenge Wednesday when Adam Schiff, a senior Democratic member in the House of Representatives who is running for the US Senate, became the newest Democrat to call for the President to step aside. Schiff is very close to the former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who together with other leaders of the party, is trying to steer the President towards the exit.

“Joe Biden has been one of the most consequential presidents in our nation’s history, and his lifetime of service as a Senator, a Vice President, and now as President has made our country better,” Schiff wrote in a statement. “But our nation is at a crossroads. A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” he added.

Biden has rejected all calls for him to step aside and has vowed to stay in the race, but his Covid-19 infection could seriously challenge his resolve given his age.

The White House doctor said in the same statement as released by Jean-Pierre, “The President presented this afternoon with upper respiratory symptoms, to include rhinorhea (runny nose) and non-productive cough, with general mailaise. He felt okay for his first event of the day, but given that he was not feeling better, point of care testing for COVID-19 was conducted, and the results were positive for the COVID-19 virus. Given this, the President will be self-isolating in accordance with CDC guidance for symptomatic individuals. PCR confirmation testing will be pending.”

“His symptoms remain mild, his respiratory rate is normal at 16, his temperature is normal at 97.8 and his pulse oximetry is normal at 97 per cent. The President has received his first dose of Paxlovid. He will be self-isolating at his home in Rehoboth,” the doctor said. AGENCIES

 Avian influenza, also known as bird flu, has spread to a second farm in Sydney’s northwest, with emergency control zones established to curb the transmission of the highly contagious disease.

In a statement released on Thursday, a local council said that emergency control zones have been placed around the Hawkesbury region, as bird flue is primarily spread via the movement of infected domestic and wild birds, Xinhua news agency reported.

“Two zones have been established in the immediate vicinity of the detections. A Restricted Emergency Zone (REZ) has been set up in the immediate two-kilometer perimeter surrounding the affected properties and a Control Emergency Zone has been established in the surrounding area beyond the REZ,” said the Hawkesbury City Council.

The announcement came weeks after the state government of New South Wales (NSW) identified a second case of High Pathogenic Avian Influenza on a poultry farm in the Hawkesbury biosecurity control zone.

Having tested positive for the H7N8 strain, the site is within the restricted biosecurity zone 1.5 km from the original infected farm site detected on June 19.

Australia has been grappling with multiple bird flu outbreaks since May, with Victoria, the nation’s second most populated state, first sounding the alarm. H7N3 and H7N9 strains have been detected across eight Victorian poultry farms.

In late June, confirmed cases emerged in NSW and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

According to the Hawkesbury City Council, the strain found in NSW and the ACT is not the H5N1 strain causing global concern, nor is it linked to those outbreaks in Victoria. AGENCIES

 The European Commission announced that it will earmark over 7 billion euros (about $7.66 billion) for 134 transport projects across the European Union (EU), to facilitate the delivery of the bloc’s climate objectives and improve its transport networks.

The projects will receive funding through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU’s fund for strategic investment in infrastructure development. The grants are the largest under the current CEF transport programme, according to a press release from the European Commission.

“The selected projects will help transform Europe’s transport network, making cleaner transport modes more efficient and attractive for passengers and freight while enhancing safety across the trans-European transport(network) (TEN-T),” said Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.

Rail projects will receive 80 per cent of the total funds, to improve cross-border rail connections along the TEN-T core network, Xinhua news agency reported.

The release also noted that around 20 maritime ports including those in Ireland, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Greece will receive support for infrastructure upgrades. Some will enable them to supply shore-side electricity to ships, or transport renewable energy. AGENCIES

 Four Chinese tourists were injured due to bus crashes on State Highway in South Island, New Zealand in Thursday morning’s foggy weather, said the Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch.

The official Radio NZ reported that four people were taken to nearby hospitals due to the crashes, Xinhua news agency reported.

The accidents occurred on State Highway 8 in South Island of New Zealand at around 8.38 a.m. on Thursday. There were two buses involved in the single-vehicle incidents. The two crashes happened separately 100 meters apart from each other, said the report.

The Chinese Consulate General in Christchurch released a statement confirming that those travellers on board the buses were Chinese tourists.

Two people seriously injured were sent to hospital and are currently out of life-threatening danger, said the statement.

The consulate general has responded to the emergency and sent staff to the scene.

The consulate general reminded its nationals who are visiting the South Island to raise their safety awareness and pay attention to traffic safety and winter weather conditions.

Weather conditions were foggy at the time, however, the exact cause of the crashes is still being determined. AGENCIES

 India, “a great power” pursuing its own national interests, is facing “completely unjustified” pressure over its relations with Moscow, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

“India is a great power, sets its own national interests, determines its own national interests, chooses its own partners, and we know that India is being subjected to enormous pressure, completely unjustified, pressure in the international arena,” he said at a news conference here on Wednesday.

“I think India is doing everything right,” he said defending India’s ties with Russia, particularly energy cooperation, against the criticism during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Moscow last week.

Lavrov called Ukraine President Volodymyr’s remarks about Prime Minister Modi’s Moscow visit “very insulting”.

He noted that India called Ukraine’s ambassador to India, Oleksandr Polishchuk, to the Ministry of External Affairs and protested Zelensky’s remark.

Zelensky had posted on X, “It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world’s largest democracy hug the world’s most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day” when a children’s hospital in Kyiv was hit by a Russian missile.

Bracketing China with India, Lavrov attacked the West’s criticism of these “Asian giants”.

He said, “A multipolar world is a reality. It’s not just a made-up of fiction.”

“The fact that the West is exhibiting its displeasure to powers like China, like India, well, it shows the lack of erudition, the inability to partake in diplomacy, and also speaks to the failure of political analysts,” he said.

“It’s really beneath them, behaving this way … in particular when they’re speaking in this way to these two giants, these two great powers,” he added.

US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said during Prime Minister Modi’s Moscow visit, “We made quite clear directly with India our concerns about their relationship with Russia.”

“India is a strategic partner with whom we engage in a full and frank dialogue, and that includes on our concerns about the relationship with Russia,” he said.

Lavrov spoke of India’s External Affairs Minister’s unapologetic defence of buying energy products from Russia.

“My colleague Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, after a tour of Western states, answering questions, including the question of why are you buying more oil from Russia, he cited statistics and those statistics showed that the West has also increased its purchases of gas from the Russian Federation despite some of the restrictions that have been imposed, gas and oil as well,” he said.

“And then he went on to say that India will decide for itself, how to trade with whom and how to defend its national interests,” Lavrov added.

In December 2022, during German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock’s visit to New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar told a Western reporter that during a ten-month period that year, the European Union had imported more Russian oil than the next 10 countries combined and that its import was six times India’s.

The EU also imports gas and coal, he said.

Also at a media interaction in London, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar said that India had “actually softened the oil markets and the gas markets through our purchase policies. We have, as a consequence, actually managed global inflation and people should be saying thank you”. AGENCIES

 As instability intensifies in Haiti, displaced women and girls are increasingly vulnerable to sexual violence, according to a report released by UN Women.

The report paints a grim picture of the living conditions for approximately 300,000 displaced women and girls in Haiti amid political chaos, rampant gang violence, and the ongoing hurricane season, Xinhua news agency reported.

With over half of the 580,000 displaced persons in Haiti being female, the UN Women Rapid Gender Assessment underscores the peril in makeshift camps lacking essential amenities, making them particularly susceptible to sexual and gender-based violence.

The survey, conducted in April across six major displacement sites in Port-au-Prince, revealed a lack of basic security measures like lighting and locks in critical areas, including bedrooms and bathrooms.

The presence of gangs and the daily threat of stray bullets amplify the dangers, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced protection measures in these camps.

The study also noted that aggression, particularly rape, is often employed as a tactic by gangs to control women’s access to humanitarian aid within the camps.

“Our report tells us that the level of insecurity and brutality, including sexual violence, that women are facing at the hands of gangs in Haiti is unprecedented. It must stop now,” UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said.

She urged the Haitian government to adopt preventive and responsive measures against the violence and to involve women more in camp management to ensure their safety concerns are addressed.

The report further revealed the economic desperation faced by the women in the camps, with nearly 90 per cent having no source of income. Over 10 per cent have considered or resorted to sex work to meet their basic needs, while 20 per cent knew someone who had engaged in such activities. Additionally, about 16 per cent of respondents reported feeling intimidated, harassed, or traumatised by armed gangs, and almost 70 per cent were mentally affected by the increase in violence.

In response, UN Women is aiding women’s organisations in Haiti to support displaced communities through various projects funded by international partners, including training police officers to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence and supporting women entrepreneurs affected by the ongoing violence.

This report underlines the critical situation in Haiti and the essential role of international and local actions in safeguarding and empowering the displaced female population amidst the crisis. AGENCIES

The Indian Embassy in Bangladesh on Thursday issued an advisory urging Indian students and nationals residing in the country to restrict their outdoor movements in the wake of ongoing massive student protests throughout the country, which has resulted in at least six deaths so far.

“In view of the ongoing situation in Bangladesh, the Indian community members and the Indian students residing in Bangladesh are advised to avoid travel and minimise their movement outside their living premises,” the advisory stated.

The advisory has also issued a 24-hour emergency helpline number and urged Indian nationals to reach out to the High Commission in Dhaka and Assistant High Commissions for any need or assistance as most of the country observed a complete shutdown on Thursday.

Student demonstrations in Bangladesh have taken a violent turn as anti-quota protesters clashed with members of the ruling Awami League party’s student wing across the country, local media reported.

Reports cited that as many as six people, including a child, have been killed in the clashes between the protestors and the security officials in Dhaka’s Shonir Akhra area.

Incidents of fires and vandalism have been reported, with protestors setting off tyres, wooden logs, motorcycles and toll plaza booths ablaze across the country.

Outraged by the high unemployment rate in the country, students in Bangladesh are demanding the quashing of the 30 per cent reservation quota for the families of veterans of the 1971 Independence War.

The quota system in government jobs was scrapped in 2018 after a major student movement but was reinstated by a court in June.

On Wednesday, during an address to the nation, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asserted that there is an opportunity to resolve the issue through a legal process as the government has already appealed to the apex court against the court’s verdict, and a hearing date has been fixed in the Appellate Division.

“It is a matter of sorrow that some vested quarters started making different kinds of statements and engaged in terrorist activities to gain their ambitious intentions centring on this movement. As the matter has been brought before the top court, I call upon all to keep patience,” said the Bangladesh PM. AGENCIES