General NewsTragic night: Tragedy at Hindu festival, air disaster near Washington shores
Tragic night: Tragedy at Hindu festival, air disaster near Washington shores
This happened while you were sleeping. Here's what global agencies reported overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
- The authorities in India have ordered an investigation into the panic at the Hindu festival Maha Kumbh Mela, which led to dozens of people being trampled to death, Reuters reports. According to officials, on Wednesday alone, over 76 million people took a bath at the confluence of three holy rivers in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. At one point, panic broke out, and people began to trample each other. The police reported that 30 people died in the crowd, and 90 were injured.
- Air disaster in the USA: A passenger plane collided with a helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Airport outside Washington.
- At least ten people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the village of Tammun in the occupied West Bank, reported the Palestinian health ministry on Wednesday evening. The Israeli army claims the target was an armed "terrorist cell." The Israeli side announced that the raid was conducted based on intelligence from the Shin Bet security service.
- The plan announced by US President Donald Trump to detain 30,000 migrants at the American naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba, is an "act of brutality," stated the president of the Caribbean country, Miguel Diaz-Canel, on Wednesday. Commenting on Trump's plans on platform X, the Cuban leader assessed that the base in Guantanamo is "on illegally occupied Cuban territority," and the migrants are to be placed near "known prisons of torture and illegal detention."
- In the Ukrainian city of Sumy, a Russian drone struck a residential building. Nine people were injured.
- The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, pardoned 13 people on Wednesday who were involved in mass protests in the country for nearly three months, announced the president's office. The list includes six students, two university employees, four school directors, and one school employee. The decisions on the pardon have been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for further proceedings, noted the president's office. The statement did not specify what charges they faced.
- Over 280 Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside Congolese forces surrendered in the Rwandan border town of Gisenyi, reported the Rwandan army. Rebels from the March 23 Movement, supported by Rwanda, have taken over a significant part of Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, prompting thousands of residents to flee. The AFP agency reminds us that since the end of 2022, nearly 1,000 Western soldiers have been stationed in Goma, working for two private military companies.
