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Hundreds of people were evacuated from a nightclub in southwest Germany after a fire broke out, police said Sunday, with images from the scene showing the blaze raging on the building's roof.Police said the fire began around 3:45am (0145 GMT) in the nightclub in Kehl, which is on the border with France.The blaze went on to "spread over the whole building", a police statement added.All of the roughly 750 people inside at the time were able to escape, with three people treated by emergency services.Images published in German media showed a huge fire on the roof of the nightclub, which is located in an industrial area of the city.In a statement, Kehl's mayor Wolfram Britz said he was "happy and relieved that nobody was hurt" and thanked the nightclub owner for ensuring an orderly evacuation.Firefighters were on the scene into Sunday afternoon, with remnants of the fire being put out in the interior of the nightclub.City authorities said the damage was so extensive that most of the building had to be torn down.The blaze came months after a bar in the Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana caught fire in the early hours of New Year's Day, killing 41 people.Kehl lies directly across the Rhine River from the French city of Strasbourg, and the club regularly attracts visitors from across the border.Unlike in the Crans-Montana fire, in Kehl the evacuation process seems to have gone smoothly."All of a sudden we heard: there's a fire! There were several announcements in German, French and English," a reveller told the local French newspaper DNA.The paper quoted clubbers as saying the staff "handled it really well" and that the evacuation was "very quick".An investigation has been opened into the fire, the cause of which was not immediately clear. 

Fourteen people were killed in a fire in a car parts factory in South Korea that also injured 59 others, authorities told AFP Saturday, updating a previous toll of 11 fatalities.Fire crews were initially unable to enter the factory in the central city of Daejeon to look for survivors due to the risk of the building collapsing.The response was also hampered by sodium stored at the site, which can explode if improperly handled, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.Around 170 workers were at the plant when the fire broke out at about 1:00pm (0400 GMT) Friday, according to Yonhap."We can confirm the latest death toll has risen to 14, with no one reported missing," an official from the interior ministry's department that handles fires and other disasters told AFP.Officials have not said what may have caused the fire, which spread rapidly. A witness told Yonhap about hearing an explosion.Fire crews could be seen shooting water onto the site from cranes while a thick column of black smoke filled the sky in images released by Yonhap.The fire was extinguished by Saturday afternoon.President Lee Jae Myung visited the site and met bereaved families, promising to provide full support for victims and their families, Yonhap said."The government will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and prepare fundamental measures to prevent such tragedies," Lee wrote on X.Wealthy South Korea has a patchy record on labour safety, with more than 10,000 worksite deaths between 2000 and 2024, according to official statistics.In September, South Korea sentenced the CEO of battery maker Aricell to 15 years in prison over one of the country's worst industrial fires.The 2024 blaze at the lithium battery factory in Hwaseong, south of capital Seoul, killed 22 people, most of them Chinese nationals.In its verdict, the Suwon District Court said the company had prioritised profit over workers' safety. 

A fire broke out around lunchtime at a car parts factory in the South Korean city of Daejeon Friday, injuring 55 people, including 24 seriously, while 14 others were unaccounted for, ​fire authorities said.The South Korean government activated a centralised disaster management system for the large-scale ‌accident after President Lee Jae ⁠Myung ordered ​the mobilisation of all available resources ​to deal with the fire and save lives.More casualties are feared, with 14 people missing. Phone data showed their locations near where the fire broke out, but officials said search efforts were hampered after the building partially collapsed in the blaze.Many employees were believed ‌to have been ‌in a second-floor break ⁠room when the fire started, fire ⁠authorities said. ⁠Some people were injured after jumping from the building to escape, officials added.As of about 6pm local time, roughly 80% of the fire had been contained, authorities said.Fire officials ​said the car parts supplier that owned the factory was Anjun Industrial, which said on its website it makes engine valves and is a supplier for Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp, among others.Officials at Anjun were not immediately available for comment. 

In presence of His Excellency Minister of State for Interior Affairs Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Faisal bin Mohammed al-Thani, the Police Academy organised a certificate award ceremony for the second batch of Diploma in Police Sciences (male and female) graduates at the Police Institute, and the first batch of Diploma in International Fire Safety Management graduates at the Ras Laffan Emergency and Safety College.The ceremony was attended by His Excellency Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior Abdullah bin Khalaf bin Hattab al-Kaabi, along with a number of department directors and senior officers, as well as the graduates' families.HE the Minister of State for Interior Affairs awarded certificates to 107 graduates from the Ministry of Interior, 30 members from the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), and 17 female personnel from the Ministry of Interior enrolled in the Diploma in Police Sciences program.His Excellency also awarded Diplomas in International Fire Safety Management to nine graduates from the Ministry of Interior and three scholarship recipients from Palestine.  

Australian authorities declared a state of disaster Saturday after bushfires destroyed houses and razed vast belts of forest in the country’s southeast. Temperatures soared past 40C as a heatwave blanketed the state of Victoria this week, with hot winds fanning some of the most dangerous fire weather since the “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019-2020. One of the most destructive bushfires ripped through almost 370,000 acres near Longwood, a region cloaked in native forests. State premier Jacinta Allan Saturday declared a state of disaster, giving fire crews emergency powers to force evacuations. “It’s all about one thing: protecting Victorian lives,” she said. “And it sends one clear message: if you have been told to leave, go.” Three people missing inside one of the state’s most dangerous fire grounds had been found, Allan said. Emergency management commissioner Tim Wiebusch said at least 130 structures had been destroyed across the state, a figure that includes houses, sheds and other buildings. “We’ve seen significant livestock, cropping land and vineyards that have also been impacted or destroyed,” he told reporters. Wiebusch said 10 major fires were still burning despite conditions easing. “Importantly, many of these major fires will continue to burn for days, if not weeks. “We are expecting more fires as a result of lightning that occurred throughout Saturday afternoon and overnight.” The worst blazes have largely been confined to sparsely populated rural areas where towns might number a few hundred people. Photos taken this week showed the night sky glowing orange as the fire near Longwood ripped through bushland. “There were embers falling everywhere. It was terrifying,” cattle farmer Scott Purcell told national broadcaster ABC. Another bushfire near the small town of Walwa crackled with lightning as it radiated enough heat to form a localised thunderstorm, fire authorities said. Hundreds of firefighters from across Australia have been called in to help. Millions have sweltered through this week’s intense heatwave. 

Sixteen people were killed in a fire that broke out at a nursing home in Manado, North Sulawesi province, in Indonesia, local authorities said on Monday.Head of public relations of the North Sulawesi Regional Police Alamsyah P. Hasibuan said that the police began procedures to identify the victims. He explained that the fire broke out in the Panti Werdha Damai nursing home in Manado and noted that the fire brigades were able to control the fire.He added that police forces evacuated the survivors to another hospital and opened an investigation into the incident to determine its circumstances and the initial cause of its outbreak.

Local people rescue an elderly woman during a fire at the Werdha Damai retirement home in Manado, North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, Monday. Sixteen people died in the tragedy which occurred late Sunday. The home's caretaker said ​its residents were the elderly, and about 30 people had been in the complex. 

At least 23 people were killed after a fire broke out at an entertainment venue in India's Goa state, according to state officials.The blaze erupted shortly after midnight in the Arpora area of North Goa. Authorities said several tourists were among the victims, though most of those who died were staff members.The Press Trust of India quoted local police as saying the fire was triggered by a gas cylinder explosion and has since been extinguished.Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the state government has ordered a thorough investigation to determine the exact cause of the fire and to assess whether fire safety norms and building regulations were followed.Western coastal state of Goa is one of India's most popular tourist destinations, known for its sandy beaches.  

Authorities in Hong Kong announced the death of 44 people as a result of a fire that broke out in a residential complex in the Tai Po area north of the city.The Fire Services Department said in a press conference on Thursday that the death toll had risen from 36 to 44. Meanwhile, the police said in a brief statement that they had arrested three men suspected of involvement in manslaughter related to the fire.The fire broke out in bamboo scaffolding on several buildings within the Wang Fuk Court complex before the flames spread to other parts of the buildings. Thick columns of smoke were seen rising from at least five of the eight buildings, while ash drifted through the air. 

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has ordered an investigation into the forest fires that erupted simultaneously across several provinces last weekend.According to Algeria Press Service (APS), President Tebboune ordered, during a cabinet meeting, an investigation to determine the causes behind the concurrent outbreak of the fires, which forced dozens of families to evacuate their homes.The Algerian Civil Defense announced that the vast majority of the 55 fires recorded in recent days have been extinguished. It said that around 300 firefighters, supported by substantial equipment and two firefighting aircraft, were deployed to contain the blazes.The fires spread toward several villages in the Tipaza region, located 70 km west of Algiers, prompting authorities to shelter residents in schools and youth centers. Strong winds exceeding 60 km per hour fueled the rapid advance of the fires, which burned large areas of forests and woodland across 10 northern provinces.

A Palestinian citizen succumbed Saturday to injuries sustained from Israeli sniper fire in Gaza City. Local sources reported that Israeli snipers opened fire on the man on Friday in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, wounding him. His death was confirmed today.This incident occurred as Israeli warplanes launched multiple airstrikes on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, demolishing homes in eastern Gaza City and Al Bureij refugee camp, in continued violations of the ceasefire agreement.Israel has repeatedly breached the ceasefire, which came into effect on Oct. 10. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Israeli forces carried out intense bombardments targeting homes and tents across the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of over 100 Palestinians, including more than 46 children and 20 women.

Qatar Museums (QM) Chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani has inaugurated the "Portals in Flux" art exhibition at the Fire Station.Running until December 31, the exhibition, which culminated the 9th Artist in Residence (AIR) Programme at the station, showcases the artworks of 15 artists, including Salha al-Subaie, Reem al-Shammari, Sarah al-Nuaimi, Ghalia al-Mahmoudi, and Lulwah al-Mughaiseeb from Qatar.The others are Alaa al-Barazi from Syria, Alexandrine Gueran from France, Surabhi Jaykhawadd from India, Khaled al-Arabi and Reham Mohammed from Sudan, Naeema al-Mujdoubah from Jordan, Nada al-Kharashi from Egypt, John Venditti from Canada, Fatima al-Siddique from Pakistan, and Natalia Mejhia from Colombia.The artworks reflect their predilections, sources of inspiration, as well as the diverse materials they leverage to implement their ideas, from a combination of multimedia that includes sound, light, colours, metals, and ceramics.Reem al-Shammari told the Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the AIR helped her promote her artistic interests, blending her expertise as a jewellery designer holding a patent for engraving the eye imprint on precious metals.She employed clay and other media, along with colours, to construct an epochal obelisk reflecting the eye imprint civilisation, drawing inspiration from the obelisk as a document in the architecture of ancient civilisationsAl-Shammari further indicated that her works are inspired by heritage themes through artistic and aesthetic approaches, integrating contemporary techniques.Fatima al-Siddique told the QNA of the AIR experience included studios that are well-retrofitted, the station's supervision, the artists' interaction with one another, and the sharing of expertise.She stated that she showcased five artworks in the exhibition, along with a mural painted on a table cover, in which she drew inspiration from her cultural heritage, represented in traditions, food culture, fashion, and colours, reshaping them across the canvases in a celebration of hues and forms within this rich cultural blend.The exhibition is part of "Evolution Nation", an 18-month campaign that pays tribute to Qatar's cultural pathway spanning the past 50 years since the inception of the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ).