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Pakistan Shopping Mall Blaze Leaves Scores of Casualties

A Pakistani vendor sells dry fruits at his shop in Karachi, Pakistan, 21 November 2023. EPA/REHAN KHAN
A Pakistani vendor sells dry fruits at his shop in Karachi, Pakistan, 21 November 2023. EPA/REHAN KHAN
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Pakistan Shopping Mall Blaze Leaves Scores of Casualties

A Pakistani vendor sells dry fruits at his shop in Karachi, Pakistan, 21 November 2023. EPA/REHAN KHAN
A Pakistani vendor sells dry fruits at his shop in Karachi, Pakistan, 21 November 2023. EPA/REHAN KHAN

A fire tore through a shopping mall in the southwestern Pakistani city of Karachi, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 20 others, police and local officials said Saturday.
The multi-story RJ Mall is in a commercial high-rise that also houses call centers and software firms.
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the fire had been extinguished and a cooling process was underway.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province, where such incidents are common. Earlier this year in April, a fire tore through a garment factory killing four firefighters. The flames ripped through the building, eventually causing it to collapse.

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Trump Says He Might Demand Panama Hand over Canal

This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
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Trump Says He Might Demand Panama Hand over Canal

This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Panama Canal Authority on August 30, 2024, shows the container ship MSC Marie, of 366 meters long and 51 meters wide, transiting the Panama Canal in Panama. (Handout / Panama Canal Authority / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday accused Panama of charging excessive rates for use of the Panama Canal and said that if Panama did not manage the canal in an acceptable fashion, he would demand the US ally hand it over.

In an evening post on Truth Social, Trump also warned he would not let the canal fall into the "wrong hands," and he seemed to warn of potential Chinese influence on the passage, writing the canal should not be managed by China.

The post was an exceedingly rare example of a US leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory. It also underlines an expected shift in US diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using bellicose rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.

The United States largely built the canal and administrated territory surrounding the passage for decades. But the US government fully handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999 after a period of joint administration.

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US," Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.

"It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama. If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question."

The Panamanian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.