Numerous Teenagers Among the Dead in Swiss Bar Blaze, Police Say

 A woman looks at tributes placed outside the "Le Constellation" bar, after a deadly fire and explosion during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, January 4, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman looks at tributes placed outside the "Le Constellation" bar, after a deadly fire and explosion during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, January 4, 2026. (Reuters)
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Numerous Teenagers Among the Dead in Swiss Bar Blaze, Police Say

 A woman looks at tributes placed outside the "Le Constellation" bar, after a deadly fire and explosion during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, January 4, 2026. (Reuters)
A woman looks at tributes placed outside the "Le Constellation" bar, after a deadly fire and explosion during a New Year's Eve party in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana in southwestern Switzerland, January 4, 2026. (Reuters)

Teenagers as young as 14 and 15 years old were among those who died in the bar fire on New Year's Eve that killed 40 people in Switzerland, police said on Sunday. 

Police in Valais said they had identified 16 more of those who died in the blaze in Crans-Montana, one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history. 

Those newly identified ‌included 10 ‌Swiss nationals, two Italians, one Romanian, one person from France and one from Türkiye, Valais police said. No names were given. 

The youngest person identified so far is a 14-year-old Swiss woman, while two 15-year-old Swiss women were also among the dead. 

Ten of the other ⁠bodies identified on Sunday were teenagers aged 16 to 18, ‌police said. Also identified among ‍the dead were two Swiss ‍men aged 20 and 31, and ‍a French national aged 39. 

In total, police have now identified 24 of those who died in the blaze in the mountain resort, in southern Switzerland. 

Late on Saturday police said two Swiss women aged 24 and 22 along with two ⁠Swiss men aged 21 and 18 had been identified. 

Officials are still trying to identify others killed in the fire at the Le Constellation bar. 

Some 119 people suffered injuries, including severe burns, with many transferred to burn units in hospitals around Europe. Work on identifying the dead and the injured are continuing, the police said. 

Two people who ran the bar are under criminal ‌investigation on suspicion of offences including homicide by negligence, prosecutors said on Saturday. 



Mojtaba Khamenei Says Closure of Strait of Hormuz Should be Used as 'Leverage'

(FILES) In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks along a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Photo by Hamid FOROUTAN / ISNA / AFP)
(FILES) In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks along a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Photo by Hamid FOROUTAN / ISNA / AFP)
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Mojtaba Khamenei Says Closure of Strait of Hormuz Should be Used as 'Leverage'

(FILES) In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks along a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Photo by Hamid FOROUTAN / ISNA / AFP)
(FILES) In this picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks along a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Photo by Hamid FOROUTAN / ISNA / AFP)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement on the war on Thursday, saying that the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz should be used.

Khamenei called on people in Gulf countries to “shut down” US bases, saying promised US protection is “nothing more than a lie.”

Khamenei did not appear on camera. Israeli intelligence assessed that he was likely wounded in the war’s opening salvo, which he said also killed his wife, one of his sisters, his niece and his father, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

US President Donald Trump has promised to “finish the job,” even as Iran is “virtually destroyed.” The first week of the war cost the United States $11.3 billion, according to the Pentagon.

“One point I must emphasize is that, in any case, we will obtain compensation from the enemy,” Khamenei said.

“If it refuses, we will take from its assets to the extent we deem appropriate, and if that is not possible, we will destroy its assets to the same extent.”

 

 

 

 


Russia Condemns Trump Comments on 'Takeover' of Cuba

US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
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Russia Condemns Trump Comments on 'Takeover' of Cuba

US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
US President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin, Aug. 15, 2025, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Russia condemned on Thursday what it called blackmail and threats by US President Donald Trump to initiate a "takeover" of Cuba, a traditional ally of Moscow.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would provide all possible political and diplomatic support to Cuba and called for a diplomatic solution to the tensions with Washington, Reuters reported.

Trump said on Monday that Cuba was in "deep trouble" and that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was dealing with the issue, which may or may not be a "friendly takeover."


Trump Says Stopping a Nuclear Iran More Important than Oil Prices

US President Donald Trump talks to the media upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, March 11, 2026.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump talks to the media upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Trump Says Stopping a Nuclear Iran More Important than Oil Prices

US President Donald Trump talks to the media upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, March 11, 2026.  REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump talks to the media upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons was more important to him than controlling oil prices, Reuters reported.

"The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money. BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World," said Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform.