News in Brief-(2024-02-17)

11 killed in fire at Indian paint factory
NEW DELHI, Feb 16: Eleven people were killed in a fire that ripped through a paint factory in India's capital, an official said Friday, with rescue teams still searching for survivors. The fire broke out on New Delhi's northern outskirts late Thursday, fire services director Atul Garg told AFP. "There was a blast in the paint factory and the building collapsed. The victims were labourers in the factory," Garg said. "The impact was such that the fire spread to a house and a drug rehabilitation centre nearby." Garg said the fire had since been contained and the cause of the blast was yet to be determined. — AFP
There will be no sympathy for Nazis in Russia: Putin
NIZHNIY TAGIL, Feb 16: There is no sympathy for Nazis in Russia and there will be none, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a conversation with factory workers while visiting the heavy industry giant Uralvagonzavod. "There has never been any sympathy for Nazis in Russia. Nor will there be any," he said. Putin noted that anti-Russian-minded politicians in Ukraine grabbed power after the collapse of the Soviet Union "because they behaved brazenly and had support from abroad, primarily from the United States, of course." "Well, that's the reason why everything happened the way it did. Those who once collaborated with the Nazis and remained in those positions are now doing the same," he stated. — TASS
Slovakia's president to send
criminal law reforms
Bratislava, Feb 16: Slovak President Zuzana Caputova on Friday sought to block reforms scrapping a special prosecution branch dealing with high-level crime and lowering punishments for financial crimes by sending them to the Constitutional Court for review. Slovakia's parliament approved the reforms last week amid public protests as well as concerns, including from the European Commission, over the changes being pushed through a fast-track procedure. Caputova told a televised news conference that rather than veto the reforms, she would sign them and send them to the court, where she was also seeking their suspension. — Reuters
Florida coral reef still struggling after 2023 heat wave
MIAMI, Feb 16: Coral reefs off the Florida Keys islands are struggling to recover from last summer's record-breaking heat wave, new data showed Thursday, in another sign of the devastating impacts of human-caused climate change. The state's southern waters experienced hot tub-like conditions with temperatures in July briefly topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8C) in Manatee Bay. Coral, marine invertebrates made up of individual animals called polyps, have a symbiotic relationship with the algae that live inside their tissue and provide their primary source of food. — AP