NEWS IN BRIEF_2026-07-02

14 children killed in Pakistan when
tutoring centre roof collapses
PUNJAB, July 01: Fourteen children died after the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, rescue officials said, as authorities opened the way for a possible negligence investigation. Punjab's emergency service said rescuers found children and a 30-year-old female teacher under rubble of the private after-school facility. The dead children were aged 5 to 16 with most below 9. — Reuters

Several killed, many injured in
apartment fire in Belgium
ANTWERP (Belgium), July 01: A fire tore through a high-rise apartment building in the Belgian city of Antwerp on Wednesday, killing several people and injuring many others, police said. The blaze started on the eighth floor of the 10-storey residential building in the Linkeroever district, where more than 200 people live. — AP

US Supreme Court blocks Trump bid
to restrict birthright citizenship
WASHINGTON, July 01: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday reaffirmed the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, rejecting an executive order by President Donald Trump that sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily. The ruling preserves the long-established interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, under which nearly all children born on US soil are recognized as American citizens regardless of their parents' immigration status. — AP

North Korea's Kim vows to deepen ties
with China in message to Xi
SEOUL, July 01: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed on Wednesday to keep strengthening relations with China, describing recent summit talks with President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang as a "historic occasion". In a congratulatory message to Xi marking the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, Kim said it was Pyongyang's "steadfast stand" to steadily develop relations with Beijing. — AFP

Russia approved secret China military
training at top level
BEIJING, July 01: China's covert military training of Russian forces last year was personally approved by President Vladimir Putin's defence minister and directly involved at least four Russian and Chinese generals. The officials said the involvement of such high-ranking individuals in training linked to the Ukraine war signalled the importance for Russia and China of such cooperation, which has caused alarm in Europe even as Beijing has denied it took place. — Reuters