News in Brief -2024-09-07

FE Team | Published: September 06, 2024 23:42:58

Kenya school dorm fire kills 17 children
ENDARASHA (Kenya), Sept 06: At least 17 young children were killed in a fire that ripped through their primary school dormitory in central Kenya overnight, with initial reports Friday indicating it was overcrowded in breach of safety standards. The blaze in Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri county broke out at around midnight, police said, engulfing rooms where more than 150 children were sleeping. Police said the average age of the victims was around nine years old. — AFP
Indian Olympic wrestlers join
opposition Congress
NEW DELHI, Sept 06: Indian Olympic wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia joined the opposition Congress party on Friday, entering politics a year after protesting against the chief of the sport's governing body in India over alleged sexual harassment. The move came weeks after Phogat's emotional return home last month from the Paris Olympics, where she failed to make weight for the women's 50kg freestyle final by 100 grams despite starving herself for a week. It pushed the 30-year-old Asian Games gold medallist to announce her retirement from the sport and led to an outpouring of support, with hundreds of teary-eyed fans and wrestlers taking her on a road-show to her village in northern India after she arrived in Delhi. — Reuters