Good morning, this is Send7 World News in 7 minutes. I'm Stephen Devincenzi. Today is Friday the 13th of June 2025. Starting in Asia today, in India, at least 260 people have died in the deadliest civilian plane crash in the world for more than 10 years.
Air India Flight 171 crashed less than a minute after leaving Ahmedabad Airport into an urban area in Ahmedabad, the fifth largest city in India. The plane was carrying 242 people and just one person survived. On the ground, the plane damaged many buildings, including the residences of a medical college.
Police have said that there were also deaths on the ground, but at the time of recording, there were no confirmations. Among the dead on the plane was Vijay Rupani, who was previously Chief Minister of Gujarat, the same position that Narendra Modi held before becoming Prime Minister.
The flight should have arrived in the United Kingdom, and Air India has said that out of the passengers, 169 were Indian, 53 were British, 7 were Portuguese, and 1 was Canadian. The survivor is Vishwash Ramesh, who is British of Indian heritage. It is not currently known why the plane crashed.
Israel may be planning an attack on Iran, according to various media sources. The United States is evacuating some of its non-essential staff from its embassies in the Middle East as a precaution. Yesterday, President Donald Trump said that Israel attacking Iran could very well happen. How imminent is an Israeli strike on Iran? Well, I don't want to say imminent, but it looks like it's something that
It could very well happen. Look, it's very simple, not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Other than that, I want them to be successful. I want them to be tremendous. We'll help them be successful. We'll trade with them. We'll do whatever is necessary. You know, I stopped a war between India and Pakistan.
In Taiwan, four people have been accused of spying for China. Government prosecutors say that the four people worked in government, including a former assistant to the foreign minister, and could face jail sentences of 18 years or more.
Japanese company Nintendo has said that it sold more than 3.5 million of its Switch 2 games consoles in the first four days, making it Nintendo's fastest selling device ever.
Americas. In the United States, immigration raids are continuing in Los Angeles and protests against them have also continued, with many people being arrested for breaking a curfew which says that people cannot be in some areas of the city between 8pm and 6am on
President Trump has sent 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to LA, despite California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA City Mayor Karen Bass being against this, saying that those deployments are making the situation worse.
Also in the United States, Health Secretary RFK Jr. has appointed eight new members to the Vaccine Advisory Board after firing all of the previous members. Some of the new members he has appointed are known for spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, including Robert Malone.
In Bolivia, anti-government protests have left three police officers and a firefighter dead, according to the Justice Ministry. Many of the protesters are supporters of former President Evo Morales, who they say should be allowed to contest the next presidential election, despite having already served three terms, when there is a limit of two terms.
Brazil is becoming less Catholic, according to census data. Brazil has about 100 million Catholics, making it the country with the most Catholics in the world. However, the percentage of people identifying as Catholic has dropped from 65% in 2010 to only 57%. The number of people identifying as evangelical has risen from 21% to 27%.
Africa. In South Africa, the number of people who have died in floods and extreme weather has risen to 67, according to government officials. There has been heavy snow and rain in the Eastern Cape province since last weekend.
In Kenya, protests have been continuing this week against the death in police custody of political blogger Albert Ojuang after he was arrested for a tweet. Yesterday, there were clashes between protesters and police in Nairobi. President William Ruto has said that Ojuang died at the hands of the police.
Europe. Russia has suffered 1 million casualties in Ukraine, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.
Ukraine keeps a daily count of Russian soldiers. It says it has killed, captured or injured enough for them to be out of action. And yesterday, this number was 1,140, taking the total to over 1 million since Russia invaded in February 2022. Western military estimates of Russian losses are generally similar to Ukraine's announcements.
Russia doesn't declare how many casualties it has suffered. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he wants France, and possibly the European Union, to ban social media for children under 15. Australia has banned children under 16 from having social media accounts, and this law will take effect in December.
In the United Kingdom, there have been three nights of anti-immigrant violence on the streets of Northern Ireland this week. On Tuesday, rioters fought with police in the town of Balimina, reportedly after two 14-year-old boys from Romania were charged with sexual assault of a teenage girl.
Since Wednesday, there have also been riots in other parts of Northern Ireland, with immigration centres being targeted and cars being set on fire. Police have said that 41 officers have been injured. And also in the United Kingdom, in London, technology company Google is having a problem with foxes.
Google is building a major new office in central London, which has a rooftop garden. However, construction workers have said foxes have started living in the construction site and have now moved to the garden roof.
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