Deadly stampede at India cricket celebrations

A stampede broke out Wednesday as a tightly packed crowd celebrated the victory of their home cricket team in the Indian city of Bengaluru, resulting in deaths, a senior government official said.India media reported as many as 11 people had been crushed to death, but Karnataka state’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said he was not able to immediately confirm the exact number who had been killed.”The tragedy and death have brought deep pain and shock”, Shivakumar said in a statement. “My condolences to the deceased. My condolences to their family.”An AFP photographer saw vast crowds as a sea of people crammed the streets and police waved sticks.Shivakumar said “hundreds of thousands of people” had flocked onto the streets.”I have spoken to the police commissioner and everyone, I will also go to the hospital later — I do not want to disturb the doctors who are taking care of the patients”, he told reporters.”The exact number cannot be told now. We appeal to the people to remain calm.”Broadcasters showed police rushing away from crowds carrying young children in their arms, who had seemingly fainted.One unattended young man was sitting in an ambulance struggling to breathe.India’s NDTV broadcaster said at least 11 people were killed, while The Times of India newspaper reported seven dead.”This is not a controllable crowd,” Shivakumar said, speaking to reporters. “The police were finding it very difficult.””I apologise to the people of Karnataka and Bengaluru,” he said. “We wanted to take a procession, but the crowd was very uncontrollable… the crowd was so much.”- ‘Heartfelt condolences -Cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League cricket final on Tuesday night.Organisers pressed ahead with the ceremony, with the team’s social media account posting a video of cheering crowds as the bus full of the players — including batting legend Virat Kohli — waved back.”This welcome is what pure love looks like”, the club’s social media posted on X.But IPL chairman Arun Dhumal, speaking to NDTV, said organisers in the stadium had not been told about the stampede.”At the time of the celebrations inside the stadium officials there did not know what had happened… I would like to send my heartfelt condolences”, Dhumal said. Shivakumar said cricket organisers had “shortened the programme”.”This is a very sad incident,” Rajeev Shukla, vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the national governing body, told India Today news outlet.”No one imagined that such a huge crowd would turn up.”Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian mass events such as religious festivals due to poor crowd management and safety lapses.In July last year, 121 people were killed in northern Uttar Pradesh state during a Hindu religious gathering.

US novelist Edmund White, chronicler of gay life, dead at 85: agent

Edmund White, the influential American novelist who chronicled gay life through his semi-autobiographical work, including dozens of books, several short stories and countless articles and essays, has died, his agent said Wednesday. He was 85.”Ed passed last night at home in NYC (New York City) of natural causes,” agent Bill Clegg told AFP, adding White is survived by his husband Michael Carroll and a sister.The literary pioneer’s books includes “Forgetting Elena,” his celebrated debut novel from 1973, “A Boy’s Own Story,” his 1982 coming-of-age exploration of sexual identity, and multiple memoirs, notably the revelatory “The Loves of My Life” published this year.From his earliest publications, homosexuality was at the heart of his writing — from the 1950s, when being gay was considered a mental illness, to the sexual liberation after the Stonewall riots in 1969, which he witnessed firsthand.Then came the AIDS years that decimated an entire generation. White himself would be affected directly — he was diagnosed HIV positive in 1985 and lived with the condition for four decades.Tributes to the award-winning writer began pouring in on social media, including from his longtime friend and fellow prolific American author Joyce Carol Oates.”There has been no one like Edmund White!” Oates posted on X. “Astonishing stylistic versatility, boldly pioneering subject matter; darkly funny; a friend to so many over decades.”Fellow author and playwright Paul Rudnick said on X that White was a “gay icon” whose novels, memoirs and non-fiction “changed and enhanced American literature.”White was an avid traveler, spending years researching biographies of French authors Jean Genet and Marcel Proust. In the 1970s he co-wrote “The Joy of Gay Sex,” a how-to guide and resource on relationships, which was a queer counter to “The Joy of Sex,” the hugely popular 1972 illustrated sex manual.In the 2010s White suffered two strokes and a heart attack. But he kept writing. In this year’s “The Loves of My Life,” he recalled all the men he had loved — White numbered his sexual partners at some 3,000.The New York Times described the book as “gaspingly graphic, jaunty and tender.”White himself acknowledged that literature was a powerful conduit for revealing the intimate sides of ourselves.”The most important things in our intimate lives can’t be discussed with strangers, except in books,” as he once wrote.

Première ligue : Katoto à Lyon, “le meilleur club du monde”

“Le meilleur club du monde”: l’attaquante internationale française du Paris Saint-Germain, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, n’a pas caché sa joie de rejoindre l’OL Lyonnes où elle s’est engagée pour quatre ans mercredi, un club qui ne masque pas ses ambitions.”Je suis très heureuse de rejoindre l’OL Lyonnes, ce très grand club, le meilleur au monde”, a déclaré la joueuse de 26 ans, qui compte 53 sélections en équipe de France (37 buts), dans un entretien et une vidéo postés sur le site internet du quotidien régional Le Progrès.”J’ai hâte de découvrir ce nouveau projet, de nouvelles coéquipières, un nouvel encadrement, un nouvel environnement”, ajoute-t-elle, affirmant “vouloir encore participer au développement du championnat de France”.”Je suis impatiente de démarrer et contente d’avoir une actionnaire qui s’investit énormément dans le football féminin et de faire grandir ce club”, où elle a signé jusqu’en 2029, poursuit la native de Colombes, en faisant référence à la propriétaire de l’OL Lyonnes, l’Américaine Michele Kang.Le club lyonnais, qui n’a gagné que le championnat de France en 2024-2025, entend rebondir après une saison décevante avec une élimination prématurée en coupe de France et une élimination douloureuse en demi-finale de la Ligue des champions, battu par Arsenal (4-1) à domicile après avoir gagné à Londres (2-1).- Nouveau cycle -Il a déjà annoncé lundi le recrutement de l’ancien entraîneur du FC Barcelone, Jonatan Giraldez, en remplacement de l’Australien Joe Montemurro, parti diriger la sélection d’Australie.Côté joueuses, l’OL Lyonnes (ex OL féminin) entend rester compétitif au top niveau européen et a déjà recruté l’attaquante internationale allemande Jule Brand. Il s’apprête aussi à faire signer, selon plusieurs médias spécialisés, la milieu de terrain américaine du PSG, Korbin Albert, championne olympique avec les USA aux Jeux de Paris 2024.Ces dernières saisons, Lyon a déjà souvent fait son marché dans l’effectif du club parisien avec les arrivées de la gardienne Christiane Endler, des attaquantes Kadidiatou Diani et Tabitha Chawinga.Globalement, OL Lyonnes change de cycle avec les arrivées de joueuses à fort potentiel conjuguées au départ de sept joueuses majeures dont Eugénie Le Sommer, Dzsenifer Marozsan, Vanessa Gilles ou encore Daniele Van de Donk.Katoto devra aussi s’imposer dans un secteur offensif très fourni avec la concurrence de Chawinga ou Melchie Dumornay, qui devrait toutefois retrouver une place de milieu offensif pour laisser le poste d’avant-centre à la nouvelle recrue.Elle devrait en revanche rapidement retrouver des connivences avec Diani qui reste sur une saison très aboutie.- Saison compliquée -En fin de contrat, la joueuse avait annoncé fin mai son départ du PSG sans évoquer son avenir. Marie-Antoinette Katoto a vécu une dernière saison compliquée dans un club où elle a été formée et où elle a joué douze ans, disputant 205 matches pour 162 buts. Katoto a été trois fois meilleure buteuse du championnat de France (2019, 2020, 2022), décrochant le titre de championne en 2021 tout en gagnant deux coupes de France et disputant deux finales (perdues) de Ligue des Champions.Sa fin de contrat a été marquée par une altercation entre elle et le directeur sportif de la section féminine Angelo Castellazzi. Les deux entretenaient des relations tendues depuis plusieurs mois. Elle a aussi pâti du départ de l’entraîneur Fabrice Abriel, critiqué pour ses résultats et son management mais avec qui elle s’entendait bien.Elle n’avait joué que les dernières minutes de la finale de la Première ligue au Groupama stadium, le 16 mai gagnée par Lyon (3-0) et était restée sur le banc à l’occasion de la demi-finale contre le Paris FC, remportée par le PSG (3-0).Avec les Bleues, elle était titulaire mardi à Reykjavik lors de la victoire en Islande (2-0) en Ligue des nations.

India sets date of population and caste census

The world’s most populous nation India will conduct a census in 2027, its first since 2011, the government said Wednesday, which will also count caste — a controversial accounting not done since the country’s independence.”It has been decided to conduct Population Census-2027 in two phases along with enumeration of castes,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.Most of the vast nation will take part in the census on March 1, 2027, but for the high-altitude Himalayan regions, the counting will take place earlier before snow sets in — on October 1, 2026.Those areas include the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, as well as in Ladakh, and the contested region of Jammu and Kashmir.Caste remains a crucial determinant of one’s station in life in India, with a rigid societal chasm dividing those of higher castes — the beneficiaries of ingrained cultural privileges — from people of lower castes, who suffer entrenched discrimination.More than two-thirds of India’s 1.4 billion people are estimated to be on the lower rungs of a millennia-old social hierarchy that divides Hindus by function and social standing.The decision to include detailed caste data as part of the next census — originally due in 2021 — was approved by a government meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May.Caste data was last collected as part of the official census exercise in 1931, during British colonial rule that ended with Indian independence 16 years later. Successive governments have since resisted updating the sensitive demographic data, citing administrative complexity and fears of social unrest. A caste survey was conducted in 2011 but its results were never made public because they were purportedly inaccurate.That survey was separate from the 2011 general census, the last time India collected demographic data.

Iran’s Khamenei says US nuclear proposal against national interest

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday a US proposal for a nuclear agreement was against the national interest, amid sharp differences over whether Tehran can continue to enrich uranium.The longtime foes have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new accord to replace the deal with major powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.On Saturday, Iran said it had received “elements” of the US proposal through Omani mediators, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed.”The proposal presented by the Americans is 100 percent against” notions of independence and self-reliance, Khamenei said in a televised speech, invoking ideals of the 1979 Islamic revolution.”Independence means not waiting for the green light from America and the likes of America.”Iran’s enrichment of uranium has emerged as a major point of contention.Trump said on Monday his administration would not allow “any” enrichment, despite Tehran’s insistence it is its right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.Khamenei said enrichment is “key” to Iran’s nuclear programme and that the United States “cannot have a say” on the issue.”If we have 100 nuclear power plants but don’t have enrichment, they will be of no use to us,” because “nuclear power plants need fuel” to operate, he said.”If we cannot produce this fuel domestically, we have to reach out to the United States, which may have dozens of conditions.”The New York Times reported Tuesday that the US proposal includes “an arrangement that would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium at low levels” as the US and other countries “work out a more detailed plan intended to block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon”. It said the proposal would see the United States facilitating “the building of nuclear power plants for Iran and negotiate the construction of enrichment facilities managed by a consortium of regional countries”.Iran has previously said it is open to temporary limits on its enrichment of uranium, and is willing to consider the establishment of a regional nuclear fuel consortium.But it has stressed that such a consortium is “in no way intended to replace Iran’s own uranium enrichment programme”.Iran’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, said in a Wednesday post on X: No enrichment, no deal. No nuclear weapons, we have a deal.”- ‘Less than satisfactory’ -On Monday, Araghchi held talks in Cairo with Rafael Grossi, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.In its latest quarterly report last week, the IAEA said Iran had further stepped up its production of highly enriched uranium.In a separate report, it also criticised “less than satisfactory” cooperation from Tehran, particularly in explaining past cases of nuclear material found at undeclared sites.Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal but still short of the 90 percent threshold needed for a nuclear warhead.The reports came ahead of a planned IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna later this month which will review Iran’s nuclear activities.Washington and other Western governments have continued to accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapons capability. Iran insists its programme is for peaceful purposes only.The 2015 deal provided Iran with relief from international sanctions in return for UN-monitored restrictions on its nuclear activities.Trump reimposed US sanctions when he quit the agreement in 2018 and has since tightened them with secondary sanctions against third parties who violate them.Britain, France and Germany, the three European countries who were party to the 2015 deal, are currently weighing whether to trigger the sanctions “snapback” mechanism in the accord. The mechanism would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance — an option that expires in October.Iran has criticised the IAEA report as unbalanced, saying it relied on “forged documents” provided by its arch foe Israel.

Pioneering US novelist Edmund White put gay life on the page

US novelist Edmund White, who died Tuesday aged 85, established himself as a leading chronicler of gay emancipation through a trailblazing, largely autobiographical body of work.Homosexuality was at the heart of his writing from his earliest books when being gay was considered a mental illness, to the sexual liberation after the Stonewall riots in 1969, which he witnessed firsthand.Then came AIDS that decimated an entire generation of gay men, and from which White was directly affected after being diagnosed HIV positive in 1985.An influential author, prolific journalist, literary critic and teacher, he penned more than 30 books that took in fiction, biography and memoir. – Adored by Nabokov -He was celebrated from the get-go with his first novel, “Forgetting Elena” (1973), praised as a marvelous book by the Russian master Vladimir Nabokov.White followed it up with the very explicit “The Joy of Gay Sex” (1977), a kind of illustrated Kama Sutra that became a gay reference across the US. “A Boy’s Own Story” (1982) began what would become an acclaimed fictional series inspired by the different stages of his own life. He lived in Paris in the 1980s and wrote authoritative biographies of Jean Genet, Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud, three iconic French homosexual figures.He wrote several memoirs in the 2000s, always with his acerbic wit, including his last book published earlier this year, “The Loves of My Life”.In it he recalled all the men he had loved — White numbered his sexual partners at some 3,000.The New York Times described the book as “gaspingly graphic, jaunty and tender”.- New York freedom -Born on January 13, 1940 in Cincinnati, Ohio, White grew up in Chicago. His father was a womanising entrepreneur and his mother a psychologist. When White told her aged 14 that he preferred boys she sent him to several psychiatrists to try to rid him of his “illness”.But early on he decided to embrace his sexuality, not hide or repress it. After studying Chinese at the University of Michigan, he fled the Midwest to follow a lover to New York. He freelanced for Newsweek and worked for several years at the publishing house Time-Life Books, before hitting success with his own books.His literary renown opened the doors to teaching at prestigious US universities, including Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Yale and Princeton. Back in New York after his time in Paris, he settled with his partner, writer Michael Carroll, who was 25 years his junior, whom he married in 2013. He survived HIV and two strokes and a heart attack in the 2010s. 

200,000 Afghans left Pakistan since deportations renewed

More than 200,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since the government renewed a deportation drive in April, with Iran also stepping up expulsions of Afghans.Generations of Afghans have fled to neighbouring Pakistan and Iran during decades of successive wars, seeking safety and better economic opportunities.Both governments have grown weary of large migrant populations and ordered millions to leave under the threat of arrest.Pakistan has launched a strict campaign to evict more than 800,000 Afghans who have had their residence permits cancelled, including some who were born in the country or lived there for decades.According to the interior ministry, more than 135,000 Afghans left Pakistan in April, while around 67,000 departed in May and more than 3,000 were sent back in the first two days of June.The number of returnees has slowed ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday later this week, but some Afghans were still crossing the main border points from Pakistan on Wednesday.”We left behind our orchards” and livelihoods, 21-year-old farmer Mohammad Wali told AFP near the southern Spin Boldak crossing.”But we said to ourselves, ‘If we stay, maybe one day we’ll lose our dignity,’ so it’s better to return to our homeland now.”The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday voiced concern over a surge in Afghan families being deported from Iran, recording 15,675 crossing in May, a more than two-fold increase from the previous month.Iranian officials have ordered Afghans without documentation to leave by July 6.Nader Yarahmadi, from the Iranian interior ministry, said on state television that it would affect around four million of the more than six million Afghans who Iran says are in the country.The IOM said the influx across both borders threatens to strain Afghanistan’s already “fragile reception and reintegration systems”.It again called for “all countries to immediately suspend the forced return of Afghans, regardless of their immigration status, until safe, voluntary, and dignified return conditions are in place”.- Rise in border violence -Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades, fleeing successive wars, as well as hundreds of thousands who arrived after the return of the Taliban government in 2021.A campaign to evict them began in 2023, prompting hundreds of thousands to cross the border in a matter of weeks, fearing harassment or arrest.In total, more than one million Afghans have left Pakistan. Islamabad has labelled Afghans “terrorists and criminals”, but analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure neighbouring Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to control militancy in the border regions.Last year, Pakistan recorded the highest number of deaths from attacks in a decade.Pakistan’s security forces are under enormous pressure along the border with Afghanistan, battling a growing insurgency by ethnic nationalists in Balochistan in the southwest, and the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the northwest.The government frequently accuses Afghan nationals of taking part in attacks and blames Kabul for allowing militants to take refuge on its soil, a charge Taliban leaders deny.Some Pakistanis have grown weary of hosting a large Afghan population as security and economic woes deepen, and the deportation campaign has widespread support.Pakistan is now threatening to lift the protection granted to the 1.3 million Afghans holding refugee cards issued by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees at the end of June.