2026

By John Revill

ZURICH, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Teenagers as young as 14 and 15 were among those who died in the New Year’s Eve bar fire that killed 40 people in Switzerland, police said on Sunday, as the Pope offered his sympathies to the victims and their families.

Police in Valais said they had identified 16 more of those who died in the blaze in Crans-Montana, one of the worst disasters in recent Swiss history.

The newly identified victims included 10 Swiss nationals, two Italians, one person with Italian-Emirati citizenship, one Romanian, one person from France and one from Turkey, Valais police said. No names were released.

Hundreds of mourners attended a church service in the town on Sunday morning, where Bishop Jean-Marie Lovey said condolences had poured in from around the world, including from the Pope.

“Countless people join us — people whose hearts are broken,” Lovey told the service. “Many expressions of sympathy and solidarity reach us.

“Pope Leo XIV joins in our sorrow,” he added. “In a moving message, he expresses his compassion and his care for the victims’ families and strengthens the courage of all who are suffering.”

MORE VICTIMS IDENTIFIED

The youngest person identified so far is a 14-year-old Swiss girl, while two 15-year-old girls, also from Switzerland, were among the dead.

Ten of the other bodies identified on Sunday were teenagers aged 16 to 18, police said. Also identified were two Swiss men aged 20 and 31, and a French national aged 39.

In total, police have identified 24 of those who died in the blaze in the mountain resort.

Late on Saturday, police said two Swiss women aged 24 and 22, along with two Swiss men aged 21 and 18, had been identified.

The mother of a 16-year-old Swiss boy Arthur Brodard confirmed overnight that he was among those killed.

“Our Arthur has departed to party in heaven,” Laetitia Brodard-Sitre said on her Facebook page.

“Now we can start our mourning, knowing he is in peace,” she said.

NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

Switzerland will hold a national day of mourning on Friday, national president Guy Parmelin said on Sunday, with church bells ringing across the country and a minute’s silence planned.

“In this moment of reflection, everyone in Switzerland can personally remember the victims of the disaster,” Parmelin told newspaper Sonntagsblick.

The fire likely started when “fountain candle” sparklers were held aloft too close to the ceiling at the Constellation bar, the region’s chief prosecutor has said.

Some 119 people were injured, including many with severe burns, and several were transferred to burn units in hospitals across Europe. Work on identifying the dead and injured is continuing, the police said.

Two people who ran the bar are under criminal investigation on suspicion of offences including homicide by negligence, prosecutors said on Saturday.

(Reporting by John Revill, additional reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Christina Fincher and Ros Russell)

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LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday he would still be in power this time next year, in the face of low poll numbers and speculation about a possible leadership challenge.

Starmer told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg it was not in the national interest to “chop and change” the country’s leader as had happened under the previous Conservative government.

His Labour Party is trailing the populists Reform UK in opinion polls 18 months after winning a landslide victory in the 2024 national election.

The prime minister’s personal rating is at historic lows as Labour prepares for local elections in England, Wales and Scotland in May.

Starmer said the elections would not be a “referendum” on his government, but Labour would “fight for every vote”.

Asked if there were any circumstances in which he could stand down if a poor showing prompted a challenge to his leadership, he said he would stay the course.

“Under the last government we saw constant chopping and changing of leadership, of teams — it caused utter chaos, utter chaos, and it’s amongst the reasons that the Tories (Conservatives) were booted out so effectively at the last election,” he said.

“Nobody wants to go back to that. It’s not in our national interest. We know from that evidence what happens if you go down that chaotic path, and I’m not going to take us back to that kind of chaos.”

Conservative lawmakers in effect forced Prime Minister Boris Johnson to stand down in 2022, resulting in the premiership of Liz Truss, the shortest in British history. She was replaced by Rishi Sunak, who led the party to defeat in 2024.

Starmer said in a New Year message on Thursday that life for many Britons was still “harder than it should be”, but people would start to see positive changes in public services and improvements in the cost of living this year.

“I will be judged, and I know I’ll be judged, when we get to the next election on whether I’ve delivered on the key things that matter most to people,” he told Kuenssberg.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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CAIRO, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Israeli forces shot and killed at least three Palestinians in separate incidents in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis on Sunday, local health authorities said.

Medics reported that the dead included a 15‑year‑old boy, a fisherman killed outside areas still occupied by Israel in the enclave, and a third man who was shot and killed east of the city in areas under Israeli control.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the reported incidents.

Israel has carried out repeated air strikes since a ceasefire took effect in October, saying they are aimed at preventing attacks or destroying militant infrastructure.

Gaza’s health ministry says 420 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began, while militants have killed three Israeli soldiers.

Israel and Hamas have traded blame for violations of the ceasefire agreement brokered under U.S. President Donald Trump.

Israel retained control of 53% of Gaza under the first phase of Trump’s plan, which involved the release of hostages held by militants in Gaza and of Palestinians detained by Israel.

The final hostage remains to be handed over are those of an Israeli police officer killed on October 7, 2023 – the day Gazan militants invaded Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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