Owner of Swiss bar where deadly New Year’s fire killed 40 detained by prosecutors: Officials
A general view of Le Constellation wine bar after a memorial ceremony in tribute to victims of the Crans-Montana bar fire on January 09, 2026 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Harold Cunningham/Getty Images
(LONDON) — Prosecutors on Friday detained the owner of a Swiss bar where a deadly New Year’s Day fire killed 40 people and injured 116 others, according to officials.
Jacques Moretti was placed in pre-trial detention after a meeting with prosecutors in Sion, the prosecutor’s office for Switzerland’s Valais region said.
The blaze ripped through Le Constellation, a popular bar in the resort town of Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps, early on Jan. 1.
Moretti’s wife and business partner Jessica Moretti also attended the meeting but was not detained, according to the office. She was present at the bar during the fire and was burned on her arm.
“My constant thoughts are with the victims and those who are fighting today. This is an unimaginable tragedy,” Moretti told reporters outside the prosecutor’s office.
The bar had not had any inspections in the last five years, Swiss officials said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“There was a culture of reckless risk-taking”, Nicolas Féraud, the municipal chief of Crans-Montana, said at a press conference earlier this week. “This endangered customers and staff,” he said.
Féraud said that the municipal government had “never received any alerts” about problems in the bar. He also confirmed that there was an emergency exit in the basement, but could not say whether it was open, closed or blocked.
The blaze of “undetermined origin” broke out at the bar at about 1:30 a.m. local time on Jan. 1, the Cantonal Police of Valais said in a statement at the time of the fire.
On Jan. 2, the Valais attorney general told reporters that investigators are “pursuing several hypotheses” based on evidence they’ve gathered.
“We currently assume that the fire was caused by sparklers attached to champagne bottles that came too close to the ceiling,” she said at a news conference.
(LONDON) — At least four people were killed and three others were injured as a major fire engulfed a residential apartment complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Wednesday, with photos and video from the scene appearing to show serious damage to several buildings.
“A fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po at 2.51 p.m. today … The fire was upgraded to No. 3 alarm at 3.02 p.m., and to No. 4 alarm at 3.34 p.m.,” according to a statement from the Hong Kong government.
By 6:22 p.m. local time the fire had been upgraded again to a No. 5 alarm, city officials said.
Officials said nine people had been transfered to two local hospitals, including four people who were pronounced dead.
Three people were in critical condition, one was in serious position and another was listed as stable, officials said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The Eurovision Song Contest slogan is “United By Music,” but the music competition’s organizers are seeing some cracks in that unity.
A discordant note has been struck in that unity over Israel’s participation in the contest over the war between Israel and Hamas and the humanitarian crisis it precipitated.
Four European nations say they will not take part in the popular international song competition next year after Israel was cleared to participate. State broadcasters in the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia cited the ongoing war in Gaza as their reason for withdrawing.
The war started after Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and took about 251 people hostage. Israel responded by declaring war, vowing to eradicate Hamas, the organization that has been de facto governing Gaza and has been designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group. The death toll in Gaza had surpassed 70,000 as of Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
Both sides agreed to a ceasefire, which has broadly held, this October.
“Culture unites, but not at any price. What has happened over the past year has tested the limits of what we can uphold,” Taco Zimmerman, head of the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, said in a statement. “Universal values such as humanity and press freedom have been seriously compromised, and for us, these values are non-negotiable.”
Ireland’s broadcaster RTÉ directly cited the war in its statement.
“RTÉ feels that Ireland’s participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk,” it wrote.
Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest seven times, and is tied with Sweden for the most wins ever. The Swedish group ABBA famously got a boost into worldwide stardom from its Eurovision win for “Waterloo.”
“The situation in Gaza, despite the ceasefire and the approval of the peace process, and Israel’s use of the contest for political purposes, make it increasingly difficult to maintain Eurovision as a neutral cultural event,” Alfonso Morales, secretary general of Spain’s broadcaster RTVE, said in part in a statement.
Spain is part of what’s known as the Eurovision’s “Big 5” — the participants whose broadcasters provide the most, financially, to the contest and have the biggest viewership. The UK, France, Germany and Italy are the other members of this group, and performers representing these countries get automatic entry into the Eurovision final.
A representative for Slovenia’s broadcaster also cited the war in Gaza, and said the Israeli government had been using the contest for political gain.
During this year’s Eurovision, Yuval Raphael’s song “New Day Will Rise” reached second place — it was beaten by Austrian singer JJ’s “Wasted Love.”
The Israeli government was accused by other countries’ broadcasters of manipulating the voting system during this year’s Eurovision. Amid the controversy, the EBU announced new changes to tighten voting rules, but Eurovison Song Contest Director Martin Green told the BBC that Israel did not break the rules.
At a meeting in Geneva on Thursday, the European Broadcasting Union — the organizing body of the contest — and member broadcasters from participating nations gathered to discuss new voting guidelines and contest rules. They did not take a vote on Israel’s participation, which cleared the way for the country to compete.
Four European nations say they will not take part in the popular international song competition next year after Israel was cleared to participate. State broadcasters in the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia cited the ongoing war in Gaza as their reason for withdrawing.
“I am pleased that Israel will once again participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, and I hope that the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations, and cross-border cultural understanding,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote, in part, in a post on X after the Geneva meeting.
Israeli broadcaster KAN was critical of the backlash
“The attempt to remove KAN from the contest can only be understood as a cultural boycott,” one representative said during the meeting.
But some broadcasters — like Britain’s BBC — expressed support for Israel to compete.
Opposition to Israel’s participation had been brewing since 2024, when protesters demonstrated outside the arena in Malmo, Sweden.
Israel first joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973. Four Israeli acts have taken home the Eurovision trophy since, most recently in 2018.
The final of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Vienna, Austria, on May 16.
(NEW YORK) — Ukraine is sending a high-level delegation to the U.S. on Saturday for more talks on the Trump administration’s new peace plan, ahead of White House envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Moscow expected early next week.
Ukraine’s presidential office confirmed the delegation is on its way.
The Ukrainian delegation will now be led by the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerov, after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff was forced to resign on Friday amid a corruption scandal.
Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, is also listed as part of the delegation, as well as senior military, security and foreign ministry officials.
The U.S. and Ukraine last held talks around a week ago in Geneva when they revised the peace plan to make it more acceptable to Ukraine.
In a post on social media on Saturday, Zelenskyy said he expects to be briefed by Umerov on the outcome of the talks on Sunday.
The talks are aimed at ensuring the results from the Geneva talks a week ago are “hammered out” and to “swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war,” he said.
“Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov, together with the team, is already on the way to the United States. Rustem delivered a report today, and the task is clear: to swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war,” Zelenskyy said.
“Ukraine continues to work with the United States in the most constructive way possible, and we expect that the results of the meetings in Geneva will now be hammered out in the United States,” Zelenskyy continued. “I look forward to our delegation’s report following its work this Sunday. Ukraine is working for a dignified peace.”
Meanwhile, Kyiv was targeted with major attack overnight into Saturday as Ukraine’s foreign minister said last night’s attack shows how Putin is determined to prolong the war despite the peace talks and called on the international community to help out more pressure on Russia.
“While everyone is discussing points of peace plans, Russia continues to pursue its “war plan” of two points: to kill and destroy,” Andriy Sybiha, the the Ukrainian foreign minister, wrote on X.
“Putin wants to prolong the war at any cost. The war he cannot win — and the war refuses to end. But the international community has the means to ensure that this cost becomes unbearable for him,” he said. “We urge additional support for Ukraine’s defense and resilience, additional strong sanctions on Russia, and a swift decision to enable the full use of frozen Russian assets.”
