A sudden blast of flame across a crowded bar sends revellers in panic towards a single, narrow exit. Thick, toxic smoke chokes them. The bodies of those who have succumbed block the escape of those who have not.

These horrific scenes occurred not only at the Rong Beer Na Ladprao pub in Bangkok last Sunday night, where 32 people are now known to have died, but also in another night club called Mountain B four years ago in the coastal town of Sattahip.

Twenty six people died in that inferno,

France's National Assembly has voted to create a right to assisted dying under strict conditions, after years of debate and changes to the proposals.

MPs voted by 291 to 241 to back the bill, which had been rejected three times by the upper house of parliament, the Senate.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is set to refer parts of the bill to France's Constitutional Council for examination before it can become law.

It would allow assisted dying for French adults with a "serious and

Other institutions have carried out similar research in recent years.

Polling company Gallup found that China surpassed the US in global approval ratings last year , with the widest gap recorded in China's favour in 20 years.

But US think tank Asia Society's yearly Global Public Opinion on China survey suggested that China's image, which dipped during the pandemic, had only made a modest recovery since.

Chong Ja Ian, a non-resident scholar with Carnegie China, said Pew's latest results were not surprising

Five people suspected of selling and displaying books deemed "seditious" in Hong Kong have been arrested after police raided two independent bookshops.

Authorities said the publications incited "hatred" against the territory's government, judiciary and law enforcement agencies. Officers seized books from both shops, the government said in a statement.

The group - two men aged 37 and 57, and three women aged between 30 and 59 - are suspected of violating national security legislation by "acting with seditious intent".

They are

Lt Gen Dimpane issued a "stern warning" to those who "continue to intimidate, harass and perpetrate violence against foreign nationals".

"The law applies equally to everyone," she said.

"No individual or group has the authority to conduct immigration inspections, verify legal status, or remove people from communities."

When questioned on how some foreign nationals had been treated by anti-migrant protesters, Dube said March and March rejected "any form of violence - we reject any form of anti-law".

The opposition group is made up of former lawmakers who were elected to the National Assembly in 2015, the last time opposition parties won a majority in the legislative body.

National Assembly elections held since then have either been boycotted by the opposition or widely dismissed as neither free nor fair, as Maduro and his PSUV party tightened their grip on all branches of government.

The opposition team will be led by Dinorah Figuera, who returned to Venezuela in June after almost eight years in exile.

Upon landing in Caracas,

Italy's Giorgia Meloni coalition government has lost a crucial vote on an amendment to electoral reform - a significant setback ahead of next year's general election.

In a secret ballot in Italy's lower house of parliament on Wednesday evening, MPs rejected a proposal spearheaded by her party, Brothers of Italy (FdI), by 188 votes to 187 - indicating that several of Meloni's MPs voted against the amendment.

In an angry post on social media after the vote, she said the