least 15 people have been killed and more than 50 injured in a fire that broke out in a restaurant in Mumbai early on Friday. The fire quickly spread from the top-floor restaurant through a four-storey building, said fire official Balkrishna Kadam. More than 50 people have been taken to hospital. The dead included 11 women, fire officials said.

The building, in the formerly industrial area of central Mumbai, houses several upscale restaurants that had moved in over the past few years to make it a popular nightlife destination, the New Delhi Television channel reported.

“There was a stampede and someone pushed me. People were running over me even as the ceiling above me was collapsing in flames. Still don’t know how I got out alive,” Mumbai gynecologist Sulbha Arora tweeted. The Indian city desperately needs its new metro, but Zoroastrian priests are warning of a ‘backlash from nature’ – and they’re not the only detractors. She said was at the restaurant when it started and “before we knew it the whole place was engulfed in a matter of seconds”.(theguardian)…[+]

Turkish police have detained dozens of suspected Islamic State militants in a series of dawn raids, including some believed to be planning attacks on New Year’s Eve, as the authorities strengthened security measures ahead of the celebrations.

The unprecedented mobilisation of police patrols and the arrests of terror suspects in Istanbul and Ankara were aimed at preventing a repeat of last year’s midnight assault on a nightclub on the Bosphorus, in which 39 people died when a militant opened fire on revellers. Street celebrations have been cancelled across Istanbul as a result of what authorities say are security concerns. “We have taken all precautions for our citizens to spend the New Year’s Eve in the best way possible,” said the Istanbul governor, Vasip Şahin. “We have also warned entertainment venues which have their own security personnel to take precautions.” Seventy-five suspected Isis members were arrested in the country’s two largest cities, Istanbul and Ankara, on the second day of sweeping raids across 12 provinces. On Thursday another 120 suspected members of the terror group were arrested.(theguardian)…[+]

At least two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire outside a Coptic church south of Cairo on Friday, killing at least nine people in the latest attack on the country’s Christian minority.

The attack happened at the Marmina church in the Helwan City district on the capital’s southern outskirts. The dead include members of the congregation and a police officer killed in a shootout at the security post guarding the building. Several others were wounded. One of the gunmen was killed after an exchange of fire with security forces, while another was arrested as he tried to escape to a narrower street across the road from the church, interior ministry sources told the Guardian.The source said at least four of the casualties were officers from the special forces squad guarding the church. “After the attack, explosive experts dismantled two IEDs [improvised explosive devices], near the church,” he said. The interior ministry however said in an official statement that the attack was carried out by one militant who “was going to blow himself up using a suicide belt.” It described him as a “dangerous element” who participated in several operations against security personnel.(theguardian)…[+]