At least 19 people have been killed in a fire that swept through a Cambodian hotel-casino on the border with Thailand, local authorities say. Hundreds of people were in the Grand Diamond City building in the border town of Poipet when the fire broke out after 23:30 (16:30 GMT) on Wednesday. Video circulating on social media showed people apparently jumping or falling from upper floors. The hotel-casino employs 400 workers and had many Thai nationals as guests. Many of the victims are thought to have been trapped on upper floors and a Thai volunteer organisation, Ruamkatanyu Foundation, said it was unlikely that they could have survived. “There are 19 dead so far as we see bodies and bones,” said Sek Sokhom, director of Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey provincial information department. He warned that the death toll could be higher.  Rescue teams had struggled to reach people inside the building because of the dense smoke and are continuing to search it for those who are missing. Poipet is a key crossing point between the two countries. It is also popular for its casinos, which many Thai nationals visit because gambling is mostly illegal in Thailand.(BBC)…[+]

Nigeria’s police chief has ordered the suspension of an officer who allegedly shot dead a female lawyer in the main city Lagos on Christmas Day. Drambi Vandi is reported to have hit Bolanle Raheem as she and several family members were driving home from a church service. Many Nigerians are horrified over the killing of the lawyer, who was reportedly pregnant. The Nigeria Bar Association and human rights groups have demanded justice. Police chief Usman Alkali Baba said he would not relent in efforts to ensure justice for the lawyer and appealed to the public “to be calm”. In recent years there has been increased attention on police brutality in Nigeria. Nationwide protests, under the banner of the #EndSars movement, led to the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) being disbanded in 2020.(BBC)…[+]

US energy giant ExxonMobil is suing the EU in a bid to force the bloc to scrap its new windfall tax on oil firms. A windfall tax is imposed on firms that benefited from something they were not responsible for. Energy firms are getting much more money for their oil and gas, partly due to supply concerns as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But Exxon accuses Brussels of exceeding its legal authority, calling the measure “counter-productive”. ExxonMobil reported a quarterly profit of almost $20 billion (£17.3 billion) in October. In September, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced the plan for major oil, gas and coal companies to pay a “crisis contribution” on their increased 2022 profits.(BBC)…[+]