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School roof collapses in Pakistan killing 33

The roof of a school collapsed in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, killing a teacher and 32 students, mostly aged under 14, according to local health officials, as residents and rescuers scrambled to pull children from the rubble.

Twenty more students were taken to hospital after the collapse, which authorities blamed on "weak infrastructure". Others in the densely populated neighbourhood described a close call. Resident Sohail told reporters "everyone began screaming in panic" after his niece managed to find her way home after escaping the building to inform them of the collapse. "When I arrived at the scene, I saw around 10 to 15 children trapped beneath the rubble, with debris piled up to their necks. We quickly pulled them out," he said.

Spokesman Bilal Ahmad Faizi for the emergency rescue service said schoolchildren were crushed and trapped after the roof gave way. "When the Rescue 1122 emergency response teams arrived at the scene, they found that one roof had collapsed onto another, causing the classroom below to be crushed and trapping children inside."

Also today

• Three people have been killed and four are missing in Istanbul after the city suffered its heaviest rainfall since records began over 80 years ago
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says strikes on Russian refineries to resume in defiance of US President Trump amid deepening tensions between the two leaders over US-Russia diesel agreement
• US wholesale inflation makes biggest jump since 2022 as the war in Iran sent fuel prices rocketing adding to Trump's woes ahead of November's midterm elections
• Widely contentious plans to livestream execution of convicted US military base shooter cancelled
• McDonald's has announced it will no longer sell the cult-favourite McRib in Germany and Luxembourg from the end of October
• MPs vote for increase in child benefit and education allowance from next year
• Police investigations ongoing after shots fired at pedestrians in Differdange on Monday night
• President Infantino grilled at first meeting of FIFA council since abandoned plans to sell off stake

On air

Host Tom's nemesis Chizza the Quizza returned with some nefarious head scratchers - try some out for yourself. What famous books are the following funny reviews about?

"If I wanted to read two-hundred pages of some over-privileged youth complaining about anything and everything for no legitimate reason, I'd pick up my old high school diary"

"Half of the book is incredibly boring with long descriptions of a battle that no-one cares about. The other half is just a bunch of rich white families hosting parties"

"You know what grinds my gears even more than the fact that I wasted a week on this worthless pseudo-classic? It kills me that people not only mistake this hoax for real literature, but reference it for ROMANTIC value!"

Figure of the day

The amount of England currently in a state of drought is over 80%

• A "severe drought" is declared in parts of southern England by the UK government, saying it took the decision following an "unprecedented period of extreme weather"
• The United Kingdom experienced its hottest summer on record in 2026, featuring several heatwaves and an exceptional drought that resulted from a lack of rainfall not seen since records began in 1836
  

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