110 people arrested over mystery gas incidents at girls’ schools in Iran
Iranian authorities have arrested more than 100 people in connection with a recent wave of suspected poisonings of schoolgirls across the country, believed to have been an attempt to stop them from attending school.
General Saeed Montazerolmehdi, a police spokesperson, announced that 110 arrests had taken place in remarks carried by Iranian media. Police also confiscated thousands of stink bombs, indicating that some of the alleged attacks may have been copycat pranks.
The first cases came to light in November 2022 in Qom, a city 125km (80 miles) to the southwest of the capital Tehran, where 18 students were treated in hospital after the release of a “posionous gas” at the Noor Yazdanshahr Conservatory, according to reports in local media.
One student told the regime-affiliated ISNA news agency that she lost feeling in her legs while others complained of finding it difficult to breathe. Some parents refused to send their children into school as a precaution
There were sporadic cases in the weeks following the Qom incidents, including more in that city, as well as in Tehran and the city of Boroujerd, around 400km (248 miles) from the capital. One boys’ school was reportedly also targeted.
Since the beginning of March, however, there has been a dramatic increase in cases, with reports coming in from 23 out of the country’s 31 provinces by 6 March affecting hundreds of schools across the Islamic Republic.
Mystery surrounds who is carrying out the incidents, why they are doing it – or even whether they are actually a series of attacks. In neighbouring Afghanistan, religious extremists have targeted schools to prevent girls from attending in recent years.
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Iran schoolgirls poisoned with gas
However, there is no history of such activities in Iran, even at the height of the Islamic revolution in 1979. Some government officials have even suggested that mass hysteria might have played a role in the spread of reports.
As part of a wider crackdown, the government has harried reporters covering the poisonings. A government panel investigating the incidents said as many as 5,000 students have complained of being sickened in 230 schools across 25 provinces.
A human rights group has put the number at more than 7,000 students.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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