new video loaded: Fire at Bar in Swiss Ski Resort Town Kills Dozens, Officials Say
By Monika Cvorak
January 1, 2026
New York Mayor Mamdani vows to enact democratic socialist agenda
Iranian president seeks to calm tensions, acknowledging protesters’ ‘legitimate’ grievances over inflation.
At least five people have been killed as demonstrations over the soaring cost of living in Iran spread to more parts of the country.
At least three people were killed and 17 others were injured at protests in the city of Azna in Lorestan province, some 300km (185 miles) southwest of Tehran, Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency reported on Thursday.
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Videos shared online appeared to show objects in the street ablaze and gunfire echoing as people shouted: “Shameless! Shameless!”
Earlier, Fars said two people were killed during protests in the city of Lordegan, about 470km (290 miles) south of the capital Tehran in the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.
“Some protesters began throwing stones at the city’s administrative buildings, including the provincial governor’s office, the mosque, the Martyrs’ Foundation, the town hall and banks,” Fars said, adding that police responded with tear gas.
Online videos showed demonstrators gathered on a street, with the sound of gunfire in the background.
Earlier on Thursday, Iranian state television also reported that a member of security forces was killed overnight during protests in the western city of Kouhdasht.
“A 21-year-old member of the Basij from the city of Kouhdasht was killed last night by rioters while defending public order,” the channel said, quoting Said Pourali, the deputy governor of Lorestan province.
The Basij are a volunteer force linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The reports come days after shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government’s handling of a currency slide and rapidly rising prices.
The unrest comes at a critical moment for Iran as Western sanctions hammer an economy hit by 40 percent inflation, and after air strikes by Israel and the United States in June targeted the country’s nuclear infrastructure and military leadership.
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi explained that the government has taken a more cautious approach to this week’s protests than it did to previous demonstrations.
“The government says it’s working hard to find a solution, to deal with the economic hardships that people are feeling,” Asadi said.
Iran last saw mass demonstrations in 2022 and 2023 after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
The latest protests began peacefully in Tehran and spread after students from at least 10 universities joined in on Tuesday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has sought to calm tensions, acknowledging protesters’ “legitimate demands” and calling on the government to take action to improve the economic situation.
“From an Islamic perspective … if we do not resolve the issue of people’s livelihoods, we will end up in hell,” Pezeshkian said at an event broadcast on state television.
Government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Thursday the authorities would hold a direct dialogue with representatives of trade unions and merchants, without providing details.
Still, the authorities have promised to take a “firm” stance and warned against exploiting the situation to sow chaos.
“Any attempt to turn economic protests into a tool of insecurity, destruction of public property, or implementation of externally designed scenarios will inevitably be met with a legal, proportionate and decisive response,” Iran’s prosecutor general said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Tasnim news agency on Wednesday evening reported the arrests of seven people it described as being affiliated with “groups hostile to the Islamic Republic based in the United States and Europe”.
Iran is in the middle of an extended weekend, with the authorities declaring Wednesday a bank holiday at the last minute, citing the need to save energy due to cold weather.
“No, I don’t do calls,” said the former Shark Tank star and Dallas Mavericks owner in a TikTok video posted by Masterclass. “You know, I’ll engage with you via email, and trust me, I do this all the time. I’m really good at it.”
But Cuban’s logic for his proclivity toward email over the phone is very different from younger generations. He said conversing over email gives him more time to craft a thoughtful response.
“I’ll give you more comprehensive responses than if it was via phone,” said Cuban, who’s worth an estimated $6 billion. “And if we do it by phone, I’m going to forget half the stuff that we talked about because I’ve got so much going on.”
While Cuban is no longer starring on Shark Tank and sold off his majority stake in the Mavericks, he’s still plenty occupied running Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company and serving as an investor and advisor to the dozens of companies he invested in during his time on the show.
Meanwhile, Gen Zers prefer email or text because they are anxious about talking on the phone. A 2024 study shows nearly a quarter of the generation is so hesitant about talking on the phone that they never answer calls. A college in the U.K. last year even launched a class aimed at helping Gen Z overcome its fear.
While it’s always easy to poke fun at younger generations for their professional-life quirks, the hesitancy for some is actually a deeply rooted fear called “telephobia.” This form of phone anxiety can lead to increased heart rate, nausea, shaking, and trouble concentrating, according to Verywell Mind.
“It speaks to a broader fatigue with immediacy and urgency, where people have grown tired of the hassle culture and obsession with efficiency,” Zoia Tarasova, an anthropologist with consumer insight agency Canvas8, previously told Fortune. “People are quietly rebelling against this immediacy by taking their time to respond to those calls.”
Other business leaders even told Fortune that this telephobia trend has hurt their bottom line. Casey Halloran, CEO and cofounder of online travel agency Namu Travel, said in the 25 years he’s been in business, management has “never seen anything quite like the generational divide” between older and younger travel agents in how they make phone calls. He also said combating telephobia has been a “frequent, uncomfortable topic” at his company, as management has recognized that his younger travel agents register fewer than 50% of the calls compared to older employees.
“As to solutions, we have been doing extensive training, incentives, call observing with our veteran reps, and even hired a business psychologist,” Halloran previously told Fortune. “After more than two years of this struggle, we’re nearly to the point of throwing up hands and embracing SMS and WebChat versus continuing to fight an uphill battle.”
Still, for his own business purposes, Cuban says he prefers emails over phone calls because he can go back and reference what he’s said.
“If we do it via email, I can search for it, always,” he added.
Just like most business approaches, emailing instead of talking on the phone has its pros and cons.
Research by recruiting firm Robert Walters shows more than half of younger-generation professionals find instant messaging or email, instead of calls or meetings, is the best way to “get things done,” showing how they believe talking over the phone can be inefficient. That’s the “it could have been an email” mentality.
“Younger generations are less inclined to spend hours in a restaurant or cafe when they can have a quick discussion online,” Emilie Vignon, associate director of Robert Walters California, wrote in the 2024 study. To be sure, Vignon also said there are also “downsides” to only conversing via email or text.
“Face-to-face interactions allow for meaningful connections and provide an opportunity for non-verbal communication cues, building trust and rapport with clients and colleagues,” Vignon added. “The subtleties of body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice contribute to a deeper understanding and connection that often cannot be fully conveyed through text or even video chats.”
To be sure, other research from the University of Texas at Austin (UT) and the University of Chicago, as well as studies by McKinsey & Co., show calls can help resolve issues more quickly than an email, especially as workers spend nearly one-third of their time on email. A 2022 study from DePaul University researcher David J. Bouvier also shows that email enables easy information sharing and can reduce stress.
By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
25-Time Ohio High School state champion coach Jerry Holtrey passed away on December 23rd, 2026. Holtrey was 86.
Holtrey began coaching at the Hawken School in 1969 after beginning his coaching career at the Club Olympia in Fort Wayne, Ind., and developed one of the most dominant programs in Ohio High School swimming for over 45 years, during which he accumulated.
Hawken School Athletics announced Holtrey’s passing on their Facebook page, mourning the loss of the longtime coach.
Hawken School mourns the passing of longtime swimming coach Jerry Holtrey, who dedicated 45 years to Hawken beginning in 1969. A legendary coach, he led the program to 26 state team championships and positively impacted the lives of more than 600 swimmers. More than his success in the pool, Jerry will be remembered for the values he taught and the care he showed for every student-athlete, treating his teams like family. Details regarding a memorial service will be shared once they are known.
His teams won 26 state championships; 24 for the girls, including 16 consecutive at the time of his retirement in 2014, and two for his boys’ teams. His 16 straight girls’ titles broke the Ohio High School Athletic Association record for the most consecutive titles in any sport or division.
During his time at the Hawken School, Holtrey coached more than 400 swimmers to All-American Status.
Holtrey also founded and coached the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins Club team beginning in 1965.
During his coaching career, Holtrey worked with notable talents such as Diana Munz (three-time Olympic medalist), Sharon Wickman (1968 Olympic Champion), Matt Vogel (two-time Olympic Gold Medalist), and Erica Rose (1998 Open Water World Championship gold medalist), among others.
Holtrey was on staff for a pair of Pan Pacific Championship teams and acted as head coach for two other USA Junior teams.
His accolades were recognized both locally and nationally; Holtrey was inducted into the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 and the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: ASCA Hall of Fame Coach Jerry Holtrey Dies at 86
One of the more enjoyable things about covering tiny houses is seeing each country’s take on the art of downsizing. The Mizuho showcases a Japanese approach to the concept, squeezing in a home working area and a downstairs bedroom into a compact footprint.
Designed by the Ikigai Collective, the Mizuho is based on a double-axle trailer and has a length of 6.6 m (21.7 ft). Its exterior is finished in a mixture of wood and coated steel cladding, topped by a metal roof. The model shown appears to be permanently installed and includes a deck that helps expand the living space, though the tiny house can also be mounted on wheels for regular towing, if preferred.
The Mizuho is inspired by traditional Japanese minimalism and unlike the firm’s Nozawa and Yamabiko models, is arranged solely on one floor. The benefit here is that it’s easier to get around and you don’t need to climb a ladder to get into bed. The tradeoff, of course, is reduced space, but the Ikigai Collective has done a good of job fitting everything in.
Ikigai Collective
Much of the available interior is taken up by the kitchen, which includes a propane-powered two-burner cooktop, a sink, and plenty of cabinetry for additional appliances. Nearby is a workspace with a desk suitable for use as a home office. This seats two and can also double as a breakfast bar or general dining area.
A sliding door connects the kitchen to the bathroom, which i’s understandably compact, but it does include a flushing toilet, a shower, and a sink.
There’s no separate living room area in the Mizuho, so the bedroom doubles as a hangout space too. This is quite common with compact models, like the Escape Vista. The bedroom itself is situated on the opposite side of the house to the bathroom, near the entrance, and contains a double bed and a wall-mounted TV, plus it has ample headroom to stand upright, which is always a nice benefit in a tiny house. The bedroom lacks a screen or door for privacy, though there’s not really any space for any guests to sleep over anyway, so it shouldn’t be an issue.
Ikigai Collective
The Mizuho is currently up for sale for JPY 11,600,000 (roughly US$74,000), though we’ve no word on international availability.
Source: Ikigai Collective
Around 40 people have died after a fire ripped through a bar in a ski resort in southern Switzerland, police have said. A further 115 people are injured, many of them “severely”.
The fire broke out at around 01:30 (00:30 GMT) during new year celebrations in a bar called Le Constellation in Crans-Montana.
Officials investigating the incident have not mentioned any cause, but categorically ruled out an attack.
People from multiple countries have been affected. Regional police commander Frédéric Gisler has said the priority in the coming days was to identify those who have died “so that their bodies can be returned rapidly” to their families.
Ten helicopters, 40 ambulances and 150 emergency responders were sent overnight to the scene of the fire in the Valais region, which is popular with tourists.
Most of the injured experienced severe burns and were sent to Valais hospital, said Mathias Reynard, the region’s council leader, in a press conference on Thursday morning.
Its intensive care unit had reached full capacity and Reynard said the local community must take extra care to avoid needing hospital treatment unnecessarily.
Some people have been taken to hospitals in Lausanne and Zurich which have specialist burns units.
A spokesperson for Lausanne University Hospital said they were treating 22 patients with burn injuries, while Zurich University Hospital said it was treating 12 patients for burns.
Details are still emerging, and it is not yet known the precise number of people who have been killed and injured, their nationalities, the cause of the fire or how many people were in the bar. Officials have, however, confirmed that several nationalities were involved.
The Italian foreign ministry said information from Swiss police indicated around 40 people had died.
Police at the press conference said “several dozen” were presumed dead, but did not give a more precise number when responding to questions from the media.
EPA/ShutterstockLocal media reports earlier on Thursday suggested pyrotechnics could have caused the incident, although this is unconfirmed.
Valais canton prosecutor general Beatrice Pilloud said an investigation was under way “to identify the circumstances which caused this dramatic situation to occur”.
She told the press conference “currently we are favouring a fire and at no time is there question of any attack”, adding out of respect for the families she cannot say more at this time.
Police initially referred to an explosion but later changed their definition to a fire, adding it was too early to speculate on the cause.
Asked about the cause at the news conference, regional security official Stéphane Ganzer said it “is not the detonation of an explosive device that causes the fire, it is the fire which, as it develops, causes an explosion and a general conflagration of the premises”.
Work is ongoing to identify the victims and return bodies to families as quickly as possible, Ms Pilloud said, adding: “To do that there is significant work which needs to be carried out. And this significant work will require the closure of the district.”
The Italian ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, said that it will take weeks to identify the dead.
A helpline has been set up for families: +41 848 112 117
Swiss President Guy Parmelin said: “A moment of joy turned into a tragedy that has touched the whole of Switzerland and abroad.”
Crans-Montana is a luxury ski resort, famous in the 1980s for hosting the World Cup skiing.
Le Constellation, which has been around for decades, has an upstairs with TV screens where people go and watch football matches, and a large bar downstairs for drinking and dancing.
The UK Foreign Office said its “thoughts are with all those injured and killed in the terrible tragedy” and consular staff were on standby to provide support to any British nationals affected.
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In an exclusive interview, Somalia’s president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told Al Jazeera that the breakaway region of Somaliland has agreed to accept displaced Palestinians being relocated there in exchange for recognition. Somaliland officials have rejected the allegations.
Published On 1 Jan 2026
Factbox-Crans-Montana: Swiss resort at centre of deadly bar fire
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