Tigst Assefa broke the women’s world record by more than two minutes Sunday at the Berlin Marathon, as Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s race for the fifth time but couldn’t break his own record. Ethiopian runner Assefa, the winner in Berlin a year ago, ran the race in 2 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds to break the previous women’s record of 2:14:04 set by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei at the Chicago Marathon in 2019.
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13 dead in Spain’s deadliest nightclub fire
The death toll stands at 13 with 24 people injured, when a fire early ripped through adjoining nightclubs in Spain on Sunday. It was the country’s worst nightclub fire in 33 years.
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More than 10 million people still have no access to safe drinking water after floods struck Palestine
The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF says that six months after catastrophic floods struck Pakistan, more than 10 million people, including children, living in flood-affected areas still have no access to safe drinking water. The lack of clean water is forcing many families with no alternative but to drink and use potentially disease-ridden water. The prolonged lack of access to safe drinking water and sewage systems, along with the continued proximity of vulnerable families to bodies of stagnant water, are contributing to the widespread outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dengue, and malaria.
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Kazakhstan Parliamentary Election Cement President Tokayev’s Leadership
Kazakhstan held snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, March 19. The elections further strengthen President Kassyim-Jomart Tokayev’s leadership and power since he assumed a new term of presidency late last year. The elections come as part of Tokayev’s ambitious plan to modernize Kazakhstan and turn it into a “model nation” for Central Asia called New Kazakhstan. The snap polls are the first step in his five-year program, which includes constitutional reforms, economic development, and social reforms. Tokayev has chosen not to lead the ruling party, the rebranded Amanat, but it is certain to form the core of his support base in the legislature.
