A fire at a mall in eastern Iraq kills more than 60 people

A fire at a newly opened mall in eastern Iraq’s Wasit province killed more than 60 people, including women and children, Iraqi officials said Thursday. Iraq's Ministry of Interior said in a statement that 61 people died, most of them from suffocation, in the fire that broke out late Wednesday in the city of Kut. Civil defense teams were able to rescue more than 45 people who were trapped inside the building, the statement said.