From NPR News in Washington, I’m Korva Coleman.

 

　　Brazilian authorities say a night-club fire killed more than 200 people early today, mostly students in the southern city of Santa Maria. The BBC’s Gary Duffy reports witnesses say the fire began after a member of a band that was playing at the time lit fireworks on stage.

 

　　We are getting very clear as eyewitness accounts from people who were inside that club at the time and what they are saying is that the flames spread extremely quickly. Even so it is not the fire itself which has been blamed for the majority of deaths. What the police and the fire services are saying quite emphatically is that people died in the panic to get out. So the question’s now you are focusing on whether really the safety procedures in this club were adequate.

 

　　The BBC’s Gary Duffy in Brazil.

 

　　Protests continue in Egypt against President Mohammed Morsi for a fourth day. Police in Cairo clashed with street demonstrators who say Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood political party have betrayed the country’s revolution. Separately in the northern city of Port Said, mass funerals were held today for some of the more than 30 people who died in rioting yesterday. Three people were killed today. The violence erupted yesterday after a court sentenced 21 soccer fans to death for their role in in the deadly soccer riot a year ago. Now President Morsi has declared a state of emergency in Port Said and two other Egyptian provinces.

 

　　French forces along with soldiers from Mali are moving north toward the Malian town of Timbuktu. It has been in the hands of Islamist rebels since last April. French troops arrived in Mali earlier this month to push out the rebels who were threatening to advance on the Malian capital. France has used airstrikes and heavy weapons to attack the insurgents.

 

　　Starting today, you may be paying more to use your credit card. NPR’s Allison Keyes reports it’s the result of a federal court ruling.

 

　　Last year a U.S. district court ruled that merchants can impose a surcharge of up to 4% of your purchase price on customers paying by credit card. The charges are supposed to equal the cost of processing the credit card transaction, but it’s unclear how many merchants will implement them. A spokesman for the National Retail Federation told NBC News not a single merchant he spoke to plans to impose the charges. Debit cards are exempted from a $7. 2 billion settlement agreement between credit card companies and merchants, and credit card surcharges are banned by law in 10 states including California, Maine and Texas. The settlement is being appealed. Allison Keyes, NPR News.

 

　　There’s a winter storm icing parts of the mid-west according to National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Oravec.

 

　　It will be a general trend for the freezing rain to be changing over the rain as we do have some milder air pressing northeastward from the central part of United States towards the north-central part of the United States. So we do expect the rain to be the predominant precipitation type by Sunday afternoon.

 

　　Oravec says warmer temperatures are expected by tomorrow.

 

　　This is NPR.

 

　　Tornado watches have been issued along large parts of Australia’s east coast as the remnants of a tropical cyclone sweep across the region. As Stuart Cohen reports from Sydney, evacuations have also been ordered in many towns threatened by wide-spread flooding.

 

　　Torrential rain from the remnants of Cyclone Oswald continues to fall across central and southern Queensland and well into the state of New South Wales all the way down to Sydney. At least five tornadoes ripped through towns along the Queensland coast. In Australia’s third largest city Brisbane, the government is warning thousands of homes and businesses will be affected by flooding. But the Queensland State Premier is cautioning residents who remember the record flooding from two years ago not to panic.

 

　　“I just wanna stress this is far, far a lesser event than 2011. That’s why people need to just be calm. Have a big think and then decide what they want to do.” The massive storm hits as hundreds of thousands of people travel Australia’s east coast for the main summer holiday weekend. For NPR News, I’m Stuart Cohen in Sydney.

 

　　The defending champ of the Australian Open men’s tennis final has kept his title. Novac Djokovic of Serbia defeated Britain Andy Murray today. Djokovic has now won the Australian Open three years in a row.

 

　　One of the biggest shopping malls in the world was robbed this weekend. Police in the Philippines say armed men entered a huge mall in the suburb of Manila, the capital, and held up a jewelry store. They fired shots into the air to terrify people and then used a wrench to break into glass showcases. They successfully made off with the gems and no one was hurt. The shop is in the SM Megamall, which reportedly attracts between half a million and one million people every day.

 

　　I’m Korva Coleman, NPR News from Washington.