A woman accused of burning her five‑year‑old stepdaughter’s genital area has been arrested. In a sick and twisted act of punishment, she allegedly seared the little girl with a heated steel spatula after the child wet the bed. The case came to light when the girl’s preschool teacher noticed her struggling to sit during class and reported the matter to authorities.

Policein Kerala, on India’s southwestern Malabar Coast detained the suspect on Thursday (January 8). A local court has remanded her to judicial custody for 14 days, pending further investigation. Charges have been filed under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, India’s principal criminal code, which provides strong protections against crimes targeting children. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) has taken custody of the victim, the daughter of Muhammad Intias, a Nepalese man employed at a local hotel.

The accused’s name is Noor Nazar, 35, also known as Rubi, who hails from Bihar. 

Officials confirmed that the girl is receiving medical care and emotional support while inquiries proceed.

Authorities say the investigation is ongoing, with further details expected as the case develops.

This comes just a week after a six-year-old girl tragically died after she was reportedly gang-raped and thrown from a rooftop, also in India. The young victim was rushed to a local hospital following the horrific incident, but despite best efforts, was declared dead upon arrival. The dreadful event took place in the Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, in November, it was revealed that a 12-year-old girl had died nearly a week after she was allegedly made to perform 100 sit-ups as punishment for arriving late at school. 

On November 8, the young student at a private school in Sativali, Maharashtra, India, was reportedly asked, along with four other students, to do 100 sit-ups after being late to class. Her mother has claimed the exercise was made worse by the fact that she was carrying her school bag on her back during the punishment – a factor she believes led to her daughter’s rapid deterioration in health.

A few days later, the girl was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai, where she died on the night of Friday (November 15).

Officials in Brussels are plotting to protect a post-Brexit UK-EU reset deal from a future Nigel Farage premiership, according to reports. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has agreed to form closer ties with the bloc through a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal, aimed at cutting red tape on British food and drink exports. His commitment to aligning with the EU on food and agriculture has drawn criticism from both Reform UK and the Conservatives, with Mr Farage pledging to reverse the agreement, which he says “gives away our parliamentary sovereignty and our rights as voters”.

With Reform ahead of both traditional parties in the polls, EU diplomats are keenly aware of the threat its leader poses to the deal, and have demanded a financial termination clause be included to discourage a future government from overturning the plans. The stipulation has been dubbed a “Farage clause”, according to a draft seen by the Financial Times, in a nod to Reform’s 31% polling lead as of January 2026, with the Tories at 23% and Labour trailing into third place with 19%.

The clause would force either party to pay significant compensation for withdrawing from the deal, including the costs of setting up “the infrastructure, equipment, initial recruitment and training, in order to set up the necessary border controls”.

One Brussels diplomat told the FT that the detail would act as a “safety provision to provide stability and a deterrent for Farage and Co” and ensure the post-Brexit deal endures beyond the end of this Parliament.

“The EU wants an agreement long-term and not only until 2029, should a change happen at the next election,” they said.

Mr Starmer’s SPS deal has attracted backlash for requiring the UK to “dynamically align [with] and simultaneously apply” rules on animal and plant products introduced by EU lawmakers in an apparent outsourcing of national authority.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice lashed out at the plans earlier this week, accusing the Prime Minister of trying to reverse Brexit.

“This EU reset bill is a blatant effort by Starmer’s Remainers to overturn the democratic will of 17.4 million people,” he said.

“They want Britain back under the thumb of the EU rules, taxes and costs. Reform UK will highlight this government’s betrayal and make Brexit a success when we’re in power.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “We have decided we will align with some of the EU’s rules, in the name of easing trade for British businesses and lowering bills for British households. The very nature of all international agreements is that they involve shared rules on certain areas.

“Free traders and conservatives have always wrestled with this concept, and the boldest have succeeded when they do not let ideology get in the way.”

A party source also told the FT: “Nigel Farage is going into the next election saying he wants to bring back red tape, mountains of paperwork, and a greater bureaucratic burden.”

The European Commission said it “remains fully committed to the implementation of the actions agreed with the United Kingdom at the Summit in May 2025”.

Vladimir Putin uses body doubles to avoid assassination attempts, according to a former MI6 chief. Three pictures taken within a month of each other appear to show the Russian President with different shaped chins.

Sir Richard Dearlove said the paranoid leader “certainly” uses doubles to make public appearances. However, he explained how they would not be used in close-contact diplomacy or sensitive meetings as the deception would be too hard to maintain.

As reported by The Sun, Sir Richard said: “There will be occasions, and it would depend on the circumstances, when he certainly, for security reasons, would have a body double.

“It’s almost a normal security measure for somebody like Putin – who is a very high-profile target. Bear in mind that assassination has been a pretty common part of Russian politics for many, many years.”

Putin’s risk of assassination has intensified following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has become increasingly concerned about his vulnerability, particularly in outdoor settings.

Sir Richard said that Putin’s body doubles would not be used in face-to-face meetings due to the risk of exposure. However, they are used for outdoor appearances, such as at a children’s playground, where the press are at a distance.

Ukrainian security services have claimed men similar to Putin have been trained to appear in his place. However, Moscow insists that he remains fully visible to the public.

In 2023, an authoritative report by TBS, a Japanese TV network, used AI to examine facial recognition and concluded the real Putin hosted the annual Red Square Victory day parade. However, a different Putin may have inspected the Crimean Bridge 11 months ago, with only a 53% match of the pair.

TBS said: “Experts on face recognition would refer to this as ‘not matching’ in most cases, which leads us to the assumption this could be a double.”

Likewise, when Putin appeared on the front line in Mariupol last March, the AI technology produced only a 40% match. Pictures of the Russian leader in Crimea produced a score of just 18%.

The report added: “Expert analysis is clearly displaying the high probability of at least two body doubles.”