Announcing an enquiry, Banerjee apologised to Messi and “sports lovers” for the incident at the stadium.

“The enquiry committee will conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident, fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future,” the chief minister said on X.

A spokesperson for Messi said that he fulfilled the time commitment that had been agreed in advance. In terms of the organisation of the event itself, he referred the BBC to the apology issued by Banerjee on social media.

A police official told reporters that the event’s “chief organiser” had been arrested, without giving any further details, AFP reports.

Authorities will look into how organisers could refund money to those who bought tickets, the official added.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it was not involved in the “private event”.

Messi is in India for his ‘GOAT [greatest of all time] tour’, a series of promotional events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

His tour began with the unveiling of a 70ft [21m] statue of himself in Kolkata, which had been assembled over the course of 27 days by a 45-strong crew. Messi appeared virtually due to security concerns.

Thousands of fans travelled to the city’s stadium for a chance to see the footballer in person.

They were chanting, buying jerseys and wearing “I love Messi” headbands.

Messi initially walked out at the stadium waving to fans, but after his appearance was abruptly ended on Saturday, some frustrated fans stormed the pitch and vandalised banners and tents, as others hurled plastic chairs and water bottles.

The 2022 World Cup winner – consdered one of football’s greatest ever players – had been expected to play a short exhibition game at the stadium, the AFP news agency reports.

Messi waving to fans as he arrived [BBC]

The opposition far-right Freedom Party of Austria, the FPÖ, which voted in favour of the ban, said it did not go far enough.

It described the ban as “a first step”, which should be widened to include all pupils and school staff.

“There needs to be a general ban on headscarves in schools; political Islam has no place here”, the FPÖ’s spokesperson on families Ricarda Berger said.

Sigrid Maurer from the opposition Greens called the new law “clearly unconstitutional”.

The official Islamic Community in Austria, the IGGÖ, said the ban violated fundamental rights and would split society.

In a statement on its website, it said “instead of empowering children, they will be stigmatised and marginalised.”

The IGGÖ said it would review “the constitutionality of the law and take all necessary steps.”

“The Constitutional Court already ruled unequivocally in 2020 that such a ban is unconstitutional, as it specifically targets a religious minority and violates the principle of equality,” the IGGÖ said.

The government says it has tried to avoid that.

“Will it pass muster with the Constitutional Court? I don’t know. We have done our best,” Shetty said.

An awareness-raising trial period will start in February 2026, with the ban fully going into force next September – the beginning of the new school year.

[BBC]

The Myanmar military has not commented on the strikes, which come as the country prepares to vote later this month in its first election since the coup.

However, pro-military accounts on Telegram claim the strikes this week were not aimed at civilians.

Khaing Thukha, a spokesperson for the Arakan Army, told the BBC that most of the casualties were patients at the hospital.

“This is the latest vicious attack by the terrorist military targeting civilian places,” he said, adding that the military “must take responsibility” for bombing civilians.

The Arakan Army health department said the strike, which occurred at around 21:00 (14:30 GMT), killed 10 patients on the spot and injured many others.

Photos believed to be from the scene have been circulating on social media showing missing roofs across parts of the building complex, broken hospital beds and debris strewn across the ground.

The junta has been locked in a years-long bloody conflict with ethnic militias, at one point losing control of more than half the country.

But recent influx of technology and equipment from China and Russia seems to have helped it turn the tide. The junta has made significant gains through a campaign of airstrikes and heavy bombardment.

Earlier this year, more than 20 people were killed after an army motorised paraglider dropped two bombs on a crowd protesting at a religious festival.

Civil liberties have also shrunk dramatically under the junta. Tens of thousands of political dissidents have been arrested, rights groups estimate.

Myanmar’s junta has called for a general election on 28 December, touting it as a pathway to political stability.

But critics say the election will be neither free nor fair, but will instead offer the junta a guise of legitimacy. Tom Andrews, the United Nations’ human rights expert on Myanmar, has called it a “sham election”.

In recent weeks the junta has arrested civilians accused of disrupting the vote, including one man who authorities said had sent out anti-election messages on Facebook.

The junta also said on Monday that it was looking for 10 activists involved in an anti-election protest.

Ethnic armies and other opposition groups have pledged to boycott the polls.

At least one election candidate in in central Myanmar’s Magway Region was detained by an anti-junta group, the Associated Press reported.

[BBC]