Jakarta, July 3 (IANS) Five members of a family, including three children, died after a fire engulfed a furniture warehouse in Bekasi, an outskirt city of Indonesia’s capital on Wednesday morning, local authorities said.

According to a preliminary report, the fire broke out at about 6:45 a.m. local time in Jatiasih area where the victims were inside the house, Xinhua news agency reported.

At least 12 fire engines were deployed to distinguish the fire, said head of Bekasi’s fire and rescue agency Aceng Solehudin, noting that an electrical shortage was possibly the main cause of the fire.

According to him, the fire has also caused damages of up to 1 billion Indonesian rupiahs (around 61,000 U.S. dollars).

Meanwhile, Jatiasih police chief Suroto said that all victims were trapped in a bathroom at the warehouse during the fire.

The victims wanted to get out of the building, but the fire continued to spread fast and blocked their way out, he said, adding that an investigation into the case was still underway.

–IANS

int/svn

Jerusalem, July 3 (IANS) Two Israeli men were wounded in a stabbing attack in a mall in northern Israel on Wednesday, including one in critical condition, the Israeli police said in a statement.

The police said that the stabber was shot dead at the shopping mall in the city of Karmiel in the Galilee region, Xinhua news agency reported.

Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said in a statement that two men in their 20s were injured and rushed to the hospital. One of them was in critical condition and receiving emergency Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, while the other was in serious condition.

Northern District Police Chief Shuki Tahauko told reporters at the scene that the assailant acted alone and arrived at the mall by foot. One of the men he stabbed managed to shoot at him and killed him, said Tahauko.

Tahauko said the stabber was still not identified, but the state-owned Kan TV news reported that he is an Israeli citizen and resident of an Arab village near Karmiel. Most of the Arab-Israelis are descendants of Palestinians who stayed put during Israel’s Independence War in 1948, known by Palestinians as “the Nakba.”

Large police forces were canvassing the area, and the level of alertness was raised in Karmiel and the surrounding region, Tahauko said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The attack came amid spiraling violence in the region, with Israel carrying out an offensive in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against Hamas’ October attack on southern Israel, and Israeli and Hezbollah forces exchanging fire along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

–IANS

int/svn

Seoul, July 3 (IANS) A taxi crashed into a hospital in South Korea on Wednesday, injuring two people, police said.

The vehicle plowed into the emergency ward of the National Medical Center in the central district of Jung at 5.15 p.m., leaving two people injured, one seriously, Yonhap news agency reported.

The driver was not under the influence of alcohol.

Police were investigating the circumstances of the accident.

–IANS

int/svn

Kathmandu, July 3 (IANS) The main opposition Nepali Congress party on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal to step down, one day after the largest ruling partner initiated the move.

“It would be natural for the prime minister to clear the way as the two largest parties decide to form a new government. Our party urges him to resign,” said Prakash Saran Mahat, spokesperson for the Nepali Congress, the largest in the House of Representatives, Xinhua news agency reported.

A day earlier, the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) (CPN-UML), the second largest in the lower house, asked Dahal to resign by Wednesday evening to clear the way for the formation of a “national consensus government,” threatening to quit the coalition government and withdraw its support if the prime minister refuses to do so.

At a meeting on Wednesday, the Nepali Congress also endorsed the agreement reached on Monday night with the CPN-UML about the formation of a new coalition government.

Under the deal, CPN-UML’s Chairman and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli shall assume the premiership first and then hand it over to Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba until the general election in 2027.

“The Oli-led government will be formed first. Our party president will lead the next government,” Mahat told Xinhua.

As chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center), Dahal became the head of a coalition government in December 2022 as the general election in November produced no majority party in the lower house, and he has formed alliances with both the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML ever since.

The CPN (Maoist Center) announced on Tuesday that Dahal would not resign from his post but rather seek a vote of confidence in the lower house.

–IANS

int/svn

Seoul, July 3 (IANS) South Korea’s top nuclear envoy discussed the deepening military cooperation between North Korea and Russia in meetings on Korean Peninsula issues with foreign diplomats in Seoul, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Lee Jun-il, director general for Korean Peninsula policy, invited the ambassadors and diplomats from 30 countries to two separate roundtable sessions on North Korean issues on Monday and Wednesday, the ministry said, Yonhap news agency reported.

The participating countries either have a diplomatic presence in North Korea, or have their top envoys to Seoul double as their ambassadors to Pyongyang.

They include Guatemala, Norway, Denmark, Laos, Bulgaria, Brazil, Spain, the Czech Republic, France and Australia, as well as the European Union.

Lee stressed at the meetings that the closer ties between Moscow and Pyongyang clearly demonstrate how security in Asia is closely linked to that in Europe, and called for the international community to sternly deal with the potential threats posed by their relationship.

As North Korea continues to threaten the South with missile launches, and lately with the GPS signal jamming and the sending of trash-carrying balloons across the border, South Korea will firmly deal with any future provocations by the North, the ministry quoted Lee as telling the groups.

The diplomats shared the understanding that countries need to send a strong message to the North about the potential threats posed by its cooperation with Russia, urging Pyongyang to stop acts that raise tensions, the ministry said.

–IANS

int/svn