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Hotel fire in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore leaves 3 dead, 8 others injured

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A fire in the basement of a hotel in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Saturday killed at least three people and injured eight others, rescue officials said.

About 180 guests and staff were evacuated when the blaze broke out at the Indigo Hotel, the Punjab Emergency Services said in a statement. The search and rescue operation has been completed and the fire extinguished, it added.

Fire officers are investigating whether a gas leak was the cause.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif wrote on X that she is personally monitoring the situation following the incident in the Gulberg neighborhood of the city.

A fire last week at a shopping mall in Karachi killed 71 people.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

By WTOP Staff
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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