World Briefs

Apartment fire in northeast Spain kills 5 and injures another 5

Madrid: Five people have died and five others suffered light injuries in northeastern Spain in a fire that broke out in an apartment building, regional emergency services said late Monday. The fire originated in the storage room of a five-story apartment block in Manlleu, a town of 21,000 north of Barcelona, regional authorities in Catalonia said in a statement. For reasons not yet known, the victims could not escape the attic storage room, authorities said. What caused the blaze also wasn’t yet known. The victims will be identified later Tuesday, as some of the bodies were charred.

Lunar New Year prayers & festivities usher in the Year of the Horse

Beijing: People are marking the Lunar New Year on Tuesday with prayers, fireworks and festivities. The activities ushered in the Year of the Horse, one of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, succeeding the Year of the Snake. The Lunar New Year is the most important annual holiday in China and some other East Asian nations and is celebrated outside the region, too.Temple crowds at midnight in Hong Kong Incense smoke wafted into the air at a temple in Hong Kong where people line up every year to make wishes for the new year at midnight. Holding up a cluster of incense sticks, many bowed their heads several times before planting the sticks in containers placed in front of a temple hall.