News in Brief -2024-11-02

Schoolgirls, policeman among five killed
in roadside blast in Pakistan
QUETTA, Nov 01: At least five people, including three schoolgirls and a policeman, were killed in a roadside blast in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Friday morning, police said, in the latest incident of violence to hit the restive region. The blast appeared to target a police van passing by a girls school in the Mastung district of the province, according to police and local administration officials. Fateh Baloch, in-charge of the Mastung police station, said the police mobile van came under attack when it was on a routine patrol on Friday morning. "Five people, including a police constable and three minor schoolgirls, were killed and 13 others injured in the blast," Baloch said. — Arab News
Eight dead as huge fire engulfs cooking
oil factory near Jakarta
JAKARTA, Nov 01: Eight people died in a large fire at a cooking oil factory near the Indonesian capital Jakarta, local fire authorities said on Friday. Around 20 firefighting trucks are at the site and have contained the blaze in most areas of the factory, authorities said. Footage from Metro TV showed flames and billowing black smoke coming out of a building in the centre of an industrial complex in Bekasi, a city on Jakarta's eastern edge. The report said roads had been closed around the factory. — Arab News
Urgent need for South Sudan food aid: WFP
NAIROBI, Nov 01: The UN World Food Programme made an urgent appeal Friday for donors to provide early funding for South Sudan, where millions are on the brink of starvation. WFP said its stores of food supplies in South Sudan were empty and that it needed $404 million to prepare assistance for 2025 amid "spiralling operational costs and hunger". Without early funding, WFP said it would have to rely on expensive airdrops later in the year to reach isolated communities who are most at risk. — AFP