Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1000 GMT, Jan. 26

SEOUL -- A fire at a hospital in southeast South Korea killed at least 37 people and injured dozens of others, raising concern about public safety, local media reports said Friday citing police and firefighting authorities.

The death toll from the fire, which gutted Sejong Hospital in the Miryang city, some 390 km southeast of the capital Seoul, surged to 39 as of 1:10 p.m. local time (0410 GMT), chief of the Miryang firefighting authorities told a press briefing. It was later revised down to 37 as some deaths were counted twice. (South Korea-Fire)

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NEW DELHI -- The Indian railway ministry has urged people in the country to avoid taking selfies and making stunts near railway tracks, officials said Friday.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in a message urged people to avoid such acts saying that he was disheartened by the accidents happened while taking selfies and stunts in the last few days. (India-Railway Safety)

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ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistani security forces seized a huge cache of weapons and explosives in northwest tribal region of Orakzai Agency on Friday, local media reported.

According to the reports, the security forces conducted an operation on a secret information and raided a house in the lower part of Orakzai Agency, one of Pakistan's seven mountainous tribal regions located near the Pakistani-Afghan border. (Pakistan-Weapons Cache)

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TOKYO -- Japan deployed its first F-35A stealth fighter on Friday at the Misawa Air Base in Aomori Prefecture in the country's northeast, according to the defense ministry here.

The deployment of the next-generation fighter marks the beginning of the formation of an Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) squadron comprising 10 of the jets at the base from the next fiscal year starting in April, the defense ministry said. (Japan-F-35A Stealth Fighter) Enditem