MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — A fire at an Indonesian retirement home killed 16 residents on Sunday evening, police said.
The fire in the single-story house in Manado in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi Province started while the residents were asleep, police said Monday.
Several people living near the nursing home saw smoke billowing around 8 p.m. Neighbors reportedly helped rescue several occupants.
“The team on the ground has confirmed that the death toll currently is 16," North Sulawesi police spokesperson Alamsyah Hasibuan said. "Fifteen of them were burned to death, while one victim’s body remains intact."
Firefighters with six trucks needed more than two hours to extinguish the blaze after nearby residents reported the fire to emergency services, officials said.
There were 15 survivors who were treated at local hospitals in Manado City, Hasibuan said.
The bodies of victims were taken to the police hospital in Manado for identification with the assistance of families, officials said.
Television reports Sunday showed bright flames casting an orange glow and filling the night air with smoke. Body bags were lined up outside the retirement home.
An initial police report said an electrical fault caused the fire but officials later said the cause was still under investigation.
Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
In this photo released by North Sulawesi Regional Police on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, body bags containing victims of a fire at a nursing home in Manado, North Sulawesi province, Indonesia. (North Sulawesi Regional Police via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Monday commuted to Cheong Wa Dae, the country’s traditional presidential palace, for the first time since taking office in June, more than three years after his ousted predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol moved the presidential office to the Defense Ministry compound.
It was the first time a president had commuted to Cheong Wa Dae since May 9, 2022, the final day of former President Moon Jae-in’s term, before Yoon began his presidency working out of a converted Defense Ministry building. Following the relocation, Yoon opened parts of Cheong Wa Dae to the public as a tourist site, which drew millions of visitors.
Lee, who won a snap presidential election in June following Yoon’s removal over a brief declaration of martial law in December 2024, spent weeks relocating the presidential office back to Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, as he seeks to erase the legacy of his now-jailed predecessor.
Cheong Wa Dae is nestled on the lower slopes of a mountain in northern Seoul, occupying about 250,000 square meters (62 acres) behind the historic Gyeongbokgung Palace. The site, which has undergone several renovations over the decades, has served primarily as the country’s presidential office since the government’s founding following independence from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II.
Ahead of Lee’s commute, officials raised a presidential flag featuring two phoenixes at Cheong Wa Dae at midnight, marking the palace’s return as the official presidential office. Guards saluted as Lee’s motorcade passed the compound gates, as dozens of supporters nearby waved the South Korean flag and chanted his name.
Lee’s office later released a video of him holding a tea meeting with senior aides in one of Cheong Wa Dae’s rooms.
He later inspected Cheong Wa Dae’s National Crisis Management Center, an underground bunker for security and disaster response coordination that was refurbished ahead of his return, and carried out his first approval at the palace by formally accepting Benin’s ambassador-designate to South Korea, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said.
Lee also issued a statement expressing sympathy to the families of the 179 people killed in a Jeju Air crash a year ago in the coastal town of Muan, urging officials involved in the fact-finding investigation to fully establish the cause of the accident.
Lee’s office said he will commute from the current presidential residence in another part of Seoul until it is moved back to Cheong Wa Dae at an unspecified date.
Arguing that the hillside Cheong Wa Dae was too isolated from the public, Yoon reportedly spent about $40 million relocating the presidential office to several buildings at the Defense Ministry compound in Yongsan in central Seoul, dismissing concerns over security and costs and claiming the move would make his presidency more democratic.
Yoon, a staunch conservative, later triggered the country’s deepest democratic crisis in decades when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, during a standoff with Lee’s liberal Democratic Party, which controlled the legislature and obstructed much of his policy agenda.
Martial law lasted only hours, after a quorum of lawmakers broke through a military blockade and voted to lift the measure. Yoon was impeached later that month, removed from office in April by a Constitutional Court ruling and re-arrested in July. He now faces serious criminal charges, including rebellion, which carries a possible life sentence or the death penalty.
A general view of South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House in Seoul Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)
A general view of Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, is seen in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Lee Jung-hun/Yonhap via AP)
A general view of Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, is seen in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Kim Do-hun/Yonhap via AP)
South Korea's National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, right, talks with Chief Security of National Policy Kim Yongbeom as they wait of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's arrival at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, left, arrives at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 as Lee marked his first official day at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday after three years and seven months since the Yoon Seok-yeol government moved the presidential office to Yongsan in May 2022. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center, arrives at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 as Lee marked his first official day at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday after three years and seven months since the Yoon Seok-yeol government moved the presidential office to Yongsan in May 2022. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, center, arrives at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House in Seoul, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025 as Lee marked his first official day at Cheong Wa Dae on Monday after three years and seven months since the Yoon Seok-yeol government moved the presidential office to Yongsan in May 2022. (Jeoon Heon-Kyun/Pool Photo via AP)
