Rangers raid in Nazimabad, 11 suspects detained

KARACHI: Rangers detained 11 suspects during a raid in Karachi’s Nazimabad area on Sunday.

According to sources, the suspects belong to a religious political party and the paramilitary force has recovered arms and ammunition from their possession.

The Rangers spokesperson adds that an investigation is underway.

Rescuers scour sea for 11 missing in Hong Kong ship sinking

HONG KONG: An air and sea rescue mission scoured choppy waters near Hong Kong Tuesday in a desperate search for 11 crew still missing more than 24 hours after their Chinese cargo ship sank.

The Zhong Xing 2, which was laden with cement, went down after colliding with a container ship in the early hours of Monday just south of the island of Po Toi, on the edge of Hong Kong´s maritime territory.

A 46-year-old mainland Chinese crewman is so far the sole survivor of the ship´s crew of 12 -- he was plucked from the sea by a passing fishing boat.

Chinese authorities are coordinating the rescue operation, sending 15 ships and three helicopters to hunt for the missing crew, according to China´s official state news agency Xinhua.

Hong Kong also deployed a helicopter and eight rescue boats, but rescue efforts have so far been in vain.

"We are still trying to find the wreckage and the missing 11 persons," a Hong Kong government spokesman told.

The cause of the accident is not yet known and is under investigation, he said.

The 97-metre (318 feet) Zhong Xing 2, which was carrying cement from the Chinese province of Hebei to the southern island of Hainan, collided with the Marshall Islands-registered MOL Motivator container ship -- more than three times its size.

The cargo ship sank two nautical miles (around four kilometres) south-west of Po Toi.

Fears over the safety of Hong Kong´s waterways were sparked after a ferry crash in October 2012 that killed 39 -- the city´s worst maritime disaster for more than 40 years. The collision between a high-speed ferry and a pleasure boat shocked the Asian financial hub, which prides itself on its good safety record.

Waters around the territory are notoriously crowded with hundreds of vessels -- from tiny wooden fishing boats to gigantic container ships -- plying the routes to and from one of the world´s busiest ports. In other major incidents, a 190-metre long cargo ship sank 80 kilometres (50 miles) south-west of Hong Kong in August 2013, when a powerful typhoon generated towering waves.

The 21-member crew of the bulk carrier Trans Summer were forced to abandon ship as the vessel tipped on its side and sank, triggering a rescue by two helicopter teams and a passing ship.

In November of the same year, a high-speed double-deck hydrofoil ferry travelling from Hong Kong to Macau collided with an "unidentified object", injuring 87 people.

11 killed in south China bridge collapse

BEIJING: A stone arch bridge under illegal construction in a village in southern China collapsed, killing 11 people and injuring several others, state media and an official said Sunday.

Rescuers pulled out 26 people, mostly construction workers, after the bridge came down Saturday afternoon in Liangkengkou village in Guangdong province, according to an official at the information office of Maoming city government.

Five of them were confirmed dead at the scene. Eight others were seriously injured, six of whom died later in the hospital, said the man, who refused to give his name, as is common with Chinese officials. One person managed to escape the bridge collapse, he said.

He said that the village committee had arranged to build a new bridge over a waterless ditch, but failed to get permission. The local government ordered construction to stop several times, but villagers took advantage of the three-day May Day holiday from Thursday to Saturday to restart the work.

The Maoming government official said three people responsible for the project were in police custody. The village committee could not be reached Sunday. Photos on state media showed a steep slope with dozens of tumbled stones and planks of fallen wood, which had been used as scaffolding.

Saudi announces 11 new MERS infections

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced 11 new cases of MERS, including a 13-year-old child, as its acting health minister vowed to keep the public better informed about the coronavirus.

The new cases bring to 272 the total number of MERS infections, including 81 deaths, registered across the kingdom -- worst hit by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome which was first detected in eastern Saudi Arabia in September 2012.

Most of the latest cases are in Riyadh and the commercial hub Jeddah, with one case in the holy city Makka, visited each year by millions of pilgrims from around the world.

Three of the new infections were of health workers, while a 13-year-old Saudi girl is among cases recorded in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

A spike in MERS cases and public fears prompted the Gulf state to dismiss its health minister, Abdullah al-Rabiah, on Monday without an official explanation.

Rabiah last week visited hospitals in Jeddah to calm a public hit by panic over the spread of the virus among medical staff that triggered the temporary closure of the city´s King Fahd Hospital emergency room.

Labour Minister Adel Fakieh, who has taken over as acting health minister, said on Twitter late Tuesday that he had visited the Jeddah hospital.

Fakieh promised "transparency and to promptly provide the media and society with the information needed" on the virus.

At least four doctors at King Fahd Hospital reportedly resigned last week after refusing to treat MERS patients.

The virus is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus which erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

Experts are still struggling to understand MERS, for which there is no known vaccine.

A recent study said the virus has been "extraordinarily common" in camels for at least 20 years, and it may have been passed directly from the animals to humans.

The World Health Organisation said it had been informed of 253 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS infection worldwide, of which 93 had been fatal.

The WHO in a statement issued in Cairo on Wednesday expressed concern about the rising number of cases, especially in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Its Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said it has offered to help Saudi Arabia and the UAE investigate the current outbreaks "in order to determine the transmission chain of this recent cluster". (AFP)

Saudi announces 11 new MERS infections

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced 11 new cases of MERS, including a 13-year-old child, as its acting health minister vowed to keep the public better informed about the coronavirus.

The new cases bring to 272 the total number of MERS infections, including 81 deaths, registered across the kingdom -- worst hit by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome which was first detected in eastern Saudi Arabia in September 2012.

Most of the latest cases are in Riyadh and the commercial hub Jeddah, with one case in the holy city Makka, visited each year by millions of pilgrims from around the world.

Three of the new infections were of health workers, while a 13-year-old Saudi girl is among cases recorded in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

A spike in MERS cases and public fears prompted the Gulf state to dismiss its health minister, Abdullah al-Rabiah, on Monday without an official explanation.

Rabiah last week visited hospitals in Jeddah to calm a public hit by panic over the spread of the virus among medical staff that triggered the temporary closure of the city´s King Fahd Hospital emergency room.

Labour Minister Adel Fakieh, who has taken over as acting health minister, said on Twitter late Tuesday that he had visited the Jeddah hospital.

Fakieh promised "transparency and to promptly provide the media and society with the information needed" on the virus.

At least four doctors at King Fahd Hospital reportedly resigned last week after refusing to treat MERS patients.

The virus is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus which erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

Experts are still struggling to understand MERS, for which there is no known vaccine.

A recent study said the virus has been "extraordinarily common" in camels for at least 20 years, and it may have been passed directly from the animals to humans.

The World Health Organisation said it had been informed of 253 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS infection worldwide, of which 93 had been fatal.

The WHO in a statement issued in Cairo on Wednesday expressed concern about the rising number of cases, especially in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Its Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said it has offered to help Saudi Arabia and the UAE investigate the current outbreaks "in order to determine the transmission chain of this recent cluster". (AFP)

Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin separate after 11 years of marriage

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, 41, and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, 37, have called it quits after 10 years of marriage.

The couple, currently holidaying in Bahamas with their kids -- Apple, 10, and Moses, seven, announced their separation, bizarrely calling it 'Conscious uncoupling,' on Paltrow's lifestyle website Goop a few hours ago.

Here's what the official announcement says:

It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate.

We have been working hard for well over a year, some of it together, some of it separated, to see what might have been possible between us, and we have come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much we will remain separate.

We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been.

We are parents first and foremost, to two incredibly wonderful children and we ask for their and our space and privacy to be respected at this difficult time.

We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and coparent, we will be able to continue in the same manner.

Love,

Gwyneth & Chris

Musharraf not to appear in court on March 11

ISLAMABAD: Former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf lawyer, Ahmed Raza Kasuri says his client will not appear before the special court on Tuesday (March 11).

Kasuri said his client would not appear until the court provided fool-proof security.

Earlier, the interior ministry had written a letter to intelligence agencies and police outlining threats to the former president. The letter stated that Musharraf had received threats from terrorist groups and maybe attacked on his way to the court.