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(Media 92 News)
Waziristan: Six women were killed in a flash flood in South Waziristan’s Toi Khullah district on Saturday.

According to DCO Ameer Nawaz, the car carrying the wedding party comprising women and children was caught in a flash flood in the district.

He added, bodies of the six women have been recovered, while a woman, three children and the driver of the car have been rescued.

Five children have been shifted to Civil Hospital’s burns ward. Photo: Geo News screengrab

KARACHI: Multiple children suffered burns on Saturday as their school van caught fire near the metropolis’ Orangi Town area.

Fourteen children were in the van when it caught fire near Qatar Hospital in Orangi Town, police said.

Six children were brought to Civil Hospital burns ward while others were treated at Qatar Hospital. The children are said to be aged between seven to 10 years.

“Of the six children brought Civil Hospital burns ward, four were sent home after being given immediate treatment and two have been admitted. The two children who have been admitted suffered severe burns but are out of danger,” said Dr Ahmer, incharge of the burns centre.

Eyewitnesses said the van got stuck in mud after the last child was pick from his house near Qatar Hospital. “Some children and the driver were trying to push the van when it suddenly caught fire. The children sitting in the van at the time suffered burns,” eyewitnesses added.

The van driver and residents of the area shifted the children to nearby Qatar Hospital.

As per initial reports, there was a short circuit in the van which led to it catching fire. Police have ruled out that the fire was caused by a gas cylinder explosion.

“There was a LPG cylinder in the van which is in perfect condition,” police said.

KARACHI: A case is yet to be registered for the murder of former Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmaker Ali Raza Abidi who was shot dead in Karachi on Tuesday.

Police has, however, started investigations and recorded statements of Abidi’s guards.

Abidi was shot outside his residence in Khayaban-e-Ghazi neighbourhood of Defense Housing Authority (DHA).

Unknown assailants shot the former MNA as soon as he disembarked from his vehicle outside his residence. Abidi was immediately shifted to PNS Shifa Hospital in critical condition. He, however, succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

Speaking exclusively to Geo News, Abidi’s father Ikhlaq Abidi said his son sustained two bullets to his neck and one in torso. He said the assailants were riding a motorbike.

Doctors conducted a post-mortem on the deceased’s body. According to the initial report, Abidi sustained four bullets in the neck, arm and chest.

Former MQM-P MNA Ali Raza Abidi shot dead in Karachi

The closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of Abidi’s assassination showed him arriving at his residence in his car. As he pauses for the gate to open, two suspects enter the frame on a motorcycle, having chased him to his home, and stop right next to the driver’s door. One of the suspects disembarks the bike, the video clip indicates, and opens fire on Abidi, while his accomplice remains seated, with the motorcycle’s engine running.

The suspect fires multiple shots and Abidi’s car lurches in towards the car porch before halting completely, as per the video. The gunman then returns to his accomplice and both of them flee on the bike.
Target killings once again on the rise

Abidi’s death comes days after two workers of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) were gunned down in the city’s Usmania Society neighbourhood.

Prior to that, earlier this month, six people were wounded when a low-intensity blast hit a Milad gathering organised by MQM-Pakistan in Gulistan-e-Johar.
Career

Abidi was elected as a member of the National Assembly (MNA) on the MQM’s ticket in the 2013 general elections. However, he later joined the Pakistan faction of the party. He had resigned from his MNA post in November 2017 citing “political and personal reasons”.

The resignation had come days after Abidi announced to quit the MQM-P after it entered into an electoral alliance with the PSP.

Abidi, however, rejoined MQM-P in December 2017, before finally leaving the party in September this year.

DADU: At least eight people including a woman were killed and 26 injured when a passenger bus and trailer collided on Indus Highway in Sindh’s, Dadu district on Wednesday night.

According to police, the passenger bus was travelling from Larkana to Karachi when it collided with a trailer near Makhdoom Bilawal area in Dadu, resulting in eight dead and 26 injured including four women and six children.

The deceased and injured were shifted to Civil Hospital Dadu with four of the injured passengers being in a critical condition, authorities added.

Further, another critically injured passenger was shifted to Civil Hospital Hyderabad.

The police have arrested the driver of the trailer.

(Net News/ Media 92 News)ZHUHAI: China’s President Xi Jinping launched the world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China Tuesday at a time when Beijing is tightening its grip on its semi-autonomous territories.

Xi announced the bridge officially open at a ceremony also attended by Hong Kong’s and Macau’s city leaders at a new port terminal in the southern mainland city of Zhuhai.

“I declare the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge officially open,” Xi said as digital fireworks exploded on a screen behind him in an indoor ceremony, before leaving the stage immediately. He did not address the audience.

Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam had earlier spoken to thank Xi for attending in person, praising the bridge’s “magnificence”.

The 55-kilometre (34-mile) crossing, which includes a snaking road bridge and underwater tunnel, links Hong Kong’s Lantau island to Zhuhai and the gambling enclave of Macau, across the waters of the Pearl River Estuary.

It is the second major infrastructure project tying Hong Kong to mainland China to launch in a matter of weeks, after the opening of a high-speed rail link last month, and is part of a Beijing-driven strategy to create a sprawling “Greater Bay Area” economic hub.

Critics say the new multi-billion-dollar sea-bridge is one more way to integrate Hong Kong into China as fears grow that the city’s cherished freedoms are being eroded.

The mega-bridge will open to traffic on Wednesday.

Building began in 2009 and has been dogged by delays, budget overruns, corruption prosecutions and the deaths of construction workers.

The launch ceremony was hastily announced last week by mainland authorities with Hong Kong lawmakers and transport companies complaining they had been left in the dark.

Supporters of the project promote it as an engineering marvel that will also boost business and cut travel time, while others see it as a politically driven and costly white elephant.

The main bridge section is considered mainland territory and Hong Kong cars and drivers travelling over it “must comply with the laws and regulations of the mainland”, according to the city´s transport department.

‘It’s magnificent’
There was no ceremony on the Hong Kong side Tuesday, but there was a heightened police presence in coastal areas near the bridge, with officers carrying out identity checks on journalists and members of the public.

Hong Kong residents will only be granted a licence to cross into Zhuhai by car if they meet highly selective criteria, including holding certain mainland government positions or making major contributions to charities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The multi-billion-dollar bridge will open to traffic on Wednesday, a day after the ceremony. Photo: AFP
Most people will need to travel the bridge on coaches and buses.

Online commenters in Hong Kong complained about the bridge’s restricted access ahead of the launch.

“Such a huge investment using the Hong Kong taxpayer’s money… yet basically it is not open to us at all,” said one comment on the South China Morning Post website.

But residents in Zhuhai welcomed the bridge.

“I think this bridge will bring great convenience to the whole area of Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao, and promote the economic development of the whole area of the Pearl River Delta,” resident Dang Zheiliang told
Resident Can Binghua paid a visit to the bridge on his day off.

“Today I’m off duty, so I took my child to see the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Now it´s almost open to traffic. It´s magnificent,” he told AFP.

Some Hong Kong media reported that the physical condition of bus drivers would be monitored by cameras, including an alert sent if a driver yawns more than three times in 20 seconds.

China already lays claim to the record for the world’s longest bridge of any kind — the Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge, a viaduct which is part of a high-speed rail line.

The opening of the high-speed rail link last month also sparked criticism as it saw Chinese security stationed on Hong Kong soil for the first time at the city’s terminus.

Critics accused the Hong Kong government of giving away territory to an increasingly assertive Beijing.

BRASILIA: Players from Flamengo and Vasco da Gama came to the rescue of an ambulance on Saturday after the vehicle, which was transporting an injured player to hospital, refused to start.

Vasco’s Bruno Silva needed medical attention after being knocked out in the second half but after being loaded into the ambulance the vehicle was unable to leave the pitch.

With both sets of fans in the 54,000 crowd at Brasilia’s Mane Garrincha stadium howling in derision, players from both sides had to push-start the ambulance to bring it back to life.

“That’s a first,” Flamengo defender Rever told Sportv.

“What a lamentable scene. I thought the driver was kidding but he said he had turned the engine off and asked for our help. We managed to push it a little bit and it kick-started.”

In the match itself, Vasco took the lead through Andres Rios in the 27th minute with a goal that looked offside before Flamengo equalized just after the hour mark when Luiz Gustavo scored a spectacular diving header — into his own net.

Flamengo midfielder Diego was sent off 13 minutes into the second half. Vasco also finished with 10 men as they had used all three substitutes before Silva was injured.

Vasco are fourth bottom of the table while Flamengo are four points adrift of leaders Internacional, who go to Chapecoense on Monday.

Road crashes in India claim the lives of more than 150,000 people each year. Photo: AFP

Fifty people died when a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a valley in southern India on Tuesday, one of the deadliest accidents on the country’s notorious roads in recent years.

Road crashes in India claim the lives of more than 150,000 people each year. Most accidents are blamed on poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

The bus carrying 80 people was returning from the famous Hindu temple of Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy in the hilly southern state of Telangana when it skidded off the road.

Broken glass, slippers and luggage lay scattered next to lifeless bodies that were lined up at the scene, as locals pulled out survivors from the mangled vehicle.

They then carried them uphill to get medical attention.

Some rescuers climbed onto the bus and others tried to reach the injured through the front portion which was completely smashed.

“More than half of those killed were women, and there were at least three children,” local official G. Narendhar told AFP.

Broadcaster NDTV quoted witnesses as saying the driver was speeding and lost control of the vehicle. The Hindu daily said it careened off the road on a sharp corner.

“We have pulled out the bodies and we are taking them to the hospital for autopsy,” B. Rajesham, another official, told AFP.

An investigation has been ordered.

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao expressed shock and announced 500,000 rupees ($7,000) each for the families of the deceased.

Tuesday is considered an auspicious day by Hindus, and there was a heavy rush of devotees to the temple.

On July 28 a bus carrying university workers plunged off a mountain road into a valley in western India, killing 33 people.

That vehicle was taking staff from the Dapoli Agriculture University to a popular hill station in the state of Maharashtra for a picnic.

The same month 48 people were killed and many others badly injured in the north of the country when an overcrowded bus hurtled into a gorge in the Himalayan foothills.