Saudi Arabia Hospital Fire Leaves 25 Dead, 123 Injured

RIYADH - At least 25 people died and 123 were injured on Thursday in a fire at the General Hospital of Jazan in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, Saudi civil defense authorities said in a statement.

The spokesman of this agency in Jazan, Yahya al-Qahtany said in a note that the fire broke out on the first floor of the intensive care unit and the maternity ward.

The official, who did not specify the cause of the accident, said a total of 21 firefighters and medical teams were involved in efforts to extinguish the blaze and rescue the victims.

Civil defense teams evacuated patients from the hospital to nearby medical centers.

"Jazan hospital accident is now over and investigation is underway to find out its reasons," the civil agency said in its latest tweet

U.S. Secret Service Agent's car broken into ?

WASHINGTON - A U.S. Secret Service agent from the Presidential Protective Division that looks after the security of the President, was robbed of his gun, badge, radio, handcuffs and a USB flash drive in Washington, not far from the headquarters of the agency, reported CNN, citing unnamed sources and a police report.

The theft took place Monday in broad daylight, and from the agent's car, which he had parked on a street in central Washington.

When he returned to his car, the agent noticed the rear window of his vehicle was open, while several items, including a Sig Sauer handgun, an APX6000 radio, handcuffs, a USB flash drive, a Patagonia bag and a Secret Service badge numbered 1266, were missing.

The incident adds to the string of scandals and security lapses that has hit the Secret Service in the last few years leading to the resignation of its director Julia Pierson and dismissal of four other top officials.

One of the most notorious scandals to have hit the law enforcement agency's reputation was in 2012 when 12 Secret Service agents hired prostitutes ahead of Obama's visit to Cartagena, Colombia, for the Summit of the Americas.

The unease caused by these incidents was further aggravated when, for the first time, an armed individual had breached security and entered the White House on Sept. 19 2013. 

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59 Missing in China Landslide

BEIJING – Fifty-nine people are missing in a landslide that struck an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Xinhua had previously reported 41 people missing in the landslide that buried 33 residential and industrial buildings in the Liuxi industrial park, later revising those figures downward to 27, but then upping the total to 59. Three other people were slightly injured.

At least 900 local residents were evacuated, the news agency said.

The landslide was followed by a gas pipeline explosion that scattered debris over some 100,000 square meters (about 25 acres), Xinhua said.

“I saw a bunch of red earth and mud moving toward the (buildings),” one of the industrial park employees told Xinhua.

Another eyewitness told the local daily Shenzhen Evening News that he saw the van his father was driving buried by the earth and mud and no sign has been found of either the vehicle or his father.

More than 1,500 emergency workers are participating in rescue operations, looking for survivors among the debris, with the help of some 100 fire trucks, 4 drones and 13 search dogs, although they are being hampered by rain, mud and poor night visibility.

Emergency officials said that possible signs of life had been detected in three spots underneath the debris.

Among the buildings buried in the tragedy were two dormitories for workers at the industrial park, the state-run CCTV television network reported.

Ren Jiguang, the assistant director of the Shenzhen public safety office, told CCTV that most of the evacuated people had been transferred to safe areas.

The Beijing Youth Daily newspaper quoted a local resident who said that the landslide was caused by construction activity and that the earth that gave way had been accumulating at the site over the past two years.

Shenzhen is a prosperous industrial city with four border crossing points providing access to neighboring Hong Kong.