In the World

SAUDI ARABIA

Middle East virus kills eight more

The Saudi Health Ministry said Sunday that eight more people have died after contracting a lethal Middle East virus related to SARS as the kingdom grapples with a rising number of infections.

The ministry reported the deaths in a statement on its website. It said it had detected 16 cases of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus over 24 hours.

The latest cases bring to 102 the number of people who have died after contracting the disease in Saudi Arabia since September 2012. A total of 339 cases have been recorded to date in the kingdom, which has been the site of the bulk of confirmed infections.

Among the latest dead were a child in the capital, Riyadh, and three people in the western city of Jiddah, which has seen a spike in infections in recent weeks. The ministry also reported confirmed cases in the city of Tabuk, near the border with Jordan. - AP
INDIA

Missile test-fired

India successfully test-fired an antiballistic missile Sunday capable of intercepting targets outside Earth's atmosphere, a major step in development of a missile defense system that is available to only a handful of nations. Sharing borders with nuclear-armed China and Pakistan, India is developing a two-tier missile-defense system that aims to provide a multi-layered shield against ballistic missile attack. - Reuters
SYRIA

Arms deadline

Syria appeared to have missed its own deadline for getting rid of all its chemical weapons, as the U.N. announced that more than 92 percent of the arsenal had been shipped out of the country or destroyed. The U.N. deadline for the total destruction of Syria's chemical weapons is June 30, but the government had vowed to complete the removal of its 1,300 tons of chemical substances by April 27, after missing several deadlines. - Reuters