A five-storey building collapsed in Pakistan on Friday, killing at least eight people and injuring nine others, officials said, with rescuers searching through the rubble for more trapped victims.The incident happened shortly after 10:00 am (0500 GMT) in the impoverished Lyari neighbourhood of Karachi, which was once plagued by gang violence and considered one of the most dangerous areas in Pakistan. Up to 100 people had been living in the building, senior police officer Arif Aziz told AFP. Shankar Kamho, 30, a resident of the building who was out at the time, said around 20 families were living inside.”I got a call from my wife saying the building was cracking and I told her to get out immediately,” he told AFP at the scene.”She went to warn the neighbours, but one woman told her ‘this building will stand for at least 10 more years’. Still, my wife took our daughter and left. About 20 minutes later, the building collapsed.” The Sindh provincial health department said the death toll had risen to eight killed and nine injured late Friday.The search for survivors continued into the night, with relatives gathered near the site waiting for news. Saad Edhi, of the Edhi welfare foundation that is part of the rescue operation, told AFP there could be “at least eight to 10 more people still trapped”, describing it as a “worn-out building”.- Race against time -Nearby residents rushed to save their neighbours before rescuers took over to remove the rubble, along with at least five excavators.The heavy machinery struggled to access the narrow alleys, and police baton-charged residents to clear the way.All six family members of 70-year-old Jumho Maheshwari were at his flat on the first floor when he left for work early in the morning.”Nothing is left for me now — my family is all trapped and all I can do is pray for their safe recovery,” he told AFP.Another resident, Maya Sham Jee, said her brother’s family was also trapped under the rubble.”It’s a tragedy for us. The world has been changed for our family,” she told AFP.”We are helpless and just looking at the rescue workers to bring our loved ones back safely.”In June 2020, at least 18 people were killed when a residential building housing about 40 apartments collapsed in the same area of the city.Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and shoddy construction materials in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.But Karachi, home to more than 20 million, is especially notorious for poor construction, illegal extensions, ageing infrastructure, overcrowding, and lax enforcement of building regulations.

Jamie Smith made the highest Test score by an England wicketkeeper of 184 not out and Harry Brook passed 150 again but India still ended Friday’s third day of the second Test at Edgbaston with a lead of over 200 runs.England were in dire straits at 84-5, more than 500 runs behind, when Smith joined forces with Brook in just the second over of the day’s play.They came together after Mohammed Siraj had taken two wickets in two balls, including removing Ben Stokes for the first golden duck of the England captain’s Test career.  But England’s sixth-wicket duo went on to add 303 runs before Brook fell for 158.And by the time England were dismissed for 407, Smith had surpassed Surrey mentor Alec Stewart’s previous highest Test score by an England wicketkeeper of 173 against New Zealand at Auckland in 1997.But the new ball proved England’s undoing for the second time in the match as they lost their last five wickets for 20 runs. Siraj (6-70) and fellow paceman Akash Deep (4-88), in for the rested Jasprit Bumrah, did the damage between them in an England innings featuring six ducks. India, looking to level the series after last week’s five-wicket loss in the first Test at Headingley, led by 180 runs on first innings, with captain Shubman Gill’s superb 269 the cornerstone of their 587 all out.And they had extended that advantage to 244 runs at the close, with India 64-1 in their second innings after gifted left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose 28 featured six fours, was lbw to fast bowler Josh Tongue.A rueful Brook told Sky Sports: “Up until I got out I felt like we were almost clawing it back, but our tail had a collapse, as we saw with them (India).”Smith’s hundred was just the second of his 12-Test career following the 24-year-old’s 111 against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford last year and Brook forecast a glittering future for his team-mate.- ‘Phenomenal’ -“It was good to spend some time out there with Smudge (Smith), he’s got a long career ahead with England and he’s a phenomenal player,” said Brook.England resumed on 77-3, with Joe Root and Brook — the world’s two top-ranked Test batsmen — 18 not out and 30 not out.But Root soon glanced fast bowler Siraj to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.Next ball, Stokes was undone by a superb rising delivery from Siraj that he edged behind, reducing England to 84-5.Smith, however, survived the hat-trick by straight-driving Siraj for four.It was the start of a blistering 80-ball hundred that included 14 fours and three sixes as Smith joined a select group of batsmen to have made 100 runs before lunch in a session of Test cricket.India had rested Bumrah, the world’s number one ranked Test bowler, in order to protect the fast bowler’s fitness in a series where he is expected to feature in just three out of five matches.But in his absence, Smith smashed 22 runs in a single over from paceman Prasidh Krishna, including a six and four fours.Smith, showing no obvious ill effects from the strain of keeping wicket for 151 overs struck consecutive fours off experienced left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja in the last over before lunch to complete an astounding century.Brook, 91 not out at the interval went to a hundred after giving his wicket away on 99 in the first Test and went on to exceed 150 for the fifth time in his nine hundreds at this level.But Deep eventually broke through with the new ball by bowling Brook with a fine delivery that darted back off the seam. Deep also removed Chris Woakes for five on the Warwickshire all-rounder’s home ground. He had previously reduced England to 13-2 by dismissing Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks.Smith smashed Deep for six over long-on to raise England’s 400 but Siraj cleaned up the tail as Brydon Carse, Tongue and Shoaib Bashir failed to manage a run between them.

The BRICS nations will convene for a summit in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and Monday, with members hoping to weigh in on global crises while tiptoeing around US President Donald Trump’s policies.The city, with beefed-up security, will play host to leaders and diplomats from 11 emerging economies including China, India, Russia, South Africa and host Brazil, which represent nearly half of the world’s population and 40 percent of its GDP. Brazil’s left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will have to navigate the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will miss the summit for the first time.Beijing will instead be represented by Premier Li Qiang.Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is facing a pending International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, will not travel to Brazil, but is set to participate via video link, according to the Kremlin.Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, fresh from a 12-day conflict with Israel and a skirmish with the United States, will also be absent, as will his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a Brazilian government source told AFP.Tensions in the Middle East, including Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, will weigh on the summit, as well as the grim anticipation of tariffs threatened by Trump and due next week.Trump said that starting Friday, his administration would send countries letters stating their tariff levels, as negotiations to avoid higher US levies enter the final stretch.- ‘Cautious’ -“We’re anticipating a summit with a cautious tone: it will be difficult to mention the United States by name in the final declaration,” Marta Fernandez, director of the BRICS Policy Center at Rio’s Pontifical Catholic University, told AFP.China, for example, “is trying to adopt a restrained position on the Middle East,” Fernandez said, pointing out that Beijing was also in tricky tariff negotiations with Washington.”This doesn’t seem to be the right time to provoke further friction” between the world’s two leading economies, the researcher said.BRICS members did not issue a strong statement on the Iran-Israel conflict and subsequent US military strikes due to their “diverging” interests, according to Oliver Stuenkel, a professor of international relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.Brazil nevertheless hopes that countries can take a common stand at the summit, including on the most sensitive issues.”BRICS (countries), throughout their history, have managed to speak with one voice on major international issues, and there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be the case this time on the subject of the Middle East,” Brazil’s Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira told AFP.Lula on Friday again defended the idea of finding an alternative to the dollar for trade among BRICS nations.”I know it is complicated. There are political problems,” Lula said at a BRICS banking event. “But if we do not find a new formula, we are going to finish the 21st century the way we started the 20th.”- ‘Multilateralism’ -However, talks on this idea are likely dead in the water.For Fernandez, it is almost “forbidden” to mention the idea within the group since Trump threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on countries that challenge the dollar’s international dominance.Brazil, which later this year will host the COP30 UN climate conference, also hopes to find unity on the fight against climate change.Artificial intelligence and global governance reform will also be on the menu.”The escalation of the Middle East conflict reinforces the urgency of the debate on the need to reform global governance and strengthen multilateralism,” said foreign minister Vieira.Since 2023, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia have joined BRICS, formed in 2009 as a counter-balance to leading Western economies.But, as Fernandez points out, this expansion “makes it all the more difficult to build a strong consensus.”