Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday officially opened the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge that connects mainland China with Hong Kong and Macau, during a ceremony in the city of Zhuhai.

The $20 billion mega-project includes with a 55 km road bridge that has been in the works for almost nine years, CNN reported.

It’s a key element of China’s plan for a Greater Bay Area covering 56,500 sq.km of southern China, and encompassing 11 cities, including Hong Kong and Macau, that are home to a combined 68 million people.

Proponents of the bridge have said that it will significantly cut journey times between the cities, enabling commuters and tourists to easily move around the region.

However, private car owners in Hong Kong will not be able to cross the bridge without a special permit.

Most drivers will have to park at the Hong Kong port, switching to a shuttle bus or special hire cars once they are through immigration.

Shuttle buses will cost between $8 to $10 for a single trip depending on the time of day.

Built to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake, a super typhoon and strikes by super-sized cargo vessels, the bridge incorporates 400,000 tonnes of steel — 4.5 times the amount in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, CNN said.

It also includes a 6.7 km submerged tunnel to help it avoid the busy shipping paths over the Pearl River Delta.

The tunnel runs between two artificial islands, each measuring 100,000 sq.metres and situated in relatively shallow waters.

IANS

Authorities in Nigeria have deployed special police forces to northern Kaduna and declared a 24-hour curfew in the state’s capital following communal violence that killed dozens of people.

President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the deployment on Sunday, as the regional government imposed the measure in Kaduna city after violence broke out on its streets.

The clashes followed violence that broke out on Thursday between Muslim and Christian communities in the Kasuwan Magani area of southern Kaduna which left at least 55 people dead.

“The violence in Kaduna … is condemnable. The police have been authorised to do everything possible to restore calm. A Special Intervention Force has been deployed to the flashpoints,” Buhari said on Twitter.

“The federal government and its law enforcement agencies will work with the state government and community leaders to ensure the full restoration of peace and security,” Buhari said in another message.

Local people, who described unrest in both Christian and Muslim areas of the state capital, said troops were also seen on the city’s streets.

A spokesperson for Governor Nasir El-Rufai, in a statement on Facebook, appealed to the city’s residents to “do their best to uphold the peace”.

Ahmad Abdur-Rahman, the state police commissioner, told reporters on Friday that 22 people had been arrested in connection with the clashes.

Kaduna was plunged into communal violence after fighting erupted between Hausa Muslim and Adara Christian youths in Kasuwan Magani’s market following a dispute among wheelbarrow porters.

Two people were said to have been killed in the initial market fracas on Thursday.

The violence then dramatically escalated when Adara youths later attacked Hausa residents, burning homes and killing dozens.

“Most of the killings were done in the second attack which took the Hausa community off guard,” Muhammadu Bala, a Kasuwan Magani resident who lost his home, told AFP news agency over the weekend.

Kaduna state is where Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south and has seen previous bouts of communal violence.

In February, clashes left at least 10 people dead and hundreds of homes and businesses burned. Major bouts of sectarian rioting in 2000 and 2002 killed thousands.

Last year, troops and additional police officers were deployed to the state in response to an outbreak of violence.

Aljazeera

India on Monday described as “deeply regrettable” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s remarks on Twitter in which he condemned “the new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris” in Jammu and Kahsmir.

“The remarks made by Pakistan’s Prime Minister in his tweet today (Monday) are deeply regrettable,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries from the media.

“Instead of making comments on India’s internal affairs, Pakistan leadership should look inwards and address its own issues,” Kumar said.

“Pakistan would serve the interest of the people of the region by taking credible action against all kind of support to terrorism and terror infrastructure from all territories under its control rather than supporting and glorifying terrorists and terror activities against India and its other neighbours.”

Kumar also said Pakistan’s “deceitful stand on dialogue, while supporting terror and violence, stands exposed to the whole world”.

Khan in a tweet earlier in the day said: “Strongly condemn the new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris… by Indian security forces. It is time India realise it must move to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”

His remarks came after seven civilians were killed in an explosion in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Sunday shortly after a gunfight that had left three militants dead.

Lima Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, visiting Peru in her capacity as special envoy of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), has met with Venezuelan migrants at a shelter in Lima run by volunteers.

It was her first official activity on Monday as the filmmaker launched her three-day mission to evaluate the needs of the Venezuelan refugees “and observe Peru’s generous response,” the UN High Commissioner of Refugees said in a statement.

Jolie went to working-class San Juan de Lurigancho neighbourhood here to visit the Sin Fronteras (Without Borders) shelter, which opened more than a year ago to provide lodging and food for Venezuelans fleeing economic crisis in their homeland, Efe news reported.

Videos posted on social media showed Jolie chatting with the migrants.

Peru has received 4,56,000 Venezuelans in the past 18 months, second only to Colombia.

(IANS)