Beijing - Twenty-one people are feared dead after a cave-in at a tunnel under construction for a subway line in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, state media said on Sunday. 

Rescuers had recovered three bodies by Sunday morning and held little hope of finding 18 missing construction workers alive, the official Xinhua news agency said. 

"There is a slim chance for the survival of trapped workers, because of heavy flooding in the crater," the agency quoted Wang Guangrong, a spokesman for the rescue services, as saying. 

The water in the hole left by the cave-in had fallen to about 3 metres after reaching 6 metres on Saturday, Wang said. 

London, November 16 : Rapper Kanye West has revealed that his new album ‘808s & Heartbreak’ has been inspired from all that he suffered following his mum’s death.

The ten-time Grammy Award-winner in a newspaper interview revealed that his latest album bore the marks of his personal loss – the agony of losing his mum.

London, November 16 : Cheryl Cole is fuming over her fellow ‘X-Factor’ judges, because she believes that they are targeting her to knock down her ‘star of the show’ status, according to a source.

The ‘Girls Aloud’ singer, who became a judge on the British reality TV show this year only, is said to be mad at ‘jealous’ Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue who she believes are trying to show her ‘who’s the boss’. Say reports. 

Sofia - Officials in Sofia ordered checks on buildings Sunday after two small earthquakes jolted the Bulgarian capital overnight, causing minor damage but no casualties. 

Some 2,000 worried residents called an emergency number for advice after the quakes measuring 4 and 3.5 on the Richter scale struck on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. 

The capital lies in an area at risk from earth tremors. Many buildings in the city have been converted to restaurants and business premises in recent years, raising fears about their safety. 

Baghdad - The Iraqi cabinet on Sunday unanimously approved the final version of a security pact with the United States, al- Jazeera network reported. 

The pact, known as the Status of Forces Agreement, would establish a legal basis for the presence of US soldiers in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires at end of this year. 

The draft agreement includes 31 articles and calls for US troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by June 2009 and from the entire country by the end of 2011. 

Islamabad, Nov 16 : Following the recent kidnappings of Japanese and Canadian journalists and threatening phone calls to a local TV journalist, Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Sherry Rehman has said that journalists’ safety was important for the country’s government.

She assured journalists of government’s support in the face of threats from extremists. 

“The safety and security of journalists is an important priority with the government, as we are committed to a media environment free from a culture of threats and intimidation,” the Daily Times quoted Sherry as saying in a press release.