Death does not allow her to fight . Indian gang rape girl died in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The 23-year-old victim of the brutal gang rape and assault in Delhi that had triggered an outrage across India died early this morning here after putting up a brave battle for life for nearly a fortnight.

The girl, who was admitted to the well-known multi-organ transplant facility Mount Elizabeth Hospital   in Singapore on 29th Dec 2012 Thursday morning in an extremely critical condition, breathed her last at 4:45 AM (2:15 AM India time). She was earlier treated at the Safdarjung Hospital  in Delhi.

"We are very sad to report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4.45am on 29 Dec 2012 (Singapore time)," the hospital's Chief Executive Officer Dr Kelvin Loh said in a statement.

"Her family and officials from the high commission of India were by her side. The Mount Elizabeth Hospital team of doctors, nurses and staff join her family in mourning her loss," the statement said.

The body has been moved to the mortuary in the Singapore General Hospital and will be flown back to India by a chartered plane. Accompanied by her family, the body is expected to arrive in Delhi in the night.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and a host of political leaders condoled the death of the girl and paid rich tributes to the victim of the sexual assault for her brave fight.

The girl was raped and brutally assaulted in a moving bus by six men in Delhi on December 16 and thrown out along with her companion.

Indian High Commissioner T C A Raghavan told reporters that the family was yet to decide on the plans for the last rites back home.

He said the girl fought a brave battle till the end. She was brought to Singapore for being provided good medical treatment.

The envoy "The family is shattered by this development. At the same time, they realised that best possible medical attention was given. And in the end it was the scale of injuries that proved too much for the medical attention provided to her".

He said the final few hours was a trying time for the girl's family and they bore the entire process with a great deal of fortitude and courage.

Raghavan said he has passed on the condolence message of the Prime Minister to the family in which he had spoken of the desire to make India a demonstrably better and safe place for women to live in.

Raghavan said the High Commission has received numerous messages from various quarters including the Singapore government deeply mourning the death.

He appreciated the help extended by the Singapore Foreign Ministry, the government and the Mount Elizabeth Hospital for all their support in the last two days.

Replying to questions on the shifting of the girl from Delhi to Singapore, he said consultations were held between doctors of Safdarjung hospital and Mount Elizabeth Hospital and they must have given full thought to it before taking it.

Delhi gang rape victim arrives in Singapore hospital

A female student who was gang-raped on a bus in India's capital Delhi has arrived in Singapore for better  treatment.

The 23-year-old victim - who remains on life support - is being treated at a specialised facility and may require an organ transplant.
The attack earlier this month triggered violent public protests, which left one police officer dead.
An inquiry into possible lapses by the authorities is now under way.
The investigation is being led by retired judge Usha Mehra.
Six men have been arrested and two police officers have been suspended following the 16 December attack.
An air ambulance carrying the woman landed at Singapore Changi International Airport early on Thursday, the Indian High Commission in Singapore told news agencies.
The victim - who has already had three operations in Delhi - was then taken to the city's Mount Elizabeth hospital.
The hospital said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press that she was admitted to the intensive care unit "in an extremely critical condition".
"She is being examined and the hospital is working with the Indian High Commission," the statement said.
'Prolonged treatment' Senior Delhi doctor BD Athani told the Press Trust of India that the hospital had "a state-of-art multi-organ transplant facility" to treat the victim's severe intestinal injuries.
The woman's family have accompanied her to Singapore because the treatment might take a long time, Dr Athani added.
Police in Delhi have opened roads and metro stations shut since Monday as protests against the incident eased.
The government has tried to halt the rising anger by announcing a series of measures intended to make Delhi safer for women.
These include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants, and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.
The government has also said that it will post the photos, names and addresses of convicted rapists on official websites to shame them.
But the protesters say the government's pledge to seek life sentences for the attackers is not enough - many are calling for the death penalty.
The victim and her friend had been to see a film when they boarded the bus in the Munirka area, intending to travel to Dwarka in south-west Delhi.
Police said she was raped for nearly an hour, and both she and her companion were beaten with iron bars and thrown out of the moving bus into a Delhi street.

Another woman allegedly gang-raped in car, dumped in Delhi

A 42-year-old woman was sedated and raped allegedly by three men in Uttar Pradesh who then dumped her in south-east Delhi, police said on Thursday.

The fresh case comes close on the heels of a 23-year-old girl being gang-raped in a moving bus in south Delhi on December 16.

Police claimed that the woman, who hails from Jaipur, was raped somewhere in Vrindavan and then dumped in south-east Delhi's Kalkaji area on 26 december 2012 Wednesday night.

The incident came to light around 9.15 pm when a passerby saw the woman lying on a road and called the police.

The victim had gone to Vrindavan on December 22 and was returning home yesterday.

She met Verma (the accused) there and he accompanied her in a car to her hometown. On the way, Verma's two friends joined them.

"She told us that she was gagged, sedated and raped by the trio. They took turns to rape her. A medical examination has confirmed rape," a senior police official said.

Police said she was conscious and taken to AIIMS where she is undergoing treatment.

A case of gang-rape under section 376(G) has been registered.

One of the accused identified as Dilip Verma has been detained.

Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said Verma was picked up from Agra and he is being brought to Delhi for interrogation. He claimed that he knows the victim for five years.

Three teams have been formed and are raiding several places to catch the other two accused.

New Delhi police fire water cannon at India rape protest

Police in India blasted protesters with water cannon and tear gas Saturday as clashes broke out at a rally in New Delhi against rape, leaving scores of people drenched and angry.

The demonstration was prompted by wide public outrage over what police said was the gang-rape and beating of a 23-year-old woman on a moving bus in the capital last Sunday.

Her injuries were so severe she spent days in intensive care in a city hospital, battling for her life. Police said Saturday that she had recovered enough to give a statement to a magistrate from her hospital bed the previous evening.

Dozens of police, some equipped with bamboo canes, flanked the water cannon as it blasted out on to the thousands of protesters assembled by New Delhi's historic India Gate.

Some demonstrators attempted to break through the security barriers blocking access to the country's government district, parliament building and presidential palace.

Others chanted, punched the air in defiance and waved banners as the police sought to disperse them from Raisina Hill, the seat of Indian power.

"Hang them till death," read the placard of one protester seeking capital punishment for rape suspects.

"Stop this shame," read another. A third said, "Give them the same physical torture."

Shouts of "We want justice" also rose above the large and diverse crowd, symbolizing a widely felt anger over attacks against women. Banners proclaiming the same message were marked with a hangman's noose.

One young woman protester, who said her leg was injured by a blow from a police baton, lamented what she called a failure of democracy in the country.

"Today, I have seen democracy dying," she said.

New Delhi's police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said up to 35 protesters and nearly 40 police personnel were injured.

Thirty barricades were damaged in the course of the protest, he said, and police fired 125 tear gas shells. A number of vehicles were also damaged, he said.

Saturday's furious protest was just the latest held across the country in the past week, where official data show that rape cases have jumped almost 875% over the past 40 years -- from 2,487 in 1971 to 24,206 in 2011.

New Delhi alone reported 572 rapes last year and more than 600 in 2012.

Egypt army erects barriers at Cairo presidential palace

The Egyptian army has set up barricades outside the presidential palace, after ordering protesters to leave the area.

It follows violent overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi that left five people dead and 644 injured.
Most protesters left the palace by the 15:00 (13:00 GMT) deadline, though some opposition activists remained.
Meanwhile, Egypt's top Islamic body has called on the president to suspend his decree claiming sweeping powers.
The Al-Azhar institution also demanded an unconditional dialogue between the president and his opponents.
Mr Morsi is expected to address the nation on Thursday evening, although his statement appears to have been delayed.
Mr Morsi, who narrowly won Egypt's first free presidential election in June, says he will give up his new powers once a new constitution is ratified.

Philippine Typhoon Bopha death toll passes 300

Three-year-old boy was among those rescued from the mud

More than 300 people have died and hundreds more are missing in the wake of Typhoon Bopha, which cut a swathe of devastation across the southern Philippines.

The Civil Defence Office said at least 325 people were confirmed dead and another 379 missing.
People were killed in eight provinces but eastern Mindanao was worst-hit.
In Compostela Valley province alone at least 184 people died, many when flash floods hit emergency shelters.
"We have 325 dead and this is expected to rise because many more are missing," civil defence chief Benito Ramos told a news conference early on Thursday.
"Communications are bogged down, there is no electricity, roads and bridges have been destroyed," he said. "We're still on a search-and-rescue mode."

Philippine death toll from Typhoon Bopha rises

The death toll from a powerful storm that hit the southern Philippines is continuing to rise, as rescue teams headed for affected areas.

More than 100 people are now thought to have died after Typhoon Bopha struck Mindanao island on Tuesday, bringing rain and high winds.
Tens of thousands were evacuated ahead of the storm, which is now passing over the western island of Palawan.
In Andap village in east Mindanao, at least 43 were killed in flash floods.
Water and mud rushed down mountainous slopes to engulf a school and a village hall serving as evacuation centres.
A road into the town was blocked by debris, reports said, but the military said it was hoping to get helicopters into the area to assess the situation.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said body bags and other emergency supplies would be rushed to affected areas.

Iran says captures US drone in its airspace

Iran captured a US intelligence-gathering drone that entered its airspace over the Gulf, its armed forces said on Tuesday, the latest in a recent succession of alleged US violations of Iranian territory.

The incident highlighted tensions in the Gulf as both the Islamic Republic and the United States seek to demonstrate their military capability over the waterway amid a standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz - the artery for 40 percent of the world's seaborne crude oil shipments - if it comes under military attack. US commanders have said they will not let that happen.

The compact ScanEagle drone was gathering information over the Gulf and had entered Iranian airspace when it was captured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) naval unit, a statement on the Guards' website said.

The drone was "captured" in the last few days, it said, without specifying where the incident occurred and whether the unmanned spy plane was shot down or crashed.

The IRGC released what it said was video of the ScanEagle being displayed and examined by military officials beneath a sign reading "We will trample the United States."

Clashes outside Egypt presidential palace in Cairo

Police have fired tear gas in clashes with tens of thousands of protesters gathered near the presidential palace in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Some of the protesters reportedly cut through barbed wire around the palace.
Crowds gathered to protest against what they say is the rushed drafting of a new constitution, due to be voted on on 15 December.
President Mohammed Morsi was in the palace but left as the crowds outside began to grow, sources there said.
Protesters are also reported to have gathered in large numbers in Egypt's second city Alexandria.
New powers Many of those gathered outside the presidential palace chanted slogans similar to those directed against the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak during protests in February 2011.
As well as their complaints about the new constitution, activists have also been angered by a decree issued by Mr Morsi last month in which he awarded himself sweeping powers.
Mr Morsi, elected in Egypt's first free presidential election in June, says he will give these up once a new constitution is ratified.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of Islamist supporters of Mr Morsi held demonstrations in support of his decisions and of the new constitution.