Burning Egypt : violence after crackdown kills more than 1000 people

Hundreds of supporters of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood stormed a government building in Cairo on Thursday and set it ablaze, as fury over a security crackdown on the Islamist movement that killed hundreds of people spilled on to the streets.
In Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, hundreds marched to protest against Wednesday's violent breakup of Brotherhood sit-ins in the capital, prompting nationwide violence in which more than 1000 people died and 2000 were wounded.
"We will come back again for the sake of our martyrs!" the protesters chanted.
They demanded the reinstatement of former President Mohamed Mursi, who was deposed by the army six weeks ago after mass demonstrations against him, and whose ouster triggered a crisis that has polarised the most populous Arab nation.
Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad told Reuters that anger within the movement, which has millions of supporters, was "beyond control".
"After the blows and arrests and killings that we are facing, emotions are too high to be guided by anyone," he said.
The Brotherhood has called on followers to march in Cairo later on Thursday, while funeral processions for those who died provide further potential flashpoints over the coming days.
On Wednesday, protesters clashed with police and troops who used bulldozers, teargas and live ammunition to clear two Cairo sit-ins that had become a hub of resistance to the military.
The clashes spread quickly to Alexandria and numerous towns and cities around the mostly Muslim nation of 84 million.
A Reuters witness counted 228 bodies, most of them wrapped in white shrouds, arranged in rows on the floor of the Al-Imam mosque in northeast Cairo, close to the worst of the violence.
Some men pulled back the shrouds to reveal badly charred corpses with smashed skulls. Women knelt and wept beside one body. Two men embraced each other and shed tears by another.

Mid-Day Free Meal Poisoning: 20 Children Die in Indian state Bihar

The free mid-day meals at a school near Chhapra, Bihar, proved fatal for 20 children on Wednesday. Most of those who died, allegedly due to food poisoning, were aged below 10 years.
Another 40 children who were provided the meals fell seriously ill and were admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital. The incident took place at the government school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village in Saran district, around 25 km from Chhapra.
"Nearly 50 students got very sick after eating the mid-day meal at home. By the time they were taken to PSC Mashrak, two children died. By the time they came to us, seven more children had died. We're treating the children at the moment. Doctors found some foreign chemical matter present. The post-mortem of some of the children is complete. The doctors did their best to save the children, but there was so much poison in their food that the doctors couldn't save them all," Chhapra's District Magistrate Abhijeet Sinha told NDTV.
Civil surgeon Shambhunath Singh confirmed to The Hindu that the students died of "food poisoning and yellow phosphorous poisoning". Reports said that the poisoning may have been caused by the presence of pesticides or insecticides in the food. The meals consisted of rice, dal and soyabean.
Parents complained that dead lizards, frogs, insects have been found in the past in the mid-day meals.

Rapist buried alive in Bolivia

A man suspected of rape has been buried alive by villagers in the southern highlands of Bolivia.

Police had identified the 17-year-old as the possible culprit in the rape and murder of a 35-year-old woman near the municipality of Colquechaca.
The chief prosecutor says more than 200 furious local people seized Santos Ramos and buried him in the grave of his alleged victim.
He says residents blocked roads into the village to stop police arriving.
A reporter for a local radio station, who would only speak anonymously for fear of reprisals, told the media that Mr Ramos was tied up at the woman's funeral.
He said mourners threw him into the open grave alongside the woman's coffin and filled the grave with earth.
Colquechaca is a town of about 5,000 inhabitants some 207 miles ( 333 km) south-east of the Bolivian capital, La Paz.
Correspondents say lynchings sometimes happen in isolated, poorer parts of Bolivia, where police and other authorities are scarce.

Gay culture gaining momentum in Singapore

Although homosexuality is against the law, the gay community in this city-state has become more prominent recently.

Homosexuality in this Southeast Asian city-state has been illegal here for more than a century, dating back to law under colonial British rule. In a country that still lashes convicted criminals with a cane, sexual contact between men is punishable by up to two years in jail.

But in recent years the country has become ambivalent about enforcing its homosexuality laws, and as a result, gay culture is slowly emerging here in ways that seemed unimaginable just a decade ago.
"Pink Dot Sg" - a play on words on Singapore's nickname, Little Red Dot - is an open-air event where thousands dress in pink and gather to form a giant dot in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) causes. The festival marks its fifth year on June 29, and the organisers say they expect turnout to be enormous.
Attendance estimates for the first Pink Dot event in 2009 ranged from 500 to 2,500, while last year's event drew a record 15,000 people.
Major corporations have begun to sponsor the event, including Google, JP Morgan, and Barclays.
"The growing number of companies who are coming out and supporting social movements like Pink Dot is humbling," says Paerin Choa, spokesperson for Pink Dot Sg. "Increasingly, corporate entities are recognising the importance of values like inclusiveness and diversity, not just in the creation of a good working environment for employees, but also as a gesture of goodwill to clients and customers.

First gay magazine
In conjunction with the festival, the nation's first-ever gay lifestyle magazine - only available in electronic formats, and hosted by an Internet server in the US to bypass Singapore's restrictions on print publications - is publishing its second issue in June. 
The magazine, named Element, bills itself as "The Voice of Gay Asia" and targets the tech-savvy "pink dollar" market.
The magazine's features include listings on gay films with live links to movie trailers, gay-friendly resorts, and an interactive map of gay-themed events around the world. The publication stresses it is a lifestyle magazine, not a skin magazine. Singapore bans the sale of pornographic magazines and blocks sexually explicit websites.
"There are people who would read a lifestyle magazine that really covers different aspects of their life," says Hirokazu Mizuhara, the managing director and creative force behind Element. "It's not just about nudity or hot guys." 
Meanwhile, two court cases are seeking the overturn of Section 377A of Singapore's penal code, which forbids consensual sex between adult men.
"Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years," the article states.
After reviewing the penal code, the government in 2007 declared oral and anal sex to be legal for heterosexuals and lesbians, but not for gay men. The government assured the remaining ban on consensual sex between men would not be "proactively enforced", striking a middle ground between gay rights advocates and religious and social conservatives.

 

Mother flushed her newborn baby in the toilet in China

New born baby rescued from sewage pipe in China

He has no name, just a number: Baby 59. But his face is now familiar to millions and wellwishers across China are anxiously monitoring the fate of the tiny newborn after firefighters freed him from a sewage pipe where he was trapped beneath a toilet.
Weighing just 5lbs, the boy was found wedged in the pipe beneath a shared bathroom in a residential building in Jinhua, in China's eastern province of Zhejiang. His placenta was still attached.

Early reports suggested residents heard his cries late on Saturday and raised the alarm – but updates suggested his unmarried mother had been the first to call for help, pretending she had merely come across him.

The extraordinary footage of his rescue showed firefighters sawing away an L-shaped section of the narrow pipe from the floor beneath the bathroom after attempts to pull him out failed. Medics at Pujiang People's hospital helped them to take it apart piece by piece with pliers and saws – a process that took almost an hour. It reportedly had a diameter of just 10cm.
State media said the baby, identified only by the number of his hospital incubator, had a low heart rate when he was admitted and had suffered cuts and bruising, but was now in stable condition.
The woman was on the scene during the entire rescue process … and admitted [she was the mother] .Police had not yet decided whether to file charges and that there was no information on the father.

Deadly Heat wave claims 84 lives in Andhra Pradesh in India

The severe heat wave conditions in Andhra Pradesh in India  have so claimed 84 lives from April 1, officials said.
The state remained in the grip of heat wave Friday, with many towns recording maximum day temperature of over 43 degree Celsius.
Munuguru in coal mines area of Khammam district was the hottest place Friday with the mercury shooting up to 50 degrees, the highest this season. Rentachintala in Guntur district recorded 48 degrees.
Bapatla and Ramagundam recorded 47 degrees Celsius while for the third consecutive day, Hyderabad sizzled at nearly 44 degrees.
Officials said 26 people died Friday alone but the unofficial sources have put the day's toll at 100. Over 20 deaths were reported Thursday.
According to Commissioner for Disaster Management T. Radha, the heat wave claimed 84 lives since April 1. Karimnagar district bore the brunt, accounting for for 43 deaths. Twelve people died in Medak, 11 in West Godavari, six in Chittoor, four in Vizianagaram, three each in Nalgonda and Nizamabad and one each in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam district.
The death toll may be higher as reports were yet to reach the state capital from many districts. The commissioner directed the collectors to submit detailed reports about the loss of lives.
Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy, who reviewed the situation with officials, said under Apathbandhu scheme, Below Poverty Line (BPL) families of those who died due to sunstroke were eligible for assistance of Rs.50,000.
In a tragic incident, a mother and her two-year-old child died of sunstroke on a road at Hayatnagar in Ranga Reddy district. The woman, who was being taken to hospital by her husband, died on the way. Her daughter also succumbed in her lap.
The labourer couple had migrated from Mahabubnagar district. As the man was seen crying on the road, the local people donated money for last rites of his wife and daughter.
According to India Meteorological Department, severe heat wave to heat wave conditions prevailed over parts of the coastal Andhra Pradesh while heat wave conditions prevailed over most parts of Telangana.
It has warned that the head conditions would continue for next two days. The met office has attributed the heat wave to hot winds blowing from Rajasthan.

Eight people die from heat wave in Punjab, Haryana:

The on-going heat wave conditions in most parts of Punjab and Haryana on Saturday continued unabated, claiming at least eight lives and forcing people in the region to confine indoors.

While six persons lost their lives due to intense heat wave in Punjab, two died in Haryana in the past three days, officials said in Chandigarh on Saturday.

In Punjab, three persons lost their lives in Amritsar, two in Ferozepur and one in Tarn Taran, whereas in Haryana one each died in Hisar and Sirsa.
All the eight deaths took place due to the heat wave, officials said.

According to the Met office in Chandigarh, there are no chances of relief in the next couple of days.

The Met forecast that the maximum temperature will hover between 41 to 43 degrees Celsius at most of the places in the region.

Warm winds will also sweep the region and dust storms might strike in some areas, the Met office said, attributing the unusually high temperature in the region to the absence of western disturbances.
Chandigarh is braving a temperature of 43 degrees Celsius, the Met said.

Massive tornado hits through Moore, Oklahoma USA : 51 killed, including 20 children; more feared dead

A devastating, two-mile-wide tornado touched down near Oklahoma City In US on Monday, killing at least 51 people—including at least 20 children—decimating homes, businesses and a pair of elementary schools in the suburb of Moore.
According to the state's medical examiner, the death toll was expected to rise.
The schools—Plaza Towers Elementary and Briarwood Elementary—were leveled by the tornado. It was unclear how many children were in them at the time the twister hit, but according to KFOR-TV, at least seven children died at Plaza Towers, and as many as two dozen more were feared to be trapped inside the rubble.  A makeshift triage center was set up in the school's parking lot.
Emergency officials urged people to remain off the roads so rescue workers and first responders could reach people potentially trapped in rubble, as the National Guard was called in to help in the search for victims.

The tornado left a debris field 20 miles long and several miles wide. According to the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., the tornado was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes, and a tornado warning was in effect for 16 minutes before the twister developed.
Weather officials estimated the strength of the storm to be an F4 or F5 on the Fujita Scale—the highest rating a tornado can achieve. The National Weather Service said the tornado's preliminary classification was an F4, with winds up to 200 mph.
Communication was snarled as landlines and cellphone towers were knocked down. A water treatment plant in Oklahoma City was also damaged.

Cyclone Mohasen may hit Bangladesh early Thursday

Bangladesh and Myanmar are bracing for Cyclone Mahasen, a severe storm which could affect millions of people in coastal areas of South Asia region, the United Nations has warned.
The cyclonic storm may hit Bangladesh coast with a speed of 115 to 134 kilometer per hour on late Wednesday night or Thursday morning, says different met office sources.
According to the bulletin the cyclone now lied over West Central Bay and adjoining east Central Bay and was centred at 6:00 pm Tuesday about 1080 kms southwest of Chittagong Port, 1015 kms Southwest of Cox's Bazar Port and 970 kms South Southwest of Mongla Port.
The bulletin said the storm was likely to intensify further and move in a north-northeasterly direction. "We, however, don't expect the cyclone to hit our coastline ahead of tomorrow night or Thursday morning," met office director Shah Alam told BSS.
The cyclonic storm "Mahasen" over south Bay and adjoining west central Bay moved slightly northwards in the same area on Tuesday evening.
It is likely to intensify further and move in a north-northeasterly direction, said the bulletin. Maximum sustained wind speed within 54 kms of the storm centre is about 62 kph rising to 88 kph in gusts/ squalls. The sea will remain very rough near the storm centre.
The cyclone forced the authorities to hoist local cautionary signal No. four for maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Mongla.
All fishing boats and trawlers over North Bay have been advised to remain close to the coast and proceed with caution. They are also advised not to venture into the deep sea till further notice, the bulletin added.
The cyclonic storm 'Mahasen' has caused heavy rains in the north and eastern parts of Sri Lanka killing at least seven people and leaving nearly 3,000 people homeless. The Disaster Management Centre in Lanka said that at least 7 people were killed, while two more are missing as a result of the storm.

Latest China food scandal :Rat meat sold as lamb meat

Rat meat sold as Lamb meat

Chinese police have broken up a criminal ring accused of taking meat from rats and foxes and selling it as lamb in the country's latest food safety scandal.

The Ministry of Public Security released results of a three-month crackdown on food safety violators, saying in a statement that authorities investigated more than 380 cases and arrested 904 suspects.
Among those arrested were 63 people who allegedly ran an operation in Shanghai and the coastal city of Wuxi that bought fox, mink, rat and other meat that had not been tested for quality and safety, processed it with additives like gelatin and passed it off as lamb.
The meat was sold to farmers' markets in Jiangsu province and Shanghai, it said.
Despite years of food scandals — from milk contaminated with an industrial chemical to the use of industrial dyes in eggs — China has been unable to clean up its food supply chain.
The announcement came as China's top court on Friday issued guidelines calling for harsher punishment for making and selling unsafe food products in the latest response to tainted food scandals that have angered the public.
The Supreme People's Court said the guidelines will list as crimes specific acts such as the sale of food excessively laced with chemicals or made from animals that have died from disease or unknown causes.
China's penal code, which forbids unsafe and poisonous food, does not specify what acts are considered in violation of the law.
Adulterating baby food so that it severely lacks nutrition is also punishable as a crime under the guidelines. Negligent government food inspectors are also targeted for criminal punishment.
The supreme court said 2,088 people have been prosecuted in 2010-2012 in 1,533 food safety cases. It said the number of such cases has grown exponentially in the past several years. For example, Chinese courts prosecuted 861 cases of poisonous food in 2012, compared to 80 cases in 2010.

"The situation is really grave and has indeed caused great harm to the people," Pei Xianding, a supreme court judge, told a news conference.

 

Deadly building collapse in Bangladesh .....deaths hit 640

An eight-storey block housing factories and a shopping centre collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday, killing more than 640 people and injuring 2000, a government official said.

Fire fighters and army personnel worked frantically through the morning at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka, to rescue people trapped inside.

One fireman told  that about more than 6000 people were in the building when the upper floors jolted down on top of each other.

"It looks like an earthquake has struck here," said one resident as he looked on at the chaotic scene of smashed concrete and ambulances making their way through the crowds of workers and wailing relatives of those still inside.

"I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said Sohra Begum a worker at one of the garment factories.

The Rana Plaza was owned by a person who is a local kingpin of the ruling party and how such a person came to own such wealth is another matter but there is no confusion that he could build a death trap with impunity. He was told by the engineers that this building was not stable at all and had developed cracks which pointed to a major fault in the structure. He swished away the observations saying that they were ‘just cracks in the concrete’. The garments factory owners with over 6000 workers were also told to shut the factories down as the building was unsafe. Nobody bothered and the very next day, the building collapsed.

Director of the Industrial Police Mostafizur Rahman has said that, “The Industrial Police had asked the owners of the factories to suspend operations after cracks were noticed.” “But the factories owners had ignored our directives and decided to open their units on Wednesday”.

India completes Australia whitewash

Shane Watson said Australia would take some hard lessons from its tour of the subcontinent after India completed a clinical 4-0 sweep with a six-wicket win on Sunday.
Cheteshwar Pujara wasted no time as he ruthlessly batted India to victory inside three days in Delhi after Australia was bowled out for 164 in its second innings during the middle session.
The hosts were left needing a supremely achievable 155 to win and they reached that after barely raising a sweat as the tourists' bowling attack again offered little resistance.
Watson was given the reins in the absence of Michael Clarke, who returned to Australia to treat a back injury and missed the fourth Test.
The Queensland-born all-rounder, who scored 17 and 5 for the match after being dropped for the third Test and returning home for the birth of his first child, said the series was educational if nothing else.
"This is really as foreign as you get to playing cricket for an Australian cricket team," he said at the post-match presentation.
"It's been a great learning curve for all of us. Everyone has got a hell of a lot out of this tour."
Indian skipper MS Dhoni belted the winning runs to the mid-wicket boundary off Nathan Lyon, Australia's best bowler by far with match figures of 9 for 165, but it was Pujara who set it up.
Dhoni finished on 12 from 14 deliveries but Pujara piled on an unbeaten 82 from 92, smashing 12 off one Mitchell Johnson over as he chased down Australia's total in imperious fashion.
Australia will have plenty of questions to answer after a dismal series in which it won the toss in every outing but failed to salvage even a draw on the subcontinent.
It has been 43 years since the Australians have lost a series 4-0, the last time in 1970 when Bill Lawry's side lost in South Africa.
"It was a hard-fought Test ... we gave it everything we had," Watson said.
"We were up for it, but unfortunately things did not go according to plan with the ball in the second innings.
"We always thought 150-200 on that wicket ... was going to be enough. We just did not bowl as we wanted.
"Pujara batted very nicely to take it away from us."
Spinner Ravindra Jadeja was named man of the match for his haul of 7 for 98, while partner-in-crime Ravichandran Ashwin won man-of-the-series honours.
Lyon had 2 for 71 in the second innings while Glenn Maxwell, who became the first Australian cricketer in 84 years to open the batting and bowling in a Test, took 2 for 54.