Rescuers fight winds, altitude as bodies pile up after quake kills more than 600 in China

Bodies pile up after quake kills 600-plus in China

MADOI, China – Rescue teams fought gusty winds and altitude sickness Thursday as supplies of food, water and almost everything ran thin after strong earthquakes left more than 600 dead in a mountainous Tibetan area of western China.
Survivors, many of whom spent the night outside in freezing … Read more »».

Man gets death penalty for rape, murder of minor

RANCHI – A Jharkhand court Thursday awarded the death sentence to a man for rape-cum-murder of a minor girl in Dhanbad, some 240 km from here, in 2005.

Dhanbad’s Additional District Judge Vijay Shanker Singh awarded death penalty to Amit Chakravarty, in his thirties, for raping and killing his eight-year-old neighbour when she went to his …. Read the original article  : here.

Red Cross says civilian bomb injuries rise 30-40 percent in southern Afghanistan over 2009

Civilian bomb injuries soar in south Afghanistan

KABUL – Civilian injuries due to roadside bombs and other explosives in southern Afghanistan have soared amid worsening Taliban violence, the International Committee for the Red Cross said in a report Thursday.
Hospitals in the provinces of Kandahar and Helmand admitted up to 40 percent more patients with such injuries …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : Red Cross says civilian bomb injuries rise 30-40 percent in southern Afghanistan over 2009.

Toll in Bihar storm rises to 81

PATNA – The death toll from a violent storm that ravaged the eastern part of Bihar rose to 81 Thursday, a day after it left a trail of destruction rendering thousands homeless.

The high-velocity storm ravaged the Seemanchal region including the districts of Araria, Purnia, Kishanganj, Katihar and Supaul districts.
The number of dead has gone … Read more »».

Minor fire at Shastri Bhawan

NEW DELHI – A minor fire broke out Thursday at Shastri Bhawan that houses several central government offices here, but it was put down quickly, the fire department said.

The blaze began on the seventh floor of the building. Six fire tenders battled the fire and brought it under control, a fire officer said. The … Read : Minor fire at Shastri Bhawan.

Ash cloud from Iceland’s erupting volcano disrupts air traffic across northern Europe

Ash from Iceland volcano disrupts European flights

LONDON – British airport operator BAA says all flights in and out of Heathrow and Stansted airports are to be suspended shortly because of ash clouds drifting from Iceland’s spewing volcano.
Hundreds of flights across Britain have already been canceled, and airports in Scotland closed. Heathrow is Europe’s busiest airport, …. Read the original article  : here.

Iceland volcano ash disrupts air traffic

OSLO/LONDON – Air traffic in several northern European countries including Britain, Norway and Sweden was disrupted Thursday due to ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland.

Drifting ash from the volcano near the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier, about 120 km east of the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, poses a threat to jet engines.
About half the flights from Norway’s …. Source  : Iceland volcano ash disrupts air traffic.

Bomb detected on Delhi-bound train, defused

LUCKNOW – An improvised explosive device (IED) detected in a coach of the New Delhi-bound Sampark-Kranti express at Mahoba railway station in Uttar Pradesh was defused early Thursday, averting a major tragedy.

According to state Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal: “The IED was planted in the toilet of a three-tier coach where it was … Original article on : Bomb detected on Delhi-bound train, defused.

Three charred to death in Mumbai

MUMBAI – Three people were charred to death in their sleep when a fire broke out in a tenement of Santacruz west here early Thursday, a fire brigade official said.

He said the blaze in the congested Khotwadi chawl started at 4 a.m. and was brought under control after firemen battled it for more than five … Read more >>.

Zookeepers in China eat monkey meat

BEIJING – Zookeepers at a zoo in China are eating monkey and giraffe meat believing that these have extra nutritional value, a media report said.

The bizarre report came from a soon-to-be-opened zoo in Dongguan in China’s Guangdong province, where dead animals were reportedly given away as gifts or eaten by zoo workers, Global Times reported. …. Source article  : Zookeepers in China eat monkey meat.

Drifting ash from Iceland’s volcano causes major air traffic disruptions at British airports

Ash from Iceland’s volcano disrupts UK air traffic

LONDON – Officials say ash clouds drifting from Iceland’s erupting volcano have disrupted air traffic across Britain.
Flights have been suspended at the English cities of Manchester and Birmingham, as well as in Belfast in Northern Ireland and the Scottish airports at Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The ash has also …. Original article  : Drifting ash from Iceland’s volcano causes major air traffic disruptions at British airports.

British airports close due to drifting ash from Iceland’s erupting volcano

UK airports close due to ash from Iceland volcano

LONDON – Airports in Scotland have shut down due to ash from Iceland’s spewing volcano as it erupts for the second time in less than a month.
Hundreds in Iceland have fled rising floodwaters around the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier.
Airports in the Scottish cities of Aberdeen, Glasgow …. Original article  : British airports close due to drifting ash from Iceland’s erupting volcano.

Delhi fire service gets 30 calls in 10 hours

NEW DELHI – You could blame it on the rising mercury level – the Delhi fire service number has not stopped ringing since early Thursday with the department receiving 30 calls of fire incidents from across the city until 10.30 a.m.

“Since midnight until now we have received 30 calls of fire incidents across the [..] Read the original article: here.

16-year-old jailed for shaking his baby to death

LONDON – A 16-year-old Briton has been sentenced to a prison term for shaking his seven-week-old daughter to death, a media report said Thursday.

Joshua Bacon has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail. He lost his cool when he attempted to feed his daughter, Caitlyn Smith, and shook her so violently that he caused a …. Read the original article  : 16-year-old jailed for shaking his baby to death.

Storm victims in Bihar await relief, toll reaches 72

PATNA – Thousands of people rendered homeless in Bihar awaited relief Thursday, a day after a violent storm ravaged parts of the state’s eastern region killing at least 72 people.

The high velocity storm, which hit the Seemanchal region early Wednesday, destroyed thousands of houses and snapped power and communication lines besides uprooting hundreds of trees … Read more >>.

China quake survivors narrate tales of grief and fear

QINGHAI – Survivors in a devastating earthquake in northwest China were in a state of shock Thursday, a day after the temblor killed nearly 600 people.

People were leaving for work or school Wednesday when the magnitude 7.1 quake struck Qinghai province.
The residents in Gyegu town, close to the epicentre in the Tibetan Autonomous …. Source  : Gaea News Network.

Race to reach survivors as China quake toll hits 617

BEIJING – Rescuers fought chilly weather, strong winds and frequent aftershocks Thursday to claw through rubble and reach survivors of the devastating earthquake that left 617 people dead and nearly 10,000 injured in northwest China.

The 7.1 magnitude quake, which struck Yushu prefecture in southern Qinghai province early Wednesday, also toppled 15,000 residential buildings and forced …. Original source  : Race to reach survivors as China quake toll hits 617.

Death toll from cyclone rises to 112 as relief starts arriving in eastern India

Aid arriving after cyclone kills 112 in east India

CALCUTTA, India – Aid workers distributed rice, dried fruits, water and tarpaulins Thursday to the victims of a ferocious cyclone that killed 112 people in northeastern India and demolished ten of thousands of mud huts.
Rescuers also cleared hundreds of uprooted trees blocking road access to the devastated …. Read the original article  : Death toll from cyclone rises to 112 as relief starts arriving in eastern India.

Indian-American on trial for selling bomber secrets to China

WASHINGTON – An Indian-American B-2 stealth bomber engineer Noshir Gowadia is under trial in a US court on charges of selling defence secrets to China, but his lawyer says such “meaningless” information was no secret.

Gowadia, 66, who was born in India but is a naturalized US citizen, is charged with 17 counts of espionage, conspiracy, …. Original source  : Indian-American on trial for selling bomber secrets to China.

Cargo plane crashes in northern Mexico city of Monterrey, killing 5 crew members, 1 motorist

Cargo plane crashes in Mexico, killing 6 people

MONTERREY, Mexico – A cargo plane crashed onto a road while trying to land in this northern Mexico city, killing all five crew members on board and one person on the ground, authorities said Wednesday.
Local civil defense director Jorge Camacho Rescue said the entire crew died and one … Original source on Gaea Times at : Cargo plane crashes in northern Mexico city of Monterrey, killing 5 crew members, 1 motorist.