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Link:   Video footage of the flood in India

Source: CNN

Source: BBC

Daily wage labourers Shiv Sagar Sahni and his young son Sugarath Sahni had a thatched house, two goats and 2,000 rupees (£24) until a fortnight ago.

Now they are a penniless and famished family of eight taking shelter on National Highway 57.

They had to sell their goats and take loans from some well-off villagers to survive.

Like 50 other families, their village of Jarang-Baluaha, about a kilometre from the highway, was marooned in the floods.

Sharing a little space under a black polythene sheet and wooden cot, the Sahni family is among millions in the flood-ravaged northern Indian state of Bihar who have been stranded either on raised national highways, railway tracks or the rooftops of some government buildings.

“What to do. It’s our tryst with destiny every year from which there seems to be no escape for us,” Shiv Sagar Sahni told the BBC.

We’re hungry and surviving somehow eating snails or rats Rajesh and Ajudh Manjhi

Rows of buffaloes, cows and goats can be seen stranded with people on the highway.

Most people are sleeping or sitting under the open sky, ruing their fate and the recurring flood.

Rajesh Manjhi and Ajudh Manjhi have taken shelter on a road bridge.

“Last night some people brought a sheet of polythene for each family. That’s the only help we have received till now,” they said.

“No food, no relief… nothing has come to us so far. We’re hungry and surviving somehow eating snails or rats.”

Flood injustice

Pointing towards their submerged thatched houses in Atarbel village, they said that only two things had been rising for them during the last fortnight: “our hunger and debt”.

“What can we do? We’re poor people. Who cares for us?” they asked.

Animals are the silent sufferers of the flood menace which has gripped our area Banslal Sahni

They are agricultural labourers who make 45-50 rupees (a little more than a dollar) a day, but ever since the floods, they have been unable to find any work.

It’s a vicious circle of debt for the poor families living on highways or embankments.

A week ago Kamod Ram and Basant Ram saw a helicopter dropping food packets at some distance on the highway, but they were grabbed by some bus passengers crossing the road.

“The government declares that relief has been sent for people like us but that is usurped by upper caste, well-off people on the way.

“They sell the stuff to ration shops and we buy them from there, paying money borrowed from those well off people,” they said.

Animal victims

Sixty-year-old Banslal Sahni, sitting under the canopy of his black umbrella, has taken shelter on the highway because of his animals.

“I’ve come here for the sake of my animals. My family members could save their lives by going to the roof of the house but where could these hapless animals go?”

It happens every year. There is nothing new in it. This is our destiny Rajkumari Devi

Sahni has 12 buffaloes and two cows tied to his cot on the highway.

Finding fodder for animals has also become a big problem in the area.

“Animals are the silent sufferers of the flood menace which has gripped our area. No-one takes notice of them.

“But what can you expect from a government which is not even taking care of us?” asks Rajkumari Devi.

Mother of three children and wife of a rickshaw puller, Rajkumari Devi, has taken shelter on the narrow part of the national highway near Bochaha village in Muzaffarpur.

Many of the displaced have taken on more debt to pay for food (Pic: Prashant Ravi)

Her nine-year-old eldest daughter, Sarita Kumari, was making chapati for the first time in two weeks after Devi took a loan of a few hundred rupees from a local shop-owner.

Their thatched house in the village has been completely damaged and swept away by the flood waters.

“It happens every year. There is nothing new in it. This is our destiny,” says Ms Devi.

She and her family are lucky that they have been able to get at least one square meal after two weeks.

There are others who have not been able to eat even chapati for the past two weeks.

“We’re somehow surviving on a handful of beaten rice, or snails and fish caught from the flood water,” says Batohi Manjhi.

A major problem is drinking water.

The villagers say they drink, bathe and wash clothes in the same water that is used for sanitation.

Video footage:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7588774.stm

Source: BCC

The grinding misery triggered by the massive floods in a downtrodden part of northeastern India and across the border in Nepal persisted Friday, with government and aid agencies swinging into action to help the 2 million-plus people fleeing high-rising, fast-moving waters.

Villagers wade through floodwaters on the outskirts of Bhubaneshwar, India, on Friday.

“It’s not getting better. It’s definitely getting worse,” said Jennifer Poidatz, country representative for Catholic Relief Services. “This is water moving very rapidly.”

“The water is rising by the minute,” CNN Correspondent Sara Sidner said from Bihar’s Supaul district, considered the worst-hit area of India.

“These are the some of the worst floods in generations, and they present a huge challenge for governments and humanitarian organizations,” said Daniel Toole, UNICEF’s regional director for South Asia.

The tragedy started after “the Kosi River broke a dam in Nepal and the waters breached mud embankments last week in India’s Bihar state,” UNICEF said, describing the flooding as one of the worst in the region in 50 years. It also reported an official death toll of 55, although it said the figure would be rising.

Water gushed through the breach so forcefully that the river changed course in Bihar, plowing a new channel about 75 miles (120 km) east of its river bed. The river was about 3 miles (5 km) wide.

There are estimates from India that 2.7 million people in 1,600 villages have been affected, thousands of them marooned on thin strips of land peeking out from the cloudy brown water of the swollen Kosi River.

UNICEF says the floods have “destroyed almost a quarter of a million homes affecting at least 1.4 million people” in Bihar. The number of displaced in Nepal totals 70,000.

Relief efforts have been hampered by damaged roads and submerging of railway tracks and many essential supplies have to be delivered by boat.

The agency is mobilizing to help the displaced and is working with the government to deliver supplies and services: food, medicine, clean water, access to sanitation, halogen tablets and salt packets.

The agency said families are crowding into relief camps, but UNICEF warns that such camps could become overcrowded and that people there could be at risk to communicable diseases.

The Indian government said it is providing as much assistance as possible to Bihar authorities, such as army troops, helicopters, boats, grain and halogen tablets. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced immediate aid of about $238 million and promised delivery of 125,000 metric tons of grain to the region.

Medecins sans Frontieres is doing an assessment for humanitarian needs in the region.

Sidner said the Indian army deployed troops to the region to help displaced and stranded people. She saw the army using two motorboats to ferry people from one end of the river to another because a bridge over the river was submerged.

U.S. Ambassador to India David C. Mulford announced contributions of $100,000 to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund and Catholic Relief Services.

Caroline Brennan, a Catholic Relief Services spokeswoman, said the hard-hit regions aren’t regularly hit by monsoons, so the people in these poverty-stricken areas are particularly unprepared.

Poidatz underscored this point, saying people were caught off-guard by a river that “completely changed its course because of the breach.” She said the challenge for relief workers is figuring out how to help a population constantly in transit because of fast-moving waters.

Poidatz and Brennan said the government of India has been quick to respond with air drops and coordinating rescues.

“The government of India is moving huge quantities of food to the area, but we need to complement these efforts,” Brennan said.

The agency is purchasing high-energy biscuits for 25,000 families and is supplying four boats for rescue, she said.

On Thursday, Indian federal and state governments released conflicting death tolls for Bihar, and there have been no updates Friday.

National disaster officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs reduced their death toll from 87 on Wednesday to 47 on Thursday, saying they previously released an incorrect tally.

K.K. Agarwal of the Disaster Management Department in Bihar released a death toll of 12, an increase of two since Wednesday.

Source: CNN

A dog sheltered a newborn baby abandoned by its 14-year-old mother in a field in rural Argentina until the boy was rescued, a doctor said Friday.

The abandoned infant was found in a field with this dog and her newborn puppies.

A resident of a rural area outside La Plata called police late Wednesday night to say that he had heard the baby crying in a field behind his house.

The man went outside and found the infant lying beside the dog and its six newborn puppies, Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires, told CNN.

The temperature was a chilly 37 degrees, Salcedo said.

The dog had apparently carried the baby some 50 meters from where his mother had abandoned him to where the puppies were huddled, police said.

“She took it like a puppy and rescued it,” Salcedo said. “The doctors told us if she hadn’t done this, he would have died.”

“The dog is a hero to us.”

Dr. Egidio Melia, director of the Melchor Romero Hospital in La Plata, told CNN that police showed up at the hospital at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday with the baby who doctors say was only a few hours old.

Though the infant had superficial scratches and bruises and was bleeding from his mouth, he was in good shape, Melia said.

The next morning, the child’s mother was driven by a neighbor to the hospital and told authorities the 8 pound, 13 ounce infant is hers, Melia said.

The teenager was immediately given psychological treatment and was hospitalized, he said. She has said little about the incident.

The child has been transferred to a children’s hospital in La Plata, 37 miles from Beuno Aires.

Source: CNN

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania– A fired TV newscaster admitted Friday that he hacked into his co-anchor’s e-mail accounts, pleading guilty to one count of illegally accessing a computer.

      (Larry Mendte)                 (Alycia Lane)

Larry Mendte and Alycia Lane co-anchored the TV news in Philadelphia. Both got fired; he got charged.

Larry Mendte admitted that he illegally viewed hundreds of Alycia Lane’s e-mails from March 2006 to May 2008, at a time when leaked information about her personal life contributed to her downfall.

Mendte and Lane co-anchored evening broadcasts together for four years at KYW-TV, the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, until Lane’s arrest in December after an alleged scuffle with New York police.

Months later, Mendte was fired and charged by federal prosecutors. His attorney, Michael Schwartz, has said Mendte cooperated from the start.

Mendte faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison but is likely to get much less under federal guidelines when he is sentenced November 24. Prosecutors have agreed not to recommend any sentence.

Mendte declined to comment after his plea.

Prosecutors say Mendte accessed three of Lane’s e-mail accounts from home and work more than 500 times between January and May of this year alone. Lane’s attorney believes he acted out of jealousy.

The allegations are the latest embarrassment for the station, which had been making gains with the Mendte-Lane duo against longtime news leader WPVI-TV, the ABC affiliate.

Mendte, 51, was fired in June after FBI agents searched his home and seized his computer.

According to the criminal information filed in July, Mendte relayed details about Lane’s criminal case and other information to a Philadelphia Daily News reporter.

Lane was also fired. She is suing the station over her dismissal, which the station said was necessary because she had become the subject of several news stories.

New York prosecutors in February downgraded felony charges that Lane struck the officer. A judge pledged to drop the remaining charges in August if she is not arrested again.

Mendte, who is married to local Fox news anchor Dawn Stensland, joined the station in July 2003 after several years at the local NBC affiliate. He previously co-hosted “Access Hollywood” and worked at stations in Chicago, Illinois; San Diego, California and New York.

Source: CNN

Story Highlights

The Beijing Olympics will be held on 08/08/2008. Is that a fact or myth? The Chinese believe that this is an auspicious date and they have went through the advices of Feng Shui masters. 

On the other hand, some people predict that this date is a post earthquake tragedy that happened in Si Chuan on 12/05/08.

There were several minor bombing cases that happened prior to this event. However, it is under control as there are tight security surveillance around. Today, the Chinese Islamic group released a new video, threatened to attack the Olympics.. Thus, warned the Muslims to stay away from the Beijing games and avoid public transports.

i’m sure in all our hearts, we hope and pray that the Beijing Olympic games will run smoothly and turn out well for everyone out there. 

BEIJING, China (AP) – A Chinese Islamic faction that has threatened to attack the Olympics released a new video, warning Muslims to stay away from the Beijing Games and avoid buses, trains, planes and buildings used by Chinese, a U.S. group that monitors militant organizations said Thursday.

On the six-minute video issued Wednesday, two days before the opening of the games, a representative of the Turkistan Islamic Party reiterates the group’s threats against the Olympics made in a video last month, according to SITE Intelligence Group. It shows images of the Beijing Olympics logo in flames and an explosion over an Olympics venue.

“Choose your side,” says the speaker, grasping a rifle and dressed in a black turban and camouflage with his face masked. “Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are,” he warns Muslims, according to SITE.

The video accuses China of using the Olympics to hide its actions from the world.

The TIP representative spoke the Turkic language of the Uighurs, a largely Muslim minority in China’s restive western Xinjiang territory near the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Uighurs have a long history of tense relations with the central government.

The Turkistan Islamic Party is believed to be based across the border in Pakistan, where security experts say it has received training from al Qaeda. Last month, the group issued videotaped threats and claimed responsibility for a series of recent bus bombings in China.

On Monday, assailants killed 16 border police and wounded 16 others in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar when they rammed a stolen truck into the group before tossing homemade bombs and stabbing them. Chinese authorities called the raid a terrorist attack and said they had arrested two men who are Uighurs. No group has claimed responsibility.

The latest video claims the communist regime’s alleged mistreatment of Muslims justifies holy war. It accuses China of forcing Muslims into atheism by capturing and killing Islamic teachers and destroying Islamic schools, according to the SITE. It says China’s birth control program has forced abortions on Muslim women.

“They are implying that anyone who is complicit with the Chinese regime is a legitimate target,” Rita Katz, director of SITE, told The Associated Press.

“The reason for the increased propaganda from TIP at this time is likely due to the fact that the international media’s attention on the Olympics in China provides the group with the perfect platform to publicize their existence and activities on a global scale,” Katz added.

The group also calls upon Muslims to offer support financially, physically and spiritually, SITE said.

News of the video came just hours after President Bush landed in Beijing for a three day visit to attend the games opening ceremony and some Olympic events.

“I think what they’re doing is they’re trying to capitalize on the buildup to the games,” said Ben Venzke of Washington-based IntelCenter, another group that monitors militant groups.

Terrorism analysts and Chinese authorities have said that with more than 100,000 soldiers and police guarding Beijing and other Olympic co-host cities, terrorists were more likely to attack less-protected areas.

source: CNN

-Sichuan is still recovering from its May 12th earthquake and its aftershock.

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck China’s Sichuan province on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake’s epicenter was located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north-northwest of Guangyuan, near Sichuan’s border with neighboring Gansu province.

The Olympic torch was making its way through parts of Sichuan on Tuesday, three days before the Summer Games get underway in Beijing, some 1,200 kilometers (800 miles) away.

The earthquake occurred just before 6 p.m. local time, a few hours after the relay made its final stop in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.

The region is still recovering from the after-effects of a devastating 7.9-magnitude temblor in May, which killed almost 70,000 people and left 18,000 missing and 5 million homeless.

The epicenter of the initial quake was about 290 kilometers (180 miles) southwest from Tuesday’s temblor.

source: CNN