Monday, July 15, 2013
India floods: More than 5,700 people 'presumed dead'
The government in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand has said that more than 5,700 people missing after last month's devastating floods will now be presumed dead.
Their families will be given financial compensation.
Earlier, authorities had confirmed that some 600 people had died.
More than 100,000 people were rescued from the Himalayan mountains after floods and landslides affected more than 4,000 villages.
This year's early monsoon rains in the Uttarakhand region are believed to be the heaviest in 80 years.
Swollen rivers have swept away entire villages in the state, where there were many travellers in what is peak tourist season.
The BBC's Yogita Limaye, in Uttarakhand, says 5,748 people who remain untraced will now be presumed dead so that the government can begin to give financial compensation to their families.
The chief minister of Uttarakhand state, Vijay Bahuguna, said the government would issue "certificates to families of the missing so that the people can get compensation immediately".
The compensation will amount to 500,000 rupees ($8,350; £5,528) per victim, officials say.
However, authorities say, the exact number of deaths may never be known.
Many bodies may have been washed away or remain buried under debris. Some of the bodies were recovered in rivers downstream from the flood zone and cremated in the places where they were found.
A month after the floods, many of the affected areas are still cut off as connecting roads have been washed away.
The government has announced that the temple town of Kedarnath, one of the worst affected areas, will be closed to the public for at least a year.
Meanwhile, the administration is struggling to provide relief to communities in remote areas where thousands who have lost their homes are living in temporary camps.
BBC
Islamic militants leave Pakistan to fight in Syria
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Suleman spent years targeting minority Shiite Muslims in his home country of Pakistan as a member of one of the country's most feared militant groups. Now he is on his way to a new sectarian battleground, Syria, where he plans to join Sunni rebels battling President Bashar Assad's regime.
It is a fight he believes will boost his reward in heaven.
The short and stocky Pakistani, who identified himself using only his first name for fear of being targeted by authorities, is one of an increasing number of militants who have left Pakistan for Syria in recent months. The fighters have contributed to a growing presence of Islamic extremists and complicated U.S. efforts to help the rebels.
Many fighters like Suleman believe they must help Syria's Sunni majority defeat Assad's Alawite regime — an offshoot of the Shiite sect. Radical Sunnis view Shiites as heretics.
The presence of Islamic extremists in Syria looms large over U.S. efforts to help the rebels, especially when it comes to providing weapons that could end up in the hands of America's enemies. The extremists have also sparked infighting with more secular rebels concerned about the increasing power of the Islamists.
Most of the foreign fighters in Syria are from Arab countries, including al-Qaida militants from Iraq on the rebel side and Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon on the regime's side. The flow of militants from Pakistan adds a new element to that mix.
Pakistani Interior Ministry spokesman Omar Hamid Khan said provincial authorities throughout Pakistan deny that militants have left the country for Syria.
But three Pakistani intelligence officials based in the tribal region that borders Afghanistan, as well as militants themselves, say the fighters leaving Pakistan for Syria include members of al-Qaida, the Pakistani Taliban and Suleman's group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
The fighters fall mainly into two categories. One includes foreign combatants from places like Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and likely the Middle East who came to Pakistan's tribal region to fight U.S.-led forces in neighboring Afghanistan and are now heading to Syria because they view it as the most pressing battle, said the Pakistani intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
This group includes members of al-Qaida who trained the Pakistani Taliban in areas such as bomb-making and are now moving on to the battlefield in Syria, said Pakistani Taliban fighters, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by the government.
Neither the intelligence officials nor the Pakistani militants were able to provide the total number of fighters who have left the country for Syria, or the route they were taking to get to the Middle East.
An activist based in northern Syria, Mohammad Kanaan, said there are Pakistanis fighting in his area but not in large numbers.
"Most of the muhajireen are Arab fighters from Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia," he said Sunday, using the Arab term for foreign fighters. "But we have seen Pakistanis and Afghans recently as well."
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The second group leaving Pakistan includes mostly domestic members of the Pakistani Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who are heading to Syria because they are being so closely monitored by Pakistani authorities that it makes it difficult for them to carry out operations at home, said a Pakistani Taliban fighter who identified himself only as Hamza for fear of being targeted by authorities.
These militants are under surveillance because they have been detained previously in connection with attacks, or are on Pakistan's radar because of their importance in their organizations, Hamza said.
The group includes Suleman, who was detained during a 2009 attack on an intelligence building in the eastern city of Lahore that killed at least 35 people. He was eventually released, he told the AP in an interview before leaving for Syria more than a week ago.
"Our aim and purpose is to fight against Shiites and eliminate them," said Suleman, who is in his mid-30s and has a closely trimmed black beard. "It is more rewarding if you first fight against the evil here and then you travel for this noble purpose too. The more you travel, the higher the reward from God."
Suleman is one of about 70 militants who have been sent to Syria in the last two months by a network jointly run by the Pakistani Taliban and Laskhar-e-Jhangvi, Hamza said. The militants came from various parts of Pakistan, including the provinces of Baluchistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the southern city of Karachi, Hamza said.
Another group of 40, including Hamza, is expected to leave in the coming weeks, he said. These militants are not going to fight with Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, the most powerful Islamic militant group in Syria, Hamza said. But he did not know which group they would join.
The head of the network sending these militants is a former Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader named Usman Ghani, Hamza said. Another key member is a Pakistani Taliban fighter named Alimullah Umry, who is sending fighters to Ghani from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Hamza said.
The militants are traveling to Syria by various routes, and some are taking their families. The most closely watched are secretly taking speed boats from Baluchistan's coast to the Omani capital of Muscat and then traveling onward to Syria, Hamza said.
Others are flying from Pakistan to various countries, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan, and then making their way to Syria. The financing is coming from sources in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Hamza said.
Suleman flew to Sudan with his wife and two children using fake passports, he said. He will leave his family in Sudan and then travel to Syria. There are families of other Pakistanis who have gone to Syria already living in Sudan and being taken care of, Suleman said.
A member of one of Pakistan's biggest Islamic political parties, Jamaat-e-Islami, said a small number of its followers have also gone to fight in Syria, but not through any organized network. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being persecuted by the government.
Yahoo News
Popocatepetl Volcano Spews Volcanic Ash onto Mexico City
Mexico City residents are still experiencing the harsh repercussions from a deadly volcano.
Just Saturday, residents awoke to layers of volcanic dust on their cars and coming into their homes thanks to the Popocateptl volcano. Reports indicate that a cloud of ash and vapor 2 miles high was shot out from the volcano over a period of several days last week.
Though officials note that it has been years since the city has seen noticeable volcanic ash, Claudia Dominguez, spokeswoman for the Mexico City civil defense office, said that very fine ash has probably been hitting the city due to volcanic acitivity from previous days and may have worsened with rainfall that came Friday.
Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention reported that security warnings have changed from Stage 2 Yellow to Stage 3 Yellow, with the final more rare red stage alert in case of emergency for evacuation.
According to CBS News, Mexico City civil protection secretary Fausto Lugo said the main risk for the metropolis via an article seven days ago, was that people wouldn't know how to handle problems with ash. This finalized their decision to close the airport and cancel flights out of Mexico.
"If there is an eruption, we wouldn't evacuate Mexico City," Lugo said, via CBS News. "For us the main risk is the handling of volcanic ashes."
As of Friday, the U.S. airlines canceled at least one flight at Mexico City's airport as a precautionary measure. Four other airlines also canceled a total of 17 flights "due to climate conditions and in accordance with their own internal policies," according to the airport, via a statement.
The volcano is approximately 40 miles from the apirport which is just a few miles east of the city's center, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
The Environment Ministry is urging Mexico City Residents to stay inside whenever possible and wear dusk masks, as well as cover water supplies.
When outside, officials state that it's also important to sweep up ash and place it in plastic bags as to prevent the formation of a concrete mix that could block drains.
Science world Report
2 Dead, 2 Missing in Torrential Rains in S. Korea
Two people were killed and two remain missing after 300 mm of torrential rainfall drenched Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province over the weekend.
Disaster relief officials on Sunday said a 57-year-old man was swept away by swelling currents along a drainage canal in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday, and a 38-year-old woman was swept away by fast-moving waters in a canyon in Gapyeong in the same province on Saturday afternoon.
A 34-year-old man is missing after being swept away by fast currents there on Sunday, and an 85-year-old man is missing after being buried under a landslide in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province also on Sunday.Heavy rainfall also flooded roads and triggered landslides in other areas. In the capital, the Cheonggye Stream downtown and Jamsu Bridge crossing the Han River were closed to traffic due to swelling waters.
The Korea Meteorological Administration said central parts of the country will see monsoon rains continue through Monday and gradually stop in the evening, while southern regions will experience sporadic showers amid overcast skies. Heavy rainfall is expected again starting Tuesday night.
The Chosunilbo
Israel says might go solo to strike Iran
Israel has threatened to take unilateral action against the Islamic Republic of Iran over the country’s nuclear energy program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on CBS News's Face the Nation on Sundauy that Tel Aviv might act against Iran before the United States does.
"Our clocks are ticking at a different pace. We're closer than the United States. We're more vulnerable. And therefore, we'll have to address this question of how to stop Iran, perhaps before the United States does," the Israeli prime minister said.
Netanyahu also said Iran is edging up to what he called a red line.
"They're edging up to the red line. They haven't crossed it yet," he said.
On September 2, 2012, Netanyahu called on the international community to set a “clear red line” for Iran over its nuclear energy program.
On September 24, US President Barack Obama said in response that the issue concerned US national security decisions, and that he was “going to block out any noise that's out there.”
PressTV
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