published by Asianpost on Thu, 07/10/2008 - 09:53
AHMEDABAD, India
As many as 23 girls studying in a training college in Mehsana district of north Gujarat havefled their hostel, complaining of sexual molestation by the institute’s managing trustee. The students of the K.B. Dave Adhyapan Mandir, a primary teachers’ training college at Pilvai in Vijapur sub-district, ran away from their hostel and took shelter at the home of their college-mate Kinjal Patel in Sabarkantha distric
The Delhi Metro has complied witha long standing demand of female commuters and announced that all its trains would have seats reserved for women. Every Metro train has 186 seats of which 16 seats, or nine per cent, will be reserved for women and will carry stickers saying "for ladies only". According to official figures nearly 30 per cent of Metro commuters are women. Every day over 700,000 passengers commute through the 68 km network of Metro. Construction works are on to add 120 km more before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers have commemorated 356 men and women who have staged suicide attacks since the tactic was first used by the rebels 21 years ago. The elusive Tiger supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran, 53, led the remembrance ceremonies at an undisclosed location with the participation of his elite "Black Tiger" suicide cadres, the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website reported. Sri Lanka has been wracked by civil war for more than three decades.
NEW DELHI, India
More than 200,000 workers employed at diamond cutting and polishing units in the western Indian state have been on an indefinite strike since last weekend demanding a wage hike. India handles almost 90 per cent of the world’s diamond cutting and polishing business with the trade being controlled by Gujaratis based in Antwerp. India imports rough diamonds and then exports them after cutting and polishing.
KABUL, Afghanistan
A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into the gates of the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, killing at least 44 people and wounding more than 140, officials said. The blast, which took place in the heart of Kabul, scattered human flesh and severed limbs outside the embassy of India — one of Afghanistan’s staunchest allies as the war-torn country battles an increasingly bloody Taliban insurgency. Since being ousted from power in 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion after refusing to hand in Osama bin Laden in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the Taliban have waged a deadly campaign to try to undermine the Afghan government.
KATHMANDU, Nepal
A Nepali man who helped the world’s oldest climber reach the top of Mt. Everest this year has had to pay dearly for the record, losing his fingers and toes. Dharma Bahadur Rai was part of the six-member Senior Citizens’ Mount Everest Expedition that saw 76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan conquer the 8,848-metre peak May 25 and add a new record in the nearly six-decade-long climbing annals of the world’s most charismatic mountain. While Sherchan is being lionized by Nepal, Rai has been languishing in a Kathmandu hospital where doctors amputated the fingers on both his hands as well as toes on his right foot.
NEW DELHI, India
People are getting a "fee to pee" in a small town in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state in a plan to encourage people to use toilets. Residents of Saliyar Street in the small town of Musiri, 300 kilometres south-west of Tamil Nadu capital Chennai, are earning up to 69 cents a month by urinating at public toilets. Their urine is used for research on fertilizers. More than 700 million people in India are estimated not to have access to proper sanitation facilities.
KARACHI, Pakistan
Police sniffer dogs may have to cover their feet when entering Muslim homes in the U.K. as to not cause offence. The guidelines, to be published this year, were originally designed to cover mosques, will now apply to other buildings including homes. Where Muslims object, officers will be obliged to use sniffer dogs but only in exceptional cases. Where dogs are used, they will have to wear bootees with rubber soles. In Islamic law the dog is not regarded as impure, only its saliva is.
A Royal Bengal tigress was flown to Rajasthan’s Sariska tiger reserve from Ranthambore national park, to be a mate to the tiger relocated there earlier. The first tiger was shifted from Ranthambore on last month. The big cats are being relocated as part of a plan by the government to repopulate the sprawling Sariska reserve with tigers. Currently, Rajasthan has about 32 tigers. All except the two relocated are in Ranthambore. Earlier, tigers in the Sariska reserve had been poached out of existence. The Sariska tiger reserve is spread over some 866 sq. km and is located 110 km from state capital Jaipur. The reserve is also home to leopards, different varieties of deer, jungle cats and birds.
DHAKA, Bangladesh
Bangladesh has taken an initiative to withdraw 30,000 child workers from risky jobs and provide them with institutional education. Families of the child workers will be given micro-credits to make them self-reliant. The policy was being formulated for building the children into educated citizens. A law will be formulated later to assist the policy of eliminating child labour.