PALANPUR, India
A man, who was in debt after gambling and betting on cricket matches, poisoned his wife and two daughters and then committed suicideby hanging himself in Gujarat's Patan district. Ashok Karsanbhai Thakkar, 35, was neck deep in debt and was under pressure from his creditors as he was not repaying the loan taken for his house. He gambled and wasted money on cricket-betting and then lost whatever little he had, said inspector N.B. Chudsama of Radanpur police station.
RAIPUR, India
It's been two months since a Chhattisgarh-bound private helicopter with four crew members on board took off from Hyderabad but never reached its destination. The families of the missing members have returned home after camping in the Maoist-dominated southern parts of the state for over a month and the police have suspended search operations. The police say that the Bell-430 Ran Air chopper went off the radar Aug 3 when it was flying over a thickly forested hilly terrain of Chhattisgarh close to the Andhra Pradesh border, where the banned terror outfit, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) runs a de facto administration since the early 1980s.
PERAMBALUR, India
Four girls, aged between 7 and 11 and belonging to a shepherd community, drowned in an open well in a village near here, an official said. "Amsavalli, a 9-year-old girl, strayed too close to an open well as she chased her sheep that were going astray. She fell in and cried for help. Three of her friends in the same age group tried to save her by jumping in and were drowned too," a police official said. Situated 300 km south of Tamil Nadu capital of Chennai, the water-bodies in the area are usually dry throughout the year due to lack of rainfall.
NEW DELHI, India
A man was killed and another was in critical condition after two groups clashed in east Delhi over a goat, the police said. The incident occurred in Lakshmi Nagar area of east Delhi. After the attack, infuriated family members and friends of the victims torched some motorcycles in the area. The police said they have arrested the three accused and a case of murder has been registered against them.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka
A brave Sri Lankan Tamil family is being praised after overcoming a Samurai attackerin a shop in the British city of Bristol. Reports said attacker Andrew Speed, an 18-year-old drug addict, was shocked by the spirited resistance put up by the shopkeepers at their grocery store in Southmead, Bristol. Speed even begged police officers to arrest him quickly to spare him from the family's retaliation, a Bristol court heard this week. Jailing Speed for three-and-a-half years for the June attack, Judge David Ticehurst said the self-defence of the staff was “entirely reasonable” given the terrifying circumstances.
KOLKATA, India
A two-day old infant was killed by her father in a West Bengal town. The father has surrendered to police. The incident took place at Puruliya town of West Bengal, some 330 km from here. "Ratan Santra, 24, a balloon seller, said he killed his daughter to save her from poverty and hunger. "I hardly earn Rs.30 a day and have a mother, a wife and two more daughters to feed. Another daughter means an extra burden. So I killed her to save her, as well as ourselves from poverty and hunger," said Santra, according to police.
KOLKATA, India
A 76-year-old man, accused of being a 'wizard' who hypnotised young girlsinto doing his household chores, was lynched by a mob in West Bengal, the police said. The incident took place in Hanskhali town of Nadia district. Jibon Dolui, 76 came to live in Hanskhali in 2007. Dolui's neighbours, however, believe that he was a black magic practitioner. "Dolui hypnotised our daughters. He became their prime focus since their first meeting. Our girls even stole food from the kitchen to feed him. We earlier requested him to leave this place. But he didn't listen," said Sunil Jana, a neighbour.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Health authorities area struggling to treat hundreds of patients affected by a cholera outbreak in Pakistan's conflict-ridden Swat mountain district. At least 600 suspected cases were reported last week in Swat, where security forces have been battling Islamist militants for nearly a year, the Aaj news channel said.The supply of potable water piped from reservoirs was suspended to most parts of Swat two weeks ago after insurgents blew up a key grid station in Mingora, forcing a large number of people to use water from streams and underground sources.
NEW DELHI, India
India is to have its first female saint when Pope Benedict XVI canonizes Sister Alphonsa October 12 at the Vatican. As preparations were under way to elevate the nun 62 years after her death, hundreds of Christian devotees from her home state of Kerala in southern India were on their way to the Vatican to attend the ceremony, the NDTV network reported. Born Anna Muttathupandathu on August 19, 1910, in the Kottayam district, the nun is said to have divine powers that have cured many people.
Christianity is Hindu-majority India's third-largest religion with nearly 24 million followers, constituting 2.3 per cent of the country's population.
RAJASTHAN, India
An enquiry into a stampede at a Hindu temple in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan has revealed that 224 people were killed. The stampede at the Chamunda Devi temple in the city of Jodhpur happened after devotees panicked. It was the fourth time this year that lives have been lost during a stampedeat a religious festival in India. Last month 140 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at a mountain temple in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. The Chamunda Devi temple is inside the huge 15th Century Mehrangarh Fort, high above Jodhpur's "blue city".
