10th Indian student attack incident in Australia

Not withstanding assurances by the Australian government that it would not tolerate racial violence, another Indian student was beaten up by a group of youth here on Friday, the 10th person from the community to be assaulted within a month.

Amrit Pal Singh (20) from Haryana, pursuing a course in community welfare from the Caps Institute of Management here, was assaulted near a McDonald’s outlet when he was walking to the place where he worked part-time.

“One of the guys came to me and took off my mobile.When I asked him to please give me my mobile back, he gave me a punch on my face. I also punched him.

Following which his four friends came and started beating me,” Mr Amrit Pal Singh said.

“I have told the police about the incident. One of the attackers took out a knife to hit me but I escaped as it hit my bag (sic),” he told PTI.

An earlier victim, Shravan Kumar, remained critical after being stabbed with a screwdriver by a group of teenagers in a racist attack that also left his three Indian friends injured here last month.

The latest attack came despite the Australian government, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and deputy prime Minister Julia Gillard, pledging to take all steps to prevent such incidents.

In a statement, the Consulate-General of India in Melbourne said it would like to express its gratitude to, and appreciation of, the Indian community in Victoria, which reacted with concern and with positive action “to ameliorate the tense situation in the last two weeks”.

Meanwhile, the Premier of the state of New South Wales, Nathan Rees, met members of the Indian community to assure them that they would not be subject to any violence as witnessed in Victoria, mostly in its capital Melbourne.

Atlast Sri Lanka War ends, Prabhakaran killed by Sri Lankan special forces

Velupillai Prabhakaran, the ruthless LTTE supremo who led a bloody movement for over three decades for a separate Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, was killed on Monday by the Sri Lankan Army, ending a saga of militancy that devoured over 70,000 lives, including Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Prabhakaran, 54, was shot dead by Sri Lankan special forces as he tried to stage a dramatic breakout from the Army encirclement, a military spokesman said. “We have successfully ended the war,” Sri Lanka defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse told the President in a nationallytelevised ceremony. “Now the entire country is declared rid of terrorism,” the Army Chief, Lt. Gen.

Sarath Fonseka, said, declaring an end to all combat operations in the northern war zone.

The news of Prabhakaran’s death also came along with reports of bodies of his son Charles Anthony and three other top leaders — Pottu Amman, Soosai and Nadesan — being found.

Prabhakaran and his top aides were driving in an armour-plated van accompanied by a clutch of rebels in a bus and approaching the Special Forces. A two hour exchange of fire followed and the forces fired a rocket at the van, bringing an end to the battle, Army sources said.

Prabhakaran’s body was pulled out of the van and identified, they said. Prime Minister Ratnasri Wickramanayake said the Army says they have killed him. “The next step would be development in the north (Tamil areas),” Mr Wickramanayake said.

The LTTE had conceded defeat on Sunday. But it has long warned it would intensify guerrilla attacks on economically valuable targets if defeated on the battlefield, something which has hindered growth in Sri Lanka’s tourism sector. The end of combat and Prabhakaran’s death sent Sri Lankan currency and stock markets to one-month and seven-month highs respectively.

The final act played out on a sandy patch of just 300 sqmetres near the Indian Ocean island’s north-eastern coast, where the military said the last Tiger fighters had holed up in bunkers guarded by landmines and booby traps. Officially, the military has not confirmed Prabhakaran’s death. President Rajapakse is expected to do so on Tuesday in a speech to be broadcast from Parliament.

Celebrations broke out in the capital Colombo as news spread of the death of Prabhakaran, who led the longest armed struggle in South Asia for nothing less than a separate homeland for Tamils.

However, the pro-LTTE website TamilNet.com did not comment on reports of Prabhakaran’s death but said the outfit has launched a protest with the International Red Cross over the “massacre” of Charles Anthony, Puli Devan and B. Nadesan.

Hours later, President Mahinda Rajapakse rewarded Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka by promoting him to full general.

Likewise, Navy Chief Wasantha Karannagoda has been made admiral and Air Force Chief Roshan Goonathilake air chief marshal. The three defence chiefs are the first Sri Lankan commanders to hold four-star ranks while in active service, the military said.

Prabhakaran, who had seen many a battle, could not survive the sustained assault of the Lankan forces that began in November last year, leading to the displacement of the Tigers from their long-held de-facto capital of Kilinochchi, and then from Mullaitivu. As news of Prabhakaran’s death trickled in from Sri Lanka, security agen cies in India sounded an alert in TN. Security for Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul and Priyanka was further tightened as they were already LTTE targets. The alert has also been sounded in Kerala and coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Sources said the alert specifically asked Tamil Nadu to keep a close watch as the Gandhi family may be visiting Sriperumbudur on May 21 to observe the 18th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, assassinated by the LTTE in 1991 during the run-up to elections.

India greeted the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka with caution amid fears of a relapse into further conflict if the island nation did not succeed in winning the peace. “It is our view that as the conventional conflict in Sri Lanka comes to an end, this is the moment when the root causes of conflict in Sri Lanka can be addressed,” external affairs ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said. New Delhi reminded Colombo to take “political steps towards the effective devolution of power within the Sri Lankan Constitution” so that all communities, including the Tamils, could feel at home and lead lives of dignity of their own free will. Prabhakaran founded the LTTE in the late 1970s on a culture of suicide before surrender, and had sworn he would never be taken alive.

He carried out his first political murder, killing the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah, a fellow Tamil, by shooting him at point blank range while he was about to enter a Hindu temple at Ponnaalai.

How LTTE Chief start the battle

How LTTE chief start the Battle:

1975: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group forms and demands a separate state for Tamils in the island’s north and east.

July 1983: LTTE ambush Army patrol in Jaffna, killing 13 soldiers and sparking anti-Tamil riots.

Estimated 300 to 600 people die. The civil war begins.

July 1987: Capt. Miller drives a truckload of explosives into an Army camp in the Jaffna peninsula, killing himself and 40 soldiers in the first LTTE suicide attack.

July 1987: India and Sri Lanka sign pact to end Tamil separatism. India sends peacekeeping troops who ended up fighting the rebels.

March 1990: Indian troops withdraw.

1991: bomber assassinates India’s then-PM Rajiv Gandhi.

1993: A rebel suicide bomber kills Sri Lanka’s President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

1995: Sri Lankan forces capture Tamil rebels’ cultural capital of Jaffna.

July 1996: Rebels overrun Army camp in northeastern town of Mullativu, LTTE suicide killing 1,200 troops.

October 1997: United States bans LTTE.

January 1998: LTTE bombs Sri Lanka’s holiest Buddhist shrine, the Temple of Tooth Relic, in Kandy, killing 17 people.

July 2001: Rebels attack main air base and only international airport in Sri Lanka, destroying 13 aircraft and leaving at least 12 dead February 2002: The government signs a ceasefire agreement with LTTE.

August 2005: Foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil who opposed a separate state for the minority, is assassinated.

November 2005: Hardliner Mahinda Rajapaksa elected president.

December 2005: Rebels launch first major attack since truce, killing at least 12 Navy sailors.

June 2006: Talks in Norway begin, aimed at restoring peace collapse.

July 2006: Rebels close sluice gates of an eastern reservoir, cutting water to more than 60,000 people.

In response government launches offensive to crush the Tigers.

July 2007: Sri Lanka announces ouster of rebels from eastern zone.

November 2007: Tamil Tigers’ political wing head S.P. Thamilselvan, believed to be the second-in-command of the group, killed in a government air raid.

January 2008: Sri Lanka ends ceasefire deal.

January 2009: Military captures the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital, Kilinochchi.

January 2009: Government captures rebels last major stronghold of Mullaittivu.

May 2009: Army killed rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, his top deputies and his son Charles Anthony.

2000 innocent tamil civilians were killed in the last 24 hours by Sri Lanka army

Over 2,000 Tamil civilians were killed in a single night during 'indiscriminate barrage of shelling by the Sri Lanka Army on the safety zone' in the island's north, a website sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers said Sunday.

The shelling by the army, starting from Saturday night to Sunday morning, 'slaughtered more than 2,000 civilians including large number of women and children', the pro-LTTE website TamilNet reported quoting medical sources in Vanni.

There was no independent confirmation of the TamilNet report. Sri Lankan officials have in the past denounced as propaganda similar claims by TamilNet.

The so called safe zone is where reportedly the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief V. Prabhakaran is hiding alongwith senior rebel leaders.

Dead bodies were scattered everywhere and 814 wounded managed to reach the makeshift hospital up to 9.25 a.m., the report quoted doctors as saying.

The website report claimed that weapons such as the banned cluster bombs and Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers and cannons were used.

The family of a nursing officer, Gracian Tharmarasa, was wiped out in the shelling. At least 257 bodies, including 67 children, have been brought to the hospital.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting to carve out a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka over the past quarter century.

7 Serial bomb blast in Jaipur

Initial reports has confirmed that 6 people lost their life in the incident. Bomb blasts took place at Badi Chaupad, Manak Chauk, Tripolia, Chandpol and in Hanuman Mandir.

Today is the Tuesday and lots of people attend the evening Aarti at the Hanuman Mandir of Jauhari bajaar, at the time of Aarti only blast took place.

Initial reports has confirmed that blast happend in one Honda City Car. More details are yet to come.

Updated News at 11:55 PM: In total there was an incident of 9 bomb blast, the first one was occurred at 7:12 PM IST. This took place at Manak Chauk. Second bomb blast happened at 7:14 PM at Jauhari bajaar. The third which took more toll than any other blast occurred at 7:16 PM at Hanuman Mandir. The place was overcrowded because of the Tuesday. More than around 70 people are reported dead in the incident more than 15o people are injured. State Government announced that Cycles were used for these blasts and around 6 cycles were used for the incident. State CM Vashundhara Raje Sindhiya announced a sum of Rs. Five Lakh for the keen of dead people and Rs. One Lakh for injured people.

Myanmar under pressure, death toll may rise sharply

Myanmar's military government came under pressure on Wednesday to open its borders to more international help after a devastating cyclone that a U.S. diplomat said may have killed more than 100,000 people.

Washington, a vocal critic of the junta that has ruled the former Burma for more than four decades, said humanitarian access should not be a political matter.

"What remains is for the Burmese government to allow the international community to help its people. It should be a simple matter. It is not a matter of politics," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington.

John Holmes, the top U.N. humanitarian official, urged Myanmar to waive visa restrictions he said were slowing efforts to bring in relief experts and supplies to help an estimated one million people affected by Cyclone Nargis.

The cyclone, with 190 kph (120 mph) winds, slammed into coastal towns and villages in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta southwest of Yangon on Saturday. Witnesses reported villages destroyed and people fighting for survival by clutching trees.

Limited international aid has trickled in and the military junta's own aid operation has moved up a gear with some helicopter drops, but land convoys were nowhere to be seen, a Reuters witness in the delta said.

State Myanmar radio and television reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured in the world's most devastating cyclone since 1991.

Holmes said the death toll could rise "very significantly."

Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar, said, "The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area."

That figure was not confirmed, but was based on estimates by an international non-governmental organization that she declined to identify, Villarosa told reporters on a conference call from Yangon.

She said recent Myanmar government estimates put the death toll at 70,000, mainly in the delta area. In one town alone, Bogalay, at least 10,000 people were killed, according to a town-by-town list of casualties and damage announced by the reclusive military government. '

RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT'

Political analysts and critics of 46 years of military rule said the cyclone may have long-term implications for the junta, which is even more feared and resented since September's bloody crackdown on Buddhist monk-led protests.

With the delta virtually cut off and frustration growing among aid agencies and governments, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggested invoking a U.N. "responsibility to protect" clause without waiting for the junta's approval.

Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that would be premature. "We are having useful and constructive discussions with the authorities of Myanmar," he told reporters at the United Nations. "

It is moving in the right direction, we want it to move much faster clearly, but I'm not sure it would help at this moment at least to embark on what could at least be seen by some people as a confrontation."

Richard Horsey of the U.N. Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Bangkok that 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles) of the delta were under water.

"With all those dead mostly floating in the water at this point you can get some idea of the conditions facing the teams on the ground. It's a major logistical challenge," he said.

Storm surges hit when people were sleeping "and just inundated them, or swept them out to sea," Villarosa said. "The government officials told us 95 percent of the buildings in the delta area are gone or have collapsed." Thailand, China, India and Indonesia were flying in relief supplies and the U.N. World Food Program said it had sent four planes with aid that were expected to arrive on Thursday.

VISA DELAYS

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar do more to facilitate international aid.

Holmes said four Asian U.N. officials had been cleared to go as part of an initial assessment team but up to 100 U.N. staff were still waiting. He said they had not been refused visas, but the process was taking too long.

Twenty-four countries had pledged $30 million and more aid offers were expected after the U.N. sets out its priorities and target for aid in a flash appeal on Friday. The U.N. emergency relief will contribute at least $10 million.

At Yangon airport, a Reuters photographer on a Thai military plane said two Indian planes and one Chinese transport plane with tents and construction materials had also landed.

The United Nations recognized in 2005 the "responsibility to protect" civilians when their governments could or would not do it, even if this meant violating national sovereignty.

France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, asked the Security Council to take a stand on the crisis by calling for a humanitarian briefing and issuing a statement. Diplomats said China, Russia, Vietnam and South Africa were opposed, arguing it has nothing to do with peace and security.

2001 Gujarat earthquake

The 2001 Gujarat earthquake was reportedly the most devastating earthquake in India in recent history. It occurred on January 26, 2001, which coincided with the 51st celebration of Republic Day (India) at 0317 hrs GMT.location of the epicentre was Bhuj (23.6° N 69.8° E) Gujarat, India. Measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed more than 20,000 people and injured another 167,000 and destroyed near a million homes.throughout Gujarat and parts of Eastern Pakistan.

It happened because of tectonic plates releasing pressure in the area after a collision margin took place. A collision margin is where two continental plates collide and begin to rub, creating lots of pressure, until eventually it is released and creates an earthquake.

The earthquake is considered an intra plate earthquake because it occurred a great distance from any plate boundary, where the theory of plate tectonics says most earthquakes of this size happen. Because of this, this area was not completely prepared for an earthquake of such size, causing much of the devastation.

The Effects

Because of its size and location,the quake was very destructive in terms of lives lost and damage to property. All the deaths occurred in India's western state of Gujarat, near the Pakistan border. Bhuj, situated only 20 kilometres (14 miles) from the epicentre, was the most devastated town.

As many as 20,000 people were reported dead. As of February 3, the official toll had climbed to more than 30,000, though it later fell to 19,730. The final death toll of Kutch was 12,220. At least 150,000 more were reported injured. This too may be an underestimate. Over a million structures were damaged or destroyed, including many historic buildings and tourist attractions[e.g.julta minar made by ashoka near railway station].[citation needed]

The quake destroyed a percent of the homes in Bhuj, several schools, and flattened the hospital. Considerable damage occurred also at Bhachau. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial capital and a city of 4.5 million, as many as 50 multistory buildings collapsed and several hundred people were killed. Total property damage was estimated at $5.5 billion and rising. The quake destroyed 75% of Kutch and over 80% of food and water was extinct.

Signs of an approaching tsunami

There is often no advance warning of an approaching tsunami. However, since earthquakes are often a cause of tsunami, any earthquake occurring near a body of water may generate a tsunami if it occurs at shallow depth, is of moderate or high magnitude, and the water volume and depth is sufficient. In Japan moderate - 4.2 Magnitude earthquakes can generate tsunami which can inundate the area within 15 minutes.

If the first part of a tsunami to reach land is a trough (draw back) rather than a crest of the wave, the water along the shoreline may recede dramatically, exposing areas that are normally always submerged. This can serve as an advance warning of the approaching tsunami which will rush in faster than it is possible to run. If a person is in a coastal area where the sea suddenly draws back (many survivors report an accompanying sucking sound), their only real chance of survival is to run for high ground or seek the high floors of high rise buildings.

In the 2004 tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean drawback was not reported on the African coast or any other western coasts it inundated, when the tsunami approached from the east. This was because of the nature of the wave - it moved downwards on the eastern side of the fault line and upwards on the western side. It was the western pulse that inundated coastal areas of Africa and other western areas.

80% of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean, but are possible wherever large bodies of water are found, including inland lakes. They may be caused by landslides, volcanic explosions, bolides and seismic activity.

Indian Ocean Tsunami According to an article in "Geographical" magazine (April 2008), the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26th December 2004 was not the worst that the region could expect. Professor Costas Synolakis of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California co-authored a paper in "Geophysical Journal International" which suggests that a future tsunami in the Indian Ocean basin could affect locations such as Madagascar, Singapore, Somalia, Western Australia and many others. The Boxing Day tsunami killed over 300,000 people with many bodies either being lost to the sea or unidentified. Some unofficial estimates have claimed that approximately 1 million people may have died directly or indirectly solely as a result of the tsunami.

Hiroshima during World War II

At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of some industrial and military significance. A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters of the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. It was one of several Japanese cities left deliberately untouched by American bombing, allowing a pristine environment to measure the damage caused by the atomic bomb. Another account stresses that after General Spaatz reported that Hiroshima was the only targeted city without prisoner of war (POW) camps, Washington decided to assign it highest priority.

The center of the city contained several reinforced concrete buildings and lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were of wooden construction with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings also were of wood frame construction. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.

In front of the harbor of the city, on the island of Okunoshima, was a toxic gas factory linked to Unit 731. Different types of chemical weapons were produced there during the first part of the Shōwa era like mustard gas, yperite, lewisite and cyanide.Those gasses were used during World War II against Chinese soldiers and civilians and on the human experimentations of Shiro Ishii's staff.

The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war, but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack the population was approximately 255,000. This figure is based on the registered population used by the Japanese in computing ration quantities, and the estimates of additional workers and troops who were brought into the city may be inaccurate.