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Black money: Names of Yash Birla, four others with Swiss bank accounts disclosed

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Yash Birla

Berne: Industrialist Yash Birla, along with two Mumbai-based individuals behind City Limousines scam, are among five Indian nationals with Swiss bank accounts whose names have been made public in Switzerland’s official gazette with regard to ongoing tax probes against them in India.

The others are Gurjit Singh Kochar, son-in-law of late realty baron Ponty Chadha, and a Delhi-based businesswoman Ritika Sharma.

The names of these five “Indian nationals” have been made public in Switzerland’s Federal Gazette with regard to details sought about them by the Indian authorities.

Among these, some details have already been shared by the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) with India including about Birla and Sharma of Blessings Apparel.

These are in addition to the two other Indians – Sneh Lata Sawhney and Sangita Sawhney – whose names have also been made public in similar manner for being probed by the Indian tax authorities.

In the case of Sayed Mohamed Masood, being probed for a major ponzi scheme run from Mumbai through City Limousines, some details were shared by the Swiss authorities in the past. His accounts were also frozen a few years ago following a request from the Enforcement Directorate.

Fresh details about him and about Chaud Kauser Mohamed Masood have been sought by the Indian authorities, as per the notifications published in Switzerland’s official gazette.

There was no reply to queries mailed to Birla’s office, while repeated calls to Sharma did not elicit any response. Earlier also, when Birla’s name had come out in a leaked HSBC list of Swiss bank accounts, he had declined to comment.

A family representative declined to comment on the notification issued about Kochar, who is believed to be outside India. He is facing probe by the Income Tax Department and other agencies for quite some time. No contact details were available for comments from Masoods.

Making public these names, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has asked them to file an appeal within 30 days before the Federal Administrative Court if they do not want their details to be shared with the Indian authorities under their ‘mutual assistance’ treaty on tax matters.

In the case of Birla and Ritika Sharma, whose details have been already shared by the Swiss authorities, the notifications also mention their addresses in India, but the information given to India has been withheld from the gazette.

No further details – other than their names and dates of birth – were made public for other “Indian nationals”.

Similar is the case for other foreign nationals including the British, Spanish and Russians. In case of American and Israeli citizens, their full names have been withheld and they have been identified by their initials and dates of birth. At least 40 such ‘final notices’ have been published in the Swiss Federal Gazette so far this month, while more such names are expected to be published going forward.

The alleged stashing of wealth by Indians in Swiss banks has been a matter of great debate in India. The Indian government has been pushing the Swiss authorities for a long time to share information on the suspected tax evaders, while Switzerland has shared some details in cases where India has been able to provide some independent evidence of suspected tax evasion by Indian clients of Swiss banks.

While there was no reply to queries mailed to the FTA spokesperson in this regard, these names are being published in the Swiss Federal Gazette in the backdrop of the Swiss government being flooded with requests on suspected black money hoarders in Swiss banks from various countries including India.

As per these notices, the concerned persons can file an appeal before the Federal Administrative Court within 30 days, while providing the reasons and evidence in their support. Through these gazette notices, the Swiss FTA is also looking to give the concerned persons an opportunity to resort to legal remedies. These are the persons about whom foreign governments are requesting information.

As per a report in the ‘Sonntagszeitung’ weekly, the Swiss authorities have been “inundated with requests for assistance” and the nations that wanted to know details about their suspected tax-dodging citizens included “France, Germany, Russia, India and half a dozen other countries”.

“Now, the authority will publish the names of those affected in the Federal Gazette, which is available to everyone on the internet,” it said, while adding that those being named may include “well-known personalities”.

As per the report, banks do not have much interest in contacting such customers as many no more hold the accounts.

It further said that questions have been raised about requests made by India and Germany being based on stolen data.

The report, however, quoted FTA’s Alexandre Dumas as saying, “We are never sure if they are stolen data. However, there is the principle of faith”.

Committing full support to India’s fight against the black money menace, Switzerland last week had said its Parliament would soon consider changes in laws to look into the possibility of sharing information in cases being probed on the basis of stolen data of Swiss bank accounts.

Switzerland’s Economic Affairs Minister Johann Schneider Ammann during his India visit on May 15 said that the Swiss government was sensitive to the fact that the issue of black money was very important for India and needed to be resolved.

“Switzerland has decided to follow international standards, including those framed by OECD, in sharing information and providing assistance to foreign countries probing such cases, but we have to ask our Parliament to make changes in our laws,” he said.

Indian Parliament has recently passed a new black money law under which those found to be stashing illicit funds in foreign locations, including Swiss banks, would face strict penal action, including up to ten years in jail and a penalty of 90 per cent of funds in addition to 30 per cent tax levy.

However, a one-time ‘compliance window’ will be provided before the law comes into force and this would let the persons with foreign assets to come clean by payment of 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty.

(PTI)

BJP asks Siddaramaiah government to hand over Lottery Scam Case to CBI

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Photo: The New Indian Express

Photo: The New Indian Express

Bengaluru: A day after a senior IPS officer was suspended in connection with an alleged lottery scam, senior BJP leader and Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda said the probe should be handed over to CBI as “top officials and some ministers are involved in it”.

“…just because top officials and some of the senior leaders-ministers of the present government are involved in this (single-digit lottery scam) – I think this cannot be investigated by the police of Karnataka. If they are fair enough, they should refer the matter to the CBI so that there could be clean and neat investigation and truth comes out,” he told reporters in Bengaluru.

Alok Kumar, Additional Commissioner of Police (West Bengaluru), was yesterday suspended for his alleged involvement in lottery scam.

A government order said yesterday, Mr Kumar had illegal contact with Pari Rajan, said to be the kingpin in the scam, and not only helped him but also interfered in the investigation process. Mr Rajan is already in police custody.

However, Mr Kumar has denied any kind of involvement in the case and demanded a fair investigation.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said the action was taken on the basis of a interim report submitted by the CID. Siddaramaiah who had held a meeting of senior police officials earlier this month, had ordered a CID probe into the alleged scam. He had also said that government would take strict action against those involved in the scam.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Suresh Kumar said it was a case of intelligence failure and questioned the intelligence wing for not keeping Siddaramaiah informed for two years.

“How can Home Minister escape from his responsibility? Why did our state intelligence not keep Chief Minister informed for two years? It is a case of intelligence failure, pure and simple. Here is an example of how to weakly handle Home Ministry,” he said.

Government had earlier suspended Dharanesh, Superintendent of Police (Lottery Squad) in connection with the case.

(PTI)

Modi government has only renamed the previous UPA government's policies: Chidambaram

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P-Chidambaram

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has advertised its work better though it has only renamed the previous UPA government’s policies, former finance minister P Chidambaram today said.

“We didn’t trumpet our achievements as well or as cleverly like this Government does. We have to acknowledge they have advertised their work better,” he said.

“Best flattery is imitation. I am very happy that NDA is following UPA policies,” he quipped.

Mr Chidambaram, one of the seniormost ministers in the Congress-led government, addressed the press conference in response to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s briefing on Friday to mark one year of the Modi government.

He took on Prime Minister Modi on his comments in Shanghai, China, about Indians being ashamed to have been born in India.

“I was born many years ago. I was not ashamed to be born in India. I asked many people – have they been ashamed to have been born in India. If anyone born before May 26, 2014 was ashamed to be born in India, let them ask me a question…,” Mr Chidambaram remarked.

The PM had said, “Earlier, you felt ashamed of being born Indian. Now you feel proud to represent the country. Indians abroad had all hoped for a change in government last year.”

(Agencies)

Muslim Brotherhood leader dies in Egyptian prison

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Defendants stand trial in Egypt for allegedly supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

Defendants stand trial in Egypt for allegedly supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

A leading Muslim Brotherhood member died on Monday morning inside a prison hospital in northern Egypt, a pro-Brotherhood website has reported.

Mohamed al-Falahgi, a former lawmaker and member of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, died in Gamasa prison in Egypt’s Damietta province, according to the Nafezat Masr website.

A lawyer for detained Brotherhood members in Damietta told the website that, prior to his death, al-Falahgi had been taken to a prison hospital with a gallbladder inflammation and kidney stones.

Al-Falahgi was arrested on violence-related charges in August of 2013. He was referred to Gamasa prison in October of the same year, according to the lawyer.

Al-Falahgi had been serving out a three-year jail term for involvement in the torching of a government building in Damietta. However, the verdict had been subsequently annulled and a retrial had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

Al-Falahgi was the second Brotherhood member to die in prison this month. On May 14, senior Brotherhood member Farid Ismail died in prison of health complications.

Ahmed Mafrah, who heads the Egypt desk at the Al-Karama foundation, a Geneva-based rights watchdog, told Anadolu Agency that al-Falahgi’s death brought the total number of deaths inside Egyptian prisons and detention facilities to 265 since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi – Egypt’s first elected president – by the army in mid-2013.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi had been a leading member, holds the Egyptian authorities responsible for the deaths of its detained members, citing “negligence” by prison officials.

The Egyptian authorities, for their part, insist that all its prison facilities are operated “in line with international human rights treaties” on the rights of prisoners.

(Andolu Ajansi)

Sexual violence an 'Epidemic' on US campuses, study confirms

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Activists have long pointed to cultural and institutional "hatred of women" as a cause of rape. | Photo: Reuters

Activists have long pointed to cultural and institutional “hatred of women” as a cause of rape. | Photo: Reuters

by teleSUR

A staggering 37 percent of women have been raped, or subjected to an attempted rape, by the time they start their second year of college.

“Sexual violence on campus has reached epidemic levels,” a study published on Wednesday revealed.

The study by Brown University found that 15 percent of the 483 female college students surveyed had experienced “incapictated rape” (when alcohol or drugs are involved), while 9 percent had been subjected to “forcible rape” (when physical force is exercised) during their first year of college.

“If you swap in any other physically harmful and psychologically harmful event, a prevalence of 15 percent would be just unacceptably high,” Kate Carey, professor of behavioral and social sciences at Brown University School of Public Health and main researcher of the study, told Reuters.

Prior to starting college, 28 percent of the women surveyed had already experienced an attempted or completed rape. This increased to 37 percent by the time the time women start second year of college, the study found.

The research distinguishes itself from other studies for focusing primarily on first-year female students, examining their experiences over time, and distinguishing between “incapacitated” and “forced” cases of rape.

The study suggested four commonly used tactics by perpetrators of rape: manipulation through arguments and continuous pressure, use of physical force, physical or psychological threats, and performance of sexual acts while incapacitated by drugs or alcohol. It also looked at five types of contact the women surveyed had to report in the survey. These include caresses, kisses, or sexual touching; oral sex; attempt at sexual intercourse without success; forced sexual intercourse; anal sex or penetration with a finger or objects.

Intervention to prevent the epidemic of sexual violence on university campus was urged by the researchers. They suggested that “risky drinking behavior” ought to be one site for rape prevention.

Activists for gender justice, however, have long pointed at structural root problems causing rape and femicide. In a 2014 article for Salon, Katie Mcdonough called on people to “examine our culture of misogyny and toxic masculinity, which devalues both women’s and men’s lives and worth, and inflicts real and daily harm. We must examine the dangerous normative values that treat women as less than human, and that make them (…) deserving of death.”

Aung San Suu Kyi's inexcusable silence

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Aung San Suu Kyi was a moral icon, a human rights champion – so why has she been silent about the Rohingya Muslims?

Aung San Suu Kyi

by Mehdi Hasan, Al Jazeera

“In awarding the Nobel Peace Prize … to Aung San Suu Kyi,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in 1991, it wished “to honour this woman for her unflagging efforts and to show its support for the many people throughout the world who are striving to attain democracy, human rights and ethnic conciliation by peaceful means”.

Suu Kyi, the Committee added, was “an important symbol in the struggle against oppression”.

Fast forward 24 years, and the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar might disagree with the dewy-eyed assessment of the five-member Nobel Committee. And with Gordon Brown, too, who called Suu Kyi “the world’s most renowned and courageous prisoner of conscience”. Not to mention Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has said that the people of Myanmar “desperately need the kind of moral and principled leadership that Aung San Suu Kyi would provide”.

In recent years, the Rohingya Muslims – “the world’s most persecuted minority”, according to the United Nations – have struggled to attract attention to their plight.

Until, that is, a few weeks ago, when thousands of Rohingya refugees began arriving in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, while thousands more believed to be still stranded on rickety boats off the coasts of these three countries, with dwindling supplies of food and clean water.

‘So hungry, so skinny’

“Fisherman Muchtar Ali broke down in tears when he set eyes on the overcrowded boat carrying desperate, starving Rohingya off the coast of Indonesia,” noted a report by AFP on May 20.

“I was speechless,” Ali told AFP. “Looking at these people, me and my friends cried because they looked so hungry, so skinny.”

These Rohingya “boat people”, however, are a symptom of a much bigger problem. As Kate Schuetze, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Researcher, has observed: “The thousands of lives at risk should be the immediate priority, but the root causes of this crisis must also be addressed. The fact that thousands of Rohingya prefer a dangerous boat journey they may not survive to staying in Myanmar speaks volumes about the conditions they face there.”

Those oppressive conditions range from a denial of citizenship to Myanmar’s 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims to severe restrictions on their movement, employment and access to education and healthcare, as well as a discriminatory law imposing a “two child” limit on Rohingya families in their home state of Rakhine.

Hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes; their towns and villages razed to the ground by rampaging mobs. In 2014, the government even banned the use of the word “Rohingya”, insisting the Muslim minority, who have lived in that country for generations, be registered in the census as “Bengali”.

Inexcusable silence

So, where does Suu Kyi fit into all this? Well, for a start, her silence is inexcusable. Her refusal to condemn, or even fully acknowledge, the state-sponsored repression of her fellow countrymen and women, not to mention the violence meted out to them by Buddhist extremists inspired by the monk Ashin Wirathu (aka “The Burmese Bin Laden”), makes her part of the problem, not the solution.

“In a genocide, silence is complicity, and so it is with Aung San Suu Kyi,” observed Penny Green, a law professor at the University of London and director of the State Crime Initiative, in a recent op-ed for The Independent. Imbued with “enormous moral and political capital”, Green argued, Myanmar’s opposition leader could have challenged “the vile racism and Islamophobia which characterises Burmese political and social discourse”.

She didn’t. Instead, she spent the past few years courting the Buddhist majority of Myanmar, whose votes she needs in order to be elected president in 2016 – if, that is, the military will allow her to be elected president, or even permit her to stand – by playing down the violence perpetrated against the Muslim minority, and trying to suggest a false equivalence between persecutors and victims of persecution.

In a BBC interview in 2013, for example, Suu Kyi shamefully blamed the violence on “both sides”, telling interviewer Mishal Husain that “Muslims have been targeted but Buddhists have also been subjected to violence”.

Yet in Myanmar, it isn’t Buddhists who have been confined to fetid camps, where they are“slowly succumbing to starvation, despair and disease”. It isn’t Buddhists who have been the victims of what Human Rights Watch calls “ethnic cleansing” and what the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar has said “could amount to crimes against humanity”. It isn’t Buddhists who are crowding onto boats, to try and flee the country, and being assaulted with hammers and knives as they do so. It isn’t Buddhists, to put it bluntly, who are facing genocide.

Risk of ‘genocide’

Is this mere hyperbole? If only. Listen to the verdict of investigators from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide.

“We left Burma,” they wrote in a report published earlier this month, “deeply concerned that so many preconditions for genocide are already in place.”

The investigators, who visited Rohingya internment camps and interviewed the survivors of violent attacks, concluded: “Genocide will remain a serious risk for the Rohingya if the government of Burma does not immediately address the laws and policies that oppress the entire community.”

Yet, despite the boats and the bodies, the reports and the revelations, Suu Kyi is still mute. She hasn’t raised a finger to help the Rohingya, as they literally run for their lives. Shouldn’t we expect more from a Nobel Peace Prize laureate?

Maybe not. The words “Henry” and “Kissinger” come to mind. Plus, the Nobel Prize Committee has a pretty awkward history of prematurely handing out peace prizes. Remember Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat’s joint prize in 1994? Ask the children of Gaza how that worked out. Remember Barack Obama’s in 2009? Ask the civilian victims of drone strikes in Pakistan how that worked out.

Rabin, Arafat, Obama … ultimately, of course, they’re all politicians. Suu Kyi was supposed to be something else, something more; a moral icon, a human rights champion, a latter-day Gandhi.

Sad truth

Why weren’t we listening when the opposition leader and former political prisoner told CNN in 2013 that she had “been a politician all along”, that her ambition was to become president of her country?

The sad truth is that when it comes to “The Lady”, it is well past time to take off the rose-tinted glasses. To see Suu Kyi for what she is: A former prisoner of conscience, yes, but now a cynical politician who is willing to put votes ahead of principles; party political advancement ahead of innocent Rohingya lives.

“Ultimately our aim should be to create a world free from the displaced, the homeless and the hopeless,” Suu Kyi grandly declaimed in June 2012, as she finally accepted her Nobel Peace Prize, in person, 21 years after she won it while under house arrest, “a world of which each and every corner is a true sanctuary where the inhabitants will have the freedom and the capacity to live in peace”.

Forget the world. She should try starting at home, with the Rohingya of Rakhine. And if she won’t, or can’t, then maybe she should consider handing back the prize she waited more than two decades to collect.

Mumbai Indians lift second IPL title with a 41-run win over CSK

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Mumbai Indians second IPL

Kolkata: A far too superior Mumbai Indians crushed Chennai Super Kings under the weight of a daunting asking rate on Sudnay Ato lift the coveted Indian Premier League title for the second time, in a virtual replay of the final between the two sides in 2013 at the same venue Eden Gardens.

Put in to bat, Mumbai gave an awesome batting display to plunder 202/5, and then restricted Chennai to 161/8, finishing with a 41 run victory before a capacity 66,000 plus crowd at the iconic ground.

Chasing the tough target, Chennai Super Kings lost an early wicket and never quite seemed like taking up the challenge,virtually choking Aunder pressure as the asking rate kept mounting. In the end, the battle seemed quite one-sided.

Two years back, Mumbai had defeated Chennai by 23 runs to annex their maiden title at the Eden.

Mumbai now have evened with Chennai and Kolkata Knight Riders – each having been crowned champions twice.

Chennai began their reply on the wrong note, as Mike Hussey (4) departed cheaply, but Dwayne Smith (57; 48b, 9×4, 1×6). and Suresh Raina (28; 19b, 3×4, 1×6) set out to repair the damage and take the battle into the opponent camp with a 66-run second wicket stand.

However, veteran office Harbhajan Singh – on a high after his recall to the Indian team – showed the door to Smith, and that proved to be the turning point of the game, as CSK never got going after that.

Wickets tumbled, as Raina became Harbhajan’s victim in the tweaker’s next over, while Dwayne Bravo (9) and skipper M S Dhoni (18) also could not do much.

The dye was cast, and once Dhoni went back in the 16th over, with the score reading 124/5, it was all over. AA

For the winners, Mitchell Mcclenaghan (3/25), Lasith Malings (2/25) and Harbhajan Singh (2/34) were the main wicket takers.

Earlier, , the Mumbai Indians built their innings around two partnerships, as they set an asking rate of 10.15 for Chennai on a flat strip.

A rollicking 119-run second-wicket stand between opener Lendl Simmons (68; 45b, 8×4, 3×6) and skipper Rohit Sharma (50; 26b, 4×6, 6×2) took the team to a position of solidity after the loss of opener Parthiv Patel in the opening over itself.

Kieron Pollard (36; 18b, 2×4, 3×6) and Ambati Rayudu (36; 24b, 3×6) then forged a 71-run partnership for the fourth wicket off only 40 balls to pile on the Chennai Super Kings bowlers’ misery.

Rohit, who has always found Eden a happy hunting ground, went on the offensive from the word go, smacking Mohit Sharma for 16 runs in the second over, before unleashing some exquisite strokes during his stay in the middle.

Caribbean Simmons also played with his characteristic flamboyance, but reached his half century with a somewhat lucky shot, an edge, as Pawan Negi only managed to get his hands to the leather before it slipped out. The batsmen ran two, and Mumbai were 98/1 at the halfway stage.

Dwayne Bravo finally broke the partnership by foxing Rohit with a slower ball. Mumbai were 120/3 in 12 overs.

Simmons returned in the very next delivery, yorked by Dwayne Smith.

Rayudu then joined Pollard, who belted Nehra for 23 runs in the 17th over, that included three sixes and one boundary.

For Chennai, Dwayne Bravo (2 for 36) was the most successful bowler.

(IANS)

HC vindicates AAP government in dispute with centre

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Kejriwal has described the Centre’s stand as perfidy and a blatant attempt to provide cover to corrupt officials. He has also said he will challenge the Centre’s notification in court.

arvind-najeeb

New Delhi: In the midst of a dispute with the Centre, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has received vindication in court.

The anti-corruption branch of Delhi, which comes under Delhi Police, must take its orders from Kejriwal’s government and not the Centre, the Delhi High Court said on 25 May.

The judge also said that Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung is “bound to act upon the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers”.

“Today’s judgement is a huge embarassment for the central govt, (sic),” jubilant Kejriwal tweeted.

Last week, the Centre said its officers could not be probed by the ACB, Delhi because it doesn’t have the right to intervene in matters of land, the Delhi Police, or the appointments of key bureaucrats.

The Centre also said the LG, who acts as its representative in Delhi, is not obliged to consult Kejriwal on these issues.

Kejriwal has described the Centre’s stand as perfidy and a blatant attempt to provide cover to corrupt officials. He has also said he will challenge the Centre’s notification in court.

The clash between the Centre and Kejriwal is over how their powers are divided in Delhi’s administration, a union territory.

Earlier in the day, in a maverick move, he summoned a cabinet meeting at a city public park and sought the attendance of the “aam aadmi” or common man that his party is named after.

Indian media makes news in Nepal, for wrong reasons

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NEPAL-EARTHQUAKE

Kathmandu: A section of the Indian media has made news in Nepal — for the wrong reasons.

The electronic media in particular faces charges of sensationalism at a time when the Himalayan nation is recovering from the deadly scars of the April earthquake that left more than 8,500 people dead.

In Kathmandu, few hide their feelings vis-a-vis the Indian media.

“There is a lot of resentment against Indian journalists because of the biased approach they took to cover the tragic event,” Dinesh Gautam, deputy chief executive officer of Probiotech Industries, Nepal’s prominent feed industry, told IANS.

The main reason for the anger towards certain media, especially two prominent Hindi news channels, was the “insensitive” reportage following large-scale deaths and destruction, he said.

The one question which Indian TV reporters kept asking and which is the focus of much of the criticism is: “How are you feeling?”

“What would be your reaction to this question when you lose a family member in a disaster?” banker Nira Shrestha asked this IANS correspondent. She said there should be some sensitivity towards such incidents.

“If somebody is under trauma or lying on a stretcher with multiple injuries, you cannot pose silly questions. This is the main reason for the anger against the Indian media,” Shrestha said.

The oft-repeated remarks by Indian media commentators which created revulsion in Nepal was that it was not the earthquake but the buildings which killed people.
Narrating an incident, Nepalese journalist Ujjwal Risal said one of the survivors was so angry with the questions from journalists that he angrily pushed aside the microphone of a reporter of an Indian news channel.

He said lots of international journalists flocked to Nepal to report on the disaster.

“Though the international media played a major role to get immediate worldwide attention towards the tragedy, it’s only Indian news channels that faced flak. There was no problem with BBC News, CNN, Al Jazeera and even the local ones which also covered the quake widely,” Risal, who has been publishing a fortnightly news magazine for over a decade, told IANS.

Kathmandu-based leading news channel Kantipur Television was operating from a makeshift tent as one of its buildings got damaged.

Local entrepreneur Bhagwati Prasad said: “As Nepal is rebuilding, the Indian media outlets should come back and focus on voluntary agencies — national and international — involved in rehabilitating people. It has shown the heart-rending videos and not the human interest stories.”

Actress Michelle Yeoh, famous for her roles in James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”, visited quake-hit villages on the outskirts of Kathmandu on May 15-17 to see the rehabilitation work undertaken by ‘Live to Love’ foundation of Buddhist leader Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the 1,000-year-old Drukpa Order based in India and Nepal.

“You have to inspire through your writings the international community that quake-ravaged Nepal needs immediate help,” Yeoh told IANS.

(IANS)

Heatwave kills 432 in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh

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Heatwave

Hyderabad: The searing heatwave in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has killed 432 people so far with more deaths being reported today as vast swathes of the country reeled under the unrelenting summer heat.

There was no respite in sight with the India Meteorological department warning that severe heatwave conditions are expected to continue in the two worst-hit southern states.

In Delhi, the maximum temperature was recorded at 43.5 degree celsius, a degree less than yesterday while Palam recorded 46 degree celsius.

Uttar Pradesh continued to reel under sweltering heat with mercury in Allahabad touching 47.7 degree Celsius which was the hottest in the state.

The steel city of Jamshedpur in Jharkhand experienced the hottest day of the season at 44.8 degree celsius, four degree above normal.

Odisha virtually turned into a boiling cauldron as the searing heatwave conditions further intensified today with the mercury rising above 45 degree celsius in nine places and above 40 degree celsius in 19 towns.

The toll in the heatwave in Andhra Pradesh since May 18 rose to 246, after 84 more people succumbed across the state today, according to a senior official of the AP Disaster Management Department. The figure was based on information available from different districts until 7.15 pm.

Prakasam district recorded the most number of deaths at 57, followed by Visakhapatnam(53) and Vizianagaram (40), the official said.

He said 162 people had died due to heatwave across the state as per information available until 10 pm last night.

The toll pertains to the period from May 18 until 7.15 pm for the state of Andhra Pradesh, the official said.

Telangana reported death of 58 more people since yesterday, as a result of which the toll went up to 186 in 10 districts of the state, a senior official of State Disaster Management Department told PTI.

Nalgonda district recorded the maximum number of 55 deaths, followed by Khammam district at 43 and Mahabubnagar district at 23, she said. In Hyderabad, two persons have died due to heatwave.

The toll is registered from April 15 in Telangana, the official said.

There was no respite from blistering heat in desert state of Rajasthan where Jaisalmer and Sriganganagar districts remained the hottest place recording a maximum of 45.6 degree celsius.

Kota recorded a maximum of 45.5 degree celsius while Bikaner and Barmer registered temperatures of 44.6 and 44.2 degree respectively.

Churu and Jaipur sizzled at 43.8 degree celsius. Jodhpur, Ajmer and Dabok also recorded day temperature of 42, 41.4 and 40 degree Celsius.

(PTI)

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