The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION Turkmenistan signs natural gas deal with Pakistan, India for cross-Afghanistan pipeline By: The Associated Press Posted: 3:10 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies) ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - Turkmenistan signed a natural gas deal with Pakistan and India on Wednesday, in a significant boost to the proposed construction of a 1,800-kilometre (1,100-mile) pipeline across Afghanistan. Representatives from India's state-owned Gail Ltd. and Pakistan's privately run Pakistan's Inter State Gas System travelled to Turkmenistan to formalize the deal, which will see the two countries receive gas through a pipeline projected to pump 90 million cubic meters (3.18 billion cubic feet) a day. They hope the gas supplies will help to meet their growing energy needs, which are set to double by 2030. ... Continue reading →
NEW DELHI – A western Indian state has declared war on animal poaching by sanctioning its forest guards to shoot hunters on sight in an effort to curb rampant attacks against tigers, elephants and other wildlife. The government in Maharashtra says injuring or killing suspected poachers will no longer be considered a crime. Forest guards should not be "booked for human rights violations when they have taken action against poachers," Maharashtra Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam said Tuesday. The state also will send more rangers and jeeps into the forest, and will offer secret payments to informers who give tips about poachers and animal smugglers, he said. India holds about half of the world's estimated 3,200 tigers in dozens of wildlife reserves set up since the ... Continue reading →
By OMER FAROOQ The Associated Press HYDERABAD, India — A passenger train rammed into a parked freight train and caught fire before dawn Tuesday in southern India, killing at least 24 people and injuring dozens more. Firefighters and policemen try to douse flames on a train after an accident at a station near Penukonda, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Bangalore, India, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. The passenger train rammed into a parked freight train and burst into flames before dawn Tuesday, killing more than a dozen people in southern India, officials said. (AP Photo) Rescuers evacuate an injured from the site of a train accident at a station near Penukonda, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Bangalore, India, Tuesday, May 22, 2012. ... Continue reading →
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A study says more than a third of malaria-fighting drugs tested over the past decade in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa were either fake or bad quality. The study published Tuesday says bogus and badly made drugs are threatening to upend a decade of progress fighting the mosquito-transmitted disease. Fake drugs can lead to deaths because they contain no malaria-fighting agents. Pills without enough of the active ingredient to kill all malaria parasites are problematic because they increase drug resistance. That means malaria eventually will outsmart medicines and render them useless. Continue reading →
HYDERABAD, India (AP) -- Officials say at least 15 people died when an express train rammed into a freight train in southern India. District official Durga Das said four coaches derailed when the driver of the express train applied emergency brakes on seeing the freight train on the same track. The accident occurred early Tuesday in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh state. The Hampi Express train hit the freight train that was stopped at the station. Das said a fire broke out in one of the coaches after the collision. Rescuers were trying to pull people out of the coaches. Continue reading →
Associated Press KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Three climbers who scaled Mount Everest died on their descent and two went missing during a crowded weekend on the Himalayan peak, raising concerns Monday about congested trails and poor conditions near the summit. An estimated 150 climbers tried to reach the top Friday and Saturday as they rushed to use a brief window of good weather in what has otherwise been a troubled season for climbing. Many of the climbers had been waiting at a staging camp for several days for their chance. The three climbers who died Saturday were believed to have suffered exhaustion and altitude sickness, Nepali mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha told The Associated Press. Officials were still gathering details from descending climbers, he said. The ... Continue reading →
The eastern state of Bihar has been so successful at keeping teenage girls in school, the bike giveaways have spread to neighboring states. Now the Indian government wants to expand it across the country in hopes it might help improve female literacy.Before starting the program in 2007, officials in Bihar, one of India’s poorest and least developed states, despaired over how to educate the state’s females, whose literacy rate of 53 percent is more than 20 points below that of its males. “We found that the high school dropout rate soared when girls reached the ninth grade. This was primarily because there are fewer high schools and girls had to travel longer distances to get to school,” said Anjani Kumar Singh, Bihar’s principal secretary overseeing ... Continue reading →
KATMANDU, Nepal—A Nepalese mountaineering official says three climbers returning from the summit of Mount Everest have died and two more are missing. Mountaineering Department official Gyanendra Shrestha said Monday that a German, a Nepal-born Canadian and a Korean died Saturday while descending from the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit. Shrestha said the weather was favorable on Friday and Saturday morning but a wind storm swept the mountain later on Saturday. Shrestha, stationed at the base camp of Everest, said he was waiting for details. German climber 61-year-old doctor Eberhard Schaaf was believed to have suffered high altitude cerebral edema. The Nepalese-Canadian climber was Shriya Shah, while the Korean mountaineer's name was yet to be confirmed. Continue reading →
