MONTH THAT WAS

West Nile virus claims 46 lives in Texas

Washington:  At least 46 people have died from the mosquito-borne West Nile virus in Texas state in the US this year, Xinhua reported. The latest reports came from Dallas county and El Paso county, with each county confirming one death due to the virus, according to local TV channel ABC13. Amid a nationwide outbreak of the virus, Texas is the worst hit state with almost 45 percent of the nation’s total, and about half of the deaths.The number of virus cases reported in Texas this year totalled 1,013, among which are at least 523 cases of neuro-invasive West Nile, the most serious form of the illness as it affects the nervous system. 

In 2003, Texas recorded 439 neuro-invasive cases. The number of West Nile virus cases reported across the US till September is also the highest since the disease was discovered in the country in 1999, officials said. 

Till Sep 4, 48 states reported West Nile virus infections in people, birds or mosquitoes. Over 70 percent of the cases have been reported from six states — Texas, South Dakota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Michigan.Health officials in Oklahoma also said the state had broken its record for West Nile virus cases in a single year. First identified in Uganda in 1937, West Nile virus is a mosquito-borne illness that leads to serious neurological disease in some cases. Its symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, nausea, dizziness and muscle weakness.    

Skirting the issue

A woman journalist was stopped at the gate of high court by the security guards because she was wearing a sleeveless dress. Female visitors from Western countries often face this problem and are told to wear a dupatta or cover their shoulders with shawl. Although there is no dress code for entering the Bombay High Court premises these days, there seems to be unwritten rule forbidding women wearing sleeveless dresses from entering the high court, Security guards say that they have got instructions from the administration to do so. However, they do not stop sleeveless high court employees or female advocates. For that matter, they do not stop female advocates wearing short skirts.

Bomb blast claims 12 shias

Islamabad : At least 12 people were killed and 50 others injured when a powerful car bomb went off at a busy market in northwest Pakistan, officials said. The explosive-laden vehicle was parked at Kashmir Chowk in Parachinar, the main town of restive Kurram Agency. The 50 injured, some of them in a serious condition, were taken to a nearby state-run hospital. Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation.

The blast snapped the power supply to the area and panic gripped the town. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Kurram Agency has been rocked by sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni tribesmen over the past five years. Taliban fighters who infiltrated the region have been backing the Sunnis. Hundreds of people have died in clashes between the rival tribesmen and militant violence.

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf strongly condemned the bombing in Parachinar and directed authorities to provide the best medical treatment to the injured. Another government official, Naseer Khan, said all of the dead were Shiite Muslims. Kurram is the only region along the Afghan border that is majority Shiite, and has seen bloody outbreaks of sectarian violence in recent years.

The emergence over the last 10 years in Pakistan of groups such as al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban has added to the frequency and viciousness of attacks against Shiites. Many of the recent sectarian killings in Pakistan have been blamed on the militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which is allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban.

A court released the founder of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi on bail, about a week and a half after he was arrested because of a speech he made that authorities said incited sectarian hatred, said police officer Ejaz Shafi. Bail was set at 500,000 rupees, about $5,280, Shafi said.

Police arrested Malik Ishaq in 1997, and he was accused in more than 200 criminal cases involving the killing of 70 Shiites. But the prosecution could never prove the charges, in part because of witness and judge intimidation, and he went free in 2011.

‘No work, No pay’ to MPs

New Delhi: With almost the entire monsoon session of Parliament washed out by BJP protests, CPI(M)  strongly advocated implementation of 'no work, no pay' principle on parliamentarians.

"If you can implement the 'no work, no pay' principle on the workers when they go on strike, you should apply it for MPs too," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said here.

His comments came on the last day of the monsoon session which saw disruption of proceedings for 13 out of 19 working days by the BJP on the coal allocation issue.

Prez flags off eco-friendly solar car

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Sept 4 flagged off a solar-powered passenger car developed by Delhi Technological University.

“With a speed of 72 miles/hr, the solar car is a zero carbon emission and completely eco-friendly. It has a sedan shape with a seating capacity of two and option of adding three more seats,” press release said.

The car, flagged off from Rashtrapati Bhavan, will represent India at the Sasol Solar Challenge held in South Africa between Sept 15-29.

First child witness court inaugurated

New Delhi: India's first child witness court room (CWCR), designed to present friendly image of courts for child witnesses, was inaugurated at the Karkardooma courts complex in New Delhi.

The CWCR has been opened to help children, who are sometimes witnesses in cases pertaining to sexual offences, to depose freely in the court.

The inauguration was done in the presence of Justice Altamas Kabir of Supreme Court, Delhi High Court Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri, Chairperson of the programme Justice Gita Mittal and Justices Reva Khetrapal and GP Mittal.

Besides them other judicial officers of the trial courts, including district judges Sunita Gupta and PS Teji, were also present on the occasion.

The new court room will be functional on the sixth floor of the court building. It has been designed with the objective to provide child witnesses an environment conducive for them as against the usual tense atmosphere of the court.

The child will also have a separate entrance to the sixth floor court room. He/she will be taken to the court room through a separate lift which is used only by judges.

Justice Kabir welcomed the inauguration of CWCR, which has been taken in compliance with the directions of the high court committee to monitor proper implementation of guidelines laid down by it and by the Supreme Court for dealing with cases of sexual offences and child witnesses.

The court will help in rape cases involving minors where the offender is known to the victim.

Rusting Mercedes sold for £ 3 million

London: A rare 1928 Mercedes which spent 60 years gathering dust in a garage in a home in UK has fetched almost 3 million pounds at an auction here. The S-Type Mercedes-Benz - the supercar of its generation that easily reached over 100mph - still runs perfectly despite not being driven since 1952.

 One of the world's fastest vehicles when it rolled off the production line in 1928, the Mercedes sparked a bidding war at the Bonhams' Goodwood Revival sale in Sussex, the Daily Mail reported. The car has been owned by the same family since the 1920s and went to a mystery buyer for 2,801,500 pounds.