Thirty-six prisoners in a jail described by former inmates as "the darkest hell-hole in Burma" were reportedly shot dead in the chaotic aftermath of the cyclone and four others tortured to death.
As the death toll from the Burmese cyclone rose yesterday, with up to 50,000 people now feared dead, witnesses spoke of the homelessness, hunger and disease now threatening the worst-affected areas.
The Burmese junta came under mounting international pressure to allow aid agencies unrestricted access to the disaster-ravaged country last night as governments pledged more than $10m for emergency relief efforts.
Up to 1 million people may be homeless after Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma, early Saturday. Some villages have been almost totally eradicated and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out, the World Food Program
To help the Myanmarese people with reconstruction, the Chinese government has decided to send the first batch of USD one million of emergency assistance, including cash and materials," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. The cyclone, whose victims include 10,000
Syed Hamid defended the decision to keep the Internal Security Act as opposition parties called for the release of all detainees being held under the law, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. "The government at present has no intention
Taking "serious notice" of the utterances of the MP from Jammu against Speaker Tara Chand and MLA Peerzada Mohd Sayeed, state party chief Saifuddin Soz asked him to reply within a week as to why "disciplinary action" should not be
After the line to the seaside town of Qingdao -- the venue of the Olympics sailing competition -- was quickly reopened, the official Xinhua news agency cited an investigation panel saying "high speed" caused the accident. The passenger train from
The man, named as ethnic Tibetan officer Lama Cedain, died of his wounds on Monday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the public security authorities in the remote province of Qinghai, which borders Tibet. It added that there
Police tried to arrest the suspect Monday in Qinghai province, the suspect resisted and gunfire broke out, Xinhua said, citing the provincial Public Security Department. The officer, identified as Lama Cedain, also an ethnic Tibetan, was killed and other officers
An Embassy official said the government had merely acted on Sharma's request that he be sent back as his wife had a serious ailment and had to be attended. Other sources here, however, endorse reports that Sharma was in a
Of those, more than 700 remain hospitalised due to the disease, 36 of them in a serious condition, Xinhua news agency quoted health authorities in Anhui province as saying. The number of children to have been infected with the enterovirus
The envoys arrived in China on Saturday, sources said. "It is hoped that through contact and consultation, the Dalai side will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China, stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and
Tibet's government-in-exile announced on Friday that envoys of the Dalai Lama were heading to China to discuss riots and protests across Tibet that have shaken Beijing's preparations for the Beijing Olympics and stoked Western criticism of a security crackdown in
China also imparted a political dimension to the exercise by announcing that the team will consist of members from the country's ethnic minorities, the Tibetans, Hui, Tu and Tujia besides the Han Chinese who make up for the bulk of
Hu and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda were likely to discuss climate change, a dispute over contested gas fields in the East China Sea, Chinese food safety rules and perhaps Tibet. Mostly the trip is intended to anchor the friendlier
The snows from Saturday to Monday are still having an impact," Liu Xuan, a Tibetan regional government spokeswoman, told by telephone from a media camp near the base of Everest, which is located partly in troubled Tibet. "The wind is
Chinese officials and the Dalai Lama's "private representatives" agreed to hold another round of "contact and consultation at an appropriate time", state run Xinhua news agency said after the meeting in the booming southern city of Shenzen. It said during
Xinhua News Agency also said, however, that the Chinese officials told the Dalai Lama's envoys at their first meeting Sunday that the protests had spawned new obstacles to communication. International critics have accused China of heavy-handed tactics in quelling the
Inflammable material being carried by a passenger was stated to have caused the fire on the bus with about 50 passengers on board, official Xinhua news agency said quoting police. A witness said passengers in the air conditioned bus were
