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Thursday, November 05, 2009
Indian, Lankans beheaded
RIYADH: Two Sri Lankans, one of them a woman, and an Indian were beheaded by the sword in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Wednesday for theft and murder, the Saudi interior ministry said. Mohammed Barmil from India and Sri Lankan Bandar Nikar entered the home of Mariam Hussein, a Saudi woman, suffocated her and stole money and jewellery, official SPA news agency reported, quoting a ministry statement. They had entered with the help of Hussein’s Sri Lankan maid, Halima Abdelkader, the ministry said. The beheadings took to 59 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. Last year, Saudi Arabia put 102 people to death.
Rainwater is safe for health
SYDNEY: Drinking untreated rainwater is safe for your health, according to an Australian study. Researchers from Melbourne’s Monash University looked at 300 homes that used rainwater collected in water tanks as their primary drinking source in what they described as a ‘world first’ study that comes amid growing criticism of bottled water. All of the homes were given a bench top filter and told it would remove any potential gastroenteritis-causing organisms from their water, but half of the devices did not contain filters. Families recorded their health over a year and the researchers found that the rate of gastro cases recorded by these two groups were very similar and also matched the broader community who drank treated tap water.
Eight Indian children perish
NEW DELHI: Police say eight children have drowned after a boat carrying at least 35 students capsized in southern India. Police official Vasudev says rescuers are searching for the other children and their fate was not immediately known. Vasudev, who uses only one name, says the accident occurred Wednesday evening in the Mallapuram district of Kerala state.
SL protesters
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police fired tear gas and water cannon on Wednesday to stop unemployed graduate protesters entering a high security area near President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s official residence. Rajapaksa has been riding a wave of popularity since the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels in May ended a 25-year civil year, but is now coming under pressure from protests and strikes by trade and student unions ahead of elections in early 2010. Unemployed graduates, who have been staging rolling protests for the past 29 days demanding decent jobs, said they were attacked by the police when the tried to go to the president’s house to meet him and discuss their problem.
Indian PM sorry
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised on Wednesday to the widow of a man who died after being prevented from receiving emergency treatment because the premier was touring the hospital. Singh wrote in a letter that he had heard desperately ill S. Verma “could not get access (to the hospital) in time because of the restrictions in place for my visit there.” “This is something I deeply regret,” Singh said, adding he had ordered his security staff to be “more sensitive to the concerns of the common man” in future.
Georgian FM
TBILISI: Georgia’s foreign minister renounced his Russian citizenship on Wednesday, formally cutting ties with Moscow that were formed in the Soviet era. Grigol Vashadze, 51, an ethnic Georgian and veteran diplomat, graduated in 1981 from a prestigious Moscow university and served in the Soviet Foreign Ministry before the Soviet Union’s collapse.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
