(Reuters, 9/2/08.)

MONSOON MISERY SPREADS IN INDIA

GUWAHATI, India  –  Heavy rains and rising floodwaters forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in northeastern India and sent elephants and rhinos fleeing, as monsoon misery spread in South Asia.

In the eastern Indian state of Bihar, desperate flood victims attacked a warehouse and looted food suppplies, while in neighboring Bangladesh major rivers rose to danger levels and fresh parts of the country were submerged.

In the northeastern state of Assam, heavy rains caused water levels to rise on Tuesday, affecting more than a million people and disrupting road networks for the second consecutive day.

Animals fled to higher ground in Kaziranga National Park after the Brahmaputra (river) burst its banks and flooded most of the park, home tomore than half of the world’s population of one-horned rhinos.

At least two rhino calves were drowned and a herd of 100 elephants were swept away by floodwaters, forest officials said.

“We are now worried the poachers will take advantage and kill rhinos and elephants as they are moving out of the protected areas to safer ground,” said chief warden S.N. Buragohaid.

In Bihar, the floods have already displaced about three million people and killed at least 90.

Hundreds of stick-wielding villagers ransacked a food warehouse in Madhepura district and looted food packets while police guarding the warehouse ran for cover.  Government vehicles carrying food were also looted.

“We cannot stop incidents despite our best efforts,” Bijendra Prasad Yadav, a state relief official, told Reuters.  “These are very common during flood time.”

Many villagers in impoverished Bihar have been marooned on rooftops for days with nothing to eat, while some have taken to eating plants and leaves to survive.

The Kosi river burst a dam in Nepal late last month flooding hundreds of villages across the state and destroying 100,000 ha (250,000 acres) of farmlands.

Television images showed desperate villagers driving their livestock into the Kosi river because they had no food for them.

Since the monsoon began in South Asia in June, more than 1,000 people have died in floods with most of the casualties recorded in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh in July.

Some experts have blamed the floods on heavier monsoon rains caused by global warming, while others say authorities have failed to take preventative measures and improve infrastructure.

NOT WELCOME HERE

Although floodwaters are rising in Assam and Bangladesh, water levels in Bihar are receding, and the government aims to evacuate all stranded villagers within the next three days.

Aid agencies have criticized the government’s handling of the crisis saying they sould have done more to anticipate the disaster and plan relief operations since the region is hit by monsoon flooding every year.

In Bihar, more than 560,000 people have been evacuated so far, and some 200,000 have been moved to government relief camps, officials said.

Local media reported that the first train carrying Bihar flood victims reached New Delhi on Monday, complaining of having received little or no goernment help.

“the fields are flooded.  There’s no way I can sustain my family in the next six months,” Gopal Punia, a farmer from Madhepura was quoted as saying by the Indian Express newspaper.  “I will try to find work here in Delhi.”

Bihar state officials have also said flood refugees would not be welcomed in Patna, the state capital.

“They should return to their respective places by the same trains,” said Raj Kuma Singh, a disaster management official.

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(Reuters, 9/1/08.)

CHINA TRACES DUMPLING POISONING TO FACTORY

TOKYO, Japan  –  A row over pesticide-laced Chinese dumplings has moved a step closer to a settlement after China told Japan that a factory worker was probably to blame, NHK public television said on Saturday.

Ten Japanese became sick after eating pesticide-contaminate dupmplings which had been imported from China, stirring intense media coverage earlier this year.

Japan and China have long been at odds over where the dumplings wer contaminated, with both denying sabotage in their home countries.

Earlier this month, the Japanese governement said China had told japan in July that the Chinese-made dumplings had also caused food poisoning in China.

At the time Chima had asked Japanese officials to refrain from disclosing the incident as it was still under investigation.

Saturday’s NHK report said that, for the first time, Chinese officials had told their Japanese counterparts that somebody at the factory in China appeared to have ocntaminated the dumplings involved in the Chinese poisoning case “for person reasons.”

It said that the development was likely to pave the way for a settlement of the incident, which has deepened public mistrust between the two countries.

The poisoning case has long been a headache for Japan’s unpopular Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, who came under fire for taking too long to alert the public after the first consumer fell ill in late December.

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(Reuters, 9/2/08.)

CHINESE ARRESTED IN CASH-FOR-CORPSE GANG MURDER PROBE

HONG KONG  –  Chinese police have arrested members of a gang suspected of murdering more than 100 disabled or elderly people and selling their corpses in a bizarre scheme to avoid cremations, a newspaper said on Tuesday.

Burials have traditionally been seen as the most respectful way to handle the dead in China, but were discouraged after the Communists came to power in 1949 to conserve farmland and eradicate supersition.

The bodies were bought by wealthy families and sent for cremation in liew of deceased relatives who were then secretly buried, the South China Morning Post reported.

The killers would trail their victims, usually mentally disabled or elderly people, “drag them into vehicles in remote areas and either strangle or poison them”, the newspaper said.

An unnamed police officer from Puning, in southern Guangdong province, said about seven suspects were arrested three weeks ago when police discovered the gang while investigating a homicide, the Post said.

Corpses would sell for 10,000 yuan (818 pounds or $1,465) each, it said, without specifying against those being held.      ($1 = 6.825 yuan)