Sunday, June 07, 2009 SRINAGAR: Indian police arrested Sunday a Kashmiri leader for encouraging week-long protests over the alleged rape and murder of two Muslim women. Syed Ali Geelani, 79, was held after a midnight raid on his house in Srinagar, a police source said, adding that he had been shifted to an undisclosed location to prevent him calling for further demonstrations. Anger over the death of a 17-year-old girl and her 22-year-old sister-in-law has effectively shut down much of the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, including Srinagar, over the past week. Indian officials say preliminary investigations suggest drowning was the cause of death, but the families of the victims have accused the security forces of abducting, raping and killing the women. In an attempt to curb the daily protests, which have so far claimed one life and left more than 300 injured, authorities have issued a ban on demonstrations. Before his arrest, Geelani made telephone calls to local reporters calling on Muslims to hold protests on Monday to "express solidarity with the families of the victims." A judicial probe ordered by Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has failed to cool tempers. An insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir has left more than 47,000 people dead over the past 20 years.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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