Monday, September 21, 2009 SRINAGAR: Residents of restive held Kashmir jammed the markets on Sunday in defiance of a rise in violence to stock up for Eid al-Fitr, the biggest Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan.The festival to celebrate the close of the holy month will be held Monday or Tuesday, depending when the new crescent moon is sighted over the region where Islamic militants have been fighting against New Delhi's rule for 20 years.Shopkeepers set up extra kiosks to cater for the mad shopping rush.Hundreds awaited their turn outside the city's well-known confectionery shops and customers filed past with pastries and walnut cookies.Meanwhile, mosques and shrines have been spruced up for tens of thousands of worshippers.
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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