Sunday, December 13, 2009 ORISSA: Orissa police seized 96 turtles, which were being smuggled out of the country, and arrested one in this regard in the late hours on Friday.The illegal consignment was being taken in a vehicle to West Bengal’s Midnapore East district. Police officials said that they intercepted the vehicle on a tip-off.“Total 96 tortoises were kept in the bag. We seized the turtles and arrest one person in this connection. We informed the forest officials regarding this. Later forest officials came and seized the turtles and the detained person named Durgashankar Maan for further legal action,” said Amulya Kumar Champatiray, Inspector-in-charge of Pipili Police Station.Besides slaughtering for meat, the species, protected under India’s wildlife act, are also used in the formulation of certain traditional medicines.India has banned their trade under the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act, but the huge profit margin and lax laws increasingly lure poachers to the trade.
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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