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Heatstroke kills 33 Indian polling staff on last voting day: state election chief

Heatstroke kills 33 Indian polling staff on last voting day: state election chief
Navdeep Rinwa, chief electoral officer for the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where voting in the seventh and final stage of elections ended Saturday, said 33 polling personnel died due to the heat. (AFP)
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Updated 02 June 2024
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Heatstroke kills 33 Indian polling staff on last voting day: state election chief

Heatstroke kills 33 Indian polling staff on last voting day: state election chief
  • Navdeep Rinwa, chief electoral officer for the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where voting in the seventh and final stage of elections ended Saturday, said 33 polling personnel died due to the heat
Updated 02 June 2024
AFP
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LUCKNOW: At least 33 Indian polling staff died on the last day of voting from heatstroke in just one state, a top election official said Sunday, after scorching temperatures gripped swathes of the country.
While there have been reports of multiple deaths from the intense heatwave — with temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places — the dozens of staff dying in one day marks an especially grim toll.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said temperatures at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh reached 46.9 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit).
Navdeep Rinwa, chief electoral officer for the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where voting in the seventh and final stage of elections ended Saturday, said 33 polling personnel died due to the heat.
The figure included security guards and sanitation staff.
“A monetary compensation of 1.5 million rupees ($18,000) will be provided to the families of the deceased,” Rinwa told reporters.
Experts say that when a person is dehydrated, extreme heat exposure thickens their blood and causes organs to shut down.
Rinwa reported a separate incident in which a man queueing to vote in the city of Ballia lost consciousness while waiting in line.
“The voter was transported to a health facility, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” Rinwa said.
India is no stranger to searing summer temperatures.
But years of scientific research have found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks set to win a third straight landslide election victory after voting ended on Saturday.
Exit polls showed he was well on track to triumph and Modi himself was certain he had prevailed.
The results will be formally announced on Tuesday.

Topics: India

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Human rights groups urge new UK PM to overhaul ‘broken’ asylum system

Human rights groups urge new UK PM to overhaul ‘broken’ asylum system
Updated 31 sec ago
Arab News
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Human rights groups urge new UK PM to overhaul ‘broken’ asylum system

Human rights groups urge new UK PM to overhaul ‘broken’ asylum system
  • Among the key demands include by repealing the Illegal Migration Act and the Nationality and Borders Act
Updated 31 sec ago
Arab News

LONDON: Hundreds of refugee and human rights organizations have written to Keir Starmer, the newly elected UK prime minister, presenting a comprehensive blueprint for asylum policy reform, The Guardian reported.

The letter, endorsed by 300 civil society organizations and 534 people working with migrants, describes existing policy as “fundamentally broken.”

The document outlined nine key demands, which, if implemented by Labour, would mark a significant shift in one of the most contentious policy areas of the previous government.

Among the key demands include restoring the right to seek asylum in the UK in line with international law, by repealing the Illegal Migration Act and the Nationality and Borders Act.

The letter also calls for the creation of safe routes for asylum seekers to reach the UK, including visa provisions, family reunification measures and the rebuilding of refugee resettlement programs.

Additionally, it advocates for housing asylum seekers within communities rather than in institutional accommodations such as barracks, barges, hotels and hostels, which “causes unnecessary and lasting harm at significant taxpayer expense.”

The letter, seen by The Guardian, reads: “We are proud to welcome people seeking safety. For years, we have stepped in to support people who have been targeted and brutalized by hostile policies.

“We are now calling on your government to take a new approach: Protecting people seeking safety, rather than punishing them for political gain.

“Successive pieces of unworkable, cruel legislation have effectively extinguished the right to seek asylum in the UK, creating an ever-growing ‘perma-backlog’ of tens of thousands of people. Some are being retraumatized in open-prison camps on barracks or barges.

“Others are left in overcrowded hostels with their mental health deteriorating whilst they are banned from finding employment. And Channel fatalities are at unthinkable levels, with a 450 percent increase in deaths at our border in the past 12 months.”

A Home Office spokesperson told The Guardian: “The government is determined to restore order to the asylum system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly, and ensures that the rules are properly enforced.” 
 

Topics: asylum seekers

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Heavy rainfall in India’s Mumbai disrupts transport, closes schools

Pedestrians walk through a flooded street after rain showers in Mumbai on July 8, 2024. (AFP)
Pedestrians walk through a flooded street after rain showers in Mumbai on July 8, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 19 min 16 sec ago
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Heavy rainfall in India’s Mumbai disrupts transport, closes schools

Pedestrians walk through a flooded street after rain showers in Mumbai on July 8, 2024. (AFP)
  • Over 300 mm of rain lashes city in early hours of Monday
  • Residents urged to stay indoors as emergency services go on high alert
Updated 19 min 16 sec ago
Sanjay Kumar

NEW DELHI: India’s financial capital of Mumbai was inundated on Monday by heavy rain that flooded roads and railway lines, disrupted flights, and forced schools and colleges to close.

Following a deadly heatwave, India is now facing monsoon storms, with intense rainfall causing flooding across the country.

In Mumbai, more than 300 mm of rain lashed the city of 12 million from the early hours of Monday until 7 a.m., the city’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in a statement.

“Heavy rain is expected (the rest of the day) as well. In this background … all the municipal, government and private media schools and colleges in the Mumbai metropolis are declaring a holiday,” BMC said.

Eknath Shinde, the chief minister of Maharashtra state where Mumbai is located, took to X to urge citizens to stay home.

“Citizens should go out only if necessary … Life has been disrupted in Mumbai due to heavy rains everywhere … I have directed all emergency agencies to be on high alert,” he wrote.

At least 20 flights at the Mumbai international airport were canceled on Monday, authorities said, while an advisory also urged passengers to “check on the status of their flights” before beginning their journey.

The heavy downpour came days after record-breaking rainfall in New Delhi brought down a roof at the city's main airport, killing one person.

Scores of Mumbai residents were unable to reach their workplaces because of the storm.

“When I stepped out to reach the office, the streets were flooded,” Sreeji Raj, a resident of the coastal city, told Arab News.

“I managed to reach the local station to catch the local train. There I learnt that most of the trains have been disrupted and delayed due to the rain and there was chaos at the station.”

Benny Antony, another Mumbai local, said he stayed indoors and worked from home on Monday because his office area was flooded.

“Life got disrupted in Mumbai today,” he said. “Almost everyone got impacted directly and indirectly … Life has gone haywire in the city.”

 

Topics: India rain Mumbai monsoon

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India’s Modi lands in Russia for first visit since Ukraine offensive

India’s Modi lands in Russia for first visit since Ukraine offensive
Updated 36 min 53 sec ago
AFP
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India’s Modi lands in Russia for first visit since Ukraine offensive

India’s Modi lands in Russia for first visit since Ukraine offensive
  • Moscow remains a key supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but the Kremlin’s isolation from West has impacted its ties with Delhi
  • Western powers have in recent years also cultivated ties with India as a bulwark against China and its growing influence in the Asia-Pacific
Updated 36 min 53 sec ago
AFP

MOSCOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Russia on Monday, as the Indian leader treaded a fine line between maintaining a longstanding relationship with Moscow and courting closer Western security ties.
The visit is Modi’s first since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine and since he was returned to power last month as leader of the world’s most populous country.
“I look forward to reviewing all aspects of bilateral cooperation with my friend President Vladimir Putin and sharing perspectives on various regional and global issues,” said Modi in a statement.
“We seek to play a supportive role for a peaceful and stable region.”
Moscow remains a key supplier of cut-price oil and weapons to India, but the Kremlin’s isolation from the West and blooming friendship with Beijing have impacted its time-honored partnership with New Delhi.
Western powers have in recent years also cultivated ties with India as a bulwark against China and its growing influence in the Asia-Pacific, while pressuring it to distance itself from Russia.
Modi last visited Russia in 2019 and hosted Putin in New Delhi two years later, weeks before Russia began its offensive against Ukraine.
“Indian Prime Minister Modi arrived in Russia on an official visit,” state media agencies confirmed on Monday afternoon.
India has shied away from explicit condemnation of Russia ever since and has abstained on United Nations resolutions censuring Moscow.
But Russia’s fight with Ukraine has also had a human cost for India.
New Delhi said in February it was pushing the Kremlin to send back some of its citizens who had signed up for “support jobs” with the Russian military, following reports some were killed after being forced to fight in Ukraine.
Moscow’s deepening ties with China have also been a cause for concern.
Washington and the European Union accuse China of selling components and equipment that have strengthened Russia’s military industry — allegations Beijing strenuously denies.
China and India are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia.
India is part of the Quad grouping with the US, Japan and Australia that positions itself against China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.
New Delhi and the Kremlin have maintained a close relationship since the Cold War, and Russia was for a long time India’s largest arms supplier.
But Ukraine has stretched Russia’s arms supplies thin, forcing India to eye other sources for weapons — including growing its own defense industry.
Russia’s share of Indian imports of arms has shrunk considerably in recent years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
At the same time, India has become a major buyer of Russian oil, providing a much-needed export market for Moscow after it was cut off from traditional buyers in Europe.
That has dramatically reshaped energy ties, with India saving itself billions of dollars while bolstering Moscow’s war coffers.
India’s month-on-month imports of Russian crude “increased by eight percent in May, to the highest levels since July 2023,” according to commodity tracking data compiled by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
But this has also resulted in India’s trade deficit with Russia rising to a little over $57 billion in the past financial year.
From Russia, Modi will travel to Vienna for the first visit to the Austrian capital by an Indian leader since Indira Gandhi in 1983.

Topics: Modi India Russia

Four Indian soldiers killed in clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir

Four Indian soldiers killed in clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir
Updated 08 July 2024
AFP
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Four Indian soldiers killed in clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir

Four Indian soldiers killed in clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir
  • Fighting broke out after militants ambushed an army convoy in the Malhar area, an officer says
  • India and Pakistan both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full and have fought three wars over it
Updated 08 July 2024
AFP

NEW DELHI: Four Indian soldiers were killed and at least six others were wounded in gunbattles with militants in Indian-administered Kashmir, a senior police officer said Monday.
The officer, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said fighting broke out after militants ambushed an army convoy in the Malhar area of Jammu.
This is the latest incident in an uptick of attacks in the disputed territory.
On Sunday, two soldiers and six suspected militants were killed in two separate gunbattles in villages in the Kulgam district, police said.
India and Pakistan both claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region.
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels.
In June, nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern Reasi area.
It was one of the deadliest attacks in years and the first on Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir since 2017, when gunmen killed seven people in another ambush on a bus.

Topics: Indian-administered Kashmir

Russian missiles kill 36 in Ukraine, gut Kyiv children’s hospital

Russian missiles kill 36 in Ukraine, gut Kyiv children’s hospital
Updated 08 July 2024
AFP
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Russian missiles kill 36 in Ukraine, gut Kyiv children’s hospital

Russian missiles kill 36 in Ukraine, gut Kyiv children’s hospital
  • President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched dozens of missiles toward five towns and cities
Updated 08 July 2024
AFP

KYIV: Russia struck cities across Ukraine on Monday with a missile barrage that killed three dozen people and ripped open a children’s hospital in Kyiv, an assault condemned as a ruthless attack on civilians.
Dozens of volunteers including hospital staff and rescue workers dug through debris from the Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital in a desperate search for survivors after the rare day-time bombardment, AFP journalists on the scene saw.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched dozens of missiles toward five towns and cities, in the south and east of the country, as well as the capital.
Ukrainian officials said 33 people were killed and another 137 wounded in the wave of 38 missiles. Three more were killed by Russian fire in Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
The air force said air defense systems had downed 30 projectiles.
Zelensky called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council over the barrage and urged Ukraine’s allies to deliver “a stronger response to the blow that Russia has once again delivered on our population, on our land and on our children.”
The UN condemned the “unconscionable” Russian strikes while the EU slammed Moscow for “ruthlessly” targeting civilians and the French foreign ministry called the bombardment of a children’s hospital “barbaric.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the attack as “abhorrent.”
Kyiv said the children’s hospital had been struck by a Russian cruise missile with components produced in NATO member countries and announced a day of mourning in the capital.
Russia hit back claiming the extensive missile damage in Kyiv was caused by Ukrainian air defense systems.
Moscow said its forces had struck their “intended targets,” which it added were only defense industry and military installations.
Medical staff acted quickly to move patients and personnel to the facility’s basement after air raid sirens rang out over Kyiv on Monday.
“For some reason, we always thought that Okhmatdyt was protected,” said Nina, a 68-year-old hospital employee.
“We were 100 percent sure that they would not hit here,” she told AFP, as she described the frantic rush as staff moved children with IV drips to the bunker.
Officials in Kyiv said the attack had also damaged several residential buildings and an office block in Kyiv where AFP reporters saw cars on fire and shredded trees in charred courtyards.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said three of its electrical substations had been destroyed or damaged in Kyiv. Russian strikes on electricity infrastructure have already halved Ukrainian generation capacity in recent weeks compared to one year ago.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted the capital with massive barrages since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and the last major attack on Kyiv with drones and missiles was last month.
The emergency services said 22 people were killed in Kyiv on Monday, including at both medical facilities hit in the attack and that another 72 had been wounded.
In Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rig, which has been repeatedly targed by Russian bombardment, the strikes killed at least 10 and wounded over 41, officials there said.
In Dnipro, a city of around one million people in the same region, one person was killed and six more were wounded, the region’s governor said, when a high rise residential building and petrol station were hit.
And in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have taken a string of villages in recent weeks, the regional governor said three people were killed in Pokrovsk — a town that had a pre-war population of around 60,000 people.
“This shelling targeted civilians, hit infrastructure, and the whole world should see today the consequences of terror, which can only be responded to by force,” the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, wrote on social media.
Zelensky and other officials in Kyiv have been urging Ukraine’s allies to send more air defense systems, including Patriots, to the war-battered country to help fend off deadly Russian aerial bombardment.
“Russia cannot claim ignorance of where its missiles are flying and must be held fully accountable for all its crimes,” Zelensky said in another post on social media.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Russia Ukraine

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