ABOUT 22 KILLED AND 170000 RENDERED HOMELESS BY FLOODS IN INDIA

People travel on a horse drawn carriage through a flooded road on the banks of river Ganga in Allahabad of northern India Flash floods triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 22 people in India and forced more than 170,000 from their homes, officials said on Monday (July 11) , as forecasters predicted more downpours in coming days.

India's monsoon rains, though vital for agriculture, regularly bring death and destruction. The rain was 35 percent above average in the week that ended on July 6, the weather office said.

Twenty people were killed in the central state of Madhya Pradesh where 70,000 people were left homeless as water rose to dangerous levels along parts of the Narmada river.

Firemen waded through thigh-deep water to rescue women and children in flooded villages while rescue teams used inflatable boats to reach people stranded in urban areas.
'Thousands of people will be evacuated today. We are working on a war footing mode to set up relief camps,' additional home secretary Basant Singh said in Bhopal, the state capital.

'The health department is distributing medicines to prevent outbreak of water-borne diseases.'

Stormy weather also ravaged parts of the remote northeast.

Heavy rain pounded the tea-growing, oil-rich state of Assam killing at least two people. About 100,000 people were forced to take shelter on higher ground, officials there said.

The rain has also swelled the Brahmaputra river, which flows into Bangladesh, to dangerous levels.


Read more: https://goo.gl/zqRZTm

NEPAL SAYS INDIAN POLICE COUPLE FAKED EVEREST PHOTOS

This handout photograph released by Phurba Tenzing Sherpa on May 24, 2016, shows mountaineers as they walk from Camp 3 to Camp 4, as they push for the summit of Mount Everest on May 19, 2016

An Indian couple falsified photographs of themselves at the top of Mount Everest to get their feat certified by Kathmandu, Nepal said Wednesday (July 6), after earlier saying the climb was valid.

Dinesh and Tarakeshwari Rathod, both police constables, said they reached the top of the world's highest mountain on May 23 -- but fellow climbers cast doubt on their claim, saying their photos at the summit were doctored.

Nepal's tourism department initially certified the couple's climb after speaking to their expedition organisers and government officials stationed at Everest base camp.


Read more: https://goo.gl/s53luK

BANGLADESH REELS FROM NEW DEADLY ATTACK AT START OF EID

Suspected Islamists carried out another deadly attack in Bangladesh Thursday at the country's biggest prayer service for the start of Eid, days after a mass murder of hostages in the capital Dhaka.

Authorities said four people, including two policemen, had been killed after several explosions and gunfire near a prayer ground in Kishoreganj district as at least 250,000 people joined a post-Ramadan gathering.

'Two policemen, an attacker and a woman who was shot during the gunfight were killed,' national police spokesman A.K.M. Shahidur Rahman said.

Nine policemen were also injured. They are in a critical condition and have been shifted to a military hospital in Dhaka.


Read more: https://goo.gl/oRW8WQ

JAMMU AND KASHMIR GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES BORDER TOURISM

A local in a Shikara at Dal lake which is the main tourist attraction in Jammu and Kashmir The rattle of guns was replaced by the excited noises of people clicking selfies and dancing to the beats of drums at the Border Out Post (BoP) in the India's northen state of Jammu and Kashmir as government launched its border tourism initiative.

Ahead of their departure to Amarnath cave shrine to pay obeisance at ice-lingam of Lord Shiva in South Kashmir Himalayan shrine, a group of nearly 100 pilgrims from various states of the country made a beeline at Octerio Border Out Post (BoP) along IB with Pakistan which has a three-tier border fencing.

Minister of State for Culture & Tourism, Priya Sethi led the group which traveled in a special tourism bus to Suchetgarh border belt in R S Pura tehsil of Jammu district. 'This is an effort by the government to promote border tourism in the state. After this, the next step of the government would be to promote cross-border tourism," the Minister told reporters.

"Tourists and pilgrims are ambassadors for our state and the government wants to send a message of peaceful atmosphere and cultural harmony across the country through them," she said, adding that such visits would become a routine exercise in the coming days.


Read more: https://goo.gl/9DyUOx