At least six dead in rain-ravaged Haiti

AFP - At least six people, including a child, were killed in Haiti when their homes collapsed during heavy rains that have ravaged Haiti for several days, the Civil Protection Office said Friday. The...

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Compensation at last for Punjab killings

The National Human Rights Commission, which went through 2,097 cases of killing of youth and mass cremation of their bodies by the Punjab Police during the peak of militancy in the State, has ordered a relief of Rs.27.94 crore to the families of 1,513 victims of such extra-judicial killings. The remaining bodies were not identified. When terrorism was at its peak in the State during 1984-96, Punjab Police personnel, whether officers or constables, were a law unto themselves and many of them were involved in merciless killing of youth by branding them as terrorists for rewards and promotions. The bodies were silently cremated with no questions asked. The Commission took up the cases after the Supreme Court referred the matter to it on December 12, 1996. The Court said any compensation awarded by the Commission shall be binding and payable. The cases related to mass cremations in Amritsar, Majitha and Tarn Taran districts alone between...

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Mass cremation of un-identified / un-claimed bodies by Punjab police in the police districts of Majitha, Tarn Taran and Amritsar.

New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has ordered Rs 27.94 crore as monetary relief to the families of 1,513 people who were killed and cremated during militancy period in Punjab. The order comes as NHRC investigated the "illegal killing and disappearances" which culminated in the cremation of 2,097 bodies in Amritsar, Majitha and Tarn Taran districts between 1984 and 1994. The case is known Punjab Mass Cremation case. Of the 2,097 cases, only 1,513 could be identified. "The NHRC has recommended a total of Rs 27.94 crore as monetary relief to the next of kin of 1,513 deceased whose bodies could be identified out of cases of unidentified 2,097 bodies which were remitted to the Commission by the Supreme Court, popularly known as the Punjab Mass Cremation case," an NHRC spokesperson said. These include 195 cases, where the deceased were in deemed police custody and 1,318 others whose bodies were cremated by the police....

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Oakland mourns victims of deadly campus shooting

OAKLAND, Calif. — Civic and religious leaders pleaded for an end to violence in Oakland after seven people were gunned down at a small Christian college by a suspect who police say was angry about being expelled and teased for his poor English skills. Several hundred friends, family and community members gathered for a multicultural prayer vigil Tuesday night to mourn the victims of the nation's biggest campus shooting since the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. Six students and a receptionist were killed and three others were wounded when the gunman went on a shooting rampage Monday morning at Oikos University, an Oakland school founded to help Korean immigrants adjust to life in America and launch new careers. "Only God knows the meaning of the suffering we endure," Dr. Woo Nam Soo, the university's vice president, said in Korean during the church service. "In this unbearable tragedy and suffering, only God can create something good out...

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Casualties reported in Mogadishu blast; bodies carried out of Somali National Theater on stretchers

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A suicide blast during a ceremony at Somalia's newly reopened national theatre on Wednesday killed at least 10 people, including two of the country's top sports officials, officials said. Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu's ambulance service, said at least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded. The dead included the president of Somalia's Olympic committee and the president of its soccer federation, according to Shafici Mohyadin, the federation's secretary. A survivor of the blast said he feared few inside the theatre escaped death or injury. The witness, Zakariye Osman, said he counted at least eight dead bodies. Osman's clothes were covered in blood as he spoke outside the theatre. Policeman Abdimalik Hassan said government officials and other dignitaries attended the ceremony. Muse said the wounded included the country's national planning minister. The national theatre reopened for the first time in 20 years...

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