India ends Mumbai rampage after 60 hours, 195 dead

It took just 10 young men armed with rifles and grenades to terrorize this city of 18 million and turn its postcard-perfect icons into battlefields until security forces ended one of the deadliest attacks in India’s history early Saturday.

After the final siege at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel, adoring crowds surrounded six buses carrying weary, unshaven commandos dressed in black fatigues, shaking their hands and giving them flowers. One of the commandos said he had been awake for nearly 60 hours since the assault began Wednesday. Another sat sipping a bottle of water and holding a pink rose.

“What happened is disgusting,” said Suresh Thakkar, 59, who reopened his clothing store behind the hotel Saturday for the first time since the attacks. “It will be harder to recover, but we will recover. Bombay people have a lot of spirit and courage.”

The bloody rampage carried out by suspected Muslim militants at 10 sites across Mumbai, the nation’s financial capital formerly known as Bombay, killed at least 195 people and wounded 295. Among the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans.

Orange flames and dark smoke engulfed the Taj Mahal after dawn Saturday as Indian forces killed the last three militants with grenades and gunfire. Hours after the fire fight, parts of the landmark hotel were in shambles, its corner facade charred black and a red carpet leading to double doors littered with broken glass.

“Suddenly no one feels safe or secure,” said Joe Sequeira, the manager of a popular restaurant near the Oberoi hotel, another site targeted in the attacks. “It will take time. People are scared but they will realize it’s no use being scared and sitting at home.”

Death toll over 300 in Nigerian sectarian violence

Mobs burned homes, churches and mosques Saturday in a second day of riots, as the death toll rose to more than 300 in the worst sectarian violence in Africa’s most populous nation in years.

Sheikh Khalid Abubakar, the imam at the city’s main mosque, said more than 300 dead bodies were brought there on Saturday alone and 183 could be seen laying near the building waiting to be interred.

Those killed in the Christian community would not likely be taken to the city mosque, raising the possibility that the total death toll could be much higher. The city morgue wasn’t immediately accessible Saturday.

Police spokesman Bala Kassim said there were “many dead,” but couldn’t cite a firm number.

The hostilities mark the worst clashes in the restive West African nation since 2004, when as many as 700 people died in Plateau State during Christian-Muslim clashes.

Jos, the capital of Plateau State, has a long history of community violence that has made it difficult to organize voting. Rioting in September 2001 killed more than 1,000 people.

The city is situated in Nigeria’s “middle belt,” where members of hundreds of ethnic groups commingle in a band of fertile and hotly contested land separating the Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south.

AB’den Küba’ya doğal afet yardımı

Avrupa Birliği gelecek yıl Küba’ya 30 milyon Euro’ya yakın kalkınma yardımı yapacak.

Avrupa Birliği Komisyonu Kalkınma Genel Direktörü Stefano Manservisi, Havana’daki imza töreninden sonra yaptığı açıklamada, anlaşmanın, ticaret, çevre, bilim ve ziraat alanlarında projelerin finansmanını öngördüğünü belirtti.

Manservisi, anlaşma kaapsamında Küba’yı vuran “Gustav” ve “Ike” kasırgalarının kurbanlarına da iki milyon Euro yardım yapılacağını bildirdi. Avrupa Birliği, 2003 yılında 75 muhalif ismin tutuklanması nedeeniyle Küba ile işbirliğini dondurmuştu.

Emergency Declared at Thai Airports

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a state of emergency at Bangkok’s two commercial airports on Thursday and instructed the police and some military units to deal with protesters occupying the facilities.

The order, announced in a nationally televised address, came after a cabinet meeting in the northern city of Chiang Mai, a location apparently chosen to avoid confrontations with protesters, who in Bangkok are occupying the prime minister’s offices as well as the airports.

“It is necessary for me to announce an emergency decree in some areas,” Mr. Somchai said. “There is no intention to harm anyone.”

He assigned police, air force and naval units to “take care” of the situation. It was unclear whether this meant they are charged with clearing protestors out of the facilities.

Multiple attacks in Mumbai, 80 dead, hostages taken

At least 80 people were killed in a series of attacks apparently aimed at tourists in India’s financial capital Mumbai on Wednesday night, with television channels saying Westerners were being held hostage at two five-star hotels.

At least 250 people have been wounded, police said.

There was also an attack on the Cafe Leopold, perhaps the most famous restaurant and hang-out for tourists in the city, and at hospitals and railway stations.

“I guess they were after foreigners, because they were asking for British or American passports,” said Rakesh Patel, a British witness who lives in Hong Kong and was staying at the Taj hotel on business. “They had bombs.”

“They came from the restaurant and took us up the stairs,” he told the NDTV news channel, smoke stains all over his face. “Young boys, maybe 20 years old, 25 years old. They had two guns.”

California Wildfires; Red Cross, Partners Feeding Hundreds a Day

“This is my paycheck,” American Red Cross volunteer Bill Frazer says proudly as he looks at a handmade thank you card from one of the students from a local school. The card itself is quite detailed with a decorative envelope.

Frazer, a volunteer with the Greater Los Angeles Red Cross chapter, is coordinating the mass care efforts for the wildfire relief effort in California. His right hand man on this disaster relief effort is Chuck Erikson, a fellow Red Crosser with the Orange County, CA chapter, who is also the Associate Disaster Relief Director for the California Southern Baptist Convention. Frazer, Erikson and their Salvation Army colleagues opened their kitchen site on Sunday, November 20 at the First Presbyterian Church and Weekday School in Northridge, CA. This “partnership” kitchen has been used by Red Cross and the Southern Baptists on many disaster relief efforts across the country. It has the capacity to serve 20,000 meals a day, and today served 400 meals for breakfast and 550 for lunch.

When the meals are ready, Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs) deliver them to the Red Cross shelter at Sylmar High School as well as to the site of one of the devastating wildfires, Oakridge Mobile Home Park. Along with meals, Red Cross volunteers have a special delivery of notes and cards from Sara and the other students at the First Presbyterian Weekday School in Northridge.

Seyhan Havzası için felaket senaryosu

ÇUKUROVA Üniversitesi Ziraat Fakültesi Tarımsal Yapılar ve Sulama Ana Bilim Dalı Başkanı Prof. Dr. Rıza Kanber, Türk, Japon ve İsrailli bilim adamlarıyla Seyhan Havzası üzerinde küresel ısınmanın etkisiyle ilgili ortak yaptıkları proje kapsamında, gelecek yüzyılın en kötü senaryosunu belirlediklerini söyledi.

Senaryoya göre, sıcaklık 3-5 derece artacak, yağışlar ise yüzde 30-35 oranında azalacak, bölgede buğday ve mısır yetişmeyecek.

Türkiye Erozyonla Mücadele Vakfı’nın (TEMA) ‘Toprağa Saygı Haftası’ etkinlikleri kapsamında konferans veren Prof. Dr. Kanber, Türk, Japon ve İsrailli bilim adamlarıyla Seyhan Havzası üzerinde küresel ısınmanın etkisiyle ilgili ortak yaptıkları proje kapsamında gelecek yüzyılın en kötü senaryosunu belirlediklerini söyledi. Seyhan Havzası’nın, Türkiye ve Avrupa için önemli tarımsal ürün merkezi olması nedeniyle araştırma için seçildiğini belirten Prof. Dr. Kanber, çalışmanın 5 yıl sürdüğünü, ‘Küresel İklim Değişikliğinin Kurak Alanlarda Tarımsal Üretim Sistemlerine Etkisi Projesi’ni Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (TÜBİTAK) ile Japonya İnsan ve Doğa Kaynakları Araştırma Enstitüsü’nün desteklediğini söyledi.

TEHLİKE 2100’LÜ YILLARDA

Yeryüzündeki sera ve karbondioksit gazlarının küresel ısınmayı meydana getirdiğini anlatan Prof. Dr. Kanber, bu ısınmaya bağlı iklim değişikliklerinin asıl olumsuz etkilerinin 2100’lü yıllarda etkinliğini arttıracağına dikkat çekti. Yapılan çalışmada çeşitli senaryolar oluşturduklarını vurgulayan Prof. Dr. Kanber, şunları söyledi:

Lodos İstanbul’u yıkıyor

İstanbul’da sabah saatlerinde şiddetini artıran lodos fırtınası, 17 evin çatısının uçmasına ve 22 ağacın devrilmesine neden oldu. Büyükşehir Belediyesinden yapılan açıklamaya göre, olaylarda ölen ya da yaralanan olmadı. Rüzgarın hızı, Ömerli, Çavuşbaşı, AKOM, Aksaray ve Kumburgaz’da saatte 70 kilometreye çıkarken, Kilyos’ta 90, İkitelli’de saatte 85, Terkos’da ise saatte 88 kilometre olarak ölçüldü. Salacak sahilinde 3 gemi karaya otururken, lodosun hızı Gökçeada’da saatte 103 kilometreye kadar çıktı.

Star – Çatı uçmalarına itfaiye, ağaç devrilmelerine ise Park ve Bahçeler Müdürlüğü ekipleri müdahale etti.

Şiddetli fırtına nedeniyle Kadıköy-Eminönü, Kadıköy–Kabataş şehir hatları, Yenikapı–Bandırma-Bursa-Yalova, Pendik–Yalova ve Sirkeci–Harem arabalı vapur seferleri iptal edildi.
KAĞITHANE VE BAHÇELİEVLER’DE ÇATILAR UÇTU

Fırtına dolayısıyla Bahçelievler Kocasinan Merkez Mahallesi Döner Sokak’taki 5 katlı apartmanın çatısı uçtu. Çevreye yayılan çatı parçaları, bazı dairelerin camlarının kırılmasına ve bir otomobilde hasara yol açtı. Belediye ekipleri olay yerinde önlem alırken, itfaiye ekipleri de tehlike yaratmaması için çatının kalan parçalarını söktü.

Yarın İstanbul’a kar geliyor!

İstanbul, bugün ve yarın günü şiddetli yağışın etkisi altına girecek. Kentte yarın karla karışık yağmur, sulu kar bekleniyor.

İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Afet Koordinasyon Merkezinden yapılan açıklamada, kentte bugün sabah saatlerinden akşama kadar lodos fırtınası, yarın ise kuvvetli gök gürültülü sağanak yağmur geçişleri olacağı belirtildi.

Lodos yönünden saatte 50 ila 80 kilometre hıza kadar ulaşması beklenen rüzgarın, bugün ve yarın deniz ulaşımının aksamasına, çatı ve tabela uçmasına, ağaç devrilmesine neden olabileceği kaydedilen açıklamada, şöyle denildi:

”Kentte iki gün sıcaklıkların 11-14 derecelik ani düşüşle 10-12 derece civarında olacağı tahmin ediliyor. İstanbul’da bugün akşam saatlerinde yağması beklenen yağış, şehrin tamamında özellikle Silivri, Beykoz, Sarıyer, Gaziosmanpaşa ve Boğaz çevresinde etkili olacak. Kentte, yarın karla karışık yağmur, sulu kar bekleniyor. Sulu kar şeklinde görülecek yağışın şehir merkezinde hayatı olumsuz etkilemeyeceği tahmin ediliyor. Yarın gece hava sıcaklığının 0 dereceye yaklaşması ile yollarda buzlanma ihtimali var. Sürücülerin özellikle köprü ve viyadüklerde daha dikkatli ve yavaş araç kullanmaları gerekiyor.”

TEDBİRLER ALINDI

Açıklamada, kenti bugün ve yarın etkisi altına alacak yağış nedeniyle alınan tedbirler şöyle sıralandı:

SBA Offers Disaster Assistance to North Carolina

North Carolina residents and businesses affected by severe storms and tornadoes that occurred on November 14 – 15, 2008 can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA Acting Administrator Sandy K. Baruah announced today.

Acting Administrator Baruah made the loans available in response to a letter from Gov. Michael F. Easley on November 18 requesting a disaster declaration by the SBA. The declaration covers Johnston County and the adjacent counties of Franklin, Harnett, Nash, Sampson, Wake, Wayne and Wilson in North Carolina.

“The SBA is strongly committed to providing the people of North Carolina with the most effective and customer-focused response possible to assist homeowners, renters, and businesses of all sizes with federal disaster loans,” said Acting Administrator Baruah. “Getting our businesses and communities up and running after a disaster is our highest priority at SBA.”

“Loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property,” said Frank Skaggs, Director of SBA’s Disaster Field Operations Center in Atlanta. SBA’s customer service representatives will be on hand at the Disaster Loan Outreach Centers to issue loan applications, answer questions about the SBA’s disaster loan program, explain the application process and help individuals complete their applications.

Lee Cornelison, SBA’s North Carolina District Director added that “Low-interest Federal disaster loans are available to homeowners, renters, businesses and non-profit organizations of all sizes whose property was damaged or destroyed by the severe storms and tornadoes.”

Businesses and non-profit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets. The SBA also provides mitigation funds to disaster victims based on 20 percent of the verified physical damage. These funds are designed to help borrowers pay for protective measures to minimize damages of the same kind in the future.