The partial results in India’s national election shows a major landslide victory for opposition leader Narendra Modi, making him the country’s next prime minister.
The election results are causing international observers to be concerned about the future security of the nation as the country’s 138 million Muslims see Modi as an enemy.
Modi, a Hindu nationalist, reportedly was a leader in a region of the country where a 2005 riot led to the deaths of many Muslims. Islamic leaders in the country say that Modi did not do enough to stop the violence and have sworn to do all they can to undermine Modi.
The results seem to show that the BJP party will have total control of the parliament, the first time one party will have complete control without building a coalition since 1984 following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
India is on the verge of becoming a major world power as many young India residents are taking their experience with technology and beginning their own tech corporations. The younger residents are also more westernized and then to look at Europe and the U.S. for their inspirations, which will cause disruptions in India’s traditional culture.
Indian officials are evacuating coastlines as Cyclone Helen approaches.
At least 25,000 people have been evacuated and thousands more are expected to leave before the storm makes landfall on Friday.
Cyclone Helen is tracking to hit four districts of India Friday with winds up to 68 miles an hour. The slow moving storm is producing surges of 5 feet already and heavy rainfall is expected to cause flooding in low-lying areas.
Helen is reporting maximum wind gusts of 80 miles per hour.
India’s eastern coast was hit last month by Cyclone Phailin that killed 25 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Officials say the evacuation of a million people ahead of the storm kept the death toll low.
A new report on human trafficking and slavery worldwide shows that around 30 million people are enslaved, nearly half of them in India.
The survey by Australian-based group Walk Free said that the found human trafficking in all 162 countries surveyed.
“Today some people are still being born into hereditary slavery, a staggering but harsh reality, particularly in parts of West Africa and South Asia,” the report states. “Other victims are captured or kidnapped before being sold or kept for exploitation, whether through ‘marriage’, unpaid labour on fishing boats, or as domestic workers. Others are tricked and lured into situations they cannot escape, with false promises of a good job or an education.”
India, where almost 14 million people are enslaved either in bonded labor or commercial sex exploitation, was the clear leader in the statistics. China was second with 2.9 million people in slavery, followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Nigeria (701,000) and Ethiopia (651,000).
The survey also listed countries based on slavery totals per capita. Moldova, where Stella’s Voice is located, was in the top 6 nations of slaves per capita.
Relief groups have begun to operate in eastern India after Cyclone Phailin caused hundreds of millions in damage to property and crops.
Indian officials had forced one million people to flee the oncoming storm resulting in a low death toll. Eighteen people have been reported dead from the massive storm, seventeen in Orissa. In 1999, a cyclone killed 10,000 people in that region.
Authorities said they were better prepared this time. One official told the BBC it was the biggest evacuation in the nation’s history.
The cyclone made landfall on Saturday with sustained winds of 125 m.p.h. Trees have been uprooted throughout the region along with power lines destroyed and cell phone towers toppled.
Officials say at over 1,900 square miles of crops have been destroyed causing a loss of at least $320 million dollars.
A fresh outbreak of viral encephalitis has broken out in India resulting the death of at least 15 children. The death toll from the disease this year in India has reached 358.
The disease usually strikes during monsoon season and children are usually the worst affected. At least 200 patients are reportedly still in government hospitals.
Doctors say that the infected children come between 10 and 12 districts and are mostly from the rural poor.
While Japanese encephalitis had been the dominant strain through 2005, doctors say an unidentified strain of the disease has been killing children over the 8 years. While the Japanese strain comes from mosquitoes, the new virus has an unknown origin.
A fifth of children who survive the disease suffer lifetime neurological weakness.
An Indian man who killed his daughter and cut the head off her boyfriend has declared to local Indian media that he feels no remorse over what he called “honor killings”.
The young couple was part of the same caste and family members said that made them almost like “brother and sister.” The girl’s father, mother, brother and uncle have been accused of killing the boyfriend with sticks and then beheaded him. The girl was beaten to death and her body almost burned before police stepped in to stop it. Continue reading →
Police in Haryana state, India have arrested four people over the murders of a couple who planned to marry despite the objections of their family.
Police say Dharmender Barak, 23, was beaten and beheaded while Nidhi Barak, 20, was beaten to death and burned in the Rohtak district. The woman’s parents, brother and one other person are in custody for the murders. Continue reading →
Police in India announced the arrest of one of their most wanted terrorists.
Yasin Bhatkal, the leader of the Indian Mujahideen terror group, was caught close to the border with Nepal according to government officials. His group is responsible for a series of bomb attacks including a coordinated attack in Mumbai in July 2011 that killed 27 and injured dozens. Continue reading →
Homicide bombers drove a car to the Indian consulate and detonated their explosives killing at least 9 civilians and wounding dozens. Most of the wounded were civilians from a nearby mosque and no members of the Indian diplomatic team were wounded.
Terrorists then launched an assault on the complex exchanging gunfire with security forces for almost an hour. Continue reading →
The chief minister of Uttarakhand state in India says near 3,000 people are still missing after flash flooding and landsides devastated the region.
Vijay Bahuguna said the exact number of deaths will likely never be known but that over 800 people are confirmed dead in the state. Over 100,000 people have been evacuated from the area and reports say that hundreds of people are still trapped in remote regions of the state. Continue reading →