Lifestyle

An Indian Air Force (IAF) MI-17 helicopter crashed into the Chenab river in the Doda district on Friday, after it got caught into a cable fire of a bridge. The occupants of the chopper are not yet known. The chopper was returning from the Nawapachi of Kishtawar district after supplying ammunition, food and arms for the troops there. The IAF regularly carries such duties to the area. The chopper was hovering low over the water body when it got caught in a cable fire and crashed into the Baglihar hydro-electric power project at Tringel. The cho

McDonald's, the international fast food restaurant chain, will cease all operations in Iceland by the end of October. The company blames the closure of the nation's three outlets on drastically increased costs of importing its food ingredients, which mainly came from Germany. McDonald's corporation says the current economic slump is to blame for rising costs, along with the "unique operational complexity" of keeping them open. The restaurant, with its distinctive Golden Arches, began its Icelandic operations in 1993. Its outlets were operate

According to US health officials, New York state governor David Paterson has declared a state of emergency in the state as a result of the H1N1 swine flu outbreak. The Associated Press news agency reports that the six-page declaration was issued because at least 75 people have died of H1N1 related illnesses in New York since April. Three have died from H1N1 related illnesses just this past week. The declaration also says that human cases of the virus are on the rise. Paterson says he issued the declaration because "a disaster has occurred th

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend the arms embargo on the Ivory Coast (otherwise known as Côte d'Ivoire) for a year. In addition, the 15-member council renewed a ban on exporting diamonds and foreign travel, as well as an asset freeze for persons who are discovered to have violated human rights or disrupting the peace. "[...] the situation in the Ivory Coast continues to pose a threat to international peace and security in the region," the council said. The largest producer of cocoa in the world, Ivor

Health officials have said that at least nine people were killed and over sixty remain in critical condition on Saturday after an outbreak of cholera in a slum in Kenya's capital Nairobi. A mission hospital in the Mukuru kwa Njenga district of Nairobi said that the first cases had been reported on Monday, but had increased substantially by Friday. "We have so far recorded nine deaths from the Mukuru slums in Nairobi and some of them might have also died at home and so we believe this number is very conservative because it is not accounting fo

A train crash in Egypt killed at least 25 people on Saturday, officials said. Varying reports gave the number of injured between 24 and 55. Police officials have warned, however, that the true death toll might be much higher. The incident occurred in the village of Guerzah, near the city of Giza. Two passengers trains were travelling in the same direction on the same track, when the one in front made an unexpected stop, reportedly after driving over a cow. The train behind it, however, continued cruising at a normal speed until running into th

The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States, Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are all probing an incident in which a Northwest Airlines jet flew 150 miles past its destination. The Airbus A320 was traveling from San Diego International Airport, San Diego, California with 147 passengers when it ceased to respond to radio communications as it flew through an area of sky controlled from Denver at 5:56 p.m. yesterday. It was passed on to Minneapolis as non-responsive and

As Zimbabwe's rainy season approaches, farmers in the Wedza district, Mashonaland East province, are worried that again this year they won't be able to locate or afford the seed, fertilizer, and other inputs needed to get a maize crop in the ground. Aiming to relieve such shortages of inputs, Christian Care is among the non-governmental organizations working with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the European Union to implement an agricultural inputs support scheme. Christian Care said it is now providing farmers in th

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said one of its staff members has been kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur region. In a statement, the ICRC said that Gauthier Lefevre, a French national, was abducted Thursday near the town of Al Geneina in West Darfur. It added that Lefevre was traveling in one of two clearly marked Red Cross vehicles when unidentified kidnappers seized him around midday local time. The ICRC said the man "was returning with other ICRC staff to El-Geneina after completing a field trip north of the town to help

Five deaths from cholera have been reported in the past week in the Zimbabwean provinces of Mashonaland West and Midlands, raising fears that the onset of the rains could lead to a repeat of the cholera epidemic that claimed thousands of lives in the past year. The five deaths resulted from 117 cases reported in the Mashonaland West, Manicaland and Midlands provinces since last month. The provinces of Masvingo province has also reported cases. The Zimbabwean Health and Child Welfare Secretary, Gerald Gwinji, said on Tuesday that most of the

At least 33 people in the Tamil Nadu state of India were killed on Friday after an explosion set fire to a firecracker warehouse, police said. The blaze started in the town of Pallipatu, located about forty kilometres from the state capital of Chennai. "We have recovered 33 charred bodies," a senior police official, C. Durairaj, said to the Agence France-Presse news agency. He said that six more people had been hurt and were hospitalised. Many of the victims were people purchasing firecrackers ahead of the Hindu festival of lights, Diwali.

The United States Senate Committee on Finance approved a proposal to reform health care on Tuesday, clearing it to move forward. The bill passed by a 14-9 vote, gaining support from the committee's thirteen Democrats, and one Republican. Senator Olympia Snowe was the only senator from the Republican party to back the bill. However, she said this might change as the bill moves through Congress. "There are many, many miles to go in this legislative journey. My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow," Sno