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McFadden will help rebuild ravaged homes in Sri Lanka

     Washington: Pop star Brian McFadden is flying to Sri Lanka to help rebuild homes destroyed by December 26's Indian Ocean tsunami. The former Westlife star also helped raise more than 1.9 million dollars for the relief effort by taking part in a fund-raising concert at Cardiff, Wales' Millennium Stadium. McFadden, however, is keen to do more for the cause, which made him arrange a trip to physically assist affected areas. "Me and some friends are going to Sri Lanka to help. There is a lot of aid going out there but they are really short of manpower, so we could go and do something," rate the music quoted McFadden as saying. "Anyone who saw what happened in Asia will have been touched by it. I went to Thailand last year and the people were amazing," he added.

Death toll of Satara stampede touches 300 (Go To Top)

Dead bodies of people who died in a stampede lying in rows. Nearly 300 people are feared dead in the stampede which took place in Wai near Satara in western Maharashtra on Tuesday. The stampede occurred when devotees were taking part in the Mandhara temple yatra.

     Satara: The death toll of the Satara stampede has reached to at least 300, with most of the dead being women and children. Around 200 people were injured in the stampede at Mandradevi temple on a hillock in Satara district. An electrical short circuit and the resultant explosion in a transformer with a loud bang caused panic among the devotees who were entering the sanctum sanctorum of he temple, leading to the stampede, official sources said. Impatient devotees broke into violence and torched the nearby mandaps and pandals, the sources added. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil have reached the civil hospital at Wai. Authorities said more than 150,000 pilgrims were on a pilgrimage to the popular Mandher Devi temple, situated on a hill near Wai, about 260 km southeast of Mumbai. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that the stampede on the narrow winding path to the top of the hill was probably triggered by a fire caused by a short-circuit in an overhead power cable. "Officials have reached the spot and the injured are being taken to local hospitals and the situation there is now under control," Deshmukh said. Witnesses said they had seen smoke rising from the area where the stampede took place. Jadhav, however, said the cause of the stampede was yet to be established.

BSP MLA killed in Allahabad (Go To Top)

     Allahabad: A Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA reported to be killed in an attack by some unidentified persons here on Tuesday, the police said. The incident took place under Dhumanganj police station area when the legislator Raju Pal from Allahabad West constituency was returning from his native village, they said. According to reports, two more persons have also died in the attack. As soon as the supporters of MLA heard the news of attack they congregated in large number and stopped the traffic. The police reached the spot and took the body in its possession.