Millions of people in the Indian capital woke yesterday to the coldest weather in 70 years, as the death toll from northern India's cold spell rose to 116, a police spokesman and the Meteorology Department said.
The toll included nine people who froze to death overnight in Uttar Pradesh state, Mahendra Verma, a spokesman for the state police, said in Lucknow, the state capital.
Most of the state's 101 victims have been poor people forced to sleep outside in parks or in public places such as railway stations, protecting themselves with plastic sheets and jute bags, Verma said.
Another 15 people have died of cold in northern Punjab and Haryana states since November, Press Trust of India said, bringing India's death toll from this year's cold snap to 116.
70-year record
The temperature dipped to 0oC early yesterday in New Delhi, the lowest recorded in the past 70 years and 7?C below normal, the Meteorology Department said in a statement.
The previous low recorded in New Delhi was minus 1oC in 1935, the statement said.
Overnight, two people died of cold in Kushinagar, a town 225km southeast of Lucknow, as the night temperature dropped to 2oC, Verma said.
A teenage boy's body was also found at a railroad station in Lucknow, he added.
The other six deaths were reported from Mathura and Muzaffarnagar districts in the western and eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh state, he said.
In neighboring Bangladesh, 17 people died in two days, raising this year's toll from below normal temperatures to 23 in impoverished northern Bangladesh, which is near the Himalayan foothills, a news report said yesterday.
Of the new victims, about 15 were children and the rest were elderly villagers, the Janakantha daily reported.
Child victims
At least seven children and one elderly woman died in past two days in Rangpur district, 248km north of the capital, Dhaka, the report said.
The temperature fell to as low as 8oC, below normal for winter in the tropical South Asian country, according to the met office in Dhaka.
Most Bangladeshi villagers, who live in mud-and-thatch huts and often cannot afford warm clothes, are poorly equipped for colder-than-normal weather.
Authorities in India have advised people not to venture outdoors in the worst-hit areas of the state.
"Don't venture out unless it is urgent," said Manvendra Singh, a joint director of the state's health services.
The Meteorology Department predicted that temperatures in India would start rising last night.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS