London, May 14
The parents of an eight-year-old British Sikh schoolgirl have demanded that an Indian hospital must return her organs for a post-mortem in the UK.

Birmingham-born Gurkiren Kaur Loyal fell ill on a family holiday in Punjab last month and was being treated for dehydration at a clinic in Khanna, Punjab, when staff reportedly gave her a mystery injection.

"She had been vomiting so we took her to the Dr Pardeep Moudgil Clinic on Lalheri Road in Khanna for a check-up. I knew something wasn't right with that injection. Her head fell back and all the colour drained from her. I knew my little child had been killed," said Amrit Kaur Loyal, who fears her daughter may have been a victim of a failed attempt to harvest her organs.

Gurkiren’s body was later transferred to the Rajindra Hospital in Patiala, where it is believed her organs were removed during a post-mortem to cover up the cause of death.

"We were told the post-mortem was essential for the body to be released but we had informed them that we would want to conduct a second post-mortem in the UK. They assured us that only small incisions will be made and no organs will be removed. But the Birmingham coroner found no organs," said the bereaved mother from her home in Hockley area of Birmingham.

Coroner Aidan Cotter has opened and adjourned an inquest into the death of Gurkiren until further information is received India. "A post-mortem examination was carried out, but we were unable to ascertain a cause of death. We are doing everything we can to help the family," the coroner's office said.

"We are demanding that the organs be returned to Britain so that a proper investigation can be carried out by the coroner here," said the family's local Handsworth councillor Narinder Kaur Kooner, who is leading a campaign for the UK and Indian governments to take action. — PTI

want 8-yr-old’s organs back Gurkiren Kaur Loyal fell ill on a family holiday in Punjab in April; treated for dehydration at a Khanna clinic She was reportedly given a mystery injection and died Her body was shifted to Patiala’s Rajindra Hospital, where it is believed her organs were removed during a post-mortem to cover up the cause of death Her mother Amrit Kaur Loyal fears her daughter may have been a victim of a failed attempt to harvest her organs She wants the hospital to return Gurkiren’s organs for a post-mortem in the United Kingdom

Moscow, May 14
Russia expelled a US diplomat on Tuesday after saying he had been caught red-handed with disguises, special equipment and wads of cash as he tried to recruit a Russian intelligence agent to work for the CIA.

The announcement, a throwback to the Cold War, came at an awkward time for Washington and Moscow as they try to improve relations and bring the warring sides in Syria together for an international peace conference. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said Ryan Fogle, a third secretary at the US Embassy in Moscow, had been detained overnight carrying "special technical equipment", a disguise, a large sum of money and instructions for recruiting his target.

The Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Michael McFaul to discuss the case on Wednesday and released a statement demanding Fogle leave Russia without delay.

"Such provocative actions in the spirit of the Cold War will by no means promote the strengthening of mutual trust," it said. Russian television showed grainy footage of a man identified as Fogle being arrested, and the state-run Russia Today channel published photographs on its website that it said showed Fogle being detained in a blond wig. In one photograph, a man lay face-down on the ground with his arms being pinned behind his back. Another image showed two wigs, apparently found on him, as well as three pairs of glasses, a torch, a mobile phone and a compass. — Reuters

Colombo, may 14
At least seven people have died and nearly 3,000 left homeless as the cyclonic storm ‘Mahasen’ caused heavy rains in the north and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. The Disaster Management Centre here said that at least 7 people were killed, while two more are missing as a result of the storm.

“We have four displaced camps for over 2800 people marooned by the storm,” Lal Sarath Kumara, a spokesman for the centre said.

The tropical cyclone, that developed in the southeast Bay of Bengal over the last few days, has now slowed down and is located 750 km northeast off Jaffna, Jeewan Karunaratne of the Colombo weather office said.

Landslide warnings were also issued in the hilly districts. Some of the hilly areas has seen torrential rain.

Some 60 fishing boats that defied weather warnings had to be rescued from the the eastern coast of the island nation, officials said.

Meanwhile, the minister of disaster management, Mahinda Amaraweera said that he has informed the officials to do away with the name ‘Mahasen’ to identify the storm. Some nationalist groups claimed Mahasen was a Sinhala King who brought prosperity to the island. Thus, it was wrong for a destructive cyclone to be named after him, they argued. — PTI

While protest demonstrations against alleged rigging in Saturday’s poll continue across the country on Tuesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced that repolling would be held in 43 polling stations of Karachi’s constituency NA 250.

The commission had stopped voting at these polling stations due to the absence of presiding officers and election staff. The PTI and several other political parties have accused that the MQM activists and the election staff had rigged polls in this constituency.

In countrywide demonstrations, PTI workers clashed with police at some places in Punjab. In Karachi, the government imposed a ban on public meetings and demonstrations.

Meanwhile, at least 49 polling stations across Pakistan reported an unbelievable voter turnout of more than 100 per cent in the just-concluded general elections.

Amid allegations of vote rigging, the voter turnout was reported over 100 per cent in at least 49 out of 8,119 polling stations sampled across Pakistan, by observer group Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

London, May 14
Britain has launched a new “super priority” same-day visa service for urgent travellers from India, the first-of-of-its-kind service to be launched by the UK anywhere in the world.

The Super Priority Visa Service had been announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron during his visit to the country in February this year. The first-of-of-its-kind service to be launched anywhere in the world by the UK Home Office is open for appointment bookings in India from today.

“I am delighted to see the Super Priority Visa Service being launched in India before any other country,” said Sir James Bevan, the British High Commissioner to India. “For the first time, Indian visitors will now have the option of a same-day visa to the UK. This underlines our strong commitment to make an already excellent visa service even better. We expect this new service to be particularly useful for business,” he said, adding that it will cater to those who need to travel on very short notice.

“Opportunities arise at short notice. We want Indian entrepreneurs and businessmen to be able to seize these. The UK and India are already on course to double bilateral trade by 2015. The new Super Priority Visa will help make sure that we hit this target,” he added.

India is the UK’s biggest visa operation in the world, processing around 400,000 applications each year and the government claims that the vast majority of applications - over 97 per cent of UK business visit visas and 86 per cent of visit visas - are approved.

The latest service does not replace the process for expediting visas on compassionate grounds. — PTI

Super Priority Visa The Super Priority Visa is an optional service, which incurs an additional fee of £600 besides the standard fee for the type of visa being applied for Applicants are required to complete an online form and submit their applications, by appointment, before 9.30 am If an application is successful, the visa will be ready for collection by 5.30 pm the same day in New Delhi or by 6.30 pm the same day in Mumbai The new service is available to customers applying for a six-month or two-year multiple entry visit visa (excluding student visitors) who have previously travelled to the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or a Schengen country in the last five years

Beirut, May 14
Human Rights Watch and the Syrian opposition National Coalition have condemned a gruesome video apparently showing a Syrian rebel fighter cutting out the heart of a regime soldier and eating it.

"International news agencies and social media websites have been circulating a video clip in which a person claiming to be a member of the rebels in Homs performs a horrific and inhumane act," the National Coalition said.

"The Syrian Coalition strongly condemns this act — if it is revealed to be true. The Coalition stresses that such an act contradicts the morals of the Syrian people, as well as the values and principles of the Free Syrian Army."

Human Rights Watch said the man depicted in the video appeared to be from a rebel brigade in central Homs province that fired indiscriminately at Lebanese villages earlier this year.

"It is not enough for Syria's opposition to condemn such behaviour or blame it on violence by the government," said Nadim Houry, Middle East deputy director at Human Rights Watch.

"The opposition forces need to act firmly to stop such abuses."

In the video, a man identified as Abu Sakkar, an alleged commander of the Omar al-Farouq al-Mustakila brigade, is shown standing over the body of a uniformed soldier. — AFP