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149 killed in Egypt, emergency imposed
Cairo, August 14
Egyptian security forces, along with bulldozers, move in to disperse a protest camp held by Mursi supporters in Cairo on Wednesday Egypt today declared emergency after 149 persons were killed in a bloodbath that ensued when security forces, backed by bulldozers and armoured vehicles.
Egyptian security forces, along with bulldozers, move in to disperse a protest camp held by Mursi supporters in Cairo on Wednesday. — AFP

87 injured, 45,000 homes damaged in Tibet quake
A house destroyed after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in the Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday Beijing, August 14
At least 87 persons were injured and over 45,000 homes damaged when a 6.1 magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Tibet today.

A house destroyed after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in the Tibet Autonomous Region on Tuesday. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

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149 killed in Egypt, emergency imposed
Security forces crack down on Mursi supporters
Vice-Prez ElBaradei quits

Cairo, August 14
Egypt today declared emergency after 149 persons were killed in a bloodbath that ensued when security forces, backed by bulldozers and armoured vehicles, stormed two camps occupied by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Mursi.

Egyptian Vice-President Mohammed ElBaradei resigned today, saying his conscience was troubled by loss of lives when security forces cracked down on Mursi supporters.

The nationwide state of emergency will be in force from 4 pm (local time), the presidency said in a statement read out on state television.

The emergency will be in place for one month. The state of emergency enables the army to take all necessary measures to impose and retrieve security.

The Interior Ministry issued a statement earlier saying security forces were taking "necessary measures" against the protesters, who want Mursi reinstated, at the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in the east of Cairo and the protest in Nahda Square.

Conflicting reports emerged over the number of persons killed today.

The death toll from a raid on Mursi supporters in Cairo and other clashes nationwide was 149, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The official MENA news agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying 1,403 persons were wounded. However, Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood claimed the death toll was as high as 2,200, with about 10,000 injured.

According to the Interior Ministry, 200 persons have been arrested, including 50 in the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in Nasr City and 150 at the Nahda Square sit-in in Giza.

Live footage from Cairo this morning showed smoke engulfing Nahda Square, which was later completely cleared, and there were reports of tear gas and birdshot being used on supporters of Morsi. — Agencies

87 injured, 45,000 homes damaged in Tibet quake

Beijing, August 14
At least 87 persons were injured and over 45,000 homes damaged when a 6.1 magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Tibet today.

The quake was followed by several aftershocks, official media said, adding about 87 persons were injured.

Traffic is expected to resume in the affected areas as rescuers have cleared most of the roads, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Over 100 km of roads linking villages in Ringo, a mountainous town located at the epicentre of the quake, were damaged, affecting more than 3,400 villagers, said Wei Huakui, deputy engineer-in-chief of the armed police team responsible for clearing the roads.

The earthquake damaged 45,000 houses, as well as multiple highways, bridges and some water conservancy facilities, Wei said. — PTI

Bangladesh strike: 1 killed in violence

Dhaka, August 14
One person was killed and 10 others injured today in continuing violence in the Bangladeshi capital as the 48-hour nationwide general strike called by fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party against a court verdict banning it from contesting elections entered its second day.

Police and witnesses said an activist of Jamaat’s student wing was killed and several others including a journalist were wounded as violence erupted at the Jatrabari area at the gateway to the capital.

“We found a youth lying on the street as the Shibir (Jamaat’s student front) activists fled the scene. We took him to the Mitford Hospital where the doctors said he was already dead,” a senior police official said.

Doctors said the youth might have died due to injury on the head as the body bore marks from rubber bullets. — PTI

Woman Afghan MP taken hostage

Fariba Ahmadi Kakar

Ghazni, August 14
An unidentified gang has kidnapped a woman Afghan member of parliament, officials said today, in the latest example of prominent women being targeted in the country.

Fariba Ahmadi Kakar and her three children were taken at gunpoint on Saturday in Ghazni. "The security forces released her children in an operation yesterday. But she has been kept in another location," Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, Deputy Provincial Governor of Ghazni, said. — AFP

Indian girl, Pak boyfriend held for gold smuggling

Dubai, August 14
An Indian girl and her Pakistani boyfriend have been arrested for trying to rob and smuggle 20 kg of her mother's gold jewellery in order to settle down outside the country, Sharjah Police have said.

The 20-year-old girl, identified only by her initials as NKD, disappeared after her mother left her in a taxi giving the impression that she had been kidnapped.

However, it turned out that the duo eyed around Rs 5 crore worth of gold for a new life abroad. According to reports, her mother was preparing documents to take the gold back to India at the Sharjah Customs Department when the incident happened.

The police said the mother informed them that her daughter had gone missing but it was later discovered that she was not kidnapped.

The girl switched off her phone and took the gold to her boyfriend identified as MAM, a Pakistani, who had conspired with her to slip out of the country. The plan was that he would follow his girlfriend after finding a way to transport the jewellery, police said. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Pak to go ahead with execution of militants, says minister
Islamabad: Unfazed by a threat from the Taliban, Pakistan is processing the cases of 450 condemned prisoners to move forward with their executions in order to establish the writ of law. “There is a huge backlog of 450 cases and we are processing them as fast as we can,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said. — PTI

Trail of destruction

A military official inspects the damage caused by Typhoon Utor at Casiguran town in the Philippines. Utor was the worst typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, killing six persons and displacing 30,000 families. On Wednesday, it struck the south coast of China. — AFP

Gunman, hostage killed in bank standoff
NEW ORLEANS: A US police SWAT team stormed a rural Louisiana bank early on Wednesday, killing a gunman after he shot two hostages, one of whom later died. In a dramatic end to a 12-hour standoff, State Police spokesman Albert Paxton said officers entered the bank in the small town of St Joseph shortly after midnight because the gunman was threatening to kill one or both of his hostages. — Reuters

Nod to meat plant beside UK gurdwara
London: Notwithstanding stiff opposition from local Sikh community, a British city has approved the proposal of a food firm to set up a halal meat plant next to a prominent gurdwara. Bradford Area Planning Panel, on Tuesday narrowly approved the Food firm Pakeezah's proposal to convert a disused car repair workshop on Percival Street, near the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara building, into a modern wholesale meat plant, even as protests continued. — PTI

Abusive marriage: Indian man found guilty
Washington: An Indian-American has been found guilty by a US court of domestic violence, rape and sexual violence against his Indian wife. The victim was forced to have sex with her husband Lakhvir Singh (28) and do nearly round-the-clock household labour, the police said. She was routinely referred to as "b***" by her husband, uncle and aunt; and slapped and choked. Her life was threatened, the Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis was told. The victim barely ate and had to sleep on the floor without covers. — PTI