4 men charged in rape and murder of 9-year-old girl in India

The unidentified girl from an impoverished, low-caste family went missing while fetching water from a well at the crematorium in Purani Nangal village on the outskirts of Delhi, India.

A 9-year-old girl was gang-raped, murdered and thrown on a funeral pyre in India — with a priest and three crematorium workers charged with the crime that has sparked four days of angry protests and calls for the death penalty, according to local reports.

The unidentified girl from an impoverished, low-caste family went missing Sunday night while fetching water from a well at the crematorium in Purani Nangal village on the outskirts of Delhi, her mother told the Hindustan Times.

The mom said that when she went to find her daughter, she was met by priest Radhe Shyam, a 55-year-old family friend, who told her that the girl had been electrocuted and died.

Shyam took her to see her daughter’s body stretched out on a bench at the crematorium, where three other men were waiting, she said.

“Her eyes were closed, her lips were blackish, her nose was bleeding and water was oozing out of her mouth,” the mom told the paper, noting there was “no mud or dirt on her clothes.”

Source: 4 men charged in rape and murder of 9-year-old girl in India

Senate parliamentarian strikes down minimum wage hike in latest COVID-19 relief bill – YouTube

Senate parliamentarian strikes down minimum wage hike in latest COVID-19 relief bill

Progressives are willing to accept defeat on the minimum wage for now and vote for President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief package. But they’re channeling their energy into a renewed push to kill the filibuster.

One day after the Senate parliamentarian effectively forced a $15 minimum wage hike out of Democrats’ coronavirus relief package, leading liberal activists are racing to turn their bitter setback into opportunity. The need to sacrifice a key Biden priority in order to ensure the Covid aid bill can pass the Senate with a simple majority has handed progressive lawmakers and their allied groups a new talking point in their long-running quest to eliminate the legislative filibuster.

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/26/progressives-minimum-wage-defeat-471772

Angry farmers storm India’s Red Fort in huge tractor rally

NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day.

They waved farm union and religious flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence.

Thousands more farmers marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones.

Source: Angry farmers storm India’s Red Fort in huge tractor rally

Huge fire breaks out at COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer in India

A large fire broke out Thursday inside the sprawling complex of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer.

Images from Reuters partner ANI showed smoke billowing out of a building in SII’s massive complex in the western city of Pune, in southern Maharashtra state.

“Thank you everyone for your concern and prayers,” SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Twitter. “So far the most important thing is that there have been no lives lost or major injuries due to the fire, despite a few floors being destroyed.”

He added in a later tweet: “I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia.”

Officials said at least five fire trucks had been sent to fight the blaze at the building, which a source described to Reuters as an “under-construction vaccine plant.”

Source: Huge fire breaks out at COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer in India

‘Nobody knows’: Experts baffled by mystery illness in India – ABC News

Since then, symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness have been reported in 546 patients admitted to hospitals. Many have recovered and returned home, while 148 are still being treated, said Dasari Nagarjuna, a government spokesperson.

Teams of experts have arrived at the city from India’s top scientific institutes. Different theories have been suggested and are being tested. The most recent hypothesis is contamination of food by pesticides.

“But nobody knows,” Prasadini admitted.

What is confounding experts is that there doesn’t seem to be any common link among the hundreds of people who have fallen sick. All of the patients have tested negative for COVID-19 and other viral diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or herpes. They aren’t related to each other. They don’t all live in the same area. They’re from different age groups, including about 70 children, but very few are elderly.

Source: ‘Nobody knows’: Experts baffled by mystery illness in India – ABC News

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