Pakistan: Terrorists target Masjid, kill over 40 including children

January 30, 2015

Karachi, Jan 30: At least 40people, including children, were killed and over 55 injured when a powerful blast ripped through a packed minority Shia mosque in Pakistan's Sindh province during the Friday prayers, in the deadliest sectarian attack to hit the country in recent times.Shiya masjid attacked

The roof of a central Shia Muslim Imambargah came down after an explosion in Lakhi Dar area of Shikarpur - around 470 kilometres north of here - when worshippers had assembled for the Friday prayers, burying them.

At least 40 people were killed and over 55 were injured in the attack, some critically. Private media said it could be suicide bombing.

Many were trapped under the debris and hundreds of people rushed to the scene to dig out survivors.

The explosion was heard several kilometers away. Children are also said to be among the victims. Television footage showed chaotic scenes as people rushed to take the wounded for treatment using cars, motorbikes and rickshaws.

"It was a big explosion inside the Imambargah and was set off with a remote device. The intensity of the blast led to the roof of the make-shift building caving in completely which has led to many deaths," senior police official Abdullah Mehr said over telephone.

Geo TV quoted DIG Shikarpur Rakhio Mirani as saying that a man brought a device inside the Imambargah and used it to detonate a bomb.

The blast is the latest in a rising tide of sectarian violence blighting Pakistan, where radical Sunni Muslim groups often target Shia Muslims, who form about one-fifth of the 180 million-population.

Jundullah militant group took responsibility of the attack. "Our target was the Shia because they are our enemies," spokesman Fahad Marwat said.

The group last year parted ways with the Taliban and announced allegiance with the Islamic State militant group.

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News Network
May 25,2020

Islamabad, May 25: Pakistan’s coronavirus cases on Monday reached 56,349 with 1,748 new patients while the death toll climbed to 1,167, the health ministry said.

The Ministry of National Health Services reported that 22,491 cases were diagnosed in Sindh, 20,077 in Punjab, 7,905 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 3,407 in Balochistan, 1,641 in Islamabad, 619 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 209 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

So far 1,167 people have died of the COVID-19 including 34 who lost their lives in the last 24 hours. A total of 17,482 patients have recovered from the deadly contagion.

The authorities have conducted 483,656 tests in the country, including 10,049 on Sunday. The trajectory showed that the number was steadily going up with authorities fearing a rise in cases in the wake of the easing of lockdown before Eid which was observed in the country on Sunday.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Beijing, Feb 19: The death count from China's new coronavirus epidemic jumped to 2,000 on Wednesday after 132 more people died in Hubei province, the hard-hit epicentre of the outbreak.

In its daily update, the province's health commission also reported 1,693 new cases of people infected with the virus.

This brings the total number of cases in mainland China past 74,000.

Most of the cases are in Hubei, where the virus first emerged in December before spiralling into a nationwide epidemic.

Wednesday's jump in the death count was an increase on Tuesday's figures, although the number of new cases reported in Hubei were the lowest for a week.

A study released by Chinese officials claimed most patients have mild cases of the illness.

Outside of hardest-hit Hubei, which has been effectively locked down to try to contain the virus, the number of new cases has been slowing and China's national health authority has said this is a sign the outbreak is under control.

President Xi Jinping, in a phone call with the British prime minister, said China's measures were achieving "visible progress", according to state media Tuesday.

However, the World Health Organization has cautioned that it was too early to tell if the decline would continue.

On Tuesday the director of a hospital in the central Hubei city of Wuhan became the seventh medical worker to succumb to the COVID-19 illness.

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Agencies
June 13,2020

Washington, Jun 13: America's first-ever Hindu lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard has said that in this chaotic time, one can find certainty, strength, and peace in Bhagavad Gita.

In her message during a virtual commencement address, the 39-year-old Congresswoman from Hawaii said that it is a chaotic time and no one can say with certainty what tomorrow looks like.

"... but we find certainty, strength, and peace in the practice of Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga taught to us by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita," Tulsi Gabbard told the 'Class of 2020 for Hindu students''.

Her address came amidst protests in the US against the killing of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

The country has been swept by protests since George Floyd's custodial death on May 25 with thousands of people mounting pressure for changes to the law enforcement practices.

The first-ever virtual Hindu commencement was organised by the Hindu Students Council on June 7, which drew thousands of viewers on Facebook and YouTube Live, all coming together in solidarity during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

According to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the contagion has infected over 76,00,000 people and killed more than 4,25,000 across the world. The US is the worst affected country with over 2.04 million cases and more than 1,14,000 deaths.

The COVID-19, which originated in China''s Wuhan city in December last year, has also battered the world economy with the International Monetary Fund saying that the global economy is bound to suffer a "severe recession".

Scientists are racing against time to find a vaccine or medicine for its treatment.

Hundreds of graduates from the US, Canada, the UK, India and Australia attended to commemorate their graduation in a unique way - by celebrating their shared Hindu values.

Professor Subhash Kak served as the ceremony's Grand Marshall.

"As you think about this new chapter in your lives, ask yourself what is my purpose in life? It is a deep question that if you can recognise now that your purpose is to serve God and God''s children, practicing Karma Yoga, then you can lead a truly successful life," Tulsi Gabbard said.

"Success is not defined by temporary material things, trinkets, glittery objects or accomplishments - but a deeply successful and happy life centered around service," she added.

The Iraq war veteran ended her presidential campaign in March and offered her full support to former vice president Joe Biden, 77, who is all set to challenge Republican incumbent Donald Trump, 73, in November elections.

The commencement address focused heavily on themes from the Bhagavad Gita, a timeless historical text that many Hindus consider their moral framework.

Professor Kak, Regent Professor at Oklahoma State University and 2019 Padma Shri recipient, read out the names of the graduating students.

"I exhort you - the graduating students - to be the leaders of the new world where education is less of the mind of a vessel to be filled with information (usually forgotten after the semester is over), and more of a flame that is lit as envisioned by our Vedic sages," he said.

The student speakers were from many university campuses, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, and Stanford.

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The programme included offerings of Hindu prayers, recitation of a traditional graduation message from the Upanishads, and a symbolic conferral of degrees to high school and college graduate.

Founded in 1990, Hindu Students Council is North America''s largest pan-Hindu youth organisation. 

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