Bus carrying British schoolchildren crashes in Belgium

Children stand next to rescuers after a British bus, which was transporting 34 children before it overturned and crashed on a motorway, near the city of Middelkerke, Belgium, on Sunday. (REUTERS/Dominique Jauquet)

BRUSSELS (AP): A bus carrying British schoolchildren has gone off the highway and overturned near the Belgian coast. The vehicle apparently went out of control, struck a bridge pillar on the E40 highway, then shot off the road, Belgian highway authorities said. The bus was carrying around 40 passengers, including 34 British children from 11 to 13 years old, authorities said.

The Belgian federal prosecutor's office said all of the children survived the crash, but that an adult passenger, later identified as one of the two drivers on the bus, had been killed. The second driver was seriously injured. It wasn't immediately clear which of the drivers had been at the wheel at the time of the wreck.

The BBC reported that a 13-year-old boy from Brentwood School outside London was in intensive care with a head injury.

"All of the children managed to walk off the coach," Ian Davies, the school's head teacher, told the BBC. "One of the children subsequently had a head injury. He had a scan and they found a small brain bleed as part of his fractured skull."

Belgian highway authorities said the vehicle apparently went out of control, struck the pillar of a bridge, then shot off the road. The broadcaster said the bus belonged to a company from County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Belgian media said it was transporting the children to Phantasialand, a theme park near Cologne, Germany.

"Sadly we can confirm that one British national has died following the bus crash in Belgium this morning," the British Foreign Office said in a statement. "A team from the British Embassy is on the ground alongside the Belgian local authorities and are working hard to support the people caught up in this terrible incident."

Three adults and some of the children were sent to a local hospital for treatment. Others were transported to a center in the coastal city of Middelkerke. Mayor Janna Rommel-Opstaele said 13 of the children had returned to Britain by Sunday evening.

The E-40 highway, a major thoroughfare that links Belgium's North Sea coast to the capital city of Brussels, was closed to traffic following the crash.

Researchers say new breath test may detect pneumonia

LONDON (IANS): A simple breath test can now detect if a critically ill patient is infected with pneumonia or not.

Chemically analysing breath specimens from patients in intensive care can reveal bacterial infection in the lower respiratory tract of ventilated patients at risk of developing pneumonia.

Though the study is at an initial stage, the results so far look promising and could potentially have a huge effect on clinical practice as healthcare associated infections are a major issue worldwide.

"Pneumonia can be treated with antibiotics but there are two major problems - it can be difficult to detect and diagnose and because of that we tend to use potent broad spectrum antibiotics in anyone who shows symptoms of infection," said Paul Dark, one of the researchers and honorary consultant in intensive care medicine at Salford Royal.

Current methods of confirming the presence of infections involve laboratory tests of samples from deep in the lungs, which is time consuming.

"Now we know that it is feasible to capture and measure breath chemicals of patients on mechanical ventilators, we plan to develop a simple non-invasive system that will be part of the normal connections on the machine," said Stephen Fowler, clinical lecturer in the University of Manchester's Centre for Respiratory Medicine and Allergy.

The unique 'first in man' project was carried out at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and appeared in the journal Thorax.

10 Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Ramadan

By faithstreet
Is Ramadan more than just a month of depriving yourself of food and drink?

Ramadan looks to most people as a month that is exhausting and unbelievably torturous. I can sometimes see why some Muslims complain all day and can’t wait until the sun finally sets. But over the past couple of years, I have come to realize something about Ramadan that is beyond food and water.

Here are 10 things I’ve realized about Ramadan after observing it for many years:

1. Ramadan is not about starvation.

During the daytime hours that we fast, we go about our normal lives working and going to school — we just refrain from food, drink, sex, and provocative behavior such as cursing, backbiting, and rudeness.

Stopping yourself from falling into those practices affords the peace of mind that allows you to think clearly and rationally without being clouded by overwhelming emotions. It allows you to be productive instead of spending time thinking about grievances in your life that can make you angry or depressed.

Ramadan is an opportunity to forgive, let go, and focus on what is most important.

2. We fast from more than food and drink.

You are really fasting from any intense physical desires. You are fasting from anger, sadness, and frustration. Of course, you cannot control what makes you upset, but you can control the way you react to your situations, and that is what the month of Ramadan trains you to do.

Our hearts are fasting from grieving. Our minds take control, rather than our emotions.

3. You shouldn’t feel bad for us.

“Oh my God, you can’t eat for the next 15 hours? Wow, I’m so sorry!” No. Don’t feel sorry. Although fasting can make me sleepy and tired, the return on investment is absolutely thrilling. The feeling of having refrained from activities that usually just feed my ego is very empowering.

Fasting is not just a disconnection between the human body and food. It’s about building a connection between you and God. Between you and your spirit. You are preventing your mind from becoming a slave to your physical body and its desires — that’s powerful.

4. Muslims don’t really fast for 30 days straight.

We actually only fast from dawn until sunset. What many Muslims refer to as the “break” between fasting from one day to the next is what I like to call the time of actual reflection. Going on without food and water for 30 consecutive days will drain you of energy. But the nighttime, which is such a perfect moment, is when you rejuvenate and gain back the stamina to think and look within yourself. This is what I believe this “break” is meant for.

5. There is a spiritual element to Ramadan fasting.

Instead of thinking all day about the exact second the sun will set and counting down the minutes until you hear the call to prayer for sunset coming from your cell phone, you encourage yourself to believe that this is not about eating. By concentrating on only food and water, you are disconnecting your physical desires from your mind — allowing it to only think of the superficial.

Rather, fasting is a discipline that forces you to forget about food and to remember who you are, why you are here, and what you are doing to be the best possible form of yourself.

6. Ramadan doesn’t end after 30 days.

Ramadan is a chance for us to look deeply within ourselves and allow this kind of self-reflection to be carried out into the rest of our lives. It comes once a year as a reminder and as a resource from God, but the opportunities during Ramadan are meant to train you to attain the attributes of self-restraint and self-control that will last a lifetime.

Fasting is also one of the five pillars of Islam. A pillar is something that binds you to God, no matter how distant you may feel from the Most High. A pillar never breaks. It never goes away. It will stay with you forever.

7. Ramadan is about moderation.

When Muslims fast for that long, 16-hour day, it is very tempting to see the sun go down and rush to fill our plates with as much food as we can fit onto it. This is what we do on a normal basis outside of Ramadan. The reality is, our bodies don’t even need this much food to survive.

One of the most powerful things about fasting is our ability to withstand long periods of time without food and water, just like many impoverished people go through on a daily basis. If they can do it, so can we. Limiting our food intake is the way to train our bodies to consume only what is necessary.

Feeding our egos with so much of the material world will never give us the opportunity to seek out only what we need, but keeps us thinking we should have whatever we want.

8. Fasting is good for your health.

According to a 2007 study conducted by the University of California at Berkeley, alternate-day fasting may decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, lower diabetes, protect against some effects of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, and improve cognitive function. The cognitive function improvement is what I find the most interesting.

According to Dr. Andrew Well of The Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, fasting is related to the theory of natural selection. “When food is scarce, natural selection would favor those whose memories (‘Where have we found food before?’) and cognition (‘How can we get it again?’) became sharper.”

9. Ramadan is the holiest month of the year.

Ramadan is the month that the Qur’an was revealed to the beloved Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him. The fact that an entire religion that more than 1.7 billion people follow was revealed at this time is something worth celebrating. The word ramadan translates to scorching heat or dryness. The Qur’an, not coincidentally, was revealed at a time when the community’s connection to God was dead. It was nonexistent. The Qur’an revived the spirits of the people.

10. Not everyone has to fast.

There are many exceptions to fasting. If you are ill, pregnant, or still a child who does not yet understand much about the world, you are not required to fast. Although fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam, God is merciful. Islam teaches that the principle is more important than the action.

Fasting is a choice, like all other aspects of being a Muslim, and the decision to commit during Ramadan comes with the desire to conquer yourself. As Buddha once said, “The strongest man is not one that conquers another man, but one that conquers himself.” 

Pakistan heatwave death toll rises above 600

State of emergency declared in hospitals after three days of scorching temperatures in southern city of Karachi

ISLAMABAD (AFP): The extreme heat wave in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi has claimed lives of nearly 622 people in the last three days, with government officials fearing more casualties as condition of many among hundreds of patients admitted into hospitals was said to be critical. 

Senior provincial health official Saeed Mangnejo told the Associated Press on Tuesday that he expected the number of fatalities to climb further. Mangnejo said the death toll covered the past three days and that most of the deaths were reported in the province’s largest city, Karachi.

Hundreds of patients suffering from the effects of the harsh weather were being treated at Karachi's government hospitals. A report submitted to Syed Qaim Ali Shah, chief minister of Sind province, by provincial health minister, Jam Mehtab Dahar, said that 622 people have died in Karachi. 

Temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) struck Karachi over the weekend. Hours-long power outages also hit the city, leaving fans and air conditioners inoperable. The deaths came as the country observes the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which eating and drinking are forbidden between sunrise and sunset.

Semi Jamali, a doctor at Karachi’s largest hospital, said they had treated about 3,000 patients. “More than 200 of them were either received dead or died in hospital,” said. Another 67 people died in the civil hospital, according to an official there.

Pakistan’s largest charity, Edhi Welfare Organisation, said their two morgues in the city had received more than 400 corpses. “More than 422 dead bodies have so far been received in our two mortuaries in past three days,” Edhi spokesman Anwar Kazmi told AFP. “The mortuaries have reached capacity.”

In Karachi, a city of 20 million people, electricity shortages have crippled the water supply system, the state-run water utility said. "We are closing offices, schools and colleges not just in Karachi but throughout Sind," Shah said and added that essential services at places like hospitals will remain open.

Tahir Ashrafi, a prominent Islamic cleric, urged those who were at risk of heatstroke to abstain from fasting. “We [religious scholars] have highlighted it on various television channels that those who are at risk, especially in Karachi where there is a very serious situation, should abstain from fasting,” he said.

Currently, Pakistan cities experience up to 12 hours of electricity load shedding while situation in rural parts of the country is even worse. Reeling under pressure, the prime minister had to announce that there would be no electricity cuts at times of breaking and starting of fast. 

Many of the victims were above the age of 40 and were from low-income families from the poorest localities of Lyari, Malir, Korangi and Karachi East. Majority of the victims were day labourers. Most of the deaths have occurred in parts of Karachi, where temperatures in recent days went as high as 45 degrees Celsius. 

The deaths come a month after neighbouring India suffered a deadly heatwave, with more than 2,000 deaths. Hundreds of mainly poor people die at the height of summer every year in India, but this year’s toll was the second highest in the country’s history.

Millions of smokers may have undiagnosed lung disease

Miami (AFP) - More than half of current and former smokers who can pass basic lung function tests may suffer from lung diseases that have gone undiagnosed, researchers said Monday.

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Internal Medicine included nearly 9,000 people, aged 45-80, who had smoked at least a pack of cigarettes a day for 10 years.

About half of those in the study "were considered disease-free based on their lung-function tests," said the JAMA article.

But when researchers looked at other criteria, including respiratory symptoms, CT scans, medications use and quality of life issues, they found that "55 percent of the 'disease-free' study participants had some form of respiratory related impairment."

Many were in the early stages of chronic pulmonary obstruction disease, or COPD, which is the third-leading killer in the United States.

Forty-two percent had emphysema or airway thickening, while 23 percent had significant shortness of breath.

"Smokers who have 'normal' lung-function tests often have significant respiratory disease. Many of those smokers likely have the early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," said Elizabeth Regan, lead author and assistant professor of medicine at National Jewish Health.

"We hope these findings will help debunk the myth of the healthy smoker and highlight the importance of smoking prevention and cessation to prevent lung disease and other long-term effects of smoking."

Obama uses N-word, says we are ‘not cured’ of racism

President Obama exiting Air Force One in San Francisco on Friday. The comedian Marc Maron interviewed the president for an episode of his podcast that was released on Monday.

WASHINGTON (AP): US President Barack Obama says his country has not overcome its history of racism and is using the N-word to make his case. 

In an interview, Obama weighed in on the debate over race and guns that has erupted after the arrest of a white man for the racially-motivated shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina. 

"Racism, we are not cured of it," Obama said. "And it's not just a matter of it not being polite to say nigger in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination. Societies don't, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior." 

Citing his own experience as a young man who was born to a white mother and an African father, Obama said that while progress has been made, the legacy of slavery in the United States still “casts a long shadow and that’s still part of our DNA.”

Obama echoed comments he made Thursday and said that he’s had to make speeches about a “devastating loss” too often.

“It’s not enough just to feel bad. There are actions that could be taken to make events like this less likely. One of those actions we could take would be to enhance some basic common sense gun safety laws,” Obama said.

Obama lamented Congress’s lack of action on gun control and said “Unfortunately, the grip of the NRA on Congress is extremely strong. I don’t foresee any legislative action being taken in this Congress.”

As a presidential candidate in 2008, Mr. Obama confronted race directly when he gave a speech about the issue to confront comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his onetime pastor. In his first term, Mr. Obama mostly shied away from the issue of race, except for an early comment about a white police office in Cambridge, Mass., who arrested a black Harvard professor.

Mr. Obama’s interview with Mr. Maron took place on Friday, in the garage where the comedian records his popular podcast. Officials said they did not know of another time when a sitting president had recorded an interview in someone’s garage studio.

Mr. Obama said in the interview on Friday that despite broad support among the American public for changes in gun laws, legislation is unlikely to pass soon because of the power of the National Rifle Association.

“I don’t foresee any real action being taken until the American public feels a sufficient sense of urgency and they say to themselves, ‘This is not normal, this is something that we can change, and we’re going to change it,’” Mr. Obama said. “And if you don’t have that kind of public and voter pressure, then it’s not going to change from the inside.”

Yoga Day event draws thousands, including UN chief, to New York's Times Square

UNITED NATIONS: UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon on Sunday joined hundreds of students and yoga practitioners to perform asanas and mediate under the guidance of spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar during the first International Yoga Day celebrations here.

The UN chief was in full yoga mode as he wore a special tracksuit provided by the Indian mission to the UN for the commemoration at the world body's headquarters.

Ban was accompanied by his wife who also wore the yoga tracksuit. Following speeches by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and president of the UN general assembly Sam Kutesa, Sri Sri took the stage and conducted a lengthy yoga session in which Ban excitedly participated.

India's ambassador to the UN Asoke Mukerji and Ban's special adviser on Myanmar Vijay Namibiar, dressed in the special yoga tracksuit, also sat down on their yoga mats. Ban sportingly tried to stand on one leg, bend backwards and sideways, lay on the back and stomach as the spiritual leader asked the attendees to inhale and exhale and do various yoga postures.

He was visibly trying to not lose his balance as he raised his hand over his head and stretch and twist. His wife was sitting by his side. Ban had earlier expressed his excitement at the first Yoga Day during his meeting with Swaraj, saying the day has garnered "unprecedented" enthusiasm from people around the world.

Apart from the diplomats, around 50 school children who had specially flown in from India also did yoga during the event. - PTI

Yoga gets its day in the sun as millions twist bodies on mats

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga with tens of thousands of other participants to mark the first International Yoga Day, in the capital New Delhi yesterday. — Reuters

MILLIONS of yoga enthusiasts across the world bent and twisted their bodies in complex postures yesterday to mark International Yoga Day.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spread his mat among rows of people, including his cabinet members and foreign diplomats, at New Delhi’s main thoroughfare, which was transformed into a sprawling exercise ground.

Thousands of people dressed in white sat on yellow mats under the Eiffel Tower, and similar events were held in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Beijing, Manila and other places. Modi had lobbied the United Nations to declare June 21 as the first International Yoga Day.

“We are not only celebrating a day, but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace and harmony,” Modi said. “This is a program for the benefit of mankind, for a tension-free world and to spread the message of harmony.”

Schoolchildren, bureaucrats, homemakers, soldiers and ordinary folk took part in the exercise, held in all Indian state capitals. In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, yoga events were organized at nearly 30,000 places, state officials said.

In Taipei, more than 2,000 participants rolled out mats and performed 108 rounds of the “sun salutation” — the sequence of poses often practiced at the beginning of a routine as the sun rises.

“They give themselves a piece of time to observe their mind and their heart, which I think in modern society we need a lot,” said practitioner Angela Hsi.

In Dubai, a 41 year-old Indian man attempted the world’s longest headstand. Ivan Stanley, who has lived in the United Arab Emirates for 15 years, held the position for 61 minutes. He registered his attempt with Guinness World Records, which has yet to ratify the mark.

He later told reporters that he relied on his mental strength. “Up to 45 (minutes), it started getting physically a little challenging in my shoulder and neck but after that it was completely mental,” he said. “The last five minutes were really hard.”

Many believe that yoga, the ancient form of exercise, is the best way to calm the mind and the best form of exercise for the body.

Indian officials said more than 35,000 people participated in the New Delhi event that was also an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the largest single yoga class at a single venue. Guinness representatives said they hired more than 1,500 members of a global accounting firm to count participants.

India's Defense Ministry said that soldiers on the Siachen Glacier, the world's highest battleground in the Himalayas, and naval cadets on navy ships at sea also had participated in the Yoga Day events.

Although Modi’s message was one of peace and harmony, many in India were concerned that the push for yoga was an attempt by Hindu groups to give a boost to Hinduism.

Many Muslims objected to the government’s exhortations to join the public exercise programs. Some Muslim leaders said yoga was a Hindu practice.

The government quickly dropped a plan for the "sun salutation" exercise, which Muslims found objectionable because it implied the sun was a deity. Also dropped was the Hindu "om" chant.

Some Christian groups were also upset that the mass yoga sessions were being held at a time when they usually attend Sunday Mass.

Others were skeptical about the time and money spent by the government on Yoga Day. "The government organizes these hyped-up events," said Sumita Rani, a primary school teacher in South Delhi. "Last year was the Clean India Campaign. What came of it? This city is as filthy as ever." - AP

A "hijacked" Russian private plane takes off without permission, heads in Moscow direction

MOSCOW, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A private plane has taken without permission from Ishim, a town in the south of Russia's Tyumen region, and is heading in the direction of Moscow, Tass news agency quoted a source in a local law enforcement agency as saying on Sunday.

Unknown people made unauthorized take-offs early Sunday morning, according to an online statement released by the Investigation Department of the Ural Federal District.

It is impossible to talk about hijack, the Interfax news agency cited the press service of the Investigation Department as saying.

The statement said that at the beginning, those people took a private jet, a Gardan GY-80-160 light aircraft, which collided with engineering facilities in the airfield due to technical failure.

Later, they changed to another private plane, a Yak-52, and are currently heading in the direction of Moscow, the Tass news agency quoted a local law enforcement source as saying.

The Investigation Department of the Ural Federal District has begun investigation and is trying to locate the Yak-52.

Staying up late at night unhealthy, mice stress tests indicate

The biological clock of mice can be disrupted significantly if they are placed under stress before they sleep, according to a study by researchers at Waseda University, suggesting that staying up late at night can be bad for humans.

In a recent article published in the British science magazine Scientific Reports, the research team led by assistant professor Yu Tahara experimented with various stress tests on mice, including placing them in a tight space and at high places before they sleep.

They planted special chemical markers in the genes of the mice that illuminate when they are feeling stress.

As a result, the biological clock of some mice was significantly disrupted, with day and night actually inverted in some cases.

The same may be said about humans, the researchers said, adding that disruption of the human biological clock could lead to various diseases and increase cancer risks as well.

Tahara was quoted by NHK as saying children with a lot of homework should finish it in the morning rather than stay up late. In the workplace, employees should stop doing overtime and go home early so they can get enough sleep, he added.

Woman accused of helping escaped inmates backed out because she still loved her husband: prosecution

With the manhunt for escaped killers Richard Matt and David Sweat entering its tenth day, Joyce Mitchell, a suspended prison tailoring shop instructor, is due to appear in court.

Joyce Mitchell was a prison tailoring shop instructor at the Clinton Correctional Facility.  NEW YORK STATE POLICE

DANNEMORA, N.Y.—The intense manhunt for two escaped murderers in upstate New York hit its 10th day as a woman charged with helping the killers flee from prison headed back to court Monday.

Prosecutors say Joyce Mitchell, a prison tailoring shop instructor who had befriended the inmates, had agreed to be the getaway driver but backed out because she still loved her husband and felt guilty for participating.

“Basically, when it was ‘go’ time and it was the actual day of the event, I do think she got cold feet and realized, ‘What am I doing?’” Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said Sunday. “Reality struck.”

Mitchell (pictured on Monday) was charged with helping Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border on June 6

Wylie said there was no evidence the men had a “Plan B” once Mitchell backed out, and no vehicles have been reported stolen in the area.

That has led searchers to believe the men are still near the maximum-security prison in Dannemora. At the same time, Gov. Andrew Cuomo cautioned that for all anyone knows the convicts could be in Mexico, where one of the inmates had fled after killing his boss in the late 1990s.

Mitchell, 51, was charged Friday with supplying hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. She has been suspended without pay from her $57,000-a-year job overseeing inmates who sew clothes and learn to repair sewing machines at the prison.

Wylie said Sunday that the killers apparently cut their way out using tools stored by prison contractors, taking care to return them to their tool boxes after each night’s work.

The convicts used power tools to cut through the back of their adjacent cells, broke through a brick wall, then cut into a steam pipe and slithered through it, finally emerging outside the prison walls through a manhole, authorities said.

Workers on Sunday welded shut a manhole at the base of a wall on the side of the prison where the two men escaped. They also sealed two other manholes on the street near the prison, including the one from which the convicts climbed out.

More than 800 law enforcement officers went door-to-door over the weekend and combed the rural area signs of the escapees. Residents were on edge, with some saying they were keeping guns handy.

Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy. Matt, 48, was doing 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnap, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss. - AP

Earthquake Pushed 1 million Nepalis Below Poverty Line: Report

A woman carrying belongings walks past collapsed houses after devastating earthquake. Reuters

KATHMANDU: A national crisis caused by the April 25 earthquake and its aftermath has pushed an estimated one million people below poverty line, a Nepal government report has revealed.

Presenting the findings of the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report on Saturday, National Planning Commission Vice-chairman Govinda Raj Pokharel said it was estimated that the poverty-level would go up by more than 2.5-3.5 per cent.

As per the Human Development Report (2014), the poverty prevalence in Nepal is 23.8 per cent.

The 7.9 magnitude earthquake on April 25 rocked as many as 36 of the 75 Nepali districts and among them 14 are worst hit where 8,800 people were killed, thousands injured and an estimated one million residents displaced.

The devastating quake and aftershocks damaged assets and properties valued at $5.13 billion (Nepalese Rs. 513 billion), and the loss in terms of foreign earnings in different sectors is to the tune of $1.88 billion, the report said.

The PDNA states that Nepal needs an estimated $6.66 billion, or nearly one-third of the country's Gross Domestic Product.

The report will be tabled before the donor community at an international conference on June 25 here to collect resources for the rebuilding and reconstruction efforts.

Over the last three decades, Nepal had been registering fast improvement on the Human Development Index.

"The earthquake has affected agriculture, education, water and sanitation, and health, the crucial elements of human development. These people will turn poor because of loss of houses; income-generating opportunities; productive assets such as seeds and livestock; and durable assets such as assorted household items ranging from basic kitchen utensils to jewellery," the report said.

"This has exposed the pitfall of the poverty reduction drive launched by the government - 'The high degree of vulnerability'," says a World Bank report, which was extended to the National Planning Commission to supplement the Post Disaster Needs Assessment.

The districts ravaged by the earthquake are not the poorest in the country.

Around 26.5 per cent of the population residing in quake-affected rural areas are categorised as poor. This figure is equivalent to national poverty rate.

On the other hand, only 9.7 per cent of the population living in quake-affected urban areas live below the poverty line. Nepal's poverty rate stood at 24.8 per cent in 2013.

It means that around a quarter of the population in that year was living on less than $1.25 a day. But if the international poverty line of $1.25 a day was raised to $2 a day at that time, 57.3 per cent of the population would have been categorised as poor.

"What this means is that a large proportion of Nepali households are just a sickness, a bad monsoon or natural disaster away from slipping back into poverty," says the World Bank report.

Considering this, the earthquake will end up pushing 700,000 to 982,000 people (2.5 to 3.5 per cent of the population) into poverty in 2015-16, the report added.

According to the report, of the people who fall back into poverty, roughly 50 to 70 per cent are likely to hail from rural central hills and mountains where overall vulnerability was very high prior to the earthquake.

"The earthquake is likely to have obliterated all these livelihood channels, particularly for those with limited access to other forms of assets and credit markets," it says.

Also, the need to rebuild their own houses is likely to keep many away from the labour market, leading to slowdown in non-farm activities. - IANS

Suspected bombers open fire on officers outside Dallas police HQ

Dallas police officers check a newspaper machine as they walk down Belleview Street a block away from police headquarters to search the area Saturday. Multiple gunmen toting automatic weapons opened fire on officers outside Dallas Police headquarters early Saturday morning, before fleeing in what was described as an armored van, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown. | AP

DALLAS (AP) —At least one gunman opened fire on officers outside police headquarters in Dallas early Saturday, spraying squad cars with bullets before fleeing in an armored van and being shot by a police sniper, reports said, adding that bombs were planted in the area.

Witnesses described seeing as many as three other suspects taking part in the attack, but police Chief David Brown said at a news conference that conflicting accounts made it difficult to determine how many people may have been involved. He later said they believed only one gunman was involved and that he did not have links to terrorism.

Despite a hail of gunshots, including some that hit police vehicles, nobody was wounded, he said.

Brown told a news conference that the shootout began about 12:30 a.m. Saturday. He said at least one suspect fled the scene in a van that rammed a police cruiser. Officers pursued the van to a parking lot in Hutchins, a Dallas suburb, where a SWAT team surrounded it before shooting the driver, Brown said.

They had been speaking to a man inside who identified himself as James Boulware and who said he blames police for losing custody of his son and “accusing him of being a terrorist.”

The gunman also said he had explosives in the van, which appeared to be outfitted with gun ports in the sides.

Brown said police didn’t know if there was anyone else in the van, but that witnesses reported seeing as many as four people taking part in the attack, including some who may have been strategically positioned in elevated positions. Witnesses told police that one suspect may have failed to enter the van before it sped off, according to Brown.

Police said they found two explosive devices near the headquarters building and cleared them away. One of the devices, a pipe bomb, exploded when a police robot attempted to move it. Another, which was under a police vehicle, was detonated by a bomb squad, according to the police department.

Brown told reporters that a motive for the attack was not yet known, but he also said there had been threats and attacks on police elsewhere in the country in the past few months.

The van stopped in a fast food restaurant parking lot in the city of Hutchins, some 10 miles (16 km) south of Dallas, where there was another exchange of gunfire. Police said they surrounded the van and managed to disable it with a high-powered rifle, before shooting and apparently killing the driver.

Brown told reporters at the early morning news conference that the suspect had said that police had taken his child and had accused him of being a terrorist. The police chief said that the man then threatened to “blow us up.”

Several bags were found scattered around police headquarters, two of which had explosives inside, police said. Another suspicious package was found in a dumpster near a different police station in the city, according to police. They also said they intend to blow up the van as a precaution.

Nearby residents were evacuated, Brown said.

A video of the shooting on social media showed a police officer approaching a black van with a flashlight as two other police cruisers pulled up behind the vehicle. The officer abruptly turned and ran away and then a volley of gunshots could be heard.

In another video, the van could be seen ramming a police cruiser before gunfire rang out again and the vehicle drove off.

The Dallas Morning News reported that police in Paris, some 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Dallas, had arrested a James Boulware in 2013 after he had obtained firearms, ammunition and body armor and threatened to attack his family, schools, and churches.

Whether the two incidents involved the same individual could not be confirmed.

Anita Grendahl was asleep in her seventh-floor apartment in a high-rise across from police headquarters when she heard gunshots loud enough to wake her up over a white noise machine in her room.

"We just woke up to a few pops and thought somebody was on my balcony, and then looked outside and saw the van crash into the car," she said.

New York prison employee accused in escape plot moved to new lockup

(Reuters) - A New York state prison employee charged with helping a pair of convicted murderers carry out an elaborate escape was moved on Saturday from a cell in the facility where she worked to a county jail about 165 miles (265 km) away, authorities said.

Joyce Mitchell was transferred from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, where she worked as an industrial training supervisor, to Rensselaer County Jail near Albany.

She was moved as the massive manhunt for the two inmates entered its eighth day. More than 800 local, state and federal officers are searching thick woods, homes and other outposts near the maximum security facility, 20 miles (32 km) south of the Canadian border, New York State Police said.

Prosecutors allege Mitchell facilitated the escape by providing Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, with tools such as chisels and hacksaw blades.

She was arraigned Friday on two counts of promoting prison contraband and criminal facilitation. She pleaded not guilty and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.

The Clinton County Sheriff's office said Mitchell was transferred to reduce tensions within the prison where she worked and in the surrounding village. Most of the families who live nearby have at least one member who is employed at the fortress-like prison, which houses about 3,000 prisoners.

Authorities did not say if Mitchell had provided any information about the men's possible whereabouts.

The focus of the search was on an area near a highway that leads from Dannemora to Plattsburgh, about 14 miles (22 km) away, state police spokesman Beau Duffy said on Saturday.

Sweat and Matt escaped the prison late on June 5 or early on June 6, using power tools to cut through a steel wall, manoeuvring over a catwalk, drilling through bricks and crawling through a steam pipe to a manhole on the street.

The complexity of the escape had led to speculation the men had come up with a smooth getaway plan. Possible sightings have been reported from across the border in Canada to Philadelphia.

New York State Police Major Charles Guess told a news conference on Friday there was no evidence the men had made it far from the prison.

Duffy said the search was centering around a 5 square mile (13 sq km) region after a "very significant" lead this week. He urged anyone with information to call in their tips.

"We don't have any evidence they are outside the area. But we do have evidence they are in the area," he said, adding that the search would continue round the clock.

Mitchell, 51, had previously been investigated by prison officials after she was accused of having an improper relationship with Sweat, who was serving a life sentence for killing a sheriff's deputy, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said.

There was not enough evidence to bring disciplinary action at that time, he said.

The breakout from the maximum security section of the Clinton Correctional Facility was the first in its 150-year history.

Health expenses push millions into poverty: WHO, World Bank

UNITED NATIONS, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Health expenses push 6 percent of people in low and middle income countries into extreme poverty, showed a new report released here Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank.

Speaking at the report's release, Tessa Tan Torres-Edejer, WHO coordinator of health systems financing, said that this equated to 69 million people who are tipped or further pushed into extreme poverty by health costs.

"Lack of access is particularly severe among those who are poor and disadvantaged," Torres-Edejer said.

"Out of pocket expenditures are payments at the point where you access the service, where you're at the facility and you have to pay up. They cause financial hardship," Torres-Edejer said.

The Tracking Universal Health Coverage report measures access to universal health coverage, around the world as well as financial hardship caused by health care costs.

The report found that worldwide, 400 million people don't have access to basic essential health services.

Tim Evans, senior director of Health, Nutrition & Population at the World Bank said that the report was a "wakeup call."

"It shows that we are a long way from achieving universal health coverage," he said. "We must expand access to health and protect the poorest from health expenses that are causing them severe financial hardship."

The report noted that the BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, representing around half of the global population, "are all engaged in health system reforms designed to extend, deepen, or otherwise improve health service coverage for their populations."

These countries are also "simultaneously working on ways to increase financial protection for those availing themselves of health services," the report said.

"Universal health coverage means that all people receive the quality, essential health services they need, without being exposed to financial hardship," the report said.

Meanwhile, the report said more people have access to essential health services today than at any other time in history, and "for some health services, global population coverage already surpasses 80 percent, and in the past decade there is some evidence that the proportion of people hit by health service-related catastrophic spending and impoverishment has dropped somewhat."

"However, there is still a long way to go on the road to UHC ( universal health coverage) both in terms of health service and financial protection coverage," the report said.

The report looked at global access to essential health services -- including family planning, antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, child immunization, antiretroviral therapy, tuberculosis treatment, and access to clean water and sanitation -- in 2013, and found that at least 400 million people lacked access to at least one of these services.

Cholesterol drugs might be linked to lower risk of cancer death

A years-long study indicates that women who take cholesterol-lowering drugs might have a reduced risk of death caused by cancer, according to a report released on Thursday by the Cancer Research UK.

During the 15-year long study, researchers tracked nearly 150,000 post-menopausal women between age 50 and 79, of whom over 3,100 died of cancer over the period, the report said.

Researchers said they found that women who reported taking statins, drugs that lower cholesterol levels, were 20 percent less likely to die of cancer during the course of the study, when all cancers were taken into account.

Previous research has suggested that cholesterol, which statins targets, helps cancer to spread.

However, researchers said the study did not prove statins were the reason why people were less likely to die from cancer, and that more research was needed.

It is still not sure if the link shown between a decreased risk of dying from cancer, and statin use, is due to the drugs themselves, or some other reason, said Dr. Richard Roope from Cancer Research UK.

Further studies, including the Cancer Research UK-funded LungStar trial, are exploring whether the cholesterol-lowering drugs could help treat cancer.

New cargo train service between China, Europe opens

The first freight train linking Harbin and Hamburg prepares to depart from Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, June 13, 2015. The first freight train linking Harbin and Germany's Hamburg departed from Harbin on Saturday. It runs a course of 9,820 kilometers and is expected to return to Harbin on July 11. [Photo/Xinhua]

HARBIN - A freight train service between the northeastern China city of Harbin and Europe was launched on Saturday, opening a new trade route between China and Europe.

The train left the railway station in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, at 10 am Saturday, carrying 49 containers of domestic goods such as electronic products and auto parts from northeast and north China, worth $3 million.

During the 9,820-km-long travel, the train will pass Russia and Poland before reaching its destination of Hamburg, Germany, said Tu Xiaoyue, general manager of HAO Logistics Co., Ltd, a joint venture which runs the service.

The train will be run once every week and each single trip takes 15 days. It will transport goods from China, the Republic of Korea and Japan as well as European countries such as Germany, Poland, France, Spain and Italy.

Several Chinese cities, including Chongqing, Chengdu, Changsha, Hefei, Yiwu and Suzhou, have launched similar freight train services to Europe.

Driver Li Xiaogang of the first freight train linking Harbin and Hamburg waves to people before departing from Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, June 13, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

Clinton calls for 'better deal' at first major rally

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially launches her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination during a speech on Roosevelt Island on June 13, 2015 in New York ©Timothy A. Clary (AFP)

Hillary Clinton addressed thousands of her supporters at a rally on Roosevelt Island Saturday. NY1's Josh Robin filed this report.

Hillary Clinton's first big rally comes two months after clinton formally entered the race. A major purpose was to convince democrats she's not the centrist or even conservative some suspect.

Clinton obliged with a searing attack on Republicans she says they're singing an old song.

"A song called "Yesterday." You know the one—'All our troubles look as though they're here to stay and they need a place to hide away.' They believe in yesterday and you're lucky I didn't try singing that too, I'll tell you," Clinton said.

After dishing the red meat, Clinton made this appeal. Perhaps unlike what critics say of President Barack Obama, she can get stuff done.

"We are at our best when we pick each other up, when we have each other's back. Like any family, our American family is strongest when we cherish what we have in common and fight back against those who would drive us apart," Clinton said.

It wasn't only about Hillary Clinton. The hit band Echosmith also played, giving this political event a young, musical festival feel.

Her audience Saturday appeared at least a generation younger that the 67-year-old.

Clinton joked about her age and the aging that the White House often inflicts on its occupants. She also is banking that an election can be won on who she simply is.

"I may not be the youngest candidate in this race, but I will be the youngest woman president in the history of the United States," the 67 year old said to cheers and applause. "And the first grandmother as well!"

The former secretary of state was joined on stage by husband and former president Bill, daughter Chelsea and their son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky, embracing, holding hands and waving to a rapturous sea of waving flags.

With chants of "Hillary!" and whoops of delight, it was a festival of wholesome middle-class America, decked with red, white and blue flags, bordered by leafy trees and overlooked by the skyscrapers of New York.

She drew on the disadvantaged background of her mother, who was forced to work as a maid aged 14 during the Great Depression, to tell voters that she understood first hand their problems.

"My mother taught me that everybody needs (a) chance and a champion. She knew what it was like not to have either one," Clinton said.

"Prosperity just can´t be for CEOs and hedge fund managers. Democracy can´t be just for billionaires."Americans need a better deal."

After the rally, Clinton will head to Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, where she is expected to build on the themes she introduced in New York. - AFP

Murderers who escaped from New York prison may have had help

Governor warns of "crisis situation" as manhunt continues for convicted murderers who escaped maximum security prison.

Officers with bloodhounds at one of the entrances to the Clinton Correctional Facility on Saturday.

DANNEMORA, N.Y. (Reuters) -  New York authorities have offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of two convicted murderers who used power tools to break out of a maximum security prison.

The pair may have had help, and they left a taunting note for their jailers to "Have a nice day," authorities said on Sunday.

More than 200 local, state and federal law enforcement officials set up roadblocks, took to the air and went door-to-door in their search for Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, who went missing early on Saturday morning from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, about 30km south of the Canadian border.

Governor Andrew Cuomo described the reward of $50,000 per prisoner as extraordinary.

"These are dangerous individuals," he said during a telephone news conference. "They are killers. They are murderers."

"This is a crisis situation for the state," he added. "They're capable of committing grave crimes again."

Authorities have notified law enforcement in Canada and Mexico about the fugitives.

"We are leaving no stone unturned. They could be literally anywhere," New York State Police Major Charles Guess told a news conference.

"We presume that they may have had access to a vehicle as well as they may have had assistance in their escape effort."

The two men in adjoining cells drilled holes in walls to break out of them. They then went through a series of catwalks and tunnels, breaking through steel to clear prison grounds and escaping through a manhole on a nearby street, officials said.

They used clothing to make it look like they were in their beds and left a yellow note with a smiley face and the words "have a nice day" on steam pipe. Authorities have found some of the simple instruments they used but not the power tools.

Authorities do not know how they acquired the tools but were checking to see if they came from contractors working for the prison.

It was the first jail break from the facility in 150 years.

Richard Matt, 48, is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters June 6, 2015. 

Matt is serving 25 years to life for kidnapping, murdering and dismembering a man.

Sweat, 34, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for killing a sheriff's deputy. Police said he shot the deputy nearly two dozen times.

David Sweat, 34, is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters June 6, 2015.

Authorities set up roadblocks and brought in bloodhounds and helicopters. Hundreds of law enforcement officers fanned out around the prison, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border, following up on dozens of tips.

Dubbed "Little Siberia" by locals, the prison houses nearly 3,000 inmates, guarded by about 1,400 correction officers. Surrounded by farmland and forests, the prison is only about a 45-minute drive by car to Montreal.