DHAKA, Bangladesh (pix)- At least nine people were killed after being struck by lightning during seasonal storms which battered hundreds of villages in southern and central Bangladesh. A newly married couple was among the four dead in the worst-hit southern Barisal province where the winds toppled trees, uprooted electricity poles and disrupted road and ferry links. Three farmers were fatally wounded as they were working on rice terraces during a raging electric storm two other workers were hit by thunderbolt in neighbouring Shariatpur district.

KORAPUT, India - A man has been living on trees for the past four years in Orissa for fear of arrest by the police. Jaya Naik, 50, a resident of Chindri Maliguda, a village some 500 km south of state capital Bhubaneswar, was arrested along with his wife and 17-year-old son in 2002 over a dispute he had with his father and brother over irrigation of land.
They had to spend at least three days in jail after the court sent them to judicial custody.
After his release, he developed such a fear of being arrested again that he started living on trees.

AGARTALA, India - In a shocking incident, a police officer burnt his wife to death in Tripura after a quarrel. A police spokesman said Parimal Das, a police inspector, allegedly tied his 40-year-old wife Ratna Burman around a mango tree at their courtyard in Melaghar in west Tripura, 55 km from here. He then poured kerosene oil on the victim and set her on fire. The incident followed a quarrel between the couple in the presence of their two teenage children.

NEW DELHI, India - Upset over his mother's relations with other men, a 24-year-old man strangled her to death in their northwest Delhi home. Noor Mohammed was arrested for killing his mother Rubina, 45, at their Jhangirpuri home. "After killing his mother, Mohammed was taking her body away to dispose of it. However, we got the information and arrested him," a police official said.

Zia and Hasina

KOLKATA, India (pix)- Veterinary staff in safety gear are killing thousands of chickens on after expanding a culling operation to stop bird flu from spreading in an eastern Indian state. A fresh outbreak of bird flu was detected in West Bengal state's Malda district where about 1 000 chickens had died last week. Poultry sales in the eastern state fell by about 70 percent since the avian flu hit in January, officials said, but it has had limited impact elsewhere in the country. India has not reported any human bird flu cases so far.

KOLKATA, India - A Kolkata, India, man who retired from his health center job in 1995 has continued to show up for work for the past 14 years without a salary. Relatives said Rabindranath Bhadra, who retired 14 years ago from the Jagatballavpur Block Health Center, needs to work in order to remain healthy.  "He feels ill if he stops working," said Bhadra's wife, Suniti. Bosses and fellow workers at the health center said Bhadra remains an indispensable part of the staff. Bhadra said he isn't bothered by working for no pay.

NEW DELHI, India - The United States consulate general in the southern Indian city of Chennai has announced a lifetime ban on travel to the US for 200 people, including actors and directors in the film industry, who helped people acquire US visas through illegal means.  The ban was announced after the consulate's fraud prevention unit uncovered a racket in which actors or directors in the south Indian film industry "used their positions to lend credibility to a second unqualified applicant (for a visa)," PTI news agency reported.

Scarlett Keeling

GOA, India (pix)- Police in Goa, where a British teen was murdered last month, have begun shutting down beach parties and bars at midnight. Officials ordered the crackdown on Goa’s party culture after police said 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling was raped and left for dead by two men after she consumed a cocktail of illegal drugs at a beach cafe where she was hanging out late into the night.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (pix)- Militants have attacked and destroyed a dozen cell phone antennas in southern Afghanistan since the Taliban militia threatened last month to target the equipment unless it was turned off at night.  The Taliban have alleged the equipment is used by the military to trace their hideouts. 

LUCKNOW, India - The Uttar Pradesh police have launched a manhunt for the mastermind behind an organised blood donation racket carried out by luring poor labourers into donating blood in lieu of money. Five people were arrested while police are on a lookout for at least four more. The arrested people were engaged as small time technicians in local pathology laboratories, whose owners have not been arrested by the police so far.