5 Tibetans held outside Chinese Embassy for protest

STAFF WRITER 10:23 HRS IST

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Five Tibetans were today detained during a protest against 60 years of Chinese rule in Tibet in front of that country's embassy here.

Police picked up the five persons as soon as they assembled in front of the Chinese Embassy in the high-security Chanakyapuri area to lodge their protest, Additional Commissioner of Police Shankar Dass said.

Tibetan Youth Congress had organised the protest.

Earth quake kills at least 200 in West Indonesia

STAFF WRITER 8:48 HRS IST

Jakarta, Oct 1 (AP) A disaster management official says at least 200 people have been killed by the powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia.

Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, says the deaths were counted in the coastal Sumatran city of Padang, following yesterday's 7.6 magnitude quake.

A higher death toll is expected once officials tally casualties in other areas of West Sumatra province where communications and roads have been severed.

Kardono said today that about 500 buildings collapsed in Padang, a sprawling regional capital of 900,000 people.

A huge aid operation was under way.

9 from Delhi killed in Kerala boat capsize; one missing

Thu, Oct 1 09:23 AM

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Nine Delhiites including seven women were among 35 people killed in a boat capsize in Kerala, officials said today. Shruti whose parents --Pradeep Kumar Jain and Sandhya Jain-- died in the incident, is missing.

Shruti''s husband Bala Dut survived the mishap, they said. Officials had yesterday said that Shruti and Bala Dut had died in the incident.

The other deceased from the national capital include Partha Sharma, Harinder Singh Rawat, Arun Kaur and her daughter, Saliha, Sangeeta Sharma and Alka. Saliha''s husband Amit, who was also onboard the ill-fated boat, did not figure either in the list of dead or that of the survivours.

Out of the 32 deceased identified, nine each are from Tamil Nadu and Delhi, six from Bengal, four from Andhra Pradesh, three from Karnataka and one from Punjab. Thirty five bodies have so far been recovered after the boat capsized in Thekkady Lake in Kerala''s Idukki district officials said, adding, 40 others were rescued.

The boat, with about 80 passengers on board, mostly tourists from outside Kerala, sank after cruising five km from the boarding point from where it had set out around 4 pm yesterday. Helpline numbers set for further enquiry are -- 09446052361 and 04869222620 -- and Kerala House (Delhi) 011 23342320/30411500.