The Sunday Newspaper - the one that I usually linger over, has not brought cheer…
A string of depressing stories…
- New Delhi: The Taliban has threatened to execute K. Suryanarayana, an Indian national, kidnapped in Afghanistan on Friday, by Sunday evening, if New Delhi does not pull its citizens out of the troubled nation. (read the full story here)
- Hyderabad: While the fate of the Indian engineer abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan on Friday hangs in the balance, his family living in the bustling suburb of Malkajgiri in Hyderabad plunged into despair. (read the full story here)
- Raipur: Naxalites on Saturday killed 13 of the 52 villagers they had abducted last Tuesday and released 37 others in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. (read the full story here)
- Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday successfully test fired its long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf VI (Shaheen II) with `outstanding results.' (read the full story here)
- Islamabad: Pakistan chose not to react to the decision of the Bush administration to designate Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK) as terrorist outfits even as the JuD denounced it as a move by Washington to please New Delhi. (read the full story here)
- Paris: Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has lashed out at U.S. President George W Bush accusing him of giving a “strong impetus'' to India's nuclear programme while “doling out orders'' to Pakistan. (read the full story here)
- Kolkata: Faced with huge under-recoveries, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today sought an immediate upward revision of petrol and diesel prices to the extent of Rs 10.50 per litre. (read the full story here)
Looks like religious fundamentalists, rabid communists, military juntas and big corporates are having a good day though.
I’m sorry.
I hope that you and your family are a safe distance from these troubles.
later…
*comfort* Dr. Scan Man! That certainly is a long laundry list of really bad news. It’s hard to pick up a newspaper anymore … or watch the news on TV … it’s almost uniformly bad.
The business with the religious fundamentalist Muslims is especially scary, because you never know what they’re capable of doing.
Hang strong, Dr. Scan Man … and with you, I’ll be hoping for the best.
Checking in on you … and wishing you well! Hope the news in the your paper has improved, and that you’re getting rest!